Wolves among men (27 page)

“
Sam, it’s okay you don’t
have to be upset about it. Shit happens, no harm no
foul.”

“
That’s bullshit,” she
spoke quickly, looking up at me. I could see the anger, the remorse
somewhere deep behind her eyes. “The treaty is broken, thousands
will die. Your sister is God knows where with God knows who and
it’s my fault,” her words became quick, desperate as she sat up and
shook her head. “I made a mistake, Ethan, a mistake that not only
screwed you but screwed all of us.”

“
Sam, relax we can do
this. We’ll get the numbers behind us, we’ll get support.” She
shook her head and smiled slightly.

“
It’s cute that you have
this we can do anything if we all just try attitude but no offense,
Ethan, you don’t know what we’re up against.”

“
No I don’t. But that
doesn’t mean we’re shit out of luck and that doesn’t mean there’s
no sense in trying.” She looked up at me slowly as I spoke, “Yeah
you messed up. It would have been nice to have someone there to
walk me through life as a new species, to maybe have someone
explain the treaty and Malik and all this crap before I went and
found out the hard way.” She lowered her gaze and bit her lip
gently. “It would have been nice to get to know you and the rest of
them under different circumstances and it would have been nice to
not have been stabbed in the alley that night but you know what,
Sam? Shit happens as I said. There’s nothing we can do about it and
sitting here crying over a stupid mistake isn’t going to change
anything.”

She looked up at me once again, tears
welling up behind her eyes as she listened.

“
You saved my life more
than once and to me that count’s more than any of the dumb shit you
may have done so thank you.” She smiled lightly as she looked down
and nodded.

“
You can be real
passionate when you want to be you know that.” I chuckled lightly
and shrugged.

“
I don’t know about that.”
I smiled as she looked over at me. “I just don’t think you should
be so hard on yourself, everyone makes mistakes.”

We sat in silence for a long moment
before the sound of Grant calling his family to dinner came rushing
through the window behind us. I offered her my hand and helped her
to her feet.

“
Hungry?” I asked with a
smile. She nodded lightly and took my hand, leading me out of the
room and down the narrow hallway.

“
Come on, man, put the
book down and come outside.”

“
I’m perfectly fine here,
thank you,” James muttered without looking up. Matt groaned as he
turned toward us.

“
Sam, could you do
something about this?”

“
Like what?” She smiled as
she let go of my hand and walked toward them.

“
He won’t come
outside.”

“
I don’t like
crowds.”

“
You should come outside
with us.” She smiled down at him. James looked up from his book for
a moment and in that moment it seemed as if he was under some sort
of spell, his face relaxed and a smile crossed his lips as he
closed the book on his lap.

“
I don’t really belong out
there.”

“
Neither do I,” I added
from the doorway. “But I’m going anyway.” James looked to me and
back to Sam before standing with a loud sigh and dropping his book
onto the chair beneath him.

“
I suppose I should at
least get some food.”

“
There we go.” Matt smiled
as he threw his arm around the kid and led him outside, holding the
door open for Sam and I as we followed.

I stopped Sam at the door and pulled
her into a hug, after everything we talked about it felt only right
and as she squeezed back gently under my embrace I felt her body
relax and a wave of relief washed over me.

“
Are we going or what?”
Matt smiled from the doorway as I looked over her shoulder at him.
I pulled away from Sam and smiled down at her quickly before
following them back into the courtyard and taking advantage of the
buffet that waited to greet us.

Chapter
Eighteen

We piled our plates without care or
concern and my mouth watered with each new dish that caught my eye.
Burgers piled high on paper plates, sausages and ribs crammed next
to mouthwatering plates of chicken and some kind of fish.
Sandwiches and salads of all kinds, all the things I grew to love
over the years and things I had yet to discover laid out before me
in a welcoming and delicious buffet.

With my plate stuffed as high as it
would go, I followed Sam and Logan to an empty white table and took
my seat on the other side of her. If it weren’t for the ingrained
instinct to be a more civilized person I would have been tempted to
forgo the use of a fork and simply shove my face into my place but
my better instincts got a hold of me and instead I turned to watch
the many smiling faces around me as they filled their plates and
took their seats.

Children looked over the tables
hungrily, pointing to what they wanted as their mothers filled
their plates happily and I wondered with a smile if this is how
life unfolded for them each and every day a celebration of family
and friends, a celebration of life, new life and for some second
chances.

My thoughts were broken as Mack sat
down next to me, his eyes fixed on the mountainous plate in front
of him. “Looks good doesn’t it?” He smiled as he grabbed his fork
and began to pick at the feast he had chosen for himself. I smiled
and nodded as I grabbed a burger and began to tear into it like a
man on the verge of death. I could hear Sam chuckle as she watched
me finish it in four bites taking no time to rest as I grabbed a
second one and gave it the same treatment.

“
Hungry?” Logan asked with
a smile as he gingerly picked at his own plate.

“
Dude, you have no idea,”
my sentence muffled and distorted, followed quickly by the sound of
laughter around me. Matt took his seat next to Sam and shortly
after came James who seemed more interested in his book rather than
the meager amounts of food placed in front of him. Logan turned to
him and scoffed.

“
Is that all you gonna
eat, man?” he asked as James looked up from his book, confusion
covered his face as he looked down at his plate then to
Logan.

“
What?” He questioned
lightly.

“
Nothing,” Logan shook his
head as he grabbed one of his three burgers and slapped it down on
James’ plate. “You’re a skinny little shit as it is, eat something
will you.” He chuckled as James rolled his eyes and went back to
his preferred hobby. I had only known him for a short time but
Logan was right, James was a tiny guy and never without something
to read.

“
Don’t mind him,” Sam
cooed as she threw her arm around James and pulled him into a quick
one armed hug. “We love you just as you are.” James blushed
slightly and marked his place as she released him and turned her
attention back to her plate. He set the book down on the table next
to him and began to eat his fill, slowly and carefully as if he was
studying every bite.

“
Yeah, man, skinny or not
you’re still one hell of a fighter.” Matt smiled before glaring
slightly at Logan. “So, Ethan,” He nodded at me. I looked up at him
questioningly, still managing to load forkfuls of food into my
mouth as I waited for him to speak. “What did you and Sam talk
about in there?” He nodded toward the building behind us. A
condescending tone poured from his lips and for a moment I wasn’t
sure what to say. Thankfully Sam took over and I went happily back
to my meal.

“
Since when is that any of
your business?” She smiled.

“
It’s not, I’m just
curious.” He shrugged, biting off at least half of his burger in
one motion as he looked over at her.

“
Okay, well if you’re
going to be nosy, I was just wondering how he was that’s all.” She
smiled as his posture began to relax.

“
That’s it?” he sounded
shocked.

“
Yes that’s it, Matt.” She
looked over at him and smiled lightly. “Why do you
care?”

“
I don’t.” He shrugged.
“Just asking is all.” Sam rolled her eyes and went back to her
meal. We sat in silence and enjoyed the time we shared in the
company of our new friends as they gathered around us and one by
one took their places at the long stretch of tables set out before
them. It was nice to see so many people smiling, to see others like
me and to know that at least for this moment it wasn’t me against
the world anymore. I had answers, I had hope and in this particular
moment in time I was right where I wanted and needed to
be.

Grant sat down next to me and folded
his arms on the table.

“
You’re not eating?” I
asked him as I turned to meet his smiling face. He shook his head
slightly.

“
No, I had enough while I
was helping to cook everything,” he spoke warmly as I pushed my
empty plate to the side and looked at him intently. “Actually I was
wondering if I could have a word with you whenever you’re ready.” I
nodded hesitantly.

“
What is it with everyone
wanting to talk to me today?” I chuckled as I stood from the
table.

“
Been popular today have
you?” He smiled.

“
More or less.” I smirked
as I stood and followed Grant toward the main building. He held the
door open and as I stepped inside a rush of cool air swept past me,
chilling me as the door closed loudly behind us.

“
So what’s this all
about?” I asked curiously as I stood under the hum of the bright
florescent lights. Grant’s face lit up and he walked around me
quickly. As he moved back into view he held out pair of overstuffed
black binders. I eyed them curiously, not sure of what it was or if
I truly wanted it but Grant’s insistence got the better of me and I
took them from his hands. I dropped them on a small round table
next to us and began flipping through the charts and newspaper
clippings with a surprising amount of enthusiasm.

“
What is all
this?”

“
That is basically what we
know about Malik,” he spoke dryly. “You were asking and I for one
think that you could be a great help to us.” I looked up from the
pages, my eyebrow rose as I questioned him.

“
How do you
figure?”

“
Well,” He smiled. “we
need all the people we can get honestly,” he explained as I closed
the binder and tucked it under my arm. “If Malik’s going to start a
war we have to be prepared and I was hoping that maybe we could
count on having your help.”

“
Of course,” I answered
quickly.

“
Are you sure?” he asked
surprised.

“
Well yeah.” He nodded.
“It’s not like going to war is on my list of things to do before I
die but I started this...”

“
That wasn’t your fault,
Ethan.”

“
I know that,” I
explained. I thought back to the conversation I had with Sam and
sighed. “But it wasn’t Sam’s either, I can’t stick you guys with
this and run for the hills.” He nodded as his eyes locked with
mine.

“
You do realize that this
isn’t going to be easy.” I nodded.

“
I also know that it might
kill me to finish what I started but hell,” I chuckled. “What have
I got to lose?” You live and you learn, a saying that everyone
knows but it applied to me now more than ever. In this case however
it was more aptly worded you live, you learn, you screw over an
entire race of people and you do everything you can to make it
right.

Grant smiled brightly at my
enthusiasm, the way he reacted I would have guessed that what I had
just said was the best news he had heard all year not that I could
understand why in any sense of the word. I was a Cashier from
Barstow. I had never served in the army even after years of serious
consideration for the idea, hell I was the kid who ran away from
his bullies in fear of getting punched in the face so as I stood
there, watching him smile, it was hard for me to understand what it
was that made him so damn happy about the idea.

“
The thing is though I
don’t know how to fight or anything like that.” I smiled nervously.
“What happened back in Barstow that was just instinct, I was trying
to protect my sister.” I looked down at the floor and chuckled
lightly. “I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to be doing.”
Grant laughed lightly and shook his head.

“
Do you think any of us
do?” He chuckled. “I know maybe a little bit about warfare, Matt
and some of the boys have done this kind of thing before but we all
have a long way to go before any of us are ready,” a light laugh
escaped him as he spoke. “We all have a lot of learning to do but
it means a lot to me that you’re willing to fight with us.” I
nodded my head and placed the binder down on the table next to
us.