“Here you go, boys.” Brown had returned with a tray of cups.
“What is it?” Durant said, reaching for a cup.
“Sweet tea,” Brown replied. Durant nodded appreciatively and promptly downed half his glass.
Emily and Park also grabbed a cup. The sarge eyed his cup with an eyebrow raised. “I can’t drink that sugary crap. Fucking diabetes.”
“Want me to get you some water?” Brown offered. Murphy waved him off.
Collins also declined his cup.
“No, thanks, Brown. You probably slipped some Molly in there, didn’t you?”
He was joking, but to Emily’s surprise Brown’s face turned bright red.
“Aha. So, you did!” Collins continued triumphantly. “You want to drug us, so you can fuck us later.”
“Shut up, Collins.” Durant took a moment between bites to berate the young soldier. “You is too ugly to get fucked.”
Park’s throaty laughter joined the Muttley laugh. It rang through the empty mess hall and was probably most noise heard in the building that day.
Murphy turned to Emily as she was finishing off her meal. “Welcome to the team, Hill.”
Emily nodded graciously. “Thank you, Sarge. Glad to be here.”
A few minutes later, it was time to roll out again. That afternoon they ran into more zombies, and worse, more living people. But for now, their bellies were full, and they were satisfied.
“RIGHT. SO, YOU PUT the antidote into my drink. Same for Durant. Poor bastard... He would have lived, if he hadn’t gotten killed.”
It sounded funny, but nobody laughed. She shook her head once, putting the memory of their lost companions behind her.
“Yeah...” Ben said. “It was harder later on, when Peters and Garcia joined. I tried twice to put the antidote into their canteens but just couldn’t get it done. Collins was way too paranoid. By the time he let his guard down, it was too late. I did manage to slip it Bill, though.”
“I feel like a bit of a mug.” Seeing Ben’s confused expression, Emily elaborated, “Means that I was a bit dense. A bit slow on the pick-up. You know... easily fooled.”
“Sorry, Hill.”
“Ah, water under the bridge, mate. Besides, if you hadn’t tricked me, I wouldn’t be here today.”
She put out her hand for Ben to shake. “Thank you.”
Ben looked at the hand and then at Emily’s face. She could see that the poor man was conflicted. But he did not leave her hanging.
“I wish that I could have done more.”
Chapter 45
Rosa
November 9, 7:45 A.M.
Rosa left the cafeteria with Christine and Melissa. They walked back to the clinic, which had served as Melissa’s home since getting shot. Rosa opened the door so that Christine could roll the improvised wheelchair into the room and towards the bed.
“You need a hand?” Rosa offered.
“Nope. I got this.” Christine replied with a wink.
Just then there was some commotion behind Rosa. When she turned, she saw that Rachel was walking towards her with purpose. Her expression was angry.
“I want to ask you something,” Rachel said as she strode up to the clinic. She glanced at her daughter, helping Melissa back into her bed before turning back to Rosa.
Rosa looked up at the tall woman with a blank expression. Rachel scowled down at Rosa.
“What you did there... You convinced anybody on the fence to choose on Ben’s behalf.” Rachel’s voice was thick with accusation.
Rosa opened her mouth, but Rachel quickly continued, “Don’t deny it!” She stepped slightly closer. “I’m on to you. You act all innocent, but you manipulate those around you. I saw you do it the other day too.” She threw up her hands and shook her head in mockery. “With all your talk about ‘being a better person’ and ‘second chances’.” Rachel dropped her arms and leaned in closer to Rosa with an ugly frown. “Foolish talk.”
“Not true,” Rosa whispered.
“How do you explain it then? Go ahead, I’m all ears!” Rachel took a half step back and folded her arms.
Rosa glanced briefly at Melissa and Christine. The injured woman was halfway in bed, but both women had frozen in place and watched the exchange.
Rosa looked in Rachel’s direction, first down at her feet and then back up to meet the African American woman’s eyes.
“Are you a religious person, Rachel?” Rosa asked.
Rosa’s question was unexpected, and Rachel’s eyes opened wide in surprise before narrowing into a suspicious squint.
“I am. But what does that have to do with this?”
“I am too.” Rosa smiled slightly. “Sometimes you have to believe in something that you can’t see.” Her expression hardened into one of conviction. “And sometimes you just know it when something is true.”
Rachel guffawed, obviously not convinced. Christine and Melissa looked on intently.
Rosa lifted her chin in defiance. “I believe.”
“You believe,” Rachel grunted. “You believe that this trained killer is suddenly on our side?”
“I’ve spoken with Ben and know in my heart that he is good. That he wants to help us.” Her gaze became lost. “We all deserve a chance at redemption.”
Rachel would have none of it. “That’s bullshit! Fine. You did it again. But if ... he”—she refused to say his name—“betrays us, I’ll be coming after you.”
She turned on her heel and stalked off. Rosa blinked back tears at the pure hatred she could feel emanating from the tall woman.
“Hey,” Melissa called from her bed. “I don’t know about Brown.”
Rosa’s face fell, but the injured woman had more to say.
“But I definitely believe you.” She added a proud smile as Rosa blinked in surprise.
“Yeah,” Christine said. “Me too. I believe you.”
“Thanks,” Rosa whispered with a smile of her own.
Chapter 46
Jack
November 9, 6:15 A.M.
Jack woke up to a hand on his shoulder gently shaking him awake. He was instantly on alert and his eyes shot open as he jerked into a sitting position.
Or tried to, anyway.
John held him down with a firm hand. Jack saw that John had his prosthetic raised to his face, one of the articulate blue metallic fingers pushed to his lips in warning.
Jack nodded, indicating he understood. John released the young man and pointed to his stuff. “Get geared
