by C. J. Boyle
“They act on instinct, not feelings. Be careful.”
Kera thought about all the things she might want to say to him because she knew she might never see him again. There was only one thing she could say, only one thing they had time for. She stepped closer, “I love you, Charlie. Always.”
Gunfire erupted in the background causing him to flinch.
“Just go.” Melissa got the Link's attention again. It seemed to listen to her.
He took one last look at Kera before running away. She was glad that she had the opportunity to tell him that she loved him one more time, but she had an enormous fear that she just let her son run off to kill someone. And with her luck, it would probably be Brody. She looked at Melissa, “I have to find Brody.”
She nodded, “I have to find Carl.”
“Let’s go then.” They both ran towards the main building. That was where the bomb shelter was. The kids were supposed to be taken there if anything happened. She hoped that both Brody and Carl would be there protecting the kids. It wouldn't be easy for Melissa to defend Rose and shoot at the same time, so Kera let Melissa run ahead of her so she could cover her. They ran into the lobby and down the hallway to the stairs that led to the basement. She hoped that no Links were inside because the door had been shut, but that didn't mean there weren't any soldiers inside hiding around the next corner, prepared to shoot them. Kera trotted down the stairs to the bomb shelter door. It had been made in the fifties so everything was old and ultimately would prove useless in an actual bombing. The door was closed tight and wouldn't budge. She banged on it with the back of her gun.
"Who's there?"
Kera recognized the voice as Dr. Haley's. She didn't know what to do. He was the doctor who came with the military. "It's Kera and Melissa, Dr. Haley, open the door."
Kera looked at Melissa and baby Rose while she listened closely to the door. There was a loud click and the sound of metal on metal sliding across the door. She got her gun ready. She was determined to kill whoever shot Mitchell and if that person opened the door, she was going to shoot him in the face. When the door was pulled open about five inches, Kera threw her body against it and burst into the shelter. She instantly found herself in a gun-to-gun standoff with Dr. Haley. She looked behind him and around the room. There were several crying women and about a dozen children huddled together in fear. There was a gun in her face, but her top concern at the moment was Jessie and the fact that he wasn't in there. She heard Melissa closing the door behind her, so she stepped forward.
Dr. Haley's hand shook as he tried to hold the gun still. "What's going on?"
"Put the gun down, Dr. Haley."
He looked very scared, "I heard that Links got in and then the next thing I know, Baker's men started shooting at the kids."
Kera couldn't help staring into the barrel of his gun. His hand was shaking wildly and she started to think that she might be shot by accident. She lowered her gun and held out her hand, "Give me the gun. It's okay." Haley was unsure for a few moments but finally handed over the gun. She looked around the room again. Her heart sank as she tried to control her emotions. "Where's Jessie?" She did a mental count and put her hand against her stomach. "We're seven kids short."
Dr. Haley's eyes couldn't have looked sadder. "It's the damnedest thing... the Links took two of them and they didn't seem to mind." He couldn't seem to find the right words. "I'm sorry to say that four kids were killed."
"What about Jessie?" Kera looked at Dr. Haley, and when he didn't answer, she looked at the other women in the room. No one seemed to know where the boy was or what happened to him. Kera couldn't lose Mitchell and his son in the same day. She owed it to Mitchell to find him and take care of him. Melissa gave Rose to one of the women and held her gun ready. She waited for Kera to make a move.
Kera leaned over and gave Dr. Haley his gun back. "Don't let anyone from Baker's team in this shelter, you hear me?"
* * *
As Brody lay on the ground next to the dead man, he tried to survey his surroundings. From his vantage point, he could see Jessie hiding underneath some bushes at the corner of the building. He needed to get to him before anything happened to him. Brody would lay his life out on the line for any child. That was just the type of man he was. But he really liked the boy and knew that if he let anything happen to him, he'd never forgive himself. He looked a little more to his left and saw Carl crouched behind a bench, frantically trying to get his attention. He pointed at Brody and then made fangs with his index fingers on his chin and then forcefully pointed at Brody again.
'A God damned Link is behind me, right?' He thought it loud enough that it seemed like Carl heard him, because he nodded with his eyes so wide he could see the whites of them.
Brody slowly turned around onto his back and looked up. A large Link loomed over him baring its sharp teeth. It seemed to be deciding which would be the easier prey. It looked at the dead man next to Brody, so he did too. 'Christ.' Brody slowly scooted himself backward. He knew that the smell of blood was irresistible to them. He hated himself for it, but he had to remove himself from the area so that the Link would feed on the dead man and not him. He scooted himself back a foot or so and then heard the familiar sound of gunfire behind him and then a thud.
He froze.
The Link looked at him curiously and then back to the bloody body in front of it. It suddenly tore into the dead man allowing Brody to quickly turn around, get to his feet, and run. He had to hop over the body of a soldier who fell behind him. He looked over to Carl who still had his gun pointed in his direction. Apparently, Carl killed the man before he could kill Brody. He ran to the corner where Jessie was hiding, bent down, pulled the boy out from underneath the bushes, and then hauled him up onto his feet. Carl covered them as they ran to him. Brody got a good look at Jessie. He looked like he'd been crying, "You okay, little man?"
"Daddy's dead," Jessie sobbed.
Brody had a dozen thoughts hit him all at once, but the only word that managed to get out was, "Shit."
Carl dropped his mouth at his friend, "Brody, come on, man."
Brody put his hand on Jessie's head and ruffled his hair a little and then gave him a hug. "I'm sorry, little man, but I've got you now, okay? It's gonna be okay."
Kera and Melissa ran into the courtyard looking for them. When Kera spotted Brody and Jessie she ran over to them and hugged them both tight.
Kera tried to say something, but she could only manage his name. "Brody."
"I know, Baby." He held them both, "I'm sorry."
Chapter Twelve
The Loss
Kera stood in front of Brody as the children stepped between them to get on the bus. See glanced down at each one of them briefly as they passed until the last one got on followed by Melissa and Rose. Kera stopped Melissa long enough to say, "Make sure she gets back to Dr. Wallace." The woman glanced at Brody and then nodded at Kera. She was obviously confused, but she got on the bus anyway. Carl walked up with Jessie and Kera hugged the boy tight. "Me and your Uncle Brody are going to take care of you from now on, okay? But right now, I need you to go back with Carl and Melissa. I promise we'll be there in just a couple of hours. Okay?"
Jessie looked at her through red puffy eyes, "Okay, Auntie Kera." He got on the bus at Carl's urging. Carl gave his pal a questioning look. Brody just shrugged. Carl followed Jessie onto the bus.
Brody looked down at Kera but he didn't say anything, he just patiently waited. To her, until that day, he never looked so big and intimidating. He might say no. He might get angry and refuse. Then what would she do? She felt like a little kid who just broke every vase in the house and then had the audacity to ask for help cleaning it up. The bus suddenly started up making her flinch. She fidgeted back and forth and wrung her hands together. She couldn't look him in the eyes. "Brody," her face turned bright red as she spoke, "will you help me?" She breathed in quickly and exhaled loudly.
He stepped closer to her. He spoke softly, "Always.
What do you need me to do?"
Of course, Brody helped her. He helped her wrap her friend's body in a sheet, and then he carried him to the parking lot and put him in the back of a pickup truck. Kera watched him gently place Mitchell's body in the truck bed next to two others and close the back. He didn't seem mad at all. He was gentle, quiet, and respectful. But she knew deep down he resented her for all of it. Brody got in the driver's seat and started it up. Kera looked at the body-shaped sheet in the back of the truck and tried to hold back the flood that she knew was coming. She got into the truck and shut the door.
As they drove back to New Hope, Brody looked over at Kera. It was an older model truck with a bench seat that went from one end of the cab to the other. She sat all the way up against the door. If she were any further away from him, she would have been outside the truck standing on the sidestep and holding onto the mirror. She was looking at something reflective in her hand. She turned the object enough that he was able to determine what it was. "You took his driver's license?"
She rubbed Mitchell's photo back and forth with her thumb. "I probably would take yours too."
He winced, "That doesn't make me feel any better."
"You don't understand."
"Yes, I do. You loved him." He looked at her, trying to gauge her response.
She started to turn red and pursed her lips together. She was trying not to cry, but that only made it worse. "Yes, I loved him, okay? He was my friend." She finally looked at him and then pressed her hand to her chest. "Brody, it hurts. It hurts so God damned bad!" She looked down at Mitchell's license photo. A tear fell on it and she rubbed it away. "And he was just my friend, Brody. If it were you... If I lost you... " She could no longer speak and swallowed hard.
He slowed the truck down just a little. He tried to pay attention to the road but at the same time he leaned over and hooked two fingers into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled her across the seat to him. He put his arm around her and let her lean against him and cry. He rubbed her arm, "The world we live in kinda sucks, Kera. But if I have my way, we're always going to be together."
~ The Exit ~
Martha packed her suitcase and then closed it shut. She looked around the room that had been her temporary home for almost a year. It was a bland and bleak room that would be acceptable if you were staying in a mediocre hotel. The mirror caught her attention. She still had her long loose, white lab coat on. She took it off and threw it on the bed. He had a lavender blouse on and a black skirt that almost touched her knees. 'I look like a fucking school teacher,' she thought to herself. She shook her head and then tucked in her shirt. One more thing had to be done before leaving. She walked over to her dresser and pulled out a small black purse. Thanks to Cockran, there was probably a camera in the room somewhere, but she hoped there wasn't one in her bathroom. But just in case, she brought her tablet computer into the bathroom with her and used a flashlight program to provide just enough light to see what she was doing. If there was a camera in there, hopefully, the video would be too dark to see.
She carefully opened the little purse and took out a syringe and a small glass bottle of clear fluid. She pulled the cap off the syringe and inserted the needle into the vial and then pulled the clear liquid into it. She only needed 100 milligrams, but she pulled almost two, just to be sure. She recapped the needle so that it was secure and slid the syringe inside of her bra. There was a good possibility that she would be caught, but she felt the risk was worth taking. She grabbed her tablet and walked out of the bathroom and her room and into the hallway. She walked briskly, with purpose, to her destination.
Martha stopped at a door guarded by two MP's. "Is it okay if I see the Colonel?"
"What business do you have with him?" one asked.
She showed him her tablet, "I wanted to update him on the status of his wife before I left. I feel like I owe him at least that much."
"Knock. It's up to him if he wants to see you."
Martha smiled politely and knocked on the door. After an uncomfortable minute of silence, she knocked again. She started to hear movement and the door suddenly opened. Colonel Cockran stood there, trying hard to focus on her. He hadn't shaved in a few days and was wearing his uniform pants and a white stained undershirt. He had a bottle of liquor in a hand at his side and seemed to drift back and forth, even though he was standing in one spot. He looked her up and down, from head to toe, and then stepped aside so she could come inside. Martha looked at the MPs from left to right expecting them to stop her, but they didn't budge, so she walked into the room and the Colonel closed the door behind her. The room, like the Colonel, was a mess. It was bigger and nicer than the one she was given. It had a small kitchen that was a smelly mess. Cockran walked over to his bed without saying a world and sat down on it, leaning his back against the wall. He looked at her and took a big swig from his bottle then wiped his mouth. "To what do I owe the honor?"
Marth silently scolded herself for being in the same room with him, "I wanted to see you before I left."
"I knew you wanted a piece of me." His eyes twinkled a little in the dim light as he smirked before drinking more from his bottle.
Martha cued up a video on her tablet computer and walked over to him. She took the bottle away from him and set it on the nightstand, and then handed him the tablet.
He blinked a few times trying to clear his vision. "What am I looking at?"
She leaned over so that she could see the tablet and pressed play. The video showed a curly haired, little naked girl covered in dirt and filth looking directly at the camera. The 'camera' moved and bounced around and was never centered on the child. She was chewing on her fingers. Even though the poor girl was filthy, she was adorable. Martha paused it on the girl's face. "This is Lillian's baby." She sat down on the end table next to him between the bottle and the bed.
He stared at the girl's face. "Why are you showing me this?"
She reached into her shirt and retrieved the syringe and with one smooth fluid move she uncapped it, jammed it into his arm, and pressed in the plunger. He gasped and tried to look at her. The tablet in his hands slowly lowered onto his lap as he gasped for air. She watched his chest as it rose and fell and then stopped. She returned the syringe to her bra.
"I just gave you a paralytic. It's the same one they use in the cocktail for executions. Succinylcholine. Sux for short. That's S U X, but I'm sure it sucks, doesn't it?" She calmly picked up her tablet and put it on the end table. "It metabolizes very quickly, and unless you're looking for evidence of it, no one will find it." She pulled the blanket out from under his legs and brought it up over his body. "And even if they do, I will be long gone." She grabbed his legs and pulled him down on the bed so that his head was on the pillow. She made him look comfortable. She moved up to his head and looked in his eyes. "You still with me, George? I want you to know I'm going to find her. She'll be okay, no thanks to you."
Martha grabbed her tablet and headed to the door. With her hand on the doorknob, she stopped to gather her courage. Finally, she opened the door and walked out. The MPs looked inside as she came out. Her face was flushed and she smiled. "He fell asleep on me." She closed the door behind her and headed back to her room to get her bags. If everything worked out the way she planned, she'd be in her husband's arms within the hour.
* * *
Kera left the apartment that she shared with her Uncle Shawn. It seemed like she had been crying for days. There was this giant hole in her heart. Not just because she lost her friend Mitchell, but also because of the children they had lost. Not to mention seeing Charlie. What was he doing so far away from Denver? She hadn't seen him in almost a year. A Link probably could have walked across the entire country in that amount of time. It just didn't make sense to her. Nothing made sense to her. She stopped in front of Brody's door and took a deep breath. She stood there for what seemed like a few minutes with her hands jammed into her pockets and mentally fighting with herself about whether or not she sh
ould knock or run away. She raised her hand, pausing for a moment, and then knocked. A moment later the door started to open. In the second or two that it took for the door to open wide enough, she actually hoped that Carl or one of his brothers would answer instead of Brody.
He was surprised at first but then looked a little ticked off. "Why are you knocking?"
Kera knew what he meant. Everyone was used to her just walking in whenever she wanted. She looked down at the floor, "Do you have Jessie?"
He rubbed his face and sniffed. "No, Carl took him out to play with Archie."
"Okay." She felt about as awkward as a person could feel. She turned away but hesitated, "I guess I'll go watch them." She quickly headed down the hall.
