Free Glory (Book 5) by Michael McManamon Page B

Instead, his thoughts had gone back to the woman who had taken off, the one he felt responsible for.
    "No, I couldn't find her, “Adam said. “I'm sorry."
    The little boy paused as his young brain tried to make sense of it all. "Will you look for her again?"
    "Sure, I will." Adam didn't think that it would do any good, but it wouldn't do any harm, either.
    "Tomorrow?"
    "Sure, I can look again tomorrow."
    "I know you'll find her."
    "I hope so."
    Charles spoke to him next, doing his best to control the emotion in his voice. "Well…thank you for trying," he said.
    "And she still might come back," Shelly added hopefully.
    "She might," Adam agreed, though his heart wasn't in it. He turned to the others in the group. "I really am glad to have met all of you, but I think I should go lie down." All that had happened was beginning to overwhelm him.
    Claire stood up and moved toward him. "Do you want to stay here?" she asked. "We can all leave the library, go outside or something."
    "No, it's okay. I'll just go in to one of the other classrooms. I'll be fine in there. I just need a little rest. That's all. I'm really sorry."
    Everyone shook their heads. There was no reason for him to apologize. They all knew what it was like to need rest.
    Adam walked to the door. Claire with him. She held the door open and followed him through it.
    They found a little room just down the hall. It was clean. And the windows were still intact.
    Adam made his way over to the teacher's desk and sat down in the chair there. Claire rubbed his back.
    "You did a good job today," she said. "We're all glad that you tried."
    "I had to give it a shot. I just wish that I had found her."
    "We all do. But, like Shelly said, she might come back."
    Adam could tell that she didn't believe her words all that much. "I'm too tired to think about it right now," he said.
    "Of course." Claire rubbed his back again. "Just get some rest."
    "I will. And I'm sorry that I'm not in a better mood."
    "Don't be silly. We all understand. Now put your head down and go to sleep."
    Adam did as he was told. He felt her kiss the back of his head.
    Then Claire walked out of the room, leaving him alone.
     
    *
     
    Adam was surprised at how overcome with emotion he had become. After meeting the newcomers and telling everyone about his failed attempt at finding Jane, everything seemed to set in. One after the other, thoughts had bombarded him.
    Jane. Claire. Shelly.
    He sat there with his head on the desk. Eyes closed. One arm over them to help further block out the waning light.
    Charles. Robert.
    He thought back to Woody . Finding him dressed as a woman in the department store. Leaving him in his house. Probably to die.
    There were the newcomers.
    The possibility that there were more survivors out there as well.
    They had all had to endure so much since the change. They were always on the go, always trying to survive.
    A few weeks ago he would never have thought that he'd have been wandering through the forest with a shotgun, looking for a woman who had lost her mind. He could never have imagined that he would have had to search for a young girl who had been kidnapped by thugs. It was hard for him to believe that he had fallen for someone who had been captured by these same thugs, raped by one of them.
    Sam. Big Mike.
    It was all too much to handle.
    He could definitely understand why Jane had had a hard time keeping it together. Her husband had killed their daughter in front of her. She had had to do things that any mother (and teacher) would have hated. She had killed children, shot them in the face. Charles had even told him that she had beaten one to death with a shovel, had smothered another that had been tied to a bed.
    None of it was fair to any of them. And it was happening so fast.
    Adam took a deep breath and tried to settle his mind. The thoughts continued to come. Faces danced before him. People he had known before th e chang e . People he had met after.
    He felt remorse.