They Walk

Chapter Forty Two

Sam’s body falls to the floor.

Everyone in the hall freezes for half of a second too shocked to do anything else. Then time catches up with us and there is chaos in the hall, as more soldiers come tearing down towards us. Gabe and Noah are forced to press Claire and I closer into the walls as more men approach us. Captain LeBoeuf turns away from the now unlocked door and faces the men that are kneeling over Sam’s body. He holds off the approaching men with a raised hand and shakes his head.

“Well, that was unfortunate but it does solve us the problem doesn’t it?” He says quietly as he stares down at Sam.

The tears in my eyes suddenly dry up, and I go completely numb.

How callus can these people be, for the waste of a life?

It just doesn’t make any sense to me, and especially now that our numbers are getting smaller.

I lean into Gabe and try to remember how to breathe, but it’s hard when all I can smell is the scent of gun resin and blood. I watch as the Captain steps over Sam and as he walks over to us, the men kneeling over Sam lift him up by his arms and drag him towards the rink Stadium doors. The Captain steps in front of Noah, and I have to peak around him to see one man is holding Sam now, while the other opens the doors.

“Why don’t I let you and yours get settled down in the sleep courters. If there is anything you need?” Captain LeBoeuf asks, as if nothing is happing behind him.

Once the doors are wide open the first man joins the second, and lifts Sam by the feet so that they are both holding him up. They walk over to the opening of the doors, and swing Sam’s body into the room. When they step back to close the doors, I see that along with Sam’s body are over a dozen more like him. Some of them even have gun shots in their heads too, but is no movement inside and I wonder how they killed them after they turned inside.

Then the doors are closed.

I turn back to the Captain and a white faced Noah, as the men lock the doors once more.

“Actually Sir there is something we could all use. Do you have a list of the people that are here? We are all looking for someone and could really use the moral.” Noah says hesitantly, but still stares up at the Captain waiting.

In fact I think all four of us are literally holding our breath, waiting to see if we actually went through so much and for good reason. When the Captain nods and signals one of the guard’s at our back, I swear my legs give out and sink back into Gabe. I know I can’t know for sure yet if my parents are here, but just knowing that there is a way to check, it’s such a relief. The Guard that was signaled leaves the hallway, and The Captain follows after him and motions for Noah to go as well. He quickly steps away from the wall and brings Claire with him, and I can almost see the hope in the air between them and know I feel it too. I push myself away from the wall and latch onto Gabe’s arm and we follow close behind and leave the stench of death from the hall.

We near the start of the hallway again.

The Captain and the guard stop at a door and go inside. There are a couple other guards stationed at the start of the hall and I can see the others still out in the lobby. The rest of us wait just outside of the door, until The Captain calls Noah to go inside as well. I peer through the door after Noah and see that The Captain is sitting behind a desk in the large office. There are candles lit inside and a window is at his back letting in the early afternoon sun, as well as the banging of the dead. Though I do notice there are bars on the window and that must make of for the calm of everyone standing by it. The guard is stationed at his back, like a bodyguard or something.

When Noah approaches the desk, the Captain holds out a clipboard with a thick pile of papers attached to it.

“This is an inventory list of every individual that has entered through the front doors. As you look it over, you’ll find that some of them are highlighted and those are the ones that are no longer with us.” He says as Noah takes the clipboard from him.

It takes every ounce of my control not to run into the room and rip the clipboard from Noah. I have to clench my hands at my sides, and Gabe inches closer to me and I know if he wasn’t beside me I wouldn’t be as calm.

“One of my men will show you to the sleeping courters, and you may read it over as you go. We run this place in a tight ship, but we would like it if you would join us. Come find me again, when you have settled.” He looks back to his desk and begins going through some files, and dismisses us.

Noah quickly turns back to us and walks out of the room still staring down at the clipboard already flipping through the numerous pages. Before any of us can pounce on him for answers, one of the guards from the lobby approaches us and waves for us to follow him.

“I’m Sergeant Lewis and if you’ll all follow me, I’ll lead you to where you can make camp for yourselves.” He says as he walks for the second hallway on the right of the one we walk out of.

With no other choice, we all follow him, and keep Noah in a circle of us while we try to read as he does. The second hallway is wider than the other one and has less doors around, and I notice the sound of voices getting louder the farther we go.

“So how many people are here exactly?” Gabe asks suddenly, as if reading my thoughts.

“There are less than a thousand, and that includes all the staff that is here as well.” The Sergeant says over his shoulder.

The thought that there are a lot of people here makes me feel slightly nauseated, in a good way if that’s even possible. For a while I thought that we’d never be around large groups of people that are alive ever again. Nearing the end of the hallway, it widens out into a smaller version of the lobby and has two separate places to go. An open set of double doors where the sounds of other people carry, and I notice the plague over the doors reads The Pal Hop Stadium.

There is another smaller door with a picture of stairs on the side of it off to the left of the small lobby.

The sergeant leading us comes to a stop just outside the doors and Noah practically crashes into him, but he’s grinning. He steps away from the guard with an apology and turns to Claire, and his grin widens if that’s possible.

“Claire, your mom is here and has been for a couple of days.” He says in an extorted whisper.

As her face goes white, she answers his grin with her own and turns to me with tears in her eyes.

She crashes into me and I hold her tight and watch Noah over her shoulders. When his eyes meet mine, I can tell from the way his smile just falters at the edges that my parents aren’t on the list. He can’t stop the grin from returning when Claire spins out of my arms with a cry and into his, and I can tell from the shared excitement that his sister must have been on the list too. I know I should be happy for them, because this is why we came out here. But I can’t stop the raging jealousy that my own parents aren’t here.

The hollow feeling of never knowing if I’ll see them again.

“Right then, you’ll find some empty cots inside, so you can help yourself to them. Dinner is served around four in The Shrine Circus Stadium just inside the hallway beside this one.” He says as he starts to walk away.

“Wait, I’d like to take the Captain up on his offer if that’s alright?” Noah interrupts still clutching the clipboard to his chest.

I’m puzzled that he’d want to go see The Captain, since I had the feeling that finding his sister was important to him. So I’d thought if he found her he’d want to go and see her, but I guess we’re different in that way. When the guard nods his head and begins to follow him, Noah heads off before giving us a serious nod.

“I’ll find you guys later, and I’ll get us some answers of what the situation is.” He says over his shoulder, and is gone before we can ask him to elaborate.

When Gabe squeezes my hand that is in his, I feel my face heat up in a blush. With all the hugging and finding out my parents aren’t here, I actually forgot he was beside me. What kind of selfish person does that make me?

All I know is that I could sleep forever, and am so numb I don’t know if I’d mind if I never woke up. Claire brings me back to myself though, since she is bouncing on the tips of her toes and peering into the Stadium before us. Pulling Gabe with me, I step up beside Claire and the three of us take a look inside. I have to be honest here, since I didn’t expect to see what is inside, but it’s pretty impressive.

The Stadium is large, and reminds me of a football field that is inside. It has a stage in the middle of it and rows of seating circling the entire place from floor to ceiling. It’s a little dim inside since most of the light is coming from the windows lining in between the seats on the back wall. But there are flickering lights of candles here and there, which make up for it.

The most impressive thing though is the fact the entire floor space is covered with cot like beds and has people on or around them. I’m talking dozens upon dozens of people ranging in ages, sizes, race, and gender. Who knew there were all these people in Maine? But I love the feeling of relief at seeing all of these people; it makes everything that has happened seem less harsh, like we actually have a chance or something.

“It’s amazing right?” Claire says in an excited lite to her voice.

“Definitely is.” I say, as I walk inside behind Claire and clutch at Gabe like he’s my lifeline.