“I don’t think it’s fucked up at all. You deserve to put that behind you. Twelve years is a long time to be tortured like that, I can’t even imagine,” she whispered, laying her leg over his as her body yearned to be closer.
“Thank you,” he whispered, tipping her face up to his, “for bringing me peace,” he finished before his mouth came down over hers in a careful exploration. She met his touch, her hand grazing his face, the rough texture of his beard igniting an insatiable need deep within her. She wanted to be consumed by him, to let go of everything except him and let herself feel the bliss.
“Stay with me, for the end of the world?” he whispered his voice rough with desire, as his hands lightly grazed her center, causing her nerves to explode in a burst of need.
“Forever,” she sighed as she gave herself over completely, both of them finding the solace that they so desperately needed.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mitch
Mitch continued to drum his fingers on the steering wheel. His mind racing from too much information and not enough sleep, toss in a mix of adrenaline, add a sprinkle of fear, and you had a toxic combination.
He glanced over at Juliette in the passenger seat. Her breathing was labored--panicked--an axe lay resting in her lap, she held its handle in such a tight grip, her knuckles had gone white. He cursed himself for the thousandth time for letting her come with him. He knew it was going to be dangerous, and he should have trusted his gut and left her at home.
They had been driving for almost two hours. A month ago, he could have made the trip in less than an hour. A month ago, he wouldn’t have needed to make this trip. His thoughts were interrupted when Mike cleared his throat from the backseat--the first noise in the Hummer that wasn’t labored breathing and the empty sound of fear.
“I’m sorry about the kid Mitch. I shouldn’t have let him come,” Mike said, his voice breaking at the end.
“This wasn’t your fault!” Anna and Hayden both yelled at the same time that Juliette said, “That was gruesome, I keep seeing it--I don’t want to see it.”
The eruption of voices in the vehicle was too much for Mitch after the quiet of the last few hours. “ENOUGH,” he yelled, striking the steering wheel. “What the fuck is this, no one has anything to say for hours, and then you’re all going to try to talk at the same time?”
The axe in Juliette’s hands began trembling, the blood on the blade still tacky. He instantly felt like an ass for upsetting her even more. She had done well to protect herself, when push came to shove. She had what it took, he knew that now, and he was grateful for it. Each of the girls had handled the situation with an inner strength he hadn’t expected, but Henry had panicked, and it had cost him everything.
His eyes met Anna’s in the rearview. “Are you alright?” he asked, surprised to see her looking so calm. She had been walking with Henry, and when he got attacked, he’d tried to shove her in front of him and nearly got her killed as well.
“It was panic, it wasn’t intentional,” she said, her mask breaking for just a moment as sadness filled her eyes. She put her hands to her temples and rubbed them gently. “I won’t think that he tried to do that on purpose.”
The decision to take Henry had been impulsive, and at the time Mitch had been thankful. That kid had an energy about him that felt dangerous and unpredictable. He’d been the only one in the house Mitch couldn’t get a good read on. Henry had decided the night before they were leaving that he was going too--not on the helicopter, but to the top of the pass. He was from Yakima, and he was going to try and make it back there. But he hadn’t even made it a mile from the cabin.
Hayden sat between Mike and Anna in the backseat. She was curled into Mike, clutching his shirt tightly. His arm was draped casually over the back of the seat. Reaching down, he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay short stuff,” he soothed.
The two of them had become very close. Hayden told Mitch one day that Mike reminded her of her dad, he was a goofball too. Of everyone that was leaving, Hayden was the one he felt the worst about. A ten-year-old taking off across country to try and find her family was suicide, plain and simple. He knew in his gut it was the wrong choice, but it wasn’t his to make, his hands were tied.
This stretch of the road had thankfully been clear of cars, but the snow pile-up made the drive treacherous. He hadn’t been able to go much faster than 20 miles per hour. They were nearing their destination, though, and he prayed that the helicopter wouldn’t be far behind them. He and Juliette still had a dangerous trip back, and he didn’t want to get caught in the dark.
“If we make it home, I’m never leaving the cabin again,” Juliette whispered so that only Mitch could hear.
“It’s all this fucking snow. If it wasn’t the middle of winter, with record snowfall, things would be different,” he said, looking over at her. So small and vulnerable. The need to protect her nearly overpowered everything else. “But don’t worry--when we get home--I’m never letting you out again.”
It had been three days since they started trying to change the future, and so far, it hadn’t gone as planned. Turns out, you can’t get picky about times with a chopper ride. They were leaving a day before the original plan, though, so that was at least a small change. Mitch prayed that it was like the flapping of a butterfly wing--just enough to spread ripples of change across the world.
Mitch struck the steering wheel for the second time. Thinking about the fate of everyone in the car made him realize just how much he didn’t want to say goodbye. The rage he was feeling right now was all consuming, and he was ready to fight. He was hoping that there would be some roamers that needed to be cleared when they reached the pad. The problem was, most of them were slow and sluggish, so there wasn’t much challenge in putting them down. Mitch doubted that they would run into many more of the other kind, he assumed that the reason there were so many of them up around the cabin was because of good old Gus, and his fucking crazy plan.
“What are you thinking?” Mike asked.
“Just ready to be there,” he growled.
“Time to stretch the legs, huh?” Mike laughed.
“What’s your first stop?” Mitch asked Mike. They would have to stop several times to refuel, although there had been talk of trying to get a plane from one of the other bases. They just hadn’t been able to nail it down yet. There were so many places where this plan could fall through: they could get stranded somewhere in between here and D.C., or worse--attacked and killed at any moment, then the bombs would drop and the world would end. At least for all of North America.
“Malmstrom Air force base in Montana is the plan,” Mike answered. “My guy has a line on a plane there. The chopper tank holds enough fuel for 800 nautical miles, so we should be in good shape. We’ll stay the night in Montana and head out in the morning. If everything works out, we should be in D.C. by nightfall tomorrow.”
“That’ll give you ten days to change their minds,” Mitch said, catching Anna’s eye in the rearview. She gave a resolute nod, her demeanor still calm. Mitch had never met anyone like her before, she seemed unphased by everything, as if she were on her way to the grocery store instead of into the unknown world full of sadness and fear. Their ride wasn’t even a certainty since they could get stranded in Montana. Fucking Montana, the only place there was sure to be more snow than they had here.
“I’ll not fail at this mission. I’ve done my homework on everything from the men that I will need to convince, to the medication partially responsible for this mess. The one thing I have no way of knowing is what kind of chemical change occurred in the food to cause this reaction once the medication reaches a peak level in the blood stream. It’s not just this medication, I’m sure of it. Based on what my dad had told me, and what I have learned on my own, there is a silent undiscovered threat. I’d bet money that the men in the power seats know exactly what it is,” Anna finished with a sigh.
“Part of me wonders if they did it
on purpose, and then I remind myself that they would never sink that low. At least I would hope not, and if that’s the case, then humanity is dead already,” she added.
“You’ve got this. I believe in you,” Mitch said simply, catching her eye in the rearview again.
“Thank you, Mr. Adler,” Anna replied. He was glad she didn’t say his name often, because every time she called him Mr. Adler he felt oddly out of place. No matter how often he reminded her to just call him Mitch, she just couldn’t, and it made him uncomfortable.
Mike let out a bark of laughter. “Sweetheart, I’m glad you don’t refer to me in that way.”
“Well that would be ludicrous because you’re obviously not a gentleman,” Anna huffed at Mike, an almost imperceptible smile gracing her face.
“This is our stop,” Mitch said, parking a safe distance from the landing zone. He was grateful helicopters could land almost anywhere because the snow pile was immense and uneven. There were a few roamers wandering toward the Hummer, their movements slow; joints and muscles frozen from the low temperatures. And yet, the engine noise was still drawing them in. Nothing could hold them back from their insatiable urge to feed.
“Let’s clear these popsicles before the chopper lands,” Mike said, his hand already on the handle.
“Hold up for just a few minutes. Let’s see how many more show up. I don’t want to be getting in and out of the vehicle for the next hour while we wait,” Mitch replied.
“Fine,” Mike sighed, letting go of the door handle. He relaxed back into his seat and sheathed his knife.
Hayden had sat back up straight and was taking huge gulps of air, trying to calm herself. Every few moments a hiccup would escape, making her appear more vulnerable. She had dressed for the trip in old clothes of Micah’s. Her olive-green cargo pants, had pockets swelling with all of the necessary tools for survival. One of her pockets held nothing but maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal. She said it was what she would miss the most when she left, that and Kate’s cookies. Over the last three days, she had tried to put on a brave front and pretend like she wasn’t frightened to leave, but she’d had a slight quiver in her hand since she announced that she was going. He felt a small comfort in the fact that she was dressed for these kinds of temperatures. She had on two layers of under clothes and a warm sweater--all under a subzero coat.
“Are you alright kiddo?” Mitch asked her, trying to contain his smile when she looked up at him. Her hair stood up all around; a static charge from her hat. Little wisps danced here and there with each movement of her head.
“What are you smiling at?” she asked, her hiccups gone, replaced with that preteen angst she was so good at. “I can’t think of one good reason to smile right now,” she finished, crossing her arms in defiance while the hairs continued to do their happy little dance.
“We all made it out of that alive, I’d say that’s a good enough reason to smile,” Mitch replied.
“We did not! Not all of us! He may not have mattered to you, but I liked Henry. He was my friend. All he wanted was to go home. You can’t blame him for that,” she responded, swiping angrily at the tears making their way down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Hayden, you’re right, we didn’t all make it. I am very sorry about that. Henry wasn’t my favorite person, but I never wanted that for him. I wouldn't want that for anyone,” Mitch replied earnestly.
“I know you’re not a monster, of course you didn’t want that to happen,” Hayden finished, her voice barely a whisper.
Mitch turned back to the window, glad to see that there was a decent amount of the roamers now. Hopefully they had drawn all of them in the area, and they wouldn’t have any more showing up before the chopper did.
“Are you ready now?” Mike asked, sensing the shift in Mitch’s attention.
“Let’s do this,” Mitch replied, swinging his car door open and stepping out into the cold morning air.
The roamer closest to the car was in sad shape, Mitch marveled at his ability to be moving at all. One of his legs was twisted and just hanging limp beneath him as it dragged across the snow-packed earth. In this moment, Mitch felt a shift within himself as he watched the mindless man slowly drag himself closer. The reality of the situation landed on him. Hard. Everything leading up to this moment had been incredibly intense; he had always had to jump straight to action, never really allowing himself to process everything to the full extent. But standing here, watching what couldn’t have been a more cliché zombie scene straight out of a horror movie, it was all he could do to not give in to his laughter.
He wondered if this was what it felt like to lose your mind as he swung the bat he was holding into the side of the dead man’s head.
“What’s up, Addie? You aren’t crackin up on me, are you?” Mike said, throwing him a worried glance as he quickly disposed of all the roamers on his side of the car. He went from one to the next, casually walking up and grabbing them by the top of the head as he brought his knife right up under the bottom jaw. Easy in, easy out.
Mitch shook his head, trying to change his thoughts before he got himself killed. He kept getting drawn in, wanting to just sit back and watch what was happening. “How long have you known me now, Mike? Twenty years? Have you ever seen me crack? Fuck no, you’ve never seen me crack. I’m the guy who’s got his shit together,” Mitch said, swinging the bat into the roamer. The sickening sound of the bat meeting the flesh as he hit it again and again filled his thoughts until nothing else was there. Just him, the bat, and the pile of pulpy flesh that used to be a man. A man who, once upon a time was somebody’s child. He may or may not have been a brother, a husband, a father, or an uncle, but there’s one undeniable truth about us all. We all start out as someone’s child.
He didn’t want to raise his children in this world. He wanted the world that this man’s parents had been able to raise him in, the world that he was raised in. He wanted his biggest concern to be his son skipping school. But if this was the world he was handed, he would clear it of every one of these rotten corpses.
He jumped when Mike touched his shoulder. When he glanced down at the mess beneath him, he tasted bile in the back of his throat. “You sure you’re cool, Addie?” Mike asked, still gripping his shoulder. “Because, if you’re not, and you need me to stay to keep the kid’s safe, just say the word. You know what those kids mean to me, and if you’re not going to have what it takes, tell me now.”
Mitch turned to his friend, wanting desperately to take him up on the offer, because it was killing him to see Mike go. As the only true family he had ever known, Mike had been his brother for the last twenty years. It was a bond built over shed blood and heartache of all kinds.
They’d always had one another’s back, and as much as it killed him to do it, he knew that he needed to have Mike’s back right now. He needed to give him his support, give him the ok to go.
“There is no way in hell that you are going to let those girls try to travel across the country by themselves. Are you out of your fucking mind?” he growled, walking back to the car. “Now come on, let’s get warmed up before the bird lands,” he said as he opened the door and climbed inside.
Mike stood rooted in place, shaking his head as a slow smile touched his face.
Mitch felt a little lighter as he sank into his seat. The choice for this journey belonged solely to the people who were preparing to embark on it, and it felt good handing that over to Mike. He wished that he had gone easier on him in the beginning, the last thing he wanted was Mike to leave feeling a strain on their friendship.
“Are you alright?” Juliette asked quietly, biting her bottom lip, her eyes full of worry.
He let his head drop back against the headrest and closed his eyes for just a moment. “I’m fine. It’s just a lot. I guess I needed to release some of it, before the weight of it crippled me,” he turned in his seat as Mike climbed into the Hummer.
“It’s going to be one ripe world we live in come summertime,” Mike
said as he closed the door. “I’ve never been more grateful for the freezing temperatures. Once these popsicles thaw, it’ll smell like the city dump everywhere.”
“I’m going to start clearing the land soon, while they’re still frozen. I don’t want the dead where we live. And since we’ll be planting as soon as the ground thaws, I don’t want to chance ground contamination,” Mitch replied.
“Oh, that isn’t possible, Mr. Adler. It’s disgusting to think about though, I wouldn’t want to eat a potato that was grown from zombie guts. Eew, no thank you,” Anna shuddered.
Everything was interrupted by the sound of the helicopter landing in front of them.
“LOOKS LIKE IT’S TIME TO GO!” Mike yelled, the excitement coursing through him and charging the atmosphere of the car. “LET’S DO THIS!”
Mitch glanced over at Juliette who was unbuckling her seatbelt, while the deafening sound of the helicopter filled the space around them. He’d forgotten how overbearing the sound of the chopper was when you were this close. He had thought he would have a chance to say goodbye.
He joined the others as they all stepped around the back of the Hummer to grab their bags. He caught Hayden first, he picked her up off the ground, wrapping her in a tight hug. “You are fierce and strong, there will be no stopping you. I love you Hayden,” he whispered in her ear, not sure if she could even hear him. When he sat her back on her feet, she squeezed his hand for a moment before making her way over to Juliette, who had just finished hugging Anna.
When Anna came to him, she stood for a moment sizing him up before she cautiously leaned in for a hug. “Thank you for everything, Mr. Adler,” she said over the roar of the chopper blade.
When Mike wrapped him in a huge bear hug, he grabbed on as tightly as he could and just held him for a moment. Mitch felt as if someone was reaching into his chest and pulling out his heart as he let go and watched as the three of them boarded the chopper.
Side Effects: Book Two: Visions of Despair Page 20