Glory (Book 3) (18 page)

Chapter 6

Adam woke up. He had fallen asleep, even though he hadn't planned on it. He hadn't even known that he had been tired. Except as soon as he closed his eyes, he had drifted off.

Now, he had heard a noise and was sure that it had come from the kitchen.

His eyes searched around. The place was nearly dark. Claire had fallen asleep on a chair near the window. Shelly's head was still on his lap.

Adam heard the noise again and felt a rush of panic run through him.

He lifted Shelly's head up so that he could get out from under her. Slowly. Softly. He didn't want to wake her. Then he got up and placed her head back down. He walked to the kitchen.

He approached it cautiously. He had been through so much in the past week, seen so many horrible things. He never knew when thos
e
thing
s
were going to show up. And some of the people that he had met weren't all that much better.

He came to the entrance to the kitchen. Standing in front of him was a man, his back faced toward him.

Adam felt another surge of panic.

"Who are you?" he asked forcefully.

The man turned around. His face was familiar. The clothing wa
s
no
t
. "It's Woody, my friend. That's all."

Woody wasn't wearing the dress and sun hat anymore. He was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt. It took Adam by surprise. He had come to see Woody dressed as a woman. Not like this.

"Woody? Sorry about that. I…well…"

"Expected me in my dress?"

That was exactly what Adam had been thinking, though he wasn't about to say so.

Woody didn't seem to mind. He pointed toward the kitchen table. "Sit down. Let's have a drink."

Adam sat at the kitchen table. Woody walked over to it, the bottle of vodka in his hand
.
Tha
t
, at least, looked like Woody. He placed two small shot glasses onto the table and filled them up. Woody picked one of them up and motioned for Adam to take the other one.

Adam looked down at it. He wasn't much of a drinker. Even back i
n
the old worl
d
he hadn't liked to drink. It just didn't make him feel good. But it was obvious that Woody really wanted him to join him. He owed the man at least that much.

He had saved their lives, after all.

Adam picked up the shot glass. "Cheers," he said.

Woody smiled, then swallowed the drink.

Adam took the drink in one shot as well. He wasn't used to the burn. It seared his throat and caused him to cough.

Woody loved that. He slapped his hand down on the table. "One more?"

"Why not?"

Adam finished his drink. And that was enough. He was already starting to fee
l
war
m
. His head was getting a bit fuzzy too.

Woody refilled his own glass and went to pour Adam another one. Adam covered it with his hand.

"You sure?" Woody asked.

"Positive."

Woody nodded his head and drank his third glass. When he finished, he filled his glass yet again. Before he drank it, he spoke. "You don't have to be worried here."

"I'm not worried." Adam knew that his voice wasn't convincing.

"And you guys can stay as long as you'd like."

"I was thinking we might leave in the morning."

"In the morning?" Woody sounded shocked. Maybe even a little hurt. "Where are you going to go? What are you going to do?"

"We'll leave this town," Adam explained, "and look for more survivors."

"Survivors?"

"People like us."

Woody thought about this over another drink. And another.

"You're welcome to come with us," Adam offered. He hadn't known that he had been going to say that until the words came out of his mouth. He still wasn't all that comfortable around Woody. But he was one of them
,a
survivo
r
. Not like Sam or Big Mike. As Shelly had said, Woody was just sad. That might be all there was to it.

"Come with you?" He took another drink.

"Sure. We don't know where we're going, but there have to be other people out there. We'll keep walking until we find them."

"I'll need to think about it." One more drink.

"Of course."

They sat there in silence afterward, until Woody finished the bottle. Then Woody stood up.

"Back to bed," he said.

Adam watched him leave.

*

Adam walked back into the living room. He made his way over to the window and looked outside.

The stars and moon shone brightly overhead. He could see the usual dead bodies on the ground. And the blood underneath them. There were a few car wrecks too.

Luckily, the creatures were nowhere to be seen.

He walked to the sofa and sat on it. Claire and Shelly were still sleeping.

He lifted the young girl's head and placed it back onto his lap. He pushed away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face.

Then he closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep.

Day 12

Chapter 1

Adam couldn't believe that he had slept the whole night. He shook Shelly's shoulder. The young girl stirred. He got up and walked over to Claire and patted her knee.

"Good morning," he said to both of them.

"Is it morning all ready?" Shelly asked. "How long did we sleep?"

"I have no idea," Adam admitted. "But the sun is up already."

Woody wasn't. And they didn't want to go in and wake him. This was his house and they were his guests.

"What should we do?" Claire asked. "Should we just sit here?"

"I think we can get something to eat," Adam said. "Woody had a lot to drink last night. He might not be up for a while."

Claire and Shelly exchanged looks.

"You saw him last night?" Shelly asked.

Adam nodded his head. "I woke up. He was in the kitchen. He finished off a bottle of vodka."

"What did you two talk about?"

"Not much. I told him that we'd probably leave this morning."

"This morning? Do we have to go so soon?"

"It doesn't make any sense to stay here," Adam explained. "We need to find others. And I don't know how much we can trust Woody. I don't think that he's a bad guy. But he's reckless. He's
…
off
.
"

At that, Adam remembered that he had asked the man to join them when they left. Now, he wasn't all that sure that he should have.

"He's just sad," Shelly countered.

Though there was some truth to it, Adam didn't know if it was enough to risk their safety. He decided not to pursue it at the moment. "We can talk about it later. Let's get something to eat first."

Shelly didn't argue. She followed him into the kitchen. Claire behind them.

*

Although they were quiet, Woody woke anyway. He opened his bedroom door and walked into the kitchen.

"Hello there!" he said.

He was in his pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt. Shelly and Claire were just as surprised as Adam had been to see him like this.

"How are you feeling?" Adam asked. With all that he had had to drink, he knew that he should be feeling pretty bad about now. "Have a good sleep?"

"It was fine," Woody responded. "Though I am a little thirsty."

"Want some water?" Shelly held up a bottle for him.

He shook his head. "No, thank you. I need something a little stronger."

Adam wanted to protest. He didn't think that it was a good idea for Woody to keep drinking. Not with thos
e
thing
s
around. He needed to be strong. Alert. But he didn't say anything. He watched Woody walk over to the cabinet and pull out another bottle.

"How many more you got in there?" he asked. His tone was a little more accusatory than he had wanted.

Woody seemed not to notice. "Enough. How did you all sleep?"

"Good," Shelly replied. Claire nodded her head in agreement.

That seemed to make Woody happy. He walked over to the table with his new bottle of alcohol
.
Ru
m
, Adam read on the bottle
.
This guy wasn't choosey
.
He opened the top and took a big sip. Then, just like last night, he offered the others a drink. Everyone refused.

"More for me," Woody said. He took another big sip. When he finished, he placed the bottle on to the table and looked at the others. "So, what have you decided to do?"

Shelly looked to Adam. He had said that they were going to leave, but he hadn't said any more than that.

"Like I told you last night," Adam said, "we're going to look for more people. More survivors. We might even find somewhere where there are answers to what happened. At least, protection."

"Sounds wonderful," Woody said. "I wish you luck."

At this, Shelly put down her food, surprised by Woody's words. "You wish us luck? Aren't you coming with us?"

Woody turned to her. "I'm sorry, but this is my home."

"You said you hated it yesterday," Adam interjected.

Woody ignored his comment. "This is my home," he repeated, "and I'm not going to leave it."

"You're not going to leave it?" Shelly continued. "But you can't survive here. Not on your own."

Woody smiled, but didn't reply straight away. "Well…I'm going to wait," he said finally.

"For what?"

"For my wife."

Shelly opened her mouth, but couldn't speak.

Claire did for her. "You said that she changed in to one o
f
the
m
. She won't come back."

"Sh
e
di
d
change. But she might change back. And if she does I want to be here for her."

Now, Claire had nothing more to say.

Even Adam was speechless on the subject. He didn't think that it was likely that Woody's wife was going to change back and come home to him. But he could hear the hope in the man's voice. He felt sorry for him.

"Come with us," Adam said. Like Shelly had said, he was just sad. He needed comfort. He needed their help.

"No," Woody responded. "I have to wait for her."

"What if she doesn't come back?"

Woody looked at Adam. And, in that instant, Adam knew that the man didn't really believe that his wife was going to return. It was just a faint hope. One that he padded with alcohol. One that might not come to pass before he drank himself to death. And Adam knew that Woody was okay with that.

Woody took another sip from his bottle. And another one. Then he placed the bottle on the table and stood up.

"I want you girls to come with me," he said. He looked at Adam. "You might as well too."

Hesitantly, they followed Woody into his bedroom. It was a mess. The bed hadn't been made. There were clothes on the ground. His drawers were wide open, clothes hung out of them. He led them to a closet.

"I don't think that you should go back to the department store," he said. "Thos
e
thing
s
might be hanging around. It's better if you take some of these. They were my wife's." He pointed at the clothes inside it.

"But you said..." Shelly started.

"Yeah, I know I said that I'm waiting for her to come back," Woody interrupted her. "I can deal with that when it happens." Woody reached in and grabbed out a few things. "I just don't think you should be going back to that store." He handed them to her.

Claire took some also, though she didn't look comfortable about it.

Adam remembered her saying something about wantin
g
ne
w
clothes. She didn't want to wear clothes that belonged to someone who had changed. Nor did she want to wear something that belonged to someone who might be dead.

"I think I know how you feel about this," Woody said, staring directly at her. "But my wife was beautiful. Everyone loved her. She was a good person. Just think of that when you wear them."

Woody looked about to cry. But, before he did, he raised the bottle back to his mouth.

Claire didn't spend much more time thinking about it. She held out the clothes that she was offered so that she could get a better look and thanked him for them.

"You're welcome," he replied.

Shelly and Claire turned back to the closet. Adam chose a few things too. He felt strange about it since they were Woody's and the man was still here.

"But I don't plan on wearing them," Woody assured him. "At least not all of them. And I'll be able to find some new things if I want. You can use this too." He threw Adam a small backpack.

Adam took the clothes and put them into the bag. There wasn't any room in his bag of guns. Claire and Shelly put their clothes in it as well.

When they were finished, they walked out into the living room. They had on their new clothes and had been fed.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Adam asked.

"I'm positive." Woody led them to the front door.

It didn't feel right leaving him, but Adam knew that the man didn't want to come. He pointed to his bag of guns. "Will you take one of those? As payment."

"I don't need payment. And I don't need one o
f
thos
e
."

Adam knew what the man meant. He mean
t
if they come, then they can take m
e
.

They went downstairs.

Woody opened the door. He stuck his head out and looked around. "Coast is clear." He stood back to let the three leave. Shelly reached out and hugged him as she did.

"Come with us," she said.

Woody patted her on the head. "I'll be fine. And if things ever get back to normal, then you'll have to come back for a visit."

Shelly hugged him again.

As the three walked outside, Woody stood in the doorway.

"Now, you wanna take this road right out of town." Woody held up his rum bottle to show them where to go.

"Thank you," Adam said. He wanted to ask Woody once more to come with them. Maybe eve
n
mak
e
him come. But, deep down, he knew that the man wasn't going to leave.

"My pleasure."

Adam, Shelly and Claire turned away from Woody and started to walk away.

*

Before he walked out of sight of Woody's house, Adam turned to look at it. He could see the man standing in his living room window. He was back to wearing the white sun hat.

Adam waved. Woody raised his bottle.