Chapter 2
As soon as Adam lifted his head, Robert rushed over to him. "Are you going to look for Jane today?" he asked. "Are you?"
Adam hadn't had much of a chance to think about what he was going to do today. Yet he had told the boy yesterday that he would. And when he thought about it, it didn't seem like all that bad of an idea.Even if a little pointless.
"Give him a chance to get up," Claire said. She walked over to the little boy and pulled him away.
Everyone else woke up soon after. They met in the middle of the library.
"Are you?" Robert asked Adam again. "Are you going to look for Jane? You said that you would."
"I know," Adam replied. "And I will."
"Really? Today?"
"Today." Adam looked at the others. In line with his own doubts, they didn't look like they expected him to find her, either. "There are other things that we need to think about too," he added.
"Other things?" Claire asked. "Like what?"
"Like food. Now that there are more people here, we're going to run out of it a lot quicker. We'll have to think about finding more."
"Does that mean that we're going to stay here longer?" Shelly asked, excited.
Adam shrugged his shoulders. He hadn't really thought much about it. Though he also hadn't thought much about leaving. The school seemed like a good place for them to stay.At least for a while.
"What about finding more people like us?" Charles asked next. “Other survivors.”
Adam raised his hands to tell everyone to slow down. "Look," he said. "I really don't know what we we should do. But I told Robert that I'm going to look for Jane today. And that's where I'm going to start."
Alice raised her hand, a little like she was a student in class. The old woman hadn't said much since she had arrived, but no one could blame her for that.Her husband had recently been killed. She was doing better than any of them could expect.Adam nodded his head and told her to speak.
"There's a town a little ways back," she said. "We passed it on our way here. There has to be a market in it somewhere."
"How far away is it?"
"An hour or so."
"Did you hear any of the creatures there?"
"No…But we weren't in it very long. Just enough to get through."
Just enough to get through?he wonderedWithout searching?
From the look on all of their faces, he realized that her husband's death had affected all of them. None of them had wanted to look for supplies.
"Okay," he said, "But you think it's safe?"
Marianne answered the question for Alice. "I don't think any place is safe. Only it's better than nothing."
"You're right." Adam took a moment to formulate a plan. "I'll go there after I look for Jane. Just tell me where it is."
"No," Marianne said.
Adam couldn’t hide his surprise. "You won't tell me where it is?"
"No, it's not that. What I mean is that you won't go there after you look for Jane. I'll go now."
"You?"
"And me," Claire added.
"Me too," Julie said.
Shelly glanced around at everyone before turning back to Adam. "I'm going to go with them as well," she said.
"Like hell you are!" Adam replied. He hadn't meant to sound so forceful, but the idea of her out there without him bothered him. More accurately,it scared the hell out of him. He wanted to keep her safe. And if he wasn't around to protect her, he had to make sure that she was in the best place possible. "You're staying here!"
"Why?" Shelly asked. She sounded angry. Somewhat like a child.
Adam had to tell himselfshe somewhat still was.
"Because you need to help Alice and me with the children," Charles answered for him. "We won't be able to do it on our own."
Shelly looked at the old man. The disappointment was clear on her face. She looked about ready to stomp her foot on the floor. Her hands had balled into fists. But when Robert moved beside her and grabbed at one of those fists, her anger started to dissolve.
"You can push us on the swings," Robert said. "I promised Emily that you would."
"You did?"
Robert nodded. Emily smiled.
Shelly smiled back. "Okay," she said. "I'll stay and take you to the playground."
Now that that had been decided, everyone turned back to Adam. He wasn't sure what to say. He was glad that Shelly wasn't going to be out searching for food, but he wasn't all too happy that Claire would be. His eyes caught hold of hers.
"I don't want you to go, either," he said.
"Why not?" Claire asked.
"Because it's not safe."
"Like Marianne said, nowhere is safe."
"What if you get hurt?"
"And what ifyou do?"
"I…" Adam couldn't respond without sounding like a brute. He couldn't force Claire to stay at the school. And he knew that she was capable of taking care of herself. Marianne and Julie were too. His gaze shifted to Scooter. "Why don’t you go with them?" he asked.
"Because I was thinking that I could come with you," Scooter replied.
"With me?"
"Yeah, it'll give us some time to get to know each other. You shouldn't be out there on your own, anyway."
Adam thought about it. He didn't actually mind Scooter coming with him. It would be nice to talk to him, find out more about the newcomers. But that was one less person to take care of Claire.
Claire could see what he was thinking. "We'll be fine," she said. "We'll make sure that we're careful."
Adam knew that he wasn't going to win. "You'll take one of the guns," he said. It seemed like a simple enough request.
"We'll take one each."
Adam couldn't help but chuckle at that. Claire was definitely a force to be reckoned with.
"Good," he said. "One each. And what about you?" He had turned back to Scooter.
"I'm fine with this," the young man said, patting his axe.
"Then that's what we'll do today: you three look for food, and Scooter and I will search for Jane."
"And Shelly will push Emily and me on the swings," Robert added.
Adam chuckled again. "Yes, Shelly will push you on the swings."
Chapter 3
After breakfast, Adam walked to the back of the school with Scooter. They stopped at the top of the ditch and looked down at the dead bodies there.
"What happened?" Scooter asked.
"They were in the school."
"All of them?"
"Yeah."
"It's weird to see them piled up down there."
"It is," Adam agreed.Like garbage.
"Most of them are children.”
"Itwas a school."
"I guess you're right. But…I mean…it's fu…well, it's weird."
"Yeah." There wasn't much more that Adam could say. "You ready?"
Scooter nodded his head and they walked down the hill.
*
As they entered the woods, Adam wished that Scooter had taken a gun. At the time, he had thought that the axe looked good enough. But now, walking in between the trees, he wasn't all that sure.
"You sure you don't want to go back and get one of the guns?" Adam asked.
"No," Scooter said, holding the axe up in front of him. "I'm good with this. And this way I won't accidentally chop you to death with it. I've never used a gun before. So who knows what might happen?"
It had meant to be a joke, but came out a bit flat under the circumstances.Maybe if they hadn't just seen a bunch of dead children who had ripped themselves apart. Maybe if they weren't searching through the forest for a woman who had lost her mind.
Maybe.
"All right," Adam said. "If you say so."
*
It wasn't long before they were deep into the forest.
"It's hot in here," Scooter said. He opened his bottle and took a sip of water. He offered some to Adam.
"That's all right. I'm good for now." Adam had his own bottle.
"Is there anything I should look for? Anything this woman might have left behind?"
"Jane. Her name was Jane."
"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."
"I know you didn't," Adam replied. He was sorry too. Now that he had been walking in the forest for a while, several thoughts had started to come back to him.Jane, Claire, Shelly, his family. But that didn't mean he could take it out on Scooter. "It's just…you know."
Scooter looked as though he didn't actually know what Adam was talking about.And why would he?Adam hadn't been very clear. In the end, he decided not to explain himself any further. He wasn't in the mood to get into it more than he already had.
*
Adam and Scooter stopped after a little while longer.
Adam turned to look at the young man."Tell me a bit about yourself," he said.
"Aboutme?" Scooter replied.
"Yeah, you. Tell me where you're from, what you used to do."
"Well…"
Scooter told him a little bit about his childhood. He explained that his family life hadn't been all that great. Then he said, "I'm a student at a high school. Not a very good one. I mean, I'm not a very good student. The high school is fine."
Adam smirked. He liked the way that Scooter had explained that.
"And I worked at the airport," Scooter continued. "Baggage handler. Nothing glamorous. But it got me out of the house. Gave me some money."
"And that's where you were when everything changed?"
"I wasn't actuallythere at the time. I had been on my way. I just decided to keep going the next morning."
"Why didn't you go home?"
Scooter shrugged his shoulders. It was something he had wondered about a lot. "I told you that I didn't have the best family," he said. "I guess that's why."
Adam nodded as though it was a perfectly acceptable answer.Who was he to judge if it wasn’t?"And that's where you met Emily and Julie?"
"Yeah, the little girl was in an elevator with her father. There were three other people in there with her. They had killed each other."
"And Emily survived that?"
"Yeah."
"But she had had to see it?"
Scooter shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know how much she saw. She said the lights had gone out. I think that's why she survived. But," he scratched his chin, "I guess she heard it all."
Adam sighed.Everyone's story was always so difficult. "Have you seen a lot of the creatures?" he asked next.
Scooter told Adam about the ones he had come into contact with. The few in the airport. The lady from the shuttle bus. Those he had seen when they flew over the city. The ones that had chased them into John's house.
"And then there was the one that killed John," he added. Upset. Every time he thought about the old man, his voice broke.
Again, Adam sighed.So difficult.
"And what about you?" Scooter asked after a moment.
"Me?"
"Yeah, tell me about yourself."
Adam thought about it. He wasn't sure where to begin. "I worked in a book store," he said. "One of those big ones that sell almost everything. And I was trying to write a book of my own."
"You're an author?"
"Not really. I've never been published."
"But you write?"
"Iwrote."
Adam thought about the book he had been writing before the change, the one that he had left in his apartment. He told Scooter about it.
"You just left it there?" the young man asked. "Why?"
"Because I didn't think that I'd ever need it."
"Do you regret that?"
Adam didn't need any time to think about it. "Yeah, I do."
"You remember it though, right?"
Adam nodded.
"And you could write it down again if you wanted to?"
"I guess." It was true, hecouldwrite it again. However, he wasn't all that sure that he wanted to. He didn't have a lot of time to sit down and write. He was too busy trying to find shelter, trying to find food, trying to avoid dangerous people and thosethings. "I just don't know if I'm up for it."
Scooter thought about that for a moment, then turned back to Adam. "What was it about?" he asked.
"They story?"
"Yeah."
Adam's eyes lit up as he thought about the characters he had created and the adventure they had gone on. "It was about a boy," he said.
As they walked, Adam told Scooter the story.
Chapter 4
The women walked along the road leading to the town Alice had mentioned. Backpacks were slung over Claire and Julie's shoulders. Marianne had her purse. They kept their eyes open for any sign of the creatures, yet their ears were focused primarily on their conversation. It had been a long time since either Claire or Julie had someone with similar interests to talk to. Even Marianne joined in.
"How have you been handling things?" Marianne asked once they had drifted off the topic of movies and music. It was a little bit more of a serious subject, but one that they knew was inevitable.
"I've been all right," Claire responded. Then she shook her head. "At least, lately. It…uh…it wasn't so good in the beginning."
Marianne and Julie looked at Claire, waiting for her to continue.
Though Claire was certain that they weren't going to pressure her -or judge her, for that matter - she wasn't sure how much she wanted to tell them about what had happened. It was painful for her to think of Big Mike, and what he did to her.
After a moment longer, she decided not to let that bother her and told them.
"That's fuckin' horrible!" Marianne said when she had finished.
Claire glanced at the woman, surprised. Swearing wasn't something she expected from her.
"Sorry," Marianne said. "It's an expression Scooter and I have been saying. It seems to sum up a lot of things that have been happening."
"You're right about that," Claire agreed.What Big Mike had done to her had been fuckin' horrible.
"How did you get away?" Julie asked.
She told them of how Adam had gotten her and Shelly out of the cage.
"Like a knight in shining armor coming to save a damsel in distress." Julie's voice took on a romantic, dreamlike quality.
Claire knew that Julie was only trying to make light of the situation, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to laugh about any of it, yet.If ever.
"I'm sorry," Julie said, grabbing Claire's hand. "I wasn't trying to make fun of what happened. I shouldn't have said anything."
Claire squeezed Julie's hand back. "Don't worry. I know you didn't mean anything bad by it. And, you know, I should probably try to laugh at it. Not that I think it's funny. But it's better than feeling angry, or wondering if I could have done something differently."
Marianne tutted. "You can't feel guilty about it," she said sternly. "What happened to you wasn't your fault."
"I know. That's why I decided to tell you about it. Though sometimes I wish I could have done more."
Marianne tutted again. "There was nothing you could've done."
"You're right," Claire admitted. "And I did try. One day, I almost stabbed a pen into his neck."
"A pen? Really?" Julie's asked, her voice raising in pitch.
"It was the only thing around. There were a lot of tools, but I couldn't reach any of them. He wasn't all too happy about that." She lowered her head as she thought of what Big Mike had done to her after that.
When she looked back up, Marianne was staring at her with a snarl on her lips.
"If I ever see that guy," the woman said, seething with anger, "I'll punch his fuckin' face in!"
Both Claire and Julie looked at each other. The statement had been such a shock to both of them that they couldn't help but laugh. And it felt good to do so.
Chapter 5
Marianne explained what had happened to her next. She told about her mother, who had changed into one of the creatures. She told them about the pharmacist, Darren, and ev
en her stupid little fantasy of living happily with him. She showed them the pills that she took from the pharmacy.
Julie had already heard most of this before, but she didn't know about the pill. "You still have them?" she asked. "Why?"
Marianne shrugged her shoulders. "There's no reason. I had decided to throw them out a while ago, but I guess I forgot."
"And you don't think about taking them anymore?" Claire asked.
"No, I don't. I don't even think that I wanted to take them then. It was just that everything had been so unexpected, so difficult."
"Then throw them away!" Julie commanded. "Now!"
Without a word, Marianne opened her purse and grasped the little bag of pills. She pulled them out and lifted the over her head. Then she threw them as far as she possible could.The bag arced through the air and came crashing down somewhere in the grass.
"There," Marianne said. "They're gone."
Claire and Julie nodded their approval.
"All right," she continued. "Let me tell you about how I found Buster…"
Chapter 6
Julie was the last to tell her story. She told them about how she had been in the small staff room when everything had changed. She told them how Scooter had come to the door, carrying Emily with him. Then she told them how they had gone looking for an airplane at an old hangar Scooter had heard about.
"There wasn't a plane there," she concluded.
"But you found one eventually," Marianne said. "Tell Claire aboutthat."
Julie described how they had walked to the hangar outside of the city, how they had flown over the city, and how they had come to land near John's house.
"Sounds like Scooter isyour knight in shining armor," Claire said. "Minus the armor."
Julie rolled her eyes. "He got me out of the airport," she agreed. "And I wouldn't have wanted to do any of this without him. But that's about where it ends."
"Because he's younger?"
"No, it's not that. It's…I don't know what it is."
"You never even thought about it?"
"Of course I thought about it. I wasn't even sure if there were any other people left. But…I don't know. He's a great guy. A few problems here and there. Nothing too big. But I don't think we're right for each other."
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