Closing his eyes, he rubbed his temples. It was too much. He grabbed the half-empty water bottle at his feet in desperation, squeezing it hard. True, he was slipping — he no longer wanted to be a part of this, and he recognized it. He had become reckless with his own safety, which was against Paladin Wallace’s orders.
And he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He had sent a message earlier in the day, indicating that it was not safe for him to move. That got him out of meeting up with Captain Shaw at the Ren. Got him out of possibly eliminating his friends.
Ben watched the water slosh back and forth in the bottle. He saw his hands, holding that bottle.
Where do your loyalties lie, Ben? It was not the first time that he had asked himself that question.
He took the cap off and drank from the bottle, guzzling it like he had just emerged from a desert. When the bottle was nearly empty, he dropped it; it plunked a couple of times before rolling to a stop. But not really a stop. The remaining water forced the bottle to roll an eighth of a rotation one way, then an eighth of a rotation back.
Forth, and back. Like Ben’s mind.
“Enough.” The word came out like a cough. Ben stood, gathered his stuff, and hurriedly made his way to the back door.
Chapter 14
November 6, 7:00 P.M., The Ren
The residents of the Ren and their guests ate supper in the cafeteria. It was a muted atmosphere. Claire, Nancy, and Rachel fussed over Sarah at one table. Jack sat at the same table, but largely ignored the ladies.
John sat at a table with Bill, Keith, and Ern. None of them were too good at providing comfort and felt rather awkward. As John ate, he thought about the events of the day. The loss of Craig weighed on him, but he was good at compartmentalizing those feelings. He’d find a time to mourn later.
His thoughts revolved more around their security, at the moment. Were there more of Shaw’s men out there? Was somebody watching their school right now?
“You don’t know what you don’t know.”
“Huh?” Ern looked at him quizzically, as did the others at his table.
“Oh.” John regarded his companions with a slightly embarrassed expression. “Sorry. I was just thinking out loud. Worried about more characters like Shaw showing up on our doorstep.”
“Yeah. Me too,” Bill agreed. The twang in his voice stood out whenever he spoke, which wasn’t often. “We’ve had some good luck, though. Nat and I were done for. You should see the siding up there, and not a scratch on us. That’s akin to a small miracle.”
John had to agree. He also thought that it was miraculous that none of the school’s many windows got destroyed.
Somebody giggled a couple of tables over. John looked up in time to see one of the newcomers cover her mouth in shock, her eyes wide. She put her head down, hoping to avoid any further notice.
Abi. John recalled the name of the petite radio operator. All the radio operators ducked their heads, including Emily, who had quickly befriended her new colleagues and was sitting with them.
John was glad to have them. Mike and his team had done well today, organizing the removal of dead bodies and wrecked vehicles while half of the residents of the Ren ran around in a panic. John included himself in that group. He was beside himself with worry over Mel, and of little use to the school residents.
Eventually some people from the Ren, under the leadership of Ern and Nancy, had joined in the clean-up work. By supper time the wrecked vehicles were sitting on the sidewalk, clearing access to the driveway and the gate, and all deceased soldiers had been buried in a mass grave. Craig’s body had been wrapped in sheets and put in the gym for now. They would bury their deceased leader tomorrow.
Zombies continued to approach the school all day, attracted by the noise. Despite the constant threat, all zombies had been removed from the fence line and laid out in the lawns across the street. That was another thing for which they could thank their new friends.
Unfortunately, they continued to have their hands full with more zombies throughout the day, and they had shot at least another two dozen of the creatures before they were forced to stop by the encroaching darkness. This limitation on the living did nothing to stop the zombies, though, and John suspected that the first zombies were already back at the fence.
How many of those things are making their way to us right now?
Emily’s voice disrupted his dark thoughts. “John, can you come over here, please?”
John got up and walked over, noticing that his ankle was still quite sore. He felt a few new aches and pains too. Then he saw Jack sitting with his mom. The boy stared at the table in front of him, still in shock. John’s discomfort suddenly felt petty.
He walked to the radio operators’ table and asked Emily what was up.
“Mike was just telling me something. Well, I think he’d better tell you.” She looked at the rest of the room and raised her voice. “All of you.”
Mike cleared his throat before starting. “What I wanted to tell you was that I knew Shaw. And I recognize most of his guys. The ones that were recognizable, in any case.”
“Shaw is, or rather was, the CO of the FOB we stayed at. He was the senior officer at the base,” Mike added for the civilian portion of his audience.
“You said that his men called him ‘captain’,” Mike went on. “That is confusing because he was an LTC. Back on the day that we left the camp, we were told he
