After the incident with the two zombies, two weeks had passed and everything was moving smoothly. Dad, Papa, Uncle Brandon, Bob, and Jason were all able to get three different deer, supplying enough meat for us to last another month as long as we ate vegetables and fruit with every meal. That find was huge, but it wasn't the highlight of the month.
We were nearing February, and since it started to snow a lot after the two weeks of being able to build the fence, we've been sitting inside and developing the innards of the school. The heat has been working thanks to the solar panels, and various books around the school were being read to increase our knowledge. We never really stopped learning.
"It feels like we never even left," Cody commented, shoving his face into a picture book in our library. I don't think he was doing much learning... but reading was never bad, was it?
We walked from the library with our new books to the gym, when another knock showed up on the door.
"Do you think it's more people again? Or the zombies? Either or, we should get somebody," I told Cody. We set our books down by our sides and ran into the gymnasium where Mom, Gammie, and Tete were all sitting around a circular table while talking about something I couldn't understand.
"Mom, there's knocking again. We didn't check what it was," I told her. She nodded, praising me for doing the right thing, and she pulled out a walkie-talkie on her hip to talk to Dad.
"More of them, at the front door. What do you want to do?" She asked him. There was a moment of silence as she began to tap her foot, and then Dad came on with an answer.
"Go ahead, let them in. Act nice, we'll watch from afar," He said bluntly, emitting static again from Mom's walkie-talkie.
She unlocked the door by pushing the wood bar to the side and had the palm of her hand resting on the gun in the holster hanging on the left side of her body.
"What do you want?" Mom asked them in a pleasant tone. I wasn't sure how you could be nice with that wording, but she found a way.
"Hey. My name is Korin Abulia, this is my Dad and Mom, Ernesto and Grace Abulia," The kid in front of them said.
He couldn't have been much older than me, maybe a young teenager, but he spoke in an embarrassingly fake tone, trying to make his voice much deeper than we all knew it was.
"Introducing your parents for you? Are they mute?" Mom asked him again with sincerity in her tone.
"This place... you've been here for a while?" Korin asked. He completely ignored Mom, walking right past her to get in.
"Woah there, I don't remember saying you could come in. I know your names, but I don't know if you're good people. We'll have to have a meeting to see if you are allowed to join us," Mom told him.
From the get-go, since his parents remained outside and Korin allowed himself into our living space, I hated him. He looked at Mom with a disrespectful stare. He was only a little bit taller than me, yet he tried to look down on Mom from my height. He was rude, and way too unpredictable. Had I seen that behavior, I would've sent him away.
"Something tells me you've been housed away from all the dangers we've encountered... don't worry, we'll do a good job teaching you how to survive," Korin said again, looking into the gym to see everybody sitting down.
His demeanor bothered me a lot. He acted like he was the protagonist of this story, and walked around like he owned the place as if he deserved it. None of the above was true, nor justifiable. He was just an asshole, to put it simply.
"Kid, get out of our home. I've decided for everybody, you aren't allowed in," Mom said to him. She cut the nice tone, and right as she did, Dad and Bob walked from both of the opposite hallways that lined the school, coming together in the lobby to form a party of three adults, and Korin's parents.
They weren't even responding, just standing outside waiting in the light snowfall for Korin to finish his antics.
"Good afternoon guys, my name is Charlie Weiss, this is my wife Kristin Weiss, and that's my son Leon Weiss. May I ask, is there something that brings you in today?" Dad started again with a nice tone, purposefully positioning himself between Korin and me.
"Charlie, finally, a sensible adult here. Look, I've been out in the sticks for a while, I've done things... I've killed zombies... I've had to kill a person. I think this can be a great home for me," Korin said.
What was with that cringe?! That pause in between killing zombies and a person? I understand, taking a human life is a taboo I never want to cross, but the dramatization of the action itself takes away all meaning. Korin is a damn liar.
My inner thoughts have gotten more and more vulgar over time, ever since Dad shot that zombie right in front of me, all I can think of are these adult things like swearing and killing. I wasn't already losing myself, was I?
"And you guys? Have you guys had to kill people?" Dad turned away from Korin, which visibly upset him, but he remained latent, trying to get a good look at me through Dad.
"We... um..." Both Ernesto Abulia and Grace Abulia took a look at Korin and then looked back at us while nodding their heads.
That reeked of a collaborative lie.
"I'm sorry, it sounds like you guys deserve a break. What are your names?" Dad asked Korin's parents. Instead of them responding, Korin began to speak up.
"That's Ernesto, and that's-" Korin was cut off by my dad's stern look. When he was serious, you could almost see it through a wall. Not even Korin and all of his 'badass survivor' acts could surpass it.
"Sorry bud, I wasn't asking you what their names were, I wanted to know what their names were, from their mouths," Dad said. He remained strangely complacent, turning back to Korin's parents while he bit his tongue.
"I'm Ernesto... this is my wife," He let both of his hands fall on an uninterested presentation of his wife, who introduced herself as Grace.
"Well, in case you didn't hear, I'm Charlie, this is my wife Kristin, and my son Leon. This is his friend Cody. It's nice to meet you, and I look forward to working with you," Dad said. As always, he had a natural bout of leadership surrounding him. I don't care if he wasn't the president, a general, or the manager of whatever organization, he was the best leader ever.
"Us too," Ernesto slightly said. Korin began to snap his fingers as if to attract our attention back to him. I was lost with a frown on my face every time I had the displeasure of looking at him.
"Great, now that we're worrying about the important stuff, do you know how to kill the dead? Or, have you been too lucky?" Korin said, putting extra emphasis at the end of his sentence for dramatic effect.
Dad took one look at him, lost his smile, and then turned back to Korin's parents.
"Do you have any special skills? We're growing our workforce, and I'm sure we can find a place for you," Dad said to Ernesto and Grace.
Cody started to laugh as Dad purposefully ignored Korin. It almost looked like he wanted to have a temper tantrum at this point.
"What about me? You don't care for my skills?!" Korin shouted out. He interrupted his parents, embarrassed himself in front of everybody around him, and started stomping his feet with an annoyed tone.
"Is this guy younger than us?" Cody muttered into my ear. I almost broke out into laughter but was able to contain myself while still standing behind Dad. I still firmly believe Korin deserved to be laughed at, right in his stupid face.
"Look bud, I'm not talking to you right now, and I'd appreciate it if you'd wait your turn. Everybody is useful here, keep that in mind, so I know you'll have skills we can't end up passing up, so just wait your turn, and I'll get to you," Dad said. Even he was beginning to get irritated.
I mean, the door was right there. Why couldn't he just throw Korin out? I would firmly believe that he deserved it the most, out of anybody we would ever meet.
"Look, I'm crazy man! You don't want to ignore me for too long, I promise you!" Korin said. He tried to put on a crazy voice, but in doing so, he lost his fake deep voice. Was he an actor? A bad one, if at all.
"Excuse me?" Dad finally lost his patience, but the look on his face kind of churned my stomach. It wasn't of annoyance, but more of a creepy realization. What did Korin reveal that I couldn't see?