by Rock, R. A.
I stared at Yumi where she stood checking her sword and handgun, ready to go in. When she sensed my eyes on her, she sheathed her sword and holstered her gun. Then she walked over to us. Grace left immediately.
“Grace is pointing out that we don’t make a very convincing happily married couple,” I told her and she frowned and then closed her eyes.
“And what are we supposed to do about that?”
“Grace suggested that we both become better actors.”
Yumi snorted.
“Or that I grovel. But I think I’ve done enough of that.”
“I agree,” she said, opening her eyes. “It wouldn’t help.”
I cleared my throat.
“She did have one more suggestion.”
She squinted at whatever was showing on my face.
“And what was that?”
“She suggested I take you to bed.”
Yumi’s eyes got wide.
“Your sister did not suggest that.”
“She did.”
“And what do you think about it? After all, it was you who did the leaving in the fire swamp,” she said, quoting my favourite movie and making me love her a little bit more in that moment.
“I think maybe the idea has merit,” I said, and watched her pupils dilate with desire. Her chest lifted as her breath came faster and two red spots appeared on her cheeks. Grace had kinetically unlocked the door and I smiled at her before I stepped into the stairwell that led down into the Survivor community.
Maybe this side trip would be fun after all.
Maybe it was time to stop resisting my sexy wife.
Maybe doing what I really wanted to would actually be beneficial in this instance.
And it had been a really long time since I had got laid.
Maybe I deserved a night in Yumi’s arms.
All in the name of convincing the Survivors, of course.
“CHAD, GOOD TO see you again,” said Kyle, extending his hand. I took it and he shook hard. Then he kissed Yumi on the cheek and I stayed cool when he did so, though breath stopped at the sight.
I introduced the others, explaining that Audrey was with Dorian, though he wasn’t with us. Kyle laughed at my carefully prepared speech.
“Auctioning off is for poor sods that we find in the desert, desperate and glad to join us. We don’t do that to friends,” he said, clapping me on the back.
“Of course,” I said, trying to look like I knew that all along. He laughed again and ushered us into the Survivor community’s great hall where they were just starting lunch.
After we ate, he invited us back to his chambers. Yumi and I went alone because Grace and Shiv said they wanted to rest and Audrey went along with them. Somebody had to meet with Kyle and explain what we wanted and since Yumi and I had to appear inseparable, we had to go together.
“Have a seat,” he said, and we sat. I automatically went to one end of the couch, while Yumi went to the other. Then she realized what she’d done and scooted back along until she was sitting right beside me. I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her close and we both pasted smiles on our faces and tried to look beatifically happy.
I had to admit that having her this close to me was doing something to me. I’m not sure I was happy. But my lower half sure was.
The room was cozy with a slightly low ceiling, like all the underground rooms in the community, except the large public ones. The furniture was in pretty good shape and I wondered where they had got it. There was no sound except the alcohol pouring into the glasses that he then offered us.
“So, to what do I owe the honour?” Kyle said, with a grin. He sat down across from us and took a sip of his scotch. “I know we got along okay once I stopped trying to auction you off but I honestly didn’t think I would ever see you again.”
“Well, we didn’t think we would be back this way either,” I said, telling the truth. “But some friends of ours are in trouble and we need your help.”
He lifted his eyebrows.
“Interesting. Let’s hear about it.”
So, I explained how Matt and Nessa had taken us in when we were in need of help. And how when we got back there, the place had been burned to the ground and the inhabitants taken to Bakersfield Castle to be prisoners, or worse, slaves.
Yumi tensed when I said slaves and I took my arm off of her shoulders, taking her hand in mine and interlacing our fingers. Almost the whole Celtic knot was showing now that the covering cream was wearing off. But the Y and the C were still quite indistinct.
“So, we’re planning to go in and get our friends out. We also want to make it so Brett can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
I squeezed Yumi’s hand and waited for Kyle to respond.
He appeared troubled.
“You want to break in to Castle Bakersfield?” he said, as if thinking that he had heard wrong.
“Yes,” I said. “And we’re looking for some allies to help. Cross Lake refused. Their Chief said it was too dangerous to make an enemy of Bakersfield when they live so close, but I’m hoping that you won’t have the same misgivings.”
Kyle eyed me and sighed.
“I’d like to help you, Chad. But you’re asking too much. I don’t blame Cross Lake for turning you down.”
God damn it. Was he saying no, too?
“Now, I’m not saying no,” he said, putting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward. “But you need to understand something.”
“What’s that?” I said, waiting to hear what information he was going to give us about the castle.
“We don’t help liars,” he said, emphasizing each word. Then he leaned back and gave us a hard look.
Yumi and I sat as still as statues.
Did he know we…?
“I know that you’re not really together,” he said. “That you’re not really married, no matter what those rings imply.”
He glanced down to where we wore the rings Madeline had replicated for us.
“We are married,” Yumi said.
“But you’re not really married,” he said. “Your hearts aren’t one anymore.”
I couldn’t believe this was happening. What would he do? Throw us out? Auction us off again? This sucked.
“You’re right,” Yumi admitted and I turned to look at her.
“What are you doing?” I sent.
“He deserves honesty,” she sent back. “He helped us. It doesn’t matter now anyway. He knows.”
“We lost our baby a year ago and it tore us apart,” she explained simply. “We haven’t been able to work it out.”
Kyle’s face had changed from displeased to compassionate.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said and Yumi inclined her head, accepting his condolences.
“We’ve been trying to figure things out but we haven’t been able to.” Her eyes darted to mine for a moment and then away. “You guys are experts on marriage, aren’t you? Maybe you could help us?”
Help us? She was asking Kyle to help us with our relationship? Oh, this was too much. I was not going to let some crazy motorcycle gang guy who auctioned off poor saps that they found in the desert give me advice on marriage.
“Shut up,” she sent, referring to the negative thoughts that she had caught. “It’s not like you or I know how to fix things. I thought you wanted us to get back together? I thought I was supposed to stop going off and doing things on my own and getting into trouble? The opposite is staying and asking for help. So I am.”
I was flabbergasted. This wasn’t the Yumi I knew. The Yumi I had married would never admit to a problem like this, never mind ask for help with it.
Maybe she was right that we had both changed.
Maybe she was right that we needed help.
Kyle smiled.
“One thing we excel at here in the Survivor community is marriage. But even so, there are some couples that need help at some point in the relationship. We have a man who was a marriage counsellor and Pastor in his former life. H
e’s been very helpful to a lot of couples. I’m sure he could help you.”
I gaped at Yumi and then at Kyle.
I was in post apocalyptic Canada. I was stuck in time, unable to get home. Our friends were being held by a couple of madmen. I was here begging for help from the head nutcase of a crazy motorcycle gang in order to get those friends out. And he was offering us marriage counselling?
I almost laughed in what would likely have been an unhinged sort of way because frankly, I was feeling a little unhinged at the moment. But I held it in.
“That sounds great,” Yumi said and gave him one of her rare smiles — the kind I hardly ever got to see anymore. She looked at me expectantly.
“Sure,” I said — obviously there was no other correct response. “Great. Sign me up.”
KYLE’S QUARTERS FELT stifling.
I could not believe I said that. It had been the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. But if I was going to be different I had to start acting differently. The person I thought I was would never ask for help for something so personal as a failed relationship, so that’s why I did it. Because that was as different as I could think of.
Plus it had got him off our back and on our side. So, maybe he would still consider helping us. I tried to ignore that Chad was almost chugging his scotch as if he couldn’t believe he’d just agreed to marriage counselling.
Kyle gave us a true smile that reached his eyes — not his jolly grin — this one was real.
“Look Chad, I know a lot of guys — and women, too,” he added. “That don’t want marriage counselling. Think they don’t need it. But what if it killed two birds with one stone?”
“How?” Chad said, still reeling from what I had said. I could feel the shock coming off of him like static electricity.
“Well, if you’re going to help your friends, I don’t recommend attacking.” His eyes were sombre at the thought. “Bakersfield has way too many men. He has an easily defensible stronghold that you will have a great deal of difficulty getting in to. You will lose a lot of lives along the way. And you still may not get your friends out.”
“Damn it,” Chad said, under his breath.
“But…” Kyle said, holding up his pointer finger. “There is another way.”
Chad frowned.
“Why am I sure that I’m not going to like this other way?”
“BAKERSFIELD CASTLE IS another Survivor community founded by my old friend, Nathan. We went to school together. And we both lived here at the beginning. But we decided early on that when the community got too large, it would split off and form a new one. You know? Like the Hutterites or the Amish.”
I nodded.
“There’s something about a community of about a hundred, hundred and fifty that just works. After that number you start to have problems. So when we got to one fifty, Nathan decided to take a group and leave.”
“And that’s when he went to Jenpeg and built this castle?” Yumi said, picking up her drink with her free hand and sniffing it. She wrinkled her nose and put it back down, untouched.
“That’s right,” Kyle said. “But, though they say they hold to the Survivor beliefs, there’s been a lot of changes and I don’t feel like they really adhere to the tenets anymore.”
“Meaning…”
“Meaning that you really can’t know what to expect,” he said, rather unhelpfully. “But that’s neither here nor there. The point is that the other way is to infiltrate the castle.”
“Infiltrate?” Yumi said, leaning forward, interested.
“Infiltrate,” Kyle repeated. “You go in as a couple wanting to join their community. Nathan is always looking to increase his power. More people means more power. So you go in and join them. Then once you’ve got access to the castle, you can search for your friends. Find them. Let them out the back door and escape yourselves. No loss of life. No fighting.”
“That’s actually brilliant,” Yumi said. She seemed surprised.
“I won’t take offence at that,” Kyle said, giving her another of his signature grins.
“There’s only one problem,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“If you go in there, you will have to convince him that you’re happily married. And I don’t see how you could do that with where your relationship is at right now. You fooled me with that kiss last time but that was because I didn’t really get a chance to interact with you. If you go in there like this, he’ll know right away that you’re not happily married.”
“Is this really the only way?” I said, not pleased with this turn of events.
“It’s the only way where no one dies,” he said, spreading his hands. “And there’s a much higher chance you might actually save them. The other way a lot of people might die and you still might not get them out. Castle Bakersfield is a genius location, I have to give Nathan that.”
I sighed.
“But here’s the thing, Chad,” Kyle said. “If you could get in and convince Nathan — get him to trust you? You really would have a chance to save your friends.”
“Red?” Yumi said, gazing at me with a wistful expression in her eyes. As if she wanted to do this. As if she was tired of flailing around in the dark, trying to fix something when she had no idea how to do it. As if she really, really wanted me to agree.
I swallowed hard.
“You want to do this?”
She nodded.
“How could I say no, then,” I said, lifting our hands a bit and staring at the marking.
The Celtic knot meant eternal love.
And I would do almost anything to make it true again.
Even marriage counselling.
SEEING A MARRIAGE counsellor.
Not something I ever thought I would do in my life.
Of course, I hadn’t thought I would ever time travel, either.
The next morning in the Survivor great hall, I stuffed another perogy into my mouth — breakfast was leftovers from last night’s supper. The rich flavours exploded on my tongue as I listened to Yumi explaining what was going on.
God, this food was good.
“So what did Kyle say? Is he going to help us?” Grace said.
“Well,” Yumi got a reluctant expression on her face and I dug into my food, trying to become invisible. I shovelled a large spoon in my mouth of something called cabbage hash, which seemed to contain a lot of cabbage, onions, and some unidentified kind of meat. I considered going to the bathroom to avoid the conversation.
“Don’t you dare, you coward,” Yumi sent me.
“He is going to help us, but not the way we thought.”
Grace suddenly picked up on the weird vibe.
“He’s not auctioning one of us off, is he?” she said, setting her spoon down on the table with a thump. Her fear spiked at the thought of being a slave again.
“No, no, calm down,” Yumi said. “The way he’s going to help us is…”
She stopped and Shiv frowned.
“Just spit it out Tanaka,” he said, spearing a perogy and taking a bite of it.
She huffed out her breath in frustration.
“One of the guys here is going to give us marriage counselling.”
There was silence around the table after this pronouncement.
Until Audrey laughed. And laughed. And laughed. She laughed until she was holding her stomach and I thought she would lose her breakfast. Grace and Shiv couldn’t help it either and burst out laughing as well. Yumi glared at them and I ignored them, steadfastly eating what was a surprisingly good meal. Too bad I couldn’t enjoy it.
When they stopped, Shiv spoke first, still with a bit grin on his face.
“Good one,” he said. “Now tell us the real plan. And thanks for that. I needed a good laugh.”
“The real plan is that we’re getting marriage counselling,” Yumi said, her face annoyed. She sawed a perogy into thirds with her fork and popped one piece in her mouth, chewing slowly.
Shiv’s grin fell and
he seemed completely bewildered.
“How is that a real plan?”
“We’re going to infiltrate the castle, instead of attacking it,” I spoke up between bites, clearing the confusion. Then went back to keeping my eyes on my food.
“Ohhhh,” they all said at once. It would have been comical if I hadn’t been so irritated with the world this morning.
“And you can’t do that unless you fix your marriage?” Grace said, with an expression on her face that said she was fighting to keep her face serious.
“Look,” Yumi said, getting tired of being the source of their amusement. “Infiltrating means going under cover. Only the best can do that. And only if they can convince the people they’re trying to fool that they really are what they say they are. We have to be happily married or this isn’t going to work.”
“So after all this time, some post apocalyptic motorcycle guy is going to fix your problems?” Shiv said, echoing the skepticism I was feeling.
Yumi shrugged.
“It’s worth a try,” she said, trying for nonchalance and failing. Her voice came out a little hoarse as if she was about to cry. The others seemed taken aback. As though they hadn’t expected Yumi to go for such an idea. Honestly, I had never thought she would either.
And at that moment, I realized that Yumi was serious about this. Deadly serious. Like she was in a knife fight and bleeding out. Like she was losing a battle. She was going to throw her all into these counselling sessions as if our relationship was dying and this was the only way to save it.
Good to know. Looks like I better step up my game.
If only I could. I honestly felt as though it were beyond me at the moment.
After a minute, Yumi was able to speak again.
“If we can convince this Nathan, then we can get in, find Matt and Nessa and everyone, and let them out the back door or something like that. You guys will be waiting on the outside to spirit them away and we all escape free and clear.” She glared around at them all. “No one dies.”
None of them said anything.