Far from Done: Far Series Book Six, page 13
Not that I was willing to give up.
“You never know what will stick out.”
“True, but the people we have on watch can take care of it. Doubling security won’t help them search people, and as I’ve already said, we can’t afford to lose focus. Building a safe haven is my priority. It always has been.” He picked his reading glasses back up and slipped them on, signaling he was done with the conversation. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a few things I need to attend to.”
I didn’t stand. “I also wanted to talk to you about the zombies.”
Peters lifted his gaze to mine. “What about them?”
“They’re going to be thawed out soon. Probably by the end of the day. We need to think about the added risk all the people going in and out of the gate every day bring.”
“Such as?”
“A bite. Infection. Turning inside the walls and attacking someone,” I said. “We have to make sure no one who’s been bitten gets inside. It’s too big of a risk.”
“And what do you propose we do about that?” Peters was frowning, looking at me like he thought I was crazy. “Strip search people? I don’t think that would go over well.”
“I didn’t say that, but I do think we need to make sure the guards don’t get complacent. That they keep an eye out for obvious symptoms, and if anyone looks injured, if they have blood on their clothes or something, they prove they haven’t been infected. They don’t have to strip, but there’s no reason they can’t show their arms or legs. Their backs and stomachs.”
“Just asking them if they’ve been bitten isn’t enough for you?”
“No,” I said firmly. “People lie all the time.”
He said nothing as he thought it through, but I could tell he wasn’t going for it. It was ridiculous because the risks of letting this go were too big. Plus, he had to know I was right.
“You put me in charge of security for a reason,” I said when he still didn’t respond. “Let me do my job.”
“I worry about the precedent something like this will set.”
“In what way?” I asked. “All we’re doing is looking out for the well-being of the community.”
“But it could look like we’re trying to take advantage of the people coming in by asking them to expose their bodies to us. It could feel like a violation. Could give us a bad reputation.”
“I don’t think our reputation should matter as much as our safety.”
“Our reputation is what brings people here, and people coming here is what helps us thrive. So, you’ll have to excuse me if I disagree.” Peters picked his pen back up, his gaze once again on the paper, his dismissal of me final. “The future of Elizabethtown has to be preserved at all costs.”
“So, that’s a no?” I asked even though it was obvious.
“It’s a no,” Peters confirmed without looking up.
I got to my feet. “You’re wrong about this. We need to think about the future, but not at the expense of the present.”
“See yourself out, please.”
I stood for a moment, watching as he scribbled more useless items on the paper in front of him.
Meet with Dave about melting gold for currency
Take suits to Janice to be washed
Make dinner reservations at The Caroline
Get a good bottle of wine
Disgusted by his priorities, I finally turned away. Apparently, Peters thought his date was more important than security. What a fool. The future of Elizabethtown would be a hell of a lot more secure if someone other than that clown was running the place.
I was still fuming when I made it onto the street, and I stopped to catch my breath.
Peters was an idiot, so it was really no surprise he wouldn’t listen to reason. I’d even expected it. Not that it didn’t piss me off. He was right, though. He was in charge, and not only did everyone know it, but most people only took orders from him. Even when he wasn’t around and I changed things up, people had a habit of asking if Peters was aware of what I was doing. It was ingrained in them that he was the only one who could keep Elizabethtown safe.
Thankfully, I knew a few people who didn’t look at Peters and see the savior of the apocalypse.
Not sure who was at the gate, I headed to the square first, knowing I’d find Kiaya on patrol. It was booming with more activity than ever before, and people were moving from booth to booth, trading and talking. Laughter filled the air, along with the sounds of children laughing. Since school was still in session, I wasn’t sure where the sounds were coming from until I spotted the group of kids gathered in the only green area in the square. They were sitting, books on their laps as they scribbled away on paper, the brightly colored pictures they were creating visible even from fifteen feet away. Grace, Zara, and two other women moved about the group, stopping occasionally to comment on the children’s drawings.
On instinct, I scanned the faces until I spotted Lexi. Her back was to me, but after a year and a half with the kid, I could have picked her out of a group twice as big in seconds.
I’d had no reason to think the little girl was in any kind of danger, but confirming she was okay eased some of the pressure in my chest and I was able to refocus my attention on finding Kiaya. I scanned the crowds as I moved, my gaze bouncing from unfamiliar face to unfamiliar face. There were so many new people here today. It made sense considering the weather, but it also increased my unease. Any one of them could be with the vultures. Any one of them could have been at the hospital the night it was raided.
Nine months we’d been looking for the group but had come up empty at every turn. It was like they’d disappeared into thin air—taking Mike and four other kids with them in the process—and we’d really started to think they’d moved on. Only now we knew they hadn’t because they’d been here. Inside Elizabethtown.
My focus shifted from person to person, studying each face I didn’t recognize. A woman in her fifties wearing a worn sweatshirt and carrying a duffle bag. A man in his thirties smoking a pipe as he browsed the booths. A gray-haired man with a hunched back. A woman holding a little boy’s hand. A blonde teenage girl. On and on and on. So many it made my head spin, but even worse, it infuriated me to think one of them could be an enemy. To know I could be so close to finding the people who’d destroyed everything we’d built and couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
By the time I spotted Kiaya, I was seething.
“Everything okay?” she said when she saw me, her eyebrows jumping the way she did when she was surprised. Which emphasized the scar Hank had given her.
Like the one on Rowan’s cheek, it always made me think about that horrible night. Usually, I felt thankful we’d made it to the hospital before Hank and Beatrix could do anything worse. Now, though, it had me thinking about Jace and his role in all of it. About how he could have taken part in the plan but had instead told us what Hank was up to and let us go. It also had me thinking about what could have happened and what might happen here if we didn’t change things.
“Peters,” I spit out, more pissed than ever.
Kiaya nodded like she already knew what I was going to say.
“He’s a stubborn asshole who’s totally unwilling to listen to reason, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do things our way as long as we’re quiet about it.”
“What do you need from me?” she asked.
I relayed my conversation with Peters, glossing over the less important parts so I could get down to business. “I want you to keep an eye out since it looks like we won’t be increasing security at the gates any time soon.”
“I always do,” she said, but she didn’t act offended by my request.
“I know.” I looked around, gritting my teeth as my frustration mounted. “It’s just that there are so many new people today, and I wanted to you to be aware of the situation.”
“You can count on me,” Kiaya replied.
I switched my focus back to her. “I know. I’m going to keep trying with Peters, but I have a feeling he’s going to sit on his hands until something bad happens.”
“Sounds like him.”
“Yeah,” I muttered mostly to myself. To Kiaya, I said, “I need to get to Gabe and let him know what’s going on.”
We parted ways, Kiaya going back to her rounds while I headed for the courthouse to find Gabe. As I walked, I found myself peering into every open door I passed, catching a glimpse of even more strangers inside the bookstore and Winan’s, my thoughts alternating between who the people could be and what I could possibly say to Peters to get him to change his mind.
It wasn’t until I glanced down a small alley between two buildings and spotted the very man I’d been thinking about that I stopped walking. Peters, the asshole, was standing there. He was with a woman I didn’t recognize, which wasn’t unusual even though I rarely saw him outside the courthouse. The two were deep in conversation, Peters looking more pleased with himself than usual. She was probably his next target. Someone he had lined up in case he wasn’t able to seal the deal with Heather tonight. It seemed like something he would do. Even if this woman didn’t exactly seem like his normal type. She was too short, her face too plain. It was possible she had a nice body hidden under the long, billowy jacket she wore, though. Peters was picky, but he struck me as the type who’d go for a fake rack even if the woman wasn’t very attractive.
I watched them for a second longer before shaking my head and moving on. I had better things to do than watch Peters convince yet another gullible woman that he was some kind of hero.
13
Kiaya
It was the warmest day of the year so far, and the market was humming with activity. The sun was bright, the sky clear except for a few cumulus clouds that looked like puffs of cotton against the blue backdrop. The appetizing scent of smoking meat filled the air, along with the chirping of birds. Based on their happy songs, I got the feeling they were as thrilled by the changing weather as most of the people in Elizabethtown were. Laughter and chatter surrounded me as I patrolled, and everyone was smiling. Kids ran around, kicking balls or playing tag and even drawing brightly colored pictures with sidewalk chalk. The mood was light and cheerful and full of hope, but the illusion was shattered every time I got close to the wall and the moans became audible. They were joined by scratching as the dead tried to claw through the barricade, making my skin prickle the way it used to when someone ran their nails down a chalkboard.
It was only partly the sound, though. The rest was knowing the dead had started to thaw out. That they were up and on the prowl, and leaving the walls of Elizabethtown was now twice as dangerous as it had been during winter. And we had to leave. We had people who hunted and fished every day, groups who traveled to other areas to scavenge or trade, and those who chopped firewood. Then there was the solar field, which we were still working on. The panels needed to be wired, and the transformer that would pump energy into our settlement so we could once again have power had to be set up.
Every time someone left the walls, they were risking their lives. Every time we let them back in without verifying they weren’t infected, we were risking the lives of everyone inside Elizabethtown. Yet Peters didn’t want to rock the boat by checking people for bites. He was a fool, it only took two seconds of talking to the man to realize that, but for whatever reason, people followed him. Probably because it was easier to let someone else make the big decisions and he was more than willing to do it, but it was also possible people actually believed in him. I didn’t. Not by a long shot. As far as I was concerned, we’d be better off if Peters met with an accident and someone else had to take over.
Devon’s conversation with Peters had left me feeling ill. The man didn’t do anything unless it furthered his position, which meant he would only increase security once people became aware of the necessity. There would have to be a crisis. An attack attempt, a tragedy inside the walls, or even trouble caused by an outsider. Once that happened, Peters would swoop in to save the day, declaring the need for extra security. Making it all seem like his idea.
That was what he’d done after the attack last June. Although, it had taken us some time to realize it since we hadn’t been living inside the walls before the siege. The vultures had drawn zombies to the wall using an ice cream truck, then blown a hole in one of the buildings skirting the barricade. The dead had poured into the settlement, catching everyone off guard and killing more than a dozen people. Devon and Rowan had been living here at the time, and they’d taken shelter in the OBGYN’s office before calling the hospital for help. At the time, we hadn’t known the vultures were counting on this, so we’d raced to their rescue only to discover the hospital had been their goal all along. We’d tried to get out, but they’d opened fire, shooting Ari, killing others, and trapping us inside the settlement. We’d been pinned down for hours while they fired from rooftops, only letting up once the hospital had been picked clean.
Afterward, Peters had called a meeting and promised increased security, including more people on watch at night. Months after Devon and Gabe took over, they’d learned the truth. Before the attack, there had been only four guards on duty at night, despite everyone trying to convince Peters of the necessity for more. He’d refused, saying four guards was more than enough to sound the alarm if something happened. Since most people living here had been unaware of that, they’d swallowed his promises of added security like a pill, praising him for his leadership.
They were fools.
I was making my rounds, my attention on anyone who didn’t look familiar, when I spotted Devon and Doug through the crowd. At a nearby booth, two men haggled with an older woman over an insulated sleeping bag, insisting she take the gold band they were offering. Like a lot of people in Elizabethtown, the woman wasn’t thrilled with the idea of using gold for currency and was instead insisting on something more substantial. The debate was getting heated, and the louder the men’s voices got, the more certain I became that trouble was on the way.
The men weren’t from here, but I’d seen them around. The white guy was older than the other and had brown hair with a sprinkling of gray at his temples and in his beard. He looked worn and weathered, like he’d spent a lot of time in the sun, and wrinkles creased the corners of his gray eyes when he spoke, gesturing wildly with his hands. Despite the first guy’s animation, it was the second one who drew my attention. Hispanic with black hair and hard, dark eyes, he glared at the woman like he was considering slitting her throat.
“Take it or leave it,” the woman said, slamming her palm against the counter. “It’s my final offer.”
Devon and Doug stopped at my side just as the white guy said, “What’s your problem? Everyone knows gold is good.”
The Hispanic man remained silent, but he narrowed his eyes to slits, glaring at the woman.
I moved my hand to my waist, resting it on the butt of my gun.
“What’s going on?” Devon asked.
“Trouble brewing,” I said, nodding to the men.
Devon and Doug followed my gaze, and the latter’s eyes widened at the sight.
“I know them.”
Too surprised to respond, I watched as he moved to the booth, a broad smile on his face as he called, “Adam! Thiago! Long time no see.”
The two men turned to face him.
If you didn’t know Doug well, you wouldn’t notice the stiff way he held himself. I was intimately familiar with his moods by this point, though, and his wide smile couldn’t hide how tense he was as he willingly inserted himself into the volatile situation.
I stiffened as well, waiting to see what would happen. Not relaxing even when the white guy returned Doug’s smile or when he took the hand offered to him and gave it a friendly shake.
“Doug, good to see you,” the man I assumed was Adam said.
His friend, Thiago, did not smile.
“I’m glad I bumped into you, actually.” Doug rubbed the back of his neck, looking more than a little sheepish, which wasn’t like him at all. “I have to apologize for the other night. Things got a little out of hand.”
Adam laughed good naturedly and slapped him on the arm. “Since I had a headache the size of the Grand Canyon the next day, I’ll be the first to agree.”
“I was hurting pretty bad myself,” Doug said, laughing along with the guy. “Worst part is, I don’t remember half of what happened.”
Something flickered across Thiago’s face at the remark, and I focused more of my attention on him. He was quiet, watching the exchange with an intense expression, his mouth set in a hard line. His focus completely on Doug.
“Next time, we’ll have a little more self-control,” Adam said with a chuckle.
These must have been the men Doug drank with the other night. The ones he’d told me had given him a bad feeling. I agreed with him. There was definitely something off about these two.
Adam and Doug chatted for a few minutes about nothing in particular while Devon and I stood in silence, listening. Thiago, too, was quiet the entire time, making me wonder if he’d spoken to Doug at all. He definitely hadn’t looked happy to see Doug the way Adam had, and he hadn’t stopped scowling.
“You know what this is about?” Devon asked, keeping his voice low.
“Doug met them at Submarine House the other night. Said he had a bad feeling about them, so he drank with them, hoping he’d learn something useful.”
Devon raised his eyebrows. “So that’s why he got so trashed.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled.
Doug and I had talked about the situation, had worked it out, but irritation still prickled at me whenever I thought about that night. It wasn’t like him, and I needed to get over it, but it wasn’t easy. Even before the apocalypse, I wouldn’t have liked someone I was dating getting so out of control, but now it was a hundred times worse.
Once Doug and Adam had caught up, the discussion turned to the trade the two men had been trying to make.
“I didn’t know there was anyone who didn’t take gold these days,” Adam said, the glare he shot the older woman almost as dark as Thiago’s.
