The Home Of The Dead (Book 2)

Chapter 15: Stay Safe

Jordan walked over to his dad, and then he gave him quite a big hug. I had never seen Jordan quite like that before, normally he just seemed not to care about anything, for instance when we had found out that his mother had gone missing.
I heard Jordan and Andrew whispering a few words to each other but I did not try to sneak in to their obvious private conversation. I did see Jordan looked a bit upset, but he gradually nodded to his father in the end. They then sat down at the exact same tables I had been sitting at when I had found out my role for the community.
It seemed like it was so long ago at this point, even though I knew that it had only been a month, I had grown so much in the past month. Christian had helped me a lot with that, if I did not have him I was not too sure where I would be at right now.
Maybe I would be one of like one of the dead that were roaming the streets now, I thought as Christian stabbed one in the head that had been coming after us. I nodded to him, and then we all looked over at Shannon as she began talking to all of us.
"Everyone, for the next few days, it is going to be like what happened several years ago. We are going to fix sections of the wall that might have gotten burnt down and we will kill all the dead and check all of the houses." Shannon began to say to all of us. We all nodded but then one of the ladies stepped up and began talking.
I recognized the lady, from one of the first days I had been out of the walls. It was good to see a face that I remembered. Even if Angela was gone, and maybe even Liam, I might be able to still find a way to live with myself. But I winced the moment that I thought about Liam, I was already thinking he was dead, that was not the correct way to think.
I shivered and then began paying attention to the lady that had begun talking to all of us, what was her name again? Ah yes Milly, and she was with a guy I also recognized, he was a wanderer, Christian had told me he had gone on many missions with him. I had gotten to meet him one of days I was in the community and there was a meeting.
"But after we do this, just like last time, you say... This is not just like last time though." She said to Shannon. We all began talking amongst ourselves, it was a good thing to say to Shannon. Shannon looked a bit surprised for a few moments, she obviously did not know how to answer that.
I felt bad for her, she looked at the ground, she was trying to think hard on it but it seemed as if no useful thoughts were coming to her mind. But after a few more moments she then began to speak to her and the rest of us, that were here listening as well.
"Lets just take this one step at a time, I don't have much to help me, they killed my entire council. It's not like I can just look for them for help anymore." Shannon said to her. I felt bad for her as she looked at her council members.
The moon had a bit of a spot from a cloud covering it, but the light was still enough to see that Shannon had finished the job, the deed had been done, her council was gone for good now.
Eric then stepped up, he looked at Shannon a little bit confused, and I was a bit excited to hear what he had to say. I knew that Christian had him held up to high regards, he had always said nothing but good about the guy. I could tell that the guy was genuinely a good guy, but maybe it would not help us so much in a world that was not good...
"How did this happen in the first place? Why was your entire council all in this area in this exact day? That seems a bit fishy to me... Sorry if I'm pushing you too much." He said. It was a good question but the last part of it sounded kind of weak to me.
Shannon did not budge, which told me that she was not guilty of anything, it was at least somewhat of a good thing to think about. But if she was not guilty, and they had a meeting today, then did that mean Angela told them about the meeting? There were so many dark questions swirling through my head I could not think correctly.
"Well... I was with the council today to talk about the potential attack..." Shannon said to us. The way she said it seemed a bit off to me, but I did not say anything about it, I was never really the best at reading peoples sort of thoughts, much unlike my mother, Liam, and Angela were.
But however I felt inclined to step forward, because something did not seem right about it, I mean what were the odds that after a few weeks of being lazy, all of the sudden the exact day we get attacked they have a meeting about the attack.
"That doesn't seem right... Why would you have a meeting today, the exact day it happens... What are the odds of that, and how did they know what the leaders mansion looked like in the first place?" I said to Shannon. I saw Christian nod at me to tell me that it was a good question, I nodded back at him.
This time Shannon seemed a bit upset at what I had asked, which seemed to only make it even more fishy to me. But I did not say anything about it this time after what she had said next.
"Your sister left the exact day that this happened, she saw we had the council, she could have been talking to them this whole time... It should be you that we are asking the questions about if you are asking me..." She said back at me. Everyone then looked at me a bit weirdly, I knew that I was not betraying the group, even if my sister was.
After few seconds, people then looked at me a bit closely. Besides for Christian because he knew me better than the others, I was expecting him to speak up for me, but instead it was Jordan who was the one the actually say something about it.
"I've known Ben my whole life, whether it be friends or not, I do know that he would not just let a bunch of people come in and kill us, and then come back and pretend like he had no idea what happened." Jordan said to Shannon. Shannon looked at him a bit surprised but then she nodded to him.
"That is a fair point I suppose, but I know that a lot of you are asking why we had the meeting today. This was because a lot of my council did not like that we were letting our guard down, right as it started the shots came and we all came running out, whether or not Angela told them where we were or not either way they knew we were the leaders when they got in." Shannon said to us. I looked at her and then I nodded, I was happy that she was not blaming it on my sister this time but I still did a few questions to ask her that were still patrolling my thoughts.
I shivered, there was so much bad drowning out any good thoughts, but to be fair, what was there to think about that was good right now? The whole community had just been attacked, reportedly half of the people here were dead and I still had not seen a person that was here that made it out alive besides Tyler and Andrew.
"If this was my sister? How would they all be so close to us on this perfect day for this to happen? That does not seem right to me at all." I said to Shannon. I expected her to let down her guard and show some sign that it was her that had betrayed us but it was not to come.
I always heard what Angela had said that something was not right with Shannon, maybe it was actually my sister that was not right and she was putting that on Shannon, it seemed to make sense but I shook my head and then I looked at Shannon as she nodded at the question.
"Like I said, it might not be your sister, but she was with us watching us when it happened and she was the one that brought the people in that you were talking about, the ones that are going to plan an attack on Aidan's community." Shannon said, looking at Aidan to make sure he knew that, it was going to happen. Aidan nodded, as if saying he was already on it.
Christian then stood up for the first time and he began talking to the others that were all around us. I nodded and began paying attention to what it was that he had to say. He was my master, he taught me how to make it out here, and the advice had been pretty damn good I had come to find out the day I had been alone and saved him.
"Look... Lets just clear out the community before he come spitting blames back and forth, if you ask me, none of us here are to blame for this, but we can ask questions later." Christian said to all of us. I nodded to him, it was well spoken, and we needed to get our thoughts off of what we had just been talking about.
Shannon then stepped over and began talking to all of us, which I could not blame her for, even though she had lost her council, she was still the leader of all of us. She was still responsible for all of our decisions. I nodded to her as she began talking.
"Alright! It is settled, lets clean up the community, the next few days, I want Tyler to check as many houses that he can to make sure that there is still people to guard the tower." Shannon said to us pointing her head over to Tyler to make sure that he was paying attention.
Tyler looked at her, surprised, he had been the one to have to step up for once, it must be something new to him, maybe I knew that he was one of the captains who made a lot of the decisions about who guarded which towers, and on what days.
Maybe it was the fact that he might have a concussion as well. I could tell that something was not right with his head, I looked over and Andrew, I wondered how hard that he had hit him.
"Alright, can you give me a map of all of the tower people, Ill work on it the next few days, Im only the captain on one of the 4 sections." Tyler said to Shannon. Shannon then nodded, it seemed a bit weird for me to be listening to all of this, I was in no way a leader, nor did I ever want to be.
Shannon then led us into the mansion, we all began to follow her. As we walked through the front door, I remembered sadly a lot of the memories that I had in this place, with my mother, with Angela, and even my stepfather who I had always been a bit mean to but he was always kind to me.
Shannon then began sorting through maps that were on the shelves of her council room. It seemed a bit weird for me to be in here, my mother had always told me to never go into this room and not to touch anything, but that was when I was a lot younger as well.
I looked at the area a bit sadly thinking about all of the memories, and then I lowered my head. Christian seemed to notice as he nodded for me to lift my head up, it is what he usually did when he wanted me to not look so down.
I lifted my head up, but I could just not supress all of the thoughts that were swimming through my head, luckily Shannon began talking and it took my mind off of what I was thinking about for just a few moments.
"Here... Take this Tyler... Now for the rest of you, check to make sure the gates are safe, and kill as many of the dead that you see, anything that you see in sight, we need to get this community back to normal." Shannon said to all of us. I nodded, even though she was not looking at me to see it, but it still made me feel a little bit better.
Andrew stepped forward and then he nodded to Shannon to let him speak, I had forgotten that is how it was in the council room. Shannon nodded and then Andrew began saying what it was that he had felt like had needed to be said.
"Eric, Milly, Jordan, and I will go a certain section and check to see who is still alive. Let them know that they are not alone, bring them food if that is the case." Andrew said, looking at the others that he was talking about. They all nodded back to him as well.
Shannon then looked at everyone else to see if anyone else felt like they needed to speak anything that was on their mind. But no one stepped up this time. So Shannon began talking to all of us once again.
"Well... If that is the case, everyone may sleep here for the night, we have plenty of beds to stay safe if you all want." She said to all of us. Everyone nodded, and once it seemed like everything was settled a few of the people then walked out of the room to get some sleep, it was just me, Shannon, and Aidan still left. Shannon looked at us a bit confused as to why we hadn't left like the others.
I decided to be the first one to talk, even though I could tell that Aidan had something that he wanted to get off his chest, just maybe he did not want me in the room for it.
"I'm going to go make sure my brother is still alive. There's only one place he would be at." I said to Shannon. Shannon looked at me, but she did not look surprised and she did not blame me for it. She then nodded to me, Aidan then began talking before I walked out which told me he did not mind if I heard.
"I'm going back to my group, I've got to help them move again. Is there anywhere nearby, like maybe a small town we could set up shop about 20 miles further out?" Aidan said to her. She looked at him for a few moments, not surprised at all and she nodded to him.
"I will talk to my wanderers, you can come here for now they wont be back for 6 months... Both of you... Stay safe..."