yourself?’
‘Mom…’
‘You have to tell us, Tommy,’ Leah said. ‘He’s inside of our town. This is our territory, and he’s here.’
‘Any of you would have done the same,’ I said. ‘Just because I’m in charge doesn’t make me the bad guy here. Sometimes I have to make the tough decisions. Just because he’s an outsider that doesn’t mean that he’s an enemy. Almost everybody in the town was an outsider at one time or another. I know he’s hurt, but it’s not a difficult task to get injured in a world like this.’
‘That depends,’ Robbie said.
‘On what?’
‘I just feel like there’s something that you’re not telling us. I know you don’t want people to start worrying-’
‘How would you know that?’
‘Because you’re my brother. I know you don’t share a lot with the people around you when it comes to anything. Is there something that happened out in the forest that you didn’t tell everybody outside of Mae’s?’
I looked about everybody in the room before silently looking to the floor and taking a long, drawn breath.
‘That’s a yes,’ Robbie said.
‘So… What happened?’ Hayley finally said something, brushing her hair back behind her ear and staring over at me.
Even if there wasn’t anything left to tell, they still wouldn’t have believed me.
‘Firstly,’ I started, ‘what I’m about to say does not leave this room. You wanna discuss it with me, and I don’t know why you would want to, but if you do, you come back here. I find out that anybody in town knows this information, I’ll presume it was one of you, because that’ll be the truth. Secondly, don’t take any of this as gospel. They were the ramblings of a deranged, delusional guy who came stumbling through the forest. I trust it as much as I’d trust Carl for shooting advice.’
After a few more moments I finally managed to say the words for the first time – to reiterate them as they had been said to me.
‘Well, what the hell does that mean?’ Leah asked. ‘ ‘They’re coming for me?’’
‘I don’t know. I thought he was just crazy, but when Mae and I checked his wounds, he had bite marks all over his arm.’
‘Bites?’ My mother exclaimed.
‘Yep.’
‘So, what is this?’ Hayley asked. ‘Cannibals?’
‘I doubt it,’ I said. ‘For people we’re pretty remote out here. I don’t know how many people would descend into those depths, but I’m guessing it’s small.’
‘But you don’t know for sure?’ Robbie asked.
‘No. I don’t.’
Everybody went silent, before my younger brother turned to look at me.
‘What should we do?’
I was a second away from answering with the most logical, straightforward proposition – wait until he wakes up, if he woke up at all, and ask him what it was that had happened and what he was talking about.
Sometimes, though, these opportunities come knocking – quite literally.
It was a rapid hammering on the front door, a knock of knuckles that told me that something important was happening. I looked about everybody’s faces and dashed into the corridor, hearing a shout of ‘Tommy?’ as I unlocked the door. I had a feeling about what it was going to be before I even opened it – despite living in the aftermath
‘Mom…’
‘You have to tell us, Tommy,’ Leah said. ‘He’s inside of our town. This is our territory, and he’s here.’
‘Any of you would have done the same,’ I said. ‘Just because I’m in charge doesn’t make me the bad guy here. Sometimes I have to make the tough decisions. Just because he’s an outsider that doesn’t mean that he’s an enemy. Almost everybody in the town was an outsider at one time or another. I know he’s hurt, but it’s not a difficult task to get injured in a world like this.’
‘That depends,’ Robbie said.
‘On what?’
‘I just feel like there’s something that you’re not telling us. I know you don’t want people to start worrying-’
‘How would you know that?’
‘Because you’re my brother. I know you don’t share a lot with the people around you when it comes to anything. Is there something that happened out in the forest that you didn’t tell everybody outside of Mae’s?’
I looked about everybody in the room before silently looking to the floor and taking a long, drawn breath.
‘That’s a yes,’ Robbie said.
‘So… What happened?’ Hayley finally said something, brushing her hair back behind her ear and staring over at me.
Even if there wasn’t anything left to tell, they still wouldn’t have believed me.
‘Firstly,’ I started, ‘what I’m about to say does not leave this room. You wanna discuss it with me, and I don’t know why you would want to, but if you do, you come back here. I find out that anybody in town knows this information, I’ll presume it was one of you, because that’ll be the truth. Secondly, don’t take any of this as gospel. They were the ramblings of a deranged, delusional guy who came stumbling through the forest. I trust it as much as I’d trust Carl for shooting advice.’
After a few more moments I finally managed to say the words for the first time – to reiterate them as they had been said to me.
‘Well, what the hell does that mean?’ Leah asked. ‘ ‘They’re coming for me?’’
‘I don’t know. I thought he was just crazy, but when Mae and I checked his wounds, he had bite marks all over his arm.’
‘Bites?’ My mother exclaimed.
‘Yep.’
‘So, what is this?’ Hayley asked. ‘Cannibals?’
‘I doubt it,’ I said. ‘For people we’re pretty remote out here. I don’t know how many people would descend into those depths, but I’m guessing it’s small.’
‘But you don’t know for sure?’ Robbie asked.
‘No. I don’t.’
Everybody went silent, before my younger brother turned to look at me.
‘What should we do?’
I was a second away from answering with the most logical, straightforward proposition – wait until he wakes up, if he woke up at all, and ask him what it was that had happened and what he was talking about.
Sometimes, though, these opportunities come knocking – quite literally.
It was a rapid hammering on the front door, a knock of knuckles that told me that something important was happening. I looked about everybody’s faces and dashed into the corridor, hearing a shout of ‘Tommy?’ as I unlocked the door. I had a feeling about what it was going to be before I even opened it – despite living in the aftermath
Similar Books
