They Call Me Daring

Chapter 40

"You really think this'll work?" I muttered out of the corner of my mouth as we joined the thickening line leading to the doors of the Hannaford.
"I guess we'll find out." She answered.
Self-consciously, I pulled my black hood down further. My hair might be short, my eyes might be green... but my skin was still icily, freakishly pale. Hopefully the lack of bright lights and my hoody would take attention away from that.
"Hold it-" My heart stopped for a moment, and I looked down at the ground while Meg talked with the man guarding the doors. I wasn't afraid of him. I was afraid he would blow my cover and I wouldn't find out anything.
"I'm meeting my mom here." Meg explained sweetly. I still looked down, watching his shadow. He crossed his arms.
"Who's your friend?"
"Oh, he's, um," She stammered, and I crossed my fingers in my pockets. She was losing it, she was gonna blow my cover- "He's just a friend from school, you know. He's staying in the mansion too." She added conversationally. "He wants to join us, you know. Old rivalry with the Trackersons." She said convincingly. "Personally, I think Liam's just a hot-headed-" with every word she stamped on my foot. "cold-hearted, arrogant jerk-face!"
I looked up just enough to see the man's face. He raised an eyebrow at her as she grinned innocently up. After a suspenseful moment of careful scrutinization, he shrugged and waved us in.
"Cold-hearted, eh?" I muttered under my breath once we were through the doors. She half-smiled.
She nudged me as we joined the thin flow of people. "There's my Mom." She pointed to a corner of the room, behind one of the cash-registers, where Maggie looked to be in deep discussion with-
I swore. The cruel bald headed man with a mean face shook his head at Maggie, evidently disagreeing. His gaze swept over the room- and he locked my eyes, for just a fraction of a second. I looked away quickly, but I knew it was too late. He'd seen me and maybe Meg too, and there he was, already making his way towards us. I could only hope he hadn't recognized me.
"Meg..." He greeted her while she was trying to find seats. She turned, surprised. I saw the more than displeased look on his face, almost a grimace. Maggie emerged from behind him.
"We can trust Meg." She glared at him convincingly, then rushed forward to greet her daughter. They embraced, spinning so Meg was looking at me over her mother's shoulder. She mouthed something to me, but I didn't catch it- too late, anyway. The bald-headed man- Bill, was his name- who'd tried to shoot Clark turned on me and grabbed my shoulder in an iron grasp before I could back away.
"Who's this?" He demanded of Meg, lips pulled back in an ugly snarl to reveal rotting teeth.
"Just a friend!" She protested, pulling out of her mother's arms. "We can trust him!"
"Who is it, though?" He growled in my face, and I bowed my head further so the full blast of the light wouldn't hit my face. He swiped for my hood.
"No-" Meg began, but, too late- he had already whipped it off. I blinked in surprise, too stunned to look down, and stared him blankly back in his piggy face like an idiot.
Bill frowned in surprise, squinting closely at my features. I tried to focus on keeping calm, but I could actually feel my heart beating faster as I began to panic. I froze up, watching his face for any spark of recognition-
He shrugged, looking mildly confused.
"Never... never seen you before." He murmured disappointedly, turning away, embarrassed. Score one for team Liam.
"See? I wouldn't h-hide anything from you." Meg said, totally honestly. I could smell the fear on her. Literally, which is a bit creepy.
"I know you wouldn't, dear." Maggie grinned proudly at her daughter, and she smiled weakly back. We turned away from her and made our way through the small group to a cleared area where lawn chairs and loungers were arranged in a kind of egg-shape. Meg caught my gaze and shook her slightly, trying to tell me she was okay. But she wasn't.
We took seats at the furthest corner, the darkest one, where the single row of lit electric lights wouldn't hit my face. Nonetheless, I pulled my hood back up over my face. I probably looked pretty cool, like an assassin just waiting to strike from the shadows-
"You don't look cool. Stop thinking it." Meg muttered to me out of the corner of her mouth, and I pouted.
"I would like a second opinion on that." I murmured back under my breath. Out of the corner of my eye, she opened her mouth to respond, but then silence fell abruptly over the softly murmuring crowd.
I looked up slightly, enough to keep my face in shadow, and saw the bald piggish man in the center. Quickly my gaze flickered over those around the circle. Faces that seemed vaguely familiar, but nobody I knew well. Except Maggie. And of course Meg. There were maybe twenty of them in all, which was a relief. Not enough to be a threat. But if I was ever going to gain their trust, I needed them all to believe me.
"Thank you for coming tonight." Bill said. "We've called you here to discuss an important matter- the issue of Liam Trackerson."
There were boos around the circle. I resisted the urge to leap up and knock Bill over.
"Yes. A young man who was bitten, and lied to us all. A traitor, who refused to turn himself in for the greater good." Bill sighed as if in remorse. As if. I knew he was just mad about me dealing him the knockdown.
"Liam, he stood up in front of us all, masked and unidentified, and told us we should all group together. He said this would somehow protect us." Bill shook his head to more boos. "The second apocalypse is coming, when we should be more aware than ever of those among us who have become infected. They are a danger to us all." He grimaced. "And yet, this boy, Liam, says he has somehow 'cured' himself." He made air quotes with his fingers. "He tells us he isn't dangerous, that he can 'control himself'... well, Mr. Montagner, would you like to step forward and give us proof?"
There was a gasp from the audience, and I looked up curiously as a man on crutches stepped forward, his face blackened and bruised. I squinted, trying to make out his face better. He seemed roughly familiar... Then I realized when I had last seen him, I had been trying to eat him.
"Liam... the boy... he brutally attacked me..." He dripped, painfully slow, his speech slurred. "Came out of nowhere... his eyes... they were red... I saw-" He coughed. "I saw my life... flash before my eyes, and I knew... I knew he was no human... he wanted to-to kill me..."
"Thank you, Mr. Montagner." Bill nodded 'respectfully', at the crippled man. I was biting my cheek, hating myself. How could I have done something that terrible? "This man was mutilated by none other than Liam Trackerson the day of his unmasking. And yet, the boy has been released of all charges, and now our lives are in his hands!" He cried in faked outrage, and the audience moaned. I rolled my eyes at Meg, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
"And now... now Liam has proposed we bomb the entire city, ourselves included," He paused to allow more cries of indignation. "Supposedly with some 'cure' that won't harm us." Bill rolled his eyes. "But are we really going to believe this?"
Shouts of "NO!" echoed through the room. From everyone except me and Meg.
"That's right! He may be too clever to be a zombie, but one thing is for sure, he isn't as human as he says he is!" Bill hollered. "No, Liam is a zombie with a human mind, and he's using us, and our trust, to overthrow us and feed us on a platter to his little zombie buddies!" He finished, wiping a nonexistent tear from his cheek in phony passion. The audience moaned in sympathy.
I glanced at Meg, an eyebrow raised, but she was biting her lip, watching her mother. If I revealed myself, she would get the blame as well... her mother would never forgive her for betraying her trust... But I had to... didn't I?
"But we won't fall for it like the rest of them, will we? No! We know what his tricky little mind is up to!" Bill said knowingly. "And that is why, day after tomorrow at dawn, when they plan to launch the bomb, we will be waiting for them, and this morning we will sneak into the Trackerson Mansion and euthanize Liam while he's sleeping-" I glanced at Meg in exasperation. "And drag the body away! We can display it for everyone to see, for them to realize that no hero is immortal! We will foil his evil plans! We will be the saviors of humanity!" He cried. I grimaced at the vivid images this summoned in my mind. These people were sick.
Cheers rose up passionately from around the room. I fidgeted in my seat, growing impatient at their foolishness. My heart sped up, and I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming breath. I needed my eyes to stay green. At least for another minute.
"So, who will join me tonight to capture this wild beast?" Bill cried. More cheering. I began to rise from my chair, preparing to whip my hood off an reveal myself, take care of it all then and there- but I felt Meg's gentle touch on my arm. I glanced down at her. She shook her head slightly, silently pleading, looking nervously at her mother. She may not've agreed with the program, but she wasn't ready to betray her own mother. Or at least reveal she had betrayed her. I nodded to her grudgingly and took my seat again, albeit reluctantly.
"We leave in half an hour!" Bill cried, moving from his center-stage position as everybody rose and the excited chatter began to grow. Me and Meg got up, and I bent and whispered to her quickly.
"I've gotta run."
"Okay-wait," She looked up strangely at me. "What're you going to do?"
I grinned.
"You'll see."