A Woman Scorned

While Leonard was freaking out, Grant reentered the house.

"Calm down Leonard.

First, take a seat and then I'll explain what is going on."

Reluctantly, Leonard sat down in one of the chairs while Grant sat in the last remaining chair. After glancing at Tom who was still sitting silently in his seat, Grant turned to Leonard and began speaking.

"Not that long ago, I received a notification that I had been poisoned by Cyanide."

Leonard's eyes went as wide as saucers at the revelation.

"You were poisoned?! By who? Why? How?!"

Gesturing with his hand, Grant said, "Calm down Leonard. If you freak out every time I say something then we're going to be here all day..."

Leonard instantly looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry Grant."

"It's fine.

Like I was saying, I received the notification that I had been poisoned, and the only logical explanation is that the poison had been put into my coffee or coffee mug. And since Tom here, hasn't shown any signs of being poisoned himself, I can only assume that the poison was placed into my cup directly.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, Tom."

Tom visibly flinched when directly addressed by Grant but remained silent nonetheless.

"I'll take your silence as affirmation that my assumption seems to be true.

Now, the fact that you were not poisoned as well, means that I was the one and only target.

I will ask you this one time Tom, and I advise that you speak the truth, were you aware that Betty would try to poison me?"

Tom quickly spoke, "I had no idea! Please! You have to believe me!"

"I want to believe you.

But I killed your son, so you would have a viable reason to want me dead.

I cannot understand why your wife, who isn't even Andrew's real mother, would want me dead. It just makes no sense to me."

Knowing there was a truth in that statement, Tom remained silent as he racked his brain for an explanation.

Inevitably, Leonard was the one who broke the silence.

"Umm, I may have an idea."

Both Tom and Grant snapped their heads in his direction and silently stared at the young man, waiting for him to continue.

Suddenly nervous with all of the attention, Leonard shrunk back slightly in his chair before gathering his courage.

"I saw Betty meeting with a few ladies earlier this morning before the ants attack. I had gone back to my sister and I's shack to grab some clothes for us when I came across them.

They had been discussing something very animatedly when I first approached but suddenly became quiet when I was within ear shot.

I though it was odd, but I didn't think they were up too anything bad so I didn't say anything to anyone about it."

Grant was confused. What would a group of women want him dead for? It's not like he had done anything to anyone in particular since he had arrived.

But then it suddenly hit him who they may be, but he wanted to confirm before he jumped to any conclusions.

"Who were those women Leonard?"

As if he too had suddenly come to a realization, Leonard looked surprised and then mortified.

"They were the widows of the guards you killed to save my sister!"

Sure enough, Grant's deduction had been true. The women who he had widowed were looking for revenge.

[Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as they say... not that the women were scorned per say? Well whatever, women still be scary as fuck when they angry.]

Knowing the likely reason behind the poisoning, there was still one detail that remained questionable at best.

"Tom, I can understand why those women would want me dead. But what the hell does Betty have to do with all of this? You're alive and well aren't you? It's not like I widowed her..."

Tom remained silent with a complicated look on his face for quite some time before he finally spoke up.

"I really have no idea why she would participate in this scheme, honestly. Betty never had any attachment with Andrew, at least that I could tell. And she has no family in this camp either.

The only possible explanation that I can think of, is that she believed that I held some hatred towards you for killing my son and wanted to get back at you for me.

I swear to you though, I have never once spoke ill of you since we met a yesterday. I do not know why she would even think I wanted you harmed or killed."

Once Tom was finished, the room was once again reduced to silence.

Grant took a few minutes to analyze the situation as a whole, but realized that no matter how much time they spent thinking about it, no one would be able to answer for why Betty did what she did.

Only the woman herself could answer those questions.

"Fuck it! Since we're not going to find any answers sitting around here speculating, lets just put a pin in that for now.

When we find Betty, we can ask her directly what her intentions were. Until then, lets not waste time speculating.

Since that's the case, lets move on to other things that need to be handled.

First off, Tom, I believe that you had no hand in this assassination attempt but you are responsible for the things that happen in your house.

That being that case, I will allow you to stay on as de facto leader until we reach the dungeon. At that time, your power and standing will be reduced to that of a normal member of society. You will no longer hold any power or sway in the running of the camp.

Do you understand?"

Tom simply nodded his head up and down like a bobble head to express his understanding.

Frankly, Tom was rather happy that was the case. In just the short amount of time that he had been helping to run the camp, he had become overwhelmed with the expectations of the people.

He neither asked for nor sought power so it was of no concern to him if it was taken away.

"Good, I'm glad that's settled.

Secondly, I will be taking the new fighting volunteers out to hunt tomorrow. Please make sure that they are ready to go.

You need to make it abundantly clear to these people though, that once they join the fighting force, they are not permitted to leave.

I know we are being retroactive on this because some people have already signed up unawares of this requirement. But I will allow them to back out before tomorrow if they do not agree.

I will not allow people to skirt their duties after I have invested my own personal time into them.

Is that clear?"

"I understand. I will make sure that we draft an announcement and that it is spread throughout the camp."

"Good. Thank you.

Third and final topic for today, I want you to arrest those women who were seen talking to Betty. Take Leonard with you and have him provide you with a complete list of participants.

Do not harm them in any way, simply arrest them and place them under guarded supervision.

The use of force is authorized only, and I mean only, if they fight back with force of their own when you try to bring them in."

"It shall be done."

"Good, that is all. I need to discuss a few things with Leonard before he has time to help you in the search for the women so handle the other issues first. You may go."

When Grant told Tom he could leave, the old man looked at him with confusion and depression, thinking to himself, [This is my house! Why do I have to leave?!], but nonetheless he walked out the front door and headed towards the hospital to handle the tasks assigned to him with his head hung low in shame at how the day had already progressed.

When it was just Leonard and Grant left within the room, Grant stood up and gestured for Leonard to follow along.

As the two of them walked through the camp, Grant and Leonard simply exchanged small talk before Grant got to the main issue at hand, "Leonard, do you want to get stronger and fight with me?"

Leonard, not expecting the question, simply stopped in his tracks and stood still for a good five minutes.

Grant wasn't sure what was going through the kids mind, but he knew that it was a decision he had to make on his own, so he did not pressure him for an answer immediately and allowed him to come to the conclusion on his own.

Grant watched as Leonard's face went from concern, to determination, to fear, and a whole slew of others before cycling through them over and over.

Eventually though, Leonard looked up at Grant, clearly having come to his decision.

"I do not want to fight!"