Caitlin Denton was not a woman who grew anxious easily or often. Her husband, Josiah, was the worrier of the family. She supposed that was part of what drew her to him — his tendency to worry. Oh, he hid it well. Most of the world saw Jo as the stalwart sheriff who never flinched. But she could remember the awkward, shy fumbling young man who had stammered over asking her out for coffee back in college. However, in the long months since he’d gone to Quantico just before the Outbreak, Caitlin had become a worrier. She worried about whether or not he was still alive, if he was hurt, if he was making his way back to them, or if he was waiting for them at the cabin near Morganton. Part of her wanted to run off, take the children, and go up there. She thought that some of the others might decide to leave with her and risk venturing through Atlanta to get away from Brent. However, whenever she started making solid plans to leave, somehow the man figured it out and convinced her to stay.
If it hadn’t been for the Dixon brothers and now the surviving CDC research staff, she thought that Brent would have forced himself on her by now. She’d taken to letting the kids stay with “Uncle Merle” most nights while she and Daryl shared a broom closet-sized room. She was thankful that the younger Dixon was willing to suffer her presence and didn’t mind having the kids stay in there some nights. The other so-called “unattached” women had already been pressured by Brent and his charming charisma and several of them had given in to him. Only Joyce and Caitlin had been safe from him and with it looking more and more unlikely that her husband would turn up alive, Caitlin had begun getting the longing gazes and the seemingly-innocent remarks that warned her that Brent had his sites on her. Why the man wanted her was a question she could not answer. After all, she was in her mid-thirties, had pre-teen children, and definitely wasn’t a spring chicken anymore. Oh, she wasn’t terrible to look at, she knew. Josiah appreciated her body even if her breasts were a little softer and heavier than they had been when they were dating and her hips were a bit rounder.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” she muttered to herself as she walked through the public areas of the CDC. She kept and eye out for her kids and relaxed when she spotted them sitting and playing a game with Tammy while her mother Joyce sat nearby keeping an eye on all three of them. None of the men who had gone out on the run seemed to be back yet. Caitlin glanced at the clock on the wall and flinched — it was well past time for them to be back. It was nearly sundown! She hurried over to the lab areas where the three researchers who had remained behind were still working tirelessly to try to figure out how to combat the Outbreak. Maybe Shy had come back with some word at least. She knocked on the glass door to the lab where the three of them were hunched over their microscopes studying slides from specimens that Shy had gathered for them. Dr. Edward Vance glanced up and waved for her to enter. “Has Shy come back yet?” she asked.
“No,” Dr. Vance replied with a kindly air or absentmindedness. Caitlin couldn’t help but smile at him. He reminded her of the way her grandfather had looked when she was a little girl. He had a kindly, slightly-wrinkled face, wispy white hair, and bright brown eyes that shone with intelligence and good humor. “Why? Were you expecting her?”
“I was expecting them all back before now,” Caitlin explained. “It’s sundown.”
Dr. Vance glanced at his wristwatch and blinked in surprise. “It is. The rest of them aren’t back yet either?”
“None of them are.”
“That is troubling. What does Brent have to say?”
“I’d rather avoid Brent. He doesn’t seem to get that I’m happily married and not interested in joining his little harem.” The man blushed slightly and nodded. Brent’s attitudes were not nearly as well-hidden as he thought they were. Dr. Towers had finally taken a grad student who’d been trapped with them under his protection, pretending to be sleeping with her, so that Brent would back off. Dr. Kirkman had pretended to set up his own rival harem and worked with Shy to smuggle the young women out of the CDC and over to Elberton or to help them get going on their way if that was what they wanted. Brent was angry about the situation but while they were staying at the CDC, there wasn’t much he could do about it. The entire situation was on a slow boil and Caitlin knew that it wouldn’t be long before Brent and his lackey Greg pressured the other men into falling into line and taking over the CDC. Daryl, Merle, and Dr. Kirkman were the only ones who would stand up to him directly and they had no desire to leave just yet. “I hate this,” Caitlin sighed.
“It does suck,” Dr. Towers muttered sourly. He snapped his gloves off and stood up from his stool. “We’ve got to figure out a way to get rid of Brent and Greg. Without them, we have a shot at having a decent little tribe.”
“They’re not going to just leave because we ask them oh-so-nicely,” Dr. Kirkman sneered. He and Dr. Towers were both only a few years older than Caitlin — she’d actually gone to school with Joshua Towers and her cousin had been friends with Rob Kirkman. “And, while Shy, Daryl, and Merle are pretty good at keeping us stocked and supplied, Larry and Seth aren’t enough to fill in the gaps. Harold is a little too old to go out on runs though he is very helpful in keeping things in good repair as are Al and Beau. At least Shy and her family have gotten most of the women out of here so Brent only has you, Joyce, Patty, Sarah, and Willow to try to slake his lusts. Joyce is married to Greg so that keeps her somewhat safe even if he is a complete asshole,” he snorted. It was an open secret that Greg beat the hell out of Joyce whenever he got pissed off. Ironically, they all found themselves hoping that Greg got killed when he was out on a run. The only reason they put up with Brent was because he was able to keep them all organized and together. Without him there, the rest of the men wouldn’t be so bad. Of course, without him there, the rest of the men would start vying for position of top dog. It was just a simple fact of human nature. The only man who had the strength of personality to keep them together was Brent and it was a near thing with him. Josiah would be able to do it, of course, if he got back.
No. Once he got back. She was not going to begin doubting him now.
“So, what are we going to do?” Kirkman asked, pulling Caitlin out of her thoughts. She tugged on her red-gold hair in rueful embarrassment to remind herself to pay attention to what the others were saying. This was no time to get lost in her own head. “We’ve been arguing over this for two months now and are no closer to a solution than we were when we started.”
“I still think that we could make a run for it. Brent doesn’t know where Shy’s farm is,” Joshua argued. “We wait for her to get back from where ever she is. We round up all of the ones who are decent, send them down to the morgues, let Daryl and Merle in on the plan and have them get Brent and Greg to go out with them. They kill those two, we then go off to Elberton with Shy.”
“The only problem is actually getting Shy to go beyond the entryway,” Kirkman pointed out. “You know she can’t handle getting out of sight of the doors without having a full-on panic attack, Josh.”
“So we give her some lorazepam and keep her knocked out.”
“Because drugging a young woman is a great idea,” Kirkman said sarcastically. “And it’s not like she carries enough weapons to kill all of us six times over. Next?”
“We head for the farm and kill them on the way?” Edward suggested.
“I do not want my children to witness us murdering two men,” Caitlin muttered. “Also, Joyce would probably have an issue with us killing her husband.”
“We could poison them.”
“With what?”
“We’re only in the CDC. Plenty of toxic stuff around here.”
“We’re not going to kill them,” Caitlin sighed. “We don’t kill the living just because they’re inconvenient or assholes.”
“Then we’re back to the original problem,” Rob sighed softly. “They are not going to leave just because we ask nicely.” Caitlin frowned and rubbed her forehead. Rob was right. Brent and Greg weren’t just going to leave if they asked and they weren’t going to suddenly wake up one morning and change. Figuring out how they were going to handle this was going to take a lot more work.
The three doctors and Caitlin made their way to the large cafeteria. Joyce, the three children, Patty, Sarah, Willow, Harold, Al, Beau, and Brent were there already. Several large stainless steel stew pots were bubbling on the stove and the smell of venison and rabbit stew filled the room. Daryl and Shy had provided the meat and the herbs and vegetables came from foraging or from the CDC’s rooftop gardens. Caitlin nodded and whispered her thanks when Edward put his arm around her shoulders and guided her through the room, bending down and whispering in her ear as if the two of them were continuing some important conversation. He’d seen how Brent’s hungry gaze had fallen on her the minute they’d entered the cafeteria. So long as it seemed that she was involved in a conversation with the research staff or one of the Dixon brothers, Brent would probably leave her alone. She picked up a bowl and ladled some of the venison stew into it — she was tired of squirrel and rabbit. She smiled and walked over to where her kids were sitting with Joyce and her daughter Tammy. Edward, Rob, and Joshua pulled chairs over to the table, joining them. Sarah, Willow, and Patty looked longingly at them while Brent continued to give Caitlin sidelong gazes that he didn’t bother to temper. That started to make her angry — not only was he pursuing her even though she had no interest in him, he was carrying on in front of her children. She glanced over at the clock on the wall. It was now well after sundown.
“No sign of the guys?” Caitlin asked Sarah, pitching her voice so it would carry across the room without sounding like she was shouting.
“Harold didn’t see anything,” Sarah replied. “They should have been back by now. We left the keys in the usual spot. Beau and Willow have first watch tonight.”
“I’ll take a shift in the lab tonight, give Patty a break,” Caitlin offered.
“Thanks, Caitlin,” Patty smiled. “It’s been a month since I slept through the night.” Brent glared at her and then at Caitlin. His brown eyes glittered with anger and his lips were compressed in a thin line. His tousled brown hair appeared darker against his face which, though deeply tanned, was pallid with outrage. This was a man who was not used to being outmaneuvered or denied.
“Kids, why don’t you camp out in the rec room tonight?” Joshua suggested. “Brent, maybe you could keep an eye on them? Or maybe you could help me and Al with checking the water lines after we finish eating.” Caitlin was surprised to see the impossible happen — Brent grew even angrier than he already was. “Everyone needs to pitch in, after all. Weren’t you just saying that a few days ago?”
“Hoisted by his own petard,” Caitlin whispered to herself when Brent blanched and then nodded reluctantly.
“If we can’t get rid of him, maybe we can undercut him. Destroy his ability to act as a force,” Rob muttered, pitching his own voice so that it would reach only Caitlin’s ears. Just then, a loud banging had everyone leaping to their feet. Caitlin relaxed when she realized that it was the men returning from their run. The chains on the front doors were loud when they were being pulled through in a hurry and it sounded like the men were arguing over something — not unusual considering that Daryl had been among them. They sat back down, returning to their meals, knowing that the others would come down and join them shortly.
Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder and hung it from a peg on the wall. The others were hanging their own weapons — shoddy things that they were — up as well. Rob, Taylor, and Josiah were standing back a bit looking distinctly uncomfortable. They seemed disinclined to surrender their weapons — an impulse Daryl understood quite well. He wasn’t inclined to surrender his either. He only hung his crossbow up here because the room he shared with Caitlin was too small for him to keep it in there. However, if this Josiah was Caitlin’s husband, Daryl’s crossbow would be joining him back in his room again. His trusty Stryker had been a more constant companion than his brother ever since he’d left home when he was fifteen. It felt strange to be without it — almost like being without his right arm.
“Ya don’t hafta leave yer weapons here if ya don’t want ta,” Daryl explained quietly. Larry and Greg glared at him. “The rest of ‘em leave theirs ‘cause they’re cowards and ‘cause they think that the kids’re too stupid ta know not ta hit each other wit’ a golf club or shoot each other.”
“You’re leaving yours here,” Rob pointed out.
“Yeah. ‘Cause I ain’t got a lotta space in my room right now s’all.”
“You need to leave your weapons here until we know for certain that we can trust you,” Greg said loudly. “We’re grateful for your help earlier but we are not going to allow you to walk around here armed until we know you can be trusted!”
“They saved yer ass, Greg,” Daryl muttered. “You lef’ my brother ta die. I’d say they’re more trustworthy than you.”
“My wife and daughter are in here, redneck! I’m not letting some nigger and some asshole just wander around with guns so they can kill all of us and rape all our women. For all I know, they’re friends of yours and you’re in on their plan.”
“Yeah. Sure,” Daryl snorted. “I came up with an elaborate plan to kill you and went out and recruited two new guys an’ a kid ‘nstead of jus’ killin’ you m’self long ago.” Greg paled. “They ain’ gonna kill you. C’mon,” he said, turning back to Josiah and Rob. “Let’s go down to the cafeteria and get somethin’ ta eat. This time of the evenin’, ev’ryone’ll be down there havin’ supper.”
“Thanks for sticking up for us,” Rob said softly as they walked down the hallway and ducked into the stairwell. Greg and Larry were still back in the entryway arguing over whether or not they were going to go to some fellow named Brent. “I feel safer having my gun with me.”
“I understand that,” Daryl nodded. “Oh, and, ignore Brent. He’s an asshole of the highest order. Thinks he’s a king or somethin’. Acts like all the women should belong to him. He’s been makin’ eyes at Caitlin lately. She’s been bunkin’ wit’ me,” he said, glancing at Josiah. “I got her back. She reminds me of this little girl I remember from when I’se a kid. Kinda like a sister, I s’pose,” he shrugged. “Now that yer here, he might back off,” he added. “He leaves women alone if they got husbands or men that claim ‘em. He ain’t made a move on Joyce, Greg’s wife. He lef’ Caitlin alone fer a while ‘til he figgered you was dead. Now that yer back, maybe he backs off.”
“Thanks for the explanation,” Josiah sighed. They continued to descend until they reached the fifth sub-level. Daryl opened the door and they followed him through. He led them to the cafeteria.
“Honey, I’m home,” Daryl said in a teasing tone as he stepped aside to reveal Rob, Taylor, and Josiah, “and I brought yer boyfriend, Caitlin.”
“Oh, my God,” Caitlin said, tears springing to her eyes as she stood up from the table. “I knew you were alive! I knew it!”
“I’m here,” Josiah said, relieved as he moved towards his wife. She was running to him as well. The two of them embraced to the tearful cheers of the rest of the room. “I’m home.”