“How is he?” he asked.
“It’s too early to tell. His hands and feet look as though they might have some serious damage. I’m not sure what the outcome is going to be," she answered. “How is everything out there, any signs of trouble?” she asked.
“Mitch and I are going to have to put an end to this ‘Gus’ asshole before he causes anymore trouble for anyone, but for now, everything appears quiet," Mike growled. Satisfied, she walked out of the small room.
She walked back to the couch and sat down beside Mitch. Placing the cup between his thighs, he reached over and gave her knee a squeeze, causing a flutter of butterflies to erupt in her stomach that she hadn’t expected. Whoa, where did that come from? She wondered, touching the place on her knee where his hand had just been.
“Dave, come on buddy, you need to do this," Mitch said, raising the cup to his mouth and slowly tipping the warm liquid to his lips. The action had the desired effect; Dave opened his mouth and took a few big swallows. He seemed to be regaining consciousness.
“Where’s Karen?” he said again when Mitch lowered the cup. “I need to find her, I don’t know where they were taking her," he continued, appearing to become more aware of his surroundings.
“Dave, how did they find you?” Mitch asked.
“She was worried about the cows and horses. She wanted to get them into the barn, they had been in the pasture for days and the snow wasn’t stopping. We hadn’t heard anyone in the house the whole day, so we thought maybe they had moved on," he answered, shaking his head. “They came at us so quickly, I don’t know what happened. One of them bashed me over the head with a shovel. When I woke up, I was in the middle of the woods feeling like someone had beat the ever-living shit out of me. I haven’t seen her since," he finished, his voice breaking at the end.
Mitch cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable with what he was about to say. “Dave, Emily and I ran into Karen yesterday. I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but she had turned, she had been infected. I’m so sorry, but we had to take care of her," he finished.
Dave let out a gargled sound before his body became wracked with silent sobs. Juliette stood and went to kneel before him. He needed to take a breath, his health was already in a fragile state and this wasn’t helping. She should have stopped Mitch; they could have waited a while to tell him.
“Dave, I need you to take a deep breath. I know that your heart is breaking into a million little pieces right now, I understand that, but you need to breathe. Come on, Dave, deep breath in," she encouraged.
She squeezed her body in beside him on the other side of the couch and wrapped her arms around the poor man. He sank into her touch and just continued to sob. She found herself shushing him like you would a newborn baby as she rubbed his back. It didn’t take long for him to succumb to sleep. His body had been through so much in the last few days, the emotional turmoil was enough to tip him over the edge. She just hoped that they could help him back out of it.
Once she was certain that he would stay asleep, she eased herself out of his hold and laid his head to rest on the pillow beside him. “Help me get his feet back up on the sofa," she whispered to Mitch. He nodded silently and got up to do as she had asked. Once they had Dave in a comfortable position, she suggested they refill the water bottles to continue warming him.
Juliette followed Mitch into the kitchen, carrying the barely touched, now-cold tea and chicken broth, wishing they could undo the last thirty minutes. More than anything, she craved the comfort of someone's arms wrapped around her, making her feel safe, even though she knew that there was no real safety to be had in the world they were now living in.
As if he had read her thoughts, or maybe because he needed it, too, as soon as she placed the mugs onto the counter, Mitch grabbed her and pulled her to him. She was instantly cocooned in warmth as she took in the smell of cedar and rain that she had learned to recognize over the last week as his natural scent.
“I’m so sorry," he mumbled. “I shouldn’t have told him about her, not yet. He’s not in any shape to hear something like that. I don’t know what I was thinking," he finished in a whisper.
“We both know that there is no band-aid for any of this, it maybe wasn’t the best time, but he needed to know. At least now he knows that she’s not wandering around out there like he was, slowly freezing to death. As painful as it was to hear, he needed to know. If you hadn’t told him he might have tried to go back out there looking for her," she reassured him, convincing herself in the process.
He held her out at arm's length and she suddenly felt naked under his stare. “You’re the whole package, aren’t you?” he said, brushing his hand down the side of her face. The butterflies she felt earlier returned like a tornado in her belly. She felt panic kick in as he leaned into her. She wasn’t sure she liked these feelings she was having. If she allowed herself to love, she would be opening herself up to heartache. She had learned a hard lesson on Day One. No one is safe, no one. Closing her eyes, she made the last-minute decision to let go and just fall.
She felt the slightest flutter of a kiss touch her lips, causing all thoughts to escape her before she heard a deep throat clearing in the distance.
“Oh," she said with a gulp, silently yelling at her brain for responding with something that sounded so lame.
“We better get in there," Mitch responded, wrapping his big hand around her tiny one and tracing circles around her palm with his thumb.
When they walked into the living room, Dave was sitting back up and looked like he was trying to find something. Juliette separated her hand from Mitch’s and rushed to his side. “Dave, we’re here. You need to just relax, try and let your body rest, alright?” she said, easing him back down onto the sofa.
“I have to go find my Karen," he said, trying to resist her efforts to get him to lie back.
Shit, Juliette thought, glancing up at Mitch and seeing the concern on his face. Dave must be delirious again. Apparently, this was the universe’s sick way of granting her wish. Looked like they would be getting that do-over.
Mitch quickly shook his head “no,” signaling that his thoughts were in the same place as hers. They wouldn’t be breaking the news again tonight. They would just have to keep him calm until he was coherent enough to process the news.
Chapter Nine
Mitch
Mitch sank into his bed with a tired sigh. The last six hours had been brutal. Dave was so disoriented and confused. One moment, he would remember what they had told him and start crying hysterically, and the next he would have no idea and try to get up and head out the door to search for Karen.
When Emily and Drew had come down in the morning and volunteered to stay with Dave so that Mitch and Juliette could get some rest, he had jumped at the offer. He needed to be alone for a few hours and recharge. He had no idea what was going on in his own mind.
After stopping in the infirmary to check on Kate and Micah, he was finally able to rest his head. Hoping for a peaceful, dreamless sleep, he rolled over and closed his eyes, saying a silent prayer for rest. Instead he fell into the murky land of dreams that met him almost every night.
The dream was always the same. It repeated itself time and time again with only minor changes to the story line. He knew it well because he had been living it for the past twelve years. In the dream, he was always the fourth passenger in the car the night his wife was taken from him. He would hear his buddy, Richard shout, “Oh, shit! He’s coming right at us!” moments before the sound of crunching metal assaulted his ears. He would watch, helplessly, as his beautiful wife was crumbled and broken right before his very eyes. Then he would be forced to sit and smell the torturous odors of burning flesh and motor oil as the car erupted into flames. He was always pinned in place, unable to do anything but watch the horrific scene
play out before him.
The therapist he had seen off and on for years called this “normal”. He felt so much guilt for not being there when Isabelle needed him the most that his mind liked to pretend that he had been--let him live through the trauma with her. Personally, he would like to tell his mind to fuck off. The dream was torturous, and even though it had its slight variations, the end result was always the same. No amount of PTSD therapy had been able to put a stop to it. He had just had to learn to live with it years ago.
The dream he found himself in now, however, was nothing like his usual. He was sitting in a field in the middle of nowhere with Isabelle on one side of him and Juliette on the other. A big checkered blanket was spread out beneath them with typical picnic foods spread all around.
Bizarre. It was the giggling that nearly got him. Isabelle’s laughter had always been like music to his ears and now, mixed with Juliette’s, it was about to send him over the top. How did he get himself into situations like this? His mind was seriously warped. The worst part was that he knew that he was dreaming, but still felt himself spinning out of control.
“What’s the matter, babe, you're looking a little ill. Do you feel okay?” Isabelle asked, her face showing concern.
“Yeah, Mitch, what’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” Juliette said with a teasing laugh.
“What are we doing here?” Mitch asked them both.
“That’s an excellent question, Mitch, what are we doing here?” Juliette replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Relax, you two. There is no need for this, I’m gone now anyhow. Time to move on," Isabelle said, her body beginning to slowly fade away, leaving only Mitch and Juliette staring at each other uncomfortably.
Mitch woke to the sound of raised voices in the hallway. When he rolled over and glanced at the clock, he was surprised to see no numbers. What the hell? The power shouldn’t be out. If something happened, Mike would know how to turn on the backup generators, and the clock would at least be flashing.
He got up quickly and pulled on a pair of old jeans and a thermal. Stopping at the closet, he grabbed a flannel and put that on as well. If the power was off, the temperature was going to drop fast.
Opening the door, the voices got louder. He stepped back into the room and grabbed his Glock out of the lockbox on top of his dresser. He didn’t know what in the hell was going on out there, but he knew that he didn’t want to walk into it unarmed.
Once he opened the door again, he was startled to run into Jimmy. He was pretty sure the kid had been standing there waiting for him. “Mitch, I need to talk with you," Jimmy said, ushering him back into the bedroom.
“Okay, Kid, tell me what’s going on," Mitch said, sitting on the edge of his bed.
“Well, when the power went out, Mike went to the barn to start the generator, and he didn’t come back. That was about an hour ago. Travis wants to go out after him, but Emily won’t let him. She was insisting that we wake you up, and they just keep arguing back and forth about it. That’s what all of the yelling is," Jimmy told him with a funny smirk on his face.
Mitch took a moment to process everything that Jimmy had told him, knowing that it was only a small portion of what the kid knew. He looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. “Alright, Jimmy, what’s your take on all of this? Where is Mike, and how come the power didn’t come back on?” he asked, giving the boy exactly what he wanted.
“Mike’s right where he wanted to be. That man, Gus, was outside just waiting for someone to come out so that he could grab them. Mike knew it, too. Gus thinks he has the upper hand, but he couldn’t be more wrong. He doesn’t know your background. He doesn’t know what the two of you are capable of," Jimmy said with a slight shudder.
Mitch just shook his head. Of course, Mike would just walk right into the fight head on without talking to him about it first, typical Mike behavior. He didn’t like to be cooped up inside. He was a beast who only truly felt free when he was on the hunt, and if that meant pretending to be a prisoner then that was what he would do--infiltrate from the inside.
“Alright, let’s go talk to Travis before he gets himself in trouble," Mitch said, heading to the bedroom door.
Now that he was out in the hall, he could hear his daughter's voice above all of the others. “You don’t know anything about it, Travis. I’m telling you, he can take care of himself. If you go out there you might mess up his plan." The urgency in her voice must’ve meant that Travis was preparing to head out the door.
As Mitch raced down the stairs, he could hear Kate’s calm voice trying to defuse the situation. “Okay now, let’s just calm down, arguing isn’t going to solve anything. Emily, why don't you go wake your father and we can see what he thinks is best before anyone does anything," she reasoned, looking back and forth between the two of them.
Mitch walked up behind her, putting his arm around her shoulders. “No need to wake me, all of the shouting already did. Travis, why don’t you give me your take on all of this. I’ve already heard from our little friend here," he said with a nod in Jimmy’s direction.
Travis sighed in relief at the sight of Mitch. “Finally, someone I can reason with," he said under his breath before he launched into his story. “I know those assholes took Mike, and we need to go help him before they get too far. He’s a dead man if we don’t," he finished, heading into the mudroom to get his gear on.
“Hold up a minute, Travis. I’m sorry, but I think Emily is right this time. Mike is exactly where he wants to be, trust me. If he didn’t want to be taken, those men wouldn’t have stood a chance against him. He didn’t earn the name ‘Tank’ for no reason. That man rolls in and takes out anything that’s in his way. Trust me, he’s not the one you should be worrying about," Mitch explained.
“I think our main concern right now should be getting the power back on before everyone starts to freeze," Emily said.
“Sounds reasonable, Emily. Why don’t you head up to the crow’s nest? There’s a ladder attached to the side of the house that leads up to the roof from there. You can reach it from the front window. I put the snow rake for the solar panels in the upstairs hall closet, grab that on your way up there. Drew, go with her. Work together, and no falling off the roof. I mean it, be careful. Kate, if you could sit with Dave that would be wonderful. In the meantime, I’m going to go see what the problem is with the generators. Travis, would you like to take a look with me?” Mitch finished, waiting for him to respond.
Travis let out a groan of resignation. “Alright, but just remember, I think it’s a terrible idea giving them a head start like this. If it was my boy they had, you could bet your ass I’d be hot on their trail," he finished with a huff, sitting on the bench to put his boots on.
“Jimmy, I need you to tell me, are things going to be okay here at the house while we’re out? It might be a bit before we get back in here, depends on how things go. It shouldn’t take Emily and Drew long to finish clearing the panels, though, once they get it done it won’t take long for the power to come back on," he finished, looking at the boy expectantly.
Jimmy just stood staring at him for a long hard minute that Mitch felt was going to stretch into eternity. Suddenly, his eyes glazed over and he looked as though he was going to hit the floor. Mitch and Travis exchanged a look before grabbing the boy and guiding him over to the recliner.
As soon as they had him in the chair, his eyes cleared and he took a big deep breath. When he looked up at the two men, he let out a hearty laugh. “Whoa, sorry guys. Sometimes it just comes on out of nowhere. I think you’re right to do what you’re planning. It didn’t seem that way before, but now I see it more clearly. Mike can take care of himself, but the others are going to need you. Take a pack with you just in case, and don’t worry about Emily. I’ll try my best to calm her down. Don’t forget to bring back the horses. We’ll need those later. Oh, and the snow shoes won’t work as well as the skis would, so you might as well scrap that idea. Don’t worry about us here--pow
er will be back anytime and I think we’re all safe," Jimmy said with conviction and a firm nod.
“You boys better get before that daughter of yours catches wind of what you’re up to, you know she’s not going to like this," Kate said, getting up and walking over to them.
“My dear, dear Mitchel, I love you son. Please stay safe," she said, holding his face in her hands and placing a kiss on each cheek, “And you, young Travis, owe me a game of Yahtzee when you get back here. Don’t even think about skipping out on me," she said, raising her eyebrow in mock seriousness.
“Of course not, Miss Kate," Travis smiled.
“What’s going on?” Anna asked, walking into the room.
“Nothing to concern yourself about. Travis and I have something we need to go take care of," Mitch said, offering her a smile.
“Can I come? I need to get some experience with taking care of things before I go on my trip," Anna said.
“Not this time. We need to be quick and you're not dressed to head out, but we’ll start your training just as soon as we get back. Deal?” Mitch offered.
“Deal, I guess. I’m sure I can work on the strength training by myself," she replied.
“Just don’t do too much all at once. You need to work your way into it. Do you know where the training room is?” he asked her while putting on his boots.
“Yes, Micah gave a very thorough tour yesterday," she said. “Speaking of, how is he today?” she asked.
Kate spoke up. “Stubborn, just like he always is. I think he’s feeling a little better, but I haven’t been able to get him to eat. I think I will go see about making him a smoothie. Those are his favorite. I would hate for him to start losing strength because he has decided to starve himself, the ornery boy," she smiled.
“Do you want me to try to talk to him before I go?” Mitch asked as he pulled on his coat.