*****
Greg waited by the door for Joey as he stripped off his rubber gloves. The hug didn’t surprise him. Greg gripped the rifle making sure the trigger wasn’t squeezed. He had never been one to have any issues with it, but the fact that they had lost Shelman a few months ago because of irresponsible firearm handling leading to him getting shot through the head had made him more conscious of carrying a rifle.
Greg had been one of his instructors since they got back and had never had an issue with Hammond from that day on. He could handle the stress now and made damn sure that nothing ever went wrong when it came to him holding his rifle.
Greg patted Joey on the shoulder, “Okay, before you break me, put me down.”
Joey who couldn’t help himself said, “Well, at least you
are
in the hospital, Greg.”
“You got that right, Joey. How ‘bout we don’t test that out though. I think Lou has enough going on that he doesn’t need any legit wounds to have to deal with on top everything else. I think we have enough blood that we could paint the entire base with it.”
Joey was nodding slowly and Greg could see that it might have gone over his head. He said, “We’ll be able to take out a shit-ton of the Turned when we finally go back out, Joey.”
Joey nodded, “Don’t say shit, Greg, it isn’t nice.”
They passed the boys who had given Joey a hard time in the lunchroom and for the most part had very little issues with since Greg had put a hurt on them. Chris couldn’t help himself sometimes and he whispered just loud enough for Greg and Joey to hear, “Looks like Greg finally brought the ‘tard down for some help.”
Greg looked over and saw Joey’s face go into an immediate sulk. He knew that the kid was emotional, maybe more than the others, but knew that he didn’t like being made fun of either. Greg dropped his pack and rifle on the floor and turned around to head back. Joey tried to grab his arm but missed. He said, “Greg, they aren’t worth it, okay? Come on, I wanna go see Ellie. Today’s her get out of hospital day.”
Greg held up a finger, saying, “It’ll take just one minute, swear to God, Joey.”
Chris saw him coming and tried to get out of the line but it was too late. Greg gripped him by the hoody half lifting half pushing him past the onlookers and into the bathroom. Kicking the door open he threw Chris to the ground and clicked the lock behind him. Greg yelled, “You call him a fucking retard and think you’re funny as shit, don’t you? That kid has more heart in him than ten of you assholes. I told you very clearly what would come about if you and Charlie gave him any more trouble. You can be thankful that you’re in the hospital already.”
Chris pushed up from the ground and said, “I'm not scared of you, Greg. I’ve been training too.”
Chris made the mistake of letting his training give him a false sense of confidence. He ran for Greg gripping him around the waist and slamming the two of them into the door. Greg let out a gasp of air bringing a knee up on impact and caught Chris in the sternum. When Chris started to fall to the ground Greg held him up by the hoody and brought his knee up into his gut. He knew that if he walked out and Chris was a bloody mess that he would get the third degree from Aslin and Clary. He also knew that the boy’s dads were on base, but was unconcerned about any tongue lashings that they would try and put forward.
Greg knelt down uncomfortably close to Chris. Chris tried backing up but Greg took a handful of his hair in one hand lifting his head to whisper in his ear, “You know, Chris, the only reason that I don’t beat the shit out of you, is because of Joey. It doesn’t matter how many times you dumbasses upset him, or call him names that you shouldn’t be using, he just keeps on loving everyone. I wanted to let you know he has been through a lot more than you. Unlike you, God didn’t grant him the gift of parents to watch over him. Which is actually more than most people on the base can say. One day he’s going to realize the piece of shit you are and when he loses his shit on you I’d hate to be in your position because I’ve seen that kid crack a zombie's head open with one single swing of his bat. If I were you, I would pray that you aren’t on the receiving end of it because I'm quite confident there would be little good about that. You got any questions, anything at all that you can’t wrap your little brain around? I'm really not kidding; every time I need to do this it is going to get worse. I mean it, you need to learn or you can be like the others and hit the road. I’m confident that my opinion weighed over yours getting to stay is not going to do very much for you.”
“You wouldn’t do that. I don’t get your infatuation with that kid, he isn’t special; he’s just another kid.”
Greg clicked the door open and looked back at the boy trying to hold his stomach in a way that didn’t hurt. “You realize that kid who you say isn’t special, has saved my life and yours more than once by now? Maybe you shouldn’t take things for granted when you don’t know what you are talking about. I’ll take twenty Joey’s on my side over a hundred of you. You just don’t get it, but I gotta feeling that somehow you’re still going to be one of the survivors long term.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
“That’s pretty simple, Chris. Cowards who choose to stay on base and hide without contributing usually have the best chance of surviving. I mean, when are you going to get hurt dropping your training rifle on your foot? You don’t go anywhere, you haven’t earned the trust and respect to leave, you aren’t on guard duty, and you are a waste of space. But keep it up because as we get less and less supplies those who aren’t workers and necessary to the continuation of our base are going to be on the road.”
Greg opened the door before he could say anything back. When he stepped back out into the hallway Joey was standing there and he looked more than a little concerned. “Greg… Greg, did you do something to him? Is he okay, you didn’t hurt him, did ya?”
“Nothing a day of taking it easy isn’t going to heal on its own, Joey. Don’t worry about it, kids like that can take a beating all day. They have to be able to or they wouldn’t ever survive this.”
Joey picked up Greg’s gear and handed it to him. “Greg you gotta stop hurting people just because they say something dumb. I got thick skin. They don’t hurt my feelings that bad. I've dealt with it for years. I'm special and I know that, it is okay to be special.”
Greg threw on his gear nodding and said, “No, you aren’t special, Joey, you aren’t different. You are just a survivor like me, like Patrick, Clary, and even Chris, but the difference between you and him is you treat every day with the respect that it deserves. You don’t take things for granted and that is just one of the reasons why everyone on this base loves you. You contribute, you fight, and in my book that is better than anything.”
*****
Shaun sat next to Ellie while the two of them were finishing their lunches. Ellie said, “I need to get out of this place, Shaun. I’m seriously going to lose it if I don’t get a day pass. It’s April, the frigid weather is over, and soon we can start doing fires at night and have a little piece of normalcy. But I can’t do any of those things if I don’t get out of here. I mean at some point someone’s going to start asking what I do to get a free ride. I heard the stories from visitors saying how a few people had to leave.”
“They left because they stole and were a waste of space, Ellie. If anyone has any issues with you not contributing while you were healing then they can talk to me. I promise you that there’s nothing you have to worry about. For God sakes we were the ones that knew about the base and did all the shit work trying to get it set up early on. By the time anyone that wasn’t one of our original group, plus the kids from the orphanage, came it was practically already safe and secured. We, unlike them, actually had losses after the start of this. We weren’t hiding like the rest. We were actually, from day two, trying to do something to end this hell.”
Ellie said, “Right, but we only left the cabin because of Patrick.”
“You sure your heads okay? We went right back down that hill once Greg and Kristy told us they were looking for any research that could have been helpful. In all honesty meeting the Seals was probably the best thing that could have happened to us. I mean, we never would have learned anything that we know now. These skills going forward are what keep us alive.”
Ellie watched his intensity in his facial features and knew that he always had a plan and that even while they were talking he was probably thinking of it. “Yeah, well I’m going to need to spend some serious time at the range after this. It’s been awhile since I’ve been behind the trigger of anything. I’m not going back out again until I can handle the gun. I don’t want to put anyone in a predicament where they need to save me because I can’t handle my own gear.”
“You aren’t going anywhere, Ellie, until you can run again. Lou still thinks that you need more time to heal. He said the only reason you are getting released early is because you’ve been okay in all the other checkups. He said you need to take it easy and-”
“Shaun, stop please, I get it, okay? I’ve been sitting here during all these conversations. He warned me, he told me about taking it easy and doing a little at a time. There’s no rush, but like I said if I don’t get out of this little room I’m going to lose my mind. I love you to death, but I need to get out of here and walk around.”
Shaun’s face crinkled up as he tried to hold a smile in but couldn’t manage it. The smile was infectious and Ellie couldn’t help but follow suit. “What are you smiling at, weirdo?”
“You just said that you loved me.”
Ellie never missing an opportunity to throw him off balance. “Yeah, like a brother, or a cousin, stupid.”
Shaun’s face went void of color and he looked at the ground awkwardly, unsure what to say. Ellie actually felt guilty for a second but still let it sink in deep before she reached down gripping his hand and squeezing tight. She said, “Shaun, of course I love you. Jesus after everything we’ve been through together over the last two years I don’t know how I couldn’t be in love with you. You are the reason I’m still alive and that I haven’t lost my shit, Shaun. We’ve had so much happen and through everything, regardless of what is happening, it seems like you just soldier on. I don’t know if you're just hard headed or you have a shell a foot thick, but yeah you can handle anything, and yes I do love you very much.”
Shaun smiled again, his face started to regain the slightest hint of colors as his cheeks began to grow red. “You aren’t screwing with me are you, Ellie?”
She shook her head no and this time he believed her. “You think at some point, Shaun, you could keep up with my advanced sarcasm skills.”
Shaun rubbed his hands through his hair. “It isn’t easy sometimes. You are lucky that you are blessed with good looks.”
“Oh, Mr. Fox, you would love me regardless of how I looked, and you know it.”
Shaun pushed up off his seat leaning in for a much-needed kiss. When he closed his eyes and could feel the beginning of what was going to be a great kiss the unquestionable sound of Greg accompanied by Joey making gagging noises at the door was evident. Greg said, “God, would you slip her the tongue already, Fox. The two of you are going to be dead or old by the time you finally make a move.”
Shaun did as he was told and extended a very prominent middle finger to the two of them. He pushed up off the bed giving her one more kiss on the forehead and said, “I’ll be back later to help you take your stuff to the barracks. We have that meeting with Clary and Aslin. I’m pretty sure that we’re going to finally figure out what we’re going to do going forward.”
“Well, are you going to let me know what they said?”
“Yeah, of course,” Shaun said, “but you know there’s no chance they’re going to let you go anywhere. We need to take people with who are fit and able. I give you a couple months and you are going to be going out with us all the time just like we had been waiting for.”
Shaun grabbed his pack and rifle and Joey squeezed in running over and giving Ellie a quick hug. “I'm really glad you are getting out of here, Ellie. This room is nice and all but I hate hospitals. I asked a couple of the girls if they could make you some cookies. I thought that you might like them.”
Ellie smiled thinking that it would be hard for Joey to be any sweeter than he already was. She sat there awkwardly until it was uncomfortable to sit there any longer without saying anything. “So, what kind of cookies are they, Joey?”
“The best kind there is, Ellie. I had them make chocolate chip cookies. Oh, I love those, they’re so good.”
“So, are you going to give them to me later, or did you bring them with?”
“Oh, I got hungry helping with the blood drive, so I thought I’d just eat one, and then I got a little hungrier….I guess I ate them all. I’ll see if they can make you some new ones. Sorry about that, it’s just that I get so hungry sometimes and there’s no food around and those cookies were saying,
hey, Joey come eat us cookies,
and, Ellie, before I knew it they were gone.”
Ellie patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Joey. I don’t need them. Besides, maybe the next time we go out and get supplies you can make sure to pick some up for me.”
Joey said, “Oh, I'm not going out this time. I wanted to walk patrol with Patrick and the new girl. They get bored if I'm not with them, so I like to go with.”
“New girl?”
Greg cut in and said, “Yeah, her name is Bella and she was in one of the last groups to come, I think, in March. There was a pretty decent sized group hanging at the mall. They were so sick of greasy food that I think they were the first ones to be excited about having some of Aslin’s gruel. She seemed like she knew what she was doing and caught right on during class. After a few weeks Patrick vouched for her and has been showing her the ropes. We need all the fit people we can get to be able to walk the perimeter. Between the dead and those guys out in Johnston, we need to keep our guard up.”