Marcus awoke the next day to the sight of early morning sunshine streaming in through the gazebo. He stared up at the weathered, paint-chipped ceiling and felt surprisingly good. When he'd gone to sleep, Marcus had been utterly convinced that his head would be full of nightmares, his sleep as harrowing as his escape from Mount Tanner. But if he'd had any, he didn't remember them, and there were no lingering negative emotions like when he usually had a particularly bad one. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd say he felt...
Good.
Why good? He'd just stumbled into a world that had gone to hell in a handcart, a world overrun by the walking dead. Maybe he was in shock. Or maybe it was the fact that he'd woke up a few times during the night, and all he could remember was the soft luminescence of starlight and the flickering light of a candle, and the calming, benevolent presence of Pastor William. Marcus rolled over in his bed, fully expecting the chair where the man had sat all night to be empty, but it was not. William still sat with his feet propped up on the desk.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked without turning around.
Slightly startled, Marcus sat up. "Uh, yeah, I did. Thanks for watching over us...how's Ed?" he asked, looking over.
"His fever is worse, I'm afraid," Will replied unhappily, closing the bible with a snap and getting to his feet. "I've been giving him water and checking his wound periodically. The bleeding has stopped but...I'm afraid we're going to need some kind of antibiotics."
"Wonderful," Marcus muttered, standing up.
He stretched and popped his neck and shoulders, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes. He felt a desperate need to piss. He grabbed the revolver and tucked it into his waistband, then eyed his backpack, which he'd shrugged out of and dropped beside his bed without realizing it last night. He pulled it back on.
"Have the others come by to say anything?" Marcus asked.
"No," Will replied. "Should they have?"
"I'm surprised Alan didn't show up in the middle of the night and carry us out beyond the wall," Marcus said.
"I wouldn't let that happen. This is my church, in as much as it's anyone's, and I won't let you be thrown out," William replied.
"Thank you. Really, you're very kind, William."
"It comes with the territory. Also, I prefer Will."
"Got it. I'm going to go find breakfast and see about finding some more medicine for Ed."
"Good luck."
Marcus left the gazebo and went into the church through the back way. He found Maya, Sam and Lily eating breakfast in the kitchen. All of them were eating from cans and drinking from bottles of water. At that thought, Marcus stopped and shrugged out of his backpack.
"Hey," he said, "I've got some stuff to contribute."
"Whatcha got?" Lily replied.
Marcus set out the bottle of Advil he'd picked up at the camp sites, as well as the five bottles of water. He kept one of them for himself. "Ed's got some, too, in his pack."
"Great! Also, I had an idea last night, about the meds," Lily said, setting aside her breakfast for the moment to sort the supplies.
"That's great, but I need a moment to take a leak or I'm going to piss my pants. Does the bathroom still work?"
"For toilet stuff, yeah. For everything else, no. We can't shower or drink from faucets since the water isn't being filtered anymore. There's some Listerine in there if you want to practice oral hygiene. We found like a crate's worth," Lily said.
"All right, thanks."
Marcus moved through the back bedroom, finding it empty. He wondered where Alan was. Probably on the watchtower already. He seemed the early bird type. Marcus stepped into the tiny bathroom and wondered how a man could live here like this. He wondered if Pastor Will had lived here before the chaos. It wasn't impossible. Marcus relieved himself and flushed, frowning at the ugly color of the water, and added that to a checklist of problems that was quickly growing. Any perishable foods would be spoiled by now because there was no power left, except for generators. Same for water. If he wanted to drink, it'd have to be from bottles or boiled.
As he washed his mouth out, he glanced at the shower. No showers, no baths...unless they wanted to boil water for that, too. Which really sucked. After spitting out the Listerine, Marcus made a mental note to find some deodorant and then stepped back out into the bedroom. He passed Will on the way in, wished the man good morning, then closed the door to the bedroom behind him. Sam and Maya were gone, and Lily looked eager.
"Come on, I'll explain my plan," she said, motioning to the door that led to the main room. Marcus followed her, grabbing a bottle of water and, after a moment's selection, a can of corned beef hash. It wouldn't taste as good raw, but it was better than nothing. As it was, he was starving. Marcus came into the main room and saw that everyone but Ed and Will was waiting for him. He sat down on one of the chairs along the wall and proceeded to eat breakfast.
"So, what's the plan?" he asked.
"It's bullshit, is what it is," Alan muttered.
"It's a good plan," Lily said firmly. "We don't have a proper hospital or even a clinic in Spencer's Mill. That's over in Fairfield or Marshall."
"Fairfield doesn't have a hospital," Alan cut in.
Lily sighed. "Whatever, that's not my point. My point is that we do have a vet's office. And the antibiotics used on people and dogs are the same thing. Marcus, you, Sam and Alan should head down to the vet's office. It's a little past the edge of town, they know where it is. You grab whatever you can in terms of meds and come back. In the meantime, I'll get on the radio and track down Doctor Hanson so he can swing by and look at Ed."
"And who's gonna watch the fort while we're gone, huh?" Alan asked suddenly. "Obviously Will ain't gonna do it, he's asleep. The new kid can't, he's dying. What about you, Lily? You really going to grab a rifle and climb into the watchtower?"
"I'll do it," Maya said. "I'm in the army. I can handle guard duty."
"That shut you right the hell up," Sam said with a grin after Alan didn't respond.
"Thank you, Maya," Marcus said.
"Whatever, I'll be waiting by the gate. Don't make me wait too long," Alan said, then stomped out of the room.
Sam sighed. "I'll go make sure he doesn't leave without us. He's dumb like that," she said, and left.
"And I've got to visit the ladies room," Lily said. "Good luck."
"Thanks." Marcus watched her go, then sighed as he walked over to the communal supply corner. Maya joined him.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm just worried about getting kicked out. You'll be fine, you're far too valuable to turn away, no matter how stubborn or arrogant Alan is. Me and Ed on the other hand, at best, I'm neutral and Ed's a drain until he gets better. Even then...Ed's never been good with manual labor." Marcus found several boxes of bullets and began searching for the one that matched his six shooter.
"You'll want the one that says .45 on the side," Maya said, joining him. "And stop worrying. Alan and Lily may talk a tough game, but I think they really want to keep us. Lily does, she's just afraid to show it, and Alan does too, and he'll never show it. He might even go as far as to kick you two out, just to prove how tough he is. But if you give him an excuse to keep you, he'll begrudgingly fold and the issue will drop, because he's afraid of being alone just as much as we all are. And besides, I'm sure you're not totally useless. You survived last night. You're clearly brave, in shape and you can shoot a gun. That puts you head and shoulders above most civilians."
"Thanks," Marcus said, hesitating slightly, wondering why Maya was being nice all of a sudden. Maybe last night's experience and the realization that they were now living in a post-apocalyptic valley had rattled her more than she cared to admit.
Marcus couldn't find the .45s and wondered if they had any. He finally sighed and pulled out his gun. He unloaded it, set it in the gun locker and put all the spare bullets into an empty can of what had once been beans. Spying a marker for likely just such an occasion, he wrote .45 on the side, then looked through the remaining arsenal.
There wasn't much.
"Not your type of gun, huh?" Maya asked.
"No, not really," Marcus replied. There were a pair of hunting rifles, a shotgun and two pistols. Not bad, considering. He grabbed a black pistol and spied a pair of magazines next to it. He loaded the pistol and pocketed the second magazine.
"That's an M9," Maya said. "Standard issue for the military. It's a good gun." She grabbed one of the rifles and a magazine for it. "Come on, I imagine Alan and Sam aren't the patient type."
Marcus nodded and prepared to leave, then suddenly realized he'd lost track of his melee weapon somewhere during the chaos. Frowning, he thought about it for a moment, and realized it must be back near the bed. He hurried through the church, came out the back and went to the gazebo. Ed was still asleep in the bed, sweating badly, not looking good at all. Marcus spied his crowbar lying on the wooden floor next to his bed. He retrieved it and stopped, standing over Ed. Maya would be watching over him...but she'd also be watching over the entire compound. Lily would be there, too, and Will would technically be on site...
He didn't want to leave his friend unguarded and sick and passed out, but he didn't have a choice. Sighing quietly, he left the gazebo. He'd have to go fast, get this stuff and get back quick. Only...what if someone else had had this idea? What if someone else had already raided the vet's office? It didn't matter, he needed to go there anyway.
"You coming?" Alan asked petulantly as he approached the gate.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Marcus replied. He'd put up with asshole managers in his office job before this. He figured he could probably handle a cranky old park ranger.
"Let's go, then," Sam said, opening the gate and stepping out through it.
Marcus followed her and Alan into the unknown of Spencer's Mill.