Saturday, 14 February 2009 - 3:10 pm

Barricading

I haven’t been able to find him yet. By the time I got Ben and Thorpe to let go of me, the sharks were gone and they had taken Matt with them. I was so angry with the boys that I tore into them, but it was too late to go after them.  That was my best friend. They were right – it was dangerous – but that didn’t mean that I had to like it.

Besides, there were things we needed to tend to. Sax had taken another blow to the head and had a serious concussion. Sally was black and blue all over – I had to force her to show me how bad it was, and then I made the doctor look at her like she’s a patient. Thorpe took a pounding as well and I had to check over his still-healing cuts from the last fight (he doesn’t like Masterson poking at him). 

No-one’s in great shape. I have a split lip and took more than a few hard blows myself. I feel like one big bruise when I stop long enough for the aches to start up. My arm isn’t bothering me for a change – maybe the bone is finally healing.

Masterson said that the injured shouldn’t really be moved – especially Sax. That presented a problem: what if the sharks come back? We have no idea how many little friends they might have, how many of them there might be the next time.

We decided to stay in the mall, but we made the most what we could. We settled the injured in a small store with a back door that we could barricade and a front we think we can defend. We rearranged the shelves and stock to make the most of what space we have. We’re safer together, so we’re all staying close.

 

By the time everything was sorted out, the rain had started, sheeting down in the middle of the building through that hole in the roof. It was early – a couple of hours early, at least. I’m not going anywhere else today.

Ben had that taut look around his eyes again when I said how much I wanted to get out and look for Matt. I had forgotten how easily he gets jealous, so I had to explain to him that Matt was an old friend, that I’d known him since I was a kid. That he’s like family to me. That he’s not an ex-boyfriend, or current boyfriend, or anything like that.

Ben relaxed again – that was what he needed to hear. He’s so touchy, but I suppose ‘we’ are a new thing. We’re still getting to know each other. I told him that meeting my ex wouldn’t be a threat to him anyway, and then I had to explain about Cody, and that was… odd. It wasn’t even hard to talk about Cody and what he did with Bree. Before all of this, his name would stick in my throat as if I’d swallowed it the wrong way around. I didn’t tell Ben about what happened the last time I saw Matt. I’m trying not to think about that too much – I just want to find him again.

It’s funny how the end of the world puts things in perspective. 

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