and cleavers. Once I was finished washing, I laid them out on a white kitchen towel next to the sink. When I walked out Milissa, Bobbi and Chelley were walking back inside to start their shift. I held the door open for them and walked out. Tina was standing there taking deep inhales from a cigarette. I could see she had a decent grip on it seeing as how her hands were trembling uncontrollably. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I decided to just walk on by her, but she stopped me. As soon as I felt her hand on my arm, I dropped my head and closed my eyes, not wanting to see the grief in her face, she threw her hands around my neck and gave me a hug. “Thank you for always being there for my family.” That’s all she said and released her hug and walked into the cafeteria. Gizmo walked by and patted my back and followed her inside with Cloie. I continued to the school to find my bed.
“TJ!” I heard someone call from behind.
I turned to see Tiffany and Robin standing there.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Do you have a place we can catch some “Z’s”?” Tiffany asked.
I turned back around. “Yeah, follow me.” We walked into the school and to the end of the hall. I walked into Steven’s old room. It was a mess. I guess from when Steven turned. Bo was already there cleaning things up. “Hey brother, do you want some company?” I asked. He looked up at me from picking things up from the floor. “Sure…what’s up?” I stepped inside. “Not much, but they need a room to crash out in.” He had his knife in hand and gestured to all the room that was available. “There’s plenty of room.” “One of you can have Steven’s old cot and I’m sure Bo can help you locate another one.” I stated while walking in and grabbing my cot and walking it back to my own room. Kris was sitting on the end of the cot talking to Daltin and Shianne when I walked in. I set my cot back up next to my wife’s and gathered some clothes. “I’ll be back in a few. I need a shower.” I walked out and went down the hall to the shower. I turned the water on and stripped down before entering. I stepped into the water stream and placed my hands flat on the wall letting the water beam off of the top of my head and down the spine of my back. I tried my hardest to relax and let the hot water steam up a bit and inhaled deeply and let out a sigh feeling the tension release just a tad from my back. “Nice butt.” Tiffany stated as she walked passed my stall followed by laughs. I removed my hands from the wall and turned my head to see Tiffany walking by and could feel my body tense a bit with the strange feeling of her there. I continued taking my shower. I could hear her shower turn on a few stalls down. “So I’m sure now’s not the best time to talk about it, but what positions would you like for us to do around here?” She questioned. “We’ll figure all that out in the next few days. However, you’re a medic, so be a medic.” I responded with the water rolling down my face. “What about when no one is sick or hurt?” She questioned further. “I’m sure we’ll figure out something. I’d worry about getting you a good night’s rest before worrying about what work you can do. There will be plenty before you know it.” I responded while finishing up my shower and drying off. She agreed with me and I made my exit since I was feeling a little weird with being in the shower and naked around a female that wasn’t my wife.
CHAPTER EIGHT I SHOT out of bed as soon as I opened my eyes to see the sun was coming up and started getting dressed. I ran out and started heading to the cafeteria to grab the items to start up the barbeque pits. We had fifteen pits total counting the smaller ones. Five of them were big smokers that would hold at least four full sized briskets if needed. I put the log starters in each of them and then walked out to