Ch. Eighty-Four

"Wait," Aaron said, arms crossed over his chest, green eyes narrowed against the sun. "Just, back up a minute. Half the supplies I get. What do you mean about half the people?"

As soon as Shane and I had returned to the fort, we'd rounded up the usual suspects and were now all clustered around Shane's truck. I'm sure we looked fairly suspicious, constantly glancing over our shoulders and muttering to one another. 

But the strangeness of what Shane and I had seen sort of warranted our behavior, don't you think?

I shrugged from where I was sitting cross-legged on the lowered tailgate. Vik sat next to me with her legs dangling toward the ground, Sacha on her other side.

Shane was a little behind me, crossed arms propped on the side of the truck. I turned slightly to look at him, but the only answer I got in turn was a shrug from him. My call.

So turning back to Aaron, I said, "Don't know. I mean... not really." I looked at Shane again. "We didn't exactly stick around to get welcomed to the neighborhood, you know?"

Aaron gave me a droll look. I returned it for a moment before finally relenting.

"We heard them say that if Dad had found any people, that he was supposed to send that group half."

"Half of the people?" Danny clarified, slender fingers playing with the golden cross at her neck, sliding it back and forth along the delicate chain.

I nodded, troubled by the very idea. What did they do to enforce that? 

Did they just sweep in during the middle of the night, ripping families away from one another? Did they play nice and make any new people feel comfortable and welcome before they took them away from one another? The horror of that vision danced behind my eyes, making a savage feeling stir deep in my chest. 

I kept looking at the other people in the fort, searching for any evidence of that. But everyone looked so relaxed. No one seemed angry, or like they had been separated from their loved ones. 

Later I learned why. But that wasn't until things started falling apart.

Realistically, I knew my father had already lied to the other group, and so obviously had no intention of doing any such thing. To us.

Emotionally I came to the realization that I would cut you and my father loose long before I ever allowed anyone else to be taken away from me. 

Another glance behind me revealed that Shane shared the same dark feelings as I did. 

Cassidy made a small hissing noise, like a ticked-off cat. She glanced past Aaron, looking for any eavesdroppers before she muttered, "We're not staying here." Her dark eyes flickered between me and Shane, before darting around the rest of our circle. "Right?"

"Right," Shane said on a sigh. Kyle nodded firmly, Danielle and Aaron trading looks of relief. 

There was the sound of shouting, making the four people in front of me all whirl around toward the gate as it creaked open. A familiar Jeep rolled through, and the others turned back again. All I could give them was a grim-eyed look. We hadn't really discussed what we would do with this new information.

Just what we wouldn't allow to happen, though none of that had been said with actual words. 

Regardless, it was apparently up to me if I wanted to confront our father over his little powwow with the Thunderdome rejects. I chewed at my lip, slumping into the side of the truck a little. Shane leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the side of my head.

Finally, I just sighed. Meeting each curious gaze in turn, I said, "Let's just play this close to the vest for a little while. We'll keep an eye on things to see if any of it turns weird."

"I think you mean weirder," Sacha grumbled, hopping down from the bed of the truck.

A reluctant smile twitched at the corner of my mouth as I nodded my acknowledgement. My eyes drifted over to where Dad had parked, and we all watched in stony silence as he got out of the car. He lifted a hand in our general direction, but didn't seem inclined to come over and visit.

Which was fine. I probably wouldn't have been able to hold my tongue if he'd come over right away.

"Are we really staying here tonight?" Vik asked suddenly, dragging my attention over to her.

"Um..." My eyes strayed back over to Dad, but he had already disappeared. After another moment of searching, I turned back to Viktoria. I rustled up the most genuine smile I could find. "That's what it's looking like."

Not a single one of them looked any too pleased by that idea and I turned, raising an eyebrow at Shane. I wasn't really in love with it either.

With a grimace, he explained, "For the time being, it might be a good idea to play nice. That way they'll quit watching us so closely."

As if on cue, we all sort of glanced around, some more casually than others. There were a handful of people throwing us curious looks, but none of them lingered. The place was like a beehive, each little worker bee intent on their chores, moving around with perfect synchronicity. Everyone had a job to do, and everyone seemed more or less focused on that job.

Still, Shane lowered his voice even more. "That way, when we're ready to go, we'll just go. No explanations, no arguments, no goodbyes. We'll do our part and earn anything we might take and be outta here before any of 'em have rolled out of the sheets."

I got a sort of questioning look from Danielle, her eyebrow quirked over the "no goodbyes" bit. All the answer she needed from me was a small nod. At the time, it hadn't felt like I'd be saying goodbye to anyone important anyway, so who cared?

"In that case," Kyle said with a grimace, "we had best get to work."

The others nodded and began to split away, obviously intent on integrating themselves into the cycle of work that was turning around us as best they could. Vik and Sacha gave us one last unhappy look before he grabbed her hand and pulled her away, looking like Hansel and Gretel as they walked. If Hansel and Gretel had needed to fight zombies instead of a wicked witch that is.

"Aaron," Shane suddenly called, making me jump.

Aaron looked back over his shoulder from where he was walking with Cassidy. Shane motioned for him to come back for a moment.

Cassidy tilted her head at me, but I shook my head. I had no idea what Shane wanted. With pursed lips, Cas shrugged, then turned and jogged a little to catch up with Kyle and Danielle. 

Giving me a puzzled glance, Aaron raised an eyebrow at Shane. "What's up?"

"How friendly are you and Lisa?"

The shock on my face was mirrored on Aaron's. He glanced between the two of us again, saw my confusion, then turned back to Shane. "Um. Not very? We didn't exactly talk a whole lot."

I snickered suddenly and a flush crept up the side of Aaron's neck. 

"Shut up, Raleigh," he snapped. "That's not what I meant."

That only added to the hilarity and I snorted, clamping a hand over my mouth. Aaron cracked a grin at that, flicking my knee before he turned his attention back to Shane. He was quiet for a long moment, a frown creating a divot between his eyebrows.

Slowly, he said, "I suppose we could get a little friendlier."

My amusement died an immediate, brutal death as I gave him a worried look. I didn't say anything. It wasn't really my place. Aaron had never really talked about Kate's mother, and we'd all had the feeling it had ended badly, but he'd never really told us how it had ended.

What we did know was that Kate was with Aaron—her father—before the dead started walking, not her mother. 

Still, that didn't exactly mean he wanted to be getting friendly with anyone else. And I didn't feel great about the idea of forcing him to for our sake. That wouldn't be fair.

"Aaron you don't—"

"It's okay," he interrupted me gently. With a half-smile, he added, "It's really not asking very much."

Shane clapped him on the shoulder in wordless thanks. Aaron nodded, then gave me another smile before he turned and went to find the others. For a long moment, neither of us said anything. I sat there, frowning after Aaron, unhappy about that day's turn of events.

"What about your sister?" Shane suddenly asked, voice low.

I looked over at him, startled. 

At the time, those words were extremely odd to hear. Unnerving even, and I suspect it was the same for you.

Blinking warily, I said, "What about her?"

Shane hesitated for a moment and I twisted around to where I was facing him squarely. He met my gaze, not really needing to say it.

"You think she knows something?" I asked maybe a little too stiffly.

"You don't?" he returned, voice incredulous.

I stayed quiet for a moment, thinking about it. "Not really." 

At Shane's disbelieving scoff, I said, "Dad was never really big into sharing." I rolled my eyes. "We were just supposed to follow the plan, we didn't really need to know every detail."

"Yeah I know what that's like," Shane said with something that could pass for a laugh. He scratched at the back of his neck, eyes wandering away from me toward the gardens, where a handful of people were tending the plants and picking anything ripe enough to eat.

With a sigh, I jumped down from the tailgate. Shane came around the side and shut it, the loud bang making more than a few people start and look up from what they were doing. 

"I don't know, Shane," I said softly as he turned back around. "Maybe it would be better if you talked to her."

That probably seems kind of cold but... we both used to be only children, you know? We grew up that way. It's not exactly that I didn't want to talk to you. It's just that I didn't really know how.

Shane knew way more than I did about how the whole sibling thing worked.

"Don't be a chicken," Shane goaded, giving me a teasing smile. He brushed a kiss at the corner of my mouth, then took me by the hand. "Odds are you'll have to talk to her anyway."

"Why's that?" I asked, wary of the amused gleam in his eyes.

In spite of my sudden trepidations, I let him lead me across the compound. A sigh of defeat escaped me when I finally saw where Shane was headed. I immediately understood why he'd assumed I couldn't just avoid you.

"This is probably where you're most needed," he whispered against my ear, knocking lightly on the door. "And it's a good place to get a feel for things."

"Yeah, or to get people to trust me," was my sour reply just as Jodie opened the door to the infirmary. 

Shane just grinned. Then he turned that charm on Jodie as he said, "I don't suppose you could use a hand around here, could you?"

Jodie beamed, her sweet smile melting a little of the ice I wanted to wrap around myself. And, I mean, if I had to work anywhere, this was definitely the best place for me to be.

Not to mention Jodie didn't make me feel awkward or on edge. Probably another trait that got her saddled with the medical detail for your people, right? 

One of my father's better decisions where you all were considered, though I don't like to admit it. Dad always was a people person in the sense that he knew how to make a person useful—mostly to him, but in Jodie's case, you all benefited.

She glanced at me and I struggled to pull up a smile, or some other kind of reassuring expression. Honestly not too sure how successful I was. But one of the great things about Jodie is she can always see when people are trying, and she always appreciates the effort. Not that I really need to tell you that.

Jodie blew out a great, big sigh and grinned at me. "I would love an extra hand."

"She's even got two," Shane joked cheerfully.

I jabbed him with an elbow, but couldn't help my smile. Holding up my hands like a display of evidence, I said, "Whatever you need, I'll be glad to help with."

At the moment, I wasn't really sure I meant that. I was tired of dealing with blood and pain. But I suppose it was never really my choice anyway. Some people are just made to live in that.

Something must have shown on my face, because Jodie's smile suddenly flipped into a frown. Her eyes flickered back and forth between Shane and myself. "You know, you don't really need to do this," she said, her voice almost unbearably kind. "I know you guys just got here and it's probably overwhelming—"

"We're fine," I said, my voice coming out sharply in my haste to answer. At her startled look, I cleared my throat. "Um... I mean..."

"That we're fine," Shane said with a smile, his tone much nicer than mine. "We appreciate it, but we want to do our part. Your people took us in. It wouldn't be right not to give back what we can."

I nodded along in support. That at least felt genuine. I didn't like the idea of taking and not giving back. It felt too much like pity—or charity.

"Well..." Jodie hesitated for a moment before she gave a tentative smile. "If you're sure?"

I nodded, attempting to look enthusiastic. "Definitely sure."

The tentative smile was jacked up a few watts and she actually blew out a relieved sigh. "That's great," she said with a laugh. Then she waved behind her at what appeared to be an explosion of medical supplies.

Already looking sorry, she extended a clipboard to me. "How do you feel about inventory?"

I shot a baleful look in Shane's direction, but the jerk was already ducking out the door.

Where he planned to integrate himself, I had no idea.

With a deep sigh through my nose, I turned back around. Jodie was still holding out the clipboard with its attached ream of paper. The look on her face was halfway between apologetic and hopeful.

I dug up another sorry excuse for a smile, grabbed the clipboard and we got to work.

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