With one hand he holds a manila folder and a pen, and with the other he reaches out for me to shake. I look at his hand and bow my head low instead.
“Pardon me,” I say, “but I haven’t had a chance to wash my hands. I would like to do that before shaking your hand.”
He looks at me strangely as he pulls his hand back, but I don’t care. I don’t want to accidentally see his future too. I don’t want to know. All I can do is hope that he accepts my feeble attempt of respect.
“You’re name is Waverly?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say.
“What do you know about Crestwood?” he asks.
I clear my throat. “I know that you are a town that has reportedly accepted many people within your walls. I came here in hopes that I can be one of your citizens.”
He nods at me and stares at the table with his cheek resting in his palm. “Tell me about the other two you are with. Ethan and Gilbert. How do you know them?”
“I met them only a few days ago,” I say. “I don’t know much about either of them, but they have been very helpful. Ethan tends to watch out for me. Gilbert can act a little brash, but he only wants to survive like the rest of us.”
“How old are you?”
“I am seventeen.”
“Where are you originally from?”
“Oakridge,” I say.
Paxton’s face turns suddenly serious and he stares at me for a long moment. After a while, the moment starts to become uncomfortable.
“Did I say something wrong?” I ask.
“No,” Paxton says. “It’s just… Nothing. Never mind. Uh…” He looks down at his manila folder and opens it then closes it, dropping it to the table. “I’ll just move along. Do you have any special abilities?”
I can feel the blood drain from my face. Gilbert must have said something to him about it. I’m taking too long to answer, I know it, but I don’t know what to say. If I tell him yes, who knows what he will do with me. If I lie and tell him no, he might count me and Gilbert as liars and throw us out into the street.
My heart beats faster. I can feel sweat drops beading at my brow. Finally, I blurt out, “You mean other than tap dancing?” I ask. I feel so dumb. I’ve never tap danced in my life, but this seems to make Paxton happy. He lets out a snort and picks up the folder from the table as he stands.
“We have room for you and your friends, though we are steadily running out.”
Paxton and Gabe lead me to the next room where Ethan and Gilbert wait for me. Gilbert looks annoyed but Ethan smiles widely.
“You made it through,” he says.
“We made it through,” I answer.
And then he does something that makes my heart flutter, yet sends a wave of terror to my spine. He puts his arm around me and holds me close. It feels…secure.
Gabe leads us through the dark city streets of Crestwood. It looks bleak and empty, but I’m positive it is more lively during the day. He takes us to an apartment building where we must share a room for the night.
“It’s only for the night,” he says. “I’m sure that tomorrow there will be some other living arrangements made, but you have plenty of blankets and room to sleep for now.”
“Thank you so much,” I say. “This is wonderful.”
Gabe looks at me and takes a deep breath. “Yes,” he says. “I’m sure it is.”
Gabe starts to leave the room when Ethan asks him another question. “Do you enjoy it here?”
“It’s safe,” Gabe says. “For some of us, anyway.” He looks away and scratches his head when he says this. “It’s hardly a city. There are only a few things for people to enjoy, but at least you are safe. Do any of you have any more questions?” When none of us say anything else, he gives us another curt smile and walks out of the room.
There is only one bed in the room and a couch. Gilbert claimed the couch the moment he saw it and Ethan gave up the bed for me.
“There’s room for us both,” I say. “You shouldn’t have to sleep on the dirty floor.”
Ethan smiles at me as he looks over at Gilbert, his snores echoing off the empty walls. “This world may have gone to hell, Waverly,” he says as he lays out a blanket on the floor, “but my principles haven’t.”
“Your principles?” I ask.
“That’s right,” he says.
“Chivalry has no place in a world where the dead walk,” I say. “This bed is large and the floor is disgusting.”
“I’m not being chivalrous,” he says. “I just feel weird about sharing a bed is all.”
“In this world, you take what you can get, and I’m offering a spot next to me. That’s all.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “Goodnight, Waverly.”
I try to sleep, but nightmares consume my mind. All I see is Lucas’ head shattering from the bullet impact, his body falling to the ground next to me. I wake up crying out in my sleep, but I calm down when I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around me.
“Lucas,” I whisper.
“I know, I know,” a voice says to me. “It’s hard. I know it is.”
It’s Ethan.
“Cry as much as you need to,” he says as he rocks me, my head resting against his chest.
He sets his cheek on the top of my head. I don’t know if he kisses my hair or not, but his embrace is enough to make me feel safe. He somehow makes the pain lessen.
I feel for the chain at my neck and follow it down to the diamond ring at the end. I fall asleep in his arms, but even his warm embrace cannot keep me from the nightmares that fill my mind.
Chapter 14 – Waverly
It was a month or two after Charles’ death when Hattie was infected by a greyskin. There was a deep bite in her shoulder and scratches all along her back. The hour was late and the three of us sat in an abandoned fast food restaurant, not knowing what to do.
She was beyond coherency and probably only a few minutes from dying. Her skin had already turned ashy, and her eyes looked like pieces of wet coal. I didn’t know what was more difficult to watch: the pain on Lucas’ face, or Hattie struggling to stay alive. We both knew she was suffering, but while she was still able to talk to us, she told us not to kill her. She told us just to leave her there in the building and run as far away as possible. But we had not been able to do the second part. It was easy for neither of us to kill her, but there was no way we could just leave her there. Neither one of us said it, but we knew we would never let her turn into a greyskin. She would die, and that would be it.
Lucas was confronting what I had already faced from the very beginning of the outbreak. Lucas was facing the death of his family.
The three of us had been traveling through the country for as long as we could. It was no small wonder that any of us were still alive. We had faced greyskins, bandits, murderers… this was the beginning of survival and people were nasty about it. No one trusted anyone else. Everyone held onto his or her possessions as if they were the only things that would keep a person alive. It was a struggle just to come across a canned good, much less shelter. Lucas had been somewhat of a good hunter but ammunition was hard to come by. He had once shot a deer only to have it stolen from him as he was bringing it to us. It seemed that ever since the outbreak, fate was dealing us blow after blow with no end in sight until we simply died. And then, with Hattie bitten and scratched as she was, there was only the two of us left.