“There’s no internal bleeding that I can tell, but you’re going to have to keep that foot injury hella clean to avoid infection.” She took off to the medicine cabinet on the wall and came back with a tube. “Antibiotic ointment. Apply this twice a day and use clean wrappings every time.”
I took the tube from her outstretched hand. “Thank you. So you think my stomach is okay?”
“Yes, if you had any internal damage, it would have made itself known by now and your blood pressure is normal. Considering what you’ve just been through, that’s a medical miracle.”
I smiled at her joke, but it wasn’t sincere. Such a little thing as being hit in the stomach could’ve killed me if it had landed in the right area. Humans were so fragile …
I thanked Crystal again and left. I made sure to tell the others to head to my condo once they were done being looked over. We would hash out the living arrangement details after that.
Once showered and changed and my foot re-wrapped, I walked into my condo living room to be greeted by Roy and Amanda in addition to everyone else. We said our hellos all while in the back of my mind I was fighting with the right way to tell him about his wife. Maybe I could have Rose do it? I sighed internally. That would be cowardly, plus Rose had no tact. I was saved from my conundrum when the door opened to reveal the others done with their examinations.
“Please tell me I can get a shower in here,” Rose said. “And some clean clothes.”
We split them up into some of the empty condos and gave them spare clothes to change into. Everyone was happy to be rid of the hospital pajamas we had been forced to wear. I was considering burning mine in a metal garbage can later. It would be therapeutic.
By the time everyone was rounded up and squeaky clean, it was time for supper. We showed them the clubhouse where the food was served and tried to give them the shorthand tour along the way. Most weren’t listening, too hungry to care. My own stomach was growling under the bruises. We got our food and sat down with some of the town people introducing themselves periodically.
“Damn, this is much better than the gruel they served at the hospital,” Leo said between huge bites. Rose grunted in agreement. “Even Mac would’ve approved.”
Roy and Chloe’s heads shot up. “Mac was there?” Roy asked.
Everyone was looking at me now. “He pretended to be immune to avoid …” I looked at Chloe. We had never told her about what we had found at the apartments, “… leaving the apartments. But the mercenaries still handed him over to the hospital group. He was bitten and turned while we were there.”
Roy looked down at his plate and Chloe looked like she was about to cry. Amanda already was. This was turning into a great supper. It made me even more apprehensive about telling Roy what I’d found out about Irene. My appetite had taken a nose-dive, but I still forced myself to finish my plate. I needed the nourishment, even if it felt like a lump was sitting in the pit of my stomach at the moment.
John tried to steer the conversation towards the newcomers, asking them about where they had been before they were taken. Most came from rag-tag groups like ours, except for Rose, who had preferred to be on her own. And Lucas refused to participate.
“Can we stay here?” the slow girl asked.
Turned out her name was Brittany. She was sitting right beside Leo and looked like she would rather give up her food than her spot.
“Of course,” John said. “We could always use more hands around here.”
Brittany smiled and nudged Leo with her elbow. He was too busy eating to notice. A pair of hands slid over my eyes.
“Guess who?” Colin’s voice said from right behind me.
“The creepy clown from IT?” I joked. “Or a least some guy with the same hair?”
“Please, that guy wished he had hair like mine,” Colin scoffed as he removed his hands from my eyes. I sat up and gave him a hug. “All right, Mom. That’s enough, you’re embarrassing me in front of my friends!”
I rolled my eyes. “Still a brat, I see.” I looked him over. He looked as tired as I remembered him. I would have to have a talk with him about what Oscar had revealed, but in private.
“Nice shiner,” he said.
“Thanks.”
After supper, most people just wanted to get some sleep that wasn’t in a cell. Brittany practically dragged Leo to the condos. I shot him a wink and he turned red in the face. Rose followed after them, muttering about how she wasn’t looking after no baby.
Another round of hugs from my friends ensued and I finally had to shove them away in the name of sleep. I was exhausted.
The next day I woke up disoriented, still half expecting I’d be unable to leave the bedroom. I was giddy when the doorknob unlatched, and I walked into the living area with a smile on my face. It faded when I spotted Roy reading an old paperback, sipping on a cup of coffee. I had to tell him about Irene.
“Mmm, coffee,” I said as I made myself a cup of instant. “Where’s Amanda?”
“She went with Chloe to help with collecting eggs. Why?” Roy asked.
I sat down at the island on a stool. “I have something to tell you about Irene.”
The cup fell from Roy’s hand and shattered on the fake hardwood. Black coffee spread over the light flooring like it was devouring it. He ignored his mess and asked, “What is it?”
His eyes bore into mine, shrinking my confidence. I had to tell him, but I really didn’t want to. Didn’t people say ignorance was bliss? I took a deep drink of my coffee. It burnt my tongue a little on the way down.
“She had been at the hospital,” I said slowly, carefully. Obviously she wasn’t here now and that had to tell him how the rest of the story went.
“You saw her?” He got right in front of me.
“No, I didn’t.” I placed a hand on Roy’s shoulder. It was tense. “Rose told me that she died before I arrived there.”
Roy seemed to collapse on himself, and he had to put a hand on the counter to balance himself. “You … you sure it was her?” His eyes were unfocused.
“Rose said her name was Irene. And you said the mercenaries took her because she was immune and that hospital is where they dropped all the immune off at.”
“Maybe it was a different Irene,” Roy mumbled.
I didn’t say anything, I just let him soak up the news. Instead, I grabbed a handful of paper towel and cleaned up the coffee he had dropped.
“It might not have been her,” Roy said suddenly, and I jumped from the startle.
“You can talk to Rose. She was Irene’s roommate. Maybe she can describe how Irene looked and then you can be sure.” I’d have to get to Rose first to tell her not to mention that Irene had hung herself, though.
Roy bobbed his head. “Which one was Rose again?”
“How about I take you to her?” I suggested.
“Okay.” Roy looked so small and defeated.
I chugged the rest of my coffee and led him to Rose and Leo’s condo. There wasn’t much choice because Roy stood at the door like a puppy waiting to go outside. It was sad to see him look so lost. I was fidgeting the whole walk over, while Roy moved like his legs were made of stone. Was telling him the right thing to do? It would save him from risking his life for a ghost, but maybe hope that she was alive was what kept him going. I wanted to pull out my hair from the stress.
I knocked on their front door and Rose answered quickly. She had her own full cup of coffee in hand and wore a big smile.
“Can’t remember the last time I had coffee. It’s heaven!” Rose exclaimed.
“Uh, can we come in?” Rose must have sensed my mood because she turned off the happy face and let us in. “Rose, can I talk to you for a second?” I pointed to the hallway.
She nodded. I turned to Roy and told him to hold on for a minute. He barely acknowledged me.
When we were out of earshot, Rose said, “He slow or somethin’?”
“No, that’s Irene’s husband.”
Rose’s mouth fel
l open. “No shit? Why’d you bring ‘im here?”
“He doesn’t quite believe that it’s the same Irene as his wife, so can you describe her to him?” I said, then quickly added, “without mentioning how she died.”
“If he asks, what should I say?”
“Make up something. Like she died in an experiment, so he knows she’s dead, just not by her own hand.”
“All right, but truth has a way of gettin’ out,” Rose said.
“Yeah, but he doesn’t need that right now,” I insisted.
We walked back over to Roy. “So what can I do for you, Roy?” Rose said.
I glared at her for using such a casual tone. She knew exactly why we were here.
“What did Irene look like?” Roy asked in a small voice. He wouldn’t look up from the floor.
“She was a brunette with iron straight hair, I think,” Rose said, “um, she was about as tall as you.” Rose pointed at Roy and then had to stop to think. “Ah, she had been bitten on the left hand. She’d cry about her kids all the time. She mentioned an … Amanda?”
At that Roy let out a sob and Rose flew back like she had been shoved. She gave me a pleading look that said, “Get him out of here.” Roy continued to cry and I placed a hand on his back. This was awkward. Despite the looks Rose was giving me, I let Roy cry it out. There were no tissues so I gave him a hunk of paper towel from the kitchen to cry on.
It was odd to see a grown man sobbing uncontrollably, but I wasn’t going to hold this against Roy. I felt like I had just pulled the rug out from under him. Like I had just destroyed his hope. I should have just let him keep searching for her… Roy sniffed a couple times and looked up. He opened the front door and took off in a brisk walk. I followed after him afraid that he would do something stupid. He walked back to our condo and all the way to his room.
I watched from the hallway as he threw his bags about. Finally, he found whatever he had been looking for and sat down at the bed. It was an old photo. I slowly approached him and peeked at the picture. It was of their family. Roy and Amanda and one adult female and another young one.
“That’s a beautiful picture,” I said quietly.
“It was from last Christmas,” Roy said. “How am I supposed to tell my daughter?”
“I don’t know, Roy,” I said. I’d had a hard enough time struggling to tell him. “You can tell her when you’re ready. It doesn’t have to be right now.”
“You’re right.” He continued to stare at the photo. “Maybe then we can have a little service for Irene.”
“That’s a lovely idea. I’ll help with whatever you need,” I offered.
Roy looked up at me. “Thank you. Do you mind if I have a moment alone?”
“Of course.” I wanted to tell him to not do anything stupid, but I held my tongue.
I left him alone and closed the door behind me with a small prayer that he would be okay.
Chapter 13
The rest of the days was like trying to herd cats. It was impossible to find everyone as they had taken off exploring Hargrove before we could gather them. Henry and the other elected council people were currently coming up with options on how to deal with Wyatt and the other two. When I had first gotten dressed and joined everyone, Henry had made a point to come up to me.
“I just wanted to say how sorry I am that you had to go through what you did,” Henry said solemnly.
It was nice of him to say, but really he had no idea what had happened. He was only judging based on our injuries. Not all injuries were visible.
“Thanks,” I said. “But speaking of that, what do you guys intend to do with Wyatt?”
“Not sure yet, but we’ll come up with some ideas and let everyone have a vote later.” He briefly laid a hand on my shoulder and smiled, then took off back to the condo where their meeting was being held.
I had a sinking feeling that they would all be exiled like Byron. One person didn’t stand a chance out there by themselves, but if all three got to leave together, they would more likely survive—which would defeat the purpose of the punishment.
Trying to ignore my unease, I continued walking to the clubhouse for breakfast. Maybe some of the newcomers had ended up there.
Indeed, most were inside eating. Rose stopped me as I was leaving the buffet line.
“That guy Roy okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know. He just found out his missing wife is dead, so no. But I don’t think he would do anything stupid. He’s still got one daughter to care for.”
“Bailey, this place is great,” Leo said as he approached us.
“Now it is,” I said.
“What’re we expected to do here?” Rose asked.
“Well, if everyone hadn’t taken off this morning, we would have explained. Everyone will either pick a job or be given one—eventually.”
“I saw some small gardens. I’d like to volunteer for that,” Rose said.
I held up my hand. “I’m not the one to talk to about that.” I put my hand down slowly. “Actually, I’m not sure who decides that now that Wyatt is out. Probably the council?”
“Some help you are.” Rose smirked.
“Hey, I’m sure I could put in a word and have you cleaning up after the farm animals if you’d like.”
Rose’s smirk faltered. “Really funny.”
I waggled my eyebrows and headed towards the table John was at. He was currently trying to slowly mouth something to George while Chloe and Amanda watched curiously. When I approached the table, George turned to give me a smile and wave.
“Hey George, how are you liking it here?” I asked slowly.
He took a bite of his breakfast and gave me a thumbs up.
“I was tryin’ to explain the job situation to George,” John said. “I also tried explainin’ it to that guy Lucas, but he just brushed me off and left the clubhouse with his food.”
“Yeah, he’s not the friendliest person I’ve ever met,” I said as I took a seat and faced Amanda. “Has your dad come in for breakfast yet?”
She gave me a puzzled look. “Yeah, he’s right there.” She pointed to the long food line. Sure enough, Roy was waiting in line. He must have come in after me. I sagged against the back of my chair. Thank God he hadn’t done anything stupid. Now John gave me a strange look, which I waved off.
We finished eating and sent the girls off to their little school lessons. John started rallying up the newcomers and telling them to meet at the front gate when they were finished. I guessed he would be giving the orientation.
It took a good hour, but everyone eventually sauntered over to the front gate, except for Lucas. That wasn’t a surprise. I would have to hunt him down later.
John got right into it. “All right everyone. By now you’ve had some time to see a little bit of Hargrove and as you’re probably already aware, most people have a job. What I want you to do is to spend the day lookin’ around even more and see if there’s a job you’d be interested in. Once you come up with a few ideas, we can run ‘em by the council.”
There were murmurs, especially from Brittany who insisted that she and Leo get the same job. Leo didn’t look pleased with her declaration.
“What if we already know what we wanna do?” Rose said, cocking out a hip.
“Then I say still take the day,” John said firmly.
Rose stared him down, but eventually gave in. When the newcomers dispersed to follow John’s orders, he walked up to me.
“That Rose lady is sure … somethin’,” he said absently.
“Nope.”
John tilted his head to the side. “What?”
I shook my head. “Never mind.” I was being petty. “How long do you think the council will take?”
“They’ve turned into a bunch of indecisive bureaucrats, so the rest of the day,” John groused. “We’ve gone from one guy making quick, but bad decisions, to a bunch of random people takin’ forever to come up with good solutions.”
“The price you pay for dem
ocracy, I guess. Speed,” I said.
It turned out John was right. The council had spent the entire day debating on the outcomes to vote for. The vote was held in the clubhouse during supper to ensure people got a vote. They even let the newcomers have a vote. When it was all said and done, the majority again voted for exile. More than a few huffs were given when the announcement was made.
The decision was to send them out, one by one, starting in the morning. They were not to be given any food or water, though. Rose came up to me with a scowl on her face.
“What if they come back with weapons and such?”
I didn’t like the outcome either. How had they spent an entire day debating this? Too many people trying to get their opinion in and heard.
“I don’t know, Rose.” I sighed. “I don’t like it either, but it’s what the majority agreed on.”
“They should just shoot ‘em in the head.”
“You gonna volunteer for executioner?” I said.
“You seem like you’d be a good fit.” I froze at her words.
“Fuck you,” I snarled and walked away from her.
Was that how she saw me? I only did what I had to in the hospital to escape. Except for going back for Amelia. That had been personal, but I was never given the chance to kill her as she had taken her own life. I had only killed when it had been necessary. Or was that just something I told myself to make me feel better about it? What about the guard I had stabbed repeatedly? Or the one I had killed while he begged for me to not shoot him?
I had wanted to kill Byron, but John had stopped me. If John hadn’t been there, I probably would have killed the murdering asshole. In the end, would Byron and I be that different? He killed for his own sick enjoyment.
Did I enjoy it?
The fact that I had to ask myself that, sent a shiver up my spine.
Chapter 14
I spent the rest of the day avoiding people and drowning in my own head. Obsessing about how many people I’d killed and how easy it had become was starting to take a toll on me. I rubbed at my eyes and propped down in the lawn chairs behind my condo, continuing to stare at the tall brick fence separating us from the outside. It was getting dark as the sun set for the night.
This Would Be Paradise (Book 3) Page 9