Dead End (Book 2): A Very Good Neighbor Read online

  “We have to wait for everyone else to get done. It was one of the Chief's rules that kids that didn't have anyone to speak for them ate after everyone else had all they wanted. We're the orphans. Our lot, I guess.” She sounded bitter.

  Jake didn't freaking blame her. What a moronic rule.

  “Ah. Well, not anymore. Come with me.” He walked them to the serving line and stood there while they got a full plate each. The women on the serving line looked nervous at first, but didn't say anything about it.

  Then, instead of having them find a place on the floor, Jake walked them to the table where Carl sat, surrounded by some of the better looking women and Molly had a little group of admirers too, regaling them with her tales of being a cleaner. From the snippet he heard it made her sound a lot more intelligent about the whole thing than she had been, but he could let that go. Right now there was another problem.

  “Carl, Mol, give up your seats? These kids need to get some food in them. Apparently they weren't normally allowed to eat with everyone else under the old rules, because they don't have anyone to speak for them? An oversight that it hadn't been fixed yet, right Becky Fines?” Jake glared at the woman who winced and actually managed to look contrite. It was a strange enough expression that it caught him off guard. A woman taking personal responsibility, with him in the same room? Amazing. Not that they normally wouldn't, but, yeah. They didn't like him much as a group.

  “Oh! God, kids... It really was, I mean with everything...” She stood and gestured to Darla to take a seat, getting her own empty plate out of the way. “I'm so sorry...”

  Carl stood then too, with Molly less than a second behind, which got another woman to stand as well. Their radio operator. A fairly nice looking blond. About twenty-five or so, Jake's age give or take. She looked at him with a bit of chagrin in her eyes, but no overt fear. Normally she was even perky. He smiled at her and nodded.

  “Thanks... Um, sorry, I don't remember your name.” He held out his right hand to take her empty plate from her. Palm up. She surprised him by shifting that to her left hand and shaking with him. It wasn't very formal, almost...

  Flirtatious?

  What, hadn't she gotten the memo about the great Jake ostracizing effort yet?

  “Tina. We met last week, but, well there were a lot of names for you all at once, wasn't there? I'll overlook it this time, but in the future I expect you to remember. I mean, otherwise my feelings will be hurt.” She smiled though as she spoke, looking straight into his eyes.

  “OK, Tina. I'm Jake, just in case you missed it.” A very possible thing after all, with Carl and Dave around to distract from the fact that he'd even been there at the time.

  She let go then, her eyes going down, just standing by the table as the black haired teen girl slid into place, looking worried. It distracted Jake for a few seconds.

  Switching his eye contact to the girl directly, he tilted his head.

  “Something wrong?” He said quietly, not trying to alert the room yet.

  The girl gave a half nod but didn't speak, taking a quick bite of food first. After a minute, eating the whole time, particularly seeming to enjoy the bread she spoke, at least as softly as Jake had.

  “Yeah, I keep feeling like we're going to get in trouble for being at the table. Like the men are going to come in and hurt us or threaten to throw us out to the zombies. Or like everyone will turn on us as soon as you all leave in the morning.” She didn't broadcast this to the room, it was a bare whisper. Jake had moved in close, but got it, mainly reading her lips.

  “I don't think so, but you can all come with us if you really feel that way. I'll talk to Becky Fines first though. She seems a good person.”

  The girl smiled and shook her head.

  “She's OK. Why do you call her that? “Becky Fines” It sounds weird, like a title or something. Everyone else is just their first name, aren't they? So why her?”

  Jake... didn't know.

  Becky Fines was just her name, like his was Jake and the girl was...

  “What's your name?” He asked suddenly, realizing he didn't know at all.

  “Robin.”

  “Nice to meet you Robin. I'm Jake.” He added the last just in case. But the girl laughed, a near silent thing. It was a good laugh, one that wouldn't get z to run up on you. He approved of it.

  “I know who you are. We all do. You're the one that killed the Chief. The one that freed us. Not everyone feels that way, but... It's just true isn't it? Things had gotten bad. Even I could see that. Everyone had lost hope.”

  Jake shrugged. The real truth was that he didn't know. It was either him or Vickie that had pulled the trigger. Not killing the Police Chief on purpose, just trying not to die at the time. He explained all that calmly, hoping the girl was in the “you freed us” camp, not the other. It seemed she really was.

  Even after explaining carefully, the girl just kept eating for a while and finally nodded at him as he stood near her, wondering if he should just go and find a seat along the wall again.

  “Well, just in case, thank you. I'll find this Vickie and tell her the same thing. I loved my dad, before, but after all this happened, he... kind of lost it. I don't think we would have lived much longer if you hadn't happened by at the right time. His solution to the food shortage involved... worse things than just stealing.”

  Jake grimaced.

  The Chief was her father and had been openly talking about cannibalism? God. How screwed up was that?

  “We'll get enough food, no worries there.” Jake said firmly, the girl nodding at him as if he might just actually pull that off.

  How he was supposed to do that, he didn't know, but it was a plan, wasn't it?

  Now he just had to sell everyone else on it.

  Chapter Two

  It was nearly three in the afternoon when they all walked into the driveway of the House, the white siding and two windmills in the yard comforting for some reason. Even though, when he thought about it, Jake kind of dreaded coming back here at all. The place had too many bad memories for him to be happy. Too much rejection and loneliness.

  The bathhouses and forge buildings looked unfinished. Solid, but the walls were brown and unpainted, just plywood for the most part, that being what they'd had at the time. Still, the place looked active enough, with people out and about even in the chill afternoon.

  They all walked, except for little Darla, who'd rode in the back of the large metal frame wagon pulled by Jake and for some reason, Molly. It wasn't exactly heavy, holding only one small girl and a tiny wood stove.

  They'd stopped and got it from a house where Carl had seen it nearly three months earlier, on a cleaning mission with his crew. It was the smallest such thing Jake had ever seen, about the size of an old fashioned bread box, but it was just about perfect for the greenhouse. It had gotten chilly fast and Julio, the farm boss, had requested it of Jake a while ago. Hopefully it wasn't too late to save the greenery growing inside the plastic covered area on the south side of the main building.

  Robin had come with them too, apparently worried that the Chief

  's daughter might just not be welcome with the other ladies and kids anymore. She didn't mention any overt hostility, but had shrugged meaningfully when Dave asked. Jake got the idea clearly enough. Low level harassment, but no actual physical attacks yet. No huge thing, they'd get her set up with some friends and things would, hopefully, be better for her. The boys had opted to stay for now.

  Not wanting to leave their girlfriends.

  Not singular, plural. Each of the quiet orphan boys had more than one, and Colby, the black haired boy, who was only twelve, meaning one of the older remaining guys at the compound, was actively sleeping with at least two different adult women. It wasn't even something they were hiding.

  It took work, but Jake tried not to either judge or be jealous.

  It was the end of the world after all. The kid probably wouldn't last the winter, so when else was he supposed to do that
stuff? Of course it ate at his own mind for the entire walk back, fifteen miles. A little kid could get laid, but no one would even consider him? Well, at least Tina had kind of seemed... warm, the night before, so maybe that would be looking up now? He couldn't trust it. The last time he thought he might eventually get lucky had been with Heather and she hated his guts now. At least she seemed to, when she wasn't claiming that they should be best friends.

  Because that just made sense, didn't it?

  Burt came out first, having been “supervising” the kitchen for some reason, probably because it was warm and he was still recovering from being stabbed a month or so back. Six times in the stomach. By Tammy Fines, most likely. Becky's older sister, if Jake had that right.

  He looked older now than when they first met, only six months back or so. Beard pure white, thin and with wrinkles around the edges that just hadn't been there before the attack. Jake had moved out for a while, was voted out actually, which started people on a downhill slide. Apparently they needed the jerk that insisted they all work and who'd shoot them for being too loud. Go figure. It was a bit better again now, for everyone else at least.

  “Everyone!” Burt said in a nearly normal conversational tone, just under what Jake would think too noisy for an outdoor voice. “And new people too? Welcome. I'm Burt...” It didn't take five seconds for the back door screen to open again and a clutch of people to come out.

  A small blond form, about four-eleven or so, and skinny, like most people were now ran straight at him, smiling. Sammi. The woman looked, and claimed, to be eleven, but wasn't. Jake didn't know how old she really was, but her kind of people aged really slowly it seemed. She'd told him once that she was easily the oldest person at the House, and Lois, the kitchen lady, was nearly sixty-five... So older than that.

  She hugged him hard enough that he laughed a little.

  “Missed you too Sam.” Ken, the girl's constant companion, a decently large dark skinned boy that seldom spoke, walked up to him too. Jake teasingly wrapped the boy up in a hug too, but got a surprise when the kid returned the gesture.

  Manfully of course.

  Jake had no illusion that Ken wouldn't kick his butt in a fist fight, even being smaller than he was still. He was freaking tough. Especially when he got mad. It wasn't a normal thing at all. But seemed to accept that Jake was one of “his people” now. Well... Cool. Good to know at least some of the residents here didn't just think he was a monster.

  The introductions waited until Nate, their leader came out, also sporting a nice full beard, in salt and pepper, even though he wasn't that old, forty odd? Jake hadn't asked. It just never seemed important. Walking over to the man Jake held out his right hand, something that he didn't normally do, but the new girls were a little leery of authority figures.

  Trying to focus on that, Jake shook with the man, who could read minds. The only thing was, well, Nate didn't know that this wasn't his own secret, so the man's eyes went huge when Jake tried to project the thought to him. Apparently doing it pretty well?

  “This is Darla... Robin... This is Nate. He's in charge here. Nice guy, but do what he says or... He'll look at you sadly and shake his head. It doesn't sound that bad now, but you'll feel about,” Jake held his hand about a foot from the ground, a comic gesture that required him to stoop, meant to look funny on purpose.

  “This high if he ever directs it at you, so I suggest you avoid it at all costs.” It was said seriously enough that both girls nodded silently. Robin looking down at the ground as if expecting the other shoe to drop.

  It didn't.

  Here it really wasn't a factor that her father had been the head jerkwad. She'd make it or not on her own merits. Just like everyone else. If not, then people were going to have some hard discussions, with Jake. Nate's eyes went wide again.

  “Ah... Jake I think we should... talk?” The man looked at him hard, earning a shrug.

  “Sure. I have some things anyway.” He looked around. “Can we get Vickie in on this? Burt too? Then I just need Len and Molly.”

  Nate tilted his head and then shook it a little.

  “Um, not what I...”

  “Right, we'll we need Vickie, Tipper and Sammi for that conversation, I think. But after the important stuff?”

  “OK... Let's get it all together.” The man seemed baffled, probably because Jake wasn't thinking about anything at the moment, just watching what was going on around him. Everyone just stood in place, which was pretty normal, given the new people, but was a waste of time.

  “Dave, could you find Julio and help him with the wood stove?” Jake said after a few moments. That was something that had to happen pretty fast, or they'd lose the daylight.

  “Got it.” The boy walked off without saying goodbye to anyone.

  “And... Ken, Sammi, could you two set up Robin and Darla? For now... if both of them could work in the kitchen with you, that would be good.” Jake turned to the girls and shrugged.

  “Everyone here works. This won't be your full time job, unless you want it to be and get along well with Lois. You want to get along with her, being in charge of the food. We need to increase the kitchen staff though, so getting training there is a good thing regardless. There are lots of other jobs though, if something else suits you better.”

  Darla gave him a sour look, after a second he recognized it as an actual, honest to goodness pout. Her hands went to her hips.

  “I thought I was going to go and do that cleaning stuff with you.” She sounded petulant about it.

  Jake stuck his tongue out at her.

  “Yeah, that, and guard duty too. Hunting and probably some other things. But it doesn't get you out of real work too. Even I have to help wash dishes after dinner and help get wood. Don't be lazy.”

  “Oh.” The girl seemed happier for some reason then. “OK. That's fine then. As long as you weren't lying...”

  Nate gave him a look. One that said “What the hell” pretty clearly.

  “Jake?” He said softly, head tilting towards the girl.

  “Yeah. We'll talk about that in a bit, if that's alright?”

  They went in then, and everyone else walked off. Len tried to, but smiling, Jake waved him into the living room for the meeting and set up chairs for them all. Vickie, the attractive blond that led one of the three cleaning teams got there last, having been sleeping, since her team had guard duty that night. She looked slightly rumpled, but not puffy or tired. Not at all.

  “Hey Jake.” She said, smiling sweetly. Then she gave him a hug too.

  He blinked but returned the move. It was really nice of her after all. Then she knew that he was a lot closer to sticking a gun in his mouth than most of the others really got. It was one cure for being alone forever. Jake pulled back after about five seconds and smiled. She was the second hottest woman that he'd ever gotten a hug from after all.

  The first being Carley, who walked in and pulled up a chair too.

  That... didn't make him happy. He was still kind of pissed at her for implying that he was a rapist or child molester, just because he was planning to leave due to all the crap he had to take from the women at the House. He fought a scowl off his face, but just let her sit. She was in charge of getting wood, so she really would be needed for the building project.

  That didn't mean he had to be happy with her though.

  “Alright, I'll shorthand this all first. Len has a building project in mind. We need to vote on it, but it's a good plan. Want to go over it for us Len?” Jake was ready to do it for him if need be, not wanting to put the slow man on the spot, but he did fine. Everyone listened and were all nodding by the end. Burt spoke first though.

  “We'll need a hallway and more than one room, but... it really is a good plan. We can go and walk it tonight... before it gets dark.” The older man looked at Nate and then Jake.

  Then as an afterthought at Carley. The woman frowned for a second, sensitive to any slight, real or imagined, towards women. Then she shrugged.
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br />   “We need more logs then, don't we?”

  Jake nodded, “Yeah, a lot more. I'll work with you on that as I can. We need more than one wood team now, so you can be in charge of that. Just don't micromanage and it should be fine. We may have to shoot some people to get them out into the cold though.” He meant it as a joke, but the woman just patted her short blond curls and nodded back seriously.

  “I still have that twenty-five you got me.”

  He looked at her for a few seconds, considering everything and finally nodded.

  “Good. You'll need a shotgun too. Start carrying the handgun all the time. We're going to have more people and their noise discipline is nearly non-existent. If they step too far out of line or flip on us, we need several people ready to stop them. I just hope we don't have to kill any of the kids.” He meant it, and that was so clear that Carley winced.

  She didn't say anything though.

  Nate looked at Molly then, but the girl just shrugged and gave a half smile.

  “I... don't know why I'm here at all. Jake just said come, so I did.”

  That got her waved at.

  “It's why we need Vickie for this one. I'd like Molly's crew to get some training. Guard duty, extra combat protocol and some light cleaning, just in case it comes up. I also want them out on hunting with Carl. I'd like Darla, the little girl that came today? To get training too. Again, everything, though she may actually make it as a real cleaner. So far she's the most solid talent from the compound.”

  Nate took a turn wincing then and so did everyone else except Len. He just shrugged.

  “She's good. Got a zombie on her own yesterday, and a cow. She was even trying to both times.” The large man said simply.

  Jake just agreed silently.

  After all, it was the truth.

  That was all he had for them, but Nate gave Jake a significant look. Taking a deep breath, he turned to Carley and shrugged.

  “Right, so some stuff to talk about in private, could you get Tipper and Sammi for me?” Jake asked, remembering to add “please” after a few seconds. The hot blond shook her head.