"Oh." Rosaline replies, bobbing her head.
"You were so mad and-and hateful. Those things are sick and ruthless, and it's like you became that."
Rosaline falls silent, her gaze no longer meeting Sweetie's. Her face flushes, a cold chill runs along her arms. A sour feeling bubbles into her gut.
"Look, I'm not tryna make you feel bad. I just, I don't know how to feel about this. I don't know how to feel about you now."
"Now?"
"I thought you were cool and I liked you, but now it's-it's weird and different."
Rosaline nods her head, but doesn't speak. An uneasy feeling washes over her. The pit in her gut tumbles over and over. It never once crossed her mind that Sweetie, or anyone, would view her this way.
"Let's just get the eggplant." Sweetie says, then turns away from Rosaline.
Rosaline stalls for a moment, allowing Sweetie to get a few feet away from her, then follows behind. She's never liked someone before, not really. She's never allowed herself to have emotions in this way. She loves Mikey and she loved her mom and sister, but this feeling isn't the same.
She thought that maybe there was something there with Sweetie, something deeper than she's experienced before. Now all she can think about is how to right this wrong that she didn't think she did, and that she doesn't agree with. The Adapted don't hesitate, they don't give chances. Treating them the same way is the only thing that's ever made sense to her.
“How can she not understand this? This is how it has to be or you die. It's that simple.” she thinks. “I'll let her cool off and give her some space.” her mind continues to race. She hopes they can move past this and get back to where she thought this was going. She has to hold onto hope for that. She doesn't want to go back to being numb, like she's been for so many years. She can't go back to that. Not now, not when she's found someone else to care about as something other than family.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
"These are your days then? Moving from small town to small town?" Karo asks, his stoic manner having eased.
"Are yours different?" Jack replies.
Karo pauses, his gaze moves to dirt road.
"About the same, probably that way for most."
Jack nods, but doesn't say anything.
“You've been taking care of that boy for two years now?”
“We have. It's been a struggle, but he's a good kid.”
"How long will the boy be down?"
"It's always different. Sometimes not even a full day, other times it can be worse. It's often the latter."
"Rough way of existing."
Jack's brow raises, "Yeah." he says. He sighs, letting loose the tension building up in his chest, "So, what happens now?"
A long moment passes, then Karo turns to the door.
"Let's go back inside." he says, as he twists the handle.
Karo stayed the previous night at the small house with Jack and the others. Daisy awoke first to find Karo outside. He told her he was keeping watch. When Jack rose for the day he found Karo still out there, intently scanning over the environment.
Daisy and Norman have gathered in the dusty ill-kept living room. They're discussing the best way to go about attempting to revitalize Patrick when Jack and Karo come back inside. Jack joins his husband on the couch while Karo takes a place in the center of the room, against the wall.
"You all take care of that boy, putting yourselves in danger to do so. Much more danger. You're good people. I haven't seen too many of those." Karo says, his voice low and soft.
Daisy looks to Norman, her brow raised in surprise. Norman returns the expression.
"You said you don't fight, you run. That's smart, but not always possible. I can help with that."
"Why would you do that?" Daisy asks.
Karo lets a moment pass before answering.
"Part of me is lonely, and part of me doesn't want to see anymore good people die sooner than they should. Not when I can help prevent it."
Norman leans forward, clasping his hands.
"What makes you think we want your help?"
"Want and need are two different things. You need my help. It's not something I take pride in, but I've gotten pretty good at killing the infected. Gotten quick about it too."
Norman's eyes move to his partner. He can see Jack's mind working.
"And how would this work?" Jack asks.
"Before that, you all should know about me. Who I am, where I'm from. It's only fair."
"Okay then cowboy, spill it." Daisy replies.
Karo grimaces, but continues, "My name's Karo Petrosyan. I lived in a community in Florida called Oasis, before all this went down. It was upscale, gated, well maintained, a food mart, restaurant, activities center, all of that."
Karo takes a breath, letting out a soft sigh.
"When the outbreak hit, our community banded together and closed it off. A retired Army Colonel lived there. He organized reinforcement and defense, set up an accountability system. Did a good job of it too. My wife..."
Karo hesitates, swallowing hard.
"She was a doctor, set up a make shift hospital. Several of our residents weren't there when the outbreak happened, and most of them never returned. I was there for seven years after the disease spread."
He pauses again, clenching his jaw.
"After a while we started taking people in. My wife was pregnant by this point."
Karo's lungs fill with air, his stance tenses.
"One of these new people came to admire my wife. He didn't let it be known, but she was suspicious of it.
Daisy's breathing skips and her chest quivers.
"I came home one day to a dark and quiet house. Unusual for Maria. I found her pinned down by that man in the kitchen."
Norman grips Jack's hand tight. Jack rubs his husband's back, comforting him.
"Gardening was a hobby of hers, she always left her shovel by the back door.”
Karo's hand runs over his neck then scratches his jaw.
“They called it excessive."
"Oh, fuck." Daisy says, her voice low, her eyes wet.
"If
