When All is Lost

Chapter 40

"Thank you." Her voice was calm and collected as I listened to the tinkers and thuds from my group dropping their goods as well.

"Hey, Gertie?" Jaquan shivered, hugging himself for warmth as he watched the scene. I almost regretted not giving him better gear. "Can I go inside?"

"Oh goodness, sorry about that. Of course you can." The woman answered, sounding remorseful. "Head on in and I'll catch up with you in a bit."

Jaquan nodded and gave us a wave with a smile as though he hadn't just brought us into a lion's den. He took off like a shot towards the house in the distance, leaving us to deal with the mess on our own.

The woman, who I assumed was Gertie, moved closer to me as one of her gun-wielding friends began to dig through my bag. He pulled out the spare guns and dropped them right by my other weapons. Gertie watched the whole interaction carefully.

"What's your name?" She asked when the man moved on to search another member of my group.

"Kate," I said, sounding more on edge than I would have liked.

"Have any of you been bitten? Anyone sick?"

"Bitten?"

Her brow crinkled at my confusion. "We'll check you over in the barn..." She trailed off as she studied me and my group. "Where did you all come from?"

"Uh, north."

It was as though something dawned on her because her expression morphed into one of understanding.

And pity?

It clicked for me then why she was asking about bites.

Zombies.

She had seen them.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of that but she didn't let me dwell on it long.

Gertie gave me an almost friendly smile. "Is this all of you? Anyone hiding down the road or in the woods off somewhere? It's better to tell us now. We always find them and we don't appreciate surprises."

"No, no one else. We're all here." My heart pounded hard in my chest as she studied me. It felt as though she could see right through me.

"We have no intention of hurting you or robbing you. That's not what we do here. You can relax."

I was completely taken aback by her statement. I wasn't sure what I was expecting her to say, but it wasn't that.

"Do you mind telling me what happened with Jaquan?" She asked. Once again, she didn't give me time to recover and I was beginning to suspect that she was trying to keep me off balance in order to get my authentic reactions.

"Sure. We found him stripped and robbed... or actually, I guess he found us. He approached us asking for help and we helped him."

"You gave him clothes?"

"Yeah," I answered, trying to get a read on her reactions as well, but she gave nothing away. "He also asked for our help getting here."

Gertie looked almost amused by my statement. "And what did he offer you in return? Some goods? Maybe to stay the night?"

I blanched. "Um, yeah. He did."

Her smile widened as she moved a little closer to me. "And let me guess, you were hoping to sweeten the pot? Maybe get a little something extra?" Her voice was barely above a whisper but it sent ice right through my veins.

I couldn't have responded even if I wanted to.

Gertie chuckled. "This isn't my first rodeo. You all pass through here thinking the same thing. But, I'll promise you this – nothing you can think of hasn't already been tried and we don't take kindly to thieves. So, don't think of pulling anything funny. Alright? If you're fine with that then we'd be happy to discuss giving you a little something for helping Jaquan. And as long as you're all clean of bites, you can stay the night." She looked up at the darkening sky and frowned. "Not that you have much choice. Looks like bad weather is moving in."