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  “If you saw the scars then you saw how old they are. The guy’s been clean for twelve years. He’s fine.”

  “Did you know that recovering addicts are most likely to suffer a relapse during times of high stress?” Quinton lectured, “And I don’t know about you but I think high stress is the very definition of our lives right now.”

  Malcolm looked up at him for a moment before shaking his head and standing up.

  “Okay, let’s say he does decide he wants to go back down that path again, where’s he going to get it? It’s not like there’s a dealer he can just call up now.”

  “We got plenty of opiates in the medical stash.” It hit him that he hadn’t even bothered keeping the stuff locked up. “Shit, he could have skimmed some already.”

  “You need to relax. Has the guy seemed high to you? No, he’s been sober as a nun. You need to trust him.”

  “That’s easy for you to say, it’s not your sister who’s practically living with a drug addict.”

  Malcolm laughed then. “Is that what this is about? You want to go all overprotective brother on him, that’s fine, but I’m not going to let that interfere with the group dynamic. Jackson is a part of the group and I trust him.”

  Quinton shook his head and Malcolm rolled his eyes. “Come on, doc, don’t be so judgemental. You know how drugs can fuck up your brain and you know how hard it is to beat addiction. Give the guy some credit, twelve years off the hard shit, that’s the sign of a strong man.”

  “And I wouldn’t worry about him hurting your sister. He’s the one who saved her life after she got separated from you.”

  Quinton’s face burned with shame at the reminder of how he had failed his sisters that day.

  When their parents died, their father had made Quinton promise that he would always look after his sisters. He had sworn it to his father and hours later his father had been killed trying to protect all of them. Then, less than twenty four hours later, he had failed to keep that promise.

  It didn’t matter that they were now reunited. He couldn’t shake the sense of failure that ate away at him when that memory surfaced. He had left his sisters to fend for themselves, the two people he had vowed a long time ago to protect.

  So yeah, maybe he owed Jackson for helping Veronica but that didn’t mean he had to like the man around his sister and it certainly didn’t mean he was going to trust him.

  Subject File # 750

  Administrator: He said you stick up for him.

  Subject: He doesn’t need me to stick up for him.

  Administrator: And yet you still do.

  Subject: I do what’s right. There’s enough wrong in this world as it is, might as well do right when I can.

  “Canned ham, peas and macaroni and cheese.”

  Veronica looked up from her work on the fire pit as Janet listed off tonight’s dinner menu to Jenny. The two women were at the table, which was nothing more than a small piece of plywood and two folding chairs, sorting out the cans and boxes that would make up the meal.

  “Is it possible to overdose on sodium?” Jenny asked as she peeled open the can of ham. “Hey, you should ask your cute doctor friend if it can happen. Ask him to give you a thorough check-up, if you know what I mean.”

  “Jenny!” Janet hissed, glancing in Veronica’s direction. Veronica ducked her head to hide a smile, turning her attention to Audrey and Hannah and helping them arrange the kindling for the fire.

  “What? The doctor’s cute, anybody with eyes in their head can see that. No harm in saying it.”

  “I’m sure his sisters don’t want to listen to it,” Janet said, nodding towards Veronica and Claudia, who was keeping Ruthie busy digging in the soft ground not too far away.

  “It’s okay,” Veronica called out. “When your brother is a single young surgeon, you get used to every woman you meet wanting to be setup with him.”

  “I don’t want to be setup with him,” Janet said, her hand going to her throat as she laughed nervously.

  Her eyes darted in the direction of her sons, who were a little ways away filling pots with water from the jugs Jackson had dropped off a little while ago. The boys were too focused on the important chore of getting water ready to boil to listen in on the adults.

  Veronica sat back on her heels, studying Janet. “You sure? Because he likes you. That thing before about cutting vegetables…that was him flirting with you. Tragic, I know, but it’s the best he can do.”

  “What’s tragic?” Kim asked as she joined them, her arms loaded down with pots and pans.

  “My brother’s attempts at flirting with Janet.”

  “Oh, interesting,” Kim said. “Did he go with one of those sad pick-up lines? Did it hurt falling from heaven, that sort of stuff.”

  “You know, that’s the nice thing about the end of the world. Not that many men left, you don’t have to deal with catcalling and getting hit on as you go about your day.”

  “Except for my dork of a brother,” Claudia called out and Veronica laughed along with her.

  “He’s not that bad,” Janet said.

  “Oh, he’s not, is he?” Jenny said with a teasing smile. “So he’s good then. How good exactly?”

  “Stop,” Janet said in a no nonsense voice. “We don’t have time to waste on worrying about men. There are more important things to focus on.”

  “But it’s much more fun to tease you,” Kim said and the others laughed.

  “Nobody teases you about Malcolm,” Janet whined.

  “That’s because we’re old news by now. You and Quinton and Veronica and Jackson are the ones we’re talking about now.”

  “How the hell did I get dragged into this?” Veronica asked a bit too defensively and she could feel a blush moving up her neck to her face.

  “I’ve wanted to ask you what’s going on with him and I saw an opportunity to bring it up,” Kim said. “So, what’s the deal?”

  “There’s no deal.”

  “Are you sure?” Kim asked with a knowing smile. “Because I’ve seen some lingering looks from you.”

  She could feel the tips of her ears start to burn and she made a pathetic attempt to tell herself they were just sunburned. Sure, sometimes she’d catch herself staring at Jackson, appreciating the way he moved around camp, but that just meant she was still a healthy woman.

  “So?” she countered. “I’ve seen Jenny with her eyes glued to his ass. Why don’t we ask her what’s going on?”

  “Oh, nothing. I’m a married woman,” Jenny said, flashing her wedding band. “Of course, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the scenery from time to time.”

  They all laughed at Jenny’s cat-that-ate-the-canary grin.

  “Oh come on, Veronica. You’re both single, right? Why not?”

  “Why not?” Veronica repeated before raising a hand to tick off her fingers. “Because I’ve only known him a couple days. Because I have more important things to focus on.”

  She looked over at the girls as Hannah added dry leaves to the twigs that Audrey had stacked in the pit.

  “I’ve got a lot of responsibilities now, I can’t be distracted.”

  “I think you and Jackson would be a cute couple,” Audrey said, a sly smile on her face.

  “You’re supposed to be on my side, not theirs,” Veronica whined.

  “I don’t see what the big deal is,” Audrey replied with a shrug, “You guys already kissed.”

  “Whoa!”

  “Wait, what?”

  Veronica’s mouth dropped open, eyes widening in shock. “Who told you?”

  Audrey laughed. “You did. I was awake when you came into the tent and talked about it.”

  Veronica shook her head, eyes shutting as she prayed for the strength to get through what was about to happen.

  “Veronica Alpert, you lied to us.” Veronica opened her eyes to face Kim, who had her hands on her hips and a displeased expression. “You said there was nothing going on and now we find out you have been making out wi
th him all along.”

  Veronica rolled her eyes. “It was one kiss and an accidental one at that. I went in for the cheek and he turned his head at the last second. It was awkward and weird.”

  Jenny waved her explanation away. “A kiss is a kiss. I bet they’ll be together before we get to the island.”

  Janet shook her head. “Not if they are sharing a tent with the girls. My money's on them getting together our first night there.”

  “Nope,” Claudia said, “I know her. She’s going to hold out on principle now. She really likes to be right but she also has little self-control.”

  “Hey!”

  “It’s true,” Claudia said with a shrug. “So I’d bet on a month after we get to the island.”

  “You know what, I’m going to get a pen and some paper. We can write this all down, start a pool,” Kim said.

  “Alright, that’s enough for me,” Veronica said, standing up and dusting off her jeans. “You guys have got things here, I’m going to go help set up the tents.”

  “While you’re at it, you should ask Jackson if you can help pitch his tent,” Jenny teased and the other women burst out laughing.

  Veronica refused to rise to the bait and walked away with her head held high, though she kept her back to them so they wouldn’t see the smile on her face.

  Despite being the butt of their joke, Veronica appreciated the camaraderie their little gossip session provided. It reminded her of what it meant to be normal. Despite everything that had happened, they were still the same people they had been before.

  She walked over to the cluster of vehicles and saw Trey kneeling on the roof of the van, talking to Jackson. She could tell by the set of his shoulders that Jackson was angry about something and she picked up her pace to get within earshot.

  “Who took it?” Jackson demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Trey replied. “There have been a bunch of people taking things.”

  “Who the hell went in my fuckin’ van?” Jackson barked and Trey jumped.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Somebody stole my pack outta the van,” Jackson said.

  “Stole? Are you sure someone didn’t just move it?”

  “Rest of your shit is still in there. Mine’s the only shit missin’. Somebody stole it.”

  “I’m sure it’s just a mistake,” Veronica told him before turning to Trey. “Do you remember who all came by here?”

  Trey scratched his head as he thought about it. “Malcolm, Mom, Alan, the twins, Quinton and Lorraine have been by. Malcolm got tools, Mom and the twins got cooking stuff, Alan got his and Jenny’s stuff out of the jeep, Lorraine got some water for Craig and Quinton got…shit.”

  “What did my brother get?” Veronica said a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Trey eyed Jackson warily for a moment before answering her. “He said you asked him to get your stuff out of the van.”

  “Sonofabitch!” Jackson cursed. “Where the hell is he now?”

  Trey shook his head. “No idea.”

  “Can’t have got far, I’m gonna kill that asshole,” Jackson said, stomping off towards the creek and Veronica ran to catch up with him.

  “Jackson, I’m sure Quinton has a reason for this.”

  “Fuck reason, he ain’t got no reason to steal my shit.”

  Veronica had the sinking feeling that there was going to be little she could do to stop the collision course they were on. For some idiot reason, her brother had taken Jackson’s things and lied about it. Quinton was up to something and she was scared what would happen when Jackson found out what it was.

  Jackson had good instincts. Sure enough, when the creek came into view, they spotted Quinton down the bank a ways. He was kneeling in the dirt, Jackson’s pack open in front of him as he rifled through the contents.

  Jackson snorted like an angry bull as he zeroed in on Quinton and Veronica picked up her pace, running towards Quinton and getting ahead of Jackson.

  “Quinton, what the hell are you doing?” she cried out as she skidded to a stop beside him.

  “Ya stole my shit, Alpert!” Jackson yelled as he came up to them and Veronica moved so she was between the two men.

  “Just making sure you hadn’t stolen my shit,” Quinton spat back and Veronica looked back at him.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “He’s a drug addict, Veronica, and I’ve been carrying around a whole bunch of opiates. I had to make sure he hadn’t stolen any from the people who really need them.”

  “Fuck you, asshole, I didn’t steal shit,” Jackson said, trying to take a step around Veronica but she moved to block him again. If this came to physical blows, there was no way she could stop them and who knows how much damage they would do before Malcolm or Alan showed up to pull them apart?

  “Quint, he didn’t take anything,” Veronica said. “You’re being paranoid.”

  “He lied to you about who he is. How can you believe him now?”

  “He never lied to me. He told me about his past, the drugs, prison, all of it,” Veronica told him.

  “And you still brought him here?” Quinton said a look of disgust on his face. “You let him be around those little girls? Do you even know what he could do to them?”

  The tension that she had sensed building inside Jackson snapped and she couldn’t move fast enough to stop him as he dodged around her. She had barely turned around when Jackson’s fist cracked against Quinton’s jaw, sending him stumbling back onto the ground, dazed. The daze only lasted a few seconds before her brother rocketed to his feet, planting his fist in Jackson’s stomach and doubling him over.

  “Stop it!” she screamed but she might as well have whispered it for all they heard her. Jackson ran at Quinton, drilling his shoulder into his stomach and sending them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs as they grappled.

  She heard voices in the distance and she turned to see Alan, Malcolm and Kim running their way, weapons in hand. They fumbled a moment at the sight of two of their own fighting each other instead of fighting an outside threat but they recovered quickly.

  Malcolm and Alan dropped their guns and went to pull the men apart as Kim came to stand next to her.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “My brother has lost his damn mind.”

  There was a lot of grunting and swearing as Quinton and Jackson were pulled apart. They were both breathing hard and had blood trickling from various parts of their faces as Malcolm demanded to know what the hell was going on.

  “He stole my pack,” Jackson said, lifting his chin towards Quinton, who glared back at him.

  “I was just checking to make sure he didn’t steal from us,” Quinton said in his defence.

  “Doc, I told you to leave that shit alone,” Malcolm said with a warning shake of his head.

  “Yeah well, you may trust him but I don’t,” Quinton said. “I’m not going to have people’s lives rely on him being honest. Junkies are liars.”

  Jackson struggled to break free of Malcolm’s hold on him but Malcolm held him tight.

  “That’s enough of that,” he said. “Ain’t a single one of us here that hasn’t made mistakes in the past but it doesn’t matter what’s in our past. What matters is here and now.”

  “And the past makes us who we are here and now. You can’t ignore it, especially when it means you can’t be trusted,” Quinton said.

  “Hold up a second,” Alan said. “Are you saying Jackson’s a drug addict?”

  “Recovering addict,” Veronica jumped in. “He’s been sober twelve damn years.”

  Alan glared at Malcolm, his hold on Quinton loosening. “You just let him in the group knowing that and didn’t tell any of us. What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking it’s nobody’s business.”

  “Bullshit,” Alan called out with a sneer. “You put our safety--the safety of my wife and child--in the hands of a junkie.”

  “S
ee?” Quinton said. “I’m not the only one who sees the problem here.”

  “Congratulations, Quint, you’ve got Alan on your side. What a coup.”

  “Oh, fuck off,” Alan spat at her.

  “No, you fuck off,” she said, her temper flaring bright as she glared at Alan. “You’ve got no business in this.”

  “Well, if I’ve got no business here, then I might as well let go of your brother, let him beat the shit out of your boyfriend,” Alan replied, taking a step back and letting go of Quinton. “Might as well head back to camp and let everyone else know what’s going on.”

  With that Alan left them, scurrying back to the camp to find the first available ear to whisper in. She wanted to follow him so she could counter any lies or exaggerations he told but she was afraid to leave the confrontation still in play with only Malcolm and Kim to referee.

  “I’ll go with him, make sure he’s not getting people worked up,” Kim said, as if she could read her mind. Veronica smiled in gratitude at the woman, patting her hand in silent thanks.

  She turned back to the trio of men, watching Quinton warily for a moment but he made no move in Jackson’s direction, content just to glare at him. This needed to be over and done with and they had to get back to camp and run damage control before Alan fucked everything up.

  “Quinton, did you find anything in his pack?” Veronica asked.

  That question was enough to get him to stop glaring at Jackson. “No.”

  Veronica shook her head in disgust. “You lied to Trey, stole Jackson’s pack and violated his privacy. Sounds to me like you’re the only one who can’t be trusted.”

  Her brother gave her a wounded look. “V, come on, you’re supposed to have my back.”

  “Not when you act like a goddamn idiot. Do you know what you’re risking here? If they can’t trust you, they’ll send us away.”

  She realized her mistake when Quinton pulled his lips into a sneer. She shouldn’t have called him an idiot. She had wounded his pride and that was going to make him lash out.

  “They aren’t going to send us anywhere. I’m too valuable as a doctor and he knows it,” Quinton said, nodding towards Malcolm. “He’ll ditch the junkie long before he’ll send me packing.”