What Walks Among Us (book one)

The Sickness

After she said next case, there was time for those associated with Mabel's case to leave, and so we did. Chester practically drug me out of the meeting room. You could tell just by the way his mouth was screwed up into a scowl, and the way he stomped out, not letting go of me until we were securely out of the building and a good distance away, that he was nothing less than pissed.

He let go of me and turned to face the meeting hall, arms crossed as he waited for the others to show up. I studied him for a few moments before turning away, my eyes focusing instead on the leaves of a large maple tree that rustled in the slight breeze. A bird made a chirping sound before ruffling its wings and flying off, I followed it with my eyes until it disappeared over the top of another tree, and flew out of sight. The leaves were now green with spots of yellow clusters. Every now and then you would see an orange leave, or a red, but it was still largely green.

Leaves had started to litter the pavement and sidewalks. With Autumn fast approaching, the weather would soon be turning from unbearably hot to cool and stormy. The only plus I could see out of it, would be the rainwater, and fall crops. Other than that I was thankful to live in the compound, instead of some tent off in the woods, hoping that I would some how be able to hear any approaching zombies through the noise of my surroundings.

"Kodi," Chester's voice was like a sharp whip, bringing me out of my trance. I looked over to him, and he shook his head softly, "Did you hear any of that?" he asked, softening his tone.

I wiped my palms nervously on my bottoms and shook my head, "no, sorry, I was spacing out. What?"

Chester sighed and shook his head, making his brown hair fall into his eyes before he jerked his head and made it go back into place. He opened his mouth to speak but I interupted whatever he was about to say.

"You need a haircut."

There was silence, and then he cracked a smile, which was accompanied by a laugh, "Oh yeah? Then you cut it, because I don't trust Becky or Samantha to get near my face with scissors. Or clippers for that matter," he said thoughtfully. His eyes darted to the trees and then back to me, "They'll see us back at the house in time for dinner. They've got to take your sister to her house, and then we're going to change around the rooms a bit so we can all fit a little better," he said, and started walking back home.

I fell into step beside him, my spirits having been lifted a little bit, "Chester?" I asked, and he tilted his head to let me know he was listening, "maybe I am the only reason Mabel is so sour?" His eyes darted to me and I quickly hurried on, "but of course if I'm not the only reason, we'll know soon enough won't we? She won't have anyone covering up for her, and she'll have people watching her every move."

Chester shoved his hands in his pockets, "Not to mention she know has to actually help out around this place. Beck suggested patrol because at least she'll be around people who know what they're doing, and if she screws up, she'll only be hurting herself."

The oddest thing happened then, it was the biggest thing, and at the same time the smallest. I didn't feel anything when he suggested Mabel would possibly get herself killed due to her careless nature. It was freeing, and I noticed that I felt a lot lighter. It was like in the courtroom, but this time I was completely free. I wasn't just confessing things she'd done to me and waiting to see the result... but I was living in a world where Mabel wasn't my problem, or personal torturer. She was just a girl who was on thin water, and water happened, wouldn't have anything to do with me.

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The following days were some of the best days I had ever spent at the compound. The guys and I had moved around the rooms until I had my own room, where Sam had used to sleep. Because Cody's room was the biggest, and could hold two queen beds, they shared that room. It meant that I had to give up a private bathroom, but ever since Mabel had tried to drown me, I hadn't really felt that safe in it anyways.