Walking Amongst Them (Among Us, Book 2)

Here to Help

The peace lasted for several more days. It was almost like back at the compound- save for the occasional zombie that wandered through town. We dealt with them as they came, having little parties that actually went out to look for them. I volunteered for most of those parties, but sometimes Beck beat me to the punch and I knew if I volunteered too, he'd find a reason to stay behind.

Ben was outside smoking a cigarette that he'd found at a convenience store that they'd stopped and slept at one night. Beck, Sam, Adam, and Michael were all out getting some more blankets. It had gotten colder during the nighttime, though it hadn't snowed again. Even during the day it was cold enough you could see your breath.

Clarke was out tinkering with the vans. She didn't say exactly what she was doing with them, but I assumed she was just getting them ready for when we eventually did decide it was time to move on. Either when the cold subsided or when supplies ran dry in the small town. My bet was the weather, but Sam wasn't so sure.

I wouldn't have assumed that Trish would be one to enjoy spending time with children, but for whatever reason, anytime she had the ability to do so, she was with Abby. Leo was often by Abby's side as well, unless he was with Sam.

I decided to go outside, leaving Trish and Abby to play with the monster trucks. On my way to Clarke, I passed by Ben who raised his cigarette at me and smiled.

"Kodi." He said, by way of greeting.

I frowned at him, "Those will kill you, you know."

He gave me a flat look, "So will zombies. Let me have my fun."

I shrugged at him, figuring there was nothing else I could say to sway him. Not that I particularly thought we'd all live long enough to see the effects of smoking. I left Ben to go see Clarke, who had stopped tinkering with the vans and had moved on to messing with some of the other vehicles.

They were smaller, but would drive in the snow at least. Which meant that we'd need to take two vehicles, but at this point it was the only real option, now that the vans had become pretty much useless.

I watched her for a moment before I actually approached. I think she liked to mess with the cars because it reminded her of her boyfriend, of a time before we had to worry about being eaten. It gave her something to do other than sit around and wait for the firewood to run out.

"Hey," I said, trying not to scare her as I approached.

She was up under the hood of a green suv type car- I really didn't know anything when it came to cars so I was unsure of what actual type of car it was. When I spoke, I saw her flinch a little but she poked her head out from under the hood and gave me a smile.

"Hey, what's up? Come to pretend to help?"

I laughed, "something like that. What are you doing anyways?"

She went back under the hood, "Just checking all the belts and hoses, I haven't started this one up but I figured I should do a check before I tried it. The oil seems okay but who knows how long these things have been sitting so the gas might not be the best."

I nodded, even though I understood only a small portion of what she said, "that's not good, right?"

She shrugged, "It isn't really good or bad, it just kind of is."

I shifted to the side. I'd come out here to talk to her, but what about I couldn't decide. Had I really come out here just to talk about cars and what she was doing with them? My first answer was no, but then I couldn't decide what else there was.

"Did you come out here for something?" she asked, still under the hood of the car, so she couldn't see my hesitation.

What did I come out here for, exactly? But I knew. Deep down I wanted her to ask me about Cody again so that I could find out what she had meant by thinking I had more to say about him. Now that there was someone outside of the group who knew him, who I could talk to, I found myself wanting to talk more.

But instead of admitting any of this to myself, I simply said, "just here to help."

"Oh good, grab me philips head, will ya?"

I did. And for the rest of the afternoon I helped her, grabbing whatever tool she told me to. A  lot of them I had to be told what they were, but for the most part it was relaxing. Something to take my mind off of the constant worries that I'd been dealing with lately.

At some point, Sam came out. He seemed surprised to find me out here, slowing his steps and looking between Clarke and I before making some sort of decision and walking closer to us. I thought it was odd, but then my mind was on something else, and I shrugged it off.

He stayed with us until dinner time, and then he brought us out dinner. By the time we were finished with dinner, Clarke had started up the vehicle and taken out most of the backseats to make some more room in the rig. We'd be able to fit all of us in the one car, though it would be a tight squeeze.

When there was no more light left to see outside, Clarke packed up her tools and the three of us went inside. I went off to the side to grab myself some clothes and a towel. I was feeling in the mood for a shower, and since I didn't have a watch tonight, I'd be able to sleep through the night until whenever my body decided to wake up the following morning.

The shower was hot for a change. Usually I was down the line of people who wanted to take a shower, but I guess tonight I'd beaten all of them. I took my time washing my hair and body in the hot water spray, taking advantage of it while I could.

When I finally got out, the room was steamy and I had to wipe the mirror to see myself. It was the first time in a while that I'd seen my reflection and really paid attention to it. I looked older, somehow. My face was more pronounced and my eyes had a different look to them. I was staring for a minute before I realized the biggest change was in the way I held myself.

I stood tall, shoulders back and chin held high. Before I'd been meak, now I felt powerful. I wondered what I would do if faced with my step mother just one more time. But I had a feeling that I wouldn't have given her the time of day. It would be like my father, but worse. I doubt I would have even stayed at a camp she was in.

As I pulled on my pajamas I remembered Clarke's claim that her mom hadn't been half bad, had been good, even. What would I be like if I'd been raised by at least one loving parent? By two? How differently would things have been?

By the time I stepped out of the bathroom I'd left my wandering thoughts behind and focusing in on going to bed. I was halfway there when Abby came barreling out of nowhere and hit my legs. She looked up at me with bright eyes.

"Kodi will you braid my hair for me?"

I sighed softly, "of course I will, munchkin."

She clapped and ran over to grab her stool and drug it across the church over to where I took a seat on one of the fold away chairs. It took me less than fifteen minutes to braid her hair into two french braids. She'd learned to sit very still while I did it, and so it was a lot easier than it used to be.

When I finished I touched her shoulders, "All done cutie pie, go show Michael!"

"Michael doesn't appreciate my braids," she retorted, "I'm going to show Trish!"

With that, she ran off, and I was left wondering where she'd learned the word appreciate. Maybe Michael had run out of stories and started reading her the dictionary. I'd have to talk with him. I looked over to Sam, who was eating out of a bowl.

"Who's on watch tonight?"

"Ben said he'd take first watch with Adam, and then Trish and Michael are on second watch," he said. "I wonder if we shouldn't move watch up to three people per shift," he said.

"Or we could add another rotation in there somewhere so everyone gets plenty of sleep."

He smiled, "good suggestion. You should bring it up tomorrow during the meeting."