It was evening when the minibus pulled into the Williams' residence.
Sal observed his mother staring out the window. Thirty seconds later, both of his parents were standing in the doorway. When Vickie stepped out of the bus, Sal saw the shock register on his parents' faces before they were able to hide it.
It took a second or two for the situation to sink in, but Vickie was concise. She walked up to Sal’s father and asked for forgiveness and help.
"But of course,” was all her brother was able to say.
Vickie was led inside, and a guest room was prepared. Before his parents walked inside, Sal’s father sent him an inquisitive look, asking: how?
Sal felt his friends look at him. They seemed tense. The air reeked of nervous, restless suspicion. Sal leaned against the bus, making him seem arrogant and superior to everyone else. “You're scared of me,” he said, glancing at his fingers.
Their silence was deafening.
He glanced at his hands again, annoyed by their lack of an answer.
“Sal, for God's sake, some idiot pulled a gun on us, and you make it about you,” Carl blurted, clearly agitated. “You head-butted the guy like he was made out of cotton. Don’t expect us not to be shaken.
“You saved us. Hell, you even saved Vickie, and we’re grateful, but give us some goddamn space to be and react like human beings.”
The words hit Sal like a hurricane. He was literally blown backward by their meaning, though he wasn’t hurt by them. Rather, Sal had come to a realization—though he might resemble a human being, there was the chance that he wasn’t. There was evidence enough to support that.
His body felt like it was about to explode, and he had a hard time confronting himself about it. He took a deep breath and let it out in segments.
“I am so sorry for all the shit I put you through. I don’t know what else to say.” Sal walked out into the backyard and crawled up inside the treehouse. It was the place where he felt safe from zombies and the rest of the world.
In the meantime, his parents had settled at Vickie’s outrageous explanation about how she'd called the boys, asking them to come and get her as she hadn't been able to reach anyone else. She didn't mention Ted.
His parents yelled at Sal for keeping the information a secret, but he didn’t care. Something dark inside of him—the thought that he could manipulate them any time he felt like it—rose to the challenge, and he crawled back into the treehouse.