“I guess so, but… Of course,” her voice rose, “we could use your JCN to get the things we need. You wouldn’t have a problem with that?”
I wouldn’t if I thought you could keep your mouth shut. Xavier smiled. “We’ll see how things go.”
“When did you start working for Grant, anyways? Usually, you have to apply for that type of thing. I’ve had my eye on that job for quite some time now.”
“A few months ago I guess.”
“I didn’t see the job posted.” Her voice hardened. “How’d you get it?”
“Uh… I guess it was my time.”
“Really?” Matt asked. “I’m not trying to say nothing, but your dad got you that job before he left.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Xavier insisted.
“The hell if it don’t.”
“Who’s your dad?” Jenny asked.
“How don’t you know that?” Matt’s mouth dropped. “Seriously?”
“Yes, Matt, seriously!”
“I figured you knew everything around here with all those questions you ask.” Matt scolded her. “You don’t know when to quit.”
“Shut up!” Jenny stomped her foot.
“Stop!” Xavier said. “It’s been a bad enough day without this crap. What is it you want to hear? Did my dad get me this job?” Xavier paused, the two simply stared back, waiting for him to answer his own question. He sighed. “Yeah, he did. I’m not ashamed of it. My dad started this whole damn place, so whatever you want to think, think it! Without him, this whole thing here never happens!”
“Whoa.” Matt pumped his hands in a downward motion. “Relax, man.”
“You two are ridiculous.” Xavier sighed again, his head shaking with disappointment. “With what happened to Sam, you two want to fight like this? I’m done.”
Matt and Jenny nodded.
“I didn’t know it was your dad that started this place,” Jenny said, trying to change the subject. “That’s awesome.”
“How didn’t you know that?” Matt got after her again.
Jenny cocked her head to the side.
“What?” Matt asked defensively.
“How’d he manage to get all this done?” She looked to Xavier, but he turned his head away.
Always something with her.
“I guess I’ll tell… Xavier?” Matt tried to gain his attention. “That okay?”
“Yeah…”
Matt looked back to Jenny and shrugged.
“So, I don’t really know the exact day we got here. I just remember looking at the school while Xavier’s dad talked to us. He just stood there, pointing things out—all the ideas he had. Saying stuff we gotta do to get it up and running. Larry was probably thinking for a month on it before we got here. It looked the same, but it was all gonna change. It was gonna be our new home. I didn’t know what to expect. I just wanted things to be normal again.
“It’s just that—by the time we got here, people were done dying. The virus was gone, but everyone was staying in their houses. Nobody trusted nobody. The things people did to each other… It was crazy. People stopped caring, but—” Matt wetted his lips. “But once they saw we were for real, they joined up. We knocked on doors, grabbed whatever we could—people, supplies. We had more mouths to feed, but everything else became easier.
“Larry started giving people jobs… Man, when people met him, they just kind of knew we were gonna be okay. He just has that way about him. No pressure. It’s like you’re doing what he says, but it feels like your own idea. Things just kind of fell into place. We were grabbing guns, batteries, gas, everything we could get. People spent all day just taking stuff—rebuilding everything. Things became good there for awhile.
“But, things change. Maybe I was stupid to think people wouldn’t come after us. That first fight was nuts. This group of maniacs came to the school—knew we had a good thing here and tried to take it. The one night they came…” Matt looked to the ceiling for a moment before he continued. “They didn’t stand a chance. Xavier’s dad was prepared. He saw it coming.
“He led the adults, and they killed them all. Every last one of them. Those guys wouldn’t give up… they should’ve left. We didn’t see it though. Me and Xavier kept the kids down in the basement. We just sat listening to all the fighting—all the screaming. That next day was horrible.
“Everyone over twelve had to help. I hadn’t seen so much blood since the virus’s last month or so, but it—it was a good lesson. We knew people were gonna keep coming. From then on, everyone trained to fight. We started building up the school. Larry called it—he called it ‘an endless cycle of scavenge, repair, replace, and defend.’ It’s been hard.”
“Where did Larry go?” Jenny asked.
An uneasiness flooded Xavier’s body. His eyes became lost among the honeycomb pattern in the linoleum floor. Jenny leaned toward him wanting more—wanting his input too. It was obvious Xavier didn’t want to share. Matt shot Jenny a scowl and shooed her away with his eyes. Her eyebrows narrowed, confused. Matt clenched his jaw and jutted his neck forward, slightly, just enough to make it clear.
Xavier lifted his head. “I’m just going to get this request filled. I appreciate you figuring this new supply stuff out.” He turned for the supply office.
“I have a request too. Wait up.” Jenny trailed him toward the entrance.
“Always… Forget it.” Matt rolled his eyes and left.
“I just need to get this done,” Xavier said. “I have a lot of work to do back at the shop, and I don’t need Grant getting after me.”
“That’s fine.” Jenny smiled. “I’ll just be in line next to you. No big deal.”
“Okay…”
Xavier entered the office, and Jenny followed, deliberately ignoring his desire to be left alone. He moved between the metal partitions that wound their way up to the old concession stand windows—each line labeled by JCN.
Disbursement officers stood behind the counters as the workers approached. A paper request slid across the stand, they asked a few questions, filed it, and if they had it, they filled the order. “Next!” Repeat. People often left with nothing but a vague promise that the scavengers would be looking for their request.
Xavier moved forward in line. He could feel Jenny’s eyes upon him, but avoided her stare. She just won’t let up. His attention floated around the room as he waited. Battered menu boards hung on the wall, slightly cracked, but still functional. The food selection was removed, changed to product cycles and job openings. He attempted to read the small white letters, but was unable to do so. The blurriness of the world hadn’t been so noticeable until Grant had made a point of it.
“Next!”
He missed the smell of popcorn and hot dogs. The multi-colored displays of candy and chips were also gone. A boring array of in-bins and cardboard boxes sat in their place. This area of the school had been so alive too few years ago—people hurriedly purchasing snacks, trying to get back to the game. Fathers stacked as high as they could be with nachos, pretzels, and soda. The first time Xavier had treated a girl he liked to a soft serve ice cream cone. Mindy…
“Next!”
The wall just behind Jenny still displayed the school’s mascot—the River’s Edge Croc—smiling with all those teeth. Jenny peeked over her shoulder at the wall and then back to Xavier.
“That thing’s silly.”
“Why?”
“He just looks funny that’s all.”
“Some might think a sixteen-year-old with pigtails is funny.”
Jenny looked at him coldly. “It keeps my hair from my face when I work.”
“Yeah…”
“Next!”
Xavier turned away from Jenny and took his spot closer to the service window.
“Did I offend you or something?” Jenny asked, as she tugged at the tail of his shirt. “Come on. Talk to me. What’s going on?”