by Stevie Kopas
All Good Things
Book 3 in The Breadwinner Trilogy
By Stevie Kopas
A PERMUTED PRESS BOOK
Published at Smashwords
ISBN: 978-1-61868-576-6
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-61868-577-3
ALL GOOD THINGS
The Breadwinner Trilogy Book 3
Copyright © 2015 by Stevie Kopas
All Rights Reserved
Cover art by Christian Bentulan
This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Permuted Press
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For Justin.
Because I know when you read this, you’ll smile.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Part I - All Good Things
Part I - Chapter I
Part I - Chapter II
Part I - Chapter III
Part I - Chapter IV
Part I - Chapter V
Part I - Chapter VI
Part I - Chapter VII
Part I - Chapter VIII
Part I - Chapter IX
Part I - Chapter X
Part II - Inevitably
Part II - Chapter I
Part II - Chapter II
Part II - Chapter III
Part II - Chapter IV
Part II - Chapter V
Part II - Chapter VI
Part II - Chapter VII
Part II - Chapter VIII
Part II - Chapter IX
Part II - Chapter X
Part III - Come To An End
Part III - Chapter I
Part III - Chapter II
Part III - Chapter III
Part III - Chapter IV
Part III - Chapter V
Part III - Chapter VI
Part III - Chapter VII
Part III - Chapter VIII
Part III - Chapter IX
Part III - Chapter X
All Good Things Come To Those Who Wait
Epilogue
A word from the author
About the Author
Prologue
Veronica tapped her fingers on the wet railing outside Juliette’s condo. She sighed heavily as she moved her weight from one foot to the other.
She’s never on time.
Veronica was ready to run. Every morning since the group returned from Emerald Park she met Juliette just before sunrise for their morning workout. It helped both ladies to cope with the madness of their new world and all they had lost; plus it helped feed Veronica’s obsession with running. If she couldn’t run for sport anymore, she would run for fun. She gave the tall blonde another five minutes before she shrugged and took off in a sprint.
The remnants of the previous night’s severe thunderstorm hung in the air. Flashes of lightning still flickered in the sky and thunder intermittently rolled past in low rumbles. The heavy rain had stopped, but even if it hadn’t let up, Veronica was no stranger to running in the rain. In fact, she found it quite relaxing.
Across the full length of the outer corridor of the twenty-fourth floor she went, making her way down the interior steps to the floor below, she picked up the pace. With each pounding footstep she counted in her head: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. The numbers soon turned into beats and without even realizing, she fell into her old habit of beatboxing as she ran. Her mind free and clear of all outside influence, she continued on in perfect form and rhythm all the way down to the main lobby in record time. It had been quite a while since she’d run alone, it usually took three times as long to clear the building with Juliette alongside her. Juliette didn’t have half the stamina that Veronica did, and she was a real Chatty Kathy, often times forcing the workout down to a slow jog.
Veronica stopped to stretch and take a quick break. No matter how many times she’d been in the Emerald City’s enormous lobby, she always took the time to savor its luxury. Even in the low light of dawn, the expensive crystal fixtures sparkled, and no amount of dust could ever take away from the shine of the immaculate marble. She approached the main entrance and gazed out onto the pool deck. The festering pit that was once a gorgeous five-star swimming pool overflowed from the overnight rainfall. Although the group had fished out and disposed of the bloated bodies that had called the pool home, there was no way for them to drain the water. The blood and gore, bacteria and disease… no matter how much it rained, it always remained.
Veronica could see the churning gulf in the distance. The normally emerald-green waters were brown, and treacherous waves crashed against the shores. She spied the small green flags flapping violently in the wind, forever symbolizing safe swimming waters since there was no longer an attendant to change them out. Eaters stood as statues on the sand, entranced by nothing, staring listlessly into the clouded sky. Veronica too, became entranced by nothing as she fixed her eyes on the brutal surf. Her mind wandered to thoughts of the boat they’d all arrived on two months before. The craft had survived other storms so far, but she imagined that one of these days she’d step out on her balcony and find all signs of the boat erased.
A loud slam against the glass beside her caused her to nearly jump out of her shoes. Her breath caught in her throat, Veronica grasped the large doorframe and put a hand to her chest. She’d been so deep in her own thoughts that she’d managed to ignore the rotting corpse that had made its way up to the resort. The eater snarled at her and slapped mutilated hands at the shatterproof glass. Its revolting yellow skin had an almost polished look to it from the rain. Veronica shook her head in disgust. Regardless of the safety of the tower, she knew better than to ever let her guard down near an entryway like that. She couldn’t help but laugh at her foolishness and thank her lucky stars that Juliette hadn’t been there. The woman would have been a screaming mess and Veronica thought it was way too early in the morning to deal with that level of crazy. She smirked; she would tell Juliette all about her encounter with the eater just to get a rise out of her and share a laugh with Ben and Clyde.
Veronica took a step to her left and the eater stepped with her. She thought about leading it off to the side until she was out of sight so it would stop pounding against the glass, but her stomach growled angrily at her. Breakfast was more important; the eater would grow disinterested over time and wander off on its own. She flipped the corpse off and turned on her heels, jogging toward the doorway and disappearing into the stairwell.
Had Veronica taken four more steps to her left, she not only would have been leading the eater away from the doors, she would have lead herself into the direct line of sight of Juliette’s lifeless body splayed across the pool deck.
Part I
All Good Things
I
Andrew allowed his eyes to remain closed as he woke from a hearty night’s sleep. He
always slept the best during thunderstorms. His thoughts drifted back to when he was a child and little Clyde would come running into his room, tears streaming down his face, his body trembling with fright. He’d always scooch over and allow his younger brother to climb into bed with him during those stormy nights when he sought comfort, and the two of them would drift off into a restful slumber soon after. Although now they were both grown men, Andrew knew Clyde still had trouble sleeping during bad storms. But not him; he slept like a boulder, and that was a good thing, considering Juliette’s loud, bear-like snores.
He smiled and rolled over, stretching his arm out to pull his new fiancée into a spooning embrace, but his hand found an empty space beside him. He opened his eyes and looked around the quiet bedroom, seeing no sign of her. He couldn’t tell quite what time it was since the gloom of the storm still clung to the sky, but he figured it was early dawn and Juliette hadn’t returned from her morning run with Veronica. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he groaned as he willed himself from the comforts of the oversized bed and shuffled his way to the bathroom. When he had finished with his morning business, he quickly freshened up and returned to the bedroom to fetch his clothes. As he pulled his khakis up around his waist he raised an eyebrow at the sight of Juliette’s running shoes sitting neatly beside the bedroom door.
Slipping his feet into a pair of flip flops, he called out to her as he entered the living room, “Hey babe?”
The condo was silent. Clyde’s bedroom door was still closed and he tapped lightly. When he received no answer he inched the door open to find his brother still peacefully asleep. He made his way out to the balcony and cringed; the wind hadn’t died down, and it hurled drops of rain at him, stinging his bare chest. He slid the heavy door shut and finished dressing, imagining Juliette was over at Gary’s getting a head start on breakfast.
***
Andrew gave two solid knocks and let himself into Gary’s condo. The smell of spam and powdered eggs greeted him along with Gary’s inappropriately cheerful voice for this time of morning.
“Morning! Hungry, I take it?” Gary waved a paper plate in the air but Andrew declined. Ben and Catherine sat opposite each other at the small dining room table.
“What’s up man?” Ben said while chewing. Catherine politely smiled, her mouth full of food.
“Hey, ya’ll,” Andrew responded, crossing his arms. “Anybody happen to see Juliette this morning?”
“Veronica wasn’t in her room when I got up.” Ben belched before continuing. “They’re probably off putting some sneaker to pavement.”
“Nah, Juliette’s running shoes are still in the bedroom. Catherine, Gary? Either of you see her?”
“No sweetie, I haven’t,” Catherine said as she began clearing the table.
Gary shook his head. “She’ll turn up. Maybe she’s got another pair of shoes. You know how women are.”
“I’ll exclude myself from that over-generalized statement, thank you very much.” Catherine smirked at Gary. “Not much time to go shopping these days, but my lonely little pair suits me just fine.” She placed her hands on her hips and stuck a foot out, modelling her silver and black Skechers slip-ons.
“Oh, very nice.” Gary raised his eye brows and golf-clapped.
“Yeah, I don’t really pay attention to shoes.” Andrew slumped onto the couch. “I’m sure she’s with Veronica.” He put his feet up on the coffee table and accepted a cup of instant coffee from Gary.
The four continued to chat, as if the collapse of the world beyond the Emerald City never happened. They swapped stories of horrible first jobs, wiping tears of laughter from their eyes as they poked fun at one another’s accounts of teenage inexperience in the working world.
“You cried?” Catherine cackled, nearly doubling over in laughter.
“Shit, nobody ever told me how much taxes they take out of your check.” Andrew chuckled. “I tried to quit, too, told ‘em they were a bunch of thieves and threw some ketchup packets at the manager after I got my first check.” The big man shook his head. “My mama marched my ass right back up to that Burger King, made me apologize and beg for my job back. Of course this was after she whooped me and called half her church friends to tell ‘em about it.” The room erupted in laughter.
“I guess I took the backwards route,” Ben said as he grabbed his smokes from the coffee table. “Had a shot at a career and then got a job in food services.” He pulled his lighter from his pocket and made his way toward the front door. “I’ll be back.”
He pulled the door shut behind him and shielded his lighter from the wind with his body, lighting his non-menthol cigarette and inhaling deeply. He leaned on the railing and gazed out on the abandoned city. It was easy to forget about all the ugliness that surrounded them. Ben remembered a phrase his mother used to spit at him when she’d scold him for his poor choice of friends in high school. “You stand by the garbage, you’re gonna smell like the garbage. You’re only as good as the company you keep, Benny.” Her voice, like a forgotten song, echoed in his mind. She was right, though. The end of the world had proven to be much more tolerable these last few months with the small family they’d formed.
He shuddered to think back on his circumstances only such a short time ago.
Had they not all found each other, where would they all be? He thanked his lucky stars on a daily basis not only for being alive, but for the chance at creating a new life amidst the rubble of the old. He knew he might be getting too comfortable, that they’d eventually have to head back out into the streets of the dead and risk their lives one of these days to round up more supplies and scavenge what they could. Gary, although by far the most positive of the group, was definitely the last person to allow anyone to forget that they were always surviving on limited necessities.
“Borrowed time,” he whispered, the words carried by smoke.
The previous night’s dinner discussion was a heavy reminder of that fact as Gary and Catherine went down a list of dwindling foodstuffs and personal sanitation products. Ammunition and medical supplies were good since they’d hunkered down and begun to play house, but with the illusion of normalcy came the consequences of basic wasteful behavior of which they were all guilty. Ben did not look forward to the day that Gary showed up at breakfast with a map, a plan, and a packed bag instead of eggs.
The slamming of a door broke Ben’s train of thought, he looked up to see Clyde strolling toward him. He offered a smoke but Clyde waved the cigarettes away.
“I’m about ready to thrown down on some spam.”
Ben laughed as Clyde disappeared into the condo. Shrieks of laughter eked their way out before the door closed once more and the silence of the dead world returned.
Ben was not a big fan of heights, but that was one thing he liked the most about being on the twenty-fourth floor; it was the perfect height for the moans and cries of the savage eaters below to be lost on the wind.
Slamming footsteps in the stairwell drifted to him and he turned toward the source. The door clattered open and Veronica bounded into view, her pony-tail swaying. She grinned and gave him a wave as she jogged up.
“Hey there,” she panted, stretching her tall, slender frame and rolling her shoulders.
“Mornin’. Have a good run?”
“Yeah, it was quiet, just how I like it. Juliette ever wake her lazy ass up?”
Ben narrowed his eyes, “We thought she was with you.”
“Nope.” Veronica said, siting on the ground and grabbing her feet, stretching her legs out. “She never showed up this morning. I got tired of waiting on her and took off on my own.”
“You think she would have gone for a run on her own, too?” He flicked his cigarette over the railing.
Veronica giggled. “Yeah right. Juliette? She’s terrified of the lower floors.”
“Well she’s gotta be down there somewhere, because she ain’t up here with us.” He stared down at Veronica, a look of worry finally crossing her face.
&nb
sp; “Ben, I was gone for over an hour and didn’t run into her. I would have heard her, trust me. If the dead weren’t already up and walking around I would have woken them. You know how quiet it is down there.”
Ben shook his head slightly, a line forming in his forehead. “Something’s not right. If she wasn’t with you, wherever she is, she’s been gone too long.”
Veronica popped up from the ground with a shrug. “So let’s go look for her.”
II
A loud knock startled Michelle from her deep, drunken sleep. She rolled over with a groan and inadvertently slapped her hand against her forehead. She grunted and shimmied up onto her elbows, rolling her neck back and forth. “Yeah?” she called out groggily.
“It’s me,” Gary said, his voice muffled by the door. “Mind if I come in?”
“Yeah, whatever.” Michelle grabbed a hair tie from the bedside table and sat up as he walked into her bedroom, closing the door lightly behind him. “Jesus, what time is it?” she asked him as she piled her curly mane atop her head.
“A bit too early for your liking I’m afraid.” He beamed at her, his perpetual positivity too much for her hangover. “Listen, you wouldn’t by any chance happen to know where Juliette could be, would you?”
Gooseflesh suddenly spread out over Michelle’s body at hearing Gary utter the blonde’s name and she was thrust back into sobriety. She felt a small film of sweat begin to develop on her upper lip and she ran her hand across her mouth.
“Michelle?” Gary cocked his head with the slightest bit of concern. “You alright, love?”
“I’m fine, Gary. Jesus Christ. I feel like shit, I drank too much last night, and now you come barging in here at some God-awful hour to find out if I know where the hell Juliette is?” she snapped at him, throwing her comforter to the side. “No, I do not know where she is, and I do not care.” She jumped up and marched into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She leaned back against it and took a deep breath, waiting for Gary to leave.