Love & Decay
A Novella Series
Episode Twelve
By Rachel Higginson
Copyright@ Rachel Higginson 2013
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To Zach,
This would not exist without you.
Just like so many other things.
Chapter One
706 Days after initial infection
“Maybe you should stay with Haley.”
Those words rolled around in my head like marbles- not all that offensive, but more than a little pointless. I gave Hendrix the what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you look he deserved and restrained myself from rolling my eyes.
“Reagan, I’m not trying to belittle your talents, or demean you in anyway. I’m trying to protect you. I want to keep you safe,” he argued with the smallest pout hidden underneath his scruffy beard. “I’m all for you playing the Sarah Connor thing every other day. Just not this one, not this day.”
“What is that from?” I leaned forward and brushed my lips along the scratchy hair on the underside of his jaw.
He looked down at me with those deep blue eyes, pleading with me to give in, to hide myself with Page and Haley.
The truth was I wanted to. I wanted to go with them and hide away. I wanted to stay with Page and help keep her safe. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to. By going with them, I would put them more at risk. Kane would never let me miss this.
I was not a victim, or a martyr. That was important to remember. But I also wouldn’t stir up unnecessary conflict, when I could be of help.
“From a place of endless love and devotion,” he murmured dryly.
I cracked a smile- I couldn’t help myself. “No, the pop culture reference, you dork. Who’s Sarah Connor?”
“Are you kidding me?” His intense, loving gaze turned cynical and distant. This was it. This was his deal-breaker. “The Terminator? Arnold Schwarzenegger? You’ve really never heard of Sarah Connor?”
I shook my head and pressed my lips together to suppress my smile. He was so put out, like I’d just stepped out of the illusion I’d cast this whole time. My glamour was gone. This was the real me, a girl who had heard of The Terminator but never seen it. Take me or leave me, there was nothing I could do about it now.
“Reagan, I don’t know if we can continue to see each other,” he winced. “This is a big deal. A very, very big deal.”
“Sorry,” I shrugged. “I grew up on chick flicks and reality shows. The Terminator was not part of my weekend playlist.”
He took a deep breath and put two strong hands on my shoulders. “It’s alright. We can fix this. We’ll figure it out, somehow.”
“Really? How? Did you forget that Zombies have taken over the world and we’re about to face two of the four horseman of the Apocalypse? There’s no more electricity, babe. Even a good old VHS is useless these days.”
“This is the most I’ve ever hated the end of the world. This moment, right here,” He slumped against me, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I pressed myself into him and inhaled his freshly cleaned smell.
I had been intoxicated with every different kind of scent Hendrix had- a little bit of sweat, a lot sweaty and disgustingly bloody, three days without a bath or more, covered in grime and dirt, first thing in the morning before he’d brushed his teeth and right before bed when he tasted like spearmint and cold water- but fresh from a bath, with soap still lingering on his skin and his beard damp and soft, had to be my favorite. Even his clothes were clean. And there was not a hint of Zombie blood on his clothes or skin.
I must have been extra thorough during our alone time.
Ahem.
“You’re blushing,” Hendrix whispered into my ear. “Bet you’re not thinking about movies you’ve missed anymore.”
“Mmmm,” I answered noncommittally. “I was never thinking about missing The Terminator. I’m perfectly fine with never seeing it.”
“Woman,” he growled. He turned pensive and said, “I know this whole Matthias Allen thing is a big deal right now, but what we really need to focus on is finding a solution to the no electricity dilemma. You really need to see this movie to understand me as a human being.”
I chuckled at that.
“What movie?” Haley interrupted, followed by the rest of the Parker clan.
Hendrix and I had arrived back to the activity room just as everyone was headed out to find something to eat. Vaughan quickly filled us in on the plan for the rest of the day and then they left us to get armed and ready for the conflict ahead of us.
“The Terminator,” I supplied helpfully while untangling myself from Hendrix’s intimate grasp. Now that everyone was back, the only thing left to do was wait for the second Apocalyptic shoe to drop. Haley and Page would be taking off soon with Harrison and King. They weren’t technically going into hiding, but they were getting out of the way during Gage’s negotiations with the Allen’s. Nelson, Hendrix and Vaughan had been “invited” to stay. And although my invitation wasn’t formally delivered since I had been trapped in the bunker with Kane, I knew I wasn’t exempt from this trial by Zombie-fire.
“Oh, I haven’t seen it either,” Haley shrugged. She hopped up on a card table and it wobbled precariously before settling beneath her.
“Bummer,” Nelson sighed. “I really thought we were going to work out, for like, the long haul.”
“Oh, so that’s it?” Haley grinned at him. “One terrible film and you’re through with me?”
“Yep,” Nelson nodded seriously.
“Thank, God!” Haley groaned. “That was so much easier than I anticipated.”
“What was easier?” Nelson narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.
“Breaking up,” Haley shrugged. “I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. But I was worried about making it awkward for everyone else.”
“Ha. Ha,” Nelson said pointedly, clearly not knowing whether or not to believe Haley.
“So, it’s not going to be awkward, right?” Haley pressed.
Nelson closed the distance between them and took her mouth in a hot, over-enthusiastic kiss that had me blushing and Vaughan struggling to keep his hand over Page’s overly-curious eyes.
“Gah! Enough!” I squealed, when Nelson’s hands started exploring underneath Haley’s shirt. “We get it, she was joking. Everyone knew she was joking!”
Nelson stopped eating Haley’s face long enough to shoot us a satisfactory grin. “Just trying to be thorough.”
“If you were any more thorough, you would have come back up with her tonsils,” Harrison spit out a little disgustedly.
“I don’t have tonsils,” Haley said.
“I don’t have a comeback for that.” Harrison shot Vaughan a pleading look.
“But seriously,” Hendrix stated. “What are we going to do with you girls? I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you. I probably should have left you to your underwear.”
I almost choked on my tongue. Somehow I managed to recover and say, “Well, if you’ve all seen it, you can just act it out for us, right? Uh, the movie, not my underwear.”
“Yeah,” Haley jumped on board. “Just highlight the i
mportant parts.”
“Like the kissing scenes,” I laughed. “We’ll get the point.”
Hendrix grumbled, “There aren’t any kissing scenes!”
At the same time King said, “Nice night for a walk.”
Harrison turned on his best former-governor-of-California-intimidating expression and said in a deep, Austrian-accented voice, “I’m a friend of Sarah Connor.”
To which Nelson answered with a stoic, “Hasta la vista…”
“Nope,” Hendrix practically shouted. “Nope, sorry. That’s Judgment Day. You lose!”
“I didn’t know we were being first-movie-specific. Not fair! The rules were not clearly stated!” Nelson argued back animatedly.
And then things got a little crazy. Parker shouting at Parker, a room divided, brother fighting against brother. It was just like the Civil War.
Or, Ok, maybe not.
“We get it!” Haley hollered over the roar of male voices.
“Do they get like this often?” I asked Page.
“Until you came along, this was my life.” She sighed, sounding a hundred years older than her eight years.
“Gosh, they are so lucky they have us.” And I meant that. For the first time, I didn’t feel like they held all the survival-power. They were gigantic nerds, disguised in bodies of god-like men, sure, but gigantic nerds all the same.
“I made something for you, Reagan,” Page announced.
My gaze immediately fell to the gorgeous little girl at my side. Her hair had been washed recently and braided in two French braids so that it stayed out of her face- Haley’s handiwork. Her bright blue eyes were the same hue and built with the same intensity as all her brothers and her smile was as authentic as anything I had ever seen. She was beautiful, one of the loveliest things left in this ugly world.
So no, I would never hide with her and put her in danger. Never. For her I would martyr myself. No, not martyr… fight. For her I would fight; fight until I couldn’t anymore. Simply because she deserved so much more than this death-filled, rotting world we were sentenced to.
“A present?” I grinned.
“Yes!” Page looked at Haley for approval.
“More like a congratulations-for-not-dying present,” Haley explained. “Page wanted to make you something so you wouldn’t be tempted to run off with crazy-mother-f-ing Kane again.”
Page’s brow furrowed and she looked back and forth between us. “I don’t know if that should be in the cuss jar or not.”
Before either of us could answer, Gage walked into the room looking more somber than I had ever seen him. Granted I had not known him that long, but he just lost two of his men, I could understand his subdued attitude.
“They’re on their way,” he announced.
Vaughan explained earlier that we would be meeting with Matthias and Kane in this room, since Gage’s office wasn’t large enough. It didn’t bother me where we met them as long as Page and Haley stayed far, far away. I just didn’t even want Matthias’s brand of evil anywhere near those girls.
“Haley, you need to take Page now, then,” Vaughan announced. At his words every eye fell to the little girl next to me. “Come here, Page.”
Page obeyed immediately- as usual. She walked over to Vaughan and when he knelt to her level, she reached up and put two gentle hands on either side of his face. “I’ll be good,” she promised. “I’ll stay with Harrison and King. And Haley.”
Vaughan’s eyes darkened with such intense emotion I felt the palpable presence of his feelings reach into the room and wrap around all of us.
“I know you will,” he answered in a harshly emotional voice. “I will come get you as soon as this is over, yeah?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Please be careful.” Her delicate, little chin trembled but just barely. I felt like a horse had kicked me in the chest, realizing she was worried about her big brothers, about being separated from her family.
“Nothing will keep me away from you, Pagey. Nothing. We stick together, always, alright? We’re family. We never leave each other.” Each one of Vaughan’s words were spoken with deep conviction. I felt the ferocity of this family’s love for each other and their determination to make it through alive as a whole, without losing one single member, like a vice grip on my soul. They were the real deal. And I believed them. Vaughan wouldn’t let any of them go and I it was obvious how painful it was for him to even let his younger siblings walk out of this room without him.
“I love you, Vaughan,” Page promised.
“I love you too, little girl.” Vaughan dropped his head, hiding the emotion that seemed to be so
strong that it choked him. Page leaned forward and placed the sweetest kiss on his forehead and then backed up.
Nelson was next, “Page, take care of Haley.” He squatted down and pulled her into a tight hug. His gaze drifted up to Haley and they had a silent conversation in which I knew he asked Haley to do the same for Page. “I love you, Sweetheart. This will only last a few minutes.”
“I know,” she whispered when a lonely tear trickled from her eye.
Nelson passed her to Hendrix and he repeated the goodbye routine. He knelt down on one knee and pulled her child-size body into his looming, manly one. “Have we always been alright?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“And we’re going to be alright today, too. You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re brothers are the meanest, toughest guys in this world. We’re going to keep you safe. We will always keep you safe.” Hendrix’s voice was just as roughened and sandpapery as Vaughan’s.
“What about Reagan?” Page whispered in a barely audible voice. “Are you going to keep Reagan safe?”
Tears pricked at my eyes from her concern for me. Hendrix’s gaze flickered over to mine and held me there in that endless, emotional minute until I felt his answer in the core of my being before I ever heard his reply.
“Why do I keep you safe, Page?” Hendrix asked, returning his gaze to his little sister.
“Because you love me,” she answered without ever hesitating.
“And I will never let anything bad happen to you for that same reason, yeah?”
She nodded quickly. “Yeah.”
“Do you know that I love Reagan, too?” He had the smallest, crooked smile twisting his lips and I fell just so much more in love with him in that very moment.
“Duh,” she giggled. “The whole planet knows that.”
Hendrix’s smile grew into a huge grin. “Well, if I love her enough that the whole world knows how much, don’t you think I’ll keep her safe, too?”
Page smiled now and seemed to relax a little. “Yes, then you’ll keep her safe, too.”
Hendrix kissed her tiny, button nose and then stood up. “Now go with Haley and your brothers and let us get to work.”
Nelson and Haley commenced into a sloppy, disgusting display of emotion and King grabbed Page’s hand and a small pack of necessities. Vaughan gave Harrison some last minute instructions and then pulled him into a masculine hug that surprised even me.
Not that the Parkers weren’t affectionate to each other, but it was all in their own way. They didn’t wake up in the morning telling each other how much they loved each other or even in dire situations. And I had never seen them hug each other the entire time Haley and I had been with them.
Either Vaughan realized how hopeless this meeting was or he felt a little extra sentimental.
“Alright,” Harrison coughed. “Let’s not make this awkward.”
Vaughan pushed him away and laughed at him. “Yeah, you’re right. Go, get out of here. Take the women and children and be gone.”
“Reagan, are you coming with us?” King asked.
I shook my head, “I’m technically a fugitive, so it’s probably better I stay.”
Hendrix snorted next to me. I ignored him and pulled Haley into one last hug.
“You going to be alright?” she asked in a whisper next to my ear.
/> “Of course,” I answered enthusiastically. “Are you?”
“Always,” she agreed. “I’m like a cat.”
“Nine lives?” I guessed, pulling back so I could see her face.
“Sure. I like that, let’s go with that.”
“Is that not what you were going to go with before?”
“Not originally,” she admitted. “But multiple lives is much better than admitting I’m a conniving, sneaky bastard.”
I laughed before I could stop myself. “True.” I sobered and said seriously, “Love you, Hales. I’ll see you in a few.”
“Love you too, Reagy-baby.”
I grinned at the nickname she hadn’t used since our last cheer practice. And then I watched them go. Harrison, King and Haley were armed to the teeth and willing to shoot at anything that threatened them. They kept Page between them and stayed on high alert. They slipped from the gloomy room into the dark hallway and hopefully to safety.
This storage facility wasn’t exactly a fortress, but there were definite benefits to a solidly brick-cement building that had no lighting and hundreds of hallways. I easily got lost if I found myself off the main traffic-ways. There was no way Matthias and Kane could wander around here and find what they were looking for- at least not easily. And while Matthias’s men were better trained, Gage’s were not without weapons or means to protect themselves.
Once Haley disappeared around the corner a heavy, unsettling feeling tainted the air around me. I breathed through it, but the oxygen in my lungs now felt poisoned from ominous foreshadowing; toxic from the dangers yet to come. Logically, I could force myself to believe all of our promises to Page. We would be fine. This meeting would take just a few minutes and then we could all move on with our lives.
But emotionally, maybe instinctively, I felt the sinister premonition that something bad was about to happen. Maybe it was my innate knowledge of the kind of people Matthias and Kane were, or that cynicism had been steadily growing in me since day one of the Zombie Apocalypse; but either way, I knew this was going to end badly.