What Walks Among Us (book one)

Vermin

Inside I made my way over to Beck and explained what Sam wanted us to do, then both of us ducked out of the tent and I followed his lead down the sidewalk. The silence between us was light and comfortable. Both of us lost in our own thoughts.

It wasn't until we were walking up to the gym that I brought my attention back to the present, "Are we getting Cody first?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I figured we might as well just in case he says yes and I end up forgetting some sort of ingredient, which is highly probable," he said, smiling down at me, "Why?"

I shrugged, "No real reason I just didn't realize that we were asking Cody first," I replied, and then stepped inside the gym.

Cody saw us walk in, and excused himself out of a conversation with Michael, Adam, and Benjamin.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he said, and then stood up a little straighter, "Something wrong?" his light blue eyes went from Beck to me and then stayed there.

I shook my head, "No we just wanted to know if you would just absolutely hate helping us make chicken noodle soup?" I asked, and threw in a last minute pouty lip for maximum effect.

"Well damn," Cody said sarcastically, "I was going to just say you had to let me be the taste tester, but how am I supposed to even try to strike up a deal with that face? Alright, you pulled on my leg hard enough, I guess," he said and sighed as if it was a ton of effort.

I smiled and Beck chuckled, "You're too weak, you know that?" Beck said, going along with Cody's little game as we walked down the sidewalk and headed in the direction of the bell tower.

The boys bickered as we walked down the street and I, being too distracted by the scenery, didn't contribute much to the conversation. As we neared the church with the bell tower I began to take more notice of my surroundings. If I were to live here, as I have been for a while now, I'd need to fully know how to get around without someone guiding me.

"Guys?" I asked, interrupting whatever Cody had been saying.

He didn't look very upset about it though because he redirected his attention to focus on me, a slight smile on his lips, "Yeah Kodi?" he asked politely.

"Do we keep the food in the church?" I asked, frowning.

Beck looked over at the church, which was no more than a half a block ahead of us now. Its paint was a little faded and it looked as if it could use some repairs here and there, but overall it was in great condition.

"Nah, some of the folks who live here are really religious, and to deny them their rights of using a church for what it's intended for would just be rude. We do however, keep it in the little side building that is connected to the church. No use in letting the building go to waste, besides, there's freezers and a kitchen and stuff in there," he explained, running his hand over his chest and brushing off some nonexistent dirt.

The building that seemed to be attached to the church was just a small square of a building. Perhaps it had at one point merely been as we were using it now, food storage. But instead of just being for the church, it's now used to feed an entire little town.

"Oh," I said, and watched as Cody stepped forward to open the door, but he didn't have to turn the handle, because the door was already open.

It wasn't wide open, but enough so that when you got up to it, you noticed it wasn't properly latched. Beside me Beck tensed up and reached out, his hand enveloping mine. The movement was so unexpected that I jumped a little bit, and when I looked up at him, he was smiling despite the situation, but then he shook himself slightly and his face became a mask of worry and suspicion.

"That's not right," he said, "No one would have left it open, especially given that animals could get in."

Cody glanced back at the pair of us, his eyes landed briefly on Beck's hand, which was still wrapped securely around my own, and his jaw flexed a bit before he looked at Beck's face, "let's hope not," he said, his voice a grumble.

He turned back to the door, and using his shoulder to open it, walked inside. I went to follow, but Beck stayed put and gently tugged my hand, pulling me back. Inside of the building, Cody swore, and I had to hold myself from lunging in. After a few seconds of silence, that was filled with only the distant laughter of some people down the road, Cody poked his head out the door, looking grim.

"You two'd better come in, might as well see the damage," he said, and then disappeared back inside.

I stepped forward, making my hand slack so that if Beck wanted, he could let go. Beck only tightened his grip, and I had to fight back the smile that wanted to surface because of it.

The urge to smile didn't last long as I stepped further into the building, which had no decorations, and saw what used to be an impressive stash of non perishable foods. I could imagine how the rice had once been in neat stacks according to kind, and how the oils and pickled foods had been in order as well. How the bags upon bags of flour must have sat on some of the shelvings, and most importantly, how it had all been intact.

But now, oil was dumped all over almost everything, a gallon or two had been spilled all over the rice that had somehow made its way from the bags, onto the floor. The flour, coated just about every surface, and there were pickles, and peppers, along with glass strewn about the floor. Some canned jelly was smeared on a wall, while the half tampered with jars lay uselessly on the floor.

Someone gasped, and next to me Beck swore under his breath. Cody, for his part, put his hands on his hips.

"Seems we've got a rat problem," he said, sounding one step shy of irate.

Beck scoffed, "I reckon whoever did this is in fact nothing but vermin," he seethed.

I for once, knew to keep my mouth closed, as all that could come to my mind was to mention that at one time I had had a rat, and she was rather nice, even if I had named her Bob.