Chapter 5 - Dean
Dean
Lily’s grip on my shirt surprised me. The cotton bunched in her fists, pulling against my chest as I clung to her, breathing in her scent, still familiar despite the gap in our relationship.
“We need to go,” I said.
Lily stepped out of my embrace. “Not yet.” She opened the refrigerator door, swiping two large water bottles and some orange juice. “This isn’t theft. We’ll pay the store back when we return.”
“We aren’t returning. You heard that speech. We’re going home. Back to Deer Lake.”
Her stubborn jaw jutted out. “If we don’t keep hope for the future, we may as well give up now. You came to get me because of Ryan, didn’t you? That’s hope. You’ll see him again. Hold on to that.” She shook her head and frowned.
I stepped back into her space and cupped her cheeks. “I’m holding on right now. Your brother has nothing to do with it.”
Lily peered up at me, listening. She’d slap me or hit me if I kissed her.
I should do it anyway.
We winced as an emergency broadcast signal came from the television. New voices yelled, with an undercurrent of panic, ordering a statewide evacuation. All major freeways would be one-way, with traffic moving north.
Any chance of a kiss, if it ever existed, ended. We needed to move.
I let her go. “It’s time to leave.”
She passed me and moved outside.
I followed, expecting her to return to our stolen car. Instead, Lily handed over a water bottle and stared at the night sky.
“Look at it. How can a wonder like this bring so much devastation? It’s enough to take your breath away. It’s almost enough to convince me our president is wrong.”
Rainbows mixed with a dark thunderstorm, so colors blazed across the sky. Like flashbulbs, lights blinked and disappeared into a dull Milky Way.
The woman beside me took my breath away.
“Stunning.” I wasn’t sure she understood most of what I’d told her, but it didn’t matter.
Lily was back in my life, and I wouldn’t squander that.
“Beautiful.” A dazzling light display from thousands of miles away came to kill us all. I offered it a silent thank you.
“Let’s remember this. There will be much less beauty in this world soon.” Lily hugged herself, revealing the lie in her confident tone. “There will be frightened people everywhere soon. On the highways and roads, all trying to escape, just like us.”
“Correct. All the more reason we should go.” A tear glistened in the station’s bright lights and fell down her cheek. I caught it with my thumb. My hand shook.
Lily looked over my shoulder at the gas station’s empty store. “Those people inside. That young mother and the scared wife. Imagine thousands of those stories, repeated over and over. Millions of them. We’re one of them. One of millions.”
“It was a kind thing you did by giving that young mother courage.”
“She’ll need it, considering what’s about to happen.”
“That’s why we’re leaving.”
“If a couple of minutes makes that much of a difference, then we’re already doomed.” Lily crossed her arms. “You said my brother contacted you earlier tonight. Where were you when he did? Not far.”
“Two hours north of you. For the light show. Why?”
She didn’t explain. “You risked your life by doing that.”
“I’m not following you.”
“There’s danger ahead of us.” She paused. “We can go now.”
I picked her up, cradling her against my chest. It was the third time I had picked her up tonight. I breathed her in. Memories stirred of her skin against mine, and all the promises I broke.
Lily didn’t protest, resting her head against my chest. “Will you be carrying me all the way back to Deer Lake?”
I set her in the passenger seat, and our eyes met. “I’ve missed you so much.”
She stiffened and drew back. “When you make choices, we all live with the consequences. Your future regrets don’t matter. For now, we go.”
Future regret over what? She was back in my control again, back where I wanted her. “Like I said, there’s only us.”
She frowned. “Until we get to Deer Lake.”
“And until then, you’re stuck with me,” I said and slammed her door shut.
My second chance, provided the comet delivered its promised apocalypse. She needed me to get home, and she knew it. Despite her brave face, I could take Lily anywhere, and she’d be helpless to stop me. We could find an empty cabin or a hidden attic somewhere, and she’d be mine forever.
Did Lily believe I’d let her go so easily? Maybe she did, considering how I left her the last time.
“We don’t have a phone,” she said as I slid into the driver’s seat. “You made me leave it behind, and now I have no way to call anyone.”
I pulled my phone from the side pocket. “Use mine.”
“You had this?” she spat. “I could have warned Violet.”
“Who?”
“My roommate, you ass.”
I’d forgotten about her. “Take the phone. You can use it now that we agree. Call whoever you want. Anyone but that Stephen guy.”
Lily yanked it from my grasp as I drove away, turning north towards the interstate. As we drove, homes and buildings lit up as the news spread. Cars would soon overwhelm local infrastructure.
I pressed down on the throttle.
“She’s not answering.” Lily typed on the phone. “I’m telling her to come to Deer Lake if she can.”
“You memorized phone numbers?”
“Ryan made me in case I was ever in trouble. Someone is always there to protect me. Well, most of the time.”
Interesting response. “I already tried Ryan with no luck,” I said.
“Is there anyone you want to call?”
I spent the summer after my mother died up in the mountains with my grandfather. For two glorious months, he taught me to hunt and fish while raving about humanity’s end. He took me home in the end, back to my crappy father, while I held back tears. “There’s no one.”
“Not even a friend?” Lily waited for an answer before sticking the phone to her ear.
“Like I said.”
She harrumphed. “My dad isn’t home. He’ll already be out helping people, making sure everyone is safe. He’s close to the sheriff, so I’ll bet they’re busy.”
“The sheriff is a dick and an asshole.”
Lily choked. “That’s rude.”
“Still true. He arrested me once.”
“What did you do?”
I had the gall to exist as the local charity case with a dead mother and a piece of crap father who lived for his two joys in life: drinking and beating me. Not always in that order. “I robbed the local bank.”
Her sour smile bordered on a snarl.
I kept going, goading her. “I kidnapped you, stole this car, and stole the gas. Is it so difficult to believe?”
“You’re a horrible person, but a bank robber?” She shook her head. “No, I don’t believe that.”
“Well, that’s progress.” She didn’t respond. I searched for another topic, one that offered a truce. “How far do you think we’ll get before it hits?”
“Not far enough,” she said.
“I know that.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Lily leaned toward me. “First, nothing but a light show and some scientific experiments. Then my brother calls and tells you late in the afternoon. Then late morning. Do you think that’s true? I don’t. Two thens feel suspicious.”
My stomach dropped. “What do you mean?”
“The president’s speech? I think she lied, believing it provided comfort. I told the poor lady that an ambulance would help her husband. What else could I do? Early morning is my guess.”
“Dawn or soon after.” I recognized the truth even before I spoke. “We’re north of Tampa. Don’t be scared.”
Lily stared at the nearby cars outside her window. Her left hand rested on her knee, palm open toward the car’s ceiling. My hand begged to grasp it, to provide mutual solace. It stayed attached to the steering wheel.
We passed a grocery store. Cars poured into its parking lots, all filled with people hoping for food and other items.
“How much did you follow the comet? There are videos online showing what happens when pieces hit the water,” I said.
“Don’t cause any accidents. It’s not right that other people get hurt to save us. I don’t want to die, but I won’t allow others to die in my place either.”
“Other people aren’t my concern. Just you.”
“You’ve said that a few times now, and I can’t decide whether it’s a promise or a threat.”
“Both,” I said.
Her neck snapped as she turned to stare at me. “You aren’t funny.”
“No one is laughing.”
“How was your Christmas? Anything special happen?” she asked.
The sudden question confused me. “That was nine months ago.”
“I spent mine with my family. We have a special tradition where Dad puts on a Santa suit. Ryan did it this year instead.” She cocked her head, waiting for my answer. “Did you see him over the holidays?”
“No special traditions for me.” Aside from a few stray celebrations with her family, there was no one to celebrate with.
I spent my last Christmas Day watching old westerns and eating frozen pizza.
She’d pity me if she heard that, or remind me of all the times her family invited me over.
“I went to a few holiday parties. Those were fun.”
“I’ll bet they were.” Lily pressed her face against the passenger window, ending our conversation.
Silence reigned as I pulled onto the interstate. Heavy traffic covered every lane of I-75, and all of it flowed north, despite the late hour. It stopped near Ocala.
“You know I was two hours north of you when Ryan called me.”
Lily sat with her knees bent to her chest, arms circling them as if the position protected her from what was to come. “Yes, you already told me that. What’s your point?”
Fair question. “That entire drive, I thought about you. What I would say or whether I should ask for your forgiveness. In the end, I decided your safety mattered most. I can live with any outcome, so long as you’re safe.
Maybe you’ll believe me one day. For now, sit upright and make sure your seatbelt is fastened. Like airplane instructions.”
I swerved onto the right shoulder and sped up. Cars honked, and a couple of vehicles followed. “There’s an off-ramp up there. We need to get off this interstate if we want any more progress tonight. Hold on.”
“Dean!”
I pressed the throttle and flew down the off-ramp’s sharp curve. The car’s back half spun out, threatening to launch us into oncoming traffic. I moved the wheel, following the spin, and the car steadied.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Moving north, past Ocala. I didn’t pay attention to the exit signs.” We drove past a green sign. “27 north. How familiar are you with the roads here?”
“Not very. Hold on.” She opened my phone. “We still have internet. It says we’re two hours from the Georgia border. That can’t be right.”
It’d take longer than that. Even on the smaller road, heavy traffic slowed our pace. “We keep going.”
An hour passed, and then two. We crept on, a single vehicle in the long ant line of cars, nameless and faceless, no different from any of the others.
I turned off the A/C. “Open the windows. We need to preserve fuel.”
At each station we passed, they’d either put up handwritten signs to let us know they were out or had shut down.
The stink of exhaust crept into our vehicle.
She leaned out of the window and breathed deep. “My head hurts.”
“There’s aspirin in your emergency kit.”
“No, save it.” Lily choked. “Just in case.” She leaned against the window. “It’s not nighttime anymore.”
The sky’s violet-black faded as the first wisps of daylight threatened, taking the comet’s light show with it.
Lily stuck her hand out the window and said, “There’s no wind.” She picked up my phone. “It’s not working. Nothing comes up.” She set the phone on the console between us. “There are no bars. No signal. What does that mean?” She rocked in place. “How long do we have?”
“Satellite interference from the comet? I’m not sure.”
“That sounds made up.” Lily gripped her thigh. “Can it be turned off? Dean, can the internet be turned off?”
“I don’t know. Probably.” The prickle of unease touched the back of my neck, scraping and clawing its warning. “It’s starting soon.”
We crept forward, one car length at a time. Not enough, and not as much as I hoped.
Pine trees lined the road beside us and in front of us. Cars rumbled along, preventing the faster progress I craved.
I grabbed her hand, desperate to offer whatever support I could. Lily squeezed me back. Her chest moved with her shallow breaths.
“We need to get out of this traffic right now.” The itch on my neck worsened, a flaming fire leaping down my back and chest. “Hold on.”