I looked away from their private moment and my eyes immediately fell on Nelson. He met my stare and understanding flashed between us. Vaughan would stay- Harrison and King needed Vaughan to stay. I shook my head slowly, demanding that he stay too.
“I’ll be right back, Haley,” he promised from a few feet way. “I made promises to you that I intend to keep.”
“Can’t keep them if you’re dead,” I insisted.
Nelson walked over to me, a gun in each hand. “Don’t.” His gaze locked onto mine and he held me there with severe passion. “Don’t doubt me, don’t doubt what’s between us and don’t ever doubt what I will do to return to you.”
“Uh, if y’all are finished with your weird goodbyes, we got to go before the sun comes up. So that means now, Casanovas. Vamanos!” Miller was bouncing up and down, anxious to be on his way.
Hendrix turned to Vaughan, “If we’re not here by morning….”
“Contingency plan,” Vaughan replied without missing a beat. The very words sent shivers of dread trickling from my fingertips to toes.
With one more intentional look, Nelson followed Hendrix and Miller out the back door.
Reagan reached for my hand and held it tightly in hers.
I felt out of my mind- not like in the crazy way, but in the out of body experience way. This was confusing and heart-stopping and my mind couldn’t catch up to Nelson walking out that door- no matter how intelligent it was supposed to be.
“They’ll be right back,” Reagan whisper-promised.
“They’ll be right back,” I echoed in dazed voice.
Page moved on my lap, drawing my attention from the door to her adorable face. She was sleeping again, exhausted from her sickness. She was such a beautiful child- even in sickness. Milky skin, gorgeous blonde hair, big, beautiful blue eyes with impossibly long, dark lashes. She was all that was still good in this world, all that was still pure and innocent.
Nelson did the right thing. Whether I liked it or not, if there was a chance to get Page some medicine, he should have taken it. He did the right thing.
And he would do the right thing by coming back to us.
That much I knew.
He loved his little sister more than his own life- which was why he left in the first place. And he cared about me, in staggering degrees. He would come back to save Page.
And he would come back to finish what he started with me.
I had to believe that.
Because while every other part of my life was filled and surrounded and suffocating in death, disease and decay, Nelson had given me something more to feel, something more to experience. He’d replaced my despair with hope, my misery with something to anticipate.
And he’d exchanged my emptiness with love.
He would come back to me. I just had to make it till morning.
Episode Five
Chapter One
682 Days after initial infection
Contingency plan my ass.
I stood up from the floor below the couch and stretched. I hadn’t actually been asleep- not even for a minute. The night had been long and difficult and I was antsy.
To put it mildly.
More accurately, you could say I was dangerously blood thirsty and someone was going to die this morning. Possibly a Feeder. Possibly a stranger. Possibly Hendrix for leaving me behind. What happened to the whole, “Stay by me, Reagan. I need you next to me. Blah, blah, blah….”
He was a dirty, filthy liar.
And I was painfully worried about him.
Haley was curled up on the couch next to Page, who still looked very, very sick. I felt my heart crack at the sight of her, a crumbling fission right down the center splitting it in half.
This family.
Page’s sickness. Hendrix and Nelson disappearing into the dark, unknown of the night.
How dare they.
They made me care for them, made me fall in love with them, and then shook my foundation of comfort and security.
It was a total douchebag mood.
And I was about to rectify this great injustice to my life.
“Where are you going?” Haley mumbled; her voice was thick with sleep and confusion.
“To save your boyfriend,” I whispered. My voice was dry and serious, working hard to keep the hundreds of fears and concerns clawing my chest at bay.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” She shut her eyes tight, waiting for my contradiction.
“Ok,” I shrugged. Her eyes popped open and then narrowed on me. “He’s way worse than a boyfriend.” I allowed a small smile to twist my game-face. I had a pretty bad ass game face.
“Shut up,” she groaned.
“Well?” I laughed. “You let me know how breaking up with him is going to work out for you.”
“Is that why you haven’t picked?”
Her question caught me off guard- way off guard. So I replied defensively, “I didn’t realize I had to.”