17. 17
Apparently, the chaos at the CIA headquarters and the situation in Richmond was enough to get the President off our backs.
His resources were limited, and he didn’t have time for us.
We were ordered to stay indoors and limit our contact with the outside world.
It seemed too easy, but Elias warned me that I was not to be fooled, our lives would be hard enough, eventually.
It was evident that Elias was trusted enough to not go around telling the world about what we’d seen.
He knew the consequences, and was expected to inform me of them as well.
I’d be happy with a night off, as long as the virus hadn’t gotten to Elias’s neighborhood. It seemed fairly contained to only the areas that we needed to be, unfortunately, and I wasn’t convinced that Taylor, or whoever he was working with, hadn’t planted another Dr. Fassi in Elias’s kitchen.
Elias pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store not far from his house. Not many people were milling about, likely either frightened by what they were seeing on the news, or everyone had come out the day before when the news broke. The lights were on, so it seemed to be open.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
He put the car in park and leaned back. “Don’t you want scrunchies or lip gloss or whatever girls need?”
I stared at him, mouth agape. “You brought me to the store during the apocalypse for lip gloss? That’s insulting.”
“It’s not the apocalypse,” he corrected. “Just a little setback. And I was only teasing. Do I seem that ignorant?”
“No, not really. You just said it so seriously.”
“I apologize for my tone, I have a giant hole in my shoulder,” he said, waving his good arm around his wound. “My house only has my stuff. Don’t you want some clothes? A hairbrush? Some, uh, feminine hygiene products?”
“How long do you expect me to shack up with you?” This wasn’t something we had discussed, obviously. We’d known each other for months, and I’d consider us friends at the least, but we’d only had sex one time. I wasn’t exactly looking to move in with the guy.
“Cassie, we are going to be quarantined for a while, together or separate. Whether that’s inside my house or some secure site somewhere, I don’t know, but you’re going to want things of your own.
” He strained, reaching his hand into his pocket, and pulled out his wallet.
He held out a shiny black piece of plastic for me to take. “Get whatever you need, plus some.”
I knew enough about the infamous black card to know that he needed to basically be a millionaire to have one. Not that I didn’t think Elias deserved my tax dollars, but how many of them exactly was he taking? “Jesus, how much money do you make?”
“Not enough for the shit I did today,” he said. “Besides, we haven’t even been on a date yet and you’re asking me how much money I make? That is quite uncouth. I expected better from you.”
I snatched the card from his hands. “I’ll show you uncouth,” I grumbled.
I moved to open the door, but Elias’s hand stopped me. “Put the gun in your waistband. Just in case.”
I nodded, taking off the holster and securing the gun in my clothing, and stepped out of the car. I was beyond dirty, and was afraid of the weird looks I might receive, but there weren’t many people around. I grabbed a cart near the entrance and stepped inside.
Essentials like toilet paper and bottled water were mostly cleaned out, but the clothes were left alone.
I grabbed everything that was in my size, but not necessarily my style.
Sweats, jeans, a few more tactical pieces like hiking ensembles, all of it went into the shopping cart.
I stopped by the shoe aisle and grabbed a pair of tennis shoes and a mega pack of socks before I raided the underwear aisle.
I threw a few packs of those into the cart, as well as a few sports bras.
I debated wandering around and finding some laundry detergent to compensate for the added laundry we’d have to wash, but I didn’t want to spend more time here than necessary. I did, however, find a box of wine that could live in Elias’s fridge.
Other essentials: hair ties, tampons, deodorant, found their way into the cart.
Elias had extras of everything, and I’d already used a spare toothbrush, but I grabbed another anyway.
I’d nearly filled it up before I’d reached the checkout.
The woman working the counter was pleasant, but she gave me a few once overs while she bagged up my purchase, and I just hoped she didn’t see the hand cannon in my waistband.
The total was nearly $500, and I panicked at the amount, but Elias did say to get whatever I needed and more. I tapped the card on the pad, hoping it didn’t ask for a pin as Elias didn’t give me one. If I needed to guess, it would probably be 6969 or something equally unserious.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to guess. The limitless card approved the purchase.
Loading the bags back into the cart, I wheeled it out to the car to find Elias asleep in the driver’s seat.
It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes that I was inside, but he was understandably tired.
I was sure that he learned how to sleep anywhere for any length of time in his line of work.
Though, it seemed out of character for him to not be scanning his surroundings.
I pressed the button on the back door to open it, and Elias’s eyes flicked up to the rear view to see who was getting into his car. He definitely was still on high alert.
“In any other circumstance I wouldn’t make you load that all yourself,” he said, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror.
“You may not know this, but I actually go to the grocery store by myself all the time,” I said sarcastically. “Sometimes I even have to carry a gallon of milk.”
“I only buy half gallons. So much lighter.” I could see the lines around his eyes, and I knew he was smiling.
Tucking the empty cart into the cart return, I hopped back into the car, handing Elias his card back, receipt included. He peeked at the total.
“Not bad. I expected worse,” he said, shoving them both into his wallet.
“$500 isn’t bad?” I asked.
He shrugged, with some effort, and put the car in drive. “To answer your earlier, very rude, question, I make enough money that spending $500 doesn’t bother me. At the same time, though, if I still have a job, I’m definitely submitting the receipt and getting reimbursed for it.”
“Whatever you say. . .” I trailed off. It was bizarre to be in the car with Elias at the grocery store. We’d just run away from the government a few times, shot countless people in the head, and created a vaccine for a virus that only a few people were aware existed in the first place.
Being here, no rushing around, no screaming, it felt far too domestic in the context of the last forty-eight hours.
“Why’d you stop here?” I asked, fastening my seatbelt. I turned to face Elias as he drove.
“You needed things,” he answered, his inflection nearing a question at the end.
“We’re almost fugitives and we just killed a bunch of monsters.
I mean, I could go on. This all feels so wrong.
Not to mention, you clearly need medical attention.
There’s blood all over your expensive interior.
” I wasn’t yelling by any means, but the volume of my voice had definitely increased.
I was feeling a little crazy, seeing how calm his demeanor was.
“Cassie,” he started. “My beautiful, sexy, genius. I have a headache.” He risked a glance from the road to me, and he smiled politely.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
“You needed clothes, and we are not going to have another opportunity. I had to take it. Also, when I clock out, I leave my work at the door. As soon as we got into the car, I decided I was done working. I’m simply running errands on my way home.”
I scoffed. “I cannot compartmentalize that well. Are you insane? Am I in the car with a crazy person?”
“You get used to weird shit.” He flicked on the radio. “I really wish this car had a CD player. The radio sucks.”
Nothing seemed different when we pulled into the gated community.
The guard greeted Elias like it was any other day, and we were let through without a problem.
I hadn’t thought of it until now, but I wondered what sort of mess was left behind when they came to neutralize us.
Would his front door even shut, or would it be blown off the hinges?
As it turned out, they hadn’t touched a thing. Elias kicked off his shoes at the front door and did a quick lap of the ground floor, as quick as he could with his bum foot, returning in no time at all.
“I don’t think anyone was here,” he said.
“So whoever told you to run was lying?” I asked, unsure how that made sense. If we were being hunted down, the easiest place to kill us would have been here.
“Maybe they wanted to get us at the office, less fanfare. I’m not sure.” He began taking his clothes off, tossing them in the washing machine. He winced as he took off his shirt. The blood had dried and he had to unstick the cotton from his wound. “Take that shit off,” he said.
“I have no underwear on whatsoever,” I argued, feeling vulnerable. It came out of nowhere.
“This is my routine. The nasty stuff doesn’t pass this threshold. I know I made an exception the other night, but at the time I didn’t think it was appropriate to make you strip.”
My head shook, the smallest amount. I couldn’t explain why it felt so weird, but it did. I didn’t want to be naked.
“I mean this in the most professional way possible, but I really want your help getting in the shower. If you’ve noticed, I can barely walk,” his voice was firm, his patience with me lessening by the second. I must have had a weird look on my face because his voice softened. “Are you okay?”
“Shouldn’t you stitch yourself up first?” I asked, my voice quiet.
“I’d rather get clean,” he replied. “Cassie, are you good? Am I losing you over there?”
“I don’t know,” I said, and I was truthful.