Track suit girl merely looked at Christine and opened her palm towards the argument, as if to invite her to go join the quarrel. Christine took the hint and walked towards her parents.
I didn’t want to hang out with the stupid dyke anyway.
“He is Celiac! I bet you he probably just ate something containing gluten.” Craig was saying.
“I know what Celiac is! Don’t treat me like I’m stupid!” Joe responded angrily. “What if it isn’t? We can’t be taking any risks here!” He continued.
“So, what do you propose we do?” Craig was still managing to hold on to his composure.
Huh. Respect. Dad usually can get anybody riled up. Christine could see her mom getting ready for a blast though.
“Get him out of here! Make him stay outside or something!” She was acting as if just being around Jack would infect the rest. Christine felt a bit sorry for the young man.
Jack looked in obvious distress. He had a slight sheen of sweat, and involuntarily kept clenching his jaw. His right hand would shoot to his stomach every few seconds.
Christine hoped that Jack wasn’t infected. She thought that he was kind of cute. For a white boy.
Christine glanced over and could see Claire crying again. Nancy was holding her with those chubby granny arms of hers. Ern had had enough and barged in between Joe and Craig.
“This stops now!” He yelled.
Emily, the British bus driver, and the oriental dude stepped in as well, creating a barrier between the two groups. Violence hung in the air for a couple of seconds as the groups faced off.
“Well?” Joe stated, waiting for somebody to provide a solution to the stand-off.
“Erm. Maybe I can help.” The rich guy had spoken up.
Patrick. Christine remembered. He had been standing on mom and dad’s side of the confrontation, along with his wife.
I can’t remember her name. Oh yeah, Rosa. Gorgeous woman. Doesn’t speak much.
“You see, I deal... or rather I dealt, with computer programs. Whenever there was a bad cluster of data, I would quarantine it, so I could deal with it separately without crashing the program.”
“Speak English, boy!” Christine could tell that her dad was about to lose his shit.
Patrick swallowed, and thought about it for a moment before continuing. “What I mean is we should quarantine young Jack – maybe lock him up in one of the classrooms – and monitor him until we know for sure if he is infected. Or not.”
“Hell no! I’m not waiting until the kid turns into a zombie!” Joe’s comment started a shoving match, as it was now Craig’s turn to lose his shit. Craig lunged at the big man and the two had a firm hold of each other’s shirts.
“God damn it! STOP!” Ern tried to push the two combatants away from each other.
“See what you made me do? You made me swear!” Ern was visibly upset now. “Nancy doesn’t like swearing!” Ern’s tirade confused and shocked the group into a temporary silence.
Patrick chose that moment to speak up again. “Why don’t we lock him up, and if it looks like he is getting worse we, um, take care of him?”
Craig and Joe still had a hold of each other, despite Ern standing between the two.
It looked kind of funny to Christine. Like the three were practicing an intricate dance. An involuntary smirk escaped her lips. Sarah noticed and shot Christine an angry look.
Oh, fuck you, white trash. Christine shot daggers back at Jack’s mom.
Just then the whole situation cooled somewhat, as Craig slowly unclenched his hand and dropped it down to his side. A far away look passed over Craig’s eyes as he through things through.
“He’s right.” He finally said.
“But. ... Craig.” Sarah said, clearly distraught. “What are you saying?” Her eyes started to sparkle with tears.
Craig turned to his wife and put up his palms. “Honey, what I’m saying is that I will stay with Jack tonight and keep an eye on him. We know that he is not infected.”
Sarah was crying at this point. Craig wrapped her up in a hug. “It will be fine, dear. You know he usually bounces back the next day.” He leaned his face down to hers. “Trust me.” He whispered as he held her tight.
Christine saw her mom pull her dad a step back at this point. She could see that her mom felt a bit of remorse.
That’s so unlike you, mom!
Dad wasn’t done though.
“Craig, I’m not sure if having you in the room with Jack is enough.” At least his tone wasn’t aggressive this time. “I think we need more security than that.”
Then Bill spoke up. Christine thought that it was funny how everybody shuts right up when a quiet guy speaks.
“We should post a guard outside the door. Somebody that’s weapons certified. Just to take care of the situation. If that’s needed.”
People from both sides of the conflict nodded.
“Ok, so we agree that I will stay with Jack in one of the rooms, and we will lock ourselves in.” Craig was back in management mode. “How about we agree to wait for one day and assess the situation again then? How about supper time tomorrow?”
The wheels were turning for him now, so he continued. “As Bill suggests, you post a guard with a weapon at the door, in case something goes wrong.”
John jumped into the conversation. “Who here is weapons certified? Can I get a hands up?”
Bill, John’s wife, the English woman, and track suit girl raised their hands.
“Would you guys be ok to help out?” John asked, to which he received affirmative responses.
John beckoned the group to follow him off to the side to sort out the weapons situation and a schedule for standing guard.
Craig turned to his wife. “Honey, can you collect a few water bottles and some food for us.”
Craig’s wife shook her head. “No Craig. I’m going with you.”
“Honey. No. We will be fine.” She was still shaking her head though.
Her eyes
