by C C Roth
There was a ringing in my ears when I woke, likely the result of my brain being shaken too hard, and I couldn’t focus right away. Everything was blurry. The first thing I registered was rain, pattering on the car roof and running down the broken windshield. I stared at the fractured glass and admired the beautiful patterns veining out from the center. Pretty. For maybe five minutes I was actually confused about how it had gotten that way. Who the hell had broken my window? Then my brain started working again.
You crashed your car, you moron. On purpose.
Suddenly, the pain set in. A lot of pain. Gingerly I reached a hand up to inspect the source of aching in the side of my head, it came back bloody. Huh, not good. I wiggled my toes and fingers like an idiot, wondering if everything still worked.
The car was toast which ordinarily I wouldn’t have cared about, but at that moment it was sort of a bummer. The walk back would be arduous with the pain in my back and head, but it wasn’t like I could call for help. In my haste to leave I hadn’t bothered to grab a charged walkie, so I was on my own, just like I’d wanted. Wincing, I steadied myself against the side of the car and threw my rifle over my shoulder. I was only 12 blocks away, probably. An agonizing 12 blocks. And it was pitch black and my head was a little fuzzy. No problem.
Well thank god you’re not bored anymore.
“Shut up. This was your idea.”
Was it? And I didn’t say anything about wrecking the car.
“Did I just see a giant sheep?”
Yes. Yes, you did.
“Thought so.”
An hour later I stumbled in the front door and actually had the audacity to be proud of myself for making it back. Yep, such a proud moment having wrecked a car and almost killed myself for no reason other than desperately seeking a cure for the tedious monotony that is survivor life. It was late, after ten, so I knew most everyone would be in bed. With any luck I could sneak in and pass out without everyone wasting their oxygen on me. No such luck.
A group of kids quickly ran to get Mitchell when they saw me walk in looking like a rain-soaked zombie.
“Good Lord, Samantha. What has happened to you?” he said, rushing to the door.
Karina stood on the stairs, glowering, “Did you break protocol? You can’t come in here if you’ve been in contact with anyone outside.”
“No, I didn’t break protocol. I just got in a car crash, that’s all. But thanks for your concern, Karina.”
“My only concern is my family and you do not factor into that, kid.”
“Girls, enough,” Mitchell said sternly. “Karina, call for Dr. Pearson. Now.”
“Mitchell, it’s so late. Do you really think we should waste a call on this?”
“Yes, I do. And it will not be a waste. I will sleep better knowing our Samantha doesn’t have severe head trauma.”
“It wouldn’t make a difference,” she scowled.
“Karina, now please,” he insisted.
Karina did as she was told but she wasn’t happy about it.
Helping me to a sofa, Mitchell sent some of the littles on errands to fetch towels and dry clothes.
“You have a doctor you can just call? How is that?”
“It’s a long story but the short version, since we’re alone, is that I am a very likeable guy and I am also very social. I do a good job of keeping up a solid and widespread network of successful individuals that I am lucky to call my friends.”
“So, you know someone who owes you a favor?”
“Essentially, yes,” he smirked. “But Dr. Pearson is a friend and she is also a phenomenal human being who is still trying to be of use to her community. She’s not far from here now, I spoke with her earlier. It would be no trouble for her to come and see you.”
“Why do people say things like that? Of course, it would be trouble. It’s the middle of the night, the roads aren’t safe, and there’s a deadly virus that is still a threat.”
He huffed a small sigh, the closest I’d seen him admit to frustration. “Fine, have it your way. You are not worthy of her time and it is a terrible and dangerous inconvenience for her to come here. But she’ll do it anyway.”
“Whatever. You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do. Now stay put. I don’t want you moving from this spot until the doctor has looked at you. Understand?”
I tried to nod but winced at the pain in my neck. “Yes. Sorry, Mitchell. I just needed out.”
He wrapped a bath towel around my shoulders. “Samantha, what happened?”
“I was born and ruined everyone’s life. That’s what happened.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“I want to leave. I can’t do what I said, it’s tearing my brother and I apart and I just went through so much to get him back. All he wants is for us to go back home and live like we used to. He takes care of me. I don’t know how to do life without him.”
“I don’t want to burst your bubble, Samantha but you take care of yourself. You always have. From what I have observed you are the one defining your own destiny, not your brother. If you stay, he will stay with you. I can promise that. His loyalty runs too deep.”
“You can’t promise that. You didn’t hear what he said to me earlier. You didn’t see how he looked at me.” My head was killing me and my emotions were spent. I just wanted out. Out of that overcrowded do-gooding house, out of my life, out of everything.
“You cannot escape your destiny, Samantha and you will regret walking away from this.” He rested a hand on my freezing arm and stared at me intently. “Believe me. Your brother is the embodiment of Captain America. He will not let you do this alone any more than he would walk away from you. He will be by your side at Quantum. I promise. Right now, he is grasping for control and in so doing he is trying to manipulate you. He is doing it out of love, but it is manipulation, nonetheless. I believe you are too strong to let this distract you from what you have already decided. You are a warrior.”
“What if I don’t want to be a warrior?”
“A rock has no say in what it is, it is simply a rock. You cannot fight this, Samantha any more than you can turn off that voice in your head telling you to take up arms and fight for what you know is right.”
His overly dramatic tone gave me a painful chuckle. “Don’t get things too twisted Mitchell, I’ve never been overly occupied by what is right.”
He grinned. “Well it might be nice to fight for the good guys, wouldn’t it? Your brother wants normal, then we’ll give him normal. You do this as a job, I am paying you. Tell your brother you want to try and turn over a new leaf.”
I scrunched my face up, doubtful.
“Now listen, you don’t have to say it like that. Use your own words. This money will help you both get to wherever you want to be and afterward, when the election is over, you will have an open invitation to work for me. Your brother can’t possibly frown on that, can he?”
“Yes, he can, and he will.”
He placed his hands under his chin. “Well, luckily for us we have Karina on our side. I sensed from the beginning he would be reluctant to move forward. That’s why I had her befriend Mike. In case we needed help in convincing him. Men are easily plied, Samantha. Fear not. Your brother will be on our team in no time.”
“You mean that Karina has been trying to get Mike on board this whole time?”
“Yes, indeed. She isn’t exactly what you’ve made her out to be.”
“Hmm, yes she is. But maybe she’s not only that. This whole time I thought she hated me.”
“Well, let’s not mince words, she does resent your presence here, but she also understands that you are important to me and to our future. She’ll get him to come around, don’t worry about that. Do you feel better, for now at least?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Excellent. Then let’s get you dry and the doctor will be here soon. If you still want to leave once your injuries have healed, then I will help you pack.”
I did
n’t know how Mitchell could be so certain or how he was able to calm me down. But he seemed to say all the right things, his words swirling around me giving me warm and fuzzy feelings without any regard for logic. Once again wielding his magical power of making everything right with just a few sentences.
Just then Mike rushed down the stairs with dry clothes in hand and stopped short when he saw me.
“Jesus, Sam!”
I raised a hand in an awkward wave, “I’m fine. I swear. I just sort of screwed up.”
He looked me up and down, searching for a bone sticking out or something gruesome telling him I’d be dead soon. Finding none he decided I could handle a verbal beating.
“What the hell? Sam seriously, what the actual hell were you doing?”
He was super upset and he had every right. It was just a little hard for me to focus at that moment. “I want to say the exact right thing, Mike but I’m sort of fuzzy right now and your voice is really loud. Can you not be so loud so I can apologize?”
“Loud? Are you kidding me right now? Yeah, I’m loud, Sam because I’m pissed off. You left again, without telling me again. What if you’d died? Would you even care what that would do to me? It’s my job to look out for you and—”
“And you were busy elsewhere apparently,” Mitchell interrupted. “Perhaps we should yell at the patient after we know she’s going to be alright.” His tone was pure condescension with a big heaping pile of guilt trip.
“You know what, Mitchell? This doesn’t really concern you. I can take care of my sister from here.”
“Yes, clearly you’re doing a great job. Tell us Mike, why was your sister so upset she felt she had to run out in a rainstorm?”
My head throbbed every time they spoke. “Ugh, can you both shut up please?”
Mike started to protest but instead shut his mouth. “I’m sorry, I was just worried. Are you okay?”
“I’ve got a hard head. I’ll be fine. I’m sorry I screwed up, Mike. Please don’t hate me.” I almost cried which was weird because it took a lot to make me cry. Must’ve been the head trauma.
He just shook his head, “You really are a pain in the ass.”
He quickly jumped to acceptance as usual, but he was still mad I had gotten hurt doing something stupid. After I changed out of my wet clothes Mike and Mitchell took turns keeping me awake until Dr. Pearson arrived. It only took her 30 minutes so she must’ve been close, like Mitchell said.
I didn’t know what to expect but true to form Mitchell produced a real-life doctor. Her face was the embodiment of kindness which naturally made me uncomfortable, but she was efficient and confident which made up for it.
“So how did this happen, Sam?” she asked while shining an obnoxiously bright light into my eyes.
“I sort of crashed my car.”
“Hmm, well you’re lucky you weren’t hurt any worse than you are. I’ve seen some pretty bad car crashes before.”
“This was barely a crash. I think Mitchell is overreacting.”
I followed her finger with my eyes.
“No, he isn’t. You’re pretty banged up. You have a fairly deep contusion on your head and I’m guessing a slight concussion that is going to cause some problems for a few days.”
Crap. “Like what kind of problems?”
“Could be any number of things. Nausea, vomiting, headaches, ringing in your ears, fatigue, dizziness.”
“Awesome. How long does that last?”
“Not long. You should take it easy for a few days. No running around and go slow on the stairs. Take some headache medicine for pain. Now lay back, I’m going to need to clean that cut on your head.”
Mike and Mitchell were both hovering despite my attempts to make them go to bed. Being the patient was super annoying.
Dr. Pearson had me lay down and placed a towel under my head. “Okay, this is going to be cold.” She then sprayed my head wound with a small can.
“What’s that stuff?”
“This will numb the area so I can do a small stitch. It’s still going to hurt a bit, but this is the best I can do.”
I breathed in deeply, “That’s okay. I can take it.”
She chuckled a little under her mask, “I believe you. But it’s still going to hurt. So how did you say you wrecked your car?”
“Oh, I lost control in the rain and spun into a building.”
“Hmm, must’ve been going pretty fast. Was someone chasing you?”
Inner demons, my past, my guilt, this nutty voice in my head…
“No, no one was chasing me.”
“All set, here we go.” She picked up her tools and I felt a searing pain in my head wound followed by a tugging sensation. “You should really be more careful. If we’ve learned anything from the past year, it’s that life is precious and short. You shouldn’t be taking such big risks.”
Mike raised his eyebrows and dramatically cleared his throat at me to make sure I heard the good doctor’s sage-like wisdom.
“Uh-oh, I didn’t mean to step on a hornets’ nest. Okay, last stitch. You’re finished.”
There was a strange tingling coming from my stitches and a throbbing at the base of my skull. I felt like crap and was suddenly very tired.
“Thanks,” I sat up. “You said you’ve seen a lot of car wrecks. Where did you work before this?”
“I was an attending at an ER nearby. My family went on lockdown early on because my husband had a health complication and was high risk. Now I try to help when I can.”
“Huh. So, you’re kind of like a superhero?”
She laughed a little, “I wouldn’t say that.”
“I would. You could just stay home and do nothing.”
“No, I couldn’t. If you can make a difference, then you have to try. Those are the rules now.”
“Those are the rules now. See, superhero.” I gave Mike a nee-ner-nee-ner face.
“Well, fingers crossed this will all be over soon and I can hang up my cape, right?”
“Right,” I said, “Thanks.”
“Sure. It should go without saying, but no driving for a couple days.”
“Nothing goes without saying for Sam,” Mike jabbed.
“Just keep an eye on her. Make sure she’s hydrating and resting as much as possible. She’ll be fine.”
“Thank you so much for your help. We really appreciate it,” Mike said.
“Please,” Mitchell stood. “I’ll walk you out to your car, Dr. Pearson.”
Mike sat next to me and sighed. “You’re exhausting. What time is it?”
“No clue, midnight maybe.”
“Sam, can we just agree to get over our shit please? Fighting with you is pointless and I can’t deal with wondering where you are all the time.”
I scowled at him then immediately winced as fresh pain seared through my skull. “Wait, so you’re saying we’re done fighting because you’re over it?”
He shrugged, “Yeah. Pretty much. I know you don’t like Karina, but she helped me see things a little differently and I don’t know, I just want to get out of here and go home. If you think we need to get into that lab first, then fine. That’s how we get home.”
I felt like a deflated balloon, all my animosity stolen away in a flash because Mike was tired. I sort of felt like an ass for letting Karina manipulate him. But if it helped me get what I wanted then who was I to stand in the way of young love? “I, um…I’m out of words.”
“Good. Just promise me you’ll try not kill anyone.”
“Huh?”
“If we do the lab, we do it without killing anyone.”
“Mike, that’s not exactly possible.”
“Just try, okay? Try not to kill anyone for a while and see how it feels.”
It feels awful.
“You sound like Navin. But sure, I’ll try.”
“Good. I’m tired. Let’s go to bed. Navin will be freaked so don’t tell him about your accident until tomorrow.”
“What?” I feigned
confusion, “why do you think Navin would care?”
“I’m not an idiot, Sam. Also, he sucks at being discreet. He’s been jumpy and staring at me like a weirdo for days. It’s pretty obvious.”
“Crap. Well don’t tell him you know. He’ll have a panic attack or want to talk about his feelings.”
“Deal.” Mike stood up and pointed to the stairs. “You first.”
“Ugh, I feel awful. Can’t I sleep down here?”
“Nope, we have to watch you and make sure you don’t stop breathing.”
“Great. You go ahead, I’ll come up in a minute.”
“Nope again. Now get up and go to bed. I have to be behind you so I can catch you if you fall, loser.”
And just like that, Mike had my back again. Exactly as Mitchell said he would.
8 Here We Go Again
My head felt like a grape trapped in an invisible vise grip when I woke in the morning. I made the mistake of sitting up too quickly which sent the room into a spin and sent me retching into the bucket on the floor by my bed.
Mike jumped up to check on me then went to get some water after giving me strict orders to stay in bed. Of course, until the room stopped its orbit I couldn’t go anywhere. I tried to focus on one point to steady myself and settled on Navin who was just starting to wake. His hair was all smushed on one side making him look oddly lopsided.
“Holy crap, Sam. What’s wrong? You look awful.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“No, I mean your head. What happened?”
“I may have gone for a joy ride that ended badly.”
He crouched by my bed and gently ran a hand over my cheek. He really was sweeter than I would ever deserve.
“Geez, Crazypants. Why didn’t you take me with you? Aren’t I supposed to keep you from doing stupid crap like this?”
“Yes. Which is why I didn’t take you. I sort of figured street racing wasn’t your thing.”
He chuckled. “No, it’s not. It’s obviously not your thing either.”
“Well now I know.”
