Those Left Behind

“They should be back by now,” Henry said, pacing back and forth inside the box, shaking his head, a concerned expression on his face.

“They haven’t been gone that long,” Carver countered, seated against one of the walls, shrugging his shoulders, eyes tracking Henry.

Halting his incessant pacing, Henry shook his head, mouth pursed, “When she find comes back and finds those two gone, she is going to be very cross and you know she’s going to take it out on us,” he spat, “because of what they did.”

“I don’t think so. It’s like Josh said, there’s so much we don’t really know what the situation is or what her intentions are? Right Carver?” Ham queried, putting it out there, looking to the stout man for support.

“We don’t even know her name,” Carver said.

“I just think it was unwise for Josh and Julian to go, because you’re right. We don’t know anything about her or our situation. Come on, think about it. Right now our very lives depend on that young woman, you know, for food, for protection, this shelter,” Henry said, spreading his arms wide to indicate the environment.

Carver frowned, lines creasing his baby face, “I get where you’re coming from, but, we been here a few days now and we’ve seen a couple people go, but that girl hasn’t said much to us at all about what’s going on. I mean, if she said she was protecting us or keeping us safe because of our condition, don’t you think she would have been a little more communicative? You know, let us know everything is going to be alright? Plus, what’s the deal with the dirty panties?” he asked, turning to look where they had jammed the underwear into the torn open hole.

Ham frowned.

“It’s not what Julian said,” Henry protested. “That girl isn’t even out her teens and for her to do that, no, I refuse to believe such a thing,” he finished shaking his head.

“Right or wrong, I for one am glad Julian is gone. He is such an asshole, you know,” Carver opined.

Henry nodded in agreement. He didn’t like Julian at all. “I hope she stomps on him,” he said softly.

“Asshole or no, I wouldn’t want to see that, don’t want to think the girl would do that, because what would that mean for those of us who chose to stay?” Carver inquired.

“What about Josh?” Ham inquired.

“He made his own bed the moment he went through that hole, his fate is his own doing,” Henry replied.

Carver frowned, shaking his head.

“I don’t know,” lamented Ham, shaking his head and wringing his hands together, “I’m worried for Josh, he seems like a good kid.”

“And you know first chance Julian gets, he’ll betray him or do something to hurt him in order to save his own skin,” offered Carver.

“You think maybe something happened? Like maybe there is a cat or a dog or something out there?” Henry said, eyes round.

Carver shook his head, “We’d have heard something, you know growling or screaming or whatnot. I think they’re just exploring and will be back soon, or at least Josh will. Julian can go fuck himself for all I care,” he stated.

“I don’t like it,” offered Ham, looking at the other two men. “No sir, not one bit.”

“Don’t like what?” Carver asked, expression curious.

“Josh out there with Julian, I should’ve gone with them just to make sure everything was okay,” Ham stated.

“I think they’re probably fine,” Carver consoled. “Right Henry?” he asked, looking at the other man.

“I don’t know,” Henry replied. “You just said Julian will backstab Josh,” he added.

“Only if cornered, then I’m sure Julian will do whatever he needs to in order to survive, that’s what I meant. Josh looked in pretty good shape and able to take care of himself. I think Julian is too much of a coward to do something directly overt or blatantly sinister,” Carver clarified.

“I should go look for them, just to be on the safe side and make sure they are alright,” Ham affirmed, nodding.

Henry puts his hand on the big man’s arm, “Ham we have no idea what horrors may lie on the other side of that wall, you shouldn’t go. If something bad happened to them, it would happen to you too,” he said fearfully.

Ham shook his head, “I’ll just go out and circle around the box, see what’s going on, no more than a couple of minutes at most,” he assured, looking first from Henry then back to Carver.

“You’re physically a lot bigger than Josh or Julian so you’ll have to make the hole bigger if you are going to get through it,” Carver stated, looking at Ham and then toward where the panties were placed.

Grabbing the fabric firmly in both thick hands, Ham drug it back a short distance, far enough to allow him to get access to the hole. Getting down to his knees, he began pulling at the edges of the dampened cardboard to enlarge the opening until it was large enough to accommodate his thick frame.

“Don’t,” Henry cautioned again, shaking his head, “This will only make matters worse, you know, with her,” he offered, shifting back and forth from foot to foot and nibbling nervously at a fingernail.

“It’ll be okay,” assured Ham, grinning, “I can take care of myself,” he added, flexing his shoulder muscles.

“Be safe out there big guy,” Carver said, nodding, “we’ll cover the hole back up once you’re gone just in case. You should have no problem pushing the panties out of the way to get back in.”

“Sounds good, like I said, I won’t be gone very long. If I see them, I try to convince them to come back,” Ham said, nodding his head toward Henry before dropping down low and pulling himself through the crude opening in the shoebox and into the darkness beyond.