broken claims

Part 20

Her mother's hand kept stroking Leigh's hair. It bothered her, the repetitive motion, the way fingernails would gently rasp at where the hair was forming small knots. But the action of comforting comforted Sharley and Leigh was afraid of upsetting her mother when the world was ending.

The grocery store was tiny and different from the types her grandmother preferred. Leigh only went twice, really, when Stella had to pick up a platter for a last minute function, and the store always had more in common with a ballroom; high ceilings, glittering lights, floors like marble. Their little slice of safety was dingy in the corners. Sharley had plopped them both down in the baking aisle so they air smelled faintly of brown sugar and cinnamon but the freezers were leaking water on one end of the store and fruit flies were swarming the limited fresh produce at the other end.

Inventory was sparse. People had panicked shopped for weeks leading up to the dead walking around. Leigh kept seeing gaps in the shelves and counting the people huddled inside the store for safety, comparing the shrinking number to the currently maintained number.

Sharley's jacket was slung over the floor and she was seated with her back braced against a shelf, Leigh's head in her lap. Her grandmother would have a aneurism she thought idly, if she saw her daughter and granddaughter sitting on an unwashed floor in public. The hair stroking continued.

A tiny memory flashed in her head of Daryl. He always gently touched the back of her neck when she cried. Leigh ruthlessly crushed that hazy thought before she could waste time missing him again.

Dark shoes paced down the aisle and Leigh shut her eyes, feigning sleep. People tended to speak more when she wasn't awake. The undead were hammering at the big windows with their hands, gummy faces pressed tight against the glass. Sharley sighed, prettily, and greeted Theo with an almost sunny hello. "Howdy, stranger," she beckoned. "Long night ahead."

His footsteps halted. "You two comfortable?"

"Comfortable as possible."

Theo didn't have much luxuries to offer. He seemed almost guilty of that fact like when he handed out the last bandaid from the first aid kid to one of the younger boys, when he counted Advil out into separate plastic bags. "The glass will hold yet. Unless we get more of the rotters coming in," Theo said softly. "I wouldn't worry much. I got Ernie on watch duty just in case."

"We'll sleep like angels," Sharley said. Leigh could hear the smile in her voice.

"Tomorrow... we'll do something when the sun comes up. Place'll be fine until the military comes through. There's a construction site just two miles off the highway... maybe we could bring some material back, make up a fence or barricade. Something for some breathing room, right?"

"Genius. You're a smart man, Theo. I love it. People here will jump for a chance to get some space out front."

He sighed with a certain heaviness. Something dropped into Sharley's lap and he walked away quietly, awkwardly stepping over where one boy was sprawled out and asleep beneath a hoodie and jacket as makeshift blankets. Leigh cracked her eyes open and saw two chocolate bars left as a silent kindness.

.

It took effort keeping her face blank and voice even. Her mother's boyfriend called her a terrible liar once and he wasn't wrong. Leigh was talented at giving away all of her truths despite herself. She had enough hurts that went straight to her heart and mind and those were for her to deal with alone.

People meant consequences. People were resources. Leigh wasn't sure which was the scales were going to shift but she wanted to steer clear from the impending damage before the true storm hit. Their group had grown in size and she was nervous of the rhythm they were finding together. The idea of forming connections with anyone was terrifying and Leigh tried to swallow her anxiety until all she could taste was the coppery tang of blood in her mouth, nerves twisting like snakes.