He gave me a hug, “Good to see you Cate,” He said.
“What happened? How’d you get away?” I asked.
Emma spoke up. I didn’t even realize she was the blonde at first. I had mixed emotions upon realizing it was her. Her face looked strained. “Aaron wanted Jerry to go after you since he let you go and I caught Aaron beating Jerry up,” She said and stopped.
“This girl,” Jerry began, “She got my gun that I dropped and pointed it at Aaron. He stopped punching me and was trying to sweet talk Emma but she asked why you were gone…”
Emma interrupted Jerry, “I had no idea, Cate, that Aaron had that planned.” There were tears in her eyes as she spoke.
“I know,” I said and gave her a hug.
I thought there was a possibility Emma was in on it until that moment.
“Long story short, she blasted that asshole in the head,” Jerry said, “It was great.”
Emma pulled away from me laughing.
Tracy had been listening intently as we caught up but then she said, “I’ll show you to your rooms.”
I walked with them back to the dorms. Emma stated that she would stop by after she got settled.
I subconsciously looked at my phone before heading in to the dorm. The face of the phone told me the time was a little after 10. I put the phone back in my pocket only to take it out again. The time was reading on my phone. I couldn’t believe it but there were still no bars.
I figured it was a fluke and headed in to the dorm. Natalie was sitting up on the bed when I walked in.
“Hey, sleepy head. Guess who just showed up at the base?”
I told Natalie that The Martinez’s and Emma were here and that Emma killed Aaron.
“Wow, good. That asshole needed to die,” She said.
I laughed at her response.
We sat and discussed the possibility of the cure being within reach. Natalie seemed very excited the more she talked about it. I was less excited. I had my doubts about it after all I had seen but a part of me was hopeful.
There was a knock at the door. I answered it and Emma was there. Natalie gave her a hug and we got ready to take Milo for a walk.
Natalie walked Milo a little ways ahead of Emma and me.
“I’m sorry Cate,” She began after we got out into the field.
“For?” I asked.
“Being an idiot when it came to Aaron. If it wasn’t for my fascination with him we would have left a long time ago and Ian would probably still be alive.”
I stopped walking and looked at her, “Emma, it seemed like a safe place for a long time. None of this is your fault.”
“If I had known what he was planning, I would’ve killed him a long time ago.”
I nodded, “Well, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure how much you knew and didn’t know when we took off.”
She gave a weak laugh, “I probably would’ve been the same way if roles were reversed. I wasn’t acting in a way that promoted anyone to have a lot of confidence in me.”
“No you really weren’t,” I said.
She punched me in the shoulder.
“So what made you guys decide to come to the base?”
“Seemed like the safest thing. We had to deal with some zombie attacks which I’m amazed we made it through. I don’t know how you’ve done it so many times; I mean you’re tough as hell Cate. I never gave you enough credit for that.”
I smiled at her compliment.
Emma walked up to where Natalie was with Milo a little ways ahead of me. I looked out at the sky. It was a beautiful day. It was easy to be hopeful on a day like this, even if I could hear the faint sound of the zombie’s growls on the wind.
I closed my eyes and breathed in deep, feeling peaceful for the first time in a long time.
It didn’t last long. I was startled by the sound of the theme of Star Trek.
“What is that?” Natalie asked. Both she and Emma looking back at me confused.
It took me a moment to realize where the song was playing from. At first I thought someone must have had a TV on or something. In six months, I had forgotten what my ringtone was because Justin kept messing with my phone and changed it as he was trying to get me into Star Trek. When it dawned on me, I reached for my phone and saw that I had an incoming call. I felt my heart stop as I read the name on the screen. It said Shelly.
