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  “Nice to meet you al,” John’s wife Judy said while stirring the contents of a large stock pot. She quickly wiped her hands on a towel and held out a hand in greeting. She was a tal frail looking lady. She had a friendly demeanor, but there was a sadness about her, which would probably be a common characteristic of anyone we would meet from now on. I thought for a moment that we probably appeared the same way.

  Our tour then led us to a smal courtyard area where young teen aged kids played hacky sack under the watchful eye of a girl that looked to be about my age. She was pinning clothes up on a line to dry. John introduced her as Norah and she kindly tilted her head at us. She had long red hair that was wrapped up into a frizzy braid. Her freckled face hinted at a former beauty, but the obvious lack of food made her cheek bones stand out. I wondered what she looked like before everything happened and imagined how much prettier she must have been with a ful round face.

  “This is Norah. She helps maintain this garden here, I’m sure she could use some extra hands if one of you four is wiling,” John said rather quickly, obviously not wanting the introduction with Norah to last for very long.

  “Helo everyone. I’d always accept some extra help.”

  It was apparent how exhausted she was as she propped the empty laundry basket onto her boney hip and caled out for the kids to folow her inside. They obediently folowed her orders, and just before Norah slipped into the kitchen Carter announced that he would help her. I felt Taya stir next to me and was sure she didn’t much like the idea of the two of them spending time together.

  Norah nodded with a slight smile, which I would later discover irritated Taya immensely.

  “That’s nice of you Carter, but that’s mainly a woman’s job around here.” John commented.

  I wasn’t sure if that statement offended Carter or not.

  “I don’t mind. I’ve been known for having a green thumb,” Carter said. I then realized that he realy wanted to an opportunity to talk to Norah and get her opinion on what was going on. It usualy was the case that the person that seemed to not fit in with the crowd was the one who knew the most.

  “He could probably do wonders for your zucchini plants over there.” I added to make Carter’s claim more convincing.

  John eyed us suspiciously for a moment and then directed us back into the building, leading us to our room. A woman quickly retreated upon our entry after having added an extra cot for us to sleep on.

  “Alright, this can be your room. We don’t have much, but we have plenty of blankets and…looks like Sherry brought you some towels and soap, so you could clean yourselves up.”

  “Oh my gosh a shower!” Taya squealed as she ran to snatch the bar of soap off a nearby table.

  John smiled at her childlike antics and then continued. “I believe dinner wil be in about thirty minutes, so there is time for you al to get cleaned up. Alright then, I’l let you get to it.” He left the room closing the door behind him.

  “Do you guys remember where the bathrooms were?” Taya asked already with soap and towels in tow.

  “Just hold on Taya, I don’t think any of us should be going anywhere alone,” Carter said.

  “I am just going to shower, what’s the big deal?”

  “We don’t know these people very wel yet. Listen, I’l go with you ok?” I said.

  Carter silently mouthed the words thank you as we left the room. I had to admit to myself I was rather excited about the idea of a shower. I was sweaty and tired from the long day of driving and I wanted to wash away the stresses of the day. However, what awaited us in the bathroom was far from what we had expected.

  Chapter 9

  Of course, a city hal building wasn’t going to have a proper shower. It appeared that they had turned the handicap stal into a makeshift shower. The toilet had been removed and a hole had been made into the plaster wal to hook a shower head into the water line. We took turns showering, while the other stood guard at the door and I let Taya go first.

  “Hey Abby…” Taya caled from the shower. “Why do you think Carter wanted to help with the gardening so bad?”

  “I think he wants to question that Norah girl. She seems to have a different view point then everyone else here.” Taya didn’t have a response to that.

  “Did you see that door Roger and that other guy were guarding?” She asked.

  “Yeah, that I was a little curious about. I can’t image what they could possibly need to guard like that.” During our tour we had walked down a halway that had a large security door bolted into the frame. The two men who had “greeted” us at the front gate guarded it and when Max asked what they were doing John wouldn’t answer. John said it was private business and we need not worry ourselves about it, which only made us more concerned.

  “Maybe they have supplies they don’t want anyone to steal.”

  “No, that can’t be it. Besides if someone were going to steal they wouldn’t get very far would they?”

  “No, I guess your right.”

  I thought more about what could be behind that door, while Taya finished her shower leaving me very little warm water. The water quickly turned cold, but it stil felt good to be clean. I quickly ripped the bandage off my shoulder, and tried to gently rub soap on the wound. It looked better than it felt. After getting as clean as I could and wrapping myself in a towel I walked carefuly out of the stal across the slippery tile floor, only to find that Taya had left me alone. I should have known it was getting too quiet.

  I cursed her under my breath and quickly got dressed. Rummaging through my bag on the floor I found a brush and got to work on my hair until I was able to put it into a proper ponytail. I stared at my reflection in the mirror for a moment and found that I did look a bit better, not so sleep deprived or zombie-like, even though I stil felt like it.

  Walking out of the bathroom with bag in tow I ran right into Roger. “Oh sorry.” He leered at me and I got this sneaking suspicion that he had been lurking around and worried if he had been in the bathroom with me without me even knowing it. I quickly retreated and found our room, shutting the door firmly before resting my back against it.

  “These people are fucking creepy,” I said.

  “I’l agree with you on that,” Max said, startling me.

  I considered teling him about Roger hanging around outside the bathroom, but I knew Max would go ape-shit and probably cause a very unwanted scene.

  “They are hiding something, I just don’t know what.”

  “I’ve been thinking the same thing. There is just something about this place that makes my hair stand on end.” Max nodded and took a seat down next to me. Seeing my wound visibly under the strap of my tank top, he sighed loudly.

  “Abs, you should keep that thing covered. At least until it heals a little more.” Max quickly bandaged up my shoulder and topped it off with a kiss for good measure.

  “Max, I don’t wanna stay here for very long.”

  “We won’t. We should stay here for the night at the very least and leave first thing in the morning. I know Carter wil agree with that. If he wants to get information from that Norah girl, he is going to have to work fast.”

  Max and I embraced each other before heading to the dining hal, for what we both were certain would be a very interesting dinner.

  Carter had managed to seat himself right next to Norah, and she politely nodded at Max and me as we walked in. Taya on the other hand, sat on the other side of Carter with a scowl firmly affixed to her face.

  Max and I took seats across from them and although everyone seemed to be in cheerful moods, I stil felt like everyone was watching us. My grip on Max’s hand tightened as John rose from his seat to announce our arrival and welcome us. There were new faces that I had not remembered seeing while on the tour, but they looked friendly enough. I just couldn’t help but notice that no one seemed to want to make eye contact with John. Did they seem to shrink back whenever he spoke to someone, or was I just being paranoid?

  “Quiet
down everyone. I would like you al to welcome the newcomers to our group, to our family. I know I speak for al of you when I say that we are happy to have you stay with us. These are dark times and we al must stick together to find the light. We must al be wiling to work together to find whatever smal bits of peace are left in the world. So let us raise our glasses to this blessing of finding felow survivors, and new friends.” Everyone raised their cups and spoke quiet amens and praises for our safe arrival to them.

  “So Carter… Taya tels me you saved her from three of those demon birds. Is this true?” John said.

  “Uh…yeah.” We were al a little confused as to when Taya was able to tel him anything. “We al saved her. We didn’t do anything that anybody else wouldn’t have done.”

  “Very true, boy. That is my very point. We must be wiling to risk anything to destroy these demons. To save any lasting pieces of humanity we have. That is a very difficult lesson for some people to learn. Even with the state the world is in, not everyone is wiling to help those in need.” A dribble of drool started to rol down John’s chin and he wiped it off with the back of his hand and continued. “I hear you also have yourself a dictionary of some sort? With information about these…demons?

  We al shot Taya a penetrating glance, as Carter recovered. “Yes, I have been cataloging information about the demons.” The room broke out in sudden chatter as people expressed their shock and fear. “Only to discover their weaknesses. To defeat them, we must understand them.” The people calmed down at this and John raised his hand to calm everyone down. I was quickly discovering that John was the ringleader of this group of survivors, but it seemed so much like people were afraid of him. His voice was kind and welcoming, but there was something crazy in his eyes

  “Great minds think a like then. You must have some very valuable information to have made it so far. Later tonight, you and I wil talk. I’m sure we could learn a great deal from each other.”

  Carter agreed and everyone went on with their own conversations. John walked from table to table, in what would have looked to be a courteous host, but appeared more to be an act of a watchful guard dog.

  “Abby…” Max whispered into my ear as we finished eating. “I’m going to go with Carter tonight, keep an eye on him. Can you watch Taya?”

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” Taya spat almost too loudly.

  “I didn’t say you did, now ssh! I want you two girls to stick together tonight. This dude is freaking me out, he’s got some cult going on here, or something, and I don’t want us to have any part in it. Some of these people seem genuinely afraid of him and his two goons, and I am not even sure that Judy lady is his wife. Just look at her, she is frozen stiff. She won’t even look at him.”

  I looked over at her and he was right. Judy was sitting, sunken into her seat, obviously trying to make herself invisible. Her eyes were red and puffy and as she reached to clean up John’s dishes I noticed something stick out underneath her shirt sleeve.

  “Did you see that?” I asked Max and Taya.

  “Yea, it looked like a bandage,” Max answered. “They are around her wrists, you don’t think…?”

  “Maybe… a lot of people can’t handle it, or would rather do it themselves than wait for a demon to kil them and do who knows what with their body.”

  “What are you two whispering about?” Taya asked, obviously not catching on.

  “Judy, she has bandages on her wrists.”

  “John says she is depressed. They lost their son during the last attack.”

  “How do you know that?” I tried to shout and whisper at her at the same time.

  “John told me. I ran into him walking back to our room after showering. He asked me some questions. Look you two, he seems nice.” She pleaded.

  “You mean when you ditched me while I was showering? You were suppose to watch the door while I was in there Taya.”

  “Sorry. I wanted to talk to Carter before he got in here for dinner.”

  “Thanks a lot, you left me there for sausage neck over there to snoop on.” I almost pointed my finger at Roger, but quickly retracted my hand.

  “What?” Max questioned raising his voice.

  “Don’t worry. I’m not certain he did anything, he was just creeping me out.”

  “Why didn’t you tel me Abs?”

  “Cause I didn’t want you to freak out. Look there goes Carter, why don’t you go with him before John catches up with him.”

  “Fine. Just promise me you are going to be careful.”

  “I promise.”

  Max cupped his hand to my face and then quickly but casualy left the room after Carter, heading for the courtyard I guessed. I saw Taya’s expression looking at where Carter and Norah had just left the room and sighed loudly at her.

  “Taya, snap out of it. Now is not the time to be jealous.”

  “What? I’m not jealous. I know he is just using her for information.”

  “Whatever, let’s go back to the room.”

  Making our way out of the room and into the halway I saw out of the corner of my eye Judy sitting alone. She was curled up into an armchair holding a steaming cup of something.

  “Judy?”

  “Oh, yes, hi dear. Do you need something?” Her eyes were kind and did not hold the faint madness that I found in John’s eyes.

  “No, um, I just was wondering if you were ok.”

  “Ok as can be expected.” There was awkward silence, but I truly felt sorry for the lady. She had just lost her son and was obviously have great difficulty dealing with her grief.

  “See Abby, she’s ok,” Taya said as she puled at my hand. I hesitated for a moment, trying to think of something to say but nothing came to mind. Judy just sat there, holding a cup in hand and taking smal sips of the steaming liquid.

  As we walked back into the halway, I thought I faintly heard Judy say be careful, but I wasn’t certain. When we made it back to the room, I had to listen to a ful account of Carter’s conversation with Norah and how Taya didn’t think Norah was pretty at al.

  “I mean she dresses like a total prude. Did you see that shirt she was wearing? It’s the middle of summer!” I wasn’t realy listening, but tried to time my mhm’s and uhuh’s at the correct time until she eventualy talked herself to sleep. To pass the time I packed up al of our bags and even stole the bars of soap John had given us for good measure. Then I sat on the floor by my cot and cleaned my shotgun. Realizing that the last time I had done it was before we left home. The familiar procedure was therapeutic and brought back memories of my father teaching me. He taught me how to shoot, how to aim, and even timed me on my speed for assembly.

  Even though Taya was in the room with me, sleeping in her cot, I felt utterly alone as hot tears burned my eyes. Every burning drop that I had been holding back, came pouring out and I silently wept while reassembling my shotgun.

  When the water works had finaly stopped and I regained control of my emotions, it was pretty much impossible to sleep. I looked at my watch and it was almost one in the morning and neither of the guys were back yet. I tried to be patient and decided I would try the smal radio that Charlie had given me. I puled it out of my bag and turned it on only to hear static on every station. Feeling frustrated and afraid for the guys I fought the urge to throw something against the wal.

  I was realy starting to get worried and wanted to go look for them, but I didn’t want to leave Taya alone, so I decided to wake her. I crossed the room to where she was sleeping, and shook her shoulder, probably a little harder than I had meant to, but I was anxious and worried.

  “Taya you gotta wake up.”

  “What? Why, what’s going on?” Her lids were stil heavy over her eyes and dark streaks ran down her face. I guess I wasn’t the only one, who felt the need to cry that night.

  “They aren’t back yet. We need to go find them.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Almost one. Carter and Max should have been back ages ok. We need to go.
”

  At the thought of Carter being missing Taya leaped out of bed and sprang into action. She was ready to go even before I was.

  “You got everything?” I asked almost out of breath just from the rush of anxiety that was coursing through me. Taya nodded her head and latched Carter’s bag onto her back. I heaped my duffel bag onto mine, it felt awkward but at least it wasn’t heavy.

  We stepped gingerly out into the dark halway. It was total darkness except for a faint glow emitting from a room at the end of the hal.

  “Wait, Abby.” Taya tugged at my arm and puled me against a wal. “Isn’t that the room they were guarding? Maybe we shouldn’t go in there, what if they are just outside talking with Norah stil?”

  I could tel Taya didn’t realy believe what she was saying, that she was just afraid of what we were going to find in that room.

  “Taya, look around you. This place is a crypt, there are no lights anywhere else, except that room. If you are too scared then take this stuff to the Bronco and wait for us there, but I am going in there and getting my brother and Max.”

  I tried to stay light on my feet as I made my way down the hal. When I got to the door I could hear voices muffled, but not wel enough to make anything out. I swalowed my fear and leaned my face onto the crack of the open door. I was expecting another office or room of some sort, but instead it was a lit stairwel, leading down into what must have been a basement. I looked back as the sliver of light from the door iluminated the halway. I saw Taya stil struggling to decide what she was going to do, and then she silently made a quick jog to my side.

  “Ok, let’s do this.”

  I thought about it for a moment, and decided we had better leave our bags behind, so we deposited them along the wal just outside the doorway. If we needed to make a quick escape we could grab them on the run. I worried that the door might creek so I opened it just enough so that we could slip in. I took my knife out, even though I favored my shotgun, but I knew we were in close quarters in a basement and I didn’t want to risk hurting the guys.