Dead Living (21 page)

“Oh, that's right. That would mean you'd have
to let your guard down. Let someone get close to you.”

Sam said nothing.

“Samantha, I'll tell you right now. If you
want Aaron, you better go get him. This is too much of a messed up
world to just wait around. We could all die tomorrow.”

“I don't
want
Aaron. We're
friends. We're not bunk-mates.”

Mary just smiled.

*****

Aaron had been busy since the early morning
hours. His project was complete and ready to go. The only thing he
and Nikki had left to do was arrange the chairs in the center of
the library. That was harder than he thought. There weren't many
chairs floating around Lexington. It took him over a day to get
sixty, and he wanted a few extras in case Richardson was wrong
about the population count.

Nikki looked at the mystery Aaron had
covered, just in front of the chairs. He had shown no one. There
was a thick blanket covering his surprise. It was on wheels, as she
saw Aaron pushing it around earlier.

“Are you happy with these chairs?” she
asked.

Aaron looked them over. Seventy chairs, all
laid out in seven rows of ten. “Yeah, that's great. Pull a few to
the side up front here. I'll get Sam to sit with me.”

“You two make up?”

“I think so. Haven't seen her for a while,
but I don't think we're fighting.”

She looked at Aaron as he took another peek
under the blanket. She knew he was trying to keep her mind off what
happened to her friends. He was a nice man. She could see what Sam
saw in him.

“Thanks for looking after me,” she told
him.

“Hey, no problem. Thanks for helping me
here.”

She smiled, knowing Aaron probably didn't
even need any help.

There was a knock at the library door. Aaron
hadn't blocked it off like he wanted to, but had written a sign
earlier.

“Did you put that Keep Out sign I made up out
there?”

“Yeah, but I told you, Aaron. Not everyone
can read.”

Nikki spaced the chairs out while he went to
the door. Richardson stood there with his arms crossed. Aaron
opened the door for him.

Richardson got right to the point. “I hear
you're calling a meeting tonight.”

“Yeah. Don't worry. I'm not looking to step
on your toes. I just have a few things I want to run by
everyone.”

Richardson noticed the chairs and the
surprise under the blanket. “Can I ask what this meeting's
about?”

“You can
ask
.”

“But I won't get an answer?”

“Exactly.”

Nikki laughed.

Richardson took a breath.
“Twenty years ago, when the world was still trying to figure out
what the hell the walking corpses were, we had a
meeting
. Turned out a
lot of the people living here didn't want to stay. Those people had
a spokesman, too. They wanted to take almost all our supplies and
leave the rest of us with nothing. We're not talking that type of
meeting, are we?”

Aaron put a friendly arm around Richardson's
shoulders, making sure to keep him clear of the surprise. “Trust
me, nothing crazy. Just some important issues.”

Richardson was wary. He liked the young man,
but was still a little miffed at the stunt he pulled with the
truck, even if it was for a good cause. But Sam trusted him, and
she didn't give out trust easily. He'd also done a lot of good in
such a short amount of time.

“I guess I'll be here at sunset.”

“Good, good. We'll be here. Oh, hey, Sam's
coming tonight, right? I haven't seen her, but she's coming?”

“We don't really hang out together, Aaron. If
I see her, I'll tell her you personally asked for her to come, even
though you wouldn't go to her yourself.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He ushered Richardson out the door. He was
back to the chairs when he looked at Nikki.

“Wait. Did Richardson just make fun of
me?”

“I think so.”

“The bastard.”

She laughed. With Aaron around, it was
sometimes easy to forget there was a world of walkers just a street
away.

*****

Aaron had checked the generator outside the
library emergency exit door for the sixth time when he heard the
first few people arrive. It was Larry and Susan. Nikki invited them
to have a seat. Larry looked at the long electrical extension cord
running across the floor as Aaron came in from outside.

“Hey Aaron,” Larry said. “What you got under
the blanket? What's with the cord there? You finally pay our power
bill?”

“Oh, you'll see.”

Without asking her to, Nikki greeted people
as they came in. Aaron tried to gauge the mood of everyone. Some
were annoyed at being called to a meeting, while most were just
curious. The children ran around the chairs as everyone settled
in.

Richardson arrived and took a seat near the
back. He was definitely curious, and stared at the cord with
surprise. He gave Aaron a slight smile. Aaron wondered if he had a
clue of what the surprise was.

Sam walked in. Aaron went to greet her, but
Nikki was already moving.

“Hey Samantha!” Mary called. “Come sit over
here with us.”

Aaron raised an eyebrow. It looked like Sam
was finally making some friends. Nikki grabbed Sam by the hand and
gave Mary an apologetic look.

“I'm sorry, Miss Mary. She's already got a
seat.”

Mary had the hint of a smile. “Of course she
does.”

Nikki led Sam to her seat near the front next
to Aaron, then went back to the library door.

Sam gave Aaron a smile. As the room filled
up, his cheeks turned a shade of red.

“You okay? What's going on?”

“I've never seen so many people at once in my
life.”

“You
called us here.”

“I know.”

The light was slowly fading outside. Larry
went to light a candle.

“Hey Larry, no need for light.”

“How the hell are we gonna see you running
your mouth up there?”

Aaron said nothing.

A few minutes later Richardson looked around.
Most of Lexington had arrived. He noticed Garrett and Ray weren't
there, but he didn't expect them to be. A few others he knew were
starting fence duty.

“I think this is as full as we're gonna get,”
he told Aaron. “So what's up?”

Everyone quieted down, and all eyes were on
Aaron. He couldn't even move a muscle for ten seconds.

“Uh, hi, everyone,” he managed to say.

Sam laughed quietly just in front of him.
Nikki took her seat in the front row.

“Okay. Everyone, uh, have a good time.”

He had planned everything, except the words.
He could hear confused grumbles as he trotted back to the emergency
exit and started up the generator on the first pull. He closed the
door behind him to soften the noise.

He pulled the screen down that had shown
countless videos and presentations in the old world. It was dirty
in spots, and had a few tiny holes, but would still get the job
done.

He pulled the blanket off the cart on wheels,
his surprise. On the top shelf was a DVD player he'd found at
Walmart. On top of that was a projector. On the bottom shelf was
the largest set of speakers he could find. He had to push six
corpses out of the way just to get to the speakers in Walmart.
Apparently Walmart was a popular place in the old world.

He had to read the DVD player instruction
manual three times over the past week before he understood it
enough to hook up the wires. At first, there was picture, but no
sound. Then he had the picture upside-down. He never thought he'd
get it right.

But it was finally showtime.

He listened to everyone as he turned the
projector and DVD player on. Only the older residents had any idea
of what he was doing. He looked up to see Richardson and Travis
smiling.

Some of the children
jumped when the opening theme of
Star
Wars
started playing.

“You gotta be shittin' me,” Travis said.

It was actually too loud. Aaron turned the
volume down, then sat next to Sam.

“What the hell is this?” she whispered.

“It's a movie.
Star Wars
. Relax. It'll
be fun.”

She smiled, and pointed at the screen. “What
do those words say?”

“Damn, I forgot about that.” He jumped up
quickly. “Sorry about that, everyone. I'll read what we got up
there.”

Aaron didn't really pay attention to the
first half hour of the movie. He was too busy watching everyone
else. He wanted to give everyone some fun. He read about old
theaters and listened to his family talk about their favorite
movies plenty of times. He'd never seen one himself, and knew he
wasn't alone in Lexington.

He was glad to see everyone enjoying
themselves.

The only thing that ended up having to go
were the uncomfortable chairs. Most everyone pushed them to the
side and sat or laid down on the floor.

The children especially looked like they were
in a trance.

Sam was quiet nearly the entire movie. She
sat next to Aaron, almost putting her head on his shoulder a few
times. Near the end she leaned over to whisper in his ear. “Why did
you need me up here with you?”

“I'm more relaxed when you're with me.”

She gave him a long look as Luke Skywalker
blew up the Death Star.

After the movie ended Aaron gave Nikki some
candles to light. He quickly turned off the generator and ran back
inside. Everyone was laughing and talking about the movie. The
children were asking to watch it again.

“And that's our meeting,” Aaron called.
“Thanks for coming.”

Not everyone left right away. People stopped
by to shake Aaron's hand. Some even gave him a hug. Carrie stole an
extra-long hug. He made sure Nikki got her share of attention
too.

Richardson approached him, just shaking his
head. Aaron spoke before the older man could unleash his
temper.

“I found everything when I was out. I had to
take some gas, but don't worry. I can always find more.”

Richardson said nothing. He just looked
around at his people. He'd known a lot of them most of their lives.
He tried to do the best for everyone, to keep everyone safe and
happy. Aaron's simple act of showing a movie meant more than the
young man could possibly know.

He shook Aaron's hand, then Nikki's, and
left.

After an unexpected meet and greet with most
of Lexington, only Sam, Nikki, and Aaron were left in the library.
He lit a candle and placed it on the end-table next to the
couch.

“That was a lot of fun,” Nikki said.

Aaron nodded. “Yeah. I think that went pretty
well.”

Sam sat next to Aaron on the couch. “So this
is what you've been working on the past few days?”

“Yeah. Found the generator while I was
getting supplies, and it just clicked. Hell, we can use it for
other things too. Just gotta keep the gas flowing.”

“I'm gonna get something to eat,” Nikki
announced. “Do you need me for anything else?”

“Nope, Nikki. Thanks. I couldn't have done
all this without you.”

Nikki blushed and left.

They were quiet for a moment. Sam wanted to
spend time with her friend, but didn't quite know what to say.

“I haven't seen you around the past few
days,” she stuttered.

“Yeah, I missed you too.”

“That's not what I said. I just meant-” She
didn't finish.

Aaron laughed. Sam always had such a tight
grip on her emotions. She wouldn't even admit to missing anyone.
“Do you like that medicine cabinet? Larry told me he helped you put
it up.”

“Yeah. It looks great. Thank you again.”

There was some uncomfortable silence until
Aaron stood up and threw his hands together. “Okay, so what do you
want to do tonight? Go for a walk? Get some air? You got anything
planned?”

“No, no plans.” Sam was
surprised. She thought Aaron would want time alone after the busy
night he had. “You want to spend time with
me
?”

“Of course. So what are we doing?”

She kicked her shoes off. She grabbed a book
from his collection on the coffee table.

“Read to me.”

“Harry
Potter
? You want to listen to me
read?”

“Yes.”

“Sure.”

Aaron watched as Sam tossed her legs up on
the couch. She looked gorgeous. He could see she was finally
getting comfortable around him.

He sat on the floor and leaned back against
the couch. He could feel her arm on the back of his shoulders. It
felt strange, as his audience was usually in front of him.

Sam didn't say a word for three chapters. She
just closed her eyes and listened to her friend's voice.

“I'm glad I met you.”

It came out of nowhere. He turned to make
sure she was talking to him. Their eyes met and she gave him a
slight smile before shifting on the couch.

“Me too, Sam.”

She fell asleep not too long after. Aaron
laughed to himself while closing the book. It wasn't long until he
was leaning back, their heads touching. He fell asleep right along
with her.

The sounds of quiet whispers brought Aaron
out of his sleep. His neck hurt from sleeping on the floor. It took
him a moment to realize someone was pressed against him.

Sam slept soundly in Aaron's arms, an arm and
leg draped over him. Some of the children were playing not too far
away. Aaron had told them they could use the library whenever they
wanted during the day, which meant that everyone in Lexington was
already awake.

He locked eyes with Nikki, who was on
babysitting duty. She looked through a children's book while trying
not to laugh.