Shit. Zach hadn’t meant to make Maddie feel like he didn’t believe her, it had been a knee jerk reaction to as her if she was truly positive that it was Gordy she saw. Stop fucking this up. He mentally growled at himself, wishing not for the first time that he was better with words – not as blunt – for Maddie’s sake.
“Sorry Mads, forget I even said that,” he began, his expression clearly conveying that he definitely believed her. “I know, which is why we should just forget I even asked you if you were sure.” Sure, she had a habit of making things up to gain attention, but Zach knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t lie about seeing Gordy – that was a line not even his baby sister would cross.
He felt like he was in over his head here. What exactly was his supposed to say or do to make Maddie feel better about what she saw? And now he felt like he had to do something about Gordy being out there as well, he couldn’t just leave his brother like that. Sighing softly, Zach gave Maddie a reassuring kind of squeeze.
A part of him still wanted to yell at Maddie for being out in Ossining at all, but Zach kept reminding himself that now wasn’t the time. And really the large part of him was more focused on the fucking fact that his brother was a waker, not just a zombie, but also one that was fully aware and unable to control his actions. “Shit,” the curse word was muttered before he even realized he had said it aloud. “Yeah, I think that’s the basics of a waker.”
Figuring out a solution to this whole thing was at the forefront of Zach’s mind, and as much as he didn’t like that fact, his mind kept going back to one thing – shooting Gordy. Hadn’t that been his job nearly three years ago? This was his chance to make things right and put his brother out of his misery.
“Don’t worry about it Mads, I’ll take care of telling them,” Zach tightened his hold on Maddie when it looked like she was going to start crying again. “So do I, Munchkin, so do I.” If their parents were here it wouldn’t feel so much like it was on Zach to make sure this got taken care of – but they weren’t here, so the responsibility did fall on him.