by V. L. Dreyer
He followed me out onto the landing without a word, and closed the door softly behind him. Before I could say anything, he grabbed me and drew me into a fierce hug. The gesture was unexpected and took me by surprise, but not for long. Michael was not one to stay silent; he was a deeply expressive man, who tended to take things to extremes. Whether he was laughing or crying, he never hid himself from me.
"Hey, it's okay," I whispered, wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders. "I'm fine. Everything is fine. You made it in time."
Michael drew back and looked down at me, then let out a low, deep sigh. "I know – but I almost didn't. I've been kicking myself that I didn't notice when you fell behind. I could have lost you, and never known what happened."
"Better to never know than watch me get torn apart, right?" I answered with my usual dry sarcasm, but the look that he gave me immediately made me regret my choice of words. It was a look of total horror. It took a moment for me to put together what I'd said with what he had seen when Sophie died. "Oh my God, I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry, honey. I-I didn't mean--"
"It's okay," he answered, cutting me off mid-stammer. "I know, it was supposed to be a joke. I'm just… having trouble with this whole situation. I feel so helpless."
"You saved my life once again," I reassured him, gently reaching up to grab his shoulders. "Again and again, you're there for me. Honey, you're the strongest man I know. Please don't doubt yourself like this, because I don't. I have absolute confidence in you. I trust you. You know better than anyone how hard it is for me to say that."
He nodded, his expression softening. "Yeah, I do. It means so much to me to hear you say that. But, still… it's hard to feel in control when you have no idea where the enemy is going to strike from next."
"I know what you mean." I sighed heavily, turning away to stare out the little window at the dark sky, and the ashen ruins of our former home. "I haven't felt like I'm truly in control of my own destiny in a long time. Hopefully, this voyage south will change that. No more waiting."
"It's going to be a hard trip," he said quietly. I felt his warm body come up behind me, and his arms slid around my waist. "For everyone, but especially for the little ones. Do we even know where we're going?"
"No, not really." I shrugged and leaned back against him, drawing comfort from his strength. "I figure that we head for Wellington, and see where the winds take us. We'll stop by that corn field along the way and stock up on food. That'll keep us going for a while."
"I've never been to Wellington," he said, resting his chin comfortably on my shoulder. I shot him a glance, and saw his dark eyes were distant, focused on nothing.
"I have – well, I've been in the area." I nuzzled his cheek and then closed my eyes to think. "It's been a long time. If we stick to the areas that used to be farmland, then we should have an easier time foraging along the road."
"We could find boats, and take the river south," Michael suggested.
I opened my eyes and gave him a curious look, then shrugged. "Maybe. They can't follow our tracks if we're on the river, but the river would only take us part of the way and then we'd be stuck scavenging for trucks in an unfamiliar location. We're heading through Arapuni, so we can check while we're there. I don't want to leave without offering Rebecca and Jim the chance to join us."
"It can't hurt to ask." Michael smiled at me, and gave me a gentle hug. "You know, I can hardly believe how much you've changed since we met."
"For the better, I hope?" I laughed and nudged him in the side.
He chuckled back and nodded. "Of course. I fell in love with you just the way you were, but this person that you're becoming… I love her, too. You're metamorphosing before my very eyes, from someone that was impressive to begin with, into someone truly amazing. Words can't express how glad I am that we met."
"And to think, if it hadn't been for these undead, then we'd never have found each other." I grinned at him, turning within the circle of his arms so that I could drape my own across his shoulders again. "Think we should thank them?"
"Hm, let me think about that." He tilted his head, pretending to think about it, then grinned at me. "Nah, I think we should just keep shooting them."
"Good plan," I agreed, leaning up to plant a kiss on his lips. When we parted, I glanced over his shoulder at the room beyond. "We should probably assign people to the night watch. I was saying to Skye that I think we should have two groups of two, one downstairs watching the door, one upstairs keeping an eye on the sleepers, just in case."
"Sounds good," he agreed amiably. "First shift from bedtime until just after midnight, then second shift from then until sunrise?"
"Yeah." I nodded my agreement. "I think we should try and divide it up between the newcomers and the old – both so they can get to know one another, and so we can keep an eye on them."
"I'll take care of it." Michael smiled down at me, then leaned down and planted a kiss against my forehead. "You worry about organising the journey."
"I don't mind taking a watch," I started to protest, but he just shook his head.
"You're one of the walking wounded today, sweetheart," he rumbled in that soft, deep voice of his. "I want you to rest. I'll be watching over you, so you know you'll be safe."
"Sometimes I think you're way too nice to me." I sighed, lifting a hand to trace the contours of his cheek.
"Do you want me to stop being nice to you?" he asked, raising one eyebrow inquisitively.
"Nah." I laughed, then leaned up and planted another quick kiss against his lips. "To be honest, I've almost forgotten what my life was like before I had you in it. Which is a good thing, because my life was pretty awful before I met you."
"I understand." He drew me back into a hug, and wrapped his arms around me. "Everything happened so quickly, but it feels so right. I've never felt as sure about anything as I feel certain that you and I are meant to be together. I only wish that you'd had a chance to meet Sophie."
"Me too," I murmured, snuggling in against his warmth. "You're just the kind of guy to take home to meet the parents, if you remember that old saying. I think my folks would have loved having you for a son-in-law."
"My dad would have liked you, but I have this sneaking suspicion that you and my mother would have fought like cats." He pulled back and looked down at me, a playful twinkle in his eyes. "I suppose that would have been funny to watch, though. From very, very far away."
"Hey!" I laughed and gave him a playful shove. "You never know, we might have gotten on so well that we'd spend all our time plotting ways to make your life miserable."
Michael groaned. "Don't even joke about that. That's so not funny."
"Yes, it is." I gave him an impish grin, and wriggled my way free of his grip. "Anyway, we should get back to work. You take care of the defences for the night, and I'll sort out our travel plans."
"Yes, ma'am!" He gave me a mock salute, then moved past me and headed back into the living room where the others were waiting.
I followed a few paces behind him, but while he started talking to the group, I headed into the kitchen. There, I found Skye and Elly hard at work, preparing something that remotely resembled food. Most of our fresh food had been destroyed by the fire, but the years had taught all of us how to be resourceful.
"Heyas," Skye greeted when she noticed me. "Dinner's still a wee while away yet. We'll let you know when it's ready."
"Oh, I'm not here about that." I moved the rest of the way inside, and closed the sliding door that separated the kitchen and living room, to cut off the noise the men were making. "I needed to talk to you, actually. Both of you."
"Oh?" Skye shot me a look, her brows raised curiously. "What's up, sis?"
"A couple of things, actually. One at a time, though." I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts, glancing at the stack of supplies wedged into the corner of the room. "You know we're going south as soon as possible. I want you guys to take care of provisioning. You have my permission to rope in an
yone else you need, but I need someone who's in charge to keep things from getting messy. If you're cool with it, I'd like to put you in charge, and have Elly serve as your second-in-command."
"Yeah, sounds fine," Skye agreed, waving a wooden spoon at me. "We're already doing that anyway, so make it official. What else?"
"I need to know if you managed to salvage the radio," I asked bluntly; there was no point beating around the bush where my sister was concerned.
To my surprise, she hesitated. "Um... sort of."
"Sort of?" I raised a brow.
"Well, it's a little melted," she admitted, sounding sheepish. "I can't make it work, but you might be able to. I think it's just the shell that's melted, but something inside must have come loose from the heat. I mean, it's not totally melted."
I muffled a chuckle behind a cough. "Ah, right. Radio's melted. Got it."
"Just a little melted!" she protested. "It's probably still good. I mean, I hope so. It's in with the supplies downstairs."
"I'll take a look at it tomorrow," I answered dryly. "How much bedding did you manage to collect?"
"Not enough for everyone," she said with a shrug. "Some people are going to have to share. I guess we'll just have to get used to getting a little cuddly if we're going to stay together."
"Not for long." I gave her a smile and a wink. "We'll look for some more as we head south. I'm sure we'll find more than we need."
"True." Skye heaved a sigh and stretched. "Is that all? I'm knackered; I just want to get dinner done and curl up to sleep."
"Yeah. Thanks, sis." I waved to her and ducked out of the kitchen again, then went off to begin the arduous task of assigning bedding. I found a mound of it downstairs, and dragged it all up to hand it out. Sure enough, there wasn't enough to go around, but the group was pretty relaxed about being paired off with cuddle-buddies for the night. By the time dinner was served, half the men were laughing and teasing one another, and then they were distracted by food.
I deemed that a good thing, considering that so many of them had lost close friends that day. The longer I could keep them distracted and smiling, the better it would be for everyone. When dinner was served, I sat down quietly on the floor between Skylar and Michael, and ate my serving without a word, lost in my own thoughts.
It was going to be a long night, and an even longer few months as we headed south, but it had to be done. We couldn't just stay here and wait to see what the mutants decided to do next. As hard as it was to accept that it was better to flee than to stand and fight, I knew in my gut that I'd made the right choice for everyone. It wasn't the easy choice, but it was the right choice.
Chapter Six
It took us three days to prepare to leave Ohaupo – three very tense days, and very long nights. Every night, the guards reported hearing strange sounds outside our building, but by dawn there was no sign of anything there. It was unnerving, to say the least. We were all tense and on edge, and it was beginning to grate on everyone's nerves. People were snappish, and more than once I found myself having to step in to diffuse a potential explosion.
On the fourth morning, I woke early with my head nestled on Michael's belly, to the familiar sound of Priya's soft snores beside me. My concussion had healed fine, as had Skylar's, but Anahera was still unconscious.
I lifted my head, careful to avoid disturbing the people around me, and discovered that I was the first one awake in the pre-dawn gloom. It took me exactly three seconds to decide that made it the perfect time to get up and have a quick shower, before we had twenty people all clamouring for the bathroom at once.
As gently as I could, I extracted myself from my cuddle-pile and snuck towards the bathroom, tiptoeing around the sleeping forms of my friends. It was a nerve-wracking trip, but somehow I made it without waking anyone – or so I thought. When I glanced back over my shoulder at the last moment, I realised that Michael had somehow snuck up behind me. He gave me a playful grin and held a finger up to his lips, then grabbed my hand and dragged me into the bathroom.
There were very few moments of privacy with that many people living in such close proximity. Since the bathroom door had a lock, and the shower was one of our favourite spots anyway, it seemed logical. We were quick and stealthy, but it was enough. A brief moment of stolen passion was enough to leave me feeling happy and revitalized.
By the time we were finished, bathed, and dressed, the others were starting to wake up around us. Michael and I went into the kitchen to get breakfast started; one by one, the others dragged themselves out of bed and toddled off to the bathroom to relieve themselves, yawning broadly.
By the time a bleary-eyed Skylar wandered into the kitchen, breakfast was almost ready.
"What's going on?" she asked sleepily. "I thought you guys hated cooking?"
"Well, we need an early start this morning if we want to make it to a secure spot by sunset, so we figured we should get breakfast cooking as soon as possible," I answered, offering her a plate. "My scrambled eggs may not be as good as yours, but they're still food. Eat up."
She started to say something, but all that came out was a sleepy mumble, then she grabbed the plate and wandered back into the living room. I shot an amused glance at Michael, and opened my mouth to crack a joke, but before I could say anything the sound of a voice raised in alarm interrupted me.
Michael's expression turned to one of concern, mirroring my own feelings. The shouting was coming from the upstairs lobby. If something had figured out a way to get inside, then we were all in danger. I turned and ran out into the living room, with him hot on my heels.
A second later, I burst through the door onto the landing, where I found Tane leaning against the windowsill, staring intently down into the courtyard of our old motel. He glanced back when he heard us, and pointed down into the yard.
"I saw someone down there," he explained quickly. "I didn't get a good enough look to know if it was a survivor or one of the undead, though. I just saw a silhouette moving."
"Let's go find out, then," I answered resolutely. I led the way down the stairs to the lower level. At the bottom of the stairs, I banged on the door until it opened, and Hemi's startled-looking face peeked up at me.
"What's the ruckus, Sandy?" he asked, looking tense and wary.
"There's someone – or something – in the motel," I explained, gently shoving my way past him into the office at the base of the stairs. I grabbed my shotgun from its shelf, and led the way towards the exit. Iorangi was standing guard beside it; he took one look at my face, then hastily unlocked the door and pulled away the blockade to let us out. "Thanks. You two stay here. I don't want anything to sneak in while the door's open."
"We've got it covered," Hemi replied. "If you need us, shout."
"Good man. Don't worry, we will." I nodded grimly, and beckoned for Michael and Tane to follow me. I heard their footfalls behind me as I raced down the street towards the corner, and headed for the front door of the old motel. There, I paused and listened for a moment, but I heard nothing.
I felt a soft touch on my shoulder, then Michael leaned past me to point at the sooty ground near the door. A fresh boot-print marred the ash, clear as day, the edges not yet blurred by the breeze or rain. I crouched down and stared at it, then nodded and rose back to my feet. It might have been left by one of the undead, but it was just as likely to have been left by a living person.
Ahead of me, I spotted another boot print on the blackened concrete, then a third and a fourth. They were spaced wide, but an even distance apart. That settled it for me – the infected had an uneven, loping gait, and the prints were too regular for that. Our visitor was a person, and he or she had been running.
I glanced back at the two men following me and touched a finger to my lips for silence. They both nodded in agreement. Lowering my shotgun into a defensive position, I followed the tracks across the soot-stained lobby and out into the courtyard, then followed them up the stairs towards the second level. As quietly as I could, I sl
ipped the safety off my shotgun and brought it up to my shoulder, aiming carefully along the length of the barrel. Without knowing if the new arrival was friend or foe, I chose to err on the side of caution.
The footprints continued along the upper landing, to the door of the room that had been Skylar's. They overlapped one another a bit there, as though the person had paused to look around, then they headed into the room itself. I eased myself down into a crouch-walk as I approached the door, and slid around the corner, ready to fire in a heartbeat.
Then, I lowered my shotgun and stared in surprise. "Ryan?"
The befreckled youth almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of my voice. He'd been standing with his back to the door, staring at the blackened remains of Skye's bed, and clearly hadn't heard me come in.
"Sandy!" he exclaimed. "Jesus, what happened here? Is Skye all right?"
I let out a deep sigh of relief, and eased myself back up to my feet. "She's fine. You gave us a hell of a fright, kid. Where have you been?"
"Just… you know, around." He lifted a shoulder in a vague shrug, and stared down at his feet. "I couldn't face it – I couldn't face her – and I had to run away for a while. Clear my head."
"You have a hell of a nerve to come back here," Michael growled over my shoulder; the tone of his voice almost scared me out of my skin, because it was one I'd never heard him use before. "You left her when she needed you most. You're the worst kind of coward. How dare you come back here, after what you did?"
Ryan flinched visibly and took a step back away from us. "Look, I-I did what I had to do, you know? I couldn't stay here. I needed to—"
"You ran off and left her!" Michael stepped around me, his face a mask of fury. "She almost died giving birth to your child, and you left her! I've half a mind to—"
"Stop it!" I shouted, leaping in to put myself between the two men. I turned to Michael and softened my tone, giving him an appealing look. "Michael, stop. This isn't you. Remember what we talked about? About forgiveness? He's just a kid. Everyone makes mistakes when they're young. Everyone deserves a second chance."