She tensed as Tony reached back into the back pack and pulled out a large black and silver Raider t-shirt. He unrolled it and then slid it down over her head. She moved her arms so the shirt would slide down her arms and fall down over her body.
She didn’t know who the Raiders were, but the shirt felt good.
Tony stood and looked down at her. “That should make you feel better.”
He smiled then dropped back down to his pack. “I almost forgot. Here, you could probably use something to eat.” Tony added as he held out a peanut butter cup.
Trish slowly reached out and took the candy bar. She looked nervously at Tony and at his face then into his eyes.
She didn’t see anything about him that scared her. His eyes were kind.
She looked down at his pack and then at the bow and arrows lying on the ground next to the pack.
Seeing the arrow brought back something she saw yesterday. A moment later she remembered. It looked just like the arrow she had just remembered seeing sticking out of the head of the zombie that was about to bite her while she hung from that tree.
She looked up at Tony. Her voice was weak and it trembled. “Did you shoot the zombie that was going to eat me yesterday?”
Tony smiled. “Yes, that was me. I also cut you down from the tree. I’m sorry I didn’t catch you before you hit the ground. I was going to catch you, but a zombie almost grabbed me as I cut your ropes. I had to move fast to get away from it. I’m sorry I let you fall on the ground. I hope it didn’t hurt too badly.”
Trish looked at Tony and surprised herself as she said quietly. “Thank You!”
“You’re welcome.” Tony smiled.
After a minute of silence as Trish ate her candy bar, Tony said. “I don’t think we should stay out here too much longer. There are probably more of these things roaming around. I’m going to go back to the warehouse. Would you like to come with me?” Tony smiled. “I would like it if you would come too, but you don’t have to if you’re afraid.”
Tony studied her face as she studied his. “I won’t try to make you if you don’t want to, but I would really like it if you would.”
Trish looked at him. “What if I don’t want to?”
Tony felt disappointed, but forced a smile. “If you don’t want to come with me, I’ll leave you my back pack. It has enough food to hold you for a few days. You can take it and go. But I would really like it if you would go with me.”
Trish stared into his eyes. “You won’t make me. You wouldn’t hit me?”
Tony got a shocked expression on his face. “I would never hit you!”
Trish looked at her shoes. She loved the colors. They were a little big, but they felt much better than the old ragged shoes she had before. Before Roy took them.
She ran her hands over the shirt. It felt almost as soft as the shirt and pants Tony had given her. The clothes that Debbie and Roy had taken.
She raised her eyes to Tony. “I would like to go with you.” She added quietly. “I promise I won’t be any trouble.”
Tony smiled as he reached out and took her hand. He pulled her up from the rock. He looked at her black eye, her swollen lip and her ragged hair. “And I promise you that no one is going to hurt you anymore.”
Chapter 19
Tony unlocked the door to the warehouse. He pushed the door open and motioned for Trish to go in ahead of him.
Trish hesitated for a moment. The open door in front of her was the door to the unknown. Inside that door she would either find the place of safety she had longed for or it could lead to another life of misery. It could lead to more of the same kind of treatment she had been subjected to for the last year.
She looked hesitantly at Tony. He smiled. “It’s OK.” He said. “I think you will like it in there.”
Trish eyed his smile. Roy had smiled at her many times, but his smile was only to hide his true intentions. His intentions were always something that brought her pain or humiliation.
Trish quickly ran her options through her mind. She could run but she was so sore and tired she probably wouldn’t get far. Tony would catch her easily. If she got away, where would she go, back to Roy and Debbie? “No Thanks!” She thought.
She could also run away from everything. That would probably end with her back up in a tree somewhere looking down at dozens of the dead. They seldom just went away on their own when they knew you were there. That would result in her starving or becoming so weak that she would fall out of the tree into the waiting dead below.
Option two was as bad as her first thoughts.
Her third option was to go inside the warehouse with Tony. “How much worse could this be than my other choices?” She asked herself.
She wiggled her toes in her new shoes and touched the clean soft fabric of her shirt. She looked at Tony. “I’m afraid!” She said quietly.
Tony smiled. “I can tell. Are you afraid of me?”
“I don’t know.” Trish replied fearfully. “I don’t know.”
Tony thought for a second. “You know if my intentions were to hurt you, I’ve had a lot of chances to do that.”
Trish nodded her head.
“But I didn’t.” Tony smiled.
Trish just looked at him.
Tony took the bow and arrow and set it inside the door, then turned and handed Trish the pellet gun. “Here take this. If I frighten you, you can shoot me.”
Trish looked startled as she held the pellet gun out in front of her body. “I don’t want to shoot you!”
“Then don’t shoot me. I’m hoping you don’t shoot me. That would hurt like hell!” he smiled.
Trish looked confused.
“Come on. I’ll make you a big hot plate of Spaghetti-O’s and you can have a whole bottle of cherry juice.” Tony smiled.
Trish’s mouth started to water.
She pushed the pellet gun back towards Tony.
“No. You hang onto it for a little while. It will make you feel safer. OK?” Tony replied as he grinned.
Trish decided whatever waited for her inside couldn’t be any worse than she had already been through. If it was going to be better, the only way she would know would be by going inside. He was right, he had many opportunities to do whatever he had wanted to do, but all he had done was save her from being eaten and given her new shoes. He had given her the gun to protect herself, that was nice, but she didn’t have any idea how to use the gun.
“No, you take it.” Trish said as she handed the gun back to Tony. She took a deep breath and held it as she walked through the door.
Tony took the gun and smiled. “She probably wouldn’t have been as trusting if she had known it was out of pellets. He liked her and wanted to help her, but he didn’t intend to take the chance that she would actually shoot him.
Trish walked into the warehouse. She jumped as Tony closed and locked the door.
She continued to walk out into the middle of the warehouse. She stood and turned completely around as she took in all the loaded shelves that now surrounded her.
“Is all this yours?”
“”All of this is ours for now.” Tony replied. “I guess it really belongs to Wal-Mart, but I don’t think they will be needing it anymore.”
Trish just stood and stared in amazement. She hadn’t seen this much stuff since she had gone shopping with her Mom a very long time ago.
Tony stood and watched Trish looking around. He then noticed the dirt and grass stains on her legs.
“I think maybe you could use some clean clothes.” He said.
Trish looked down at herself. “You just gave me new clothes.”
“You need some pants.” He smiled. “And I think your underwear needs replaced. I didn't mean to look, but I couldn’t help it since that was all you were wearing.”
Trish blushed.
“Come on over here.” Tony said as he walked four shelves back.
Trish followed and was surprised to see all the packages of girl’s underwear.
Pick out a new clean dry pair.
Trish looked over all the packages. She slowly looked up at Tony. “I can have a new pair?”
“You can have as many as you want.” He answered.
She picked up a pair and looked them over. The pair she held up had “Monday” written across the bottom.
Tony laughed. “I always thought the panties with the days of the week on them were cute, but since I don’t know what day of the week it is any longer, I can’t tell you what pair to start with.”
Trish almost smiled. “I always liked Wednesday, I’ll take these if it is OK.” She looked at Tony for permission.
“Take whatever you want. Even if I knew what day of the week it was, I’m not going to wear those.” He laughed.
“Follow me.” Tony said and walked back to the girls sweat pants shelf. “Pick out some new pants and shirts.”
Trish looked at the clothes then up at Tony.
“It’s OK. Take whatever you want.”
Trish looked over the clothes then picked up a green pair of pants, looking out the side of her eyes at Tony as she did. Roy would have waited for her to touch the clothes then he would have snatched them out of her hands or kicked her. Tony just smiled as he watched.
While Trish picked out another shirt, Tony went over to the linens and picked up a towel and wash cloth. “If you have all the new clothes you want, follow me.”
Trish cradled her new clothes against her chest and followed Tony. He led her to the front corner of the warehouse where the water buckets sat. He took the small bucket and scooped out a bucket of clean water and sat it on the floor.
He handed her the towel and washcloth. “While I make us something to eat, you can get cleaned up before you put on your new things. Use the little bucket to wash up. The big buckets are for us to drink. Would you like a drink of water?”
“Yes Please.” Trish answered softly.
Tony dipped the Pirate mug in the bucket and handed it to her.
Trish gulped down the water in one long drink.
“If you are still thirsty, you can help yourself to more. I’m going to go heat us up some Spaghetti-O’s while you clean up and change. When you’re done, You can come find me. I’ll be near the back. OK?” Tony asked.
“OK.” Trish replied.
Trish watched as Tony left. After he was gone for a few minutes, she walked over to the corner of the shelves and peeked around the corner of the shelf. She breathed a sigh of relief to see him walking out through the warehouse. Roy would have waited for her to get undressed and then jumped back around the shelf to surprise and humiliate her.
Trish went back over to the water and undressed and began to wash herself. She hadn’t washed more than her face and hands in a long time. Even when they had been near the creek where she had water to wash, she didn’t take a full bath. Roy, Tom and asshole were always lurking around trying to catch her undressed.
It felt good to be clean all over. She had felt dirty and sticky.
She was now fully undressed. She froze when she heard Tony call out her name. She quickly covered herself and began to look around.
He called out her name again, but she relaxed when she realized he was way across the warehouse and wasn’t sneaking up on her.
“There are clean socks over here. I thought you might like some socks too.” He yelled.
“Thank You.” Trish answered.
Ten minutes later Trish walked slowly out from behind the shelves where she had washed up. She saw Tony bent over something at the far end of the building. She cautiously walked towards him. As she got closer, she started to smell something good.
The smell got stronger as she got closer.
Her mind stopped thinking about anything but that smell as she walked.
She had to wipe her chin when saliva began to run from the side of her mouth.
Tony heard the soft sound of footsteps behind him. He turned and smiled at Trish. He turned and said. “Catch.”
Trish was surprised to see him toss her something green.
She caught it and stared. “Green socks.”
“I thought they matched your pants.” He said as he turned back to what he was doing.
Trish held the socks as she walked around Tony and looked down at the steaming pan of food on a small green camping stove.
“Go ahead and put them on.” Tony said. “This will be ready in a few minutes.”
Trish sat on the floor and put on the socks as she watched Tony. The socks felt nice on her feet. She hadn’t had any socks for at least six months. She had a pair once, but Roy sat on her and took her socks. He and Tom were always taking her things. He never gave the socks back. One day she saw Debbie wearing them.
She put her shoes back on and tied the laces. She looked at her legs in the new pants. She saw the socks and the colorful shoes. It felt like she was looking at someone else’s body. It was hard to believe this was her.
“OK. Let’s eat.” Tony called out.
Trish didn’t move. She just sat where she was.
Tony finally looked around. “Over here Trish. You can sit here by me.”
Trish slowly got up and moved closer to Tony. She watched as he dished out a large plate of pasta.
She just stared at the steaming plate. Her stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten in days.
Tony put a fork in the pasta and turned towards Trish and held out the plate.
When she just stared at the plate he said. “Take it, this is yours.”
“I can eat now?” She looked at him questioningly.
“Yes, the food is done and we are going to eat now.” Tony replied.
When Trish didn’t move, he slid over and pushed the plate into her hands. Her eyes got big.
“Is this all for me? I can eat now?” She asked again.
“Why not? Aren’t you hungry?” Tony asked.
“I’m very hungry.” She replied. “But I was never allowed to eat until everyone else was done eating. They gave me what was left over, if there was anything left over.” Trish answered quietly. “Mostly they just pretended to give me food. When I would try to take it, they would pull it back then eat it in front of me.”
“This is all yours and you can have as much as you can eat. I can always heat more if you are still hungry.” Tony replied. “As long as we have all this food, you can always eat as much as you want. When we don’t have as much, then we will split what we have and share.” Tony smiled. He felt bad for Trish. He felt her like her life must have been hell. His family had treated the dog better than those people had treated Trish.
Trish began to eat frantically.
“Slow down.” Tony laughed. “As fast as you are eating, you probably can’t even taste your food. No one is going to take your food and you can have more. Enjoy it.”
Trish watched Tony as she ate more slowly.
“How do your new clothes feel?” Tony asked as he swallowed his food.
“Nice. Thank You.” Trish answered.
Tony wanted to ask her about the other people he had seen. But he wanted to let her get comfortable and enjoy her food before asking her too many questions.
“I almost forgot.” Tony said as he jumped up and ran over to another shelf. He returned a minute later and sat a bottle of cherry juice down in front of Trish. He twisted the top and the bottle made a soft popping sound.
“Before you ask, yes that is all yours and you can drink it now.” Tony laughed.
Trish slowly lifted the bottle and took a small drink. Then she took a big gulp.
Tony laughed as she started to eat again.
When they were done eating, Tony started to gather up the plates. Trish held out her plate towards Tony.
Her eyes got large and her body tensed when Tony’s hand passed by the plate and touched the front of her shirt.
A second later he pulled back his hand. In his fingers he held three round little Spaghetti-O’s.
“Maybe we need to find you a bib?” Tony said as he popped the little pastas into his mouth.
He turned and took the plates and the pan up to the water buckets and dropped them in the small bucket to soak.
Trish looked confused as she looked down at the pasta sauce on her shirt then back at Tony as he walked away.