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“I didn’t realize there was a couch in there.”
“There’s an office in the back. Also, a chair back there, but we figured it would be best to move the couch closer to us, rather than to move Grif farther away,” William says.
“Good thinking. Don’t want him waking up in a strange room wondering if we all abandoned him.” My voice is rough. Being abandoned by your own family is the worst. My brother is such an asshole.
“You okay there?” Emily asks, her voice so sweet.
“Yeah. Thinking about all the ways I’d like to kill my brother if I ever see him again. Grudges can be fun like that.”
Nobody talks after that. The food is ready and we have to wait for it to cool down before eating it, which turns out to be a mess since, while I found some bowls, there were no other eating utensils. We set aside a portion for Griffin.
We eat in silence, occupied by our own thoughts, and I know I’m not the only one with wretched thoughts. We’ve all been through a lot these last few days. I’m sure Emily could tell us exactly how many days. She’s been counting them like Griffin has. I used to find that quality of his annoying. Who wants to be reminded constantly about how long it has been since the worst days of our lives? But with Emily, I find it endearing. I could listen to her counting days for as long as she wants to count them.
“Did I see Buddy running with fire earlier?” Emily asks, breaking the silence.
I look over at her and grin. So she was watching me through the window. I thought so. “He was.”
When I don’t elaborate, she pushes. “Care to give the rest of the story there?”
I chuckle. “Don’t worry, pet, I had it all under control.”
“Not from where I was standing.”
“Exactly how long were you watching me?” I waggle my eyebrows and she blushes. “Red is a beautiful color on you. Is it blood? Is it embarrassment? We may never know.”
“It’s embarrassment,” Emily says in a flat tone.
“Don’t be embarrassed, pet. I watch you, too.”
“I’m going to go find a latrine.” Emily grabs the small shovel I used to dig the holes for the fires and disappears around the side of the building.
William slides over, taking her vacated spot next to me. “I need you to keep an eye on her while I head out.”
I turn my head to look at him. This is going to be interesting. “Yeah? Where ya heading?”
“Back to the highway to see if the rotters have moved on. I want to see if I can grab a few things from the car, and I’d like to do it before it gets dark.”
“What if they haven’t moved on?”
“Then I guess I’ll come back here.”
“And you don’t want Emily to know because she won’t let you go on your own. Yet you think I’ll let you wander off to an area filled with rotters, where we nearly lost half our group.”
“That pretty much sums it up.”
“Yeah, I’ll watch her. Not that you need to ask. I know we’re both well aware that none of us has stopped watching her since the day Griffin handcuffed her.”
He gives me a knowing look, but neither of us elaborates. We’ve been in this situation before. We all shared a woman once. It was right after the dead rose. Didn’t go so well. She sucked our lives from us more than the dead ever could. We were about to cut ties with her when we found a small colony of people who turned away Griffin because they were skeptical about the cut on his face, but that chick—don’t remember her name anymore, and don’t care—stayed with them. Well, we sort of abandoned her there, but she was happy to stay. She’s probably still there, making them as miserable as she made us. That thought gives me a smile.
Emily’s not like that, though. She breathed life into us. We were suffocating, and we didn’t even know it until we found her.
I nod in the direction Emily disappeared, not liking her being out of sight. I’m tempted to follow her when Buddy trots off in the same direction she went. She’ll be protected now. At least she’s wearing shoes and has weapons on her this time. “You might want to hurry up and get going before she comes back. I’ll figure out something to tell her.”
He dips his head in thanks and then takes off toward the highway. I’m not stupid. I know the exact items he’s going out to search for. The one thing that we won’t find in this small abandoned town.
The sound of leaves crunching gets closer as someone walks around the side of the building. I reach back for Debbie, just in case, but when Emily pops around the corner, I can’t help but grin. “Good timing, I was getting ready to check in on Griffin. Let’s go see how he’s doing.” I hold out a hand in front of me. “Hostages first.”
When shakes her head, I place a hand along her lower back and guide her in front of me through the door. Yet she still finds a moment to look back at me and glare, which makes me chuckle. “Thought I wasn’t a hostage.”
