Over at the far side, Cassie and Pauline were diligently filling up plastic cups with cola and placing them on the floor in rows. With a bit of luck, the machine would keep spitting out liquids for a while. People seemed a lot less tense when they were busy.
“Our guests are secure and comfortable downstairs,” said Shawcross, who was marching towards them with Mike by his side. “Fortunately, the key to the cellar was still in the lock. You’ll also be glad to know that there are several barrels of both soft drinks and beer down there. We will need to bring those up, of course. Can’t leave them with the prisoners, lest they have themselves a party.”
“Jan and Renee aren’t like that,” Nick protested.
Annaliese was glad that the prisoners were secure, but she did wish that Shawcross would show a little more tactfulness in how he spoke about them. They were obviously well respected by Nick, and the man bristled every time his companion’s morals were called in to question.
Guess the big bearded guy really did save his life.
“We were planning to check out the perimeter,” Annaliese told Shawcross. “See if we can reinforce our position.”
Mike laughed. “We sound like bloody soldiers.”
“Sooner we accept that we are, the better,” said Dave. “I’m ready to go and check things out. Anybody want to join me?”
Annaliese didn’t want the man to wander off alone, but she didn’t want to be stuck with him either. “Mike,” she said. “Could you get Greg and Michelle and go with him? I think more heads would be better.”
He nodded. “Sure thing. I’ll get them now.”
“I will start making an inventory of what we have,” said Shawcross.
“Excellent,” Annaliese said. It was a job she was hoping he would volunteer for. It would keep him busy and out of the way. She turned to Nick. “Should you and I go look for bedding material?”
“Sounds good to me,” he said. “Let me just check in with Eve and the others, so they know what’s happening.”
Annaliese stood and waited while everyone separated. She watched Nick go over to each of the women in turn. He seemed to take responsibility for their welfare. She had a feeling, though, that he was just working hard to mask a deeper concern. Clearly something was eating at him, and he was trying to make it go away by remaining busy.
Maybe he needs to talk to someone.
After a few moments, Nick returned to her. He was holding a pint of coke and took a sip. Then he offered it to her. “Hope you don’t mind, but with all the excitement it feels like I might faint if I don’t take a drink.”
She waved a hand. “Hey, you’re very welcome. We need to be tight with our supplies from now on, but you folks are more than entitled to a drink.”
He lifted his arm in the direction of the window. “Shall we?”
Annaliese nodded and they both headed for the broken window that would take them back outside.
“So,” said Nick. “What’s the deal here? Does all of your group work here?”
“No, actually. Just Shawcross. I’m a vet that was on call here. Everyone else was staying in Ripley Hall for a company function.”
“Really? Wow. Do you think you would be alive if you hadn’t been called out here?”
“I doubt it. Being here is probably the only reason I’m alive, if the news is anything to go by.”
Nick’s eyes went wide. He helped her through the window quickly. “You’ve seen the news? What did it say?”
“Not a lot. It went off soon after, but it was pretty clear that this is happening everywhere, all over the world.”
Nick jumped out of the window after her and let his gaze drop to the floor. “Well, guess that’s that, then. This is the goddamn apocalypse, isn’t it?”
Annaliese shook her head. It was crazy to use that word in a literal sense, but… “Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is the end of the world as we know it. The news did say there was military in some places, but didn’t say where, other than up north. Maybe if we hold out long enough, things will change.”
“Let’s hope so.”