“Hi, father,” Miller greeted with a voice that sounded like he had a mouth full of marbles.
Matthias’s good humor disappeared and his face became grave, “Have you learned your lesson, son?”
Miller nodded enthusiastically and I wanted to wince for him, but he never once acknowledged his own pain. “Yes, sir.”
“And what did you learn?” Matthias pressed.
“Not to get caught, sir,” Miller spat out immediately.
This time I did wince, but it was drowned out in the uproar from behind me. The spectators behind me stood to their feet and shouted down their disapproval at Miller’s words. He stood before me, relaxed- well as relaxed as his broken body allowed him to be- and confident.
No, not confident…. smug. He was still full of that cocky recklessness from last night.
And for the first time in our brief twenty-four hour acquaintance I realized I respected this kid.
Matthias’s eyes flickered up to mine and watched my horrified reaction to how beat up his son was and how little sympathy he was getting from the crowd.
He stared at me for a few minutes while the spectators settled and sat back down. Eventually he explained, “We’re a community, Reagan. Do you understand that? We take care of each other. We protect our own from the dangers of this fallen world. And we haven’t lost anyone yet, even while our numbers continue to grow. This was once a tiny, insignificant little nothing town. But now look at us.” He gestured around with his hands and grinned at me. “Flourishing. We are flourishing, even in this uncertain time of disease and death. People all over hear of our prosperity and safety. They flock to us, Reagan. The come in droves.”
“I’ve never heard of you,” I shrugged.
Kane’s hand shot out and gripped my forearm. With my hands still cuffed behind my back, his touch caused tingles of nerves to shoot up toward my elbow; but instinctively I knew he wasn’t trying to be cruel- he was trying to warn me. But his help was the last thing I needed, or wanted.
With bitter cruelty, Matthias corrected me, “You never heard of us until today. Now…. now you’ve heard of us. Now you’ve seen what we can do. Now you understand.”
Well, I couldn’t argue with that.
“That is true,” I conceded and Kane’s grip relaxed a little.
Matthias’s attention swung to his younger son and he asked a question that had me almost shaking with anxiety.
“You met her last night, Miller. I know you brought the other two back with you tonight. But how many more were with her.”
Miller tried to look back at me from over his shoulder, but his eyes were practically swollen shut so I doubted he could see me very clearly. Then he turned back around to his father and shrugged casually.
“There was another guy,” he explained.
My heart slammed into my chest cavity at his lie. How did he know to lie for us? Why did he lie for us?
My thoughts whirled with fear for Haley, Harrison and King, for Page and her sickness. This was all for them. If we got out of this it was to get back to them.
“Just one other guy?” Matthias pressed.
Miller let out an impatient sight, “I told you last night and I will tell you again this morning. I wasn’t runnin’ away. I was goin’ for a walk. And then I ran into these guys. They made me bring them back in here. They forced me to! But it was only her and another guy that stayed behind. They kept talking about a contingency plan. I guess it meant they would come after them if they never showed back up.”
Silence met his explanation and I forced my body not to wiggle under the intense scrutiny of the room.
“Give us the story, Reagan,” Matthias demanded.
“Like I said, we didn’t know you were here. We ran into Miller by accident.”
“Then why send the scouting party ahead?” Linley asked in a quiet, stern voice.
“To see if it was safe. We had never heard of you. And in our travels we’ve run into a lot of bad guys. Even you guys handcuffed us and drug us through this interrogation. The last settlement we were at stole our guns and ammo and syphoned our gas. We don’t trust people. We were trying to be cautious.” I was practically pleading with him to believe me. Most everything I said was truth.
“You’ve never heard of us? When’s the last time you’ve been around people outside of your own party?” Matthias asked carefully.
Hope bloomed in my chest at the realization he was starting to believe me. “Not since the settlement where everything was stolen from us. Weeks ago- states ago. We haven’t been around other people since. We’ve been avoiding settlements and other people ever since.”