by Max Lockwood
She pushed the house key into his hand, ignoring all his protests. This was her last chance, and she just had to be right.
Clara headed straight for the church. It was the only place she could think of that her sister could have gone. Why hadn't she thought of it before? It was the one thing Tessa had been mentioning so much of lately…
She found Tessa inside, sitting in one of the pews. The church was kept lit with gas lamps and candles often, Clara wondered where they got all the resources and why they weren’t worried about them dying out. But it wasn’t her place to question. She could see the light before she got inside, and though it was still somewhat dim inside, it would be hard to mistake her sister's haystack hair for anyone else.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Clara felt her knees shake as they threatened to give out on her. But she soldiered on, walking to the pew where her sister sat. She didn’t turn to look at her, but she must have known Clara was there.
"Can I join you?" she asked simply, without any of the anger she should have felt for Tessa making them all worry about her by disappearing like that.
"Anyone is welcome in the house of God," was Tessa's answer.
Clara took it as an okay and sat beside her, resting her tired body. So much left her worried these days, it was taking its toll on her body. But she would take whatever chance she had to relax because she didn’t plan on stopping. They'd just take a bit longer to get home. Hopefully, Cooper would forgive her for taking too long.
She breathed in deeply and then exhaled in a gust. When was the last time Clara had been in a church? She couldn’t even remember. Her parents had gone almost every week, and it had fallen into a routine for Clara. She still went, after they died, but usually irregularly and only when she had the time. Sometimes she didn’t make it for an entire month.
Now, though, she felt something like peace warm her chest. This place had so many good memories for her that she was tempted to let herself get lost in them. But she still remembered where they were and why, and the situation that was probably waiting for them once they got outside.
She had sent Cooper home so she and Tessa could make their way home together. Clara didn’t know how long they could wait before they had to leave. She didn’t know what would happen if someone patrolling outside actually got to the church and looked inside. They might not look inside at all, but that would still mean that Clara and Tessa would have to carefully make their way home while avoiding getting caught outside after curfew.
Tessa sat calmly beside her as Clara's thoughts lost their temporary calm and started running dizzying circles in her head again. She almost glared at her sister, at least until Clara saw that her face was calm, almost serene. It wasn’t a look she ever remembered seeing on her sister's face.
She sighed. "Tessa, how long have you been here?" No answer. "You took way too long and it's late now, almost midnight. You should have come back ages ago. If we get caught going back this late at night out in the streets, we could get into trouble."
Tessa still didn’t respond. She didn’t even look like she'd heard everything they said. Instead, she looked at Clara like she was crazy. "I had to be here, Clara, for as long as it took. Why shouldn’t I be here?"
Clara held back a sound of frustration. "Fine, maybe. But you could have at least told me your plans, Tess. I would have let you come back tomorrow early and stay for as long as you want."
Again, Tessa wasn’t responding to what she was saying. Giving up at the moment on getting her sister to do anything, Clara sat and faced forward. They sat silently for long moments, and Clara could feel the natural peace in the room making her relax again, though just a little. Maybe it was because the place was so empty, but she was close enough to her sister that she could sense her presence right there. The room was so dimly lit, yet somehow it only added to the atmosphere. She took in another deep breath before releasing it, thinking for a moment that the air tasted different, almost purer just because of where they were.
It was a stupid thought, of course. Part of her mind was still living in the past in that moment, remembering that usually, their mom would sit beside her and their dad would sit on the other side of Tessa. It didn’t hurt to think of them, in here, like it usually did so she pushed the thoughts away. But before she could give in to her recollection, Tessa spoke up again.
"I never used to be interested in going to church," Tessa said, "even as a young religious woman. Now, I realize what I've been missing."
Clara would have scoffed, except Tessa looked serious. It might have been nothing but idiocy, but she completely believed in what she was saying. Clara didn’t feel anything like her, and she had the passing fancy to ask what it was like. But then the moment passed, and the thought died away.
"I can feel the presence of God more than ever in the church," Tessa claimed, "And that connects me to our parents." Clara's eyes widened when her sister smiled, a normal smile for once, almost gentle, something she hadn't seen in a long time. "I won't mind if the world ends and we all die—we'll be with our parents again."
Clara felt her eyes sting with tears. Even now, Tessa was still talking about them. Clara had forced herself to leave everything about their old life behind, but Tessa was the way she was because she couldn’t do that as easily. It was why Clara found herself envying her sister. It hurt her, but she didn’t stop thinking about them, whereas Clara only did when she was bracing for the pain of it. Not to mention, she had a longer memory of their last moments together than Clara did with everything she'd blocked away.
It was her one fault, being so weak she couldn’t even think of her dead parents because it hurt too much, even though circumstances had forced her to think about it too much lately.
Clara pulled Tessa in for a hug and they sat in the church together for a long time.
Chapter Eleven
Dante caught Clara on her way to community service the next day.
She hadn't had much sleep, so she was running a little late. She and her sister managed to get home quite late but without any problems, and Clara had fallen promptly asleep. She woke up feeling the most peaceful she had been in a long time before she noticed the sun was too high up in the sky for it to still be early morning, and she had proceeded to rush.
The only good thing about the electricity going off was that there was no definite way to tell time anymore. Most people had grown to rely on digital watches, so no one could get on her case about being late. The obsession with time and being late had always been annoying, and now she didn’t have to deal with them being so strict anymore. But she could still feel guilty about it after all the time off she took.
He caught her by surprise. She didn’t see him as often, now that he was out of her house, so the few times she did were a bit of a surprise, but she wasn’t expecting him to ambush her as she left her house.
She eyed him with surprise and curiosity, waiting a little impatiently to learn whatever made him seek her out this time. She couldn’t quite say they were friends, but she couldn’t say she disliked him, either.
"What is it, Dante?"
"I'll be moving back with Michelle today so I can be closer to the kids."
She was a little surprised. Clara had thought he was already back with his wife, so the news was a bit strange. She couldn’t have missed him sleeping on their couch the past few nights, and she'd only seen him once before since the fight.
"That's great news," she said anyway, genuinely glad for him, and his family. "How are things between you and Michelle?"
"We're on unsteady grounds, but we're willing to live together, even if not as a couple."
Her eyebrows arched up in more surprise. But despite what he said, he looked happier than Clara had seen him in longer than she could remember. It wasn’t the fake kind that he usually projected to people, it seemed genuine for once and Clara was glad he considered them close enough to let her see it.
"I'm happy for you, Dante," she told him honestly. But she was running
late, she didn’t have much time to keep wasting. So, she waved at him as he took off, turning over her shoulder to say, "I'll see you around," and she was off.
Clara went to work to find another surprise waiting for her. She stopped just outside, gaping in shock, before slowly walking inside. She had to watch her step and carefully maneuver around like she hadn't had to in a while.
The hospital was full once again.
How… she'd been there just yesterday and of the few people she'd met when doing community service, most had left and only a handful had come in. This… this was so much more than that. This looked a lot like the aftermath of the crash. When everything shut down, including a plane in the sky that had been flying over traffic when it suddenly came down killing a lot of people, injuring plenty more. It was only a little better than that, but not by much.
This… was a serious problem.
Someone shouted something about needing help, and it startled her enough that she came back to reality. Her mind was more alert, and she moved with a purpose, looking around as she moved for someone to tell her what the hell was going on. She only knew one person well, so of course, she was looking for Felicia.
Unfortunately, Felicia wasn’t easy to find. Because the place was now full, a lot of people needed attention, which meant they were understaffed again. She knew she had to help out as well, but getting information on the situation felt more important. Something, a bad feeling in her chest, told her she absolutely had to know what was going on, and she wasn’t so insensitive that she would just ask one of the injured.
Finally, she saw Felicia and rushed over. It took some skill, with all the people getting in the way and Felicia moving quickly herself, but she did it. Felicia spared her a glance, before looking over at a new patient.
"Hey, what happened here? Where did all these people come from?"
Her chest constricted as her thoughts ran wild. She had to hold herself back from just bombarding her with questions. She picked the two most important and relevant to her because Clara did not want to distract her while she was still doing her job.
She didn’t get an answer right away. Felicia finished with what she was doing and then stepped back from her patient, looking at Clara impatiently, but at least she answered.
"To be honest, I'm still waiting for details myself, I only know some parts of what happened. A large group came into town and annihilated a whole street of people. A few that survived came straight here, and that's where we are." She glanced around. "Now, be useful and find someone to help. There's plenty all around."
Clara nodded sharply, but she didn’t know if Felicia even saw it. Not that it mattered, because she was also on the move as well. She looked around. The first time she volunteered to work at the hospital, she hadn't been of much help. She didn’t have that many skills, to begin with, and it didn’t matter anyway because at the end of the day she practically ran home with no intention of ever returning.
But in the time since, she'd learned quite a bit. She was nowhere near the woman she had been back then, and though the noise, the smell, all the blood still bothered her, it wasn’t enough to break her. She looked around for who were worse off and didn’t look like they'd been seen to yet, and that was where she headed.
Clara went to work, wondering how they were going to cope if people kept attacking them.
The last time had been bad enough. A large group, all women and all armed. But they'd come at night and tried to steal food secretly. Clara might never have known they were even there until the morning after when the family woke up to notice their doors broken, and the always locked shed missing its door. If Tessa hadn't screamed that night and woken her up, Clara didn’t know what could have happened.
But they faced the problem, everyone, together, and they rose above it. But then more people were coming and attacking, and whoever these new guys were, they weren’t being nice about it. Clara would imagine the people put up a fight, but to just attack an entire street and kill people…
Dammit!
Clara had thought they could relax after the last battle, and now they would face a new one a lot sooner than she really liked.
What the hell were they going to do? The police must have been notified, but this wouldn’t go like the other time. They had all been left relatively unharmed, and they'd come up with a plan just in time. But back then, Clara had been sure they would be returning to her neighborhood to take what was left of her supply of food. Not so with this new target. They could pop up anywhere, whenever they felt like it, and Clara honestly found that more frightening than that they were armed and didn’t find anything wrong with using whatever they could.
She worked tirelessly, barely noticing the time passing. When she was done with one patient, she had to run off to look for another. She wasn’t sure how long they had been there, but the more critical ones were done soon. Then it was just seeing to the rest of the injured. They'd need an influx of volunteers just to keep up, though. As it was, Clara was forced to take a break when she went to walk and felt her legs stumble.
"Whoa!"
Felicia, who had been near her, caught her, though she would have been fine on her own. She looked up at Felicia's face, wanting to tell her that she was okay, that she could go on, but the hard look on the older woman's face made her stop. She let herself get dragged away, out of the hospital but not far, just a few feet from the entrance.
"I know you're working hard, but don’t get yourself sick, too. We have enough to deal with as it is."
Clara nodded meekly at the older woman's scolding. "What time is it?"
"Afternoon, not sure how late, but your shift will be over soon. You missed lunch."
"So, did you," Clara pointed out. She didn’t have to check to be sure. Felicia would never leave her post when she felt there were people that needed her, and they currently had plenty.
Felicia made an impatient sound. "That isn’t important right now. Look, I'm going to tell you because I can tell by your surprise this morning that you have no idea."
Her fatigue partially disappeared as her back straightened. Clara clenched her jaw, preparing for more bad news since it couldn’t possibly be anything else.
Whatever moment of peace they'd had was nothing but a lie. Clara would somehow have to go home and tell her family all of this even as her heart broke over it and she built a wall around the pain and turned it into determination.
"I don’t know when the attack started, but it's different from what happened before. The police sent someone here, but there hasn’t been a word from them. There are uncontrollable fires and the damage is only going to get worse. A few more people might be brought in later, or they'll die before they can be helped. But…"
It struck Clara that Felicia seemed worried. Well, she did, too. How could they not, having been put in another dead-end situation this soon? Felicia hadn't even been there for the last one, just the aftermath. But, as Clara watched, Felicia's face hardened. Even afraid, she was strong.
"My sister and I have moved in together so that one of us can always be on the watch while the other is out. I'll do anything to protect what's mine. You should consider doing the same, Clara."
Like there was ever another option?
Of course, Clara would protect her family. It had been her goal from the beginning, even before she had Cooper join them. This was simply a change in duties. She had been looking after her family for years, maybe not well, but she'd done the job without complaint. That wasn’t going to change with this new information.
It would be a challenge, though. She wasn’t the same woman she had been even a week ago. It may not be enough, but Clara had no intention of burying her face in the sand and waiting for the problem to blow over. If she had to, she'd take an active role another way. If something stood in her way, she simply had to remove it. And if she died along the way, well. It was better than taking the coward's way out, and she intended to accomplish something before that happened.
&n
bsp; "I will," Clara told her, because what else could she say? "I'm determined to keep what's mine."
Chapter Twelve
They had new enemies now, these seemingly more violent than the other ones. She wondered how they could have attacked so many people on an entire street. People didn’t stay outside much these days, but considering how many had been caught outside, it bothered Clara a lot.
Felicia had refused to ask any of the patients because she didn’t want them to get too distressed while she focused on fixing them up. The fight must have been brutal, and Clara wondered if they knew how many had died in it. However, considering how it was carried out, she couldn’t just call it a mere fight this time—this could easily be an ambush. Eventually, they would have the answers, but Clara wasn’t in a hurry to learn them yet.
Her mind was preoccupied all the way home. They had just cleared some enemies, yet new ones had come so quickly. They really couldn’t catch any breaks, could they? Clara almost laughed at the unfairness, but it really wasn’t something to laugh about, was it?
For the moment, it wasn’t anywhere near her home, so it wasn’t her immediate problem. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to get involved somehow. She was going to focus on her work at the hospital first, though, since it was the job she had been given.
She sighed to herself. Things were getting complicated again way too soon and Clara didn’t think she had rested enough for this.
Clara arrived home late and gathered the family together. If this was going to happen again, she was going to have to warn everyone. Cooper she knew, wouldn’t like it if only because he might assume she would try to get involved. There was light curiosity from Viola, some grumbling from Tessa, and caution from Cooper.
Of course, he would guess something was wrong. She'd been calmer after the last attack, and she wasn’t even trying to hide that she was highly strung right then. She'd walked all the way home hoping to get the smell from the hospital off her clothes, and she hadn't gotten any blood on her clothes so he wouldn’t notice, but just by her face, how she was acting, he could guess something was seriously wrong.
