Chapter Thirty-Eight
––––––––
ZOE WAS HAPPY TO SEE the board she and Amaros had placed over her window had kept the rain out.
It also blocked the gusts of icy wind that heralded winter.
Her bedroom was still way too cold, but the sleeping bag kept her toasty warm when she retired for the night.
She hadn’t tried the fireplace along the left wall yet and would have to gather some firewood for it.
Her dreams were plagued with memories of the past and visions of the future. She saw battle after battle, but the people were obscured from her view. Strangely, Zoe was involved in the fighting as well.
She woke to the sound of birds singing just outside her window.
The thick stone walls had muffled a lot of the noise deeper inside the wing.
Grace was already moving around in her bedroom.
The fire was going when they met in the kitchen to eat cold venison for breakfast. One of the men must have started the blaze.
“Yum,” Grace said unenthusiastically. “I really love eating Bambi’s mom three times a day.” They had energy bars, snacks and canned food as well, but the meat would go bad if they didn’t eat it quickly.
“At least we won’t starve,” Zoe pointed out, then took another bite of her meat.
Grace’s mood became even gloomier. “A lot of people will starve,” she said. “We’re too used to buying our stuff from grocery stores. No one has the skills to survive the apocalypse for long.”
“I bet the suicide rate is high,” Zoe mused. They’d seen a lot of bodies with self-inflicted wounds during their journey.
“I saw a woman stab her husband to death, then slit her wrists,” Grace said. Her gaze had gone distant as she recalled the episode.
“When was that?” Zoe asked, knowing she needed to talk about it.
“It was the morning after the Rapture,” she said, tossing the remains of her meal into a container they were using for their waste.
Amaros planned to periodically put their trash in dumpsters in town for now.
“I was passing through a small town and heard a man screaming,” she went on.
“He sounded terrified, so I ran over to his house to try to help him.”
From her stricken expression, the scene had been horrifying. “You were too late?” Zoe asked.
Grace nodded, then took a gulp of coffee she’d made on the hotplate.
“His wife had gone nuts,” she said. “The poor guy had cuts all over his face and arms. The crazy cow ran at him and stabbed him in the heart before I could stop her. She slashed her wrists, then sat down on the kitchen floor next to her dead husband. I left before she could see me.”
The guys were deeper in the main wing, cutting down one of the trees that had grown indoors. “I hate it that our females had to witness so much horror,” Camriel muttered, unaware that they could hear him.
“They’ll be safe here,” Amaros told him. “Especially once we can erect a ward.”
“I wonder what sort of magic the knights can use,” Grace murmured.
“We’ll find out once they all get here,” Zoe replied. The dreams she’d had of using magic herself had faded once she’d woken up. She could barely remember them at all now. “Let’s check how the repairs to the roof went,” she suggested to change the topic.
They left the kitchen and went to inspect the room that had been flooded every night.
“I almost miss the waterfall,” Grace joked. “This is a big room. What can we use it for?”
“It will be our infirmary,” Zoe said, surprising them both just as the warriors joined them.
“Did you get another vision?” Camriel asked eagerly.
Zoe shook her head. “It just popped out,” she told him.
Amaros didn’t seem surprised, but he wasn’t happy about it.
“We’ll need to gather a lot more medical supplies,” he said, already making a list. “It looks like we’ll have to continue to patch each other up after our battles.
” The men shared a look that held secret information they hadn’t seen fit to share with the girls.
“Is there something we need to know?” Zoe asked.
“Yes,” Camriel said and received an annoyed look from his boss. “Grace and I can head to town and scavenge for medical supplies. Why don’t you two grab what we need from the resort?”
Amaros clearly didn’t like his decisions being made for him. His expression was mulish, but he didn’t argue. “Be on your guard,” he ordered the pair. “Take some weapons with you.”
“We will,” Grace agreed, instantly intrigued. She was right behind Camriel as the warrior lumbered outside. The teen began pestering him with questions even before they left the room.
“This is awkward,” Zoe muttered as she waited for Amaros to speak.
The knight didn’t seem to know what to say. It was strange to see him lost for words.
“Let’s head to the resort,” Amaros said at last. Clearly, he was trying to put off the inevitable.
Camriel and Grace waved as the red truck drove off.
Zoe waved back, then climbed into the black tank.
She wiped misty rain off her face with her sleeve, then buckled herself in.
The silence grew thicker with each minute that passed as he drove towards the resort.
Each time she glanced at Amaros, his face seemed to get stonier.
Zoe was feeling ill by the time they reached the resort. Amaros parked facing the road so they could load up the back. “So?” she asked as they entered the lobby. “What did you want to tell me?”
Amaros gave her a pained look. “I’m working on a way to break it to you.”
“Just say it,” she said in exasperation. “Do you want Grace and me to leave?”
“Of course not,” he denied, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “I’ll tell you soon,” he promised.
Zoe rolled her eyes at his back, nerves making her want to purge her breakfast. “Can you at least tell me what you need to get from here? Besides medical supplies?”
He frowned at her sarcasm. “We need hinges and a doorhandle for the shed,” he replied.
“Are you going to tear them off a door with your bare hands?” she asked, sarcasm growing heavier.
Amaros sighed and returned to the truck to grab the tools that were beneath a tarp in the back.
Zoe didn’t stick around to watch him work.
Obviously, the news he had for her was so bad that he couldn’t bring himself to tell her.
“Fine,” she muttered beneath her breath.
“Don’t tell me, you big lummox,” she whispered scathingly, trying not to feel rejected.
She didn’t even know what he needed to tell her and she was already taking it personally.
A map of the resort was attached to the wall in the lobby. She paused to find where the infirmary was, then strode down the hallway. She could still sense Amaros from the far side of the resort. It was strange that she couldn’t feel Camriel anywhere near as acutely.
Finding a large plastic container full of random junk in a maintenance closet, Zoe emptied it onto the floor. She entered the infirmary and began filling the container with the supplies they would need.
If the warriors were going to be injured in battle, then they would need stitches, splints, casts and maybe even surgery. She grabbed everything that could be useful, then filled another two containers she found in the cupboards.
At last, she finished scavenging and paused to listen. Amaros wasn’t just stealing hinges, he was removing the entire doors from what she could hear.
Feeling increasingly upset, Zoe headed to the resort’s restaurant and bar area. A gigantic picture window offered an incredible view of the mountains. Crossing her arms, she stood there, waiting for the cowardly Knight of Order to grow a pair of testicles and finally man up.