Episode 15: The Dinner (Part 3)
“No. I’ll go.”
We looked over to see Aaron in the main archway looking slightly disheveled but composed. He sat down next to Lin. He stared at Nathan and then Mr. Jones. “I will like to apologize for my absence, Luther. I decided to come back out of respect for our guest.”
“I was just about to ask about you. I’m glad you can join us,” Jones said smiling.
“So it’s storytime? Delightful,” he said slurring slightly with his posh accent. “Well, I’m a doctor obviously.
“More like a quack,” Lin snorted.
He frowned at her but continued. “As I was saying I worked at a hospital and was asked to aid in the crisis involving the dead. Patient after patient coming down with some horrible disease. It was horrifying, I offered to help out with the army to set up a sanctuary in an abandoned asylum. Where I met you all. But I know you’re curious about what happened earlier. About that letter.”
“It’s fine. I did have a wife and I had a child on the way actually. I can’t say that didn’t love her, but I was going through the motions and wasn’t being very honest with myself or her. When I heard she was with child, I planned to break off things with a colleague I was seeing. A colleague I was having an affair with. His name was Alexander or Alex. He was a kind soul. Thoughtful. Smart. I didn’t want to break his heart, but I owe my wife that much. She was having my child for christ sakes! But the day I ended things with him was the day the hospital became overrun with the dead. The last thing he gave to me was that letter and the last thing I said to him was I didn’t want to see him anymore. You can imagine how that makes me feel. How that letter is valuable to me.
“That’s actually really touching, Aaron,” Lin said genuinely stunned.
“I guess so,” he said shrugging. He pulled out a flask emptying the contents in his mouth and placed it back in his pocket. “Anyway, it appears I need a refill. So enough about me. How about the next person go, so I can carry on drinking.”
I looked from one to the other. Their eyes zeroed on me again. I knew my time was up.
I sighed, sat up, and cleared my throat. “I wasn’t a good guy. What I might say may change your opinion of me and that’s fine, but know I’m not that man I use to be.”
They all shared concerning looks but paid close attention to me now.
“I was also a thief. I was also a convicted felon. I spent a lot of my life in prison for dumb shit. I stole from people’s houses, assaulted people, and booted cars for a living. I was addicted to the fast money and the thrill of it all. Got even worse when I became a father. Couldn’t exactly get an honest job to take care of her you know. Not when you got a record,” I said as the total silence in the room was deafening.
“So you’re a convicted felon?!” Matthew gasped.
“Oh, here we go.”
“You..you…we can’t trust you!” he stammered angrily rising up to his feet immediately.
Madison stood up and blocked him shielding me from him. “Matthew. Please.”
“He’s a convicted murderer!”
“Wrongly convicted and he didn’t have to tell us that. He could have lied!”
Matthew fumed. “Wrongly accused. Ha! He could be lying now. He’s dangerous!”
“I’m not lying!”
I stood up and looked past Madison. It was then I felt Audrey behind me grabbing my arm. She tugged at it trying to pull me away, but the two of us weren’t letting up. Our eyes locked on each other ready to shed blood if need be. Only Madison was keeping us from throwing blows. She stood helplessly between us trying to keep us both away from each other. She looked strangely tiny as she stuck out her arms trying to distance us. I glanced over to see the rest of the table was now standing. Luther remained seated, but they all seemed to be talking all at once. Their cries all mixing together as they appeared to be pleading for us to stop as well.
He then shook his head and folded his arms. “I knew it. You’re probably one of the Cartel aren’t you?”
I scowled. “No, you racist shit!”
“Please stop this!” Audrey cried grasping my arm for dear life. “He’s not dangerous. He’s a good man! He saved my life. He literally went through a burning building to save me. I swear!”
“I believe her!” Madison cried. “Please.”
“So this is how you treat me? After I kept your fucking secret,” I spat turning back to Matthew. A smug smile then graced my face as I realized what I was saying. He seemed to catch on and he suddenly looked terrified. I continued. “So, Wade, since you want to open your big ass mouth, did anyone tell you that we didn’t get any gasoline? Not one drop? I’m sure Matthew told you. Ohhh, we weren’t supposed to tell you till we scrounged some up, so you wouldn’t bitch about it!”
“What?” he gasped wide-eyed.
“And Madison, do you know what your little boyfriend here told me not to tell you?”
She turned her attention to me confused. “Huh?”
“He’s lying!”
“We found a walker on a stake that looked remarkably like you. Also found a message.”
“Wait! What?”
“The message said, “We’re watching you! Was written in blood on the wall of the gas station when went we back, but you’re not supposed to know that! No one is. Now, who’s the trustworthy one now?”
Madison backed away wide-eyed from Matthew then. She looked completely shocked. The color almost looked to be draining from her face.
“I..I was protecting you,” he stuttered. He stepped towards her softening his voice. “I was going to tell you…”
This didn’t calm her. Not one ounce. With a flash, her hand connected with his face and slapped him. He stumbled backwards and grabbed his cheek.
“I…I trusted you!” Madison howled. “How could you? This endangers me. It endangers us all. How could you keep this from me? From us?“
Matthew said nothing. The room was completely silent. You could almost hear a pin drop. Then I jumped feeling something on my leg. I looked down to see a cat. A white cat. Audrey had mentioned it, but I stared down at it perplexed by its presence. It meowed and walked over to the glass door. My eyes were drawn to it while everyone else seemed to be in a trance staring at Matthew as he stumbled over his words trying to explain himself.
I watched the cat paw at the glass. It eyes focused on something outside. Grace then spotted the cat too. She walked over to it pushing pass Matthew and she bent down to retrieve it. As she bent down to pick it up, something bumped into the door loudly. It was so loud we all jumped and I though the glass had broken. Audrey practically leaped into my arms from just the sound.
I looked up and away from the cat to see a corpse staring in now. He clawed at the glass door and loudly banged his head on it again making a thin crack. The cat sat down and continued to paw at the now blood-smeared glass. Everyone seemed to be fully aware of the cat and the corpse now. They gather at the door looking positively frightened.
“I’ll take care of it,” he said regaining his composure. “But dinner’s over.”
There’s some foreshadowing going on at the end. ;)
And ugh wished I could have done more with Vince’s flashbacks, but it was a last min decision to include it. Someone needs to make a ski mask for TS3. -_- Anyway, the first poll for the season will be posted next. Will be something to lighten things up as things are about to get rough.
Part 1
Part 2
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