Роберт Уилсон - Days Since... - Jenny - Day 986

“Bleib.” Sherman held his position while Jenny went and searched the first-floor bedrooms for her own peace of mind. “All clear down here.”

Danny threw a thumbs-up over his shoulder, still holding the rifle pointed out the front door.

Upstairs, the floor creaked.

Shit! Jenny spun her rifle toward the top of the stairs. Sherman barked, but stayed put. “If you’re up there, announce yourself!” Jenny shouted. “If you don’t come down on your own, my dog will find you, and he will bite you! No one needs to get hurt!”

Another creak of the floor.

“You’re not leaving me with much choice!” She kept the muzzle trained at the top of the stairs. “Last chance!” Nothing. She readied herself with a few breaths. “Alright, boy… Seek!”

Sherman shot up the stairs. Jenny crept behind him, working her rifle along the unpainted walls atop the landing. Where the hell are they? The house had fallen into silence, giving nothing away. No clues to her adversary’s position. Sherman cut left from the stairs, and Jenny held the top, focusing the rifle toward a closed door at the end of the hallway to the right. Come on, boy. We got this!

Once Sherman returned, he and Jenny took to the last room in the house. He tried nudging it open but couldn’t. Jenny braced herself against the wall and steadied the rifle, forward and level toward where the door would open. She stood listening, nervous. This is it. The last place in the house.

With one hand, she flung the door open, banging it against the wall. Sherman wasted no time storming through. Briefly, she saw that the left side of the room sat empty, but the door’s recoil from hitting the wall blocked her view of the nearside. She stepped through the gap and backed into the far corner, her rifle fixed on the nearside, her only unknown. Again, nothing. Another empty room. Only the stiff wind from an open window gave the room any life. Sherman had his paws on the windowsill. “What you got, boy?”

Below the window, on the roof of the garage, distinct bootprints led into the backyard and disappeared up the hill toward the Depot. Jenny leaned against the window frame in an attempt to see if she’d missed something. What the hell just happened? Only a single trail of prints. She pulled the window closed. “Danny, we gotta get back! Whoever it is left for the Depot!”

“Just hold up a sec!”

“Didn’t you hear me?!” She shouted, rushing from the unfinished bedroom. “They’re heading back to the Depot!”

“I heard you. Just sit your ass down in that room. Show me what you’re talking about.”

What the hell is wrong with him? She returned to the window to verify what she had seen. Again, just the single trail of footprints through the yard and up the hill. At least I’m not going crazy. Dumbfounded with Danny’s indifference to the threat, she slid her back against the wall and sat, waiting with Sherman’s head in her lap.

The front door slammed a few times—a futile attempt to close it with its broken frame. Eventually, Danny gave up, and the clopping of his boots echoed up the stairs. “Where you at?”

“Where you told me to be.”

“You find anyone?” he asked, smiling as he entered the room. She still felt herself shaking from the adrenaline dump and didn’t appreciate the blithe look on Danny’s face. “You catch the guy?”

“I said they got out and were heading for the Depot.” Her face was stone cold. “We need to go and warn them.” She tried to stand, but Danny palmed her head, keeping her from getting up.

“Relax, kiddo.” Danny tousled her sock hat then sat down beside her.

“I should have moved faster. Shouldn’t have second guessed myself so much. Now, they got away.”

Danny couldn’t help himself any longer and began laughing. “Training. It’s all training.”

Annoyed, her eyes caught his. “You’re playing me?”

“Not exactly…” He smiled again. “Someone was here. Once you got inside, he went out the window and down the garage. So, you did what you were supposed to do. Great job.”

She stood. “You’re a dick.” Her eyes went back to the window. “Who was it? Who’d you talk into risking a broken leg sliding down the roof here?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Matt?”

“Why’s it matter?”

“Because it was stupid.” She continued staring out the window. “At least let them know I appreci—” Jenny’s stomach twisted into knots. Her eyes went wide. Oh, shit… In the distance, four strangers traipsed down the street from the mouth of the cul-de-sac. Black uniforms. Unmistakably Second Alliance. She felt faint, touching her hand to the wall, sinking slowly toward the floor.

“It’s…” The room began to spin. “It’s…”

“What? What is it?”

Danny’s feet scraped against the plywood as he clambered to his feet to help ease her to the floor. “You okay?”

“It’s…”

“It’s wha—” He took a moment at the window. “Who the hell are those people Griffin’s with?”

Jenny couldn’t answer. Again, darkness had fallen upon her. She could only imagine what was to come. After seeing the takeover of River’s Edge… Now, Griffin leading them to the Depot. It was happening all over again. Why? Why again? It was too soon. Too soon to face Xavier’s murderers. Too soon to have to deal with them again.

“This won’t end well,” Jenny huffed, slogging through the snow behind Danny and Sherman. She yanked her kerchief down. “I’m serious! They’re no good!” Neither Danny nor Sherman reacted to her warning. She couldn’t even be sure her voice reached them up the hill. The appearance of these Second Alliance strangers had Danny consumed by curiosity. Had him trekking home with seemingly endless strength, endless stamina. He kept plowing ahead. Sherman too. And Jenny was falling behind. Again. “Danny! Please! Just listen to me for a second. You can’t go into this blind. You know it’s not a good idea. Let me—”

“Let you what?” Finally, he slowed, but wouldn’t stop. For him, the hill peaked only a few paces away.

“I’m telling you the S.A., er… The Second Alliance is no good!”

“How the hell do you know what they’re called?”

“It’s…” Jenny’s voice faded, she tossed her head back in frustration, hating herself for not telling him earlier, for not sharing what Danny deserved to know. It had been wrong to keep it from him. She should’ve told him where she and her friends had come from and why they had fled. Maybe then Danny could’ve warned Griffin of the Second Alliance and the whole thing could have been avoided. Maybe we were wrong…

“How do you know who they are?” Danny asked again from atop the hill, clearly annoyed with Jenny’s unwillingness to reveal all she knew. “We’ve never seen them before. Not even in as many times as we—” He pulled the kerchief from his mouth and scoffed. “Shit… How the hell didn’t I see it sooner? These are the ones in black, aren’t they? The ones you asked about in that house where we got shot at? The ones that had you so worried?” His tone became aggressive. “Why are they looking for you, Jenny? What did you do to them?”

“What did I do?! What the hell, Danny?!” Anger coursed through her veins—the accusation completely uncalled for. “After all we’ve been through, you’re actually going to stand there and ask me that? What the hell do you think I could’ve done, Danny?!” She took pause from the conversation. The yelling was exhausting. Her strength was dwindling. It took everything inside herself to best that hill. To come even with Danny. To make him look her in the eyes with any more baseless claims.