The Survivors Book III: Winter (9 page)

"
Yeah, sounds fine," Skye agreed, waving a wooden spoon at me.  "We're already doing that anyway, so make it official.  What else?"

"
I need to know if you managed to salvage the radio," I asked bluntly; there was no point beating around the bush where my sister was concerned.

To my surprise, she hesitated.
 "Um... sort of."

"
Sort of?"  I raised a brow.

"
Well, it's a little melted," she admitted, sounding sheepish.  "I can't make it work, but you might be able to.  I think it's just the shell that's melted, but something inside must have come loose from the heat.  I mean, it's not totally melted."

I muffled a chuckle behind a cough.
 "Ah, right.  Radio's melted.  Got it."

"
Just a little melted!" she protested.  "It's probably still good.  I mean, I hope so.  It's in with the supplies downstairs."

"
I'll take a look at it tomorrow," I answered dryly.  "How much bedding did you manage to collect?"

"
Not enough for everyone," she said with a shrug.  "Some people are going to have to share.  I guess we'll just have to get used to getting a little cuddly if we're going to stay together."

"
Not for long."  I gave her a smile and a wink.  "We'll look for some more as we head south.  I'm sure we'll find more than we need."

"
True."  Skye heaved a sigh and stretched.  "Is that all?  I'm knackered; I just want to get dinner done and curl up to sleep."

"
Yeah.  Thanks, sis."  I waved to her and ducked out of the kitchen again, then went off to begin the arduous task of assigning bedding.  I found a mound of it downstairs, and dragged it all up to hand it out.  Sure enough, there wasn't enough to go around, but the group was pretty relaxed about being paired off with cuddle-buddies for the night.  By the time dinner was served, half the men were laughing and teasing one another, and then they were distracted by food.

I deemed that a good thing, considering that so many of them had lost close friends that day.
 The longer I could keep them distracted and smiling, the better it would be for everyone.  When dinner was served, I sat down quietly on the floor between Skylar and Michael, and ate my serving without a word, lost in my own thoughts.

It was going to be a long night, and an even longer few months as we headed south, but it had to be done.
 We couldn't just stay here and wait to see what the mutants decided to do next.  As hard as it was to accept that it was better to flee than to stand and fight, I knew in my gut that I'd made the right choice for everyone.  It wasn't the easy choice, but it was the right choice.

It took us three days to prepare to leave Ohaupo – three very tense days, and very long nights.  Every night, the guards reported hearing strange sounds outside our building, but by dawn there was no sign of anything there.  It was unnerving, to say the least.  We were all tense and on edge, and it was beginning to grate on everyone's nerves.  People were snappish, and more than once I found myself having to step in to diffuse a potential explosion.

On the fourth morning, I woke early with my head nestled on Michael's belly, to the familiar sound of Priya's soft snores beside me.
 My concussion had healed fine, as had Skylar's, but Anahera was still unconscious.

I lifted my head, careful to avoid disturbing the people around me, and discovered that I was the first one awake in the pre-dawn gloom.
 It took me exactly three seconds to decide that made it the perfect time to get up and have a quick shower, before we had twenty people all clamouring for the bathroom at once.

As gently as I could, I extracted myself from my cuddle-pile and snuck towards the bathroom, tiptoeing around the sleeping forms of my friends.
 It was a nerve-wracking trip, but somehow I made it without waking anyone – or so I thought.  When I glanced back over my shoulder at the last moment, I realised that Michael had somehow snuck up behind me.  He gave me a playful grin and held a finger up to his lips, then grabbed my hand and dragged me into the bathroom.

There were very few moments of privacy with that many people living in such close proximity.
 Since the bathroom door had a lock, and the shower was one of our favourite spots anyway, it seemed logical.  We were quick and stealthy, but it was enough.  A brief moment of stolen passion was enough to leave me feeling happy and revitalized.

By the time we were finished, bathed, and dressed, the others were starting to wake up around us.
 Michael and I went into the kitchen to get breakfast started; one by one, the others dragged themselves out of bed and toddled off to the bathroom to relieve themselves, yawning broadly.

By the time a bleary-eyed Skylar wandered into the kitchen, breakfast was almost ready.

"What's going on?" she asked sleepily.  "I thought you guys hated cooking?"

"
Well, we need an early start this morning if we want to make it to a secure spot by sunset, so we figured we should get breakfast cooking as soon as possible," I answered, offering her a plate.  "My scrambled eggs may not be as good as yours, but they're still food.  Eat up."

She started to say something, but all that came out was a sleepy mumble, then she grabbed the plate and wandered back into the living room.
 I shot an amused glance at Michael, and opened my mouth to crack a joke, but before I could say anything the sound of a voice raised in alarm interrupted me.

Michael's expression turned to one of concern, mirroring my own feelings.
 The shouting was coming from the upstairs lobby.  If something had figured out a way to get inside, then we were all in danger.  I turned and ran out into the living room, with him hot on my heels.

A second later, I burst through the door onto the landing, where I found Tane leaning against the windowsill, staring intently down into the courtyard of our old motel.
 He glanced back when he heard us, and pointed down into the yard.

"
I saw someone down there," he explained quickly.  "I didn't get a good enough look to know if it was a survivor or one of the undead, though.  I just saw a silhouette moving."

"
Let's go find out, then," I answered resolutely.  I led the way down the stairs to the lower level.  At the bottom of the stairs, I banged on the door until it opened, and Hemi's startled-looking face peeked up at me.

"
What's the ruckus, Sandy?" he asked, looking tense and wary.

"
There's someone – or something – in the motel," I explained, gently shoving my way past him into the office at the base of the stairs.  I grabbed my shotgun from its shelf, and led the way towards the exit.  Iorangi was standing guard beside it; he took one look at my face, then hastily unlocked the door and pulled away the blockade to let us out.  "Thanks.  You two stay here.  I don't want anything to sneak in while the door's open."

"
We've got it covered," Hemi replied.  "If you need us, shout."

"
Good man.  Don't worry, we will."  I nodded grimly, and beckoned for Michael and Tane to follow me.  I heard their footfalls behind me as I raced down the street towards the corner, and headed for the front door of the old motel.  There, I paused and listened for a moment, but I heard nothing.

I felt a soft touch on my shoulder, then Michael leaned past me to point at the sooty ground near the door.
 A fresh boot-print marred the ash, clear as day, the edges not yet blurred by the breeze or rain.  I crouched down and stared at it, then nodded and rose back to my feet.  It might have been left by one of the undead, but it was just as likely to have been left by a living person.

Ahead of me, I spotted another boot print on the blackened concrete, then a third and a fourth.
 They were spaced wide, but an even distance apart.  That settled it for me – the infected had an uneven, loping gait, and the prints were too regular for that.  Our visitor was a person, and he or she had been running.

I glanced back at the two men following me and touched a finger to my lips for silence.
 They both nodded in agreement.  Lowering my shotgun into a defensive position, I followed the tracks across the soot-stained lobby and out into the courtyard, then followed them up the stairs towards the second level.  As quietly as I could, I slipped the safety off my shotgun and brought it up to my shoulder, aiming carefully along the length of the barrel.  Without knowing if the new arrival was friend or foe, I chose to err on the side of caution.

The footprints continued along the upper landing, to the door of the room that had been Skylar's.
 They overlapped one another a bit there, as though the person had paused to look around, then they headed into the room itself.  I eased myself down into a crouch-walk as I approached the door, and slid around the corner, ready to fire in a heartbeat.

Then, I lowered my shotgun and stared in surprise.
 "Ryan?"

The befreckled youth almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of my voice.
 He'd been standing with his back to the door, staring at the blackened remains of Skye's bed, and clearly hadn't heard me come in.

"
Sandy!" he exclaimed.  "Jesus, what happened here?  Is Skye all right?"

I let out a deep sigh of relief, and eased myself back up to my feet.
 "She's fine.  You gave us a hell of a fright, kid.  Where have you been?"

"
Just… you know, around."  He lifted a shoulder in a vague shrug, and stared down at his feet.  "I couldn't face it – I couldn't face her – and I had to run away for a while.  Clear my head."

"
You have a hell of a nerve to come back here," Michael growled over my shoulder; the tone of his voice almost scared
me
out of my skin, because it was one I'd never heard him use before.  "You left her when she needed you most.  You're the worst kind of coward.  How dare you come back here, after what you did?"

Ryan flinched visibly and took a step back away from us.
 "Look, I-I did what I had to do, you know?  I couldn't stay here.  I needed to—"

"
You ran off and left her!" Michael stepped around me, his face a mask of fury.  "She almost died giving birth to your child, and you
left her
!  I've half a mind to—"

"
Stop it!" I shouted, leaping in to put myself between the two men.  I turned to Michael and softened my tone, giving him an appealing look.  "Michael, stop.  This isn't you.  Remember what we talked about?  About forgiveness?  He's just a kid.  Everyone makes mistakes when they're young.  Everyone deserves a second chance."

Michael stared down at me, his expression a hostile mask – right up until I lifted my hand, and rested it on his chest, right above the spot where his ring was hidden on its chain around his throat.
 Then, a flicker of something softer passed through his eyes.  He nodded, and looked away.

I breathed a second sigh of relief and returned my attention to Ryan.
 "We need to get back inside.  We're leaving Ohaupo today.  Come on."

"
If Skye's half as angry at me as I deserve, then I'm probably safer out here," the young man answered nervously, shifting from one foot to the other as though anxious to flee.

"
I have no idea how angry she is."  I shrugged and turned away, heading for the door.  "She won't talk about it.  You're just going to have to find out the hard way."

Behind me, I heard Ryan sigh.

***

By the time we made it back upstairs, breakfast was a charred disaster.
 I found Skye half way through rescuing as much of it as she could.  When I told her who was waiting for her, she dropped her spatula with a clatter, and stared at me in white-faced shock for nearly a minute.

I couldn't blame her.
 When Ryan had vanished nearly a month before, none of us had really expected him to return.

"
He came back?" she whispered.  "Why?  Why would he come back now?"

"
I don't know, but he's waiting out in the lobby if you want to ask him," I answered gently.  "You don't have to, though, if you don't want to.  I can tell him to go away."

"
No, there's no need for that."  She shook her head slowly, bit her lip, and looked down at the ground.  "I'll go talk to him.  Maybe it'll be okay.  I mean, maybe."

"
Don't let him push you into anything you don't want, okay?" I said, reaching out to my baby sister with a gentleness that I reserved only for her.  She nodded and hugged me quickly, then went out to meet her estranged fiancé with a brave face.

Elly and Michael stood nearby, watching the exchange with very different expressions on their faces.
 Once my sister had left, I gave Elly a long-suffering smile, and Michael a hug.  He hugged me back in silence, then detached himself and went off to gather up his belongings.

"
There is a lot of tension in this group," Elly observed as she dished up the last of the food for those that hadn't eaten yet.  "I hope this will not cause problems later on."