Jared finally broke the silence. “Is there anything we can help you with before we leave? I have a water-purification pump; we have some freeze-dried food—”
Alisi waved him off. “We have everything we need. You keep what you have, and if our paths ever cross and one of my family needs food or water, do what we did for you.” She smiled as she rocked back and forth in her seat, which was not a rocking chair.
“Fair enough,” Jared said, getting to his feet and grabbing his pack off the ground.
He thought about telling them about the solar thing and even where to find them, but hesitated. They seemed nice enough, but what if times got so bad it came down to him or them? Would these Tongans come to the ranch house and cause trouble in the name of their own survival? Jared struggled with the answer to that question. How could he know what someone would do in order to preserve the welfare of their family? Jared didn’t have family other than his parents, who were roughly three thousand miles away in Florida, if they were even still alive.
He had taken human life in the name of preserving his own life along with the safety of his friends after the event took place. Before the event, Jared hadn’t involved himself in hunting or fishing much less anything closely resembling any sort of conflict with another human. So whether or not these people would act in their own interest in a time of crisis was unknown to him.
There was part of Jared that would not have been surprised if, when he and Stephani went to leave, they were stopped and relieved of their belongings. He shook the thought from his head for two reasons. The first was he didn’t want to be disappointed in humanity, which, if Alisi turned on him and Stephani, would be devastatingly disheartening. Secondly, he couldn’t afford to let anything bad befall Stephani, especially after he’d willingly led them into their current situation. It would show a gross lack of judgment on his part and likely spell the end for them both.
As he and Stephani donned their packs and picked up the rifles, no one from the group of Tongans seemed to care. The three guards in the back looked over their shoulder at the two briefly before turning away. Atamai got to his feet and wordlessly led the two guests to the front of the house and opened the gate, where a younger man stood post in the same spot Jared had first seen Atamai. Stephani hung close to Jared, fearing the same thing Jared himself recently considered. Would these people let them in their home, feed them, and then just allow them to walk off without some sort of reciprocation?
Atamai smiled and clapped his giant hand across Jared’s back. “Stay off the big roads, friend. Move through the neighborhoods. You can hear people better. They will be going through homes, looking for food, making noise. On the big roads they hide and wait—big trouble for you on the big roads.”
“Thanks,” Jared mumbled softly. His belly was as full as it had been in a long while, and he was feeling a little melancholy as he turned and led Stephani up the street. He looked back once, but Atamai was gone. Based on his memory from the days of scavenging the area for Bart, Jared made his way slowly towards the house he’d found Essie in. As they drew closer, he felt a sense of dread come over him. He wondered what condition Essie’s dad would be in after lying dead on the foyer floor for nearly two and a half months.
They walked for two more hours before turning on the street Essie’s former home was on. Jared stopped and stared at the front of the house the gang members had dragged Essie’s mom to before murdering the poor woman and leaving her body in the bathtub. He felt Stephani’s hand on his shoulder and realized he was breathing loudly through his nostrils, which were flared in anger and anxiety just thinking about the traumatic experience.
“What’s wrong?” she asked through quavering lips.
Jared blew out through his mouth and licked his dry lips. “So much fucking bad shit, Steph, so much—Essie—her parents were, ah—these fucking guys next door killed her parents.” He opened his mouth wide, stretching his jaw, trying to alleviate the tension he felt being back at the place he’d first taken a human life. “I slaughtered them,” he rasped, his mouth feeling as dry as most of the lawns were these days.
“What?” Stephani probed, her tone seasoned with worry.
Jared turned to the woman. “You think I’m this nice guy, well, let me show you what I’m capable of.” He turned and marched towards the house next to Essie’s home, the house he’d gone to with murder on his mind after seeing what they’d done to the little girl’s parents. “Come on, I’ll show you what we all have to be capable of now that everything has changed.”
Reluctantly, Stephani followed Jared up to the front porch, watching as he opened the front door and stepped inside. Stephani was about to follow when Jared came staggering back out, gagging and pulling his shirt over his face. The putrid stench of rotting human flesh slammed into Stephani’s sense of smell as Jared stumbled past her, nearly causing Stephani to vomit. Both of them fled to the street in an effort to escape the smell that hung so heavily in the air, Stephani could taste it.
Jared’s intention had been to show Stephani the bodies of the dead gang members. He wanted her to know that for a few hours on that day seemingly so long
