“How did you find me?”
“She told me. The blue-eyed ghoul. Kate.”
“Will’s Kate…”
“Uh huh. After the black-eyed ones located you, she told them to stay back, to wait until I got there. I guess they sort of jumped the gun a bit, but I arrived just in time, didn’t I?” He smiled, probably expecting her to acknowledge it. “She knew you were important to me. Because you are, Gaby.”
She rubbed her thumb against the teeth of the spork again before glancing over at the closed door to her left. There was a man on the other side named Mac. He took turns walking around the second floor hallway with another one of her guards, Lance. It was afternoon and sunlight was visible through the open window across the room, so Mac was out there because Lance had the night shift.
She turned back to Josh. He was wiping his hands on a handkerchief before stuffing the wool cloth back into his shirt pocket. Josh didn’t wear a hazmat suit when he came to have lunch with her. She wondered if he still did. Mac and Lance didn’t wear one, either. In fact, it had been a while since she had seen a hazmat suit on one of the collaborators.
“What do you want from me, Josh?”
He didn’t answer right away. Maybe he didn’t have an answer. Or, more likely, he just wanted her to wait. Josh did that these days. He had the power, and he knew it. The old Josh, who would do anything to please her, was long gone. The transformation showed in the way he walked, the way he sat, and in the way he looked at and talked to her. She used to adore his shyness, but there was none of that anymore.
This Josh…he knew who he was. What he was. And most of all, he understood and embraced the authority he wielded. Over the others, over the town, and most of all, over her.
Finally, he said, “I just want you to understand what I’ve been doing here, that’s all.”
“And what’s that, Josh?”
He stood up and walked across the room to the window, looking out at the street below. Her eyes went to the chair and she wondered if she could take Josh out with it, then break off a leg and use it on Mac.
Maybe…
“How many times have you stood here and looked out this window?” he asked.
“What does it matter?”
“Just answer me, please, Gaby.”
“Plenty of times.”
“And what do you see?”
“I don’t understand what you want me to say.”
“It’s just a conversation, Gaby.” He sounded a bit exasperated. “When you look outside, what do you see?”
“People.”
“That’s right. People going on with their lives. Little kids not scared of walking in broad daylight. This, Gaby, this is what we’ve always wanted, don’t you remember? To live freely. To not be afraid. Isn’t this what we talked about all those times in every dark and stinky basement we’ve ever hid in since the world ended?”
She stared at him, trying to understand. This new Josh, who was so different from the boy she had known. Where did this Josh come from?
“I did this, Gaby,” he continued. “I helped them put all of this together. Those people down there, they’re going to live out the rest of their natural lives. And all they have to do is give a little blood every night and teach their children to do the same.”
You’re breeding a race of slaves, Josh.
“What’s so bad about that?” He was watching her face intently. “Tell me, Gaby, what’s so bad about what I’ve done here?”
You don’t know. You’re so deep in it, you’re incapable of seeing it.
“What?” he said, narrowing his eyes at her.
Gaby realized she had been smiling at him.
“Share with the class,” he said, the annoyance creeping back into his voice.
“I get it now,” Gaby said.
“Get what?”
“That you’re delusional.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but stopped and sighed instead. “Don’t say that, Gaby.” He sounded genuinely hurt. Or maybe it was just more playacting. “Please don’t say that. I did all of this for you.”
“Stop saying that.”
“It’s true.”
“Stop saying that, Josh. I want nothing to do with this place.” She could feel her patience slipping and did her best to rein it in. Emotion was the enemy here. (Stay in control!) “Get it through your head, Josh: I don’t want any part of this.”
He walked silently back over and gathered up the sporks, dumped them on her plate, over her uneaten potato and strips of bacon and dirty brown rice, and stacked the trays together. “I’m leaving tonight to help out with another town.” His voice was still calm, even-keeled. Josh had mastered his emotions. Somewhat. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. Maybe a few days. Maybe a few weeks.” He picked up the trays and walked to the door without another glance in her direction. “Mac!”
The door opened and Mac leaned in. He had an AK-47 slung over his shoulder and was wearing a camo uniform that made him look almost like a soldier, though she guessed Will and Danny would disagree. Lance had been wearing the same identical clothing the last few days, and so had other men with guns she had seen on the streets.
Is this another one of your doing, Josh? Turning collaborators into soldiers?
“Grab the chair,” Josh said before stepping outside the room.
Mac came inside and walked over to the bed. He gave her a sharp look, almost daring her to do something, as he picked up the chair.
“How’s the head?” she asked. “Stitches holding up?”
He smirked. “Keep it up. Your boyfriend won’t be here forever.” He had said that last part almost in a low whisper, as if afraid Josh would overhear.
He’s afraid of Josh. This grown man is afraid of a nineteen-year-old teenager who was in high school last year.
Mac exited and slammed the door after him. She heard the familiar click-chank of the deadbolt sliding into place on the other side.
When she was alone again, Gaby stopped fighting and let her stomach growl and wished she had at least eaten the potato. Or the bacon. When was the last time she was going to get a chance to eat fried bacon again?
At least they had left her the water bottle. She picked it up from the floor and drank greedily. It was warm — but then, they all were these days. The liquid helped soothe her throat, which still hurt from the night at the pawnshop when one of Josh’s people had struck her with the butt of his rifle. It was Josh who had wrapped her up in a ball, his hazmat suit saving the two of them from the horde of ghouls rushing into the room. He had saved her, but what about…
Nate.
He had been there too, though Josh refused to tell her what had happened to him. Josh wouldn’t even tell her if Nate was alive or dead. Or worse — if he had been turned. It was Josh’s way of punishing her, letting her know that, ultimately, he held all the cards.
Because he did. All fifty-two of them.
She walked to the window, hoping that staying active would keep her hunger temporarily at bay. They had left her plenty of clothes. Or whoever used to live in the room before her had. The jeans and T-shirt fit fine, and there were even socks, but no signs of shoes of any type. Not that she needed to wear shoes at all. The only place they would allow her to go was a single bathroom two doors down the hallway. She hadn’t even made it far enough to the end of the second floor to see down to the first.
Gaby looked out at the sun-streaked streets below, just in time to catch Josh emerging from the building and climbing into a waiting green Jeep. As far as she could tell, they were keeping her in some kind of boarding house. Not exactly a hotel, but one of those bed-and-breakfasts. That explained the other rooms. She heard plenty of people coming and going over the last few days, even if she never actually got the chance to lay eyes on them. If this was some kind of prison, she was the only one locked up.