Free Sometimes We Ran (Book 2): Community by Stephen Drivick Page B

She turned at the door and said, “Denise…I’ll be right outside if you need me.” She shot a glance in my direction.
    Denise was still shaking my hand. “It’s good to see you both. Always glad to welcome other survivors to our little community.” She invited us to sit on a nearby couch. “I know you two must have a few questions. Would you mind if I see you one at a time? Is that okay?”
    I shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess.” Denise was just being safe. She didn’t really know us. If she took us both into the office, we could overpower her. “You want to go first?” I asked Claire.
    “Sure.” Claire got up and walked down the hallway.
    “We’ll be right back. Take a seat on the couch,” said the smiling Denise.
    I sat down on the designer couch. I felt a little out of place in the lobby with my blood-and-mud stained clothing and boots. I closed my eyes and put my head into my hands. The last few days were starting to weigh on me. Everything was moving so fast.
    “Are you all right?” asked a pleasant female voice. I looked up to see Karen looking down at me.
    “I’m fine. Rough couple of days.”
    Karen sat down on a chair nearby. “Yeah. I told you they’d let you out.”
    She really was very lovely. I found myself feeling a little shy. I always had a shyness problem around good-looking women. “I guess you were right.”
    Karen got up. As she left, she handed me a bottle of water. “Here, you look thirsty. If you guys need anything else, let me know. I’m Denise’s assistant.”
    I let the bottle slip into my hand. “Thanks.” Karen smiled, then left me alone in the lobby. She had quite a smile. It reminded me a lot of Gia’s smile. Not too big. Very sexy, with just a little hint of teeth.
    Claire and Denise returned in about fifteen minutes. Denise was still beaming. “Claire is quite a young lady. You two have had some adventures,” Denise said.
    “Your turn, Tiger. Hey, where did you get the water?” Claire pointed to my bottle.
    “Karen gave it to me. She said I looked thirsty.” I gave the bottle to Claire. “Here, finish it.”
    “That Karen. Don’t know what I’d do without her,” Denise said. “Ready, John?”
    “Ready.” I followed Denise to her office. It almost felt like a job interview.
    She gestured to a set of chairs in front of her desk. “Have a seat.”
    I sat in one of the comfortable chairs and took a look around. For a leader, Denise had a fairly small office. It was neat, but papers and boxes of supplies were crammed in every corner. It looked like Cannon Fields wrote everything down. Seemed there was a lot of paperwork at the end of the world.
    Denise sat down heavily in a leather office chair. “First things first,” she said. She rummaged around in her desk and produced the gun they had taken from me. Denise slid it towards me. “Here’s your gun.”
It was a show of trust. Denise watched me intently to see how I would react. “Thanks,” I said. I put the gun in my holster.
    “I know it’s weird meeting like this, you know, one at a time. Jenny insists we do it this way. I guess it’s safer. Plus, we see if everybody’s stories match up. We had people come in here that were being dragged around by other survivors against their will. I wanted to make sure you weren’t some kind of rapist or something,” Denise said. “Having met Claire, I know that’s not true. All she could do was talk about you.”
    “All good things, I hope.”
    Denise laughed. It was a great laugh. Full of life. “Oh yeah. Claire really thinks the world of you. She called you a hero.”
    Sweet Claire. “I’m not a hero. Just a survivor, nothing more.”
    Denise fiddled with some papers. “So, how did you two meet?”
    I flashed back in my mind to the day I met Claire. “I killed two zombies–Yellow-Eyes-in an intersection. She came up behind me. I almost shot her in the face. We’ve been together on the road since then.” It had been a close call. Thank God my