Becca (23 page)

“This one is Austin, which happens to be where he’s from. How old are you?”

“Seven.” he said.

“This little cutey is Chanel. She’s six and from Wichita.”

“I’m Leon.” A little boy said. “I’m five.”

“And he’s from Washington D.C., as far as we can tell.” Caroline said.

“And this is Cherry, we think she’s four, and she’s from California. And then there’s Ann, nine, from Missouri.”

“Wow. So, where are all of you staying?” I asked. “I mean what rooms?”

“Well we’re still putting everyone on the twelfth floor.” Bridget said.

So Craig is sharing a room with David now. Elena and her mother have a room. Mrs. Banfield has a room. Sara and Taylor share a room, Mena shares with Ann. Joey and Eddie share a room with Austin and Leon. I’m not sure how four little boys in one room works, but whatever. If I understand correctly, Cherry and Chanel sort of wind up in a different room each night. Some nights with Caroline and her family, some nights in with Bridget and Amber, some nights in with Sara and Taylor. They’re supposed to be in with Mena and Ann, but nobody is forcing it.

“So have you figured out school yet?” I asked. A bunch of the little ones groaned in displeasure.

“Not yet.” Caroline replied.

“We should set one floor up as classrooms.” Tasha said. “We could figure out what each of us teach them. I mean I’m willing to help out, and I’m sure Becca would. Some of you older girls would probably help too, right?” They nodded. “Of course you all still have some stuff you need to learn, too.”

“Yeah, ‘cause
we
graduated.” I mumbled.

“I think that’s a great idea, dear.” Mrs. Banfield said. “I’m sure we could get some text books from a nearby school.”

I was so exhausted. After meeting with everyone, Tasha and I went to the roof to relax and eat something. Mena showed up after a while.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” she asked.

“No. Come, sit down.”

“Bridget is so happy to have you back. She worships you, ya know.”

“It’s a little sister thing.”

“Everyone here worships you. Apparently you saved them all single handed.”

“That’s my girl.” Tasha said, grabbing my hand.

“They’re exaggerating. I mostly just kept them focused.”

“Maybe. So look, I’m not trying to put down your sister, but Bridget keeps telling me I should give Amber a chance, that Amber likes me, that I just have to make the first move.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. And the thing is, I’m not even remotely interested in girls. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!” She looks embarrassed.

“Relax, Mena.” Tasha said. “We understand.”

“Well Bridget said
you
would understand.” she said to Tasha. “She keeps telling me you weren’t either, but you gave Becca a chance and I should give Amber a chance.”
 

“Don’t let her bother you.” I said.

“I just think she’s trying to get me out of the way. Like, because she likes Craig.”

“Oh, and you do too, right?” I asked. She nodded. “I can’t really get involved, Mena. It wouldn’t be fair for me to step into that. Craig is free to go out with any of you he likes. But I will talk to Bridget and tell her to stop pestering you about Amber.”

“Thanks.”

“So what’s the story with this group?” Tasha asked. “How’d you all wind up together?”

“I was wandering around, looking for more people, and Caroline and her group found me. I guess the rest were probably the same.”

“The little kids too?”

“I don’t know how they survived. The little ones cry a lot. They miss their families, and they don’t seem to like any of us all that well right now. I tried to take care of them, but they don’t listen. I’m not forcing them to stay in my room. I have enough problems of my own.”

Tash and I went to bed early. We were exhausted. My room at the end was still waiting for me, so we went to that and went to sleep just after dark. I feel safe here.

Thursday, June 2
^nd
 

We were awakened by a kid screaming my name through the door. I hurried over and opened it, finding Chanel staring up at me. She was smiling. I bent down to her level.

“Good morning.” she said.

“Morning.” I said, trying to be pleasant. “Help you with something?”

“Miss Caroline wants help setting up the school rooms today.”

“Okay. Tell her we’ll be right out, okay.”

“Okay.” she smiled and laughed. “Your hair is a mess.”

“Yeah.” I reached out and ruffled her hair. “So is yours now.”

She ran down the hall, laughing. How cute. Tasha and I dressed and found Caroline on the fifth floor. This is where they want to have the school.

“Oh you’re here.” Caroline said. “Good. We’re thinking we can set this room up as a science class, the next one for music. Art can be in the room after that. Then we can send the little ones into a room for all the rest of their classes, and the older children in a separate one for the rest of their classes. What do you think?”

“That sounds good.” Tasha said. “And we can always expand if we need to.”

“I was wondering what you thought about going for some text books today? Amber said you would have to make the call.”

“Oh.” So I’m back to being in charge. Yay. “Sure, we’ll go after lunch.”

“Can I go?” Chanel asked. “I’ll be good, I promise.”

“Oh, I’m sorry honey, I think it’s safer if you stay here.” I told her. “But when we get back you can help put the books in the right classes.”

“Okay.” She looks really disappointed. “Can you bring some candy back?”

“Sure.” Tasha said. “Cupcakes.”

“Yay!” She shouted, and she hugged Tasha’s legs.

We headed out in search of a school. It wasn’t hard to find, but there were three infected people in the halls when we got inside. I mean it was easy to take them down, but it wears on you having to shoot people. Those are human beings. Even if they are infected and basically inhuman now, they were real people once.

“It’s going to take more trips.” Tasha said.

“Well we don’t have to take more than a couple of books for each subject. They can share.”

“I guess. It’s still going to take several trips. We should have brought, like, a wagon or something.”

“I’m ready to go. You set?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, remember you promised Chanel cupcakes. We have to find a grocery store.”

“There was a gas station a couple of blocks east, I think. They’ll have cupcakes, I bet.”

They did have cupcakes. We filled sacks full of snacks-- cupcakes and candy bars. But when we went to leave we were surrounded by at least fifty infected people.

“We seem to attract these things.” Tasha said. She carefully sat her sack and the books down and pulled her weapon up.

“There’s no way we can shoot them all, Tasha.”

“Any better plans?”

“No.” I sighed. “Why do I always have to make the plans?”

“Becca, I love you, but now isn’t the time to argue that. Okay, so fine,” she picked up the sack and looped the handles over her wrist. She gathered the books. “We pick a spot and start shooting, then just run.”

“You sure?”

“I’m open for anything else you can come up with, Angel.”

“No, let’s just do it.”

“Ready?”

“You know we’re going to get more wounds. What if we’re not as immune as we thought?”

“We stand here talking and we’ll die anyway.”

“Hang on.” I leaned over and kissed her. “Okay, let’s do this.”

She pointed to a spot, and we started shooting. We probably shot six or seven before we started running. And we had to step over the bodies that had just fallen. The sack I was carrying was torn, and most of the contents fell out. I felt the scratches on my arm, and I saw one of them biting at Tasha, but I shot it before it did much damage.

And then we were through. We ran for a couple of blocks before stopping to catch our breath. I looked at Tasha’s injuries, she looked at mine, we decided we made it through okay.

“I lost most of my snacks.” I said, showing her the sack.

“Everyone can share.”

“Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

“Well, you came all the way across the country alone looking for me, then practically got shot trying to get my attention, I think I believe you love me.”

And she left her family for me. Forever. She can never see them again. So she loves me. That’s the important thing. But I'm not sure it was right to pull her away from them. No, this is right. This
has to be
right.  

We handed out snacks when we got home. The kids all took their snacks and ran off to play. All of them except Chanel. She sat down between me and Tasha and slowly chewed her cupcake. She’s so cute.

“Don’t you want to go play, Chanel?” I asked.

“No.” She looked at me, then over at Tasha. “Do I have to?”

“You don’t have to, but why don’t you want to?” Tasha asked. “Don’t you like the other kids?”

“They’re okay.” she said.

“Oh. Okay.”

“Well Chanel, when you’re done with your snack you can help us take the school books downstairs.” I told her.

We spent the rest of the day setting up rooms to be used for classes. Caroline came to Tasha and my bedroom late that evening. She brought us fresh hot cocoa.

“So who got all these lanterns?” I asked her.

“That was something Amber did just after we got here. Her and Craig went on a trip and brought back a whole bunch of these things and a huge box of batteries.”

“I haven’t been giving her enough credit.” Tasha said.

“So Rebecca,” Caroline said. She paused and stared at me for a moment. “You’re so young. It’s hard to believe how in charge you really are. It’s so evident.”

“Um... thanks.” Well this is awkward. And I don't really feel in charge most of the time. 

“Anyway, I came in here tonight so we can discuss the school setup. I was thinking we should begin with just a few classes at first, get everyone back into the swing of things. What do you think?”

“That’s probably best.”

“Can we start tomorrow?”

“Um, if you want.”

“We need to figure out who is teaching what.”

“Who do you think should be teaching?” I asked her. “What do you want to teach?”

“Actually, I’d rather not right now. I would rather help out with other things. I can watch the kids during their play time, keep them out of everyone’s hair when the older kids are in class, but I don’t really want to teach anything. And Mrs. Banfield needs my help a lot. She’s not very well.”

“Right. So... Um, Who does that leave? Elena could maybe take care of teaching some stuff to the younger kids, don’t you think?”