“Yes it does.” Simon sighed as he tried to put it into words. “Either he didn’t think that you and he would ever connect, or he figured it was inevitable and wanted to make the others pay beforehand. Who can tell what goes through a person’s mind. But I can tell you that if he truly cared about you, he’d do his damnedest to keep you away from their wrath.”
“Wrath?”
“Yeah. They were angry. They felt like they’d been looked down upon by the likes of these people their entire lives. Then when the shit gets real, they have to depend on people like Trent and Jake and Tommy…yet, they were still just losers.” Simon shook his head as stepped closer to her. “They were pissed. They felt taken advantage of and they wanted their pound of flesh.”
Vee shook her head as she backed towards the door. “I don’t believe…” The words caught in her throat and she paused, her hands shaking as she reached for her bag. “I can’t.”
“Nobody’s forcing you,” Simon said softly. “But you needed to know.”
She looked up at him. “Needed to know what?”
He shrugged. “That what they did was real. They were about to hurt somebody else.”
“But you stopped him.”
Simon nodded. “I know him. Well, I know people like him.” I used to be him, he thought. “But I also know that if you two had some unspoken respect, or…I dunno, chemistry, maybe? Whatever it was, he would have kept you away from his ugly side.” He cradled his weak arm and gave her a soft smile. “I’m sure of it.”
She clutched her bag and pursed her lips. “You’re telling me that he was going to go all batshit crazy on the rest, but he would have protected me?” She shook her head. “I don’t see it.”
Simon gave her a slight shrug. “I did.” He sighed as he stepped away, slowly sitting on the couch again. “I think you knew, too. That’s why you wouldn’t pass judgement.”
“No…I—”
“But you need to understand something.” His face was emotionless as he spoke. “If they dare to come back here again, for whatever reason…I will kill them.” He watched the color drain from her face as he spoke. “All of them.”
She nodded slightly then turned for the door. “They were warned.”
“Twice. And now you are, as well.” He watched her pause for a moment then shut the door, keeping her back to him the entire time.
“That went well,” Lana purred as she stepped out of the bedroom.
Simon shook his head. “Not really.” He looked at her then turned back to the window and the quickly retreating doctor. “We need her on our side. Of all the people here, she has real clout.”
“Fuck her,” Lana spouted as she fell into the chair opposite him. “Turn the others to our side and her opinion won’t matter.”
He slowly shook his head. “She plays the mousy, quiet, little ‘lady doctor’ part just fine. But she has more pull with these people than we ever will.”
“Then we kill her.”
He turned and gave her a deadpan stare. “She’s the only medical person…maybe in the whole fuckin’ world, and you want to kill her?”
Lana leaned forward and gave him an evil smile. “If she’s the last doctor in the world, then so be it. If she won’t come to our way of thinking, then we can do this without her.”
Simon shook his head. “You’re being short sighted.” He sat back and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “No, we need her on our side. Having Vee in agreement with us will go a long way towards convincing the others that we are the people who should be in charge.”
“Fine,” Lana spat out. She crossed her arms under her breasts and gave him a hateful look. “But we need to start doing whatever it is we have to do to get these people to love us.” She leaned forward, narrowing her gaze at him. “That is what you said, wasn’t it? Make them love us?”
He nodded slowly. “Or at least realize that they need us.” He glanced out to the other campers still parked in a large circle. “Either way, we have to do this slow and easy. You can’t force people to change their minds.”
Lana rolled her eyes. “I hate waiting.”
Simon slowly smiled. “Nothing worth having ever came easily, my love.” He came to his feet and headed for the door. “I’m going to mingle. Kiss hands and shake babies.” He grinned at his own joke. “Like a politician. I need to plant the seeds.”
“Go. Just be careful.”
“Always.” He shut the door behind him and sighed heavily. He glanced at the campers and RVs then back at Lana. He was growing increasingly uncomfortable with her penchant for violence, and it was becoming more and more difficult to pacify her.
He dragged his folding chair to the embers of the campfire in the middle of the circle and sat down, hoping some of the others might join him. It would be much easier to “chat somebody up” if it were a mutual decision to gather. As he poked at the embers with a stick, he pondered his options.
He glanced back at the RV where Lana was and wondered if he wouldn’t be better off just abandoning her and…no. He couldn’t allow himself to think that way.
For better or for worse.
That’s what he kept telling himself. He just really hoped that things would start being “better,” and soon.
25
Hatcher shut the door to the truck and grinned at the old outpost. “You’ve been living here since the beginning?”
She nodded as she slipped the key into the lock and pushed the door open. “Yes, sir. I nearly shit myself when they blew the top off the mountain, and it wasn’t easy at first, trying to scavenge for food with all of the Snappers running around.”
“Snappers?”
She shrugged as she lit a kerosene lamp. “The infected.
