His eyes bulge at the thought of a five year old having to kill something, anything at all.
"One night we weren't so lucky. Those fucking things took the only two people I had in a matter of minutes. Regan, my sister, told me to run, and I did. I ran for hours. Until it hurt. Until I couldn't do it anymore. When I woke up after that night I knew all that mattered was beating the disease. Living as long as I could just to spite it."
She exhales forcefully, as though saying those words brought a realization to her.
"For the next six years I lived on my own. I scavenged, I hunted, I killed when I had to. Then I got sick, I don't know how or what caused it, but lucky for me I stumbled upon a community. I lived there for two years. I already told you about them. Ever since I left there it's been me and Mikey against the world. He brought happiness and feeling and purpose back into my life. He gave me a real reason to want to live. And now, well, now we're here."
She leans back, stretching out her legs. Her eyes break from his and wander around the barn. He sighs loudly
"Thank you for sharing that. I guess I understand you a little bit now, more than I did. That doesn't change what I have to say though."
Her eyes cut back to him. The vulnerability he just saw in her is gone. Fire lay within these eyes.
"After seeing how you killed those Talkers, I've felt disturbed. It was, I don't know, brutal. In that moment you changed. You became something else."
"Like what?" she asks, her words delivered sternly and with haste.
He shakes his head, looking at the floor once again.
"I don't know what to say Rosaline. It was scary, really scary. It made me wonder if it's safe for us to be around you, for Outlaw to be around you, for Zee to be around you-"
"Mikey? You think he's not safe?"
"I don't think you'd hurt him. You care about him, you love him, that's easy to see, but I do worry for him."
"I've been raising him just fine these past three years."
"Well, I don't-I don't have anything to say about that. I-"
"I'm not going to hurt any of you."
"That's not what I'm saying."
"Then get to it already." she says, snapping at him.
He inhales deeply and leans forward again.
"We don't feel comfortable with you being here anymore.
"We?"
His eyes close for a moment as he nods to her question.
"We talked about it while you were getting eggplant."
She looks away, her head slowly shakes, her eyes shut, and her face scrunches.
"Does Mikey know?"
"No, we haven't told him anything."
"Good."
"But we would like Mikey to-"
Rosaline jumps up from the stump.
"Fuck you!"
His hands raise, palms out, in a show of submission.
"Okay, okay."
He rises from his seat as well. Her head still faced away from him, he can see tears glistening as they roll down her cheek.
"I'm not gonna make you leave at night, but I'd appreciate if you guys left before sundown tomorrow."
"Yeah, we will." she says, then storms out of the barn.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
They reach the top of the incline, Karo stops, detaches the canteen from his pack, and takes a swig of water. He scans over his companions. Jack has broken a light sweat, but doesn’t appear exhausted. Norman is in good physical condition, and as such doesn’t look weary. Daisy, though a slender woman, and presumably well conditioned, is sweating profusely.
It’s not Daisy that gives Karo pause, however, it is Patrick. Daisy is more than capable of asking to take a break. Patrick stands in the rear of the group, hunched over, with his hands upon his knees.
“Let’s rest for a while.” Karo says, his voice low and stern.
Norman pats his husband’s back as he leaves his side. He ventures over to Patrick.
“How are you feeling?”
Patrick shrugs his shoulders, but doesn’t audibly reply. Norman is accustomed to nonverbal responses from Patrick. The boy rarely speaks, and when he does it’s in short bursts.
“Dizziness or queasiness?”
The teen shakes his head.
“Just tired?”
Patrick grimaces, nods, then he takes a seated position on the ground.
“I think we’re all tired, a break will do us some good. You took your medicine this morning right?”
The boy nods again, intently bobbing his head at a diagonal angle, the early formation of irritation beginning to show.
“Alright then, let us know if you go to use the bathroom or to have a look around.”
The boy doesn’t respond this time. His mind fixated on the stick he’s moving dirt around with. Norman joins back with the others, a short distance ahead of Patrick.
“I’d say five, maybe six, more hours of daylight.” Daisy says, her head titled up to the sky.
“Five.” Karo responds, flatly.
“Might have to camp in the woods then?”
“Looks like it.”
“Rotating shifts to keep watch?”
The grizzled man only nods, his gaze having moved away from Daisy after his first reply. Daisy’s attention turns to Jack and Norman giving them a sarcastic look of mild frustration. Jack softly chuckles. She looks back to Karo.
“So what’s the plan then?”
“Plan?”
“What’s the goal here? What’s our endgame?”
“Staying alive.”
Her eyes roll, sharply darting up into her head.
“Yeah, no shit. Are we going somewhere particular? Staying in the south? Heading north? East? West?” -she throws her hands in the air, waves them around, then slaps them on her hips- “That’s all of them!”
“No destination. Just where ever we find safety.”
“Well, that’s comforting.”
He glares at her, his annoyance empathetically conveyed. She relents, holding up her hands. A long moment of silence falls them before Karo speaks again.
“I didn’t claim to have answers. Just the ability to keep us alive.” he says through his teeth.
“Okay. I just, you know, like information.” she says, under her breathe.
Karo grunts as he rises from his kneeling position and walks away from
