Released (11 page)

“Have a seat, you kids sure look tired.” John puled a chair for himself and sat down with a thud. The sounds of Roger and Jerry placing their weapons back onto a shelf made it a lot easier to relax, so we each took a seat. I looked over to Max and Carter, noting that both of them looked ready to pounce at any second. The edge in the air gave me the urge to pul my shotgun off my back and hold it at the ready.

“Dang, you folks sure are skittish,” he commented as he eyed us. “My name is John. You’ve met Roger and Jerry. Welcome to City Hal. Aren’t you going to tel me your names?”

“I’m Carter and he’s Max.” Taya and I didn’t say anything. John looked at us for a moment and then went on.

“Alright then, I don’t know what those two meat heads did to freak you kids out, but don’t worry about them. They are al bark and no bite.” The two cursed under their breath as they left the room and John just waved them off. “I take it you kids saw that flag?”

“Yeah. So, what’s the deal here?” Carter asked.

“Wel, Carter...” John said the name as if checking that he remembered it correctly, “we have ourselves a little safe house, or more like safe building I guess. We’ve been here going on a few months now. We’ve got food, water and weapons, obviously. You kids are welcome to stay of course, but we al pitch in around here so don’t think this is a free ride.”

“Is it just the three of you?” Taya blurted out.

John chuckled. “No, I think there are about twelve of us now. My wife actualy does al the cooking. We’ve also got a couple kids around your age I think. It’s tough, but we get buy. Those damn monsters don’t dare come around here anymore. Just a few nights ago we gave them a good ass kicking.”

“They’re demons,” Carter said matter-of-factly, like he needed to correct the guy.

“Hel, I know that. Everybody knows that, but monster just sounds less, wel less damning to me. You sound like that damn Norah lady, al her preaching and what not.” It was obvious he was getting worked up about it, but he took a deep breath trying to calm himself down. I caught the expression on Carter’s face and could tel he very much wanted to talk to this Norah lady.

“Alright wel, I guess I wil show you around. Uh, you kids can put those weapons away, ain’t nobody here gonna hurt you.” None of us made an attempt to remove our weapons, so John just shrugged and started to walk. There was no way any of us were going to leave our weapons, not yet at least. John was right we were skittish.

We folowed John around as he showed us the living areas. People had taken over former offices and turned them into decent sleeping areas. We met John’s wife in the kitchen. She was preparing a large pot of soup with a few other people who were washing clothes in large metal buckets. The aroma was intoxicating and I had almost forgotten what a real home-cooked meal smeled like. The last time I remember eating something that smeled that good was when my Dad was stil alive. The thought of him quickly removed the hint of a smile that had crept on my face.

“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.

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…?”