Alone (10 page)

She had finished the first can and was opening the second can, when she saw motion at the window.

She stopped and watched as the guy leaned out the window and hooked some boxes and something green on the line and let it go. She watched as it slid to the ground.

Two boxes of granola bars, a box of beef jerky, a box of donuts and green clothes rolled into the grass.

She stared at the donuts.

Her radio clicked. “I thought I would send you some dessert. Do you like donuts?”

Trish stood and walked down to the items lying on the grass. She looked up to see the guy waving again.

She gave a quick wave then picked up the things on the ground and walked back to the grass.

As she approached the grass the radio sounded again.

“Trish did you think about the favor I asked about?”

Trish touched the soft green jogging pants, They felt so nice.  She looked at all the food he had given her.

“He hadn’t tried to shoot me or run out after me. If I just sit right outside of the grass line, If he tries to come out, I can get out of here long before he could get out here.” She thought.

She picked up the radio. “OK. But if I see you move away from the window I’m gone.” Trish replied.

“Thank You.” He replied.

Trish was nervous as she moved out into the low grass and sat down and opened the box of donuts. No one had ever given her anything. No one had ever said thank you to her.

“I promise I won’t try to hurt you.” Tony paused before he continued. “Maybe tomorrow I can make you a hot dinner of Spaghetti-O’s. I have a little stove. They taste so good when they are warm.” Tony said. “But we can work that out tomorrow.”

Trish sat on the grass as she ate a chocolate donut. It was chocolate and it had chocolate icing. This was amazing.

She picked up the radio as she looked up at the guy at the window.

“What else do you have in there?” Trish asked.

“I have all kind of stuff in here. Is there anything you would like? I can go look and see if I have it.” Tony replied.

Trish thought. “Do you have Doritos?”

“Would you like a bag?” Tony asked.

“Ah, sure.” Trish answered

She watched him leave the window. He was back a few minutes later and she watched as an orange and black bag slid down the wire.

Trish stood up and walked slowly down and picked up the bag. She didn’t bother to watch to see if he was going to try and shoot her. If this morning someone would have asked her if she would be willing to die for a fresh bag of Doritos, she would have gladly said yes.

She somehow believed he would not shoot her. At least he wouldn’t shoot her today.

She looked up at the window with her mouth full of Doritos. She was close enough that she could see the guy at the window. He didn’t look much older than she was. He didn’t look mean or anything like Roy and Tom.

He looked down at her. “I’m afraid I’m out of coat hangers. When you leave, I’ll come down and get the hangers so I can send you more things down tomorrow. It would help if you would put them on a pile by the edge of the grass for me.”

“Thank You.” Trish caught herself saying. She hadn’t meant to say anything. It just came out.

“I’m glad you don’t seem to be so afraid of me right now.” Tony said smiling down at her from the window. “It’s nice to talk with you face to face without the radio.”

Trish caught herself smiling, but quickly tried to look serious.

“I’d like to find out more about you.” Tony said. “Where do you go when you leave here? Do you stay with other people? How old are you? Where did you live before?”

Trish found herself almost wanting to answer his questions. She had a few questions she would like to ask, but she didn’t want to push her luck. Just because he hadn’t tried to shoot her or come running out after her, didn’t mean it was safe. Beside she wasn’t ready to tell him about her sister and Roy.

As long as he thought she was on her own, maybe he would keep giving her food.

She looked up at him. “I’m sixteen, but I’m almost seventeen. I don’t know for sure when that will be. I don’t know what month it is, but I think it will be sometime when the weather starts to get cold again.”

“I’m eighteen.” Tony said. “I used to live in Uniontown.”

“I used to live in Dunbar.” Trish replied.

“Where do you live now?” Tony asked.

Trish turned and started to walk back towards the trees. She stopped and looked back. “I have to go. Maybe we can talk tomorrow.”

“I like talking with you Trish.” Tony said, careful not to make her feel pressured.

“I think I like talking to you too.” She replied.

“Tony.” He said. “My name is Tony.”

“Bye Tony. I have to go. I’ll visit again tomorrow, but I have to leave now.”

Trish turned and walked back to the high grass and disappeared into the weeds.

Tony smiled to himself. Today was a great day. He couldn’t believe Trish had actually stood close enough that he could see her and talk to her.

It felt so nice to talk to someone again. He liked Trish.

He ran down into the warehouse. He wanted to find something special to give her tomorrow.

Maybe tomorrow she would feel comfortable enough with him that he could go out and talk with her. Maybe they could sit and talk by the building.

He would give her an hour to be on her way, then he would go out and get the hangers.

If she was still nervous tomorrow, at least he would be able to send her down some more food.

She looked so thin. He didn’t think she had eaten regularly for a very long time.

Trish walked back through the woods. She felt light and happy. She had eaten donuts and Doritos for the first time in almost a year.

That guy had actually been nice to her. He could have shot her easily, but he didn’t.

Tony, that was his name. It didn’t sound at all like Roy or Tom. He didn’t act like them either. He had asked her a favor, which she did for him and didn’t feel sick about it.

She had more new clothes. She held them up and rubbed them against her cheek. They felt so soft. She would leave them under the log with the food. If she took them back to the house, Roy would just take them off of her again. Debbie might decide she wanted to wear them. Trish doubted they would fit Debbie, but that wouldn’t stop her from taking them just so Trish wouldn’t have them.

Tony had said when she had first made contact, that he was hoping she might want to stay with him for a while. She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he didn’t seem to be like Roy. Maybe she would think about that. She would decide after she had talked with him a few more times. If he wasn’t going to be gross it might be OK. Even if he smacked her around a little, to get all this food she could live with that. It would be better than staying with her sister and Roy and Tom. They smacked her around and she got nothing for it. But that Tony guy didn’t seem like the kind of person that would smack her around.

Whatever he was like, it would probably be better than staying where she was.

At least she would get to eat. But again, once she was trapped inside that warehouse, maybe the food would stop.

It was all so confusing and scary

She looked at all the food she was carrying.

Maybe she would take the donuts back to the house. She hated to give the donuts to those bastards, but maybe that would be enough to make them leave her alone.

It would be so nice to have peace and quiet for one night.

Tom had followed Trish to the warehouse. He had watched from behind the trees. He had heard most of what they had said.

He couldn’t believe that guy was giving that little bitch all that stuff.

That guy had a good thing going there at the warehouse.

He apparently had all the food he could eat.

He was running a great scam on the little bitch. In fact he thought for a few minutes it was going to work. That guy had lured her in close. He could tell it wouldn’t take too much more to get her inside.

The guy was smooth.

He wondered how many other chicks the guy had been able to lure inside.

Tom laughed. “The guy must be on hard times, spending so much time and food trying to get that scrawny little bitch to go inside with him.”

But again why not. If it wasn’t for her older sister, he would have taken care of the little bitch himself. But that would piss off her sister and that would have pissed off Roy. She wasn’t worth it.

But all of that could change tonight. Wait until he told Roy what he had found out today.

Roy would feed her scrawny little ass to the dead for what she was hiding from all of them.

Chapter 12

Tom followed Trish back towards the house. She was just starting into the last field before the house. But instead of going straight back to the house, she had gone over to the corner of the field.

She had dropped down behind the tall grass. Tom could hear what sounded like papers rustling.

He slowly crept closer to see what she was doing and pushed the high grass aside so he could get a better look at what she was up to.

Tom couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

She was burying food.  “That sneaky little bitch!” There had to be a enough food to fill a good sized box. The amount of food she had hidden would probably feed the group for three or four days.

Tom smiled to himself. “Or enough food for he and Roy to have themselves a nice feast.”

Tom looked at the clothes she folded neatly and placed over the food. “Maybe Debbie’s little sister wasn’t as dumb as they all thought. She was playing the guy at that warehouse. She was teasing him to get food and clothes. Then she was coming back to the house and playing all of them.”

Tom wondered. “What the hell is she up to?”

Then he started to think about what would be the best way to get her in trouble with Roy?

He could run over now and grab her. He could make her carry all the stuff she had hidden back to the house.

“Roy would be pissed.” Tom smiled.

Or he thought, he could follow her back to the house and asked her questions in front of the others and let her try to lie her way out of it.

Roy would be double pissed. First because she was hoarding all this food and hiding it from the group. Then he would be pissed because she lied about it all.

Roy would be pissed and Debbie would be pissed. They would be so mad Debbie wouldn’t care what they did to her sister. Roy would want to throw her out of the group to go fend for herself.

Tom could then be a hero and suggest Roy give her to him and he would be responsible to make sure she didn’t give anyone any more problems and that she mended her ways.

This could work out even better than he had hoped.

He decided to go with the second plan. That would make everyone pissed at her.

If she wanted to live and stay with the group, she would be at his mercy.

Tom smiled to himself as he watched her set aside the box of donuts. He enjoyed watching her crawl over the log and grunt as she strained to roll the log back over to cover up her treasure.

He got excited thinking about how he was going to make her squirm and beg back at the house in front of the others.

When it looked like she was almost finished, Tom worked his way to the other side of the field where she wouldn’t hear him and started to walk quickly back to the house.

He stayed bent over low and kept watching for her head to appear over the grass as she made her way back to the house, so he could duck down so she wouldn’t see him.

He had made it all the way across the field to the road by the house before he saw her head pop up out of the grass.

He ran across the road, then stood up and walked to the house as if he had just been out in the yard looking around.

Tom walked in through the front door. Roy and Debbie were messing around on the couch.

Debbie just smiled as Roy looked up. “Did you follow her? Has she been up to something?”

Tom went over and threw himself down in the big stuffed chair across from the couch and picked up one of the year old magazines that was on the floor. He leaned back. “Yea, I followed her. She will be back in a few minutes. Just play along with me like you don’t know anything. I’m going to let the little bitch dig a hole she can’t get out of.”

Roy smiled. He knew this should be good. He liked watching Debbie’s sister squirm.

Trish ran across the road and up to the door as she watched to make sure no one was out lurking around looking to grab her.

She again felt relief when she had made it to the door unmolested.

She opened the door and stepped inside.

Everyone was where she had expected to find them. Tom sitting in that big old chair, Debbie wrapped around Roy on the couch and loud mouth nowhere to be seen. That guy never seemed to be around except when Trish was by herself or wearing nothing but her underwear.

Everyone looked up at her as she walked inside.

“You’ve been out a long time today Sis. Have fun?” Debbie asked.

“I hope you brought us back something decent today for a change!” Roy said sarcastically.

Roy just stared at her. Trish felt really uncomfortable the way Roy stared at her. When he looked at her that way, things usually ended up being unpleasant for her.

She nervously walked over to Roy and handed him the box of donuts.

“I got this for you.” Trish said as her voice quivered.

Roy looked at the box and opened the top as he held his gaze on Trish.

Roy held up one of the donuts and turned it over in his fingers as he studied the donut. He then took a large bite out of the donut. Half the donut disappeared. “Here Deb, you like donuts.”

“Thanks Roy.” Debbie smiled as she took the half donut.

“Here Tom.” Roy said as he picked out another donut and tossed it over to Tom.

Roy looked back in the box. “Let’s see. I took two donuts out of the box and there are seven left. That means someone ate three donuts before she brought them back.”

Roy looked back up at Trish. “Someone was being a little greedy.”

Roy just stared.

“I’m sorry. I was hungry and they were good.” Trish replied quietly.

“Where did you find these donuts?” Tom asked.

Trish shuffled her feet nervously. “A little donut shop about a half mile down the road.” She lied.

“Was this all that was there?” Roy asked.

“Yea, like maybe there were four boxes of donuts and you ate all the others and just brought us these few back?” Tom said staring at Trish. He was enjoying watching her squirm.

“No this was all that I could find.” Trish answered.

“Honest!” Roy asked.

“You wouldn’t lie to us would you?” Tom added.

“No. Honest!” Trish lied.

Tom smiled. “You sure there wasn’t other food there?”

“No!” Trish replied.

“No clothes?” Tom asked as he smiled an evil grin. “No green sweat suits?”

Trish turned red. She was starting to feel sick. “What is happening?” She thought as a feeling of dread started to sweep through her body.

“This donut shop didn’t happen to be a big building down the road about half a mile behind a bunch of trees?” Tom’s smile grew larger.

Trish’s knees felt like they were going to give out. “Oh my God, they know!” Her mind began to scream inside her head.

“There didn’t happen to be a guy at this donut shop that you were flirting with so he would give you things was there?” Tom beamed victoriously.

“My little Sis was out with some guy for food?” Debbie looked shocked. “You little slut!”

“Are you sure you didn’t get a whole bunch of stuff from this guy?” Tom glared at her. “Then you buried the rest out in the field so you could have it all for yourself?”

Trish’s gaze shifted from Tom to Roy and Debbie. They all stared at her, their eyes angry.

“Why don’t we go out to the field and roll over that log and see what she has been hiding from us?” Tom glared.

Trish froze. Roy would kill her. He might beat her to death or feed her to the zombies, but one way or another he would kill her. Trish felt he had wanted to get rid of her ever since they joined up.

If not for her sister she would have been dead, or worse by now. Now her sister hated her too. Debbie just sat there and glared at her. She could see the hatred in her eyes.

If she didn’t get out of here, she was dead.

Trish turned to run, but Tom stuck his leg out. Trish’s first step was her last as she crashed to the floor, landing on her face.

Roy was on her in an instant. He drug her to her feet by her hair. Trish tried to fight back, but Roy smacked her across the face so hard she sank to her knees.

“You try something like that again and I’ll break your damn arm! Understand?” Roy shouted as he dragged her back to her feet. The pain in her head hurt so bad. Tears began to run down her face.

“I said do you understand?” Roy yelled as he shook the hell out of her by her hair.

“Yes!” Trish whimpered.

Debbie stood and slapped her across the face, then stood and stared at Trish. “After all we have done for you! You selfish ungrateful little bitch.”

“Where is this field?” Roy asked.

“It’s right across from the front of the house.” Tom replied. “The little dumb ass didn’t have the intelligence to bury the stuff away from the house.”

“Show us Tom.” Roy said as he dragged Trish out the door.

Tom led the way as Roy yanked hard on Trish’s hair, dragging her along behind him.

When they reached the corner of the field, Tom rolled the log off the hole where Trish had put her clothes and food.

Roy looked down. “Holy Shit! Look at all that stuff. “

He yanked Trish over to the log and shoved her to the ground. “Pick that shit up and hand it to Tom and Deb!” He ordered.

Trish knelt on the ground and slowly began to pick up the items she had buried.

He heart broke as she handed the soft green jogging pants to Debbie. Next she started to hand the food up to Tom and Debbie.

When she had handed the rest of the items to Tom, Roy grabbed her hair and yanked her to her feet.

“What do you think we should do to her?” Tom asked. “Feed her to the dead? I have some other ideas if you want to hear them.” Tom grinned.

Roy twisted Trish’s head around and looked her in the eyes. “I’m going to let you loose and you will walk right in front of me. If you try to run, do you want to know what I will do to you?”

“No!” Trish whimpered.

“Start walking!” Roy ordered.

Trish moved slowly in front of the group.

“You said she got all this stuff from some guy?” Roy asked.

“Yea. Some guy staying at a large building about a half mile down the road from here.” Tom replied.

“Was this building like a big house with lots of windows or was it more like a warehouse?” Roy asked.

“It looked like a big warehouse. There were some trucks parked in the front.” Tom replied. “You’re right, it must have been a warehouse.”

“Then this guy probably has a lot of food and stuff in there.” Roy added.

“He was pushing all kind of things out for her. He told her to ask for whatever she wanted and he would go inside and find it for her.” Tom said. “She asked for Doritos and he went inside and got her a bag!”

“So he was sweet on the little bitch?” Roy asked.

“I think he would have done anything for her.” Tom snickered. “He was trying real hard to get her to come in the building with him.”

Roy smiled.

“So what do you want to do to her?” Tom asked cheerfully.

Trish listened to the two guys talking. She knew tonight was going to be a nightmare. She looked out across the field as the sun began to fade. She liked the sun. She knew this was the last time she would probably ever see it.

“I have an idea.” Roy said smiling. “She might be more than dead weight after all.”

They all went back to the house.

As soon as they got inside the door, Roy grabbed Trish and dragged her over behind the couch to her corner.

He pushed her down on the floor and held her face to the floor.

“Deb, hand me that rope on the table?” Roy ordered.

Debbie ran over to the table and brought the rope to Roy.

He took the rope and tied Trish’s hand tightly behind her back as Debbie watched. Debbie smiled, she had always liked it when Roy tied her up.

Trish whimpered at the pain.

Next Roy tied her feet together, then he tied the ropes holding her hands and her feet together.

Trish laid on the floor helpless like some calf in a roping event at the rodeo.

Her arms ached at the horrible angle her arms had been forced into.

“Let her lay here all night to think about what a bad girl she has been” Roy laughed. “Tomorrow we are going to have some fun.”