Chapter 53 "Adjusting"
Day 225
Sierra woke up and immediately turned her eyes to the alarm clock beside her, silent and glowing a bright green across the room. "A whole three hours this time," she smiled and rose from the bed, still fully clothed. She drew the curtains just in time to see the sun come over the horizon. She walked out of her room and silently opened each of her housemates' doors.
She opened one door, and Dillon immediately turned, sitting in his bed with his knife raised. He saw that it was Sierra, and smiled at her. She returned the smile and shut the door.
The blonde turned across the hall and opened another door. There, she saw the stark naked body of the frizzy-haired brunette. "You okay, Soren?" Sierra asked confusedly.
"Yeah," she replied without turning back.
"I think we're across the street from a family."
"It's just boobs," Soren stated carelessly.
"Well, if we get complaints, that's on you."
"I know."
The leader smiled at her friend's abrasive attitude and went to the final door. Inside, the room was completely dark, the curtains drawn to create a pitch black tomb.
"James?" Sierra called.
The sleepy man moved slightly, his green head sticking pointedly out of the top of the blanket. He replied with an unintelligible groaning mumble.
"Sorry," she said lightly, and shut the door back.
Soren and Dillon walked past her, Soren now wearing a silk orange robe, and went down the stairs to begin on dinner. Sierra smiled, happy with her housemates and the normalcy she was beginning to feel here.
Xavier and Kelly sat in the livingroom of their new house. It was odd, having a home of their own and not piling in all together, crowing the house uncomfortably.
"How are you feeling?" Xavier asked as they spooned cereal into their mouths.
"Good," Kelly shrugged, "I guess."
"You guess? I thought you'd be filled with joy to be back here."
"I am," the girl whose purple was nearly gone smiled. "It's great to be back, and to see that so many people I left are still here. That I still have a home. But it's kind of bittersweet. Not all of the people I left behind are still here. Tyler and his sisters' mom Elizabeth died. Jim's wife Jenny died. Betty's husband Michael died, and now she's with Henry. Bella's with Tavis. And Roger... Things have changed."
"Of course they have," Xavier comforted, oblivious to her relationship with Roger. "You couldn't have expected everything to remain constant. It never does."
"I know," Kelly sighed. "Doesn't mean I can't be sad that they have, though. I'm really going to miss what once was."
"But you're happy now, right?"
She paused and took a moment, chewing contemplatively on her cereal. "I am," she said finally. "I'm happy." The two lovers shared a long, heartfelt stare. "I really love you."
"I love you too, Kelly."
Beth walked quickly in the streets, beginning to panic. She realized she had not seen Patricia since the day before, when she had ran off, and was worried something might have happened to the elder blonde.
She made it into the yard of her neighbors and pounded her fist on the door. Lyrik opened it, clearly confused.
"Beth?" she furrowed her brows. "Are you okay?"
"Have you seen Patricia?" the blonde spat quickly.
"No…" Lyrik stated. "Is she okay?"
"I don't know," Beth said frustratedly. "I haven't seen her in nearly twenty-four hours!"
"Didn't you follow her?"
"I tried! I don't know where she went; I lost her. I think she ran through someone's backyard. I haven't seen her since."
"Oh," the dark-skinned teen sighed, "well, I haven't, either. I don't know where she is, I'm sorry."
"Are Robert and Greyson in?"
"No, I think they went to Olga's."
"When you see them again, ask about Patricia. I've gotta go, I'll see you later."
"Alright," Lyrik said uselessly as Beth speed-walked to the next house.
She repeated her process, pounding on the next door, which was where Patricia lived. In retrospect, she realized she should have come here first, but it didn't matter. If she was here, she could just go back to Lyrik and explain that she overreacted.
Seth opened the door with groggy eyes, clearly just waking up.
"Is Patricia here?" Beth asked.
"I don't think so," Seth stated.
"Have you seen her? Is Selenis here?" she interrogated the sleepy brute.
"No, and...no?"
"Well, let me know if you hear anything, then," Beth stormed off.
"Wait!" Seth called, and stepped out of the door, closing it behind him. "Let me help."
"Then you better keep up," she yelled back to him.
The large man struggled to keep up in his sleepy state, but soon managed to match the pace of the teen and they went from house to house looking for the old woman, picking up Selenis along the way, who they had found visiting with Gabriel, Allan, and Boyd.
Eventually, they made it down the road to Mike's house. Beth was certain if she was not there, she was gone. The blonde knocked, and got no response. She looked back at her friends, and Selenis gave an encouraging nod. Beth understood, and turned the doorknob.
They all went inside and searched quietly together. Eventually, they made it to the end of the hallway and opened the door, revealing Patricia and Mike sleeping nude underneath a blanket together. In sync, their eyes all went wide.
Immediately, Seth and Selenis began cracking up at the sight, a much less elegant composition than Patricia usually presented to the world. When Beth said "Ew," under her breath, Seth couldn't help it and burst out laughing.
Patricia instantly woke up, a light sleeper, and saw the trio in the doorway. She grabbed a pillow and hid her face, curling her body up under the blanket. Mike groggily woke up and mirrored her humility, covering himself with the blanket.
Beth, Seth, and Selenis left the building, laughing hysterically and uttering apologies profusely. For Beth, it was a horrifying, nearly traumatizing experience. For Selenis and Seth, it was the funniest thing that had happened to them in many months.
Kevin exited his house in the Governor's Estates, humming a tune as he walked. From a distance, he saw Allan talking with a few men in his yard and he waved to his younger friend. The day was a cloudy one; not particularly cold, but not warm enough to do a good job at melting much of the remaining snow.
The cowboy smiled to himself, thinking about the good things that have been happening, and how well life seemed these days. Defenses were high, and there were very few threats to their way of life at West Little Rock.
Today, his job was to check on residents of the community and gather information about how they are feeling about the community, or how well they are adjusting. Even if he only gets to do this job twice a month at most, it's still his favorite one of all the tasks he's assigned.
His first priority was to make sure the newest people felt at ease with their new arrangements, and he made a beeline to the house Merle was supposed to be living in. As he made his way, he noticed a few interactions among the citizens. Robert walked with Olga, whose belly was getting larger now, and helped her carry groceries. Tavis walked Angel in his stroller to visit with another toddler and his mother. Taylor walked away from Lyssa, both looking depressed. Terrance and Tina stood, talking with Malcolm and Beth, who looked very embarrassed as hey boyfriend seemed to tell a funny story.
Not long after knocking on the door to Merle's house a man wearing a worn, dirty fishing hat opened the door tentatively.
"Dan, right?"
"Dale," the old man corrected.
"Dale, right; sorry," Kevin laughed. "Don't worry. I'll learn yer name soon enough."
"Sure," Dale said, an eyebrow raised. "Do you need something?"
"Just wanted to check on y'all, make sure yer all doin' well."
"Protocol?"
"Nope," the cowboy lied. "Just bein' friendly."
When Kevin's kindness was met with hesitation and a clear mixture of fear and distrust, the mustached man gave another of his warm smiles.
"Is Merle here?"
Dale gave the virtual stranger an odd look and nodded, opening the door wider to reveal Merle, who had been listening in the whole time.
"How you doing, stringbean?" Merle asked condescendingly.
"Pretty good," Kevin grinned charmingly. "You all good?"
"Yeah," the gruff man nodded secretively.
"Anything I can get y'all? More blankets, some clothes, more cleaning stuff?"
"I think we're all good," Merle nodded.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Well, if ya' need somethin', ya' know where the administration building is. Someone there can help ya' out." Kevin turned as he realized they wanted him gone and waved a final goodbye.
"Of course," Merle said with fake kindness as he began to close the door. He turned to Dale and scoffed. "I don't like him. Reminds me too much of Officer Friendly."
Dale half-frowned and walked away, annoyed. "He was more of a man than you could ever be."
Merle rolled his eyes, used to Dale's bitterness.
In the counselling room sat Betty, with her long gray hair in a bun. She sat, annoyed and frustrated, though she remained calm, and did not let her anger tint her voice whatsoever. She had much practice with holding back her frustration and refused to crack against such a rude young woman. Gale was lying in her normal spot, a cold statue, uncompromising her disdain and general disinterest in the world.
"Have you been eating?" Betty questioned her patient. In response, the elder was given nearly five whole minutes of silence. "It's okay to not be ready, Gale," Betty said soothingly. "But you have to open up eventually. We will go at your pace, but I must emphasise the importance of you opening up."
"Why should I?" Gale asked, her voice high yet strong. "You're on the leader's council, ain't you? You probably gonna tell everybody else what I say. Get me kicked out of here 'cause you think I'm crazy."
"That's not true," Betty said, stunned. Gale had never been so frank; she had never spoken so much in the whole time they had sessions together. "This is a private, safe space. I'm only here to assist in recovery, or to simply listen. Nothing discussed here will be said to anyone else."
"How do I know that? I'm not payin' for this, I didn't ask for this. There ain't no laws anymore sayin' you have to keep my word secret, either. If there was, it'd be Jim you'd have to answer to, and he's the one you're probably tellin' all our secrets to."
Betty was becoming genuinely offended, and she held a hand over her chest. "Do you really believe that I would do that? That I am doing that?" Gale remained silent, staring up at the ceiling. "Just because I have some sort of power in this town, and because I talk to people personally, does not mean that I would hurt people like that. I'm a therapist; I have been doing this since before the world ended. This is my passion. Not some ploy to get information; to betray those who put trust and hope into me."
Gale sighed, her face still expressionless. She turned her head to the clock on the wall. "It's half-past four," the frail woman said as she rose. "I'm off the clock. I had a wonderful time again, Mrs. Keating." Gale walked out noiselessly, leaving Betty in shock.
Kevin entered Jim's office, finally allowed in by his secretary. "Thanks, Tracey," he winked to her. The middle-aged woman nodded offhandedly.
"Hello, Kevin," Jim said politely. "Everything go well?"
"Howdy," the cowboy responded. "Well, as good as can be expected. Dalton's recovering nicely, and he and Dylan are fitting in great. Everybody loves 'em. Shawn's old people seem pretty good. Xavier, Sierra, and Kelly are great. Steve, Alicia, and the Amandas are all okay, too. I don't know about the rest of that bunch, though. Everyone likes Axel and Dillon, but something seems off about Axel to me. He seems almost too nice for someone who's apparently been through as much as he has."
"Maybe that's his coping mechanism," Jim suggested as he shuffled through documents before him. Not once had he looked up to Kevin since he had walked in, opting instead to focus on his work.
"You may be right," Kevin shrugged.
"Doesn't mean you stop watching him, though."
"O' course, sir."
"You've done good," Jim stated, pushing his papers to the side and finally meeting Kevin's eyes. "Remember, this is for the good of us all. You get lazy, or you don't pay enough attention, things will go wrong. People will die. And do you know whose head it will be on?"
"Mine?"
"Wrong," the leader said glaringly. "It'll be on mine. They'll come for me. They'll yell that I'm a bad leader, and attempt to overthrow me, if not outright kill me. But you're also right, in a way. If something like that does happen, especially if it hurts me or my family, then it is on you. And it won't be the people that will come for you. It will be me. As long as I still breath, I will find a way to exact my revenge. And I'm not just going to kill you, no, no. I'm going to torture you. I'm going to hurt you worse than anyone ever will be able to again. After I'm done, you will want to die, you will beg me to kill you."
Kevin stared at the man before him, seeing him in a completely different light. Jim had always been cold, but he had never been this threatening. He had never openly voiced something like this to him, and Kevin felt paralyzed. He was taken aback, and suddenly very afraid of the man he once considered a friend.
"But of course," the plump man grinned and sat back in his chair, making it creak, "this is all hypothetical. I don't believe you have anything to worry about right now. These people seem menacing, but not deadly. For now, you're gonna walk out of this room unharmed. And you're not going to reiterate a word of this, if you know what's good for you. Like I said, this is about protection. This is about keeping the people safe. If anyone is harmed, you know better than anyone that you would deserve what's coming to you. And isn't this kind of me? If we didn't keep this job of your's on the D.L., you would be the one everyone would bum-rush! Instead, I'm willing to take the fall for you. It's because I care about you. And I care about this community."
Kevin shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and gave Jim a nod, acknowledging his leader's words and trying to accept them.
"I'm glad you understand," Jim nearly laughed. "Now get outta here, Kev. You've got work to do."
Surprise! I'm back! Although, this is much later than I intended on returning with the story. Nevertheless, I'm back, and so is the story, just in time for Fear The Walking Dead to begin. Two more chapters will be posted throughout the weekend, so stay tuned!