Once they finished twirling, Ethan carried Chloe over to us. He put her down and practically tackled me. I hugged him back with a laugh, "Careful with the ribs, eh?"
The faint scent of soap clung to him making me self-conscious. I hoped I didn't smell from being trapped in that small car with three other people all day. With his lips at my ear, he whispered to me.
"Thank you. I'll never be able to repay you for keepin' her safe."
He placed my face in his hands and kissed me square on the mouth. I wasn't expecting him to do that as we hadn't even talked about our previous make-out session a month before. I heard some cheers and whistling from the nearby people.
"Eww," Chloe scrunched her face up, but I could tell she was trying to suppress a smile.
"Uh," was all I could come up with when he pulled his face away.
"Markin' ya territory?" the Cajun man said to Ethan.
Ethan just laughed, "Gotta make sure you keep those hands away from her, Byron."
So the Cajun man had a name.
Byron just put his hands up in defeat, "I'd neva, I'm a true gentleman, you."
"And who's this?" Zoe cocked her head towards Roy and his daughter.
Damn Ethan, he threw me off with his welcoming. I unlatched myself from him and walked to Roy, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"This is Roy and his daughter Amanda. They're friends from our previous survivor hideout."
"Hi." Roy nodded and Amanda just stood slightly behind him giving everyone a shy wave.
"Previous survivor hideout?" Zoe questioned.
"Long story."
"We all have one of those," a new voice boomed through the small crowd that had formed.
People parted for the owner of the voice. It was a man with skin as dark as a starless midnight sky, wearing a green polo shirt and kakis. He looked like he belonged in a country club. From the authority in his voice I could only assume this was the Wyatt the other lady had been talking about. I was starting to think I had a problem with authority because I was instantly wary of him. But to be fair, my track record with people in charge had not been bring-home-to-the-parents worthy since this all began or even before that.
It was that teenage instinct that never seemed to go away, the one that told you no one can tell you what to do. I guess I had some more maturing to do; but I knew that already.
"You got that right," Roy stepped forward.
The man walked right up to us and offered his hand, "Welcome to Hargrove my fellow wanderers. I assume Tracy got your names?" His accent was very lightly southern, like he had only moved here instead of being born in the south.
Tracy, the lady who had stopped us when we entered, looked flustered, "I- I didn't get a chance yet, Wyatt."
"That's alright. We can get them now." He placed his hand on her shoulder.
We breezed through another round of introductions as Tracy scribbled down our names in her notebook. I guess it was wise to keep track of all the people coming in and out, but I didn't like the idea of being catalogued. Wyatt must've noticed my scrutinizing gaze because he spoke up.
"We make sure we have everyone's names upon entering to keep organized. This way we have a means of accounting for everyone should something happen."
"Smart," Roy spoke for both of us.
"They can stay with us, Wyatt. No need to assign 'em a new house," Ethan said.
"I had a feeling," Wyatt smiled. "But I don't think there'll be enough beds. These condos are only two bedrooms each. Last thing I want is for someone to have to stay on the floor. Why don't you guys take number twenty-two, it's ready to go."
Ethan made a face.
"I'm stayin' with my brother," Chloe took a stance and then grabbed my hand. "And Bailey."
Wyatt laughed, "I wouldn't dream of splitting you guys up. You can discuss living arrangements amongst yourselves. Just let Tracy know what you decide. Now, why don't you go get settled in and we will see you at supper, hopefully getting to hear that long story of yours."
At that, the crowd dispersed, back to whatever they were doing before we arrived.
"I'm so glad to see you." Zoe gave me another hug.
"You know I don't swing that way, right?" I smirked and she smacked my arm.
"Come on. I'll show you to the house he's talkin' about," Ethan waved us on.
"What about the car? I'm not leaving it here to get scavenged," I pointed out.
"Follow behind me."
By myself, I got back in the Mazda and at a painfully slow pace, followed them to our new condo. Chloe was latched onto Ethan's hand, her mouth going a mile a minute. No doubt he will have heard our entire tale by the time we reached the house. Ethan pointed to our new abode and I drove up the single car driveway. Gold house numbers proved that this was indeed house twenty-two. The cul-de-sac must have at least forty small condos, not including the large clubhouse I saw just inside the entrance.
I got out and looked over the one-story home. It was painted a light blue with white trimmings to match the white picket fence. It looked so... suburban that is was creepy. It definitely looked out of place in an apocalypse. The people in the house to our right ran out to their porch, waving. I gave a stiff wave back. Yep, definitely creepy.
"This is already better than the apartment," Roy whistled.
"And they didn't confiscate my gun like you did," I raised an eyebrow.
Roy laughed, "Hey, I was doing what I had to. You think they'll want to know what weapons we have?"
"I'd bet on it, the way they're cataloguing people at the door," I turned to look Roy in the eye. "Just don't tell them about all we have. Let's keep something to ourselves."
Roy nodded just as Ethan approached us with a big smile on his face.
"I can't believe you're here! We just went back to John's store yesterday to see if you had gotten our present and directions."
"Where is John?" I asked.
"He's still out training some of the volunteers," Zoe answered.
"Training volunteers for what?"
"How to shoot. You'd be surprised how few people can actually handle a gun," Zoe smirked. "Kind of like you before."
"She's gotten way better," Chloe stuck up for me.
"I can vouch for that," Roy added.
"Awe, you guys," I faked like I was tearing up.
"So how are we going to do this?" Zoe asked, a hand on her hip. "All four of us have been staying in number seventeen." She pointed across the street and down.
I didn't want to abandon Roy and Amanda, I wouldn't feel right about that.
"I'll stay here with Roy and Amanda," I offered.
"But, what about me?" Chloe asked, her eyes darting between Ethan and I.
Ethan looked down at her, surprised, "You'll be with me of course."
"But-" Chloe looked up at me.
"I'll be fine, I'm just down the road," I waved of her concern.
It was kind of nice that she was worried about separating from me. Ethan gave me a look like he was realizing this now and looked away guiltily. She removed her hand from Ethan's and ran to me, hugging my middle. I messed up her hair and she shrunk back to pat it back in place.
"Better unload some of our stuff."
We got to work grabbing what we could and walked into the house. The front door was unlocked. According to Ethan, Wyatt had all the keys and claimed that since we couldn't cut new ones, that he would be holding onto the only copies. This seemed like a red flag to me, but then again, I could just be looking for reasons to not trust this place.
The smell of old lady perfume hit me first. The small living room had two overstuffed couches and plenty of cat figurines. And cat blankets and cat pillows; even cat curtains.
"Totally your style," Zoe grinned at me.
I chose to ignore her as I walked further into the apartment. A small kitchen with an island was off to the right of the living area and in the back part were a bathroom and two minuscule bedrooms. The whole floor had to be no more than eight hundred square feet; I'd been in apartments bigger than this.
I dropped my backpack in the master bedroom, if you could even call it that. The only thing different about it was that the room had just enough footage to hold a bed and a dresser, whereas the other one only had enough room for the bed.
"These condos make the cabin look pretty big, huh?" Ethan said from the thin hallway.
"How do you four sleep in this place?" I asked. There were only two queen beds.
"John and I take turns sleepin' on the couch, while Zoe and Darren share the other room," Ethan answered.
I walked back to the living room to raise an eyebrow at Zoe.
"Well no use hiding it now," she sighed. "Yes, Darren and I are 'together'." She used air quotes when she said together.
"Not that I couldn't see that coming a mile away." I copied her words from before when she was talking about Ethan and me.
She shot me a shameless grin.
"So where am I gunna sleep?" Chloe demanded.
"I'm sure I can convince John to permanently take the couch. Might have to bribe him though." Ethan ran his hand through his hair and I grinned. It was surreal being back with my old group.
"Well you better, 'cause I'm not sleepin' on the couch," Chloe cocked out a hip.