Nancy picked up the bag of trash and carried it around to the dumpster on the backside of the main building. She lingered there for a moment, looking at the back door.
Willie wasn’t the only man Nancy had been keeping a close eye on. It was tempting to go inside, but she knew continuing their conversation would only draw attention from the rest of the community. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about him, but she was certain that Mr. and Mrs. Riker would not approve of the thoughts circling her head.
It was curiosity initially, but the more Nancy spoke with him, the more she wanted to know. He wasn’t what she had expected him to be, and while Abe had done some terrible things, he at least wanted to redeem himself.
Unable to stay away, Nancy shouldered the rifle and opened the door. The back entrance of the mess hall led into a closet, and she fumbled her way forward in the darkness until she found the door that led into the kitchen.
It was well past breakfast, so the mess hall and the kitchen were empty, but it would be bustling with activity in about two hours as everybody returned for lunch.
In many ways, living at the facility was kind of like being at school. There was a regimented schedule that everybody adhered to. Everybody ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. Between meals, there was work to be done, but the biggest difference between school and the facility was the fact that if Nancy screwed up, it could come at the cost of someone’s life.
Nancy stepped through the kitchen and headed toward the storage locker and found the one that had been converted to a holding cell.
There was no guard, and the door was open, but the man inside was tethered by a chain around his ankle that gave him enough room to walk around the space but not to escape. But he hadn’t tried to escape since he was brought here, and Nancy wondered when Mr. and Mrs. Riker were going to let him roam free.
Abe looked up from the book he’d been reading on his cot, which was pushed up against the wall where his chains were tethered. He smiled when he saw her and set the book aside. “What are you doing here?”
“I was out practicing shooting some of the discarded MRE packaging,” Nancy answered. “I was on my way back in when I decided to stop by and see how you’re doing.” She gestured to the book. “I didn’t know you liked to read.”
Abe glanced at the cover of the novel. It was an old Stephen King book, Pet Cemetery. “I didn’t think my current situation was frightening enough, so I thought I’d raise the stakes.”
“Anything else you’ve been up to?” Nancy asked.
Abe folded his hands in his lap and gestured around to the very drab surroundings. “Just getting a little R&R.” He grinned, and it was a kind of easy-going smile she remembered seeing on movie stars. But this man was no actor.
“Well, is there anything I can ask the hotel manager to do to help make your stay more comfortable?” Nancy asked, playing along.
Abe rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow, giving it considerable thought before he answered. “I think I’ll take my lunch in my room today. I’ll have a filet mignon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.”
Nancy nodded. “Excellent choice, sir. Would you care for any dessert?”
“What would you recommend?” Abe asked.
“The hummingbird cake is delicious,” Nancy answered.
“Then I’ll take two slices,” Abe replied.
Nancy crossed her arms beneath her chest. “And who is the second slice for?”
“Oh, they’re both for me,” Abe answered. “After all, I’m on vacation.”
“And what a vacation it is,” Nancy said.
Abe dropped some of the playfulness, and he swung his legs off the side of the cot. He was tall and lean, with a very thick beard covering his face. It made him look much older, though he was only twenty. He looked like a homeless man in his current state, but there were a lot of people who look like that these days. But it was his eyes that betrayed his hard stare; there was genuine kindness in him.
“I didn’t think the warden wanted you to swing by here anymore,” Abe said.
“Yeah, well, the warden isn’t around today,” Nancy said. “So I decided to make up my own visitation hours.”
The chain around Abe’s ankle only allowed him to get within a few feet of her. And Nancy remained in the doorway, never entering the cooler. It was an invisible barrier that she had constructed between them because, despite her curiosity of him and his seemingly good-natured smile, he had made choices that helped kill innocent people, even though he never pulled the trigger himself.
Abe was part of an organization called The New Order, and they had been responsible for the EMP that detonated and destroyed their modern way of life. No more lights, no more phones or computers, no cars or any type of transportation—nothing electronic. Their way of life had been completely flipped upside down, and there was nothing they could do to change that fact. All that was left now was to pick up the pieces.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think this is a hotel I’ll ever check out of,” Abe said.
“Did you talk to Mr. Riker?” Nancy asked.
Abe nodded. “But that doesn’t forgive me for what I’ve done.”
“It wasn’t all your fault,” Nancy said. “They brainwashed you.”
Abe avoided eye contact with her. “I brainwashed myself.”
“They were using you,” Nancy said. “I know you aren’t a bad person. But none of that matters if you don’t see yourself in the same way.”
Nancy wasn’t sure if any of what she was saying was penetrating that thick wall of propaganda those people had drilled into
