Chapter 48
Last night was the only moment I got to relax. I was so worked up by, ya know, seeing a dead body that I couldn't think straight. The few hours of sleep I got were blissful and desperately needed. But on the other hand, it took me forever to fall asleep. My mind kept racing about Naomi and her friend. I had all these questions piling up in my head.
What's the motive? Are we next? If Jaw knew about the murders then why did he let Naomi back in Moen?
I need to know the answers, but this morning wasn't the right time to ask. I wanted to talk to Naomi in private about her being the murder. I know, bad idea. Going alone into a secluded area with someone that could end your life isn't smart. But I feel like she wouldn't fess up with people around and their ears wide open.
Obviously the villagers don't know who the murder is. Why would they let her back in and not throw a fit if she did kill people? Jaw must have kept it from everyone. But why? Is it because she's his daughter? Probably, but I need to find out the truth.
I know this isn't my place and I'm probably going to get into things I'm not supposed to, but I can't let Brianna be in a place that could potentially kill her. I need to look out for her, and everyone else.
I don't want to stay here if we're all next on the hit list. It's not safe, and I don't want to be taking their medical supplies either. More reason to kill us. You can't heal us if we're dead.
Naomi was her usual cocky and annoying self this morning when I met up with her; at nine not seven like yesterday. Again, she made me do chores while she ran off and did whatever Naomi does. I was stuck going through the clothes that the supply runners brought back, and sorting them into piles of different sizes. That took a good two and a half hours. After that I helped cook again. I don't know why they needed me, there were a bunch of people sitting around doing nothing. I was supposed to do that until after supper was finished, but I decided to leave early and check up on Brianna. Naomi probably won't find out I left early, and if she does she can't do anything about it.
The afternoon air feels great on my skin. I was sweating earlier from being near the cooking fires for so long, so the breeze feels nice. The sun is setting like it does everyday, casting rays through the corn walls. Overall, it was a decent day. I kept busy, and didn't let my mind wonder into thinking about that poor person who died yesterday.
But it didn't last long when I heard some gossip while working in the cafeteria tent. The poor person killed was named Cathy. From what I overheard, she was injured and stuck in the infirmary for spraining her ankle. That's probably why she was targeted, because she couldn't defend herself properly. But why would Naomi kill a random woman that was in her late thirties? I have no clue, it doesn't make sense.
It seems like the infirmary tent is a target for the killer. It makes sense. Attack victims that can't fight back. It wouldn't be any work for the killer, just walk in and decide which person's turn it is to die. I just don't understand what the motive would be. Does Naomi like to kill people for fun?
I lightly push through the crowd, and try to avoid everyone who's waiting for their share of supper. I make sure not too look up at their faces, knowing all I will see is disgust. If only they knew I wasn't the threat, and the threat was someone they trusted. I honestly don't know how they would react, but I do know that a huge weight would be lifted off my shoulders.
Once I'm away from all the wandering eyes, I walk up to the crafts tent next to the main bonfire. This tent is mostly made up of old ladies who have nothing else to do but make things for other people. They knit clothes, blankets, and honestly whatever can can't come up with. I've even heard of them making a couple toys for the kids here.
The tent is a navy blue, and its inclosed on all sides. The flaps that close the tent are tied to the poles, showing the array of old bodies huddled around a table. I walk up cautiously, knowing that any loud sound could startle the fragile beings.
I clear my throat. "Um, excuse me?"
The tent is full of chatter, none of it acknowledging me in any way.
"Hello?" I say again, leaving on the pole holding up one side of the tent.
I see a head pop up from under the table. "Summer?" I hear Brianna say.
I smile as she shimmies her way around the chairs and baskets of yarn on the ground. "What's up? Sorry about them, they can't hear very well." She asks, saying it loud enough to be heard over everyone. Her chocolate brown hair is tied up, with a few pieces of hair falling around her face. She's wearing a navy blue tank top, and the cargo shorts I found a couple days ago. She still has those pieces of duct tape wrapped around the wounds where the implants were. She should really take them off, people might think she's crazy.
"Just wanted to see how you're doing. Whatcha been up too?"
"Nothing much, just kitting like everyone else here. Well, trying too. I'm not really getting a hang of it. Pam has been trying to teach me since my first day." She says pointing to a frail lady in the corner. Her hair is gray and curling all together around her, she's wearing a floral shirt with a light pink cardigan, and small circle glasses frame her face. She looks like your typical grandma.
"They treating you okay?" I ask.
"Yeah they're fine. It just gets boring. All the talk about is gossip. Half the time I have no clue what there's saying." She chuckles.
"Did you hear about what happened yesterday?" I ask giving a saddened look.
"Yeah, it's sad." She frowns.
"I need to keep you safe. So if you see anything weird or if something seems off, you tell me okay? Oh, and stay away from Naomi."
She clenches her eyebrows. "Why?"
"She's dangerous, just stay away."
"Aren't you working with her? Shouldn't it be you who should stay away?" She points at me jokingly.
I grab her wrist and pull her out of the tent. "It's not a joke Bri, please? For me?"
She sighs and nods her head. "She was kind of mean anyways."
I laugh a little, knowing all too well what she's talking about.
"So, you still don't remember anything huh?" I say and tap her temple with my finger.
"No not really. I'm getting flashbacks of small things. For some reason I can't get a orange cat out of my head. I know Wilbur's black so it wouldn't be him."
My heart breaks. She's remembering the cat that killed Mom. Out of all things, why does she have to remember that?
"Oh and a huge light that's hanging above me." She adds.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"It is a huge fluorescent light, maybe on the ceiling of some room? I keep having dreams about it. I'm laying down on some weird table, and that light is the only thing I can see. I'm always scared in this dream, but there's nothing there so I don't know why I would be."
"Bri, is that all you see? I think you might be remembering the compound you were taken to."
"Uh, yeah that's all I remember." She shrugs her shoulders.
"Will you tell me if you remember anything else?" I ask.
"Of course, you're my sister right?" She laughs.
"Right." I smile. "So what about... your powers?" I say hushed.
"Powers?" She asks confused.
"You know, being able to heal yourself?" I ask.
"Oh, well I haven't really hurt myself so I don't know."
"Okay, keep me updated on that too. I'll see you after curfew, I'm going to go check up on Robbie. I haven't seen him since we got here and I feel bad." I say.
She nods and shuffles back towards her seat by her kiting teacher Pam. "See ya!"
The last person I want to see right now is Robbie. Well actually it's Naomi but that's besides the point. I need to ask Robbie some questions. Cathy was in the infirmary before she was killed, so he must have saw something. Maybe he saw Naomi walking around, or talking to people, or stalking her next victim.
Seeing Robbie is going to be hard. I know he's sick and needs help, but that doesn't mean he never did what he did. He still hurt me, and he still can. Maybe not physically, but definitely mentally and emotionally. It's probably not a good idea, but I need more evidence like Cameron advised. Speaking of him, I know for a fact that he would be one hundred percent against me going to see Robbie, but I need too. If it can help me catch her red handed, then it's worth it.
The last thing I need is for my group to get accused of murder. I know that would probably end very badly. Jaw did say that the person who did this would be killed, and I wouldn't doubt that he would kill every single one of us. He just seems like that kind of guy. I'm the only one out of my group that can figure this out. Everyone else is busy. Layke and Scooter are stuck building cabins all day and Cameron's not in Moen most of the time, so I'm the group's only hope.
...
The infirmary gave me the heebie jeebies. It was consisted of people who were hurt, dying, or already dead. I hated seeing blood, and that's all I'm seeing. There's many beds that line the plastic walls of the tent. Many of the beds are covered in blankets, that are soaked in blood. There are a few nurses walking around, well from what I can tell they're nurses. They don't have on any special uniforms but they are helping the patients. So that's what I can assume. They're cleaning wounds and giving medications, as well as delivering food.
I walk down the aisle that separates the two rows of beds. I look for Robbie's signature long hair, and it doesn't take too long for me to find him. He's at the end of the row, getting helped by a nurse. I walk up slowly to wait for the nurse to leave. Once Robbie lays back down onto his bed, I approach him.
"Hey." I say with a half hearted smile.
He looks up surprised. "What are you doing here?" His expression makes him look like he's happy to see me, which could be a bad thing or a good thing.
"Just wanted to check up on you. How are you feeling?" I ask.
Honestly I already know the answer. He looks horrible. His skin is pale and wet, like he has a fever and is freezing all at the same time. The flannel he's wearing isn't all the way buttoned up, so it exposes his chest which is completely wrapped up in gauze. His hair looks like it hasn't been washed in days. And by the looks of it, he hasn't changed his clothes since before we left that fancy neighborhood.
"Like shit." He lightly laughs.
I sit down on the bed next to him. "How are they treating you? Are you getting enough meds like they promised?"
"I'm sure I'm getting as much as they can give me. I've been in here for two and a half days and my wounds have only healed a bit. But I'm not complaining, I'd rather be in here then out there."
I give him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"
Is he referring to the murder? If he thinks this tent is safe from being attacked then he has it coming. This tent is the last place anyone should be.
"Well we're pretty safe here in Moen. The infected can't get through the corn so it's a good place to be. At least I know the rest of my family is safe." He sighs. He's probably thinking about Phoebe and Daniel. I know he feels guilty for their deaths, but don't we all?
"Not entirely." I say. "Did you hear what happened yesterday?"
"Yeah I've heard, but not all the details."
I scoot closer and make sure my voice is a whisper. "The person who was killed was a woman named Cathy. The last place she was seen was in this tent, so the killer took her from here."
His eyes grow wide, probably not from fear but from curiosity. Robbie isn't the type to get scared very easily. I mean, I've known him a little over a week and that's what I've noticed. But then again, he's lost people he loves and knowing a killer is making the infirmary a target could worry him. He doesn't want to hurt Layke and Scooter more than they already are if he's the next victim.
I can tell he's already scared of leaving his family, and getting killed would be the last way he would want to be put down. If he died from his injuries it would be different. But loosing the battle because of someone else, in a world full of infected, is pathetic. There are so many other things that would be more of an 'honorable' death then getting killed by another person. Like saving your family and taking a bite from an infected, or sacrificing yourself for another. You know how boys are, they have big heads. Dying from something silly like that would probably make their ghost pissed and leave them in purgatory forever.
On the other hand, I wonder how he feels about me. Ever since our... incident, he's been rather nice to me. I know there's no excuse for it, but he seems guilty for what he did. And I don't know if I should be extremely cautious that he will do it again or to another person, or give him the benefit of the doubt because he just lost his wife.
I still feel an enormous sense of grief and pain from Linda's death. I couldn't imagine what he feels. He lost his everything. His best friend. Now all he has is his idiot brothers, who he probably hates looking after. The last thing he would want is to be on my bad side, because in a world like this that isn't the wisest thing. People are a need, a tool. They can get you out of sticky situations, with the living and the dead.
Robbie's already on Cameron's hit list, and his brothers think he's going to die from his wounds, so what do I have to loose?
"Damn." He shuffles his body in the bed and winces as his chest moves. "I don't know if I remember her, but that sucks."
"I'm worried someone else in here is next." I give him a serious glance. He needs to know the urgency in this.
"And you think it could be me?" He raises an eyebrow.
"I don't know, but it's a possibility." I sigh. "Do you remember seeing anything odd or out of place your first night here?"
He looks up in thought. "Uh I don't think so. I was sleeping for most of it."
"Did you see anyone that you haven't seen in here since?" I ask.
"Honestly, I don't know blondy. Why you asking me all these questions?"
"No reason, just trying to stop you from potentially getting hurt I guess."
He raises an eyebrow in suspicion. "Do you know who did it?" A small smile creeps onto his face, almost like he's excited to hear the gossip.
In an attempt to hide my lie, I laugh nervously but it comes off as too much. "No not at all, I'm just worried and if you have any idea of who it is I need to know." I can tell by the look on his face that he knows I'm lying.
"Sure thing, I'll let you know if it comes up. But in order for me to tell you, you have to come visit me more often." He gives me a smirk.
"I'll see what I can do." I stand up off the hospital bed to say goodbye, figuring that this is all the information I'm going to get about the killer. It's almost curfew anyway, and I cannot be stuck outside.
Robbie seems to get that I'm about to leave, and his face becomes saddened. He clears his throat. "Wait."
"Yeah?" What could be possibly want? Knowing him, he'll ask me to bring him back something like a cigarette or can of beer. No way that's happening.
"I'm sorry." He looks around the room as if he doesn't want anyone to hear.
I stand there, not knowing what to say. I know he's apologizing for what he did to me. I don't know how to react. Do I tell him it's okay? Do I start screaming at him? Do I cry?
What he did causes me to have nightmares at night. I don't know if a simple apology could clear him of what he caused me.
"I know what I did was fucking wrong. And I'm sorry. You can judge me all you want, but that wasn't me." He looks down at his twiddling thumbs.
I feel anger boil up inside of me. What does he mean that it wasn't him? He did it. No one else. If he thinks he can justify himself by saying the only reason why he did it was because he was drunk, then he doesn't deserve forgiveness.
"I'll be the judge of that." I can feel my face start to fume.
"You deserve to be mad Summer, and I'm okay with that. Just know that what I did was... is, not my intentions." He looks into my eyes. They show remorse, embarrassment, and a little confusion. I don't know how to interpret what his look is saying.
With nothing to say, I look around the tent. I see a nurse walking towards us and figured this would be a good time to get out of this conversation.
I give Robbie an angry glance before turning around and walking out of the tent.
The night air is cool, and the village roads are barren. I have a long walk to my cabin, which I'm not looking forward too. I think it's before curfew, but I could be wrong.
I can't believe what Robbie said. I understand the apology, and that he feels obligated to give me one, but saying it wasn't him is bullshit. If it wasn't something he would do then he wouldn't have done it. Plan and simple. He's just hiding that fact that he's a dick and probably did things like this normally. I feel bad for Linda. I know they loved each other, but there's an unnerving feeling that he did similar things to her.
The distant sound of children's laughter, dogs barking, and the corn swaying in the wind is making this walk really creepy. I have a feeling that someone's watching me. Their eyes staring down my back, hiding in the shadows.
I walk faster, knowing that being alone isn't the best thing to be right now. I just have to get to my cabin as quickly as I can. Once I'm there, I'll be safe.
Its nothing Summer. I think to myself. I'm just paranoid because there's a killer on the loose. I mean, I have the right to be on edge.
As I walk along the corn wall, I notice a sound. A shuffling in the plants, like someone's walking through them.
I freeze. My heart drops at the thought of it being the killer. It has to be. Why would someone be wandering through the corn in the dark?
What do I do? Run? Act like I didn't hear anything? No, I have to get the upper hand. If I'm going to die, might as well find out who it is.
After hearing the sound again, I decide to follow it. I part the corn stalks with my hands and step in. I try to stay quiet, but the crunching of my feet in the dirt and the sound of the leaves hitting my body is giving me away. But I keep walking. The longing of wanting to know who has been doing these god awful things is keeping me going.
I follow the noises until it's close enough to reach out and touch. I slowly peak through the corn and see an opening, a path that sections these plants from another section. I step out of my hiding place, and see who the murderer is.
And to my surprise I was right. It's her, the person I thought was the killer all along.
Naomi.
A/N
Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter! School has started up again so there will probably be huge gaps in my postings. Sorry in advance! I'll try to get chapters out every Sunday, but no promises!
I would appreciate it if you could give this chapter a vote! Thanks for reading again! :)