Kept Woman WIP
So here's the KW stuff. Unbet'd.
Peter/Caitlin (KW)
Inchydoney beach, West Cork, Ireland. 2009.
The virus has taken the gulls now and so the only resonance heard is the Irish Sea and the feeble sound of one car honking it's horn angrily.
"Oh you bastard! Don't fuck me around because I am not in the mood today!" Caitlin thumps the wheel of her car as it starts to hitch and finally crawls to a stop. "Piece of crap! The tank is full for god's sakes..." She curses and flings open the door and gets out onto the deserted road. The wind off the sea makes her hair fly around wildly and she stares disdainfully up the road to the luxury hotel perched on the cliffs that she now calls home. Tying her hair back she pulls the plastic bags full mussels she had picked and slams the car door closed with her foot. As she does she stiffens, sensing that she's being watched and turns sharply.
A man is standing silhouetted against the beach and as she's about to speak he starts to run towards her. Eyes wide she backs away, looking for a weapon. "Hey, you just stop there, you hear me?!"
"Caitlin!"
"...Peter?" Her mouth falls open and he almost barrels them to the ground as he reaches her and gathers her up in his arms. The bags fall to the ground and Caitlin hangs shocked and unresponsive in his embrace as he squeezes her tight and then starts to kiss her face feverishly.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I couldn't find you! God, I've missed you so much!"
"Peter?" She repeats, still shocked and he smiles.
"Yeah it's me! Are you ok?" He starts to frown, worried. "You - you do remember who -"
"Of course I remember who you are! I wasn't the one with the dodgy memory." She barks fast and they both wince and she smiles apologetically. Caitlin lifts her trembling fingers to his face and lightly starts to trace his features with amazement. "Peter?" She laughs suddenly, overjoyed and starts to cry. He pulls her back into his arms and they stay there on the causeway until it's too cold and head back to her place.
*
Once she's more calm and settled she tells him what had happened since she last saw him.
"They herded us onto a plane and flew us back here. We were all forced through decontamination by the CDC again and the ones that were healthy were set free. I came back here and just...just waited like everyone else. Hoped that it would stop but I don't need to tell you the outcome of that." She informs him dryly.
They are seated on her bed, the large window showing a spectacular view of the blue sea. Only a handful occupy this once thriving holiday resort and like everywhere else it's not governed by anyone. People are free to move anywhere they like, there is no enforcements to stop them.
"I'm guessing this Government is in the same state as mine?"
"Complete shambles, Dublin is a no go and the same for Belfast. I hear London is worse, probably because it's such an overcrowded city, well it was...you know I thought if something like this really happened it would be like something from a film. Anarchy and looting but it hasn't been much of that. It was...quiet, there wasn't much of a panic." She says introspective and he nods, pulling her closer to him.
"I know, I think everyone is in shock...a few years ago I was told that 93 percent of the world's population has died from this thing. 93 percent! Billions of people..."
"The Government is overwhelmed, like all of us. Me and some of the guys had to bury those that had died because there just weren't anyone official to do it anymore. I've tried getting in contact but nothing. We're alone." Caitlin shuffles out of his arms and stands, going to the window and he sits on the edge on the bed, hand in his messy hair.
"Were not alone. People group together in a crises right? They go to safe places?"
"There are no safe places from this love. It's not a case of maybe but when. But...but maybe not for you." She says and her face flushes over with conflicting emotions, content that he will be safe but fear that she will not be. He gets to his feet and goes to her, looking into her eyes tenderly and places his hands on her arms.
"I won't let anything happen to you."
She smiles, looking down and then up, brushing her hand down his chest. "That's sweet Peter but we both know that's not true." She kisses him and goes into the bathroom and he stares after her, thoughtful. She was always straight talking, never mincing her words but now she was even more hard and on point. She was not a woman that pines and waits to be rescued, she had no delusions that he would come for her and that was why she was so shocked when he did. She loves him, she had confessed it to him but in these times dreams where just that and self sufficiency was paramount.
But he didn't want it to stay that way, he's never been up for being alone.
Maya (KW)
Three strangely uneventful days pass. They wake her and her mother each morning for breakfast, which they eat locked in their room. At noon they're escorted outside to the small garden across the street. Other children are there and her mother tries to get her to join in with them but Nadia won't do it.
"I don't know them, they're not like us."
"You would say that Nadia because you haven't tried to make friends. You don't have to be stuck in here with me."
"I don't want to be stuck out there with them. I don't belong here." Her mom sighs and sits back, one arm around her as they sit on a bench beside a pond. Nadia stares at the sky reflected in the black waters with a thoughtful expression.
"Are you ok Nad? I've never seen you this quiet before." Pulling her into a hug Nadia shrugs, still looking at the pond.
"Remember when you used to take me to feed the ducks?"
"Yeah, you used to love it." she sounds wistful and Nadia looks up at her. Her mother looks old.
"We'll we ever see it again? Odessa?"
"I honestly don't know Nadia...but maybe we could go somewhere else." Nadia stares into her mother's dark eyes with interest and she carries on, looking over the park. "Remember I used to say that we would go back to the DR to live? Well - well we can now. But only if you want to Nadia."
"And daddy?" Her father was always on her mind, the mystery of where he is and how he is doing. She's terrified that she won't see him again and her mother can only provide unsatisfactory answers. She looks like someone trying not to break down when talking about him.
"Your dad...I'm unsure baby. That's why I've asked to see him, so that we can't talk about...living arraignments."
Nadia jerks up, aflame with excitement. "Can I come see him?!"
Her mother winces and stands. "I dunno Nadia, I'll have to ask them. I don't have much say-so with these people."
Nadia looks her mother up and down, shocked at the overnight change in the fiery woman she had been brought up by. "You're different, before you would have just done it without any permission." she stands, hands on hips and her mom's abashed expression turns into a scoff as she laughs.
"I would have heh?" she leans down and cups her daughter's face with a smile and nod. "You're right, these people might think they are in charge but I didn't vote for them. I don't think anyone did...I will see Gabriel, I promise."
"He's always so intense."
"Blueballs will do that."
"Katie!"
"What? It's the truth. We all know he ain't gettin it at home."
"You're crazy."
"He is kinda sweet with kids though."
"Aww yeah, he is. Last week I saw..."
Maya stands in the shadow of the awning, listening with a slack face at a gaggle of women. They stand under the tent, watching Gabriel in the distance. He had come to help her dig up some of the vegetables. The work is hard and he had taken off his t-shirt and they had been staring in admiration. Maya realises that she's looking at Katie with a disgruntled face and smooths it when she looks her way.
She narrows her eyes at Maya with a smile. "That all right with you honey?"
"Me? It's got nothing to do with me. Just as long as you know what you're getting yourself into..."
Katie grins and looks back at him. Gabriel moves close to them as he helps George set the crates into their truck. Turning towards them he stills and flicks his eyes to Maya and then at the women.
"Hi Gabriel," Katie waves and he stares with wide eyes before smiling politely and moving towards Maya.
He pours himself some water and she can't keep the laugh to herself. He frowns at her. "What?"
"Nothing. Don't forget your shirt sweetie." Patting his bare shoulder she walks to the truck, leaving him to stare after her in great confusion as the woman start to hedge around him. He looks like a sheep circled by lions.
"Our home" is a plain two story building set apart from the main office building to our right. Dwarfing both buildings is the actual paper factory to the east of the reservation. All is huddled within the foot of some low, tree covered hills. A fleet of white and silver trailers are parked in a line and I stare at them curiously for a few moments before he opens the door for me.
"I know it looks drab but give me a few days and you'll be impressed." He flashes me another grin, as if I would be pleased with this. I keep hold of my tongue, ignoring him and I see the muscles in his arms tensing. He hates it. Good. When we enter I can smell how new everything is, the paint on the walls and the carpet under our feet. He had been decorating the place, make it more 'homely.' He's wasted his time, I won't be here long enough for the furniture to make a dent.
"I've got the furniture set up in most of the rooms but not hers. I thought maybe we could do that together?" He points to a door to our left. "I'll be here and you're upstairs."
"At least you're not delusional enough to believe I would live with you," I say, eyeing him swiftly enough to see his anger before I look away and climb the stairs. 'My' apartment is bright and spacious, the walls reflecting the sun that shines through numerous windows. He shows me each room, all furnished with the highest quality materials that he's obviously proud of building and installing. The kitchen he is most happy with, watching carefully for my reaction. It is huge, an island in the middle and a large oak table under one of the two windows. Silver saucepans flash in the sun, too many to count and utensils are lined up on some shelves. I admit I felt some awe at seeing it. I've always wished to cook in a place like that but just knowing that he's only done this to fish for my approval taints it all. I turn with a bored gaze and his smile falls with disappointment, nostrils flaring again. He's quite predictable really, now that I see the cracks.
"You know there's plenty of room with me. I could destroy this in a heartbeat. So don't test me..." he threatens softly under his breath, intensely staring at me before he turns on his heel and shows me to 'my' bedroom. I sniff disdainfully at him, not allowing myself to show him any fear but it's easier said then done. I want to push him out of a window, down the stairs...
The room is beautiful and I think of my old apartment; it would probably fit in here with room to spare. A queen sized bed sits in the middle of the room, freshly laundered, from the smell, with linen sheets and my feet sink into the carpet as I move forward. Everything is white and yellow and it shines warmly in the sunlight streaming through the open window. There was something calm about the place but it's too still, nothing feels quite real.
Nothing does now.
"Leave me alone."
He pouts a little. "Don't you like it?"
I give him no answer and stare above his head until he huffily stalks out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I deflate, like I had steel in my stomach holding me up that's been sucked away. I bend over like an old woman, cradling my belly and sit down the very edge of the bed. A small part of me expects to be rescued, someone must know that I'm here, they wouldn't leave me to this fate. But that kind of voice that used to be so vocal in me is dying. No one is coming, it's just me. Bennet had warned me that this could happen and that I would need to be strong. For both of us. But that was easy for him to say and at the time easy for me to imagine I could do it. Just not here, anywhere but here...
"Tonight, go tonight." I straighten, picturing my brother's face and know that even staying till the morning with that man is impossible. But I would make him sorry. I move to the bathroom and shower quickly, paranoid that he could sneak in at any time, hunger gnawing at my insides.
Before Odessa
"It's boarded up." Maya says as she gets out of the car, looking up at the black plywood boards covering the large windows of Gray and Sons. Once they had reached the City he had unexpectedly requested that they go see his old shop, for old times sakes. Maya was brimming with happiness and accomplishment, to have finally reached the place she had travelled months to be. But an extra few hours wouldn't hurt and she was curious to see a part of his old life.
She watches him rattling at the door, hears the very faint sound of a bell ringing before he comes out of the doorway, hands in his pockets and hunched. He looks calm, he always looks calm but it was peppered with sadness now. Shivering in the cold she goes to him, smiling sympathetically. Gabriel motions to the corner of the street.
"We can try get in though the back, come on..." He takes her hand and pulls her after him. An icy gust of window blows through the narrow alleyway and she moans, bouncing on her feet when they come to a fence. He eyes her, smiling. "You're still cold?"
"Estoy frío! I'm not used to it, that's the problem." She chatters, almost dancing as she tries to warm up and he smiles, looking away.
"It might be warmer inside...we'll have to climb over." He stands on some crates, Maya looking up at him and volts over the top. She hears his feet impacting on the other side and climbs up and swings over easily, waving his hands away as he stands with his arms out to catch her. Landing on her feet she looks around at the yard they're standing in, at the cracked concrete and sprouting weeds through the cracks. It was gloomy and the back of his shop dank, the windows filthy.
"Did you ever clean them?" She enquires fussily and he shakes his head, goes to a window and attempts to open it, teeth clenched with the effort.
"No, I always thought it - gave - the place...character! There." He pants, stepping aside to let her go first. Maya peers inside and then climbs in, dusting her jeans off as she moves further inwards, Gabriel at her back. He overtakes her and then stops at the back of his shop. It's very dark but for the light seeping in from the window they were standing under and the slots in the wooden boards at the front. There isn't a single clock or watch anywhere, it's completely empty. He doesn't move and she looks up at him, touching his arm.
"Are you ok?" He doesn't respond, eyes focused ahead until he finally moves, fingers touching a bench to their right. It's blanketed by a think layer of dust, everything was. Maya crosses her arms over her chest, watching him as he slowly walks about, finger skimming over wood and glass, his eyes dark. But when he looks up at her they're strangely bright and they shine wetly. She goes to him quickly and wraps her arms around his chest, small cooing noises coming from her throat. His arms hang lifeless for a good minute before they touch her, scrunching at her hair and but keeps his gaze over her head.
"I left this all behind, I never thought I'd come back. It wasn't important..." he whispers, eyes now down turned and intense for her to understand him. "But this was my life and now...now there's nothing left." He says, clearly pained and she holds him tighter, brushing her fingers down his face and stands on her toes to kiss his mouth softly.
"I'm sorry Gabriel, I understand. My home is something I can't get back either...I think the police have both our stuff." He scoffs gently, looking over her head and she presses the side of her cheek to his chest.
"This was more my home then my apartment, I certainly spent more time here. See over there?" Hands on her shoulder turns her around and the embrace is broken as she turns, looking to where he's pointing. She had missed it on the way in but a camp bed was pushed up into a corner, those dirty windows above it.
"Si?"
"I used to sleep there...and over there is where I kept my clothes." His voice is so soft, almost shy and she turns to him. She didn't feel like smiling.
"Why didn't you go home?"
His mouth turn downs and then quirks, mocking. "Didn't have anything to go back for, anyone...I was pathetic, a nobody." He says suddenly, very hard and Maya turns back into his arms, shaking her head.
"No, don't say that! I don't believe that!" She says fiercely. "You're not a nobody, someone like that doesn't touch others. You...you mean so much to me, Gabriel. You have a good heart." She finishes passionately and kisses him again, feels his stunned lips under her and smiles, opening her eyes to see his shocked and confused eyes. Maya draws back and cocks her head, pouting. "Don't believe me?" She teases and he suddenly lunges at her, fire in his eyes and she laughs, kissing him back. He lifts her off the ground, her body crushes against his and she moans into the kiss, feeling her arousal building and pulsing between her legs and in her belly. He pushes her against a cabinet, mouth ravaging hers until she can't breathe and has to push him away.
"Maya." He groans, body very close but she shakes her head.
"No, not here...and I'm sore." The had been making love for hours, before they arrived in New York. Gabriel sighs with disappointment, kissing her throat but relents, pulling away to look at her sardonically.
"So am I."
"Yeah?" She blushes and smiles, tongue between her teeth.
"Yeah! My back isn't a scratching post." He says, long suffering but laughs as the teasing look in her eyes turns to worry. "Don't worry, I'll take it as a complement." She smiles, kissing him quickly and then moves further up into the shop while he takes a seat at his old work station. His eyes are drawn to a fish-bowl on a shelf and he touches it with light fingers, smiling wistfully. Maya comes back to him and he reaches out a hand to make her sit on his lap, looping his arms around her waist and she rests back against his chest.
"You had a fish?" She makes a wiggling motion through the air with her hand.
"Yeah, fat, lazy thing." She laughs as he stares fixedly at a spot on the floor, his face darkening every second until he ruses himself and bounces her on his lap. He opens a draw and finds his old radio. "Well that's something I guess."
"Does it work?" Her answer is given when faint, slightly crackly music drifts out from the speakers. Maya smiles at the sound, knowing it as a style he likes. She holds out her hand but he stares at it like she's handing him a new born: pleased but scared, not knowing what to do.
"Okay, if you want your toes stepped on..." He stands in the clearing of the shop, shafts of light slicing through the air as she places his hands onto the right places of her body.
"It's slow, just turn me around." She slips her arms around his waist and begins to rock from side to side while turning. He keeps his gaze down, occupied with their feet. She bites the inside of her mouth, trying not to laugh as she scolds him. "You better not be staring down my top."
He smiles, bemused. She wouldn't utter that to him if her brother was there, even if it was in English. It was a new side to her, one just for him. "I'm not..."
"What do you think they did with it all?"
"Not sure...I hope they got re-sold though, I had some rare pieces..." He says thoughtfully and lowers his face down near her hair, inhaling, and coiling a strand around his finger. A long easy silence settles until he speaks up again. "Can I ask you something?"
"Claro." She says softly.
"Have you considered that maybe you won't be cured? That neither of us will be?"
She stares at him silent and serious for a moment before staring into the distance. "I have but I try not to, thinking like that is not me. I will get better...I don't want to wake up every morning thinking the same thing: will I hurt someone today?" She shakes her head and meets his eye again. "I don't want to be a monster. I will be normal again."
He smiles in understanding but weakly. He draws her closer to him, musing. "You're not a monster, you're just scared...but so optimistic, I don't understand how you've remand like that but you have. I was, once, but now that we're here I don't feel so confidant."
"You're nervous. Is that why you wanted to come here first?" They have stopped dancing, pressed close as they talk.
He looks around again at the empty walls. "I'm holding my breath...what do you think is going to happen when we get there? Will you stay with him?" He says it suddenly as the thought comes into his head.
Maya shrugs. "I dunno, I guess I'll stay there as long as it takes."
"And then? Are you going back home?"
"You know I can't, I don't have anywhere to stay." she snorts through her nose, shaking her head. "I've been so focused on getting here that I never really thought about what would happen afterwards. I don't think I wanted to. So have you thought about it? If you don't get what you came for?"
"I have...I've got you."
She smiles lovingly and slides her fingers into his hair. "We could live here, in secret...until I get deported." She jokes. He kisses her mouth quickly, cupping her face.
"That won't happen...Ok, I can see you're almost running for the door. Let's go."
She grins ecstatically and comes to him and, taking his hand, leans back on his arm quickly, flourishing with the music and lets go. Unprepared he flings backwards and hits the pillar behind him. Maya covers hand over her mouth. "Oh shit! Sorry, are you ok?" She bites her lip, trying not to laugh.
"You're trying to kill me." As he utters it his face falls and he looks away as she blanches. When he stares at her again it's with a calm mask, a hand gripping hers. "Sorry...time to meet the good doctor."
They exit the way they broke in.
He had to admit it now, as the sun begins to sink and it gets even colder, that he is putting it off. He had wanted to show her the places he liked when he lived here, his favourite movie theatre, restaurant, bookshop and finally the park. It wasn't much but he wasn't what you would have called social back then. He had his haunts and he stuck to them.
The lake is still but for a few duck paddling in the water, swimming up to them, expecting bread.
"Sorry Senor duck, no food for you."
"They probably need to lose weight anyway, they must get fed tones of bread a week...though, they were the only ones I shared a meal with." She laughs in disbelief and turns in his arms. He smiles, "I'm serious."
"I can't believe you didn't have anyone." She pulls on his coat affectionately.
"Well, I had mom but most of the time it was just me...I didn't look like this, even - even act this way before. You saw my picture."
She cocks her head and her face softens with tenderness. "Aww you did look very sweet Gabriel, with your glasses," she makes her fingers into circles and places them before her eyes, "I almost didn't recognise you."
"Good." He takes her hands and lowers them. Taking her face in his hands he lowers his lips to hers, his skin feeling very hot compared to her icy touch. He realises that this is the first time in his life that he had kissed a woman in public, first time he had walked down the street with someone not his mother. He loved even more that people saw him, doesn't matter that they don't know who he is, just that they acknowledged his presence with a woman clearly in love with him. It makes him feel less hollow.
But it just isn't enough, it won't last, can't. He has an objective that needs to be followed through, something that would place him back on top and it is something that he can't fight even if he wants to.
And he is. These little detours, emotional or otherwise, are small acts of defiance at his constant need. He never planned to sleep with her, not seriously, it was always something that if his meeting with Suresh didn't go to plan would be an event that happened afterwards. They have spent so little time together but he can see that she cares greatly for him, more then she has with anyone. He has never been sure of what he feels, he just has this sense of entitlement that turned into a full blown sense of possessiveness when his claim to her had been threatened. Any thought of her ability had been obliterated and through that red rage he had been free for a moment.
He never wanted to kill him, he wanted to let him go for her sake but Alejandro had to threaten him. Anger he knows and envy but he had hardly been at the mercy of such uncontrolled emotion and prayed he never would again.
Gabriel & Adam
"Sorry about your nose."
I shrug, letting the bloody cloth fall to the bar top. It had dried some time ago. "The only thing that you ended up hurting was yourself."
Gabriel snorts and picks up his glass. We had begun drinking some hours before and while I was unaffected my companion is starting to become worse for wear. Sloshed, really. It is amusing but also a little disappointing. He isn't what he appeared, to hear Elle speak of him he's the devil incarnate.
"You know how many times she's said that to me? Like, I wanna be like this..." He drags his knuckles over his almost bearded chin and peers at me with red eyes that has nothing to do with the alcohol. They are going through "a bad patch." Again.
"So it's her fault you're this sorry sight?"
He pauses over his drink, just a flash of that rage that had previously punched me in the face. "I liked to believe that it was, that if she changed then maybe I could, you know? But she's so fucking stubborn. All I wanted was to be normal, but the past...she won't let it go." He makes a tight fist, looking at it in reproach.
"You live long enough and that grip starts to loosen, trust me." He stares at me, hand to his cheek and if I'm mistaken he looks a little...jealous? "What?"
"You should be infamous, what you did. You played god. I used to dream about doing big things, you know? But only I know what you've done."
"Well then you should count yourself privileged...you're very strange, you know that?" God I hate being reminded. If only Rene was here...
Maya & Adam
It was 20 miles to Midland by car and the road stretches wide and empty before her as she races down it, window cracked open making her hair fly. It was exhilarating, every mile one more away from him. Oh she had tried to escape before and failed but this time she felt assured of her freedom. Before she had run like a like a cat on a hot plate, no plan or provisions, just the desire to get away from the torment. The last time she had been more careful, played as nice as she could but he had treated her attempts with increasing amusement, like she was playing a game with him.
She had to take another approach, more calculated. She had to attack the one heating that plate before she ran. She couldn't kill him but she could maim him enough to give her some head start, maybe find someone that will help her. Bennett could still be alive, Gabriel was vague on that but she had hope. If only she could suppress his abilities as he had done hers, after death it is the one punishment she wished he could have. He'd probably wish for death before being made powerless again.
"Because then you're not special enough are you?" She says to herself in a baby voice, pouting, before her eyes seer with loathing. She remembers when they had talked at length about that topic, being special versus being normal. She should have taken that as a sign, she should have taken many things as a sign. Her thoughts in the past Maya at first doesn't notice the sky until she suddenly jerks in her seat and ducks her head down to stare up through the windscreen.
Lighting, flickering through a clear blue sky.
Hundreds of white hot bolts streak down from the sky to the ground, or maybe it was the other way around, she couldn't be sure. There is no sound, no booms of thunder, there isn't even any clouds to bring rain and Maya involuntarily crosses herself. It isn't natural and the way the lighting seemed to burst out with such force, like its angry. If she continues in that direction she would be heading right into that strange storm.
"No, I will not give up." Her jaw set in determination she turns the car around and begins driving back. There is another route she can take. It will double her journey time but she doesn't care if she has to walk it, she is going.
An hour later she drives around a bend in the road, the land not as flat here and trees crowd some slopping hills. A bridge, maybe over a ravine, she is too far away to tell at this point. But not far enough to see the person standing on the edge. He is there maybe for a second or two before he simply steps off and plummets over the side.
Maya sits stunned, hands curled tightly around the steering wheel. She didn't even have time to shout or move and now she's not even sure she can. This paralysis lasts a few minutes before she finds herself calmly reaching for the handle and pushing the door open. Her mind feels empty but her heart is beating deafeningly in her ears.
Steeling herself she peers over the edge. She was right it is a ravine and a deep one, the drop has to be a clear two hundred feet. She immediately spots him. He's tiny, just a white speck but it's unmistakably the jumper. He doesn't move and she stares for a few seconds, not breathing before she finds her voice.
"H - Hello? Can you hear me? A - are you all right?...Hello?" She realises that she's speaking in Spanish and switches to English, repeating herself more loudly this time but she trails off. He doesn't move, he's clearly dead. Maya looks away with sadness, wiping at her eyes and moves with jittery legs to lean against her car.
She had heard reports about people committing suicide because they didn't want the virus to take them, cutting short what would be a drawn out death. Then as the virus infected more and more people she heard about mass suicides, either from the infected or people that have lost their loved ones. They had cut off the major cities - London, Paris, New York, to many to name - and made them impassable. Some places had even been nuked, but she wasn't sure of the truth of those rumours.
She stands weakly for an uncountable time, thoughts reeling back from the man below to the lightening. Bad signs, all in the way of her paths to leave this place. Him. Maybe it's him, maybe he's succeeded in driving her mad.
"More mad then I am already..." whispering she goes back to the bridge, something strange pushing her for another look. She cocks her head, squinting her eyes. It looks like he's moved from lying on his front to his back. As she watches breathlessly the dead man below slowly sits up and lifts a hand to his head.
"Fuck me! HELLO? DIOS. CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" She waves her arms around wildly and though he's too far away to make out his face she feels he's looking at her. "ARE YOU OK?...Of course you're not, stupid, stupid..." She looks back at the car where her baby sleeps and then back down again. "I'M GOING TO GET HELP, DON'T - DON'T MOVE!"
She races to her car and gets into the passenger seat and sits for a few seconds, breathing in deep breaths. Wrenching her praying hands apart she starts the ignition and drives back towards the man she left half dead.
Peter/Caitlin (KW)
Inchydoney beach, West Cork, Ireland. 2009.
The virus has taken the gulls now and so the only resonance heard is the Irish Sea and the feeble sound of one car honking it's horn angrily.
"Oh you bastard! Don't fuck me around because I am not in the mood today!" Caitlin thumps the wheel of her car as it starts to hitch and finally crawls to a stop. "Piece of crap! The tank is full for god's sakes..." She curses and flings open the door and gets out onto the deserted road. The wind off the sea makes her hair fly around wildly and she stares disdainfully up the road to the luxury hotel perched on the cliffs that she now calls home. Tying her hair back she pulls the plastic bags full mussels she had picked and slams the car door closed with her foot. As she does she stiffens, sensing that she's being watched and turns sharply.
A man is standing silhouetted against the beach and as she's about to speak he starts to run towards her. Eyes wide she backs away, looking for a weapon. "Hey, you just stop there, you hear me?!"
"Caitlin!"
"...Peter?" Her mouth falls open and he almost barrels them to the ground as he reaches her and gathers her up in his arms. The bags fall to the ground and Caitlin hangs shocked and unresponsive in his embrace as he squeezes her tight and then starts to kiss her face feverishly.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I couldn't find you! God, I've missed you so much!"
"Peter?" She repeats, still shocked and he smiles.
"Yeah it's me! Are you ok?" He starts to frown, worried. "You - you do remember who -"
"Of course I remember who you are! I wasn't the one with the dodgy memory." She barks fast and they both wince and she smiles apologetically. Caitlin lifts her trembling fingers to his face and lightly starts to trace his features with amazement. "Peter?" She laughs suddenly, overjoyed and starts to cry. He pulls her back into his arms and they stay there on the causeway until it's too cold and head back to her place.
*
Once she's more calm and settled she tells him what had happened since she last saw him.
"They herded us onto a plane and flew us back here. We were all forced through decontamination by the CDC again and the ones that were healthy were set free. I came back here and just...just waited like everyone else. Hoped that it would stop but I don't need to tell you the outcome of that." She informs him dryly.
They are seated on her bed, the large window showing a spectacular view of the blue sea. Only a handful occupy this once thriving holiday resort and like everywhere else it's not governed by anyone. People are free to move anywhere they like, there is no enforcements to stop them.
"I'm guessing this Government is in the same state as mine?"
"Complete shambles, Dublin is a no go and the same for Belfast. I hear London is worse, probably because it's such an overcrowded city, well it was...you know I thought if something like this really happened it would be like something from a film. Anarchy and looting but it hasn't been much of that. It was...quiet, there wasn't much of a panic." She says introspective and he nods, pulling her closer to him.
"I know, I think everyone is in shock...a few years ago I was told that 93 percent of the world's population has died from this thing. 93 percent! Billions of people..."
"The Government is overwhelmed, like all of us. Me and some of the guys had to bury those that had died because there just weren't anyone official to do it anymore. I've tried getting in contact but nothing. We're alone." Caitlin shuffles out of his arms and stands, going to the window and he sits on the edge on the bed, hand in his messy hair.
"Were not alone. People group together in a crises right? They go to safe places?"
"There are no safe places from this love. It's not a case of maybe but when. But...but maybe not for you." She says and her face flushes over with conflicting emotions, content that he will be safe but fear that she will not be. He gets to his feet and goes to her, looking into her eyes tenderly and places his hands on her arms.
"I won't let anything happen to you."
She smiles, looking down and then up, brushing her hand down his chest. "That's sweet Peter but we both know that's not true." She kisses him and goes into the bathroom and he stares after her, thoughtful. She was always straight talking, never mincing her words but now she was even more hard and on point. She was not a woman that pines and waits to be rescued, she had no delusions that he would come for her and that was why she was so shocked when he did. She loves him, she had confessed it to him but in these times dreams where just that and self sufficiency was paramount.
But he didn't want it to stay that way, he's never been up for being alone.
Maya (KW)
Three strangely uneventful days pass. They wake her and her mother each morning for breakfast, which they eat locked in their room. At noon they're escorted outside to the small garden across the street. Other children are there and her mother tries to get her to join in with them but Nadia won't do it.
"I don't know them, they're not like us."
"You would say that Nadia because you haven't tried to make friends. You don't have to be stuck in here with me."
"I don't want to be stuck out there with them. I don't belong here." Her mom sighs and sits back, one arm around her as they sit on a bench beside a pond. Nadia stares at the sky reflected in the black waters with a thoughtful expression.
"Are you ok Nad? I've never seen you this quiet before." Pulling her into a hug Nadia shrugs, still looking at the pond.
"Remember when you used to take me to feed the ducks?"
"Yeah, you used to love it." she sounds wistful and Nadia looks up at her. Her mother looks old.
"We'll we ever see it again? Odessa?"
"I honestly don't know Nadia...but maybe we could go somewhere else." Nadia stares into her mother's dark eyes with interest and she carries on, looking over the park. "Remember I used to say that we would go back to the DR to live? Well - well we can now. But only if you want to Nadia."
"And daddy?" Her father was always on her mind, the mystery of where he is and how he is doing. She's terrified that she won't see him again and her mother can only provide unsatisfactory answers. She looks like someone trying not to break down when talking about him.
"Your dad...I'm unsure baby. That's why I've asked to see him, so that we can't talk about...living arraignments."
Nadia jerks up, aflame with excitement. "Can I come see him?!"
Her mother winces and stands. "I dunno Nadia, I'll have to ask them. I don't have much say-so with these people."
Nadia looks her mother up and down, shocked at the overnight change in the fiery woman she had been brought up by. "You're different, before you would have just done it without any permission." she stands, hands on hips and her mom's abashed expression turns into a scoff as she laughs.
"I would have heh?" she leans down and cups her daughter's face with a smile and nod. "You're right, these people might think they are in charge but I didn't vote for them. I don't think anyone did...I will see Gabriel, I promise."
"He's always so intense."
"Blueballs will do that."
"Katie!"
"What? It's the truth. We all know he ain't gettin it at home."
"You're crazy."
"He is kinda sweet with kids though."
"Aww yeah, he is. Last week I saw..."
Maya stands in the shadow of the awning, listening with a slack face at a gaggle of women. They stand under the tent, watching Gabriel in the distance. He had come to help her dig up some of the vegetables. The work is hard and he had taken off his t-shirt and they had been staring in admiration. Maya realises that she's looking at Katie with a disgruntled face and smooths it when she looks her way.
She narrows her eyes at Maya with a smile. "That all right with you honey?"
"Me? It's got nothing to do with me. Just as long as you know what you're getting yourself into..."
Katie grins and looks back at him. Gabriel moves close to them as he helps George set the crates into their truck. Turning towards them he stills and flicks his eyes to Maya and then at the women.
"Hi Gabriel," Katie waves and he stares with wide eyes before smiling politely and moving towards Maya.
He pours himself some water and she can't keep the laugh to herself. He frowns at her. "What?"
"Nothing. Don't forget your shirt sweetie." Patting his bare shoulder she walks to the truck, leaving him to stare after her in great confusion as the woman start to hedge around him. He looks like a sheep circled by lions.
"Our home" is a plain two story building set apart from the main office building to our right. Dwarfing both buildings is the actual paper factory to the east of the reservation. All is huddled within the foot of some low, tree covered hills. A fleet of white and silver trailers are parked in a line and I stare at them curiously for a few moments before he opens the door for me.
"I know it looks drab but give me a few days and you'll be impressed." He flashes me another grin, as if I would be pleased with this. I keep hold of my tongue, ignoring him and I see the muscles in his arms tensing. He hates it. Good. When we enter I can smell how new everything is, the paint on the walls and the carpet under our feet. He had been decorating the place, make it more 'homely.' He's wasted his time, I won't be here long enough for the furniture to make a dent.
"I've got the furniture set up in most of the rooms but not hers. I thought maybe we could do that together?" He points to a door to our left. "I'll be here and you're upstairs."
"At least you're not delusional enough to believe I would live with you," I say, eyeing him swiftly enough to see his anger before I look away and climb the stairs. 'My' apartment is bright and spacious, the walls reflecting the sun that shines through numerous windows. He shows me each room, all furnished with the highest quality materials that he's obviously proud of building and installing. The kitchen he is most happy with, watching carefully for my reaction. It is huge, an island in the middle and a large oak table under one of the two windows. Silver saucepans flash in the sun, too many to count and utensils are lined up on some shelves. I admit I felt some awe at seeing it. I've always wished to cook in a place like that but just knowing that he's only done this to fish for my approval taints it all. I turn with a bored gaze and his smile falls with disappointment, nostrils flaring again. He's quite predictable really, now that I see the cracks.
"You know there's plenty of room with me. I could destroy this in a heartbeat. So don't test me..." he threatens softly under his breath, intensely staring at me before he turns on his heel and shows me to 'my' bedroom. I sniff disdainfully at him, not allowing myself to show him any fear but it's easier said then done. I want to push him out of a window, down the stairs...
The room is beautiful and I think of my old apartment; it would probably fit in here with room to spare. A queen sized bed sits in the middle of the room, freshly laundered, from the smell, with linen sheets and my feet sink into the carpet as I move forward. Everything is white and yellow and it shines warmly in the sunlight streaming through the open window. There was something calm about the place but it's too still, nothing feels quite real.
Nothing does now.
"Leave me alone."
He pouts a little. "Don't you like it?"
I give him no answer and stare above his head until he huffily stalks out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I deflate, like I had steel in my stomach holding me up that's been sucked away. I bend over like an old woman, cradling my belly and sit down the very edge of the bed. A small part of me expects to be rescued, someone must know that I'm here, they wouldn't leave me to this fate. But that kind of voice that used to be so vocal in me is dying. No one is coming, it's just me. Bennet had warned me that this could happen and that I would need to be strong. For both of us. But that was easy for him to say and at the time easy for me to imagine I could do it. Just not here, anywhere but here...
"Tonight, go tonight." I straighten, picturing my brother's face and know that even staying till the morning with that man is impossible. But I would make him sorry. I move to the bathroom and shower quickly, paranoid that he could sneak in at any time, hunger gnawing at my insides.
Before Odessa
"It's boarded up." Maya says as she gets out of the car, looking up at the black plywood boards covering the large windows of Gray and Sons. Once they had reached the City he had unexpectedly requested that they go see his old shop, for old times sakes. Maya was brimming with happiness and accomplishment, to have finally reached the place she had travelled months to be. But an extra few hours wouldn't hurt and she was curious to see a part of his old life.
She watches him rattling at the door, hears the very faint sound of a bell ringing before he comes out of the doorway, hands in his pockets and hunched. He looks calm, he always looks calm but it was peppered with sadness now. Shivering in the cold she goes to him, smiling sympathetically. Gabriel motions to the corner of the street.
"We can try get in though the back, come on..." He takes her hand and pulls her after him. An icy gust of window blows through the narrow alleyway and she moans, bouncing on her feet when they come to a fence. He eyes her, smiling. "You're still cold?"
"Estoy frío! I'm not used to it, that's the problem." She chatters, almost dancing as she tries to warm up and he smiles, looking away.
"It might be warmer inside...we'll have to climb over." He stands on some crates, Maya looking up at him and volts over the top. She hears his feet impacting on the other side and climbs up and swings over easily, waving his hands away as he stands with his arms out to catch her. Landing on her feet she looks around at the yard they're standing in, at the cracked concrete and sprouting weeds through the cracks. It was gloomy and the back of his shop dank, the windows filthy.
"Did you ever clean them?" She enquires fussily and he shakes his head, goes to a window and attempts to open it, teeth clenched with the effort.
"No, I always thought it - gave - the place...character! There." He pants, stepping aside to let her go first. Maya peers inside and then climbs in, dusting her jeans off as she moves further inwards, Gabriel at her back. He overtakes her and then stops at the back of his shop. It's very dark but for the light seeping in from the window they were standing under and the slots in the wooden boards at the front. There isn't a single clock or watch anywhere, it's completely empty. He doesn't move and she looks up at him, touching his arm.
"Are you ok?" He doesn't respond, eyes focused ahead until he finally moves, fingers touching a bench to their right. It's blanketed by a think layer of dust, everything was. Maya crosses her arms over her chest, watching him as he slowly walks about, finger skimming over wood and glass, his eyes dark. But when he looks up at her they're strangely bright and they shine wetly. She goes to him quickly and wraps her arms around his chest, small cooing noises coming from her throat. His arms hang lifeless for a good minute before they touch her, scrunching at her hair and but keeps his gaze over her head.
"I left this all behind, I never thought I'd come back. It wasn't important..." he whispers, eyes now down turned and intense for her to understand him. "But this was my life and now...now there's nothing left." He says, clearly pained and she holds him tighter, brushing her fingers down his face and stands on her toes to kiss his mouth softly.
"I'm sorry Gabriel, I understand. My home is something I can't get back either...I think the police have both our stuff." He scoffs gently, looking over her head and she presses the side of her cheek to his chest.
"This was more my home then my apartment, I certainly spent more time here. See over there?" Hands on her shoulder turns her around and the embrace is broken as she turns, looking to where he's pointing. She had missed it on the way in but a camp bed was pushed up into a corner, those dirty windows above it.
"Si?"
"I used to sleep there...and over there is where I kept my clothes." His voice is so soft, almost shy and she turns to him. She didn't feel like smiling.
"Why didn't you go home?"
His mouth turn downs and then quirks, mocking. "Didn't have anything to go back for, anyone...I was pathetic, a nobody." He says suddenly, very hard and Maya turns back into his arms, shaking her head.
"No, don't say that! I don't believe that!" She says fiercely. "You're not a nobody, someone like that doesn't touch others. You...you mean so much to me, Gabriel. You have a good heart." She finishes passionately and kisses him again, feels his stunned lips under her and smiles, opening her eyes to see his shocked and confused eyes. Maya draws back and cocks her head, pouting. "Don't believe me?" She teases and he suddenly lunges at her, fire in his eyes and she laughs, kissing him back. He lifts her off the ground, her body crushes against his and she moans into the kiss, feeling her arousal building and pulsing between her legs and in her belly. He pushes her against a cabinet, mouth ravaging hers until she can't breathe and has to push him away.
"Maya." He groans, body very close but she shakes her head.
"No, not here...and I'm sore." The had been making love for hours, before they arrived in New York. Gabriel sighs with disappointment, kissing her throat but relents, pulling away to look at her sardonically.
"So am I."
"Yeah?" She blushes and smiles, tongue between her teeth.
"Yeah! My back isn't a scratching post." He says, long suffering but laughs as the teasing look in her eyes turns to worry. "Don't worry, I'll take it as a complement." She smiles, kissing him quickly and then moves further up into the shop while he takes a seat at his old work station. His eyes are drawn to a fish-bowl on a shelf and he touches it with light fingers, smiling wistfully. Maya comes back to him and he reaches out a hand to make her sit on his lap, looping his arms around her waist and she rests back against his chest.
"You had a fish?" She makes a wiggling motion through the air with her hand.
"Yeah, fat, lazy thing." She laughs as he stares fixedly at a spot on the floor, his face darkening every second until he ruses himself and bounces her on his lap. He opens a draw and finds his old radio. "Well that's something I guess."
"Does it work?" Her answer is given when faint, slightly crackly music drifts out from the speakers. Maya smiles at the sound, knowing it as a style he likes. She holds out her hand but he stares at it like she's handing him a new born: pleased but scared, not knowing what to do.
"Okay, if you want your toes stepped on..." He stands in the clearing of the shop, shafts of light slicing through the air as she places his hands onto the right places of her body.
"It's slow, just turn me around." She slips her arms around his waist and begins to rock from side to side while turning. He keeps his gaze down, occupied with their feet. She bites the inside of her mouth, trying not to laugh as she scolds him. "You better not be staring down my top."
He smiles, bemused. She wouldn't utter that to him if her brother was there, even if it was in English. It was a new side to her, one just for him. "I'm not..."
"What do you think they did with it all?"
"Not sure...I hope they got re-sold though, I had some rare pieces..." He says thoughtfully and lowers his face down near her hair, inhaling, and coiling a strand around his finger. A long easy silence settles until he speaks up again. "Can I ask you something?"
"Claro." She says softly.
"Have you considered that maybe you won't be cured? That neither of us will be?"
She stares at him silent and serious for a moment before staring into the distance. "I have but I try not to, thinking like that is not me. I will get better...I don't want to wake up every morning thinking the same thing: will I hurt someone today?" She shakes her head and meets his eye again. "I don't want to be a monster. I will be normal again."
He smiles in understanding but weakly. He draws her closer to him, musing. "You're not a monster, you're just scared...but so optimistic, I don't understand how you've remand like that but you have. I was, once, but now that we're here I don't feel so confidant."
"You're nervous. Is that why you wanted to come here first?" They have stopped dancing, pressed close as they talk.
He looks around again at the empty walls. "I'm holding my breath...what do you think is going to happen when we get there? Will you stay with him?" He says it suddenly as the thought comes into his head.
Maya shrugs. "I dunno, I guess I'll stay there as long as it takes."
"And then? Are you going back home?"
"You know I can't, I don't have anywhere to stay." she snorts through her nose, shaking her head. "I've been so focused on getting here that I never really thought about what would happen afterwards. I don't think I wanted to. So have you thought about it? If you don't get what you came for?"
"I have...I've got you."
She smiles lovingly and slides her fingers into his hair. "We could live here, in secret...until I get deported." She jokes. He kisses her mouth quickly, cupping her face.
"That won't happen...Ok, I can see you're almost running for the door. Let's go."
She grins ecstatically and comes to him and, taking his hand, leans back on his arm quickly, flourishing with the music and lets go. Unprepared he flings backwards and hits the pillar behind him. Maya covers hand over her mouth. "Oh shit! Sorry, are you ok?" She bites her lip, trying not to laugh.
"You're trying to kill me." As he utters it his face falls and he looks away as she blanches. When he stares at her again it's with a calm mask, a hand gripping hers. "Sorry...time to meet the good doctor."
They exit the way they broke in.
He had to admit it now, as the sun begins to sink and it gets even colder, that he is putting it off. He had wanted to show her the places he liked when he lived here, his favourite movie theatre, restaurant, bookshop and finally the park. It wasn't much but he wasn't what you would have called social back then. He had his haunts and he stuck to them.
The lake is still but for a few duck paddling in the water, swimming up to them, expecting bread.
"Sorry Senor duck, no food for you."
"They probably need to lose weight anyway, they must get fed tones of bread a week...though, they were the only ones I shared a meal with." She laughs in disbelief and turns in his arms. He smiles, "I'm serious."
"I can't believe you didn't have anyone." She pulls on his coat affectionately.
"Well, I had mom but most of the time it was just me...I didn't look like this, even - even act this way before. You saw my picture."
She cocks her head and her face softens with tenderness. "Aww you did look very sweet Gabriel, with your glasses," she makes her fingers into circles and places them before her eyes, "I almost didn't recognise you."
"Good." He takes her hands and lowers them. Taking her face in his hands he lowers his lips to hers, his skin feeling very hot compared to her icy touch. He realises that this is the first time in his life that he had kissed a woman in public, first time he had walked down the street with someone not his mother. He loved even more that people saw him, doesn't matter that they don't know who he is, just that they acknowledged his presence with a woman clearly in love with him. It makes him feel less hollow.
But it just isn't enough, it won't last, can't. He has an objective that needs to be followed through, something that would place him back on top and it is something that he can't fight even if he wants to.
And he is. These little detours, emotional or otherwise, are small acts of defiance at his constant need. He never planned to sleep with her, not seriously, it was always something that if his meeting with Suresh didn't go to plan would be an event that happened afterwards. They have spent so little time together but he can see that she cares greatly for him, more then she has with anyone. He has never been sure of what he feels, he just has this sense of entitlement that turned into a full blown sense of possessiveness when his claim to her had been threatened. Any thought of her ability had been obliterated and through that red rage he had been free for a moment.
He never wanted to kill him, he wanted to let him go for her sake but Alejandro had to threaten him. Anger he knows and envy but he had hardly been at the mercy of such uncontrolled emotion and prayed he never would again.
Gabriel & Adam
"Sorry about your nose."
I shrug, letting the bloody cloth fall to the bar top. It had dried some time ago. "The only thing that you ended up hurting was yourself."
Gabriel snorts and picks up his glass. We had begun drinking some hours before and while I was unaffected my companion is starting to become worse for wear. Sloshed, really. It is amusing but also a little disappointing. He isn't what he appeared, to hear Elle speak of him he's the devil incarnate.
"You know how many times she's said that to me? Like, I wanna be like this..." He drags his knuckles over his almost bearded chin and peers at me with red eyes that has nothing to do with the alcohol. They are going through "a bad patch." Again.
"So it's her fault you're this sorry sight?"
He pauses over his drink, just a flash of that rage that had previously punched me in the face. "I liked to believe that it was, that if she changed then maybe I could, you know? But she's so fucking stubborn. All I wanted was to be normal, but the past...she won't let it go." He makes a tight fist, looking at it in reproach.
"You live long enough and that grip starts to loosen, trust me." He stares at me, hand to his cheek and if I'm mistaken he looks a little...jealous? "What?"
"You should be infamous, what you did. You played god. I used to dream about doing big things, you know? But only I know what you've done."
"Well then you should count yourself privileged...you're very strange, you know that?" God I hate being reminded. If only Rene was here...
Maya & Adam
It was 20 miles to Midland by car and the road stretches wide and empty before her as she races down it, window cracked open making her hair fly. It was exhilarating, every mile one more away from him. Oh she had tried to escape before and failed but this time she felt assured of her freedom. Before she had run like a like a cat on a hot plate, no plan or provisions, just the desire to get away from the torment. The last time she had been more careful, played as nice as she could but he had treated her attempts with increasing amusement, like she was playing a game with him.
She had to take another approach, more calculated. She had to attack the one heating that plate before she ran. She couldn't kill him but she could maim him enough to give her some head start, maybe find someone that will help her. Bennett could still be alive, Gabriel was vague on that but she had hope. If only she could suppress his abilities as he had done hers, after death it is the one punishment she wished he could have. He'd probably wish for death before being made powerless again.
"Because then you're not special enough are you?" She says to herself in a baby voice, pouting, before her eyes seer with loathing. She remembers when they had talked at length about that topic, being special versus being normal. She should have taken that as a sign, she should have taken many things as a sign. Her thoughts in the past Maya at first doesn't notice the sky until she suddenly jerks in her seat and ducks her head down to stare up through the windscreen.
Lighting, flickering through a clear blue sky.
Hundreds of white hot bolts streak down from the sky to the ground, or maybe it was the other way around, she couldn't be sure. There is no sound, no booms of thunder, there isn't even any clouds to bring rain and Maya involuntarily crosses herself. It isn't natural and the way the lighting seemed to burst out with such force, like its angry. If she continues in that direction she would be heading right into that strange storm.
"No, I will not give up." Her jaw set in determination she turns the car around and begins driving back. There is another route she can take. It will double her journey time but she doesn't care if she has to walk it, she is going.
An hour later she drives around a bend in the road, the land not as flat here and trees crowd some slopping hills. A bridge, maybe over a ravine, she is too far away to tell at this point. But not far enough to see the person standing on the edge. He is there maybe for a second or two before he simply steps off and plummets over the side.
Maya sits stunned, hands curled tightly around the steering wheel. She didn't even have time to shout or move and now she's not even sure she can. This paralysis lasts a few minutes before she finds herself calmly reaching for the handle and pushing the door open. Her mind feels empty but her heart is beating deafeningly in her ears.
Steeling herself she peers over the edge. She was right it is a ravine and a deep one, the drop has to be a clear two hundred feet. She immediately spots him. He's tiny, just a white speck but it's unmistakably the jumper. He doesn't move and she stares for a few seconds, not breathing before she finds her voice.
"H - Hello? Can you hear me? A - are you all right?...Hello?" She realises that she's speaking in Spanish and switches to English, repeating herself more loudly this time but she trails off. He doesn't move, he's clearly dead. Maya looks away with sadness, wiping at her eyes and moves with jittery legs to lean against her car.
She had heard reports about people committing suicide because they didn't want the virus to take them, cutting short what would be a drawn out death. Then as the virus infected more and more people she heard about mass suicides, either from the infected or people that have lost their loved ones. They had cut off the major cities - London, Paris, New York, to many to name - and made them impassable. Some places had even been nuked, but she wasn't sure of the truth of those rumours.
She stands weakly for an uncountable time, thoughts reeling back from the man below to the lightening. Bad signs, all in the way of her paths to leave this place. Him. Maybe it's him, maybe he's succeeded in driving her mad.
"More mad then I am already..." whispering she goes back to the bridge, something strange pushing her for another look. She cocks her head, squinting her eyes. It looks like he's moved from lying on his front to his back. As she watches breathlessly the dead man below slowly sits up and lifts a hand to his head.
"Fuck me! HELLO? DIOS. CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" She waves her arms around wildly and though he's too far away to make out his face she feels he's looking at her. "ARE YOU OK?...Of course you're not, stupid, stupid..." She looks back at the car where her baby sleeps and then back down again. "I'M GOING TO GET HELP, DON'T - DON'T MOVE!"
She races to her car and gets into the passenger seat and sits for a few seconds, breathing in deep breaths. Wrenching her praying hands apart she starts the ignition and drives back towards the man she left half dead.