Isolation by Jones, Nathan (the first e reader .TXT) 📗

“You'd think so, since we got an entire crate of them from that prepper's house you scavenged. But they're all solid like this and won't pour.” She squeezed the plastic sides in demonstration, nothing happening.

Nick set Tallie down again, happy to see her strong enough to stand with barely even a wobble, testament to the fact that she was almost completely recovered from her terrifying bout of Zolos, and reached for his pocket knife. “Here, I'll cut it open. We'll have to find some way to store what's left over, though.”

“Fine by me, as long as I can actually use the stupid stuff.”

He sliced the container lengthwise and pried it open, handing it back to Aimee so she could scoop a generous amount into the oatmeal. Then she filled bowls for him and Tallie, giving them time to get started eating, before calling to the rest of their camp that lunch was ready.

Tallie climbed back into his lap and began happily spooning oatmeal into her mouth, although after a few bites she paused and shot him a solemn look. “Aimee took me to visit Mommy and Ricky earlier,” she said.

“Oh yeah?” Nick mumbled around a big mouthful; he only had a few minutes left before his shift started. “How are they doing?”

“Good,” she said, although her big greenish-brown eyes became sad. “Ricky said their isolation ends tomorrow, and they're going to try to move into Stanberry with Gen where it's safer. That means we won't be able to visit them, right?”

He blinked; had it been three weeks already since Ellie got here? He supposed it had, although the time had certainly flown with everything that had happened. “For a while,” he admitted. “But I'm glad that they'll be safe in town.”

“But are they going to have the wedding before they move in?” Tallie asked anxiously. “If they have it in Stanberry we won't be able to go!”

Maybe it was a bit cynical, but Nick thought Ellie trying to have a huge wedding in the middle of a siege wasn't the best idea anyway. Although he could understand why their daughter would be devastated about not being able to attend the big event.

“We'll ask your mom about it,” he told her, kissing the top of her head. “But I'm sure she wouldn't want us to miss such an important day . . . she's already said they're postponing the wedding until things settle down, right?”

Tallie nodded, looking relieved, and went back to eating her oatmeal.

The rest of Nick's day was mostly uneventful. Jay and his thugs remained worryingly absent, even when Nick risked having his patrol venture farther out looking for signs of them. Darby had asked them earlier to try to find whatever hideout Jay and his people were using as they harassed Stanberry, since it couldn't be too far away, but Nick was leery about venturing out too far.

Wherever Jay and his people were, they'd have their own sentries and patrols and were probably well dug in. While Nick was well aware of the importance of knowing where the enemy was, he didn't want to get his people killed by blundering around carelessly.

Although he meant to talk it over with Denny and the other leaders when he got the chance, see what they could come up with; the entire point of the Zolos-immune patrols was to do the stuff that the people trapped in the camp and town couldn't.

That included not letting Jay control this fight, even if it meant venturing out into more dangerous areas.

The Wensbrook group still hadn't tried anything when Nick finished his shift that evening, wearily heading back to camp to catch a late dinner and tuck Tallie in for the night. On the way there he also stopped by Ellie's camp to ask her about the wedding and say goodnight to Ricky.

“We'll have to see what Stanberry says,” his ex-wife said. “I'm going to talk to Darby in the morning about moving in. But as for any plans . . .”

She glanced longingly in the direction of the scavengers' camp, obviously thinking of their daughter; it had been months since she'd been able to hold Tallie, and Nick could understand how hard that must be for her.

It hadn't been quite as long since he'd been able to hug Ricky, but he still missed his son more than words could say.

Ellie turned back to him with a shaky breath and continued firmly. “You're right, of course we won't make any plans that would leave Tallie out. Or you and our friends in the survivors' camp.” She gave him a wan smile. “Although with everything that's going on setting a new date is kind of up in the air.”

Nick nodded grimly, but let the subject drop and turned to Ricky. “How you doing, buddy? Has it been nice to have other kids around to play with?”

“Yeah.” His son said, although he made a face. “But mostly we just do schoolwork, or sit around. There's not enough room in here to really play any games.”

“Well hopefully tomorrow you'll be able to head into town and there'll be lots of fun stuff to do.” Nick stifled a yawn, then reluctantly said his goodnights and headed back to camp.

The night after Jay had burned the outlying houses Nick had barely slept at all. Thankfully last night he'd slept a bit better, mostly due to pure exhaustion, even though the tension of an impending attack was still there. But tonight he was looking forward to really getting some solid sleep.

Unless of course Jay attacked.

But whatever that psycho did, Nick needed to learn to get rest when he could. He was going to burn out fast otherwise.

And he couldn't afford to be at anything but his best, with his loved ones depending on him.

✽✽✽

Ellie finished jotting down the numbers Johnny had just fed her, then leaned away from her workspace with a weary sigh. “Okay, thanks for the update,” she said. “I think you're right that the numbers are going