Among Monsters (Page 21)

“What if she heads back this way?” Dad asked. “We would see her. We could bring her here.”

My face fell, and I blinked, unimpressed with his ridiculous attempt to appease me with false scenarios. “You’re scared. You’re too scared to keep going.”

“Honey,” Dad began.

“You had to walk one day, and you’re scared? You killed a dozen infected and walked away without a scratch. We hit a parked truck at fifty miles an hour and barely noticed. Why are you suddenly opposed to Red Hill?” I was trying to remain calm, but with every point, my tone got higher.

Tavia clasped her hands together. “We’re all scared—”

“Then, stay!” I said, my voice transitioning to a weird chuckle even though I found none of what they were saying funny. “You don’t have to come with us. But our mom is waiting for us at Red Hill, and that is where Halle and I are going.”

“Not today,” Dad said.

“Then, when?” I asked again, emphasizing each word.

“When I say,” he said, sounding final.

I laughed once without humor. “I’m not asking to go to the mall. We’re talking about Mom being alone without us! She’s waiting for us! Do you honestly think I care that you’re”—I used my fingers to make quotation marks in the air—“the dad right now?”

He stomped over to me and leaned into my face, taking me back to a time when my parents had still been married. “You’d better start caring. Just because it’s the end of the world doesn’t mean I won’t whip your ass!”

Tavia pulled him back, and he flipped around, picking up a pillow and throwing it against the wall.

She eyed Dad warily. She was now seeing the side of him that Halle and I were used to, a side that I had been waiting for since this began.

“Andrew, maybe you should take a walk and see if you can do anything more to secure the house.”

Dad turned to her, his face severe. The skin between his brows had formed a crevice, as deep and as dark as his anger in that moment. His hazel-green eyes burned bright against his olive skin. Just when I thought he would start yelling again, he left the room.

Tavia took a deep breath and held her hand to her heart. “That was—”

“Typical,” I grumbled.

“You fight like that with him a lot?”

“We used to but not lately.”

“He gets pretty mad, huh?” she asked, glancing at the closed door.

“He has a temper. He’s working on it—allegedly.”

“Is that why you want to get to your mom so bad?”

My eyebrows pulled in. “What would you do if you were separated from Tobin?”

She blinked.

“She’s my mom. If I scrape my knee, I call for her. If I’m sick, I ask for her. If I’m scared, I cry for her. If there’s an apocalypse, I’m going to the ends of the earth for her.” My eyes and nose burned. The sudden emotion surprised me. I wiped my cheek and sniffed, staring at the floor. “It’s forty miles. We can make it.”

“We…we don’t know if Tobin can make forty miles. Who knows how long that would take on foot?”

“It doesn’t matter if we waste time here. What were you two talking about? How to convince me to stay? For a few days? For a week? Forever?”

“No.” She shook her head. “We’re just worried about the little ones being able to make it that far. We need a car—or at the very least, a way to carry the supplies. I can’t hold Tobin all day long. I can’t run with him. It’s too dangerous to try.”

“I like you, Tavia. I’m not trying to be mean, but no one’s asking you to come with us. If you want to stay here, stay here.”

She was taken aback. “I know, but we can’t do this alone. We need one another.”

“Brad will leave eventually for Shallot. You need my dad to stay.”

“It’s not so different. You need him to leave.”

“But he’s my dad. I’m not going to give up on seeing my mom again because you can’t travel with Tobin.”

Tavia’s sweet smile fell away. She wasn’t being confrontational, but she did have the look of a mother bear protecting her cub. “Halle can’t make the trip either. You would be risking her life if you go, especially if you try something as ridiculous as leaving without your dad. We’re the adults, Jenna. He’ll listen to me.”

I took a deep breath and lowered my chin. Tavia was pretty intimidating. I thought about what Mom would say when I told her about this conversation later. She would want me to fight. She would want me to do anything I could to get Halle and me to Red Hill.

“My dad and I have had our ups and downs,” I said, keeping my voice low and steady. “But if you try to make him pick between you or me, you’ll lose.”

I pulled open the bedroom door and walked out, passing the den where Halle and Tobin were sleeping soundly.

When I got to the kitchen, April was sitting at the rectangular table, sipping her coffee by candlelight. “Morning,” she said, watching me with knowing eyes. “Your dad’s outside.”

“I know,” I said, taking a seat at the opposite end of the table.

April’s long hair was pulled up into a bun at the crown of her head. She had changed into an oversized white oxford and capri jeans with white slip-ons. She noticed me taking in her appearance, and she glanced down to her shirt. “It’s Dean’s. Probably weird, but I was looking through our closet for something to wear, and I just pulled it right off the hanger.” I didn’t respond. She continued, “I slept with a pile of his dirty clothes last night. Now, that’s bizarre.” She chuckled to herself and then began to cry.

Halle stumbled in with narrow eyes and wild hair, clumsily trying to put on her glasses as she made her way to the table.

“We’ve got to find you a brush,” I said, pulling her onto my lap.

“What’s for breakfast?” she said with a raspy voice.

Air so foul it should have been bright green wafted from her mouth to my nose, and in reaction, I turned my head.

“We’ve got to find you some toothpaste, too!”

She giggled and rested her cheek on my shoulder. Normally, she wasn’t that affectionate with me. After Halle came home from spending the weekend at Dad’s, she would wallow in Mom until she was finally ordered to bed, and even then, she’d ask for Mom to come to bed with her to snuggle. Dad wasn’t an affectionate person by nature, so Mom had been the one who satisfied Halle’s need for hugs, kisses, rocking, and holding. After Halle had come into the world, she had demanded everyone’s attention, and I’d learned to live without it for the most part.

It occurred to me that Halle and I weren’t really that affectionate at all, not since she was a toddler. Now, she was curled up in my lap like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“I can make you something,” April said. “What would you like? The other kids will wake up hungry, too.”

“Do you have biscuits and gravy?” she asked.

“I do,” April said, standing.

I stood up, bringing Halle with me. “Come with me. We’ll find a way to get all those rats out of your hair and some toothpaste.”

“I don’t have a toothbrush,” Halle said.