She took another bite.
He patted her hand. “Come on, now. I think you’ve had enough. Time for bed.”
She scooped up more rice. “I’m still really hungry,” she said, her voice just a breath.
Kevin became annoyed. “You’re not that hungry. I’m tired. Let’s go to bed.”
Scarlet leaned her elbows on the table. “I realize you don’t know us, but Nathan and I are parents. We wouldn’t let anything happen to Elleny. Once she’s finished, we’ll send her that way.”
Kevin’s coolness left him for just a moment. “I’ll wait.” Elleny took another slow bite, and we all tried not to give in to the ensuing awkwardness.
After another ten minutes, Kevin stood and pulled Elleny up by the arm with him. “You’re finished. Let’s go.”
Elleny went with him, but reluctantly. “I’m . . . still . . . ,” she said, but he shushed her before she could finish.
They disappeared into the bedroom. Kevin shut the French doors and we all stood up to clean up after dinner.
“That was weird,” Joey said, turning on the faucet.
We all agreed, and tried our best to continue as usual, even with our strange houseguests. Scarlet was scrubbing the plates and pans as if she were trying to work off nervous energy. At one point, the dish she’d just finished crashed into the others. She put the sides of her fists on the counter, took a breath, and then began again.
“Slow down, would ya?” Joey said as he rinsed and dried. “I can’t keep up.”
“Sorry,” Scarlet said, still scrubbing with subdued fury.
“What’s up?” I said, walking up behind her. My chin was just above her shoulder, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“I don’t know.”
“You know.”
“There’s something off.”
“I agree.”
I walked Zoe downstairs and pulled down her covers while she changed into pajamas. She crawled into bed, and I tucked her in.
“Hum, Daddy.”
One corner of my mouth pulled up. I hadn’t hummed to Zoe since before everything went to hell. One reason was that we’d had such full, tense days, she usually fell asleep immediately. The other was because I couldn’t carry a tune to save my life. I never hummed anything in particular, I just let my voice go up and down, and somehow that was relaxing enough for Zoe that she’d fall asleep.
I began to hum, and Zoe closed her eyes. I don’t know why I kept referring to this time as when the world went to hell. It had its good points. I got to spend all day with my daughter without worrying about work or bills, and I’d met Scarlet. Granted, there were frightening things beyond the perimeter of the ranch, but it could be much, much worse. Some days I thought it a fair trade.
Zoe’s breath evened out, and I leaned down to kiss her button of a nose before heading up the stairs. Joey was at the top, sitting on the washing machine. “Scarlet made me a pallet in the living room. I’d feel weird sleeping down there with you guys.”
“Okay,” I said, shaking his hand once. “Sorry, man.”
“No problem.” He jumped off the washer and followed me into the living room. Covers and pillows were spread across the floor, and Scarlet was outside on the porch. Joey sat in the recliner.
I crossed my arms. “I want to go out there with her, but I feel like I crowd her. That’s kind of her time, isn’t it?” I asked.
Joey smiled. “I think she likes it when you’re out there. Maybe that’s one of the reasons she keeps going.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “She goes out there because she knows one of these days they’ll come walking over the hill.”
“You really think so, man? I don’t know. It’s been a while.”
“It took me and Cooper all day to get here from Shallot, and we were trucking it. It’s not flat ground. There are creeks, and rocks, and hills, and abandoned buildings, and old farm equipment . . . and zombies.”
“Psh . . . ,” Joey teased, waving me away. “You act like that’s hard.”
Scarlet came inside, her face white and her eyes full of tears, but she didn’t look sad. I was stunned by her expression, and immediately thought it had something to do with the girls. She hadn’t spent a fraction of the time she usually spent outside waiting.
“What is it?” I said quietly, taking a step toward her. I didn’t want to alarm the pair in the doc’s room.
Scarlet’s jaws worked, and a tear spilled out over her cheek. “I’m going to kill that motherfucker.”
She walked quickly across the room, grabbed her rifle, and before I could stop her, she barged through the French doors. I began to yell for her to stop, but at the same time I saw her point the gun at the back of Kevin’s head, I saw that he was in a totally inappropriate position, hovering over Elleny, without a shirt on.
Elleny was whimpering quietly. It still took me a moment to process what was going on, as if my brain didn’t want to believe what my eyes had seen.
“Get up!” Scarlet yelled. “In the front room!
Kevin’s bare, bony back was visible above the sheets as he lay frozen above the young girl.
Joey walked in behind me. “What the actual fuck?”
I stood in place, stunned, as Kevin jumped out of the bed with his hands up. He was completely nude. It was then that my stomach turned, threatening to expel my dinner right there on the floor.
Kevin scurried into the living room, and Scarlet followed him, her rifle pointed at his chest.
“You’re a monster. Worse than those things out there. Get the fuck out so I don’t have to clean your blood out of this carpet,” Scarlet said.
“Was he . . . ?” Joey said, looking at Kevin, and then back toward the bedroom.
Miranda, Bryce, Cooper, and Ashley had wandered out of their bedrooms by that point, shocked by the noise and the scene in the living room.
“Whoa! What the hell is going on?” Bryce said.
“You don’t wanna know,” Joey said. “Shoot him, Scarlet.”
“I’ll leave!” Kevin said, his arms still high in the air.
“You’re damn straight, you will.”
Kevin glanced past Scarlet to the bedroom. “But I’m not leaving without my daughter.”
“The fuck if you’re not,” Joey said. “She’s safer with us than with you.”
“Come on! At least let me get my clothes!” Kevin whined.
“Boohoo, you sick son-of-a-bitch,” Scarlet said, incredulous. She cocked her gun, pressed the end of the barrel against Kevin’s stomach, and pushed him backward out the door. She watched him for a moment, and then went into the bedroom. “Watch where he goes,” she said to Joey.
Joey stood guard at the door.
Scarlet stood at the end of the bed. “Elleny, is that man your father?”
Elleny, clothed only in the sheet that she had pulled up to her neck, shook her head.
Scarlet nodded. “That’s what I thought. I’ll be right back.”
“Scarlet,” I warned.
She ignored me and walked to the front door, pausing in front of Joey.
“He’s headed south,” Joey reported.
Scarlet pushed out the door and we all looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
“Should I . . . follow her?” I asked, looking to Bryce and Joey. No one had an answer. It was difficult to even form words.
A scream echoed from the south, followed by a single gunshot. We all jumped at the noise. A few seconds later, another shot was fired.
I ran out the front door, followed by everyone else, stopping when Scarlet came into view.
