Sam was quiet. Richardson was right. Aaron made her feel things she didn’t know she was capable of.
She didn’t want to honor his memory by becoming even more of a miserable person than she already was.
“I’m gonna take a shower.”
He smiled. “Yeah, you do have some smell to you.”
She pointed a finger at him before leaving her room. “You didn’t see me crying.”
“Of course I didn’t.”
* * *
The shower felt great. It had been weeks since Sam had taken a lukewarm shower. She didn’t normally indulge in the water, but it had rained a few days ago, and they had more than their fair share of water.
She dried off outside the stall in her swimsuit. A few people passing by gave her a polite wave, some even a pat on the back. For the first time, she felt like she was part of the community.
She got dressed and headed for the garden. She was in the mood for a tomato. As she passed by the side of the school the children saw her. They erupted in cheers and ran straight for her. Sam was afraid for a moment, not knowing what was going on.
The twins Kyle and Kari tackled her first and grabbed her legs. She was able to stand up to them, but then the rest came. They knocked her to the grass and covered her. Sam laughed as she tried to climb out from under them. It had been a while since she heard the sound of her own laughter.
Nikki was smiling as she approached her. She held out her hands and helped Sam to her feet. The children still gathered around them.
“We missed you,” Nikki said. “Are you okay?”
Sam took a deep breath. “No. But I will be, eventually.”
The group broke up, but they didn’t go very far. They started playing a game of tag while Sam and Nikki stood in the middle.
“I knocked on your door a few times,” Nikki said. “Just to check on you.”
“Sorry I didn’t answer. I just needed some time.”
“I miss him too.”
They were quiet. They watched the children laughing and playing. Nikki noticed they were more lively now that Sam was out. Aaron was always the emotional leader. Now that he was gone, Nikki had a feeling Sam would have to fill that role, whether she wanted to or not.
“I thought you usually played in the library in the morning,” Sam said.
“We did. That was before Garrett and his buddies took the place over.”
Sam looked at her young friend. “What?”
Nikki shrugged. “You know Garrett. He’s just an asshole. He’s using the place as a rec room now.”
Sam had heard enough. She walked away.
“Samantha? What are you—”
“You just watch the kids. I’ll see you soon.”
She went back into the school. She made a quick stop at her room before heading to the library.
She pushed the double doors open, and immediately felt her blood boil.
Ray was throwing a knife into the side of a bookshelf, for target practice. Don and Stanley, two men Sam didn’t know very well, were boxing in the far corner with some gloves they’d found during the last supply run. Watching them, and knowing they’d kicked the children out, only irritated Sam.
It was Garrett that infuriated her.
He was stretched out on the couch, Aaron’s couch. Garrett had tossed Aaron’s books from the coffee table to the floor. He replaced them with a pile of pornographic magazines he’d found a long time ago in one of the teacher’s offices. He grabbed the first one off the top and opened it up, letting the foldout fall to its full length.
“Hey!” Stanley said from the corner. “Look who’s up and around. I was hoping Carrie would come over, but I don’t mind looking at you.”
Ray stopped throwing his knife. Garrett looked over at Sam. He tossed his magazine on the couch and stood up.
“What do you want?” he said. “No one invited you here.”
Sam held her hands up in a show of peace. She really didn’t want to fight. Aaron had worked hard to put the library back together, and he let the children play in it. As far as she was concerned, it was more their library than Garrett’s.
“Look guys,” she said. “Aaron would want this place to go to the kids.”
“So? He’s not here now, is he?”
“Garrett, the school is huge. Why don’t you take that old shop class? You ever see how big that place is? Just gotta get the old equipment out of there-”
“We don’t want the old shop class. We like it here. So what are you gonna do?”
Sam shook her head. She should have known better than to try reasoning with Garrett.
She pulled out her two Berettas she’d grabbed from her room. She aimed one at Ray, the other at Garrett.
Stanley and Don backed up a step with their hands in the air. Ray looked nervous, but Garrett didn’t flinch. He thought she was bluffing.
“Really, Samantha? You’re gonna kill four men over a fuckin’ library?”
“No. But I will shoot you in the leg, and you can crawl out of here. Look, I myself will start clearing out the shop class for you. I’ll get it all nice and neat. But this room is off-limits, okay?”
Stanley traded a look with Don. “We can respect that.”
They left through the emergency room door without a word. Whether it was the guns in their faces, or Sam’s offer of cleaning the shop class, she didn’t know. Garrett and Ray didn’t budge.
Sam couldn’t believe what she was doing, holding up four men over Aaron’s room. She wasn’t doing it for herself. She was fighting for someone else for a change.
She hoped Aaron would have been proud of her.
“You’re getting in over your head,” Garrett said. “You do not want to get on my bad side. You’re a hot little piece of ass, Samantha, but it’s not smart to walk around alone and point guns at people.”
“Good thing she’s not alone then.”
Sam didn’t risk turning to look at the new voice, but she thought she recognized it. Garrett’s face turned into a scowl when Scott stood next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder, showing her he was on her side.
“Did I miss something here?” Scott asked. “What’s up with the guns?”
“Nothing’s going on. We were just leaving,” Garrett said, then looked at Sam. “Just give me a shout when you have that shop class all cleaned up.”
She didn’t lower her weapons until they left. She took a deep breath and looked at Scott. She hadn’t seen him since the trip to the hospital.
She still had trouble showing gratitude. The only person she was ever comfortable with was Aaron. “Uh, I-”
Scott smiled. He knew what she was trying to say. “Don’t mention it. I can’t stand Garrett. Probably not the smartest idea, sticking a gun on him, though. What’s going on?”
She gestured around her. “I just couldn’t let him have this place. This is Aaron’s. He wouldn’t want Garrett messing it up.”
“Speaking of Aaron, I’ve got something to tell you.”
He motioned for Sam to follow. They walked over to Aaron’s old living area. He was excited and nervous at the same time.
“Eric and I took the peddle bikes out today, to look for some supplies around town. We ran into a group of slavers.”
Sam frowned. She’d encountered them before, back when she didn’t have a home. They never stayed in one place very long. They were always moving, always looking to take weak people against their will and trade them for whatever they could get. She spent many days running and hiding from them when she was younger.
“Are you okay? Did you tell Richardson?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. There wasn’t any fighting. They had guns, and we had guns. They don’t like messing with a dog that has teeth too. I told James, he’s going to Richardson to spread the word.”
Sam nodded. Whenever the slavers came back through town, the people of Lexington took extra care when going on supply runs. Richardson would also double the people on fence duty.
; “Thanks for the heads up, Scott.”
She stood up to leave. He motioned for her to sit back down.
“That’s not all. They actually tried to trade with us. We talked for a while. They told me about some of the new slaves they have. They said the newest one they picked up is a young bald man they found at a hospital.”
Sam said nothing. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
“I think Aaron’s alive,” Scott finally said.
She forced the shock aside. There would be time to feel things later.
Now was the time for action.
“Do you know where they are?”
“Yeah. They said they’re at the state highway facility on the other side of town, in case we ever wanted to see their merchandise. The sick bastards.”
She stood up. She knew what she had to do. “Thank you, Scott. Thank you so much. I’ll take it from here.”
She left the library and headed for the storeroom. Mary was moving things around in preparation for the winter. She shoved sleeveless shirts into boxes, put sweaters out on tables. She gave a wave when she saw Sam.
“I’m glad to see you out of your room. Everything okay?”
“I need some weapons from the armory.”
Mary was confused. “Well, okay. Didn’t they already do a supply run yesterday? Just let me know what you take.”
Sam stepped into the armory, which used to be the boys’ locker room. They didn’t have much, but it would be enough. Guns, rifles, knives, and ammunition were neatly spread out on the benches and shorter lockers. She still had her two Berettas. She grabbed a backpack and filled it with a set of binoculars and a Desert Eagle. The handgun was still in fine shape. She knew she had to leave room for water. She also grabbed the AR-15 leaning in the corner. She wasn’t fond of the weapon for killing walkers, but for humans, it would do nicely.
“I thought I’d find you in here.”
She turned to see Richardson. He stood in the doorway with his arms crossed.
“So you heard then? About Aaron?” she asked.
“Yeah. Scott found me.” They were quiet a moment while Sam checked her weapons. “Listen, Samantha. You can do whatever you want. But I’m not sending anyone to go with you.”
She nodded. “That’s fine. I don’t want help anyway. They’ll just get in the way.”
“What are you planning?” Richardson didn’t think she was packing guns for trade.
“The plan. Well, the plan is to kill anything that gets in between me and Aaron.”
Richardson felt a chill go up his spine. Her tone was cold, emotionless. She reminded him of the teenager that first found her way to the school. Alone, hungry, angry at the world. Now her anger was pointed at slavers who were keeping Aaron away from her.
He would not be the one to stand in her way.
“Take the truck,” he said. “And be careful.”
“Aren’t you afraid I might die and you’ll lose a truck?”
“I’m more afraid of what might happen if I say you can’t take it.”
She had the hint of a smile. She surprised Richardson by taking his hand.
“Thank you. I’m gonna go get my friend and bring him where he belongs.”
With me.
Chapter 14
Aaron drifted in and out of sleep as he leaned his head against the bars. The night air had a chill to it. Amanda and Derek huddled together near the front of the truck, sound asleep. Charlie sat across from him with his eyes closed.
He looked up at the sky as two of Allister’s guards walked by. He watched the beautiful stars on many nights. He wanted to see the sky again, but back at Lexington.
With Sam.
I need to get out of here.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was enough to give him a small head of hair. He watched the camp carefully every day. He knew when they ate, slept, where they kept their supplies, when they went out to town. He just needed a chance to get out.
“Still thinking of your escape plan?” Charlie asked, his eyes still closed.
“Sorry. Did I wake you up?”
“I can just hear you thinking over there.”
He laughed. “I’ll try to think quieter.”
“Listen, Aaron.” Charlie lowered his voice and leaned forward. “I know you still think you’re getting out of here. And you’re an idiot. But you have to keep that to yourself, okay? Derek thinks you’re full of shit, but Amanda, well, she isn’t as smart. You’re getting her hopes up.”
“When did you lose hope, Charlie?”
He leaned back. “When I lost my wife.”
Aaron looked at his friend. “You can’t lose hope.”
“Can’t lose hope? Are you kidding? We live in a world filled with walking corpses. I think hope got dead and buried a long time ago.”
Aaron saw movement. He looked across the tents to see Allister touring his kingdom. He’d been studying the man who murdered his family, more than anything else.
Allister did very little work around the camp. While everyone else gathered supplies, cooked food, boiled water, Allister did nothing. He simply gave direction. He never looked at the slaves, his property. Aaron could see it pained him to even have to allot food and water for the slaves.
Allister never smiled or laughed once. He never showed any emotion. He was a hollow shell of a man, only concerned with surviving from one day to the next, at any cost.
Aaron was going to kill him. His only regret was that he couldn’t kill him four times.
Allister disappeared as he moved closer to the perimeter fence. Aaron and Charlie finally nodded off to sleep, although it would be short-lived.
He woke up to the sound of a muffled cry. He heard it again, followed by what sounded like a slap. There was a loud bang against the wall in the truck next to them. His gaze fell on one of Allister’s men, standing guard outside the women’s truck. He looked around nervously while waving his gun. Aaron heard a male grunt, followed by flesh smacking flesh. His tired mind immediately put the pieces together.
“What’s all that noise?” Charlie mumbled, just barely awake.
“Hey!” Aaron shouted. He grabbed the bars and shook them. “What the hell are you doing?”
He recognized the guard, a man named Keller. He peered into the back of the truck.
“Hurry up you guys!” he said. “The property is waking up out here!”
Aaron had gotten to know the two women in the truck next to them, Sherry and Dana. He talked to them every day. Sherry was a child when the corpses first rose, and she spent some time each day telling them about the old world. Dana was sick, but refused to take more than her share of food and water from Sherry.
“Help! We need some help over here!”
Keller looked nervous, but no one in their tents made a move. Aaron was shocked. There was no way every slaver was sleeping. Charlie checked on Derek and Amanda.
“What’s going on?” the young girl asked.
“Just stay back here. Derek, you both stay here, okay? And please, cover her ears.”
Derek’s eyes were fearful. He nodded.
Aaron paced back and forth, his eyes never leaving Keller. Hearing Sherry’s and Dana’s cries for help, just ten feet away, threatened to send him over the edge. If he could get out, he would kill everyone in the camp.
“Why aren’t they coming?” Aaron asked. “Why aren’t they helping?”
Charlie put a hand on his shoulder to stop his pacing. “Look, they don’t care, Aaron. As long as the property isn’t harmed, Allister doesn’t care. This shit happens every now and then. Keller doesn’t even really need to stand guard out there.”
Aaron grabbed at his hair in frustration. “What can we do?”
“Nothing.”
Aaron shook the bars some more, just wanting to be as loud as possible. The only response he got was someone in a tent telling him to shut up.
Sherry went quiet. Only Dana cried out in pain. Aaron could hear more of t
he rape. Charlie put a hand on his shoulder as a tear ran down his face.
“They’re strong,” he said. “They’ll get through this.”
A loud throaty moan, followed by a terrified scream, erupted from the truck. Aaron and Charlie went to the bars to see as much as they could. Keller was shaking as he pointed his rifle into the darkness.
The planned rape had gone horribly wrong.
Harold, the man who had picked out Sherry earlier in the day, lost control. He was too rough on her, beat her too much. He never realized that Sherry didn’t just pass out, he had killed her. He didn’t know until, in mid-thrust, Sherry came back to life and sank her teeth into his throat.
She shook her face violently, ripping flesh away. Blood shot from his neck and sprayed over Sherry’s face. Harold tried to shout, but nothing came out. Andy, the man who picked out Dana, couldn’t see what was happening next to him, but he heard the feast. He pushed himself away from Dana and crawled toward the open bars. His pants were still around his ankles.
Keller slammed the bars in his face and chained them shut.
“What the fuck?” Andy screamed. He reached through the bars. “Open the gate!”
Keller panicked. He disappeared in between the trucks into the shadows. Andy shouted in pain as Sherry bit into his bare leg. Dana cowered at the front of the truck, screaming as loud as she could.
“You’ve got walkers killing your damn property!” Aaron shouted.
Only then did he finally see a head poke out of a tent.
Harold twitched as Sherry gnawed on Andy’s arm. He slowly crawled toward Dana, who tried to keep quiet in the corner. Harold couldn’t see Dana, but he could certainly smell her.
Aaron and Charlie said nothing as men finally ran to the truck. Amanda and Derek were both crying. Aaron reached out to hold Amanda, and she nearly jumped in his arms. Charlie put an arm around Derek as he wiped his eyes.
Aaron wondered who was worse, humans or undead.
* * *
It was mid-morning, and Allister was pacing back and forth near the trucks. His men were gathered around, both anxious and afraid of what he had to say. The undead corpses of Sherry, Dana, Harold, and Andy reached through the bars as he passed by. The women weren’t wearing any pants, a sick reminder of the prior night’s events. Andy still had his pants down, and would fall and pick himself back up, over and over again. Some of the men had trouble keeping in their laughter.
Dead Living Page 20