Angered Seasons: The Worst Birthday Ever (Volume One)

by Chester, Mireille

  Brent shrugged and tossed Max the keys. Grant was already opening the overhead door.

  Max peeled out of the yard and looked at me. “Where to?”

  “John! John! Are you still there? Where are you? We’re coming to get you!”

  I strained to hear as he whispered something into the phone.

  “What?”

  “Kinsmen Park.” His whisper shook. “By the kiddie pool.” His phone beeped to indicate it was about to die. “Gabs. Please.”

  Max accelerated and our tires left the ground as we crossed the intersection of fifteenth street and fifteenth avenue.

  “We just got into town, John. Just hang on and try to stay quiet.” My heart pounded in my chest. Max ran red light after red light and turned left onto central. I had a fleeting thought that it sure was empty on the streets. The truck jumped the curb and Max drove straight into the park.

  I screamed, sure we were about to hit a tree. Max managed to maneuver between the two pines without killing us. I scanned the park. “There!”

  Max swerved so he was on a straight collision course with three Yellow Eyes. He glanced at me quickly and I nodded, knowing he was asking my permission to run them over. I still had no clue what the hell was going on, but if anyone with yellow eyes came anywhere near me again, I wasn’t giving them the chance to try and kill me. The truck thudded over two of them and I swore under my breath as the third one managed to get out of the way. Max screeched to a halt and I jumped out, taking aim at the man who stopped short.

  “I will shoot you,” I warned. I frowned at the confusion in his yellow eyes. Was it possible this one had a clue about what was happening? His clothing was covered in dried and wet blood and his blond hair was matted to his head.

  “Gabby!”

  I heard John start down one of the trees behind me and cringed as he lost his footing and fell to the ground.

  “Are you ok?” I kept my eyes and gun trained on the man in front of me. The Yellow Eyes went from confused to terrified.

  John sucked in a breath. “Max, are you ok?”

  I frowned, torn between the need to keep the man in my sights and the urge to look at Max.

  “Max?”

  The man in front of us decided to take advantage of our slight disorder and charged us. My heart pounded against my ribs at the same moment my finger squeezed the trigger. My target flew back into the ground and I took a deep breath, turning around just in time to see Max’s bewildered expression. His eyes were transformed, the green coloring now a shining silver. He blinked rapidly which seemed to cause the silver to quickly blend back into the green until it disappeared. He was staring at me, fear clear on his face.

  “Please don’t shoot me!”

  My jaw dropped and I started to object, but was forced to stop when I realized I had started to bring up the rifle. I quickly lowered it and took three long strides to him so I could hug the look off of him.

  “What the hell was that, Maxy?” I took long deep breaths to calm myself.

  “I don’t know!” I heard him count to himself.

  “Did it hurt? Do you feel alright?” I stepped away from him and looked up into his eyes. They were the same green I was used to seeing there.

  “I feel… I feel fine. What happened? Why were you guys looking at me like that?”

  “Your eyes, man! They were silver!” John seemed reluctant to get too close to his friend.

  Max frowned and looked to me for confirmation. I nodded.

  “Before you shot him, I felt…” His frown deepened. “Strong.”

  “Strong?” I glanced around and waved to the truck. “Let’s go. We can chat on the way back to the shop.”

  Max got back behind the wheel and we drove at a much more legal speed back out of town.

  “What did you mean, strong?” Johnny was sitting in the back seat.

  “Like I could take on that Yellow Eyed freak with my bare hands. I was going to do it, but then Gabby shot him.” He glanced at me. “What do you think it was, Gabs?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t have a clue.”

  Max honked the horn as we pulled up to the shop and I grinned at the sight of the one ton as the overhead door was pulled open.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Lane’s voice wasn’t any louder than usual, yet everyone fell silent. I turned and glared at him.

  “I was thinking that Johnny was in trouble and someone should go get him before he got killed.”

  Lane’s dark blue eyes bore into mine. “I told you to stay put. You could have phoned me and I could have gone to get him.”

  I felt the anger spark in my belly; this whole ‘keep Gabby at home’ routine was quickly getting old. “He didn’t have his cell, the number came up unknown, and I had no clue where he was!”

  “So you just left and what? Thought you’d drive around till you found him?” His jaw clenched.

  “Yes! That’s exactly what I thought I’d do until he could tell me!” I could feel the tears threaten to spring to my eyes. “You know what, Lane? I’ve had enough shitty dads in my lifetime. I don’t need another one.”

  Everyone stared as I walked away toward the back room. Once there, I hid myself in the broom closet. I heard Lane’s familiar steps as he walked around all of the material we had back here.

  “Gabby?”

  I swallowed hard, but kept quiet.

  “Gabs, I know you’re in there.”

  I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, not wanting to see the anger that had been in his eyes. He squeezed himself into the closet and sat beside me. I felt him reach up and turn the light off. I leaned into him as he wrapped his arm around me. Since our very first major argument, we’d always found a small dark room to talk. If one wasn’t available, simply laying with our eyes closed usually did the trick.

  “I’m sorry.” His whisper was muffled in my hair. “I was worried about you.”

  “I had to go, Lane.” I kept my voice down.

  “I know.” He leaned his cheek against the top of my head and I took a deep breath.

  “I hate this.”

  “I’m sure they’ll figure it out soon.” His voice had lowered and deepened out of habit. It was the voice that made all animals come to him no matter how scared they were. It also broke up fights and worked wonders with the kids we worked with. He’d used it plenty of times on me.

  “Not that. I mean, that sucks. God, it beyond sucks. There is no word for what this is. We’ve killed people, Lane. Max ran over two more today and I had to shoot one. I don’t even want to think of the ones we killed last night. They’re sick. I mean, I know they tried to kill us, but god!” The shock of the past two days tightened my throat and my eyes let slip a fresh stream of tears. “The one I shot, he was confused. I could tell. I raised the gun and he stopped. He knew he would die if I pulled the trigger. He was scared. He was scared and confused and whatever made him sick still pushed him to try and kill us and I had to pull the trigger…” A sob cut off my words and Lane tightened his hold on me.

  “I think Max is sick,” I whispered.

  “What?”

  “His eyes… when we were in the park, his eyes were glowing silver. I think I was going to shoot him, but he blinked and it went away.” I let out a shaky breath. “I almost shot him, Lane. He’s one of our kids! What are we going to do? And Lizzy’s using again and Max can’t handle it, he had a meltdown while you were gone. And you were gone and I was worried about you. All I could think was that something had happened to you and I can’t do this without you, Lane.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Gabrielle.” He held me close and I started to relax at the safe and familiar feel of his strong arms around me. “I’m sorry.”

  I frowned at his words. “What are you sorry for?”

  “The last little while. I know I’ve been hard to get along with.”

  I stayed quiet, not wanting to start another fight.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I’ve been a li
ttle stressed.”

  My heart jumped. “Please don’t move out, Lane. I’ll be nicer. I’ll stop walking around in my underwear. I’ll even disappear if you bring girls over…”

  “Christ, Gabs.”

  “Lane! Gabby!”

  Brent’s yell just outside the door made both of us jump. I quickly wiped my tears away and took a deep breath before following Lane out of the closet.

  “Max is about to lose it.”

  We ran back to the front where Lizzy had Max back up against a wall.

  “Why would you do that? It wasn’t up to you to tell her! I told you what would happen if you told anyone!” She poked him in the chest and I saw him flinch. His eyes were squeezed shut. He stopped mid count to look at her, the shock at her words clear on his face.

  “Alright, that’s enough.” Lane calmly stepped between them and I put an arm around Lizzy to start leading her away. She shrugged away from me, stomped up the stairs and I watched until she disappeared then turned my attention to Max. He was still pressed against the wall, his eyes darting around the room.

  “Listen to me, Maxy. You don’t need to hit anything.” Lane’s voice had dropped and lowered.

  Max squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, the tendons in his neck cording from the tension.

  “Just take a deep breath. Come on. Breathe in.” Lane started to count out loud while everyone else stood still, scared to make any noise that might break Max’s concentration. His lips moved in time with Lane’s words, though no sound came from him save his heavy breathing. It took to sixty before the tension started to ease out of his shoulders. By a hundred, he’d slipped down the wall so that he sat with his knees up, his head buried in his arms. He inhaled deeply one last time and looked up at Lane who was squatting in front of him. Lane smiled.

  “Good job.” He put a hand on Max’s shoulder and glanced up at the rest of us. “What happened?”

  Pete sent Max a sad smile. “Lizzy came down the stairs and told Maxy he had to drive her into town and she wanted to go before the two of you reappeared. When he asked her why, she reminded him she had to meet someone.”

  Max swallowed hard. “I told her I wasn’t driving her to meet her dealer; that I’d talked to Gabby and we were all going to sit down and figure out how to get her better.”

  “Dude, she snapped!” Grant shook his head in disbelief and Brent mirrored him.

  John was frowning. “What did she say she’d do if you told?”

  Max’s answer was mumbled into his arms. “She said she’d leave me.” Though his words were muffled, the devastation he felt was clear.

  “So let her go.”

  Max looked up at Pete’s statement. “I can’t,” he whispered. “She’s the only one that will put up with what I am. I mean, look at me. There’s something wrong with me.” Coming from anyone else, I’d have thought the speaker might just be looking for attention. Coming from Max, it broke my heart because I knew he was telling us what he thought was the truth.

  Marie sat beside him and hugged him tightly. “There is nothing wrong with you. Everyone has issues they need to deal with. Yours are just a bit more out in the open when it happens. If she loved you half as much as you love her, she’d never use how you feel about yourself against you. You’re nice to everyone you meet, you try your damnedest to help whoever needs a hand; you’re a good guy, Maxy.”

  He snorted and looked up at Pete. “I’m stealing your girlfriend.”

  Pete grinned. “Sorry, man, you can’t have her. Besides, she’s not my girlfriend.”

  Everyone frowned and Marie grinned.

  “Pete asked me to marry him!”

  Max’s smile was genuine as he pulled her into a hug then helped her to her feet so she could come show me her ring. The thin gold band with a heart shaped diamond was beautiful on her slender finger.

  “When did this happen?” I inquired.

  “Last night, at supper, before this whole mess started,” he answered before kissing his fiancée who blushed.

  “Hey, Gabs, do you have any advil?”

  I frowned at John. “Are you ok?”

  “Yeah, nothing major. I twisted my ankle when I fell out of the tree and it’s pretty sore.”

  I went to find him some painkillers and a glass of water. “Alright. Start at the beginning. Where were you all night and why didn’t you have your phone on you?”

  We all made our way to the sitting area and looked at him expectantly. He ran a hand over his short dirty blond hair, closed his light blue eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. His gaze met Lane’s and I was starting to worry about the worry and fear on his face.

  “I don’t know what happened last night. The last thing I remember is jumping into a truck with a bunch of my buddies and when I woke up, I was on some guy’s porch, alone.” He looked at the floor. “I got pissed drunk last night. I lost my phone, I had no clue what was going on until I saw one of those sick bastards tearing an old woman apart.” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t even do anything to help her. I just stood there and watched cause I couldn’t seem to get my legs to work and when he was done, he turned toward me and that’s when I ran like hell.”

  The blood had leached out of his face. “There was so much blood,” he whispered. He suddenly turned green and Pete had the sense to pass him the garbage can just instants before he started to puke.

  “I’ll get him some more water,” offered Marie. Pete took Ashley from her and gave his sleeping baby girl a kiss on the forehead. John stayed bent over the can until Marie reappeared. I sat beside him and pulled him into a hug.

  “You’ve been drinking again, Johnny?”

  “Just last night, I swear. I was walking to your house to tell you about it when I saw…” his voice trailed off.

  “Well, isn’t this touching,” snarled Lizzy. “Lizzy starts using again and the whole world jumps on her. Johnny falls off the wagon and he gets a pat on the back.”

  I glanced at Max and was shocked. Instead of the anger I was expecting, I saw defeat.

  “Lizzy, get upstairs.” I stood and faced her.

  “You’re not my mother! You can’t just send me to my room! I am not a kid!” She clutched her hands together and I noticed she couldn’t keep them from shaking. The joys of not getting your fix when you needed it.

  “So long as you act like a child, I will treat you like one. Throwing hissy fits, that’s childish. As for why Johnny gets a hug? He told us about it himself. He did not try to hide it from us; he did not threaten anyone else that something bad would happen if that person told… Christ, Lizzy! I haven’t seen Max feel this worthless since social services dropped him off at this shop and told us he might last the day but not to count on it.”

  “I make Max feel good about himself; that’s why he stays with me.”

  “No, you don’t.” Max sounded exhausted. He got up, grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and went to the back room.

  Everyone held their breaths, listening for the destruction to start. Nothing. I looked up at Lane, worried.

  “Make sure he’s not thinking of hurting himself.” I took a deep breath and turned back to Lizzy as Lane made his way to the back.

  “Maxy breaks things. He doesn’t hurt himself.” Though she sounded certain, her eyes flitted toward the back room and back to me.

  “Yes, he does. When he is so upset that screaming and punching holes in the wall and destroying a room isn’t enough, he starts to hurt himself.”

  She blanched and looked at the others who nodded their confirmation. Except for John, they’d all been here when Max had started with us. The first year had been heart wrenching. It seemed we put more time trying to deal with Max than actually working. There had been some days where it had taken two or three of the boys and Lane to hold him down while he had a meltdown. More than once, he’d get into the truck when we’d pick him up, his face bruised, his fingers bandaged. At first we’d thought his newest foster family might be the kind that took di
scipline to a whole new level. When we’d sat him down and asked him about it, he’d finally admitted to doing anything from hitting his face against the wall to taking a hammer to his own hands. His reasoning behind it was that the pain helped him forget the anger.

  Lane reappeared, rubbing his hands over his face.

  Grant frowned. “What did he say?”

  “He said he’s tired and he wants to be left alone.”

  Our little crew looked around at each other, clearly worried. Jason picked a deck of cards off of the table.

  “I’ll take first watch.”

  We watched as he headed back to be with his friend. Lane faced Lizzy. His jaw was clenched, his eyes hard.

  “We may not be your parents, Lizzy, but we are your employers. Go upstairs.”

  Her eyes widened at his calm yet furious tone and she didn’t argue with his order.

  I exhaled loudly and decided to think of something else. “What did you find while you were driving around? Besides those three Yellow Eyes, we didn’t see a thing.”

  Lane shook his head. “Pretty much the same for us. Stores are closed everywhere. Anyone we did see walking around wasn’t normal. I know there’re other people alive, though. I could see curtains being pulled aside and the occasional car driving around a corner. Have you checked the TV?”

  Brent turned it on and we all leaned forward to watch it. A rerun of ER was on, the same message scrolling around the bottom. Stay indoors, keep your doors locked until further notice.

  Pete yawned. “If you guys need me to take a turn with Maxy tonight, make sure you wake me up.” He put his arm around Marie and they made their way to their sleeping area, Ashley held gingerly against his chest.

  “Time flies when you’re having fun, eh?” Brent grinned and I looked up at the clock. Eight oclock. I nodded, suddenly exhausted. He grabbed some blankets and tossed one to Grant. Though none of us was used to being in bed any time before ten, the day’s events had drained us all. The twins and John made their way to the back room. I glanced at Lane who was pulling off his boots.

  “I’m just going to check on Maxy.”