“Mister Cole was so nice,” Rhea added wistfully. “He always let me play with his dog.”
Cheryl drew her bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m so sorry that you had this burden,” she said, looking at Alvin. “These last two weeks must have been so hard for you.”
“It wasn’t great,” the boy admitted. “But at least we managed to keep it up long enough for rescue.”
Calvin clapped him on the shoulder. “Well, let’s get you guys to the infirmary,” he said.
“Can I come?” Rhea asked.
“You know, I bet you and I could have way more fun together than hanging with these old guys,” Cheryl cut in, bending at the waist to smile at the little girl. She held out her hand. “There’s another little girl here about your age, and she has a whole bunch of coloring books and crayons. Would you like to meet her?”
Rhea’s eyes lit up and she let go of Alvin immediately, putting her tiny hand in Cheryl’s. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Theo laughed. “I guess I get my boyfriend back, now.”
“I’ll miss my little barnacle,” Alvin replied with a grin. He helped his boyfriend limp along with Calvin towards the building as Cheryl herded Rhea off with the other kids.
“Oh, Z, Monique wants you to call her,” Cheryl called back over her shoulder.
Zion gave her a little salute of confirmation.
He headed into the communication room and picked up the radio receiver, plonking himself down into Cheryl’s comfortable leather chair.
“Hey, Monique,” he said, knowing that his sister would be waiting for him.
“Hey, Z, how did it go?” she asked immediately.
He let himself relax into the chair, leaning back a bit. “Good, Jeremy’s got a bit of a scratch but we all came out unscathed. Did you get the fencing up okay?”
“Yeah, it’s all up!” she replied, and he could picture her beaming face. “It went up nice and fast, thanks to you guys. They cleared out all the bodies too, so tomorrow morning once it’s light out we’ll be able to fully expand across the block.”
“We, huh?” he asked with a lopsided grin. “You ever gonna come back home?”
She paused, and he heard the smile in her voice as she said, “I will, maybe in a few weeks. I feel like I’m doing a lot of good here.”
“You definitely have a better bedside manner than Wendy,” he pointed out.
She laughed. “I get told that a lot. Did you manage to rescue anyone today? More hands means you might not need me around, after all.”
“Oh I’m running a child labor camp now,” Zion joked, “I rescued like ten kids today.”
“Kids?” She gasped. “Really?”
“Yeah, mostly teenagers but a few younger ones as well,” he replied. “Cheryl’s having a hayday fussing over them. Apparently all of their parents were out at some fundraiser, so we’re going to try to have a look and see if any of them are still alive.”
Monique sighed sadly. “Those poor kids. I hope you all find something.”
“I don’t have my hopes up, but it’s worth a try,” he replied, leaving the unspoken statement hanging in the air between them. If they had been able to bring back their parents, they would have. “But if not, at least this place will be a safe family for them.”
“I have no doubt,” she replied.
“Well, I should go crash,” he said with a groan as he stretched his arms above his head. “Calvin and I get to do our very first zombie conga line tomorrow morning.”
Monique laughed. “Good night, little brother.”
“Good night.”
END
Coming Soon: The action shifts over to Spokane as the major assault on the city begins.
Dead America The Second Week (Book 10): Dead America: Portland, Part 2 Page 7