To be Seen or Heard

Chapter Fifteen: La Granga (pt3)

We'd only left the stables when Mr. Hershel said he could take care of the last horse, Nelly, on his own. She was the same mare that had bucked Mr. Daryl yesterday and run off. It was honestly pretty amazing that she'd come back on her own this morning.

"Is there something else we can help with Mr. Hershel?" Alexander asked for us as we hovered awkwardly at the door.

The farmer had that strange look on his face again so I piped up, "It's only fair we do chores, since you're letting us stay here for a bit."

"Yeah," Isabella nodded as she wiped some sweat off her brow, "besides, it's better to do somethin' than laze 'round and do nothing. When we was at the nursing home there weren't many things we could help with. Mostly just had to stay outta the way."

"Ya'll were at a nursing home before this?" Mr. Hershel asked curiously.

I nodded, "Well, we were," shrugging as I waved my hand towards where the group set up camp, "Not the others."

"What she means is," Alexander started explaining when the farmer's confusion bled onto his expression, "when the disease hit Atlanta, we was at the nursing home our Abuelita liked to go to play bingo at. We ended up staying there after the bombs hit. We didn't meet the others 'til later."

A shiver ran down my spine, "Was a week ago now that they found us." I whispered.

"It's o-only been a week?" Isabella sniffled loudly, shock bleeding into her voice first as her expression crumbled, "Abuelita y Tía have only been dead a week?"

It was like being shot in the heart. I threw my arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug.

"These bad men came." Alexander spoke suddenly. There was a bitter look on my cousin's face, one mixed with grief and anger as he explained away the tears to a concerned Mr. Hershel, "Came outta nowhere. We wasn' prepared for people to come and kill us. I was upstairs when I heard all the shooting start up. Hid inside the supply closet with Tía like we'd been taught to in case the muer- sick ones ever got in. But not them." he gestured over to us, "All of my cousins were downstairs with our Abuelita and Tía Esther. Thought they were dead for hours before Pili came to get us with the sheriff and Mr. Shane... thought we was the only ones left alive."

"Me too." I whispered after a moment, Isabella's arms tightened around me, "I thought we was the only ones left too. It's why I was too scared to move from our spot until Glenn promised that those men were gone. Wouldn't have gone out at all if I hadn't recognized him."

"It's nice here." Isabella piped up suddenly, "Don't smell like the muertos- sick ones... and it don't look like home neither, so it don't make me sad all the time."

Alexander nodded, "We ain't staying here forever, but it's nice. Doing chores is normal, keeps my mind from thinking too much about things I can't change." meaningless and repetitive chores tended to do that, "Thank you for letting us stay here, Mr. Hershel."

Mr. Hershel had been quiet until now. There was this new look on his face that I couldn't really understand, but it wasn't anger. More like a sadness but not quite. "It's been my pleasure children." he removed his hat for a moment to fan himself before placing it back, "Go help your Mama for a bit, I'll need some help with the fence later if you still want to keep your hands busy."

"Thank you!" Alexander beamed up at him.

"We'll definitely come help." Isabella added seriously, "I wanna know how to fix a fence! Maybe I'll get use a real hammer, right, Pili? Papí never let me use his hammer, it's not like I'm Cami. I ain't gonna hurt myself if just touch it."