The Redeemed

by Matthew S. Cox

  “S’pose’n you ain’t, seen as how he shot you,” said Lloyd. “I don’t think it personal. Just reacting to you firing on Warren.”

  “Warren killed an innocent man because he was a paranoid bastard.” Zara glowered.

  “Not sayin’ that was right.” Lloyd looked around and grumbled. “We shouldn’t leave Zack out here for the buzzards.”

  No one raised a serious objection.

  Tris rubbed her chest where a bullet hole and dried blood marred her shirt. The skin beneath remained tender, probably would for a few days. Dull pain in the lower part of her chest worsening in time with each breath made her think some blood settled in her lung that the nanites hadn’t quite reabsorbed yet. She held the wheel steady, pushing the van a little hard at 72 MPH.

  Abby sat again on the floor between the front seats, leaning toward Tris with her arm and head resting on the cushion. The smell of sick hung in the air, and sweat covered her. Isla huddled in the well by Zara’s legs, having wanted nothing to do with the dead bodies in back. At least she’d stopped asking if they were going to get up.

  Tris focused on the road, arguing in her head over Abby’s condition. Most of what she observed implied the girl had a simple (though severe) cold or perhaps flu. The tiniest sliver of doubt remained, replaying in her thoughts with Sang’s voice. This girl wasn’t related to her at all, but the idea of having to kill an eleven-year-old made her heartsick. Sang’s son had been nineteen. Awful, but less so than the idea of having to shoot a child. Jae-Yong had gone off scavenging and gotten himself in trouble. Abby had trouble dropped on her quite literally from overhead.

  Despite how much of a shit the man had been to her, she didn’t truly hate Warren, or blame him for Emilio’s death. That, she reserved for Nathan. None of this had to happen. Tris wrung her hands on the wheel. The Council of Four wouldn’t have bothered with Amarillo so far east. And if they did worry about them as a threat, it would’ve been a recon drone first and they would have noticed the fake soldiers. Some new recruit at a desk with a joystick would’ve had a good laugh, and they wouldn’t have wasted a Virus drone on such a small number of people. What they dropped on Amarillo would’ve been enough for a city with hundreds of thousands.

  Lack of planning, massive overkill; that had Nathan written all over it.

  Her internal debate about if she’d be able to pull the trigger on Abby should the girl turn got her crying in silence. She tried to think about it in terms that the girl would already be technically dead, even if her biological processes continued. All a bullet would do is protect others and put a tainted body stolen from its rightful owner to rest.

  Abby looked up, mucous draining from her nostrils. A cry sniffle collided with a sick sniffle, making her choke and exude more snot. A small rag flew in from the back of the van and draped over her head. She pulled it down and blew her nose before sending a pleading stare up at Tris.

  Guilt crushed Tris into the seat. At least she hadn’t been right next to him when her father died… Abby came within inches of being hit by the bullet after it passed through him. Tris grumbled as she took a turnoff onto Route 52 west and dodged a scattering of long-dead cars melding into the earth. She couldn’t bear to look at Abby’s mournful expression.

  A bearded idiot wearing a bright blue tarp for a poncho and a Viking helmet leapt out from between two of the hulks and chased the van on foot with a hatchet waving over his head. He gave up before Zara rotated the .50 cal all the way around to the rear. For a while, they drove in total silence, no one talking. The constant thrum of tires on paving filled the air, along with the occasional congested sniffle.

  “I’m sorry.” Abby curled into a ball, toes gripping the carpeted floor.

  “For what?” Tris didn’t look down.

  “Getting snoz all over you.”

  Tris cried and laughed at the same time.

  “I think I’m getting better.” Abby emitted a heavy, wet snorting noise. “I can almost breathe with my nose again.”

  Isla screamed and burst into tears.

  The shrill noise came so unexpected and loud that Tris swerved half out of the lane. Zara banged her head on the door and grabbed the smaller girl.

  “What?” Zara shook Isla. “What’s wrong?”

  “My node ith stuffy!” Isla wailed. “I dode wanna get shot!”

  Tris’ heart pounded in her chest. She about slammed on the brakes but remembered they had two dead men in the back and decided against inviting them up front. She stomped on the pedal hard, but not enough to screech the tires. As the van slowed, she pulled to the side of the road, too excited to drive. “That’s great!”

  Isla stopped crying, staring up with a face of total confusion. “Wub?”

  “You caught her cold!” Tris pointed. “That means she is… or was contagious.”

  “How ib thaf a goob thing?” asked Isla.

  Abby sniveled, shaking.

  “Agent-94 isn’t transmissible in the air.” Zara glanced down. “You just proved that Abby is not going to die.”

  Kristen heaved, but stopped short of throwing up.

  Lloyd sighed. “Warren…”

  “That man don’t wanna listen to no one. Now he listenin’ ta Tris’ bullets,” said Jose. “I told him it ain’t the same as Mom and Dad. He seein’ them things everywhere.”

  “Psychological warfare,” muttered Zara.

  Isla crossed her arms and glowered.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Tris.

  “I’m thick and everyoneth happy!” Isla fumed. “Ith not fair!”

  “I will shoot the first person who suggests my sister be tied to a bed,” said Tom.

  “That’s not funny,” said Kristen.

  “Wasn’t trying to be funny. If I was Emilio, I would’ve shot him as soon as he told her to take her dress off in a room full of people. Don’t know how y’all stood there and watched that.”

  Abby grabbed at Tris’ arm. “I’m not gonna die.”

  “No, Abby… not yet, anyway.”

  The girl looked up, wide-eyed.

  Tris ruffled her hair. “Everyone dies eventually.”

  “That wasn’t funny.” Abby punched her in the leg.

  “Sorry.” Tris pulled back onto the road, grinning ear to ear as she sped up.

  Tris hopped down out of the van in the middle of Nederland, staring at the orange building from which the militia operated. Bill emerged and trotted over as the survivors exited the van and filed around into a small crowd.

  “There’s a story here.” Bill smiled. “Marty said something about a trip into an Infected zone? Are all these people clean?”

  “Yes,” said Tris and Zara at the same time.

  “Two have colds.” Tris nodded toward Abby and Isla. “It’s just a normal cold. We confirmed aerosol contagion. Plus, Abby, the older girl, has been sick far too long for it to be the Virus. All these people are from Amarillo. They are interested in joining the settlement here.”

  Tris introduced Kristen, Lloyd, Tom and Isla, Cassie, Jose, and Abby.

  “Wow.” Bill stared down, hands on his hips. “These are all the survivors from that whole city?”

  “There were a few more, but they decided to stay at a ’house near Oklahoma. With Amarillo dead, the roadhouses are going to have to worry about their own security now. The whole thing was a lie. Just one old man and a couple of mercs. Wasn’t thousands of soldiers, more like a hundred with about a hundred and fifty settlers.” Tris bit her lip. “Speaking of which, I… really need to get back home.”

  “You don’t live here?” Abby looked up at her.

  Tris squeezed her shoulder. “No, I live at another roadhouse with someone very special to me.”

  The girl looked about ready to burst into tears again. “Can I stay with you? Please!” She grabbed Tris’ hand in both of hers. “You stopped them from killing me… You cared about me. I don’t have anyone left anymore… Please. I wanna stay with you. I can wait tables or sweep or tend a garden or
whatever.”

  “That’s… You…”

  Abby jumped into her, arms wrapped around. “Please…” She clamped on to Tris.

  “It might not be safe there anymore. I’m not even sure I could protect you at a ’house now.”

  Mouth to Tris’ ear, Abby whispered, “I don’t like them. They were gonna kill me. Please, you’re the only one I trust.”

  Tris wrapped her arms around the girl. “Okay… okay.”

  “Triiiiiis!” Zoe came running down the street in a woman’s denim skirt turned into a spaghetti strap dress, blonde hair trailing after her. She added herself to the group hug, bouncing up and down.

  “I can’t stay too long, Zoe. I’ll try to get Kevin to come back as soon as we can and stay for a couple days, okay?”

  Zoe pouted. “Okay. I got a new doll. She wants to meet you.”

  Tris smiled.

  “She can nail a bandit in the kneecap at a hundred yards with iron sights.” Zoe beamed.

  Cassie, Tom, Lloyd, and Kristen gawked at the little blonde.

  Tris kept an arm around Abby while the town militia brought the new arrivals over to the clinic to get checked out. Zara tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Hey.”

  Tris faced her. “Hey, yourself. Thanks. I owe you one.”

  “Call it even. I feel a little less guilty about that whole trying to lop your head off thing.” Zara started a handshake, which turned into a hug and a back pat. “If Kevin gives you any shit about keeping Abby around, let me know. I’ll help you change his mind.”

  Tris laughed. “I’ll do that. I meant what I told Zoe. We’ll be around to visit soon. Did you leave anything in the room?”

  “Nah, I got everything that wasn’t in the truck. I’m gonna go let Marty know I didn’t get killed.”

  “Thanks again.” Tris patted the back of Zara’s hand twice before letting go of the handshake. “Oh… uhh… Bill?”

  Bill looked over.

  Tris pulled Zoe into Zara’s grip. “Hold her a sec.” She trotted over to Bill. “I need to ask a big favor… There’s two dead men in the back of the van. One is Abby’s father, one… an Amarillo soldier who died on the way back. We didn’t have the tools to bury or burn them, and it didn’t seem right to just leave them out in the open.”

  Bill nodded. “No problem. If you don’t mind, pull the van down to the clinic. We’ll make arrangements; probably do the burial in a day or two. You gonna stay for the, uhh, ceremony?”

  Abby’s arms threaded around her from behind. Kevin… I can’t stay here for two days; he’d go out of his mind with worry. “We’ll definitely be back, but Kevin’s going to go crazy if I keep him waiting much longer. I bet he’s pacing around about ready to drive circles across the wildlands until he finds me.” If he’s not dead. She covered her mouth, sniffling.

  Bill grasped her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “I’m sure he’s okay. The man’s pretty resourceful. You get on back to him then. We got some cold basements. We’ll take care of her dad ’til you’re here to see him off proper.”

  Abby sniffled.

  “Thank you.” Tris walked back to Zara and ducked eye to eye with Zoe. “I’ll be back in a couple days, okay? And Kevin will be here too.”

  “Yay!” Zoe bounced.

  Tris walked to the van, Abby in tow. The girl climbed in the driver’s side door and hopped into the passenger seat. They sat in silence for a while until Tris reached over and took her hand.

  “I’m so sorry about your father.”

  Abby scooted her feet back and forth on the floor mat. “Thanks. It’s not your fault. Warren was nuts.”

  I wanted to shoot Warren in Amarillo. I should have. Guilt settled like a lead weight in her stomach. She hit the switch and the van console lit up. Nathan… please just stop. I’m no threat to you.

  “Thank you for letting me stay. I never met my Mom. I don’t know what happened to her, but Dad said she was gone before I was old enough to remember. He never really talked about her. I guess she died, or left him for another guy, or something he didn’t wanna talk about.”

  “I’m not old enough to be your mother. I’d have gotten pregnant when I was seven.” Tris smirked. “Unless I’m wrong about the whole freeze thing and then I’d have been an old lady of nine.”

  “So?” Abby squeezed her hand. “You care. You didn’t even know me, and you cared. That’s enough.”

  Tris teared up. “I’m sorry, Abby. I should’ve shot Warren before we left Amarillo. It’s my―”

  “Stop.” Abby sighed. “If you did that, everyone would’a thought you were crazy too. Then we’d still be stuck there.”

  “Maybe.” Tris wiped her eyes. “I…”

  “I promise I won’t be too much of a pain in your ass.” Abby smiled for two seconds before a cough made her turn away. “Ugh, I hate being sick.”

  Tris chuckled with tears in her eyes.

  Six hours and fourteen minutes later, Tris stopped the van next to a gargantuan black pickup truck outside the Rawlins Roadhouse. A woman with dark frizzy hair and no top on appeared in the window, watching until the door opened and Tris jumped down to the dirt.

  Tris stared at her. “Well, someone’s been having fun…”

  Abby climbed over the driver’s seat and slid down to sit on the floor before lowering her bare feet to the blacktop. She drew in a sharp breath and kept hopping from one leg to the other while hovering at her side. Tris shoved the van door closed and walked across the lot toward the sidewalk leading to the front entrance.

  Abby gasped and muttered, “Hot, hot, hot,” as she scurried after.

  Kevin came flying out of the doors when she reached the top of the steps in the sidewalk. She ran into his arms, clinging as he swung her around and around in an almost painfully tight embrace. He held her motionless for some time before pushing her away enough to look into her eyes. Redness tinged his eyelids, but he looked as happy as he’d ever been.

  He peered past her. “Zara looks a little smaller.”

  Tris laughed, and held out an arm. “This is Abby.”

  “Hi.” The girl crept closer.

  Tris put a hand on her back. “She asked to stay with us. Her father was killed on the way out. I, uhh, warned her you’re a professional asshole, so we should be okay.”

  Kevin glanced between them, and chuckled. “I am so glad you’re okay. I was getting worried.” He hugged her for another few minutes before letting go and raising an eyebrow. “If you think we can handle a kid… I suppose we can give it a shot. At least we skip the sleepless nights and diapers part.”

  Tris leaned into him until the door forced them to single-file it. She stopped as soon as she caught sight of Bee behind the counter. “What happened to Bee? Oh, shit, is she off?”

  “Some shithead shot her. I returned the favor.” Kevin scowled. “I couldn’t bring myself to toss her… wasn’t sure if I should bury her…”

  “Oh…” Tris pulled Kevin close with one arm, Abby with the other, and sniffled. “Wow… I’m getting misty over an android. What’s wrong with me?”

  “Don’t feel bad. I miss her too.” Kevin grasped her chin and kissed her deep.

  Tris mmmed into his mouth.

  He let go in a moment. “Holy shit, I missed you. Promise me we never do this again?”

  “What? Split up?”

  “Yeah. I had the damndest feeling something happened to you.” He squeezed her hand.

  Tris stared down. “Okay. I promise.”

  “You got shot.” His finger touched her chest through the hole in her shirt.

  “Yeah. Wasn’t as bad as when Zara shot me.”

  “Wait,” said Abby. “Your friend Zara shot you?”

  Kevin laughed. “Yep. Zara shot Tris, I shot Zara about ten times, she shoved these electric spider things up my ass. We had a grand old time.”

  Abby stared. “Uhh.”

  “Well, not literally in my ass…” He tapped his chest. “She covered me with
these little stinging zappy darts.”

  “Oh.” Abby coughed and sniffled.

  Kevin gave her the raised eyebrow.

  “Just a cold.” Tris shot a deadly stare at him. “It’s fine. Let me get her situated.”

  Tris led Abby upstairs to the room with the bathtub. A few trips up and down the stairs to the kitchen with buckets of hot water resulted in a warm bath. While Abby soaked, Tris took her dress to a shop sink in the office and washed it. She went to the store to grab something dry for her to wear and stopped at the spur in the keyhole.

  “Kevin?” she yelled. “What’s with the store lock?”

  “Long story,” he shouted back from the bar room. “Can you clear it?”

  She walked to the end of the corridor and poked her head into the main room, giving him the ‘you’re an idiot’ stare. Leaning on the wall behind the counter, he cocked an eyebrow at her.

  “What?”

  “You’ve got pliers in the office.”

  He laughed.

  She glided over and hugged him. “You really were worried about me. Your brain shut down.”

  “Like nothing I’ve ever been afraid of before.” He kissed her.

  “Hey. You back.” Sang limped into the room.

  She blinked at all the bruises on him. “What happened to you?”

  “We have a lot to catch up on.” Kevin shook his head. “Right now, I don’t want to think about anything but you and a soft bed. I want to hold you and stare into your eyes and stay up all night.”

  She melted against him. “Me too… Can you whip something up for Abby to eat and I’ll be right up? Soup maybe? She’s getting over a hell of a cold.”

  “I got it.” Sang smiled, winced, and ambled off to the kitchen.

  “Oh…” Tris narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s up with that girl all tits out?”

  Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Couple of jackasses decided to take the place over not realizing this was our ’house. They gave up without a fight, kinda a bad situation for them. The two dead men with ’em… not so much.”

  “Do you trust them?” She glanced across the room at the bare-chested woman.