Tish fled to the other side of the building, not bothering to help.
I saw Sam try to grab the Gray, but he was stabbed in the leg for his effort. He fell backward in pain. I then tried to help, but the man was too powerful. I ended up on my ass for my effort.
“He is biting me!” Avery screamed. He followed that with cries of being forsaken.
Instantly, I thought about loitering Grays. If they heard him scream, they would soon join in with the one who was already attacking us. We could barely handle him. Shit. I grabbed hold of the Gray as Sam pounded him with the butt of the rifle. The Gray swung the knife wildly, somehow missing everyone, while sinking his teeth into what looked like Avery’s hand. My near stroking out due to hyperventilation for the ten minutes prior had rendered me near useless.
Titouan came up behind the Gray. With Tish’s knife in hand, he stabbed him repeatedly until he fell lifeless on top of Avery. I fell to the side, struggling for every breath. I saw Tish sitting in the corner. “Get over here, Tish,” I yelled between pants.
She was frozen. “Dammit, Tish… we need you… Sam’s cut… and Avery’s bit.”
“My hand. He bit my hand. I am bleeding,” Avery said.
“That bastard got me good,” Sam said, grimacing with pain and trying to hold pressure on his cut while also taking a look at Avery’s hand.
“Tish!” I yelled.
Titouan was looking in Tish’s bag for something. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“Bandages,” he huffed.
He ran the bandage over to me. “Thanks, Titouan,” I said, as I tore off a decent length so I could wrap Avery’s hand. Tish was going to have to work on Sam’s.
I looked over at Sam. “How you doing over there?”
“Bleedin like a stuck pig.”
Tish crouched next to him. About damn time, I thought.
I finished wrapping Avery’s hand. “You okay, bud?”
“Perhaps,” he said, grimacing from the pain.
I didn’t have time to find out what he meant. I patted him on the leg and quickly moved to the opposite side of Tish. “How bad is it?” I asked, as I moved to the door. She didn’t reply.
“He’ll need stitches, but he’ll live,” she finally said.
I nodded.
After the door was refastened, I grabbed one of the tarps we were using as bedding and went about folding it enough times that it was roughly the right size to cover the window, while also making sure it would be opaque enough where light wouldn’t shine through it. It would also work as a barrier against the cold wind that was blowing through the hole where the window once was.
I spied some rebar lying on the floor. I leaned a few of the heavy rods against the sides of the tarp to hold it up for a moment. I then ran over to my backpack and grabbed the one thing I was very thankful I brought along: duct tape. I went about using most of the roll to seal the tarp to the wall. I left the rebar in place as an extra precaution because of the high winds. The good news was the window was covered and we could turn our lamps on. The bad news was we no longer had a window to look out.
Avery didn’t look well. He sat with his back against the wall, holding his bandaged hand and staring at the thing lying dead on the floor. “Are you okay?” I asked.
Never taking his eyes off the Gray, he said, “Am I going to turn into that?”
“No,” I said. I mean, I didn’t think he would.
Chapter 7
I had just finished filling a kerosene heater when I heard a commotion near the rear entrance of the Commons. I quickly screwed the lid back on the kerosene jug and ran to the back to see what was going on. The lady doing the yelling, our cook, Olivia Danmar, was visibly shaking. In between long breaths, she said, “I’m telling you what I saw, Jim. Somebody’s outside.”
“Of course, somebody outside. Probably more than one. It smells like smoke and ass in here,” Jim said.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I saw someone. Didn’t you hear me say that?”
“Well, yeah, but like Jim said, people need to get some fresh air every now and again.”
By the sour look on her face, I could tell she thought I wasn’t taking her serious. “How about you catch your breath and start from the beginning.”
She shook her head angrily as she worked on her breaths. “Well, some of it’s personal.”
Confused, I said, “Uh… okay. What’s personal?”
She whispered, “With the power being out and it being dark and all, I left in a hurry this morning, forgetting things a decent woman shouldn’t ever forget.” She peered down at her, uh, ample, but also gravity-effected, bosom before also tracing the outline of her nether region, with her index finger, that she also forgot to wear another certain garment. The mental image was cringe worthy. I needed to make it all stop.
“How about just the part that’s got you so upset?”
She nervously ran her fingers over her bluish gray coif of hair. “I saw a man without a coat over by the Nest.”
“Who was it?”
Her eyes darted between me and Jim before finally settling on me. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Everybody knows everybody.”
“Because he doesn’t work on the Patch. If you all would let me finish, I would tell you these things,” she said, her hands firmly planted on her hips.
I put my hands up in submission. “Sorry.”
She took a couple calming breaths before continuing, “I never saw him in my life.” She paused.
“I believe you. Just continue,” I said.
“I was about to ask him if he was okay, you know, because he wasn’t wearing a coat in all, but before I could, he turned towards me and the damn fool started spinning like a top. Like a top.” She got a little closer to Jim and me, like she knew a secret and didn’t want anyone else to know. “He was all hopped-up on drugs, I bet.”
If you wanted the down low of what was happening at the Patch, gossip wise, Olivia was your woman. Right down to the seedy detail. Because of that, I was reluctant to act. But, she of all people should’ve at least known who the dude was. I couldn’t take any chances. There were too many weird things happening for me to be too dismissive. “Jim, close and lock all the doors in the commons, and a couple of us are going to have to check this dude out.”
Jim shot me an odd look. He began to say something but settled instead on a quick rolling of his eyes. Olivia shot him a look. Finally, Jim threw up his hands and said, “You’re the boss.” I wasn’t sure whether he was talking to me or Olivia. Either way, he did as he was asked.
As for Olivia, I put my hands on her shoulders and told her to go rest and that we would make sure everyone was safe. She began to say something, but I told her to, “Go on now.”
She wouldn’t budge.
“What?”
“You all need to be careful. You know all the crazy drugs people take in Barrow. He might have super-human strength.”
“Thanks, Olivia… I’ll keep that in mind.”
She had taken maybe ten steps before she had cornered someone else, telling him no-doubt about her harrowing experience outside.
“Well, I am being wery sorry about your experience,” the man said.
“Hey, Aadesh,” I said. “I need you to come here for a minute.”
He rushed over to where I stood. Olivia stomped off. The Commons was a captive audience. She’d find someone else to ear rape. I was sure of that.
“I am wery appreciative of you saving me from dat woman. She is windy.”
“Well, don’t thank me much. I need you to check the drill shack.”