by Siara Brandt
Law repeated, “Hold still.”
“I couldn’t let them be found,” she said with a catch in her voice.
He frowned. “Who’s they?”
Before she could answer him, a man stepped through the shattered frame of the doorway. Another man was right behind him.
Law was reaching for a weapon, when two kids came running out of the closet. “Daddy!” they cried out at the same time. “Thayer!”
Sidra walked into the living room and saw that Law was still sound asleep on the couch. She thought about leaving again before she could disturb him, but she sat down instead in the armchair that faced the couch and watched him as he slept.
One of his knees was raised and one arm was stretched out over his head. The other arm was resting across his chest. She could still see the faint circle of her teeth marks on the back of his wrist. She let her gaze wander leisurely over him, from his raven black hair down to the leather boots. His face was far less intimidating in repose, more relaxed. She didn’t usually get to see him this way.
He needed a good long sleep, she knew. It had probably been a very long time since he’d had an uninterrupted, worry-free nap. She thought of all the hours that she had slept while he had sat up through the night making sure they were safe. Letting him sleep now was the least she could do for him.
He must have thrown his blanket off because it was halfway off the couch. In fact, it was about to fall completely on the floor. So she quietly got up out of the chair, tiptoed over to him and leaned over, trying to lay it over him without waking him. But he jerked awake and half sat up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Go back to sleep.”
She straightened, still holding the blanket in her hands. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He looked at the sky outside the window, breathed out a deep sigh and dropped back down on the couch.
“I didn’t mean to sleep so long.”
“It hasn’t been that long.”
“Where is everyone?” he asked as he finally sat up.
“Busy getting ready for tomorrow.”
He scrubbed his hand over his unshaven jaw, then shoved his hair back from his forehead. Without looking at her, he said, “You must be looking forward to that.”
Tomorrow they would reach Lacombe and she would finally be home.
She nodded in reply to his statement and said, “The others have decided to go with us. I’m glad they are.”
Law agreed. “It might be a good idea to stay together.”
Seth, the older of the two children, came into the room. He walked up to Law who was still sprawled out comfortably on the couch. “We weren’t supposed to come in till you were awake,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m awake now,” Law said but he glanced over at Sidra, wondering if those had been her orders. He suspected, by the look on her face, that they had been.
“Letha told us Daddy wasn’t coming back,” the child went on. “So we waited for Thayer to come find us. We waited a long time.” He studied Law openly for a while, then asked, “Are you a soldier?”
“I used to be.” Course technically, Law thought, this was still a war. That meant he was still technically a soldier, if you really thought about it.
“What happened to your face?” The boy was unabashedly scrutinizing Law’s scar now. “Did a zombie do that?”
The other child, the girl, came into the room and right away she joined her brother for a closer look at the scar.
Law wasn’t really sure what kind of answer to give. “It was caused by an accident a long time ago,” he said. “Before there were even zombies.”
“When you were a soldier?” Seth asked.
“Yes, when I was a soldier.”
The girl was still staring intently at the scar on Law’s face. “What’s an axdent?”
“An accident is something that happens when you’re not expecting it,” Law replied.
“Did it hurt?” Seth wanted to know.
Law blinked and stared at the boy. He hadn’t spent much time around children and he looked at Sidra again. “It hurt at the time it happened, but not anymore.”
Both children were nodding gravely as they thought that over. Law stiffened when the little girl reached out to touch the scar. “It feels funny,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
“It’s not polite to do that,” Seth admonished his sister in a loud whisper right into her ear.
“It’s . . . uh . . . fine,” Law said.
“Thayer said he was going to find us some good shoes,” Seth informed him.
They had left the farmhouse because there had been way too many scavs nearby and they had found another house in a small subdivision. There were a few other houses close by.
“That’s a good idea,” Law said.
“Thayer said that if we have to run, we need good shoes. He told us mostly to run away if there was any trouble, so that’s what we did. He told me I should think about taking care of Kesi first, not fighting.”
Law nodded. “That sounds like good advice. You’ve done a good job looking after your sister.”
“Daddy said that, too.”
“Seth pointed to the teeth marks that were still visible on the back of Law’s wrist. “What’s that from? Did a zombie try to bite you?”
“That? No, Sidra bit me.”
Both children turned their faces towards Sidra.
“Why?” Seth asked.
“She thought I was a bad guy,” Law said.
Both children were still looking at Sidra to confirm, or to further explain, this.
“It was dark. I couldn’t see him very well.”
“But you don’t think he’s a bad guy anymore, do you?”
Sidra shook her head. “No. I realized he was only trying to help me.”
They looked back at Law. “Did you think she was a dead when she bit you?”
“No, she didn’t feel like one.”
“What did she feel like?”
It was, perhaps, the first time Sidra had seen Law truly flustered.
“She felt, uh- not like a dead.”
“Did you bite her, too?” Seth asked. “Because sometimes when I was little, I would bite Kesi back when she bit me.”
Law’s mouth had dropped open slightly. After a few moments, he remembered to close it again. He ran his hand over his face. Then he said soberly, “I think I’d have been in real trouble if I’d even thought about biting her.”
When he opened up his eyes, Galton Clune realized that he was lying on the ground. Blades of grass were tickling his lips and his nose. The smell of dirt was strong in his nostrils. He had felt like he was burning up so he had instinctively sought the coolness of the ground. It seemed to have helped some, but he must have been lying there a long time. The sun had moved far overhead in the sky.
He put his hands underneath him and started to push himself up when another spasm shook him. He groaned while he remained there on his hands and knees, feeling like he might collapse entirely. Eventually, he forced himself to a sitting position and sat there swaying a little.
He needed to-
What was it he needed to do?
Oh, yeah. The kid.
He needed to take care of that and he couldn’t let anyone know what he was about to do. He couldn’t let anyone know what was happening to him, either. If anyone knew that he was sick, they would perceive it as a weakness. Then they would exploit that weakness. Even Letha. Wouldn’t she go back to Logan then? Wouldn’t Logan return and resume his position as the alpha dog?
He pounded his forehead with his fist several times in an attempt to clear his brain. Damn. So much to think about. So many secrets to keep.
When he got back to the shed, there was one more thing to think about. He saw only ropes lying on the dirt floor. But no Drew. The kid should be dead by now. But somehow he had managed to cheat the executioner.
Chapter 12
Sidra stopped de
ad in her tracks.
“Is that it? I can go first,” Law offered without taking his eyes from her face.
She didn’t look at him. She just kept staring at the yellow house with the brown shutters.
“No,” she finally answered him. “You don’t have to do that.”
Law kept watching her as she got to her feet. She looked pale as a ghost, but she had obviously made up her mind to do this herself.
He pulled out his binoculars and scanned the surrounding terrain one more time. Then they made their way on foot to the back of the house and the door of a screened porch. Before he could stop her, Sidra opened the door and stepped inside. He followed her. The others were right behind him.
Sunlight filtered dimly in through the screens, settling on the white wicker furniture that was still covered with yellow-flowered cushions. They had to adjust their eyes because the sun had been shining so brightly outside. Law was thinking they should have handled this a lot differently when-
A man stepped out onto the porch. He had come from the house. Four sets of weapons were immediately trained on him.
Law grabbed the back of Sidra’s shirt and dragged her back behind him. He spoke first. “You’ve got about ten seconds to start telling us who you are and what you’re doing here.”
Reeve Madsen, who had been about to put a granola bar in his mouth, lowered it and held his hands out before him. “Just- Just hold on. I’m not what you think. I- ”
A small dark haired woman suddenly appeared in the doorway behind him. As she looked at Law and the other men, her eyes widened with alarm. She hadn’t seen Sidra yet because she was standing behind Law.
“Who are you?” the woman asked.
“He’s with me, Mother.”
The woman’s reaction was immediate. “Oh, Lord in heaven!” she gasped. She looked like she had just seen a ghost.
Sidra rushed past Law and ran into her mother’s arms. For a long time, they held tightly to each other. Both of them had tears in their eyes.
“Oh, Sidra. I thought I might never see you again. But you’re here.”
“Yes, I’m here. Finally.”
“We’ve been so worried. We had no way of knowing what had happened to you.”
“I’m here now, Mother,” Sidra murmured again. Law could hear the deep emotion in her voice. “I’ve been so worried about you both.”
Valora Wycliff held her daughter at arm’s length. She remained silent as she placed a hand over her heart. She seemed a little unsteady at first, and for a moment Law wondered if she was up to the shock of suddenly seeing her long-missing daughter. But she quickly recovered and looked around. “Who are all these people?”
“They’ve helped me get back to you.”
Sidra’s mother looked at Reeve Madsen. “Well, it seems we’ve both been blessed. We’ve had a helper, too.”
Sidra suddenly asked, “Where is Danae?”
“She’s upstairs, lying down,” her mother answered. “She’s not feeling well.”
“Is she all right?” Sidra asked anxiously. “What’s wrong with her?”
They had all seen plenty of cases where someone got sick and it didn’t end well.
“She’s fine,” her mother assured her. “She’s just- ”
The woman’s cheeks flushed and she whispered something in Sidra’s ear.
Obviously relieved, Sidra straightened. She had only one word to say. “Now?”
“Yes, now. Oh, Sidra. She’ll be so happy to see you.”
Danae was curled on her side with her long dark hair fanning out over the pillow. She was completely cocooned in the familiar pink and blue quilt, the one that their mother had lovingly stitched for her daughters so long ago. Sidra sat down on the bed. She reached out and smoothed her hand over Danae’s hair. The touch made her sister immediately turn around.
Danae’s face was pale and thin and there were dark circles under her eyes. In fact, she looked painfully thin.
“Oh, Danae,” Sidra whispered, as she reached for her sister’s hand and folded it in her own.
Her sister’s eyes immediately brightened and filled with tears as she smiled. “You’re here, Sidra.”
“I’m here.” Sidra whispered back as tears filled her own eyes. “Everything’s all right now.”
Law stood at the screen door, staring out over the overgrown lawn, seeing the empty bird feeders and the bare trellises and the unplanted dirt where the garden that Sidra had talked about must have been. There was a fence, a haphazard one, strung across part of the yard. But it would be woefully inadequate at keeping any scavs out. Or any other threats.
He needed some space. There was a lot going on in the house. Sidra was still inside with her mother and her sister. She needed time with them, he knew, and he didn’t want to intrude on what was a private family affair.
He leaned his shoulder against the door frame, staring hard into the distance. He had brought Sidra home again to her family. He had done what he had set out to do. Mission accomplished. So why wasn’t he feeling like he ought to be feeling? Why was he feeling like his whole world was on the verge of being turned upside down.
He tried to tell himself that, in part, it was because there was no reason for him to believe that Sidra would be safe here. He couldn’t just walk away and forget that. It would prey on his mind day and night. Reeve Madsen had been helping her mother and her sister out, but he was only one man. And his story about running off some thieves a few days ago had been anything but reassuring.
The truth was that he was reluctant to leave Sidra for a lot of different reasons. And he wasn’t so sure that if she asked him to stay-
He sighed, trying to come to terms with all that seemed so unsettled inside him. There had to be a reason, a deep reason, for it all.
It’s because, you damned fool, you let yourself get used to having her with you.
No. It was more than that. It was way more than that.
Damn. This was not supposed to happen. How had he managed to get so careless with his heart?
Sidra was sitting at the kitchen table looking at the scribble in a book. It was a child’s handwriting in purple crayon. Her name. She ran her finger lightly over the smooth, waxy letters. She had read the book many times over the years. She’d written her name on the first page the very first time she had read it. It had been a long time ago. In a different time. In a time of innocence.
She was overjoyed at being home again. And yet-
Yet why was she sitting here with such a troubled feeling inside her heart? But she knew she didn’t really have to ask that question. She knew very well what was causing it. The thought that Law, now that he had brought her home, would be leaving her. There was no reason for him to stay. No matter how much she might wish it.
The afternoon had dragged on and still he had not returned. She realized full well that she was waiting for him, that she had been anticipating seeing him walk through the kitchen door. And for a time she had been agonizing over the possibility that he had left without saying goodbye. That he might think it would be easier that way.
As the light in the kitchen grew dim, she was still trying to distract herself and keep from dwelling on it. She looked around the familiar room with all its memories. She hated thinking about her mother and sister surviving all this time alone. It must have been very difficult without electricity or running water or heat. They had obviously been running low on food for some time now. Now that she was here, she would try her best to make it up to them. She would make sure that they wanted for nothing. If she set her mind to it, she would make it happen. No matter how difficult.
She began to idly flip through the book again, looking at the colorful illustrations but not really seeing them. She couldn’t help thinking about Law. What if she never saw him again? How was she going to live with that? From the moment she had met him, she had fought him. But she could not deny any longer that things had changed since then. That she had changed. Deep down, she knew she couldn’
t go backwards. She couldn’t undo the changes. All she did know was that for the rest of her life she would not forget him. She did not want to forget him. He had told her that there were still good things. Well, Law was one of the good things.
She had never felt this way about a man before. She realized that she had let herself get too attached to him. She shouldn’t have let that happen. Not now. Not in this world. She was going to have to get over it. But how?
She had no answer. Maybe she never would have one.
A slight breeze drifted through the open window. The weather was warm and dry now. Gone were the heavy rains they had experienced during the past weeks. But the rain had brought the earth to life again, strange as that sounded in a zombie apocalypse. The unplowed fields were turning green as the days lengthened. The wild geese were returning, too. She had heard them earlier.
She wanted the old days back with all her heart, but another, more poignant longing tugged at her heart, almost crippling her inside. She would work hard, of course, no matter what happened. Her family’s survival depended on it. Only it wasn’t going to be the same without Law.
She hung her head, yielding for a moment to the heavy pull of sorrow inside her. When she looked up again, she saw Law standing in the doorway. Watching her.
He came into the room but he didn’t sit down. He just stood there looking like he didn’t belong. Or maybe he didn’t intend to belong. It was hard to read his emotions.
“Your sister all right?” he asked.
“My little sister is, well, as my mother put it, she’s become a woman now.”
Law’s scowl remained in place as if he didn’t know what she was talking about. Then it dawned on him. “Oh,” he said very quietly.
Sidra closed the book on the table before her and wondered with a deep sense of loss why everything was suddenly so awkward between them. It was as if neither one of them knew what to say to each other. She half expected, no, dreaded, that he would tell her that he was leaving. But he never did. He talked to her for a few minutes about the insufficient food and security situation, and then he left her sitting alone in the kitchen, when the darkness was almost complete around her.