The Breadwinner Trilogy (Book 3): All Good Things

by Stevie Kopas

  “Sorry,” he mumbled from the bedroom. “I was just checking. We’re going to go looking for her, Andrew’s worried sick.” The bedroom door opened. “If you want to join us, we’ll be over at my place for a bit longer before we head out.”

  A few seconds passed before he finally shut the door and Michelle exhaled loudly, dropping her knees onto the plush rug in front of the sink.

  Her head swam for a moment and she closed her eyes as she tried to regulate her breathing. Just like many of her other poor choices on many a drunken night in her past, the memories of the previous evening’s drunken foolishness flooded the front of her mind and made her shiver. She creased her brow as she pieced the broken thoughts together.

  Alone, I was alone, always alone these days.

  Her thoughts raced.

  I went looking for company… looking for Gary… but he was asleep. I got confused, ended up on Ben’s balcony.

  That’s when the imaginary knife twisted in her side and made her cringe.

  “That bitch,” she said as she remembered Catherine and Ben’s encounter. The mix of self-hatred and envy that had stirred to the surface, the pure rage that had taken over.

  Things never go as planned.

  She remembered hearing Juliette’s small voice from the other side of the balcony, the animal inside taking over, just as it had at the liquor store, just as it had on the highway. She remembered the look on Juliette’s face, a wide-eyed mixture of shock and confusion as Michelle flipped her thin frame over the railing. The scream, the thunder, the lightning, the rain. And then finally, morning.

  The corners of Michelle’s mouth began to twitch and her fingertips buzzed. She pulled herself up and leaned over the sink, staring into the mirror at the cold eyes that she barely recognized. She suddenly felt lightheaded as she replayed the events over and over in her mind, a wave of heat rushing over her. She grabbed the half-empty gallon jug of saltwater and poured it over her head, relishing in the sensation as it ran down her face, her shoulders, back, and arms; she felt almost as if it were a baptism of sorts. There was no remorse for Juliette’s murder, only enjoyment. Enjoyment she still didn’t understand but enjoyment she had, in that moment, come to accept. She cracked her toes in the soaking wet rug beneath her feet and pulled her hair down, allowing the saturated curls to fall down around her shoulders.

  She swung the bathroom door open and quickly dressed. Without further thought toward her appearance, which came as a surprise, she exited her condo and headed for Gary’s. In all the years of Michelle’s life, the thing she took pride in the most were her good looks. But today, for some reason, felt different. Not that it mattered, she would always be beautiful, but to say she appeared fair-minded or balanced would have been an overstatement.

  She entered Gary’s condominium with an air of mindful arrogance and heard the others cease their conversation abruptly as she joined them in the living room.

  “Good mornin’, ya’ll,” she greeted them, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

  “I’m glad you decided to join us.” Gary smiled and nodded in her direction.

  The rest of the group mumbled their hellos, with the exception of Clyde, who shot a dirty look at the sight of her hair.

  “Alright, everyone,” Andrew began as he got up from the couch and headed toward the door, “I’m gonna scout this building top to bottom with Ben and Clyde. Catherine, Gary, and Veronica, you startin’ at the top of Central?”

  The three nodded in response.

  “I’ll take bottom up. Central.” Michelle shoved off the wall with her shoulder and followed behind Andrew, pushing passed him once they were out the door.

  “Hey, Michelle,” he called after her and she turned around. “I know you haven’t exactly been real tight with the rest of the group or anything, but I appreciate you deciding to help.”

  “Don’t mention it.” She waved him off and continued toward the stairwell.

  “No, I mean it. You know Juliette ain’t well. So I really do appreciate it.” His voice swelled with concern over the disappearance of his fiancée.

  A shiver ran down Michelle’s spine at the mention of Juliette’s name again and she thought of how foolish he would feel if she decided to throw the truth at him.

  “Seriously,” she called back over her shoulder with steely words. “Don’t mention it.”

  III

  One by one, each unit was searched by the individual members of the group. It was a painstaking process, one that Veronica grew bored of quickly. She quietly slipped away from Gary and Catherine and headed toward the bottom floors. She was more curious about what Michelle was really doing down there; she knew the woman was lying through her teeth when she offered her help.

  Unbeknownst to Michelle, Veronica had followed her quite a few times to the unit in Central that she called her own. Call it teenage curiosity, call it suspicion, but something about how Michelle would disappear for hours on end, locked away in a dark room, probably drinking herself to death, pissed Veronica off to no end. What Veronica couldn’t wrap her head around was Michelle’s inability to readjust herself to their new reality. Everyone had experienced such a tragic loss, not only of those they held dear, but of the entire civilized world. The last few months had been do or die for everyone, but the small group locked away in Emerald City had found some sort of solace in one another. They’d found some remnant of normalcy in the things they did together to fill their time. No matter how insignificant it all seemed, there were plenty of reasons they gave one another to keep living.

  But not Michelle. Michelle contributed no real amount of meaning to anyone but herself. And even then, did she really give herself any reason to keep holding on to what the world had become? Veronica hadn’t liked her from the moment she’d first laid eyes on her. Not to mention how she’d been subjected to the sounds of drunken copulation on her first night in Emerald Park. She had tried giving Michelle the benefit of the doubt when her best friend Lulu was killed, but Michelle continued to prove to Veronica that her decision to not trust the woman was a good one.

  Veronica crept up to the closed door of Michelle’s secret condo and pressed her ear to the door. No sounds came from the room. She slowly raised her hand to the doorknob and gripped it tightly, ever so slightly giving it a turn to check if it was unlocked.

  “What’s up, Nancy Drew?”

  “Holy shit!” Veronica’s heart nearly stopped and she felt like she’d jumped twelve feet in the air. She spun around and was face to face with a smirking Michelle.

  Michelle chuckled at the spooked teen. “Damn girl, didn’t think I was that stealthy. Whatcha doin’ spyin’ around down here? Am I really all that interesting that you put off looking for your friend to find out what I’ve been up to?” Michelle laughed again and put a hand on her hip. “Or do I just raise that many red flags for ya that you feel the need to invade my privacy?” Her smile suddenly disappeared.

  Veronica, visibly embarrassed, picked at her fingernails. “I don’t know… I guess I didn’t believe that you were really looking for Juliette.”

  “Well, clearly I was. But you’re nowhere near as quiet as you think you are, stomping around up here, so I decided to find out if you were really looking for Juliette.” A shit-eating grin played across her face as she turned to walk away. “Come on, kiddo, let’s go find schizo so I can find something better to do.”

  “Yeah, like what?” Veronica mumbled to herself as she followed Michelle down the hallway.

  Michelle’s grin was replaced with a scowl as she turned away from Veronica and led the girl away from the condo, making her way back down the stairwell to resume a dishonest search for the ill-fated Juliette.

  About an hour passed and the survivors met up on the 11th floor of the central building.

  “We’ve come up empty,” Gary said as he approached the two women.

  “Same here,” Veronica replied.

  “We should probably head back over to the other building,
meet the rest of the group downstairs. They’ve gotta be nearly finished searching the place.” Catherine began walking toward the sky bridge.

  “You don’t think she went outside, do you?” Veronica asked.

  Catherine turned to her as they walked, “I don’t know sweetie, but I hope not. She’s been doing so well, but you can’t ever be certain just how well someone like Juliette is really doing, you know?”

  Veronica shrugged. “I guess not.”

  “If she was having an episode, there’s no telling where she could have gone or what kind of trouble she’s gotten herself into, so I truly do hope she did not leave this resort.” Catherine’s voice was hushed and full of worry. Her overwhelming altruism, which is what got her into practicing medicine in the first place, had motivated her to take on Juliette as a psych patient. Catherine knew she had no business taking on patients for a number of reasons; the world ending being one of them, and inadequate access to appropriate prescription medication would be another.

  Veronica could see the gears turning in Catherine’s head, the unease painted all over her face. “Look, wherever she is, or whatever she’s got herself into, it isn’t your fault. You know that right?”

  Catherine smiled sweetly at her. “Thanks, hun. I think that’s just what I needed to hear.”

  The four of them continued, making small talk. Once they reached the west building’s lobby, Michelle’s skin crawled; she knew it was only a matter of time before someone made the horrifying discovery on the pool deck. She threw herself into a plush chair and sighed, leaning her head back.

  “Be careful,” Gary said to her, “you don’t want anyone to find out how overly concerned you are.” He winked, completely unaware of her malicious deed of the night before.

  “You’re a terrible flirt,” Michelle replied without looking at him.

  He wandered by the other set of chairs that Veronica and Catherine had planted themselves in on the other side of the lobby, stopping at the windows just before the heavy doors. The wind whipped around violently, he could see eaters in the distance struggling against it.

  “If I didn’t know what time of year it was, I’d think a hurricane was on the horizon.” He looked back at the group but they’d ignored him. “Sorry ladies, I suppose discussing the weather is still considered dull conversation.” He grinned and turned back to the window. A clap of thunder startled everyone momentarily and Gary walked to the other side of the lobby doors to get a better look at the beach.

  A lump formed in his throat simultaneously with a painful ache in his chest.

  “Christ.”

  It was all he could do to even utter the word. Both hands went up to his bald head and he had to really concentrate in order to process exactly what it was his eyes were seeing.

  There, on the ground not too far off from the disease-infested swimming pool, lay Juliette’s mangled body. All four limbs were undoubtedly broken in the fall, evident in the unnatural way they were twisted. The most unfortunate part of the fall, other than her death, was that she’d landed face-down, and her head had caved in on itself. Her corpse was surrounded by a horrid amount of blood and fluids in some sort of gristly mixture. A part of her scalp kept catching the wind, flapping. The gruesome scene turned Gary’s stomach.

  “Jesus Christ!” he screamed this time, scaring the others in the room.

  “What is it?” Catherine met Gary’s horrified eyes and jumped from her seat, rushing to his side. Her hands went to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, God, no.” She had to brace herself against Gary to keep from collapsing.

  Veronica joined them and felt the blood drain from her face. Of all the things she’d seen, this was one she would never unsee. She grasped Catherine’s hand and felt her eyes begin to burn, followed by chills as she thought back upon the woman’s scream from her nightmare, that horrifying scream that pulled her from her sleep.

  It wasn’t a dream at all, Veronica thought, suddenly detached from reality. She looked over her shoulder at Michelle, who had just walked up behind her. The woman had a strangely complacent look on her face that unnerved Veronica.

  “Go find Andrew,” Veronica instructed her, but Michelle didn’t move. Veronica swore she saw a twitch in Michelle’s lips as she stared straight ahead at Juliette’s deformed and mangled body. She let go of Catherine’s hand and shoved Michelle hard with both hands, knocking her to the ground.

  Gary and Catherine stepped away, watching as Veronica kicked at one of Michelle’s legs. “I said go fucking find Andrew!” The ferocity in her voice was enough for Michelle that time. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted toward the stairwell.

  Michelle met the other three members of the group about halfway to the second floor. She was breathing heavily and Andrew immediately sensed something was wrong.

  “We found her,” was all Michelle managed to say before Andrew pushed her aside and tore off down the stairs.

  Catherine heard his heavy footsteps and rushed to meet him at the door.

  “Andrew.” She choked out his name, holding up her hands in a futile attempt to keep him from discovering Juliette’s fate.

  He stopped just in front of the small woman and shook his head. “Where is she?” he asked in a whisper. He furrowed his brow when she shook her head in response. “Cat,” he said, beginning to sweat, “where is she?” He demanded the answer and a tear rolled down Catherine’s cheek.

  “Andrew, honey, I… I am so—“

  Andrew pushed past her and headed for the exit.

  Gary and Veronica stood beside the double doors, their backs to the ghastly scene. Gary had already placed a key in the door, knowing what would come.

  “No, no, no.”

  Andrew whimpered. His breath quickened with his ever-increasing pulse. He felt his chest tighten and thought for a moment that the walls might have been closing in around him. “No!” He wailed and fell to his knees, sobs coming in short bursts, his big frame shaking.

  Clyde and Ben finally joined everyone in the lobby. They knew instantly that Juliette was gone. Ben began to go to Andrew but Clyde grasped his arm. “Leave him be,” he said, with tears in his eyes.

  Andrew struggled with the keys in the door; his eyes wouldn’t focus on anything else, just her. He threw his weight into the door and it flew open, caught in the wind, slamming violently against the side of the building. Had it not been for the hurricane secure glass, the door wouldn’t have stood a chance. He felt the seams of his heart tearing with each step he took toward Juliette. The rain was coming down in a steady stream now, pinching his face as the wind drove it into him. He dropped to his knees beside the obliterated corpse of his fiancée and he roared. He took no care to avoid making a mess and pulled her lifeless remains into his chest.

  He felt the fire inside of himself extinguish as he clutched what he could of Juliette’s broken body in the pouring rain.

  IV

  Time stood still in the Emerald City Towers.

  Clyde had finally been able to pull his brother from the macabre scene on the pool deck. Andrew had shrugged him off and disappeared into the depths of the massive building. Ben and Gary did what they could to clean her from the pavement; the fall from the twenty-fourth floor had not been graceful.

  Juliette, frail and fragile in life, had proven to be the same in death, her body a shattered mess. The sheets and bedding did their part in holding the body of the young woman. The dead did their part in screaming and clawing at the glass, trapped in the east wing-turned-oversized holding cell. The rain hadn’t let up, making for an even greater nightmare of a day.

  Juliette was carried from the pool deck and down the cement steps that led to the beach.

  Gary secured the gate behind him and joined Ben and Clyde on the sand. “You take point,” he called out to Ben and motioned at the rain-soaked eaters shambling their way toward them. “We’ve got to make this quick.”

  Ben nodded and pulled his weapon, ready to fire. Clyde and Gary got to work shov
eling the sand, throwing it to either side of them. The sand was wet and made for easy digging, and before long, the two men gently lowered Juliette’s body into the shallow grave.

  “I’m not a man of God.” Gary said quietly, rubbing the rain from his eyes. “I’m not sure I have the words to say.”

  Clyde glanced up at the top floor of the west tower, Andrew stood watching somberly from the balcony. “He’s already said them.”

  Gary noticed Andrew as well and nodded slowly. A shot rang out, snapping him from his quiet and he turned to Ben. The dead were getting closer, at least a dozen of them.

  “I hate to be the asshole here, but we’re gonna need to speed this thing up!” Ben shouted to his friends and fired another round into the closest eater’s head.

  Clyde and Gary hurried, piling shovel after shovel of sand on top of Juliette’s corpse. Clyde needed to make sure this was right, not for himself, but for Andrew.

  Ben fired two more shots and called out, “A little help, please!”

  “Gary, go on. I got this.” Clyde dug his feet deeper into the sand for better leverage and continued burying his brother’s dead fiancée.

  Gary flipped the shovel around and ran at the eater nearest to Ben. With a grunt, he swung the shovel up under the dead thing’s chin and its face split open with a loud crack, its head snapping back. Gary buried the shovel into its head once more for good measure and went to work on the next eater as Ben repositioned himself further back and kept firing. The dead were dropping like flies but it was almost as if for every one that fell down dead, three more appeared in the shambling onslaught before them. A dozen quickly turned into two dozen and the pouring rain was not making things easier.