by Dawn, Maira
She turned to Jesse and said, "What do you think about that?" She picked up a wet shirt and smoothed it over the clothesline.
Jesse made a face. “It's about time, is what I say.” He forced a clothespin over a bunched-up shirt on the line.
Skye frowned and started to say something to him but stopped herself. In the big scheme of things, it wasn't important. The clothes would dry either way, and it was his shirt. When he decided he didn't like wrinkled clothing, he would stop doing it.
She sighed over Jesse’s frustration. They were all on edge and would be until this trial was over and done with. "Yes, well, it took a while for the judge to get here, but it'll be over soon enough."
"He ain't here yet," Jesse said, his disbelief that the magistrate was actually coming written all over his face. “He's slower than snail mail used to be.”
"It's a slow process, but really Jesse, this is faster than trials used to take place."
"Man, I can't see how it could be."
Skye chuckled. The boy became more like Dylan every day, and while some days she wondered if she could handle two of them, most of the time, she was happy for it.
Jesse darted a look at Skye. “If he is on his way, then we need to get over to that jail.”
“I know, Jesse. I’m still getting used to the idea.” Just the mention of it made her tense. “I’m trying.”
“Stop worryin’. I’ll be fine.”
“I hope so, but I’m not just worried about you. I’ve barely gotten a handle on my anxiety. I need to prepare myself.”
Jesse’s face fell. “Oh. I hadn’t thought about that.” He glanced at her. “You don’t have to go if it’s too much.”
“I’m your mother now. I’m going.” Skye yanked a pair of pants out of the laundry basket and jammed the clothespins on them. “We’ll go in the morning if that’s good with Dylan and Wade.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” Skye ran a hand over Jesse’s thick hair. “If you need this, I’m sure.” She nodded toward her disappearing friends. “If they’re right, the trial date will be set soon, so we better get to it.”
Jesse nodded, a serious expression covering his face until he heard a cow mooing. Then he giggled.
Yesterday, the Cole brothers, along with a few other men, spent most of the day hauling the Sick to the Containment Center and bringing the healthy cattle to the community.
Now six beef cows were penned up down the mountain in quarantine. Their occasional low bellows reminding everyone that if everything went well, beef might soon be on the menu.
Dylan turned his head toward the noise and smiled. Skye knew he was eager for a big steak. He walked over to the two of them and grabbed Jesse by the shoulders, playfully shaking him a couple of times.
"You ready for some forging?"
Jesse's face lit up. "Yep!"
Skye scoffed. He was always ready to explore, and if it got him out of laundry duty, then that would be all the better. But his hopes were dashed when Dylan picked up a wet t-shirt and started hanging clothes alongside them.
Dylan gave Skye a long look from the side of his eye before asking, "Are you comin' today too?"
"Of course, I always go with you. Well, almost always.”
"Okay. Just checking,” Dylan said.
Skye took in how uncomfortable he seemed. He was tense as he fumbled with the clothespins. Their argument had really thrown him.
"It's okay, Dylan, people disagree, and they are totally fine afterward."
Dylan grunted as if unconvinced. When she continued to look at him, he shrugged and went back to the clothes.
His behavior confused her. They’d had arguments before. Since he wouldn’t explain, she could only suppose that now they were together, he didn’t know how to act since the problem was still unresolved.
Discord was always a problem for Dylan. In a lot of cases, he could just walk away. But he couldn’t do that with her anymore.
Skye smiled at him again, then reached up and put a hand to his cheek. "It's okay. Jesse and I decided to go to the jail in the morning if that is good with you and Wade.”
His tight shoulders lowered as some of the tension left them. “Yeah. That’ll be good. You ready for that?”
Skye glanced at Jesse. “I will be.”
The next morning was as grey as Skye felt. As they made their way down the mountain in the big black truck, her eyes were glued to the passing forest as she tried to forget what they were about to do. It was bad enough she had to face these men in a courtroom, if not for Jesse, she would never have willingly seen them any more than she needed to.
When Dylan reached for her hand, she startled but wrapped hers into his large one. Nothing bad could happen to her. Those evil men were behind bars, and her protectors would be there. She sent her boyfriend a tiny, forced smile.
When they pulled into the station’s parking lot, Skye felt her stomach jolt. She’d been trembling for the last ten minutes at least and had tightened her grip on Dylan to try to hide it.
Everything in her told her to run the other way. But she was a mother now. She had to do what was best for her child, and this is what he thought he needed.
Dylan shoved the truck into park and sat back, looking at her. Jesse might not fully understand how hard this was for her, but he wasn’t fooling him.
Skye pulled in a slow breath and let it out, but it didn’t slow her thumping heart. She couldn’t sit here. Better to get it over with. Grabbing the door handle, she jerked it open and hopped out of the vehicle. She was half-way to the door before the others caught up.
“Slow down, Mom.”
“No. You keep up. Let’s get this over with.”
Jesse didn’t reply. He just followed her through the main areas of the station and toward the jail.
Tom was there. It shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did. It gave her a little more comfort that her cousin would be there for them.
He gave her one look and buzzed open the locked door leading to the cells.
She strode into the room and stopped. The dreary place was even more depressing than the day.
She stepped back, leaning against the grey cement walls as she stared at the three men. Each one had their own barred room. Bleach was the overpowering smell but sweat also drifted to her. Her gaze lingered on a sweaty Tony. She didn’t want to know what he’d been up to.
Dylan moved to her, but she patted him and stepped toward Jesse. She was glad to have the backup, but this was something they needed to do on their own.
Calvin, Tony, and Pete stared at them, surprised. They hadn’t known of this visit ahead of time. It would have given Calvin time to think, and his mouth worked well enough on the fly.
Skye slipped her hand into wide-eyed Jesse’s, standing as close to him as possible. They could say whatever they wanted to her, but if they said one hurtful word to her son, she would pull him out of the room as quickly as she could.
The automatic door slammed shut and clicked. Skye and Jesse jumped.
9
Face Off
Jesse’s tennis shoes squeaked against the smooth floor when he startled.
This was harder than he’d thought.
Mom had tried to warn him, but he hadn’t listened. Instead, he’d bullied his way into this meeting. Now it was time to say what he’d practiced.
He cleared his throat. And chickened out when his gaze went to the ever-reddening face of Tony.
Before Jesse could try again, Tom stepped forward. “This is how this is going to go,” he told the inmates. “These people have something to say, and you are going to listen. If you can manage to have a civil conversation, you are welcome to speak. If anything untoward comes from your mouth, you have water only for three days.”
“That isn’t legal,” Calvin muttered.
“Neither was anything you did.”
Tom turned to Jesse and Skye, indicating it was their turn. Skye shook her head. “I’ll have enough to say a
t the trial. We are here for our son.”
Jesse trembled and tightened his muscles to stop. He took one step forward. Skye moved her hand to his shoulder, and he was glad of the comfort.
He pointed to Calvin. “You killed my dad.”
“Your dad was no-good. I did you a favor, kid.”
“It doesn’t matter what he was. You didn’t have the right to take him away from me. And in the end, he died for me and Skye.”
Calvin kept his gaze on Jesse. “Yeah, that surprised me too.”
“I don’t forgive you.”
“Whatever, kid. You think that makes any difference to me?”
“I don’t care. I just wanted you to know.”
Calvin moved back from the bars as Jesse turned to Tony, his small hands tightening into fists.
“You hurt me,” he said to the big man. “Hurt me bad. But me and Skye, we beat you—all of you. We’re free, and you’re locked up waitin’ to die. Nothing you did changed my life for the worse. I’ll have a great life, and you’ll have nothing.”
Tony grit his teeth but said nothing. That didn’t surprise Jesse, the man hadn’t said more than a few words the whole time he’d tried to kill him on the side of that mountain.
Jesse rolled his shoulders. He felt lighter, freer now that he’d said what he needed to. He shot a grateful look to Skye. Her green eyes warmed as she smiled back.
Happy this was over, Skye turned toward the door. Her gaze betrayed her when she shot one look back toward Calvin.
He smiled and sauntered back toward the front of the cell. “Looking good there, Skye.”
She shivered as he slowly looked her up and down, all his thoughts written plainly on his face.
Behind her, Dylan growled and put a hand to her waist, encouraging her to walk faster.
She wanted to, internally screaming for her feet to move, but she was frozen. She needed to go out that door now. Anything else that happened here wouldn’t be any good.
The door buzzed and clicked open. Tom waved them out. Dylan pushed Jesse toward Wade, who herded him toward the door.
Calvin’s face seemed to move in slow motion, though his words did not. His mouth opened. “Yeah, real good. Too bad we didn’t have much time together. Oh, the things I wanted to do to—”
Dylan released her, and a rush of air brushed across her back. Before Calvin had finished his sentence, Dylan was choking the life from him.
The room erupted. Wade ran to his brother’s side. Tom tried to get Jesse out of the room but gave up and rushed toward the cell. Wade and Tom pulled at Dylan, but he resisted them and continued to tighten his grip around Calvin’s neck.
At that moment, all of Skye’s fear left. This evil man truly could not hurt her.
She moved to stand beside Dylan and put a hand on his tightly muscled arm. “Love, not now.”
He loosened his grip just a little. Calvin hauled in a noisy breath and tried to pull Dylan’s hands away but didn’t have a prayer of doing so.
“You,” Skye said pointing at him, “are a pig. A tiny tool of a man who no doubt was nothing before all this. When this trial is over, and they bury you deep in the cold, dark earth, I will make sure there is nothing left of you to remember.”
Skye turned on her heel and strode past the door Jesse held open and out of the room. The boy followed her, awe covering his face.
“All right, Mom!”
Skye made it halfway across the station before she fell to her knees. She could hear Jesse yelling at her, but the ringing in her ears muffled the sound.
“Mom? Mom?!” Jesse raised his voice. “Dad!”
Dylan was there in an instant, picking her up and assuring her everything was fine. It was done now. All over.
She wanted to believe him, she really did, but even he knew the words were false. Skye closed her eyes on the swirling room and snuggled her face into his shoulder.
There was still the trial to go through.
10
The White Coat Question
That afternoon, right before the sun went down, Tom and Tricia came by. When Dylan opened the door, Tricia bypassed everyone, heading straight to Skye.
“Tom told me what happened today,” Tricia said as she hugged her. “That must’ve been so hard, especially with your anxiety and all.”
“It wasn’t great, but it’s over now.” Skye gave her a weak smile. “Sit and visit for a while.”
“Just a little bit,” Tom said. “I don’t like to be out much past sundown. It’s too hard to see in the dark.”
“I understand.” Skye stood and walked to the open kitchen. “What can I get you to drink?”
After filling a tray with drinks, she walked back to the living room and heard something Tom said that piqued her interest.
“…all I know is what they said, which wasn’t much. Basically, the three wished these ‘white coats’ would come and do their worst by us.”
Skye stopped, tray still in her hands. “What are you talking about, Tom?”
“I’m not really sure. Calvin was running his mouth after you left, then Tony and Pete chimed in, talking about a group they called ‘White Coats.”
Skye’s eye lit up as she glanced at Dylan. “It’s what Gregory was talking about.”
“Yeah, well,” Dylan replied. “Let’s remember that Gregory and those three ain’t our friends.”
She set the tray down and handed out the drinks. “I know. But do you remember what Gregory said about the White Coats?"
His eyebrows raised before lowering into a frown. "I've been doing nothin' but trying to forget that day. Why do you think I'd remember that?"
Skye slid her hand into his. It had been a bad day, first being attacked while scavenging, then being chased down, beat up and shot by Calvin and his goons. Dylan had raced from a gunfight to save her and barely got there in time.
"It's just,” Skye said, “I wondered if white coats might equal medical community."
"So."
"So, Dylan, maybe someone is still working on this, on finding a cure. Didn't they say something about a cure?"
"Well, if that's what they think they're doin', they ain’t doin' a very good job at it.”
When Dylan indicated he was done with the conversation, Skye turned to Tom. "Maybe they have more answers than we do or could at least tell us if we are really immune, or even if this is over. Wouldn't it be nice just to know if this is over?"
“It’s a thought,” Tom said.
Skye nodded. “I’d love to know that once these sick people are gone, that is it, and we can just, you know, live."
Tom leaned back, a thoughtful expression covering his face. “It would make sense that the government would have someone still working on this.”
“The government,” Wade scoffed. “The best thing they did was go out of business.”
Tom gave him a hard look and turned back to Skye. “Any idea where these people are located?”
“Tom,” Tricia said. “I don’t think this is a good idea. We’ve got enough to work on right here.”
Dylan exchanged a look with Wade, who raised an eyebrow.
“Don't even think it,” Dylan said. “It’s like Tricia said we need to work on keeping people fed and healthy on this mountain. Not traipsing all over creation, trying to find God knows who.”
“We’re just talking, Dylan," Skye said. "There's no harm in that."
"Okay, fine, let's talk about it," he said, his voice going flat. "If I remember right, they were selling people to the White Coats. You remember that?"
Tom reared back. “What?”
Skye held out a hand. "That could have just been Gregory. Come on. What hospital buys people?"
"I would imagine Frankenstein bought people, maybe Jack the Ripper," Dylan said.
"Dylan, what are you talking about? Those aren't real people. They are horror novels."
"We live in a horror novel. I thought you understood that."
Skye looked out the window and chew
ed her lip. What if Dylan was wrong, and they could get answers?
“As far as the AgFlu, the people are already infected. There’s no stopping what already happened. Those of us who got through it just did somehow. We don’t need to understand why.”
A frown grew on Skye’s face, creating a small line between her brows. "We really don't know that for sure, Dylan. We are just hoping we won’t get it again. But we could know for sure if we find them."
Dylan scoffed and turned away.
“If we pursued this, we would be believing people who are criminals,” Tom said. “Not the best thing to do.”
“I ain’t goin’ after them, I’ll tell you that. It’s dangerous, and I don’t even like talking about it. I’ll say it again. This isn’t the time to be leaving this mountain. This is the time to hunker down and wait out the worst of what’s going on.”
“The government is collapsing,” Wade said. “We’ve been out of the worst of it up here. But you better believe the healthy people left are being terrorized by the Infected and Sick. The criminal element will just be gettin’ worse. I agree with Dylan. ‘Sides, if there’s any good news, we’ll hear it from the Containment Center. It’s the only place in the area there’s still military.”
Skye sighed as Tom nodded his head. Wade had known what he was doing. Her cousin had been her only support in this conversation, and Wade had him at the word military.
“I understand what you’re saying,” Skye said. “But for some reason, I just feel it could be important. We could ask around. See if anyone else has heard anything.”
Dylan shook his head.
“Come on, Dylan. What harm could that do?”
“It’ll get people all riled up. Either to go and find them or it’ll frighten them. Not a good idea.”
Tom sat forward, elbows on his knees. “I agree. We don’t want to ask just anyone, but I could ask the other officers I touch base with on the radio. They may have heard something about it.” He glanced at Skye. “But, honestly cuz, much as I don’t want to think it to be, it’s most likely nothing or nothing good. But it’s got me mighty curious.”
