Booker did so and Caitlin leapt out, rushing for the metal posts.
With spit and tears, she scrubbed at the red X she’d left a month prior until her fingers were chapped and sore, and all that was left was its ghost.
* * * * * * *
Parked behind a dilapidated silo, the traumatized survivors attempted to regroup.
With Max building a small fire to warm up and possibly cook something for breakfast if they could find anything, Sister Agnes began the heartbreaking task of performing a head count.
While most had survived, the ones they lost were a sharp, unbearable pain lancing through them all.
Edward. Francesca. Mark. Trish. Steve. Clark.
Donna.
Others Caitlin only knew by face, not name. An oversight she would never forgive herself of now.
What was left of the elected officials gathered in privacy while the rest of the group huddled together for warmth near the fire.
Caitlin watched as Luna, Nathaniel, and several others trailed around the back end of the bus, and suddenly she was overcome with rage.
Bolting up from the stump she’d found herself sitting on, she stormed across the small field.
“Meadows, where’re you—”
“Don’t try to stop me, Booker,” she snapped, not even looking at him.
More footsteps followed her, but Caitlin didn’t care who they were or what they wanted.
With Nathaniel and Luna only a couple yards from her, she let loose everything boiling in her chest.
“Who was on watch?” She yelled, interrupting them midsentence. “Which one of these incompetent cowards let this happen?”
“Caitlin, hold on—” Nathaniel said, holding his hands up.
“No, I want names,” she shouted. “Where was the patrol detail? Where were these people you said were trained, who could handle responsibility—” She twisted to face Luna. “The ones you made us put all our trust in. What, did they all just fuck off somewhere and leave us to die?”
“Calm down, Caitlin,” Nathaniel said.
“Go to hell,” she spat. “Tell me, which upstanding members of your group fell asleep and let our only home get burned to the goddamn ground?”
Luna wiped under her eyes, tears smearing the ash across her cheeks.
“We don’t know,” she admitted. “But Edward was on patrol detail tonight. If he’d seen anything, he… he would have done something.”
“Well he’s not here to ask,” Caitlin said tightly. “And right now, on top of all the adults who barely know how to hold a knife let alone protect themselves, we have twenty-seven children and a baby to take care of, and we don’t even have shelter for them.”
“We’re going to be okay, Caitlin,” Max said behind her.
Turning, she stared at him in disbelief.
“How can you say that?” She asked, suddenly hoarse. “We brought your family out of a protected Ark under the pretense that we had a safe place for them, and now that’s gone.”
Max nodded solemnly. “I know,” he whispered. “But we’ll figure it out.”
Caitlin sneered. “Is that what you all said after half your group was gunned down?”
It was a low blow but she didn’t care. She was angry and grieving and she couldn’t see a way out for them.
Not yet. Not now.
Luna sobbed into her hand behind her and Caitlin whirled on her.
“Trish. Steve. Edward. Over a dozen others. They’re gone now,” she snarled. “Because no one was paying attention. Because you people got soft. What, did you just forget the world ended?”
“Caitlin, this wasn’t their fault,” Nicole said, stepping towards her.
She hadn’t even realized she was there.
“No?” Caitlin countered, facing her best friend. “They’re the ones everyone elected. They’re the ones people put their faith in.” She turned on Nathaniel and Luna again. “We told you. We told you time and again that someone in this group was damaged and sick and going to escalate, and you did nothing but sit on your hands and whimper about keeping the peace. And now look where we are. People are dead, our home was burned down, and Donna…” She curled her lip, staring at Luna. “We found Donna. Turned, and shoved in a goddamn closet.”
Nathaniel gaped. “What?”
“Donna was a rotter?” Luna asked, voice trembling.
Disgust pulled at Caitlin’s features. “Someone managed to lure her away, get her bit, and then brought her back to the school to keep under a padlock. We found her when we went looking for fire extinguishers. She almost killed me and Nicole.”
Luna struggled to take a deep breath. “I… I don’t under…stand.”
“What’s not to get?” Caitlin asked her. “We have a psychopath living with us. And all of this happened while you people were having fun playing city council.”
She took a step back, glaring at everyone in front of her.
“If you ask me, none of you are fucking fit to lead. Not with this much blood on your hands.”
Shaking, and with a foul taste in her mouth, Caitlin turned her back on them and started back towards the others.
“Don’t look at me,” Booker said in response to something she didn’t see. “I happen to agree with her.”
Brushing past several people, Caitlin B-lined for the Jeep if only to be secluded from everyone else.
She wasn’t sure if what she said was just her grief pouring out or her real thoughts finally surfacing, but she knew she couldn’t just go sit back down and pretend she hadn’t verbally cut everyone at their kneecaps in only two minutes.
Opening the passenger side door, she climbed in, ignoring the sound of someone calling her name, and slammed it behind her.
* * * * * * *
The night was long and cold.
So was the day.
Most gave Caitlin a wide berth, having heard her tirade despite the barrier of the bus.
As they struggled to find a suitable place to hole up for even a few days, Caitlin decided two things.
The first was
