Grace's mouth gaped open and her eyes burned into me. She couldn't believe I'd called her out in front of the crowd. "Don't talk down to me, God Damn you. You and the rest of your uppity bunch don't have any idea of what I've been through or what's been done to me all my life. I've done what I had to just to survive since I was twelve."
She turned and stomped off.
I rose. "Stop! Now get back here. You're not going anywhere because this isn't settled. I'm not going to throw you out because I'm not giving up on you that easily. But you're going to change your attitude and learn to live in a polite and decent society, or you will leave." I indicated with my hand for her to return and take a seat. In the background Andrea, Marilyn Deutsch, and Verlie stood near the door to the kitchen. "Everyone go back to what you were doing. The show's over. Kelly, I'm sorry this happened, and I'll deal with it. I want Grace, Kira and Vivian to stay. The rest of you please leave."
Kelly said, "Merriam didn't do any—"
I interrupted her. "Kelly! I believe you, but it's over and I'll take care of it. Let it go."
We four sat silently as the others left. Kelly cast the evil eye on Grace and stomped off with Merriam and Vernon.
"I'm going to ask a big favor of you two." I had Kira and Vivian's attention. "I need you to mentor our problem child. I think she's worth salvaging. I'll have the three of you scheduled together on the duty roster. I expect you to take Grace in hand and instruct her in how to work together and interact with other people. You both have my permission to paddle her ass or knock the hell out of her if she needs it and wherever she deserves it. Do whatever it takes because if you can't turn her around, out she goes. That's it, I'm done. Any questions?"
Grace made as if to speak and I cut her off. "Not you, Grace. You'll do whatever Kira and Vivian tell you. If they say jump, you ask how high. If they say shit, you drop your drawers and squat. Don't cause me anymore heartburn because I've had it with your childish crap. Bye."
As I stood to leave, Kira turned to Vivian. "I'm trying to figure out who's being punished here, her or us?"
Vivian smiled insincerely as she addressed Grace. "I heard you've been shirking your exercise sessions. So let's go. Get up off your butt and get dressed for two intense hours of sweat and strain. Move it."
Grace shot back, "But this is Sunday, my only day off."
Kira stood and leaned down to get in her face. "Move it now, little big mouth, or you'll do three hours. Or do I kick your butt first to jump start you? Be in the gym in fifteen minutes or suffer. Now run."
I walked away choking off a laugh, confident I'd made a good decision. Grace trotted past me muttering something about my relationship to my mother. Shane, Ed, John and Ira were going to crack up when they heard my solution to our problem child. Kira and Vivian were two of the toughest, fairest, most even-handed women I'd ever met. If they couldn't bring Grace around, I didn't believe anyone could. Grace had no idea what her actions were leading to.
Nine days later, Matthew and Maureen approached me while the leadership committee met in the office. "We want to talk to you." Maureen said. "We want to leave. Will you drop us off at a decent sized town, or will we have to walk out?"
I'm sure my dumbfounded expression showed on my face. "If that's your choice, of course we'll give you a ride. But surely you realize you likely won't live long out there on your own. The zombies have taken over. Few humans remain and food and drink have become scarcer every month."
Matthew stepped forward. "Yeah, we know the risk. But we're slowly dying here anyway. We're addicts. We can't stand being straight like you people want us to. Conforming to your rules is killing us slowly. We'd rather take our chances and be happy for a while before we die than live to be older here. Can you understand that?"
I stared at them, as did the other committee members. I closed my eyes momentarily and shook my head. "I accept that it's what you want, but no, I don't understand it. I used to enjoy a drink and even got drunk a few times, but I was never hooked to the point it dominated my life."
Maureen said, "We know we're different. But getting high is so euphoric we long for it. It's what we live for. How soon can you give us a ride out of here?"
"The work schedules will need to be checked to see who can be spared. We don't send less than three people out, so it may take some shuffling of people. I imagine it can be arranged for tomorrow morning if that's soon enough for you."
"Yeah," they said almost in unison with heavy exhalation of relief." Matthew added, "We know it's an imposition, thank you."
"Two backpacks with food will be sent with you. I'll pull two handguns from the armory for each of you; there'll be a revolver and a semi auto and ammo for each of the guns. We're sorry to see you go and wish you the best of luck.”
I stood and shook Matthew's hand and hugged Maureen. The rest of the committee followed suit, wishing the couple well, but knowing they'd be lucky to survive more than two weeks. Since the beginning of the apocalypse we'd met all kinds of people, the good, the
