Chapter 24:
"Are you okay Sharon?" He asked when he noticed her outside after yet another fight with Mary McDaniels. She didn't blame her for not accepting her apologies after everything she'd said to her and believing Randy's now obvious lies.
She slumped and didn't stop Blake from sitting next to her. She remembered him from camp. He hadn't cut his blonde hair and she had yet to see him without a beard. He was originally from Denver so she'd never seen him before the outbreak started. "No. I've been an idiot and now I've lost a friend."
"She'll come around. She might just need some space." Everyone had been telling her to keep her distance, but that didn't stop her from trying to get her friendship with Mary McDaniels back.
"I feel like an idiot I believed Randy." She didn't know what to think about the trial by combat business either. Randy told her it was McDaniels who ordered it, but Mary said Randy demanded it originally wanting to fight George Barbrady. "I don't believe him now when he tells me Mary ordered this trial by combat."
"Why couldn't it be a normal trial?" Blake asked as she was thinking the same thing. "Why does he have to make it difficult for everyone? That can't be good for your kids."
She wanted to cry because Blake was right. Her children deserved better but she didn't know how to explain this trial by combat process to them because at the end of the day he was still their father. "I don't know what to do anymore!"
She felt Blake's arm around her as she'd started sobbing uncontrollably. "I don't want the kids to see that. That isn't the Randy I fell in love with. I want my friend back. She won't have me in the house. Where am I supposed to sleep?"
"Come on." Blake extended his hand and helped her up. "I've got an extra bed in my RV you can use."
She barely knew him, but she didn't want to sleep outside and she didn't want to go anywhere near Randy if she didn't have to. She just wanted somewhere warm to sleep.
"There's a shower if you need it." Blake gave her a quick tour of his RV which was basically a house on wheels kitted with everything a person could need including a bed, a dining area that could be folded in to make a spare bed – the one Blake had offered for her to use – a small bathroom with shower and a toilet, a kitchenette with a small oven and a two-burner stove top for cooking.
"I will take a shower." She needed one. The last time she bathed was in the lake they based their camp at. The hot water was a relief and Blake didn't seem to mind if she took her time. He'd even gone inside the cabin to find her some clean clothes. She even sat down and let the hot water fall on her. She was glad to feel clean again after living rough since the outbreak started.
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She needed to talk to her husband as soon as she'd put her younger children to bed for the night. She was breast feeding Cameron when Barbrady returned from a perimeter check. The others had taken care of cleaning up the party and left over food had been put away to be used later for other meals.
"What did Marsh want?" He asked when he brought back her hot water bottle after it had gone cold. She sat up in bed with multiple blankets draped over her and a pillow under her arm to protect the baby's head.
"That's what I need to talk to you about." She wasn't going to risk him and she wasn't going to risk Alexander either. She didn't care if Randy threw a tantrum. He got his trial by combat and she would decide who fought him on her behalf.
"What is it?" He knew she looked worried and sat beside her on the bed.
She sighed heavily as she proceeded to burp the baby she just finished feeding. "He demanded a trial by combat. Like in Game of Thrones." It was the best way to explain it since before the outbreak George was a big fan of the show and had started reading novels for leisure when he discovered the books the series was based on.
"Who's fighting who?" He knew what she was talking about since he always enjoyed the trail by combat scenes in the books and the TV show.
"Randy's fighting who ever I pick to be my champion. He wanted to fight you or Alexander, but I won't have that." She only got up to put Cameron – who had fallen asleep – in his crib.
"Why not?" To her surprise Barbrady wanted to fight Randy. "I'll take him. I beat his sorry ass in camp."
"It's a fight to the death George and I'm not going to risk it." She hadn't told him everything yet since Randy had made other unreasonable demands despite the fact that he was a prisoner.
"What else does he want?" She could tell he knew she wasn't telling him everything. She sneaked away from the babies' nursery when she was certain all their little kids were asleep.
"He wants leadership back." The thought of it made her cringe. She felt physically sick. "He wants me back."
"Can't we just throw him in a pit with the dead fucks and watch him fight them?" She preferred this idea, but Randy had kicked up a fuss.
"No." She flopped on the bed and buried herself in the blankets. "I don't know who to pick for a champion. I could fight him myself but I'm pregnant and I can't do that to the kids."
"We could call a town meeting and decide. That's what the last one was going to be about wasn't it?" He'd already checked the kid's rooms and the older children were still at the cabin. Katherine had promised she wouldn't wander off again.
"We'll have to vote on it. It's too big a decision for me to make on my own." She was trying to take a break from leadership. All she wanted to do was rest. She only just made it to the bathroom when she ejected the contents of her stomach.
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"What's this?" He stopped trying to escape when he heard Laura Tucker and Maggie Yates talking just outside the barn. He could see them clearly through one of the cracks running down the wooden panels.
"Are you sure you heard right Maggie." He knew as well as anyone that Laura Tucker loved hearing juicy gossip.
"I went upstairs to use the bathroom. I heard them talking and it's true." Maggie assured her the information she had was correct. "Mary told Officer Barbrady she is pregnant."
"Mary's pregnant?" Laura looked as though she wasn't surprised. "I wonder who the father could be."
"It's possible Randy Marsh is the father, but it could also be Officer Barbrady's." He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Mary was pregnant. If people were talking about it, it had to be true.
He sat back and smirked. That baby had to be his child. He'd been with Mary McDaniels before the fat oaf arrived at his camp and took leadership away from him. With this information in mind he was determined to win his trial by combat. Mary's champion was going to lose. He still didn't know who that was yet and people barely spoke to him when they had to interact with him.
"Officer?" He needed food. He hadn't eaten since he was imprisoned in the barn. They couldn't starve him.
"What?" Officer Foley was on guard duty that afternoon. He noticed the cops took turns with two by the door at all times. "What do you want Marsh?"
"Kinda inhumane to starve me isn't it?" If he could get his strength back he would have a chance against the other fighter.
"Anything else your majesty?" He knew Officer Foley was being sarcastic but he didn't care.
"I want to talk to Mary." He insisted it was urgent. He wondered if she was aware of the gossip about her. He still couldn't believe it. He remained convinced he was the father of Mary's unborn child.
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She barely knew Blake. She didn't mean to unload but she needed to vent. She'd been holding in her pent up frustration for so long. More than anything she was sick of Randy. "I can't stand it anymore. I thought he wanted to be a family again for the kids. I was an idiot I believed him. Then when he bought that farm all that mattered was money and publicity. It's like I didn't know him anymore."
Blake merely listened and offered her a warm mug of hot chocolate that even came with marshmallows.
"I found them during the last supply run." He wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders as she continued to just talk. She didn't even mind if he didn't say much.
"When I noticed the kids were missing it was like he didn't care. I know Stanley and Shelly ran away because we've been fighting and he wanted to eat the pets. He's not husband material and he's not leader material. I don't know what to tell the kids about his trial." She hadn't spoken to them about it yet. Her children stayed in the house. The rooms the kids stayed in were the safest place for them she was relieved to know they were safe and she hadn't lost her children to the zombie plague because of Randy's actions in camp.
"Honestly I think he's dangerous." Blake had prepared some of the chicken noodle soup left over from the batch Mayor McDaniels had made before the feast. "I don't know anyone here real well I'm not from South Park, but he seems unstable to me."
He was right of course. She'd noticed it too. Her ex husband had become increasingly unstable since the member berries were discovered in town and it got worse when they bought Tegridy Farms. She couldn't will the tears to stop. She wished she didn't get back together with her ex husband in the first place. Even her children were much happier when they were divorced especially Stanley.
"I'm sorry to say this." He looked as though he didn't want to say it but proceeded to anyway. "He's been using you. Probably for a place to live more than anything. He's using Mary McDaniels for power and control. We do have to deal with him. There's a town meeting later this evening."
"God I'm an idiot!" She cursed herself for being stupid. She wished she didn't let the anger get the better of her when it came to Mary. "I lost one of my best friends because I was stupid. I wish I didn't listen to Randy."
"You deserve better Sharon." Even Blake knew it. She wished she'd realised it earlier.
She sighed heavily and sobbed on his shoulders. "I can't do this with Randy anymore. I just can't."
She certainly wasn't expecting it. The kiss on his part came out of the blue. She didn't mind. She didn't think there could be anyone else. She just thought that once it was over between her and Randy she would raise her kids with her brother in law's help. Giving in she kissed him back. She didn't realise it's what she needed. She needed someone to show her she could have better, that she deserved better and in her mind Blake was better. Even in bed Randy's performance couldn't compare. She decided to keep it to herself for the time being. She would tell the kids until she knew they were ready to hear she was with someone else. For the first time in a long time she felt like there was hope for a new life without Randy always getting in the way.