The Long Dark by Billy Farmer (best book club books for discussion .txt) 📗

She and Tom had become very good friends during her short time at the Patch. There were rumors they were more than friends, but then everyone was sleeping with everyone according to the rumor mill. Either way, the point was they were close.

“Yeah,” I said, a little hurt by the exchange.

She walked away.

Sam gave me a questioning look as I walked towards him. Ignoring the look, I asked him how he was.

“Son, that gray fucker done some damage, but I think I might be able to walk with a stiff-ass leg. If we have-ta run, ‘ough, I’m screwed.”

“I’ve seen worse. Suck it up,” I said.

"I can still outrun you, Bubba."

“Seriously, are you okay?”

He knew I wasn’t talking about his leg. “Them Grays… none of ‘is seems real. Almost too much, ya know?” He shook his head closed his eyes.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, I know. We're tough sonofvabitches, though."

For an instant, I saw the old Sam. He opened his eyes, half smiled, and said, “Cept ‘em two,” flicking his chin towards Avery and Titouan.

I laughed, thinking about the absurdity of what I was getting ready to say. “It took a damn apocalypse for it to happen, but those two seem to have bonded over it.”

He shook his head and lay back, trying to relax his leg as best as possible. Finally, he said, “We’ll see how long it lasts. Remind Tit about ‘em generators and see how close ‘ey are.”

“You’re probably right about that.”

As I talked to Sam, I noticed Titouan and Tish having an animated conversation in the far corner of the building. The knife, I thought. Tish launched an angry look my way. Bastard. He was blaming it on me. He must’ve been persuasive because she dug a folding knife out of her coat pocket and slammed it into his open palm.

I walked over to Avery. I thought about sitting down next to him, but I wasn’t sure I could get up quickly if I needed to. My legs were killing me. Too many years of eating and partying while also sitting behind a desk. I decided I’d make the best out of my pain and stand in between him and Titouan. No need for Avery seeing what Titouan was about to do. He was already stressed and worried enough.

Before I had a chance to utter a word, Avery said, “I am freezing.”

“Do you feel like getting up and walking around? That’ll help.”

“No.”

“Come on, dude, you’re not dying. You have a little bite on your hand,” I said, frustrated.

He looked at me as if I was a complete moron. “A bite is how it normally starts. Besides, I would not be dying in a literal sense. It would be more along the lines of a quasi-state between living and dead – somewhere on the life-death continuum.”

“Jesus, Avery. Just stop it, okay?”

Avery had a knack for instantly tuning out things he wasn’t interested in. I tried to talk to him, but he didn’t reply. I used the excuse of buttoning up his coat, so I could get close enough to check his temperature and make sure he was okay. He broke his gaze with whatever held his interest and turned his attention to me. “I am scared.” He thumbed towards the not completely out of his sight body. “I could very well turn into one of those.”

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. We’ll make it to Miley’s, and we’ll figure all this shit out.”

He scanned my face but didn't offer any kind of Avery-esque reply. Instead, he said, "I need to close my eyes for a few moments."

"No. No, you're not going to do that," I said, remembering what Tom had said before he had fallen asleep. I looked at everyone, and said, "We leave in fifteen minutes. We can't stay here." I hoped if I could keep him moving nothing would happen to him. When I banged my head when I was a kid, the doctor told my mom not to let me go to sleep for a while. I thought about that for some reason, as if those two things were even remotely related.

Maybe I was being as irrational as I was relatively sure Avery was being, but it was my job to make sure he was taken care of and protected. That, and if anyone was ready for something like this, it was Miley. I had heard rumors that he was a prepper, even though I never saw much evidence of it, aside from the numerous guns he collected and that were always on display around his office. Even if it wasn’t true, we came to Barrow to see Miley, and that’s what we were going to do. If anyone else had a better plan, I was open to listening. Besides, there hadn’t been any shots fired for a while, and that was our litmus test for leaving.

“Avery is going to be okay. Why do we have to rush?” Tish asked.

I pulled her aside, while keeping an eye on Avery, and told her what Tom had said before he turned or whatever happened to him. She told me I was acting crazy.

“William,” she said in a lowered voice. “Avery thinks he’s turning into a zombie, and you’re allowing him to.” She laughed while shaking her head. “I’m pretty sure, and I can’t believe I’m even saying this out loud, zombies don’t stab people. Christ, William, they’re not even real.” She paused for effect. “You’re making things worse all around.”

“What do you mean?”

In her moment of frustration, she blurted out mine and Titouan’s plan to deal with the Gray. Well, mostly Titouan’s. “You seriously told Titouan to stab the guy in the head?”

“It wasn’t my idea--”

Not letting me finish throwing Titouan under the bus, she yelled, “There are no fucking zombies.”

Shit.

Well, the secret was out of the bag. So much for hiding what Titouan did from Avery. “What’s done is done. I don’t believe he was, you know, a