Page 19 of Hollow Child

Samara rolled her eyes at her father. “You always do anyway. Docks and train stations every time we pass one, even though there’s never anything there.”

“Well, you don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to,” Garrison said.

“I want to see the houses. There might be some good stuff left,” I said. “I’ve been hoping to find a few things for the baby.”

“We can look for you,” Remy offered.

“I’d like to look for myself,” I persisted. “I’ll rest when we find somewhere comfortable, and then I’ll have Max and Ripley with me.”

“I’ve seen zombies take over the world, and that lion following you around everywhere is one of the stranger things I’ve seen,” Polly commented.

“Lions live in prides with their families in the wild,” I said. “They like being with family and take care of each other. They’re pack animals, like humans.”

“I never really think of humans as pack animals,” Remy said.

“That’s because you think that you’re a lone wolf,” Serg replied, and we all laughed at that. Remy even smirked, but Boden seemed to laugh a little too loud.

We strolled down the road that rolled right into a quaint main street. The houses and buildings that lined it – a cutesy log cabin, a gas station, a thrift store next to a market, a tiny post office with a totem pole carved into a bear out front – had their windows broken out with vines and plants overgrowing and overtaking everything they could. I was surprised that the totem pole had held up, but it was carved from a very sturdy log.

“How about the old mill?” Lillian asked, peering in one of the windows of a historic looking structure. It was a rustic three story building made of brick situated directly on the river.

“‘This gristmill was constructed by Father Constantine in 1821. It played a crucial role in the development along the Staulo River. Preserved by the Staulo River Historical Society,’” Samara read off the bronze plaque by the front door of the mill.

“What the heck is a gristmill?” Castor asked.

“It ground grain into flour using wind or water back before we had electricity,” Lillian explained. “This one uses the water from the river.”

Garrison peered into the window. “It held up after all these years, and the Lord only knows what else it has endured in the past decade. It’d be a great place to rest up for the night.”

Remy opened the door and went inside, and Boden followed behind her, armed with his machete in case zombies had gotten trapped in. I sat down on the curb outside, waiting for them to let us know it was safe, and my feet were throbbing. Every day we walked, my boots grew tighter and tighter, no matter how much I loosened the laces.

I shrugged off my knapsack with a wince. Myshoulders burned and my back was screaming from the strain of carrying all my possessions on my back and my baby in my belly. None of it was easy, but I knew that this journey was the only way to find help for me and the baby. So I gritted my teeth and did my best to grin and bear it the way that Remy had always taught me.

“How are you doing?” Max asked me softly. He must’ve noticed the pain on my face. He noticed everything. He had always been so perceptive and considerate, especially with me.

“My back hurts, but it’s manageable.” I downplayed my discomfort.

“Here.” He sat down directly behind me, with his back gently touching mine. “Lean back against me. See if that helps.”

I did as he said, and instantly felt some relief in the sharpest pain of my lower back. “Thank you. That is better.”

“No problem.” His hand was at his side, and I reached back and took it in mine. “I’ll carry you all the way to Emberwood, if you let me.”

“I would let you if I didn’t think we’d both end up with a broken leg,” I replied honestly. He was tall, wiry, and strong, but carrying me that far would be way too dangerous and exhausting, if not impossible.

“Do you think I have enough time to head to the docks?” Garrison asked, and he glanced down at the mechanical watch he wore on his wrist.

By then, we’d mostly been resting while the others were getting the mill ready. Cleaning out garbage and animal debris so we’d have a safe space to lay our bedrolls.

“Darkness is coming soon, and we’re in a strange area,” Remy said. “Why don’t you wait until morning, and we all can explore the town together?”

“Yeah. Sure. Right,” Garrison agreed, but hesounded a tad disappointed. He had to be thirty years older than Remy, and he’d only recently joined up with us, and yet he already deferred to her.

At home, Remy had this way of taking command of everything, but I had wondered if that was just the way she behaved inside our family. It was interesting to see her have the same effect on other people, although I doubted that Samara or Lillian would have folded as easily as Garrison.

By the stony exterior of the mill, I had assumed the interior would be more of the same, but everything was covered in natural wood. There were circular grinding stones on the main floor, and giant funnels on the second. Above that was another floor that Remy and Boden cleared of zombies or danger, but there was more than enough floor space for all of us to camp out on the second level, so that’s what we did.

After we all ate, Remy and Lillian went down for the first watch, while Boden, Serg, and Garrison laid down for the night.

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