Walking Amongst Them (Among Us, Book 2)

reunion

They had a small fire going.

The flames were crowded around as the night was cold and the wind made it worse. I didn't even realize the fire was present until well after we'd arrived. The property we all met up on was expansive. A farm house on a large yard with a barn off to the side.

I'd been worried about getting my friends out, when the movement had been a lot larger than I could have thought to imagine. People I'd seen earlier in the day, near our lunch table, stood around now. They didn't pay me or my two companions any mind.

Most of them were speaking about the quarantine. A lot of the subjects focused on loved ones, or friends who had up and disappeared without so much of a question from the people who were supposed to be looking out for their backs.

I realized, as I walked through their accounts, that my friends had nothing to do with what happened here tonight. We'd made it easier, maybe. But these people had planned to get out of their circumstances with or without help from my friends. Our presence had only given them a better shot at success.

I wasn't shocked to hear a few men talking about Clara. About how she'd snuck out for attention and that's what she'd gotten. But how their brother went out to gather meds, and doesn't come back, and all he gets is mentioning at that nights supper.

I wanted to correct them that Clara had gone out for a worthy cause, but it wasn't my place. Stephanie shared a look with me. We'd bonded, slightly, in our annoyance over the young girl. But we each knew that regardless of what Clara had gone out there for, she'd gotten more than she'd ever bargained for.

We moved on.

The gathering was outside of a barn house. It was on a small land of property with a couple of trees keeping it mostly privatized from what used to be civilization. I thought about the people who used to live here. Then I wondered how many of the people who stood here now knew that Raya was dead.

That she'd been murdered as part of their

It was an effort not to see her face, the expression she'd wore when the bullet passed through the gun into her skull. I tried not to blink too often, as a result. Which in turn helped me in my attempt to find Sam, Clarke, and the others.

For a brief moment while I searched, before my eyes fell on a curly headed cutie, I thought to Beck. To how intense he had been at just the sight of me. I wasn't sure what he'd thought to accomplish with his outburst, or his actions that followed.

In that moment I wondered if he had been a part of the plan. Not just a tool to help it along, but if he was also in the small, yet large, gathering of people who'd managed to escape.

Abby's eyes were already on me when I finally spotted her.

If I had been worried about some big show of recognition, I shouldn't have been. Abby looked away from me as soon as I received her small wave. She'd turned her attention back to the person sitting next to her.

Adam, nor any of the others, had spotted us yet. Abby had been so nonchalant about it, that they hadn't even noticed that she'd seen.

I felt a weird twist in my stomach.

Had they told Abby what had happened to Michael?

The question begged for me to answer it. If I had been in charge of her knowing or not, I don't know where I would have decided. I didn't realize that I'd stopped walking until Stephanie grabbed Cody, and together they turned their questioning eyes on me.

I wasn't able to speak, and I wasn't sure what words I would have wanted to use for them anyways. I only jerked my chin for them to come along, and started stepping towards Abby. She and the others sat on the porch of the house. The fire was more in the yard, along with most of the people it seemed.