Reduced by Robin Tidwell

Author:Robin Tidwell [Tidwell, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780988493308
Google: rQ7gMwEACAAJ
Publisher: All on The Same Page Bookstore
Published: 2012-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Ted was back on duty, supervising the few girls who had remained in the camp, when Abby walked into camp. She hugged him briefly and smiled back at his own feeble, sad attempt. She saw Cal sitting nearby and touched her arm, motioning her to follow. The two walked over to the unlit campfire.

“All right,” said Cal briskly. “Tell me.”

“It was Jeff.”

Cal’s face blanched. She cleared her throat and struggled to

stop the slight tremor in her hands. She cleared her throat again. “Jeff,” she repeated. “That Jeff? The same scumbag from back when? What the hell!”

Abby replayed the conversation between the two men. Jeff had known James and, presumably, Candy. Jeff was behind the explosion. And the earlier threats. And of course, Jeff was now dead. Eliminated.

Relief shone on Cal’s face even as tears welled from her eyes. Abby put an arm around her shoulders and the two sat there for a few minutes, in the dark.

“Bastard,” said Cal, and she rose to return to her duties.

Abby was relieved to see Emmy, all in one piece, knowing she’d gone to town the day before. The intruders had distracted her enough, but now she was eager to find out what, if anything, was happening in the outside world.

“Absolutely nothing,” Emmy said after dinner when the two of them, with Juliet of course, were sitting on the steps of their tent.

“We drove in, me and Noah and two others in a second truck, and picked up the list of supplies that Cal had for us. Noah needed more drugs and things, and we found those too. It was almost too easy. No signs of any people, at all, and everything just sitting there.

“Of course, there’s no electric, so the smell in some places was pretty bad. Most of the, um, rotting and all, has pretty much gone away. The smell, that is. A lot of fat vultures lurking around, though.”

Abby grimaced. “Guess it’ll be my turn tomorrow. Cal mentioned it tonight.” She kissed Juliet on the top of the head. “Will you miss me, little one?”

“Yes,” said Juliet. “You’re always gone….” Her tiny voice trailed off.

“Fair enough,” said Abby. “The day after tomorrow, we’ll go out hiking, just the two of us. Will that work?”

Juliet jumped up and grabbed Abby around the neck, almost knocking them both over into the tent. “Yes!” she shouted.

Noah was nowhere to be seen, and hadn’t yet returned to the tent by 9:00, so Abby allowed Juliet to sleep over. Emmy ran to let Millie know while Abby dressed the little girl in one of her own t-shirts in lieu of pajamas. She carried her down to the shower house to wash her face and brush her teeth, then she and Emmy resumed their talk, quietly, as Juliet fell asleep. “Was it awful?” asked Emmy.

Abby shrugged. “Not really. I didn’t know it was Jeff until right before I shot. And it wouldn’t have made any difference; they both had to be stopped.

“New world, Em. I wish it wasn’t like this, but we have to work with whatever we have.

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