Walking Amongst Them (Among Us, Book 2)

No Sides

Beck didn't outright avoid me, but he did his best not to cross paths with mine. Anytime I was on watch, he made sure to be on a different one. When I volunteered to go on a food run, he decided he wasn't feeling well and dropped out, choosing to go back to bed instead. Sam said it was just his ego, but I worried that I'd really hurt him.

I wanted to go back to the moment he'd confessed his feelings and warn myself. No, to go back five minutes before he confessed them, and figure out a way to avoid the whole situation. It didn't help that in the beginning, I'd gone along with it without really figuring out my side of things.

They hadn't been able to find anything, and Ben had forgotten how to hotwire the car. Not that it would have driven in the snow anyways. They'd lost their bags along the way, and had gotten off path, lost, for a day or two. All in all it was a bad trip, one that only resulted in misery for those who'd been unfortunate enough to be on it.

I spent most of my time going out, doing anything and everything I could do to get out of the church. I still caught Beck frowning anytime I volunteered, and I wondered if it was because in his mind, I was putting myself in harms way. I didn't care though. Volunteering to do whatever was needed was the only thing keeping me from going insane.

The first time someone mentioned the plan to go West was over dinner one night. The snow had melted and it hadn't snowed in a while. It was as good of time to travel as any.

"Well why don't we just stay in the church all winter and then move on?" Ben asked from his spot by the fire.

I don't think I'd seen him sit anywhere else since he'd been back.

"Because," Adam said, answering before anyone else could, "the wood will run out with the way we're using it. We have the fire going non stop because of how cold it gets when it goes out. The resources in this town will run out. We never planned to stay here longer than we needed to."

Ben frowned, "Why don't we stay until the wood runs out?"

Michael lifted Abby up from the ground and set her in his lap, sighing as he listened to the conversation, but choosing not to speak. I thought it was odd that he had no opinions on the matter, considering Abby. But then again I wasn't speaking either.

"Do you really just want to wait until the wood runs out?" Trish asked, stabbing her fork into a can of fruit.

"Well excuse me for liking the warmth, the beds, the little set up that we've got going here. It's not a bad place to be, especially in winter."

Sam leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his face in his hands, "it's true, there's no guarantee that it won't start snowing the moment we get out there."

I thought about how it must have been like for Trish and Ben and Beck, how cold it must have been. I might have been feeling restless, but at least I was well fed. Had a shower. A warm place to sleep. Did I want to trade all of that in hopes of finding something better farther west?

"I vote we stay," Michael said. "I don't want Abby out in the elements right now, and this place has been good to us so far. What's the point in leaving before we have to?"

Ben pointed at Michael, "HA! He's on my side."

"There's no sides, you idiot. It's about what the group wants to do," Adam said, shoving Ben lightly.

In the end we decided it was best if we stayed. There was still plenty of wood, despite how much we used. The choice to stay was cemented by the snow that started to fall the following night. It wasn't much, maybe an inch, but it was enough to remind us how cold sleeping in the snow would be.

Trish was the only one who wanted to leave the church still. I think it was more because it was a church than anything else though. She scowled at the cross above the fireplace anytime she caught sight of it. I thought about asking her about it, but the one time I came close I chickened out because of the intense glare she gave me.

Clarke, to my surprise, went on just about as many trips out of the church as I did. My surprise lessened as I remembered how I had met her. The way she'd just appeared when we needed saving. How she'd been out on a scouting mission by herself.

"So," Clarke said a few days after the decision to remain at the church. We were out on our own together gathering food into the red wagon to bring back to the church. With three extra mouths to feed, the food went faster. "We never finished our conversation."

"Which one?" I asked while going through the drawers of a particularly small house.

"Before the others came back. We were talking about your . . . Cody."

"Cody?" I looked up, finding her standing on the counter to check the top shelves.

"Yeah," she said, "you were talking about him."

I tried to remember what exactly we'd been talking about before the others had returned.

"Well what do you mean we didn't finish our conversation?"

She gave me a look, "I just thought you might have more to say about him, is all."

I didn't know how to respond to her because I didn't know what she expected me to have to say. I shut the drawer I was looking through and moved on to the next, finding a bunch of spice packets and a pair of scissors. I shut this drawer and moved to the other side of the kitchen, away from Clarke and towards the oven.

Above the oven, in the cupboard, there was a bunch of boxed foods for baking. Like brownies and cakes. I shut the cupboard but took note of it in case we eventually found a working oven.

"I don't know what you want me to say," I said, feeling just a little uncomfortable.

Clarke jumped down from the counter and arranged some cans into the wagon, "Nevermind," she said, "I thought there was something else you wanted to say," she shrugged.

"I think that's about it for this house," she said a few minutes later.

We'd spent a while going through every nook and cranny, looking for clothes and bathroom supplies. Anything that would have been useful to us. We actually found a new pack of toothbrushes, likely intended for guests, according to Clarke.

"Yeah," I agreed, eyeing the wagon, "Should we go back or move on to the next?"

She was standing by the dining room table, "Do you think we should grab these candles? I hadn't thought about it before but they might be useful. More light at night than just the fireplace."

I shrugged, "grab 'em."

Together we walked back to the church. After grabbing the candles we decided that we should at least unload before deciding to go to another house, that way if we hit the jackpot of supplies we had the room to haul them.

Back at the church Ben was messing with the fireplace and Michael was showing Abby how to use the piano. She laughed and slammed the keys more often than she actually tried to play the notes that Michael was showing her, but Michael didn't seem to mind. He just smiled at her like she could do no wrong.

Beck was in the shower, thankfully. Things had gotten even more tense between us as he struggled to find the place of friendship we'd once had. I didn't have any problems with him, but it was hard to be his friend when he looked at me with something more in his eyes.

Trish and Adam were unsurprisingly arguing. Clarke gave me a look, smiling slightly as she took off her outer layers in favor of the warm church. I followed suit, and she took the wagon towards the food pile to unload our food items.

I walked over towards Ben, watching as he stuck his hand inside the fireplace to move the log he was trying to position.

"Careful," I said.

He laughed, "I'm always careful."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I sat down in the seat he'd pretty much claimed for himself and simply watched everyone. It was a moment of peace.