Chapter 18 - Settling In

When Kenny, Luke, and Nick disappeared outside to bring in supplies before the storm hit, I emerged from my corner to find Clem. But before I could reach her, she was at the bar, talking to Walt. Sighing heavily, I joined her.

"Hey, Clementine," he greeted jovially, brown eyes bright. "Who's your friend? I don't think we've been introduced."

"This is Scout," she smiled at me. I forced myself to raise my head, nodding at Walt.

"You two settling in okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Clem replied.

"Excellent. Want to help me prepare a little dinner?"

Clem and I peered into the pot of bubbling brown liquid. This close, I could tell it was beans and the smell of peaches was almost unbearable. Beans and peaches. Well, I thought, it would all go to the same place, anyway.

"So how do you know Kenny, Clementine?"

I felt Clem's eyes on me but kept my head down, brushing it off. "Oh, well," she started, "we were in a group before. That was almost two years ago."

I looked up. I hadn't considered just how long it had, in fact, been. Two years. A lot changes in two years.

"He and Sarita have been a huge help," Walter explained. "Matthew and I barely knew what to do around here the first week." I felt a chill, and hoped no one noticed. "But Kenny, he never slows down."

"I met him after it happened," she muttered.

"When he was with Lee?" Walt stopped stirring, glancing sorrowfully toward the windows by the fireplace. Outside, the distorted silhouettes of him and the boys were moving piles of supplies from the yard to the deck. "Yeah, he only told us a little. Connecting with people is so important," he mused. "I don't know what I'd do without Matthew."

My head pounded and I shut my eyes.

"Hey, you alright? Scout?" The voice sounded tinny, distant, as if shouted from across a field. I opened my eyes, realized it was for me, and nodded quickly.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I uh, I get headaches sometimes."

"We'll get some food and good rest into you, you'll be right as rain a few days," Walt smiled, again. I nodded in thanks, glancing sideways at Clementine, who was eyeing me peculiarly. "Gosh, you two remind me of my students," Walt continued reminiscing. "I can't imagine what it's like growing up in the middle of all this."

"Everyone underestimates us," Clem replied matter-of-factly, with a hint of resentment.

"I expect you've used that to your advantage."

"Sometimes," Clem shrugged, almost drawing a laugh out of me. She could be so standoffish sometimes, and it came out of nowhere. I doubt I'd appreciate her being that way with me, but directed at other people it was an attitude I'd come to love.

"Smart girls," Walt chuckled. "Hmm. Almost done. Would you do me the honor of tasting the first course of Le Walter Surprise? An autumnal legume salad with a peach roux."

The looks on our faces must have been priceless.

"It's peaches and beans," Walt explained, stifling a laugh. "It's all we've got. Huh," he muttered, reaching for an empty peach can. "Striking resemblance."

xxxxxx

Though Walt had disappeared with the vat of Surprise, I began to feel as though there were ears everywhere, and nowhere inside the lodge would be safe to tell Clementine what we'd done to Matthew. And I wondered if maybe she'd already figured it out and like the wise soul she was was holding it inside, waiting like I was for the opportune moment. Anyway, she'd probably just say that passing the night in the lodge was more important than sharing the secret – the secret would get us out on our asses in the snow, or worse.

So I remained silent, following her as we explored the lodge. The thick, tall columns were decorated with strings of yellow Christmas lights, casting a cozy glow on us as we passed by, pausing at what was designated an eating area. Two long tables with narrow benches alongside were strewn with empty cups and bowls. Seemed all the members of the group had their own place and probably ate out of the same dishes every night, reducing the need to wash them.

"Reminds me of school," Clem commented on the setup.

After the bell rang, our teacher ushered us out the door alphabetically by last name. I liked that, because I got to be ahead of Billy Driscoll, who was a constant thorn in my side and any reason to get ahead of him was a good enough one for me. I stepped into the hallway, ignoring his jibes, and stood on the silver line between floor tiles like the teacher said to always do. Next to us, the older grades filed up, and we were the first to go outside because Kindergarten was always first.

Today it was darker than it should have been. The clouds were stifling in the heat of the Georgia spring and I looked for my daddy's car but he wasn't there. And after a while, I was the only one left.

And then the squad car arrived, flashing its lights for me.

"Doesn't it look like a cafeteria?" Clem's voice jarred me. I rubbed my nose, shaking it off.

"Uh, yeah, a little."

She turned to me. "Are you alright?"

So she didn't know about Matthew. What small comfort I had taken in the possibility was gone. "Yeah, I'm fine. Maybe we should... check on everybody."

"Well, now I know you're not fine," Clem replied, hazarding a smile. I looked up, worried she was going to force it out of me right then, and I wouldn't be able to stop myself. "Come on, it's a good idea, anyway."
Sarah was still going at that tree, Sarita guiding her through the finer points of ornamentation while singing softly to the girl. "What is that song?" Sarah asked.

"Good King Winceslas. It's my favorite Christmas carol," Sarita smiled warmly. "Oh, Clem, we could use some help. And hello, who's this?"

"Scout," I replied, growing weary of introductions. Who would have thought that during the apocalypse nametags would have been of some use.

"Well, Scout, would you help Sarah string the tinsel?"

"Sure," I pulled my hands out of my pockets and accepted the bundle of silver strands, pacing to Sarah's side and giving her half to toss across the facade of the tree. As the limbs caught the strands, they glistened in the firelight.

"So Clem," Sarita began, adjusting a red ornament. "You knew Kenny before. It must be incredible to see him again. When I met him... well... he's so different now. But you must be so glad."

"It's... weird to see him now," she returned somberly, making me pause.

"I'll bet. But he's so happy to see you. And I'm glad you're with us, too." I deposited the last of my tinsel near the lower branches and stepped back to admire the tree. "Perfect," Sarita remarked proudly. "Now we just need the topper."

"We always had an angel on top of our tree," Sarah offered.

"My family didn't celebrate Christmas, but I still love the decorations," Sarita replied. "Maybe there's something in one of these boxes we can use. Clem, Scout, why don't you take a look?"

"I'll check down here," I offered, nodding to Clementine, who headed for the stairs to the second-floor landing. I watched her go, pacing into the living area and scanning the boxes there, spotting what I was really interested in on the coffee table. Glancing over my shoulder I saw Sarah and Sarita putting the finishing touches on the tree, their backs to me. Reaching down, I picked up the map.

Lone Pine Winter Park Trail Map. There were red lines drawn over all the walkable trails, some of which would clearly become unpassable during the dead winter months. I wondered how long the group had been in the lodge. As homey as it was, it was no fortress, and a winter couldn't be survived here, not without stocking up first. I spotted the resort on the map, traced my finger to the river. It was barely a thumb-length away.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Scout," I replied. "Scout Carver."

"Well, I'll be damned," he muttered, smiling wickedly. "You've grown up. Survived." I felt an unwanted pang of pride that he didn't sound surprised by the concept. After all, I'd been trained into strength, into an appropriate set of skills.

"Learned from the best."

I folded the map along its well-worn creases and tucked it into my chest pocket, turning to follow Clem up the stairs. "No luck?" she asked as we ascended, the fire throwing our shadows all over the walls. I shook my head.

"It's crazy," Rebecca's voice floated into earshot. "Why would they follow us this far?"

"We can't be sure," Carlos replied in obvious exhaustion.

"It's been a week, man. We gotta be outta the woods," Alvin rationalized.

"We can't be sure. They might be tracking us."

"Tracking? Who do you think they are? Ninjas?"

I wanted to roll my eyes. Tracking wasn't an art, it was a skill. A skill anyone could learn. If it was an art it was only the art of paying some goddamn attention every once in a while.

"Clem," Rebecca spotted us. "Luke said you two saw some people in the valley?"

"We saw lights," she hazarded. "Like flashlights, maybe."

"Which way did they go?"

"Back into the woods," she replied. Which was true, the lights had appeared to... disappear. But then Luke had run off, and we'd run off after him. Who knows where they'd gone since then. It had been at least an hour, which was about half the time it took us to get to the lodge from where we'd seen the lights in the first place.

"We can't take any chances," Carlos deemed. "We leave at dawn."

"But we're safe here for tonight, right?" Rebecca pleaded.

"Clementine, Scout," Carlos turned to us. "You talked to that man Walter, right? What did he say?"

"He talked a lot about someone else. Matthew."

It wasn't exactly helpful information, not to Carlos. "Just talk to the rest of them. They seem to trust you, Clem. See what you can find out."

Once again, we were doing the group's dirty work. And Carlos' threat to ship us all out at dawn only inflamed me for a moment before I realized that A) it was probably the same decision I would have made, and B) he wasn't my leader to follow, anyway.