Isolation , Jones, Nathan [top 20 books to read TXT] 📗

do it tonight instead, if Jay really was going after the houses around town. Nick was in charge of patrolling that area, and had specifically asked the volunteers from his scavenger team and their friends and family to keep an eye on the Norsons' house and shed, and the stockpiles in them, so they should be safe.

But could they really take that chance, if there was a possibility Jay would get his hands on those desperately needed supplies? Without them the next few months went from being scary to being truly terrifying.

The silence on the radio finally erupted into cacophony as what seemed like every single person in Stanberry with a radio began speaking at once. Asking questions, demanding details, or just generally asking what the heck was going on.

Darby's strong, authoritative voice overwhelmed the chaos for a few seconds. “You're right, we should have a meeting. Everyone calm down and let's get it organized. Usual spot.”

Meetings like this generally took place near the front entrance of the quarantine camp, between it and Ellie's camp. The Zolos survivor patrol route passed close to it, so Nick and Denny and the other leaders could make an appearance, and they kept a lane open for Zolos-vulnerable people coming into the camp and another lane open beside it for guaranteed Zolos-free visitors from town.

It was probably the only place in the area where everyone could gather within speaking distance without being in danger or being a danger to others.

As acknowledgements sounded over the radio Ellie exchanged grim looks with Hal. “We sort of figured Jay might go for the nearby houses,” he said.

She nodded, sighing wearily. “It's just one thing after another, isn't it?”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her in comfort. “Maybe Nick and the others can expand their patrol routes a bit to cover them. It shouldn't be too much of an added strain.”

Ellie wasn't sure about that. She was always there when Nick took what time he could from his duties to visit Ricky, and she'd seen how exhausted and harried he was. And she was there at the planning meetings with the various leaders as they discussed patrols and sentry duty, and heard reports of how thinly stretched everyone was.

Hal was there for those too, but he tended to be the more optimistic of the two of them.

She hugged him back, resting her head on his shoulder. “Houses can be repaired or rebuilt, at least. Thank goodness Jay hasn't killed anyone.” Yet, she barely managed to keep from adding.

Even so, it hung unspoken between them as they waited for the others to gather for the meeting.

✽✽✽

Nick Statton genuinely felt for the McCleeses. They'd suffered so much already, only to have the house they'd fled destroyed by a vindictive lunatic and his goons.

He felt equally bad for the other poor people who'd chosen to flee to the safety of Stanberry, whose houses were being threatened with similar destruction. Assuming it hadn't already occurred. He could only imagine how it must feel to be trapped helplessly behind the town's barricades, unable to protect their homes for fear of a deadly disease.

He could see the pain and fury in the faces of the McCleese brothers at what had happened to their house, as his group made their way with Denny and a handful of other leaders among the Zolos survivor volunteers to a section of the patrol route near Ellie's camp, where the meeting had been planned.

Listening to Chet and Ben describe how family mementos like pictures had been destroyed with obvious vindictiveness was sickening.

Nick hadn't had much attachment to his new apartment in Kansas City, especially considering he'd moved in during the bitter months of separation leading up to his divorce. And while it had hurt a bit to see his family home of a decade burned to the ground, he'd long since cut ties with it because, again, after the divorce it had become Ellie's house, no longer his in his mind.

But for all these people in Stanberry who'd fled to the town as a temporary measure during the Zolos crisis, they still looked to a future where they could go home and get back to their lives. A future that had been threatened by Jay's spite.

Sure, Nick could see the hypocrisy of being outraged, when he and his scavengers had broken into Wensbrook houses and taken things. But although he wasn't trying to downplay what he'd done, there was a difference there.

Most of the poor citizens of Wensbrook had died to the virus. They weren't coming back, and Stanberry and its quarantine camp had desperately needed the supplies rotting in their houses. Meanwhile, Jay knew the owners of the houses around Stanberry were still alive and hoping to go home, and he'd done it anyway.

Then there was the fact that Nick and his team had done their best to respect the properties they scavenged from, taking only essentials and trying to leave everything else untouched. Meanwhile Jay's thugs were running around engaging in wanton destruction, out of pure vindictiveness and the joy of breaking things.

How could they go around stomping on family photos and trashing kids' bedrooms, even pissing on beds, when they knew those families would be coming home to that? Hadn't their own experiences given them even a shred of empathy?

Nick grit his teeth and turned his focus back to the coming meeting. The truth of it was that trying to understand why Wensbrook was doing it was all philosophical, because they were.

This was just another attack from that bald psychopath, another thing they had to deal with if they could.

Johnny and Starr were already leaning over the main camp's fence, and of course Ellie and Hal were in their camp. But as Nick and the others from the survivors' camp got comfortable in their usual meeting spot it quickly became apparent that, once again, Darby and Darrel and Stanberry's other leaders wouldn't be coming in person for the meeting.

Ellie was the one