WILLA, стр. 39
“It shouldn’t, no. And I’m grateful you haven’t. I don’t want you to think I’m not. I just find it new.”
I sipped more water and eyed my pile of blankets. I was growing tired, but I didn’t want to go to sleep just yet.
“Rest. We can talk later. I won’t go anywhere, I promise,” Tanner said, noticing my glance toward the makeshift bed.
“Thank you. I feel like I’m being rude, but I don’t think I can keep my eyes open much longer.”
“It’s not a problem. I’m a bit tired myself,” Tanner said, moving to the second pile of blankets on the other side of the room.
27.
“Have you run into many bad people?” Tanner asked later that afternoon once I’d woken from my nap and used the restroom again.
The two of us were sitting around a table, eating. I was sipping on another bowl of chicken noodle soup, and Tanner ate Tomato Basil. That time, I’d added a few stale crackers to the liquid.
“Not really, but in the beginning, my Uncles enforced a ‘we take care of our own’ policy. Back then, it didn’t matter. We were safe in my grandma’s cellar, and I don’t think many people came to the house seeking shelter or food. Those that did, my uncles turned away. We were at max capacity for the first few months. We couldn’t have safely taken them in any way. After a while, though...”
“People died, and you had room,” Tanner offered.
“Most left for one reason or another, but yes, some died. My uncles still refused to allow people in the house. Not that it mattered. Most of us died in the end anyway.”
“What happened?”
“One of my cousins who’d left returned. He snuck back into the house. A creature had bitten him. He turned and nearly killed everyone left in the cellar. Only a few of us kids survived along with my Uncle Jamie. Since then, we’ve been on the road. We haven’t met anyone who wanted to join us or help us or who needed our help. Granted, I don’t think we’d run into anyone hurt or sick like I was. We might have helped them then. We didn’t hurt people or steal from them.”
“How long have you been on the road?”
“I honestly don’t know—a month or more. We’ve found a few somewhat safe places to stay, but only for short periods. We lost my cousin Kayla to a zombie. I ran away from my family, thinking a zombie had bitten me. I don’t know where the others are now.”
We fell silent for a while. I thought about my family and the military base. I wondered if I should ask Tanner about it and if I should try finding it. I wasn’t even sure I should bother making the journey anymore. By the time I got there, chances were I’d be too late. Those creatures were everywhere, and any group consisting of more than three or four people would get their attention.
“To some extent, I understand your uncles’ reasoning,” Tanner said, breaking into my thoughts.
He was thinking about my family, as well.
“But if they’d had more people who could’ve stood watch,” Tanner said, “then your cousin might not have gotten into the house, turned, and attacked those people. If that hadn’t happened, then you’d still be safe in the cellar.”
“I guess that’s true, but we’d have run out of resources a lot sooner than we did. Yes, we’d have had the extra people to go on supply runs, though trips into town that early on could have led to assholes or a horde of zombies following the person home and killing us all. I don’t know what would have been better. I think this is an impossible situation, and we all just have to do the best we can and take each day as it comes.”
“You’re probably right. I’ve been alone almost from day one, and I’ve tried my best to stay hidden ever since, so I don’t know what I would’ve done if I were in your shoes.”
“What happened? Where was your family?” I asked, trying not to sound shocked that he’d had no family to help him.
“I lived in a suburb outside of downtown Nashville. When news started to spread about the zombies, my moms were at work in the city. They called to tell me that they were going to pick up as many supplies as they could before coming home. I never saw them again. I can only guess that rioters killed them.
“We didn’t own any guns, so I’m sure they planned on stopping somewhere to get some. That could’ve gotten them killed.
“I had enough food in the house for a week or so, but that was it. They would’ve needed to get food, medical supplies, and things like that. I wanted to join them, but they insisted I stay and take care of our two dogs.
“I gave up on them ever coming back a week later. By then, our house had been broken into twice. Once, the people were after the valuables. Like money was going to be of any use. The second time, they were after food. I’d already moved everything useful up to the attic before the first group got to the house. I’d heard them terrorizing the neighborhood. I’d listened to the screams and cries from people I’d known most of my life and had understood that at any time, I’d be next.
“I carried the food up to the attic first, even some of the refrigerated stuff. Next was stuff like toilet paper and medicine. As I did so, I tried to make it look as if someone had already raided my house, hoping that would be a deterrent, but it wasn’t.
“The first set of robbers killed one of the dogs. I hadn’t forgotten about them, but they’d been too big to keep silent in the attic, so I’d left them