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Chapter Six<br />
Nathan<br />
BEFORE THE SICKNESS CAME, WAITING was an irritation. Now that the dead were walking amid the<br />
living, waiting felt like the violation of being robbed, the helplessness when you’ve lost something<br />
valuable like your keys or your wedding ring, and the unbearable dread that comes over you when<br />
your child falls just out of sight at the shopping mall, all rolled into one sickening ball of emotion.<br />
Jill paced in the kitchen, her fingers in her mouth while she chewed off every last bit of fingernail<br />
her teeth could find. I checked the windows and the front door, making sure everything was secure.<br />
Zoe sat in the doorway connecting the kitchen to the living room, quietly picking at the hem of her<br />
long-sleeved T-shirt.<br />
A familiar whistle sounded just outside the kitchen window, and then a shot rang out. Without<br />
looking, Jill scrambled to unlock the door, and Skeeter stumbled inside, out of breath and sweaty. He<br />
sat his rifle beside Jill’s while she locked the door, and then they hugged and kissed like they hadn’t<br />
seen each other in years.<br />
Jill whimpe<strong>red</strong>, and Skeeter held her face in his hands. “Don’t cry, Jillybean. I told you I’d come<br />
back.” He kissed her forehead, and then held his arms out wide to Zoe, crouching as much as his sixfoot-three<br />
frame and 220 pounds would allow.<br />
Zoe immediately popped up and ran to him, melting into his arms.<br />
“Zoe!” he said, kissing the top of her head. “We’ve missed you!” He looked to me. “I think she’s<br />
grown a foot!”<br />
The conversation was typical, but typical conversation was unsettling during an apocalypse.<br />
“Where’s Aubrey, trying to boot up the computer” he asked.<br />
Jill looked to me, and I looked down at Zoe. “She wasn’t home when we got there. She left a<br />
note.”<br />
Skeeter’s expression was hard to decipher. I wasn’t sure if he was confused or just trying to<br />
process what that meant.<br />
Jill stood next to her husband. “Ms. Kay Barb”<br />
Skeeter offe<strong>red</strong> a contrived smile. “I got them both to the church. I came back to get you. They’re<br />
boarding up the windows as we speak, and almost everyone brought supplies. Food and stuff. Guns.<br />
Ammo. It’s a good holdout.”<br />
“Skeeter,” I said. “It’s not a good idea to get all those people in one place. It’ll be like a buffet.”<br />
Skeeter’s face fell a bit. “There’s not that many people.” He grabbed his gun with one hand and<br />
wrapped the other around Jill’s waist, talking softly in her ear. “Get a few changes of clothes in a<br />
bag.”
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