by Benham, Tara
CHAPTER 27
Remi is practically jumping by the time the group comes into view. I remind her a second time not to get too close to the fence, because she didn’t have a bracelet yet. This morning we tested Atlas, and he no longer had traces of the virus. We immediately started to administer other antibiotics and the steroids to boost his immune systems. It was a joyous moment this morning to know the mixture was working. We would be testing Remi in the morning.
“Come on McCaid, they’re almost to the post, we need to be in there to meet them” She was pulling with all of her little might.
“Okay, okay” I couldn’t help but laugh at her exuberance. The snow was gone completely now. I glanced down to see mud covering my boots and her sneakers. Spring couldn’t get here quick enough. I needed warmth and sunshine, not mud and snow and dreariness.
“MOMMA!!! MOMMA!!!”
“Oh, Remi!” Her mother looks a lot worse today than she had just four short days ago. She was waiting not so patiently for me to open the door. “You look well. Oh goodness how I have missed you. Thank you so much Miss Dobbins.” Unshed tears were clinging to her long dark lashes. Her eyes matched Remi’s but her hair was much darker.
“You’re welcome. We have high hopes that Miss Remi’s test will show no active virus tomorrow. Atlas’ had his three day test today and it was clear. We are willing to give each of you in the group who is infected the inhibitor if you all wish to take it.”
“Honest?”
“Yes, of course, Ms…I’m sorry I don’t know your name.”
“Ruthie Isla, you can call me Ruthie.”
“Of course, Ruthie, and thank you so much for your assistance with getting us into the water plant.”
“To be honest, I must say I was skeptical that you were really going to find something to reverse this, but since I have witnessed it first hand, I will do whatever I can to help. As of this morning, just two others decided to come help. This is Annabelle, she works at the plant too, she’s immune, and this is Adam. He is Annabelle’s husband, he does have the virus.”
“Hello, nice to meet you. Please let’s go to the main house. We have food for you all, and clothes that should fit if you want to shower.”
“Oh, a shower would be nice, but unfortunately for the plan we have in mind, we’ll need to continue to look like this for it to work.” Adam spoke. He has a very deep gravelly voice. I wasn’t sure if it was due to his sickness or if that was his normal voice, but it was nice.
“We can’t wait to hear your plan, and hopefully it will fit well with ours.” I lead them to the house, and listened as Remi rambled on to her mom about everything she has seen and done these past four days.
Denver and Baxlie had made fresh soups and ham and cheese sandwiches for the groups, as well as tea and lemonade. They had placed a beautiful bouquet of roses on the table from the greenhouse that Sasha had taken to growing. Everyone else was either in the lab, or the living room trying to see if we could catch any new news broadcast, but there had been absolute dead air on both the radio and television since Dad’s announcement. Baxlie hadn’t even been able to find anything out on the internet which was odd. Remi continues to talk and chatter as the group eats. They seemed timid at first, but once they saw we wouldn’t judge, just that wanted them to get their fill before we got down to business.
“Caid,” Ever spoke in a whisper, “you need to come look at the monitors. Now please.” There was tension in her voice making me nervous instantly.
“Please excuse me, Denver can help if you need anything else, I need to go take care of some business real quick, then I’ll be right back.” They group just nodded, and Denver smiled lightly at me for the continue trust in her helpfulness.
“Someone is pacing back and forth in front of the gate, but not trying to get in or make contact.”
“Okay, so send someone out there, maybe it’s one of the others from the group who changed their mind.”
“No, McCaid. You need to see before you make a decision.” We were almost to the lab when her shoulders hunched forward. She seemed as tired as I feel. I knew the head injury was still making her tired, but this seemed to be different.
In the lab I looked at the screen that monitored the fence. At first no one was on the screen, and then someone walked out from the trees and crossed the road over to the other side. I froze, watching the screen. I recognize the gait, the body structure. It was Dad. I couldn’t speak or move. Why would Dad be back, and why wouldn’t he just use his bracelet to get on the property. Without saying anything, I take off running. I felt a sudden need to confront him. To ask him why. I needed answers. I could hear Ever calling after me, following me, but I couldn’t slow down. A few people jumped and yelped from being startled as I barreled from the back of the house up to the foyer and out the door. I refuse to slow down as I slop through the mud down our driveway. I stop just right at the edge of the drive way in front of the gate.
“Dad.” A mix of emotions were running through me. I was elated that he was alive, and angry that he would show up thinking everything was okay.
“McCaid, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please say you forgive me. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I just wanted to give you and Darcy a future I didn’t get. I wanted you to be able to fall in love and know you wouldn’t have to face your spouse dying of cancer, or so other illness. It just got out of hand. They made a whole list of disease and diagnosis that they decided needed to be eradicated with the virus. Not just cancer, rabies, tuberculosis, but schizophrenia, hemophilia, bipolar, and depression. I never once would have agreed to help if I knew how they were going to use this virus. You have to believe me Caid. I’ve made an awful mistake.” Tears were streaming down his cheeks, he looked beat down and tired. I was conflicted. He was my Dad. I wanted to whole heartedly to forgive him and believe him. With the research we found, I just couldn’t.
“Dad, I can’t. Not yet, but come in. Get showered, changed and eat. I don’t think everyone is going to be as accommodating. I’m going to have to ask you to stay in the guest house. I’ll have Johnnie bring you some clothes, and food.” He gave me a strange look when I said Johnnie, so I quickly stated “Master Sergeant Long.”
Dad didn’t respond, he only nodded solemnly. I opened the gate, and led him to the guest house. The sun was directly overhead now, and it was feeling like a direct spotlight on me and Dad. Ever was standing midway between the house and driveway. She was kind enough not to have interrupted, but was now standing, waiting for some sort of explanation. I didn’t have words to give her right now, nothing that would make any sense. For months she had been the one trying to convince me not to believe what I thought Dad did, and now that I was taking her advice she seemed upset.
“Ever, please be quiet about what is going on. Ask Johnnie to bring some of Dad’s clothes to the guest house, as well as some food. Do not let anyone else come with him, and avoid telling him why for any reason.” She nodded, but wouldn’t make any eye contact with me or Dad.
“Ever.”
“Don’t, Mr. Dobbins. Just don’t.” Her voice cracked some and she turned to sprint back to the house.
“Seriously Dad, I don’t know why you’ve come back here, but we have a lot to discuss. Also, you won’t be in the main house again, for a long time. I’m not trying to be mean, but please understand you’ve been gone for a long time. Lots of things have happened, lots of things are still happening, and I cannot let you interfere. Do you know that you put us in danger? That there are groups of people who want revenge against you by hurting and/or killing us? I mean, Dad what exactly were you thinking? Don’t try to blame it on mom either, I found her letter. She tried with her last breath to convince you to not to work with that group. I may find it easier to forgive you in time, but right now Daddy, I can’t.”
“I understand.” The man standing in front of me was not the same man I grew up knowing. He was down trodden. He looked older than before, his hair was grayer and he had deep lin
es between his eye brows that showed worry and deep thought. We were walking in the front door when Johnnie and Ever reached the porch.
“Dobbins. I have some clothes, and food. I will also be staying here with you, so the girls can get back to doing what they had planned before you decided to show back up. Girls you can go. We’ll be fine here.”
“Sure Johnnie. We will send someone over in a few hours to get you a break.” Ever grabbed my hand and started walking back to the main house. We didn’t make it ten steps out the front door before I started sobbing. Ever wrapped her arms around me and took me under one of our favorite trees.
“Shh, shh. Caid, now’s not the time. We have to hope no one else saw him, as well as present ourselves as if everything is fine. Tonight, when we go to sleep then you can fall apart. I’m going to count to ten, and then we’ll be ready to go in. Ready?” I gave a small nod. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.” She wiped my tears, gave me quick hug, and then pushed me toward the house.
Several deep breaths later, I was ready to enter the main house. Baxlie greeted us by saying that both Ruthie and Adam had been given the dosage. They were just waiting around for us to get back from whatever errand we had done to start the combining of plans. Everyone was already seated randomly throughout the living room. Remi was had fallen asleep on her mom’s lap, and Annabelle and Adam were sitting on the couch with their feet propped up looking truly relaxed. I plopped down on the floor in front of Sasha. She started running her hair through my hands, something she always did as a way to calm herself as well as me down. Baxlie and Denver took the lead for running the meeting. They began by telling everyone our plans for who’s staying and who’s going, and our ideas for getting the cure into the water system. They explained their idea for a plan. Then they explained the pros, cons and made suggestions for our plan. By the time we had hashed out a concrete plan, it was dinner time. I pulled Micah to the side and told him about Dad, and he agreed to go and relieve Johnnie for a few hours.
“Darcy, can I speak to you alone please.” Poor Darcy it seemed like the only time we spend together anymore is when I’m telling her bad news. It was no different this time either. I had decided while under the tree with Ever, that Darcy had shown enough maturity lately that she deserved to make her own decision on if she wanted to go see Dad. We went into her room this time. “Darce, Dad is in the guest house. He came back, begging forgiveness and trying to explain that he didn’t know that the virus was going to be used like it was. I haven’t forgiven him, but I did let him in and he is staying in the guest house being guarded. Micah is on his way right now, so that Johnnie can have a break. I wanted you to make your own decision. I will not be mad either way, even if you decide to forgive him that is your decision.”
“Caidee, do you think I should go see him?” My sweet little sister. The sadness that enveloped her made my chest tighten.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t tell you seeing him has made anything easier for me. I did ask him questions, but he didn’t answer. You have to do what you feel best.”
“I think I don’t want to see him. At least not now.”
“That’s fine. Just if you decide to go, please let me know.” I brushed her hand away from hair. She will probably be an old grandma twisting her hair from nervousness.
“Right now, I just want to go downstairs and prepare for dinner. Tomorrow is a rest day, other than testing Remi, so I want to just finish dinner so I can ready for my day of doing nothingness. Denver said we’ll have a “stay at home spa-day” we were going to invite Sasha to participate too.”
“Sounds like a great idea Darce.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Ever and I are going to go to the range and shoot some, then maybe go to the gym and go hunting.”
“You never stop do you?” She smiled.
“I’ll stop when it’s safe to stop. Now let’s go back down so you can cook us some dinner.”
It was loud with all the people in our house now. There was sounds of debate, and sounds of laughter, and playing from the girls. The outside world was safely guarded from us right now, making everything seem normal. I looked from group to group from where I was standing at the base of the steps. I could see into each of the rooms. These people had become my family except for the three new ones who had just came this morning. This group of people were going to go to the ends of the earth with us to cure those my Dad helped infect. We were a rag-tag team made up of misfits, but we had become a team none the less. There was a swell of love and pride inside of me, as I continued to watch. I couldn’t image that just in a few short days we would putting some in danger, because of my Dad’s selfishness. I could, on some level, understand why my Dad had done what he did, but on the other hand I couldn’t fathom believing anyone had the right to decide who was worthy of living or dying. I was still standing and watching when Henry caught my eye. He nodded with his head for me to meet him outside and I responded with one quick nod in return. I knew that from the back of the house Dad couldn’t see us, but why I could care anymore was beyond me. I was an adult, and was able to make my own decisions. Plus, in our searches we found that the house and property all became mine upon my eighteen birthday, no matter the circumstances. I assumed now it was because he had some inkling of what was going to happen. Which is also why he had been adamant on training and preparing us this whole time.
“McCaid, are you sure this is the best plan of action? What if you all are attacked again?” Henry had been chosen to stay with the group at the house to provide protection for those staying. “You froze up last time, I couldn’t bear it if you got into danger this time and I wasn’t there to help somehow?” He had stepped closer to me at some point and placed his hand upon my cheek.
I rested my hands upon his chest, feeling the strength of his muscles under his shirt. His hands on me make my heart skip and my breath catch. There was such love and concern in his voice that made it hard answer right away. I just wanted to stay in this moment. I wanted to be closer to him, so I moved my hands from his chest to around his waist and pulled him closer. I laid my head against his chest where my hands had just been resting.
“Henry, I had been trained almost my whole life for this, I am certain I will not make the same mistakes again. As a matter of fact, tomorrow Ever and I will be spending almost all day in the training gym. Johnnie and Micah have agreed to take turns in working with us on strengthening our defensive moves, and our weaponry skills. We have a schedule all worked out. Anyone will be welcome to join us, but being it’s the first free day in a long time, I am betting that no one will take us up on the offer.” I stayed in his arms, head against chest as I spoke. Reality was irrelevant in his arms. From here I could picture a different life, one where no tragedy had ever occurred. One that let me grow up, graduate from college, attend Micah and Ever’s wedding, and they mine and Henry’s. I would watch Darcy grow up into an adult, and Dad grow old. Anger from this life that would never be was starting to eat at me. My hot tears were falling onto his shirt.
“Caidee,” Oh, how much I loved hearing Henry call me that. “Please tell me why you are crying?”
“I’m sorry. I was just thinking of the “what ifs”, in a quite different manner than how I used to play it with Dad and Ever. These are about “what if” this viral outbreak had never happened? What if Dad didn’t do what he had, what if Mom hadn’t died, what if I got to grow up in a normal world. What ifs that are getting me nowhere but angry.” I lifted my head to look up at Henry. He wiped my tears from my cheek, and leaned down into a soft kiss. It was like the first one we shared ages ago. Where that one started as timid and stayed as timid, this one deepened. It was like we would never get to kiss again. He pushed me up against the wall of the house with his body, continuing to kiss me. I could feel his whole body against mine. I was starting to forget where I ended and he started. I finally had to push him away to catch my breath. I looked over to where he
was and he had his head against the bricks breathing hard too. The absurdity of it made me lose my cool, and I started laughing. I laughed so hard, my stomach hurt. I was doubled over laughing, trying to catch my breath when I heard him join in. In between my laughter I suggested that maybe we needed a chaperone from here on out, and he agreed.
CHAPTER 28
Bright and early the next morning, Ever woke me. She was already dressed and ready to start training. She called me a lazy bones, and threatened to tickle me unless I got out of bed immediately. I jumped up as quickly as possible at the threat of tickles, stumbling over shoes and stumping my pinky toe. I yelped and she fell onto the bed in tears.
“You are not my friend.” I harrumphed into the bathroom to get dressed for our day of training, leaving her in her fit of giggles. Ever had put on blue yoga pants, and a black running tank. I decided I should play Ever today, and put on a pair of cheetah print yoga pants and a neon green tank. When I re-entered our room after wards, she gasped then clapped in happiness.
“Oooh, now I wished I had worn that outfit instead. Although it does look fabulous on you. Shall we go grab some breakfast and head to the training gym? Micah has the first shift, and wants to start sharply at nine o’clock.”
“Yes, and it would be dreadful” I lengthened the word more than necessary to make it more dramatic, “if we made Micah wait, wouldn’t it?” She responded only by rolling her eyes and grinning. “Rolling eyes, have you been hanging around my baby sister too much?”
“She’s not really a baby anymore is she though?” Ever sounded sad.
“No, not really. Let’s go, we might have to run laps if we are late.”
