by M. L. Giles
“Y-Yeah. Sorry. Room two.”
I clicked on my torch, heading down towards the hotel’s main staircase.
Just as I turned a corner on the ground floor and headed down the hallway towards Colton’s door, I spotted Wendy leaning against the wall in the hall, waiting for me.
“There you are,” she whispered. “Come here a second.”
“Why are you whispering?” I asked as we neared each other.
“Colton asked us to be quiet for the sake of people sleeping. Remember?”
“I’m not a fish, Dee,” I groaned. “My memory lasts longer than five minutes. He said don’t wake anyone, not to be a silent ninja. Anyway, I’m just about to go see this Colton now.”
“About that…” She looked at me with worry in her eyes. “Can I ask you a favour?”
I nodded. “So long as you’re prepared for potential disappointments, go ahead.”
“Well, I was going to ask you to tone down the attitude a bit.” She was using an overly girly voice to hide the harshness of her words.
It was starting to piss me off how Wendy and Thomas were both treating me. I could have thrown around the fact that it was because of me we had evaded certain lunatics on the streets and escaped danger several times. Or that it was me who convinced them to come here in the first place! But, no. I decided to be mature.
“Thomas has already—ˮ
“It’s just,” she interrupted me, pissing me off further, “you already made a bad first impression when you were caught behind that desk. It’d be nice if you could make a good impression now, don’t you agree?”
“Fine! I’ll sleep with the guy.”
Wendy shook her head in disapproval. “See? That’s what I’m talking about. Look, just be on your best behaviour, tone down the attitude, and try not to throw your sexuality around, just in case someone important here has issues with gay people. We need you to make a good impression, and all that stuff you did to wind Carl up isn’t going to help us… Are you even listening to me, Grayson?”
“Yes, mom.”
Just like with Thomas, I pushed past Wendy, making my way to door number two. As I approached the door, I heard Wendy give a worried sigh before walking off.
Despite being beyond annoyed by the both of them, I did understand where they were coming from. This was the first group we’d met that didn’t want to either push us away or wasn’t completely mental.
It was an opportunity!
I took a deep breath, put my best smile on, and braced myself to not laugh at the big guy’s ridiculous butt-chin.
Chapter 4
Negotiation.
Meeting the Big Guy.
“What should I say? What do you call the leader of a group? ‘Sir’? Or would that sound too formal?” Instead of knocking on the door to meet Colton, I was stuck there thinking how best to address the guy.
Thomas and Wendy’s talks with me had put me on edge and, truth be told, I didn’t feel like I wanted to be here anymore. There was too much pressure to restrain myself. The problem is that I’m a free spirit, I always have been! It seemed like no one else would ever understand this like my sister had.
I felt alone.
In the past, no one really accepted or liked me for one reason or another. Was that really going to change now? Perhaps I brought this kind of crap on myself… Maybe I was better off alone, rather than surrounded by people I couldn’t be myself with.
“Screw it. I’m here now,” I muttered silently before forcing myself to knock on the door.
Colton answered quickly. His huge body seemed to fill out the entire doorframe – it was a pretty intimidating sight to behold.
“Hey! ‘Bout time,” he said in that deep voice of his. “Come on in.”
I went in, looking around the place carefully. In truth, I was still worried that these people were lunatics, so I was searching for any signs to that extent… Actually, I kind of wanted there to be something, as it would give me the perfect excuse to skedaddle.
His room, which was larger than my one, was lit by three large candles; two in a corner of the room, and one on a small round table between two seats facing each other.
Unlike my room, his didn’t have the trashed look about it. The mirror on the wall above the bed wasn’t in bits, the T.V was unbroken, and the two lamps next to the double bed were dusty but intact.
It seemed like Colton himself had done more damage to the place than any outbreak victim had. Pinned to the wall were two giant, hand-drawn maps side by side, both with arrows pointing to certain rooms and labels stuck to them. Upon a dressing table lay varying pieces of equipment and tools, some of which had damaged the table’s wooden finish. On the floor were a few piles of clothing, mostly army looking gear.
Colton closed the door behind me, then walked past me to take a seat on one of the wooden chairs beside the candlelit table. The poor chair creaked loudly, clearly struggling to support its sitter’s bulk.
“Take a seat.” He pointed to the chair opposite. Quietly, I did as instructed. “Let’s start with a name.”
“You know it already,” I said, perhaps more sternly than intended. Colton squinted his eyes at me, giving me a warning with his gaze alone. “Sorry… Grayson Ryder.”
“Mhm. How old, Grayson?”
“Twenty-something. I couldn’t be bothered to remember after everyone decided to see each other as walking scratching posts.” Truthfully, I knew my age was twenty-six, I just have an issue with being questioned; reminded me too much of the police interviews I was occasionally forced to attend.
“Never heard it referred to like that before.” He smirked. “Where’d you come from? Hometown?”
“Does it matter? Do any of these questions you’re about to sling my way matter? You want to know my religion too? How about marital status? Or if I smoke? What about—ˮ
“Easy now, kid,” he warned, shooting me that gaze again.
I slumped back into the chair, placing both hands up to completely cover my face. “Fuck! Sorry.”
“Is there somethin’ on your mind?”
“Look,” I let my hands drop to my sides, “Thomas and Wendy, they’re good people. I’d rather they be ‘judged’ separately from me.”
Colton folded his huge, hairy arms tightly across his chest. “Why’s that?”
“Because—ˮ I went silent, unsure of the answer to give.
“Jeez! Will you cut the bullshit, please?” Colton looked frustrated. I didn’t blame him. “Right now, you’re just tiptoein’ around stuff, an’ it’s startin’ to piss me off, kid. Say what you wanna say. Go on.”
In a way, it was a relief to hear him say that; to essentially give me the freedom to speak my mind.
“Fine. I’m no good for your group. Thomas was a teacher and, despite his cowardice, the guy is pretty smart. As for Wendy, she can be a pain sometimes, but she can cook, organize, clean, and do anything else you ask her to do. Me, on the other hand…”
“Yeah?”
“…I’m just a thief. I stole for a living and hated living under anyone’s thumb. The only person I gave a shit about was my sister who died last year. I’ll be honest, the real reason I came here was to find out what happened a year ago, not to play nicely in a group with other people.” I stood up, preparing to walk out. “Before I came in here, Thomas and Wendy told me to behave, but I don’t want to pretend to be some ‘nice guy’. I just want to be me. That said, I’ll be taking my leave. Also, your beard is ridiculous. Shave it or grow it out, not both!”
Colton leaned forward, rubbing his stubbly chin with a single finger over the line imbedded in it. I walked away from him, opening the door to leave. Just as I went to exit the room, Colton said something of interest.
“You’re more useful to me than those friends of yours.” I froze on the spot, curious as to what he meant by that. “We got people who can cook an’ clean already. As for a teacher, what good is that these days? It’s you, kid, I’m more interested in.”
> I looked over my shoulder at him. “How did you come to that conclusion?”
“Come back an’ I’ll tell you.”
After a moment of thought, I decided to hear what he had to say. I closed the door, then sat back down on the seat opposite him once again.
“In a normal world,” he began, “people like you would’ve been considered a criminal, one needin’ to be locked away behind bars. But this ain’t no normal world anymore, is it?”
“Gosh, I hadn’t noticed.”
He smiled. “Your friends are just about useful enough to stay here, if they get to work on keepin’ the place goin’. But what I’m lookin’ for right now is folk with special talents. An’ I reckon you got what I’m lookin’ for.”
“Uh-huh… You know this how?”
“Your friends told me ‘bout how you got ‘em outta all kinds of shit. Even Carl mentioned it was your plan that saved his arse.” Colton leaned one elbow on the table, pointing a single finger at me. “That right so far?”
I nodded. “Yeah. So?”
“So, I’m willin’ to cut a deal here.” Colton pointed to one of the two maps on the wall. “That’s St Michael’s hospital. Currently home to Aiden an’ his followers; the ones usin’ fire as their symbol.”
“Ha! Aiden… Yeah, I bet that’s not his real name.” I rolled my eyes.
“It’s not his real name.” Colton turned his head to look back at me, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “How the hell did you know that?”
“Pretty sure Aiden means ‘little fire’. It’s Irish. A distant cousin of mine is— was, called Aiden, also Irish,” I explained. “Anyway, you were saying?”
“Well I’ll be… That’ll explain the name change.” He looked deep in thought for a moment before shaking his head lightly and continuing. “So, yeah, I’ve been tryin’ to get my hands on somethin’ they got.”
It clicked in my head at that point what he wanted. “And you want me to get it?”
He cracked a one-sided smile at me. “You guessed it, kid.”
I examined the map of the hospital. The more I thought about it, the more joy it brought me. This wasn’t the first time in my life someone wanted to hire me to get something for them. In the past, jobs given to me by others often satisfied me more than if I was doing my own thing because it gave me a chance to show off.
Provided the price was right, of course.
“Hmm… You clearly aren’t going to kick the three of us out… So what’s in this for me?” I asked.
“Here’s the deal, you get in there quietly, grab some real important papers on the second floor, an’ you bring ‘em back to me. As for what you get outta this: a safe place to stay, an’ the answers to what happened last year.” Colton re-folded his arms. “Not gonna lie, it’s real fuckin’ dangerous what I’m askin’ for. But—ˮ
“Sounds fun,” I interrupted. “We can make a deal here, provided you accept some extra conditions of mine.”
Colton gave me a look of reserved excitement. “Name ‘em, kid.”
“I’m excluded from all mundane chores. I’ll happily sneak about, scavenging supplies, or looking for stuff if you want, but nothing boring like washing plates.”
“That’s a tough condition… Everyone’s expected to pull their own weight here.”
“Well, you could always find someone else to get in there.” I smiled cheekily, trying to show some confidence in my own abilities. “Although I have a feeling you’ve already tried that.”
“Point taken. Next condition?”
“I can be myself here.” This one was the most important condition to. “I don’t want to have to act warm and fuzzy all the time with everyone, or not be able to speak my mind for that matter.”
Colton laughed. “Prefer it that way, kid. You’re more interestin’ like this.”
“Glad you agree. Next, I want the freedom to come and go as I please. No questions asked.”
He nodded. “Anythin’ else?”
I decided to see how much I could get away with at this point. “Yeah, one last thing. I want you to either shave that beard off or let it grow on your chin.”
“Hmmm.” Colton stroked the side of his salt and pepper beard. “Now you’re just pushin’ it. What’s wrong with my beard anyway?”
“How do I put this gently… It looks like a prickly butt sticking out of a hairy archway.”
Colton let out a bellowing laugh, slapping one hand down on the table in amusement. “Ouch! Now that’s just harsh. An’ here was me thinkin’ it made me look handsome.”
Truthfully, the guy was kinda hot, in a rugged sort of way. Not exactly the type I would normally go for, but if you took away the beard, the butt-chin, and cleaned him up a bit, he wouldn’t look that bad. “I suppose you do look a bit sexy, yeah.”
When I said those words, I remembered Wendy telling me not to reference my sexuality, just in case it worked against us here. Yet here I was, calling the most hetero man I’d ever seen, and leader of this group, “sexy”. Oh boy, did I feel instant regret for my choice of words. Not everyone is as accepting of homosexuals as others.
To my surprise, though, Colton seemed fine with my slip of the tongue. He gave me this playful wink, joking back at me with, “Well now, ‘sexy’, eh? I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. But this beard ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
“Can’t blame me for trying.” I smiled with an arm stretched out, offering my hand. “Do we have a deal?”
He reached out with his beefy arm, shaking my hand with a tight grip. “Deal. I’ll go get a group together. You lot can set off in ‘bout three days. I want you leadin’ the team quietly through the place usin’ that expertise of yours.”
“No offence, but I’d rather go alone. I don’t play well with others.”
Colton shook his head. “No chance, kid. You’ll stand a better chance with more people watchin’ your back.”
“More people, more risk,” I thought.
The next morning (or possibly afternoon, since I can’t be bothered with time anymore), I was woken up by a knocking at my door. At first, I ignored it, but the knocking persisted.
“All right! Sheesh…” I groaned in annoyance while putting on my underwear and shirt. “Who is it?”
“It’s me!” Wendy yelled back, sounding chirpy.
I opened the door. Wendy was wearing a new lime and white floral dress. She appeared in good spirits.
“What do you think?” she asked, doing a slow twirl for me.
“You woke me up just to ask me how you look in a new dress? Seriously?! Go wake your boyfriend up and ask him instead!”
“I did that too.”
I sighed tiredly. “Dee, sometimes you make me glad I’m not straight…”
“You know, I didn’t just wake you up to see my clothes. I wanted to thank you.”
“For?” I yawned.
“Colton said you agreed to help him with a small errand in exchange for us staying here.”
Sneaking into a base of deranged fire fanatics was hardly a “small errand”, but I guessed Colton wanted to keep Wendy and Thomas in the dark about the dangers of the agreement.
I would’ve done the same.
“Great. You’re welcome. Now go away,” I said while slowly closing the door on her.
Wendy held the door open with the palm of her hand. “Wait! Aren’t you getting up? You should see what they have set up here. They’re growing fruit and vegetables nearby! They even have a neat system for catching rainwater.”
“I really don’t care, Dee. I’m knackered.”
“But everyone else is awake! Don’t you want to meet them?” She tried putting on a girly voice, the same one she uses on gullible Thomas.
I kept closing the door, using a touch more force this time. “Nope. Goodnight, Dee.”
“Grayson don’t be—ˮ As the door closed, all I could hear were her muffled words.
Still feeling sleepy, I shimmied over to the bed, got naked again, and dived on in.
/> My body was tired, but my mind was excited. For ages, I kept tossing and turning under the covers. All I could think about was sneaking into that hospital.
For a normal person, I guess the thought of going to a dangerous place, filled with people who could potentially want you dead, would be scary. And, don’t get me wrong here, I was.
But that’s exactly why I started stealing in the first place – the thrill of danger!
Maybe I had gone mad after all. Maybe I was actually mad before my sister died.
The “normal world”, as Colton put it, was a safe place. Boring. Predictable. This new world, however lonely it felt sometimes, was more exciting. All the things I’d seen, the close scrapes I’d got out of, it was how I’d always wanted my life to be.
An adventure, that’s what it was.
Would I go back to the days before people died? Yes, but only for Gloria.
This was why I was excited about my upcoming errand! Because it reminded me of my days before all this started, and because it gave me a sense of belonging that I hadn’t felt since handing money over to my sister to help her out.
There was just one problem that played on my mind: the thought of working with other people.
Groups, teams, gangs, squads, crews, whatever you want to call them, they don’t work – a lesson I had to learn the hard way early on in life.
During my youngest days of stealing, I worked together with my best friend at the time. We were great together, a real dynamic duo! But the first time we got caught, he said it was all my fault, leaving me to face the music alone.
Asshole.
Go forward a few years, to my days in secondary school, and this time I have my own small gang. We were the bad boys. The trouble makers. Thieving little shits (as one teacher so accurately described us once).
Calculators, lunch money, phones, jewellery… didn’t really matter what it was, we did it just to see who the sneakiest shit amongst us was.
One boy, a lanky sod called Eddie, handed me a phone one day. He told me it was his new phone. It was amazing! I remember it had this game on that I loved, so I asked Eddie if I could borrow it for the day.