“Give me the damn shirt, woman.” I grabbed it out of her hand before she realized I did.
“Hey!”
I slapped her clean shirt into her hand and began to scrub mine, doing my best to agitate the fabric in order to get the soup stains out.
“Look,” I probably said too sternly, but my mind was already on a roll so I didn’t stop to doubt myself. “I’ll train you. I need to start gathering more people anyway. The best thing for this community is to get into the mindset of offense instead of defense. It’s the only way we can get a leg up on the shitshow out there.”
“You will?” she said excitedly.
I hid the smile that grew on my face. I wondered if Amir would assist me. It wasn’t like he had anything else better to do. Carson still hadn’t been seen since we left him at Vanessa’s house.
I scrubbed the shirt a few more times before twisting the fabric to extract the water. “That’s what I said, didn’t I? Do you have any experience with a weapon?”
“I’ll learn whatever I need to learn.”
I liked her zest and determination but images of what she would look like with her gut torn open and innards strewn about the ground with lifeless eyes kept me in focus on the mission.
“Spread the word, Inés. Whoever is interested needs to meet me in the armory in the next two days. That’ll give people a day to think it over and allow the serious ones to make their decision.”
I got to my feet and threw my wet shirt over my naked shoulder before turning to look at her.
“I’m ready now.”
“You’re ready now,” I repeated. How badly did she want to go out and die? “What about your sister? Your niece and nephew?”
“What about them?” she countered.
I tilted my head, a little befuddled. “She’s still mourning. You going to just leave her?”
“You saying she’s not strong enough without a man? She knew exactly what she was getting into when she got with Carlos and she did it anyway. As much as his loss guts her, my sister is strong, she has to be, for her children. Just like I have to be strong, going out there fighting to make sure my niece and nephew have a better world to look forward to.”
I rubbed my stubbled chin at her rationalization. It was admirable. But heroism didn’t guarantee returning back alive. In many ways, it could make a person more reckless.
ChapterSix
Vik
Standing in the armory,Amir whistled at the number of people who decided to show up for training.
“This is sad,” I deadpanned.
He chuckled. “You expected any less? Why do you think Ozzy gave you the task? He was trying to give your ego a beating without needing to be there to do it.”
I glared at Amir over my shoulder. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, bud.”
He chuckled and clasped his hands behind his head. “You’re welcome. Come on, you at least gotthismany to show up.”
Inés did what she was asked to do after I kept declining her insistence of starting her training early. As eager as she was, there was a small level of uncomfortability with being alone with her. Her fire both called to me and made me defensive.
I hadn’t considered a woman since my late wife. Inés was igniting something I didn’t think I was ready for.
It’s been a while since I came this way. Before we changed our burial patterns, a lot of our loss were buried behind a fence a mile out from Black Hollow. It wasn’t anything fancy. A giant hole was dug up about seven to eight feet deep before we dumped the masses of corpses. I stood here now, alone, staring at what was once loose dirt, now overgrown to match the surroundings. The fence we created around the plot was subtle. We didn’t want to alert the bloodsuckers to its purpose. Hidden under the foliage that invaded the area lay a stone for remembrance.
My family's name was on that list. As were so many others. I bowed my head for a moment to remember Katherine. I would give almost anything to see her again but I refused to bury her in a giant hole with the others. Instead, she was buried somewhere farther away from this area. Maybe she was one of the lucky ones. The world hadn’t gotten any better since her departure. Maybe what they said was true, after death there was a place where there was finally peace. Soon enough it would be my time to find out, but not today. Not yet.
It had been a couple years since I lost Katherine but I never forgot her, even though I pretended I was over her nothing could ever make the pain go away. I had to let it go.
I shouldn’t even be thinking of Inés, I was a broken man. A doctor who was broken. No medicines this world had to offer could fix me.
