Chapter 12
TWELVE
Asia
Jesus was probably sick of me but that didn’t stop me from praying harder than I ever had before.
Because as I watched Jack tense, seeing the way his hands flinched into fists. Saw him visibly fight for control, this moment was it. The beginning of everything—or the end.
Because it was one thing to run from zombies.
Another thing all together to imagine Hayes shooting Jack down like a rabid dog.
Because he would.
He wanted to.
He was just waiting for Jack to give him a reason.
“I don’t know, Sheriff. This place seems dangerous. She gonna be okay without me?”
The sheriff’s jaw ticked, but then he smiled. “Of course she will! You can trust me.”
I braced myself for the lightning that should have struck Hayes down.
It didn’t come, but Jack locked eyes with mine.
He nodded.
He wasn’t going to act. At least not right now.
I let out a breath.
Tried not to stare as he walked away.
“Probably been a while since you’ve been in a police station. Or maybe not,” the sheriff said with a shrug as he started to walk, his confident stride telling me was sure I would follow.
I smiled, determined not to let Hayes and his bullshit get to me.
“Actually, I spent quite a bit of my time in jail.”
At this, the sheriff laughed. “Only visiting, I hope,” he said.
“I do, too.”
“Well, you know, good to know that some things can change,” the sheriff said, his gaze sweeping over me.
I knew what he saw now just like I’d known what he’d seen then.
But I wasn’t the delinquent dropped off in a transport van pissed off at the world and too hurt and afraid to admit it.
I followed the sheriff into the office and met his gaze, determined not to flinch. “Just like it’s good to know that some things never do.”
“Anyway, good to see all that it looks like all the effort Levi and Kathleen put in paid off.” The sheriff smiled, but the expression dropped quickly. “I’d offer you some coffee, but…”
“Never took to the stuff,” I said. Aunt Kathleen would be disappointed that I could tell a lie that big with a straight face, but anything to get Hayes’s goat.
The door opened and Jack walked in and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. He was flanked by four of Hayes’s men. I needed to know what they’d done to him.
But later.
Hayes bristled and I remembered this wasn’t a tit-for-tat game. Our lives, the lives of the people we cared about were on the line, and I needed to focus on that.
“So how have you managed to keep the town relatively intact?” I asked the sheriff. I hated the phrasing of the question, but knew that stroking Hayes’s ego was always the right move.
“Well, you know me, Asia. Don’t tolerate nonsense. Keep a strong hand. People will generally fall into line,” he said. “But more importantly, what’s going on out there?”
“Nothing. Nothing good,” Jack responded.
“You sound like it’s permanent,” the sheriff said.
“You think something different?” Jack asked.
“Just a little blip,” he said.
“Sheriff.” I met his eyes.
“Asia.” He stared back at me.
“This isn’t just a blip,” I said, shaking my head.
“Do tell,” he said.
“It’s gone,” I said. I realized then I hadn’t said those words out loud, but it was true.
“Gone for you. Whatever life you were living out there in your big city is gone. But this town? It’s still here. You see it yourself,” Hayes said. He spoke with the conviction of a man who’d never seen anything else, and any hope that I had that this might be okay died at that very moment.
Hayes didn’t listen to reason on the best day. And now was far from the best day. He was holding on by a thread.
“But the question is, am I going to have any trouble from you?”
I was such an asshole.
I’d known what Hayes was like, what he was up to, but had let myself forget. And now it was here—him trying to feel me out. Because this wasn’t about getting information. Not about the outside world.
This had been Hayes reminding me that I wasn’t shit and never would be.
I also wasn’t a preteen anymore.
“I guess I could ask the same, Sheriff,” I said.
“You might know how to behave yourself finally, after all this time. But the company you keep,” he said, looking at Jack.
Jack was practically vibrating. And if Hayes wasn’t such a fucking moron, he would have tread lightly. But this was Hayes we were dealing with, so he pushed on.
“This place is about law and order, and I won’t have any outsiders destroying it. Is that clear?” he said.
Jack said nothing, and the tension ratcheted.
“You hard of hearing, Mr. Thorne?”
“What do you think?” Jack said, his voice low, lethal, and a reminder that the circumstances were spiraling out of control.
“We got the message, Sheriff,” I said.
“You got that, but does he? Or do you speak for him?” the sheriff said.
“She—”
“It’s fine. We’ll be on our way,” I cut in.
“No, you won’t. Think you should stay overnight. Gets dark out there. Dangerous,” he said.
“But you sent your son?” Jack asked.
“Junior can take care of himself. Now I insist that you enjoy some of my town’s hospitality,” Hayes said.
I knew exactly what this was, and knew that there was no way to put a stop to it. Hayes was going to insist, and Jack, being Jack, was going to push back. Either way, he was going to be in a trap. It was up to me to make sure we could get out.
“Sure. Is there somewhere we can go?”
Jack glared at me, but I thanked God he stayed silent.
“Yeah. You know where Hale House is?” he said.
“I do.”
“Why don’t you leave Levi’s truck out front and walk on down there. You can get some food, get some sleep. Maybe shower,” Hayes said.
Then he dismissed us with some vague allusions about having to get back to work.
“What happened?” I asked as the sheriff walked away.
“Later,” he said quietly. “But tell me about that asshole. Not a big fan of yours?”
I rolled my eyes. “What gave it away?”
Jack stared at me, his eyes narrowed.
“Did he do something to you?” he asked. His body was tense, coiled tight as he waited for my answer.
“There’s nothing like that,” I said. “He’s just an asshole who used to fuck with kids who were in trouble.
Delinquents, I believe, is what they called us back then.
Hayes had no use for us and made that known.
And even when I managed to pull myself up by my bootstraps and make something of myself, well, let’s just say first impressions don’t really change for him. ”
“Easy enough, but this place is…”
“Fucked,” I supplied.
“I was gonna say off, but that works,” he said. “Let’s get off the streets.”
As we walked, we passed a shuttered hardware store and small market with crates of rotting fruit and vegetables with a sign that said FREE.
“It seems the sheriff has become a collectivist,” Asia muttered.
“Looks that way,” he grumbled.
But he didn’t buy it any more than I did.
I also sensed the rage that shimmered beneath the surface.
I knew why, too.
I’d asked him to stand down. Made him go against his nature.
But I did it for him because I knew he wouldn’t be able to.
We walked in silence that was loud with Jack’s anger.
I braced myself, ready to make him understand.
We made it to Hale House far too quickly.
There was a sign on the door that said Welcome! Make Yourself at Home.
It was handwritten with black marker on orange construction paper with stenciled leaves and pumpkins. Someone had put effort into it, and it was the kind of cheerfulness that made the desperation that much more palpable.
I grabbed one of the keys and went to a room, not really seeing anything, knowing that this situation was fraught.
Jack followed behind me, each step giving away his rage.
We entered the room.
The door clicked shut behind us.
I locked it.
Turned to Jack.
Waited for the explosion.