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Chapter 4: Treading Warily
Emily walked slowly towards the town she'd left three years ago when the gateways had appeared.
It was late afternoon.
She half wondered to herself if she had returned right after she left through the gateway, a few days after the fact, or if she was still here.
As she entered the town, some of her estranged neighbors gaped at her. Others smiled in greeting.
Her pace slowed even more when she heard someone shout out, "Fetch Henry Merchant!"
She felt as if she were a stranger, walking through a crowd that continuously judges.
I thought, perhaps I'd tell you that I'd stay. Let this close and—that would be the end of it.
Emily came to a complete stand still when she heard the estranged calling of her husband.
"Emily."
Abby woke up the next morning alone.
She moved her hand behind her on the bed, groggily searching for Connor.
All she felt were cold sheets were Connor usually was.
"Guess he stayed at the ARC." Abby mumbled into the pillow before forcing herself out of bed to get a shower and get ready to head to the ARC.
After getting ready, Abby knocked on Jess's bedroom door.
No answer.
Abby shrugged. "Maybe she's downstairs."
She wandered downstairs, noting the time. She had roughly an hour before she was to be at the ARC.
"Jess?" Abby called. "Are you here?"
"I guess the pair of them stayed behind at the ARC last night." Abby spoke aloud to herself as she started the coffee maker for fresh coffee.
As she waited, she ran through the conversation she'd had with Matt yesterday on the way back here.
"So, you want me to spy on Connor and keep secrets from him?" Abby asked angrily.
"Abby, I know that it isn't the ideal way to find a culprit, but I'm nearly positive that it's Connor or Burton that are behind what will happen to the anomalies." Matt explained calmly.
"Nearly positive? How do you even know that something is definitely going to happen with the anomalies, Matt?"
"I've said too much already." Matt responded. "Look, you helped me out when I tried to help get Emily back home and—"
"And look what happened." Abby cut him off. "Patrick kidnapped Emily and he shot Becker, twice."
"But you didn't tell Connor about it." Matt pointed out.
"Not immediately, no." Abby shook her head. "The cat got out of the bag about it in the end."
"Well, this is one cat that needs to stay tightly cooped up" Matt cautioned.
"I get about not letting Burton know about it, but—"
"No one else is allowed to know." Matt cut her off. "Just us. Not Jess, not Becker, not James, and definitely not Connor."
"If Connor's life is at stake, then I don't want to help you." Abby glared.
She went to open the door. "Thanks for the ride; but I think I'll walk the rest of the way home."
"Abby." Matt stopped her. "Everything will die if we don't figure out how it happens and stop it. Every human. Every creature. Everything is either dead or dying."
"Who are you?" Abby asked, trying to disguise the terror in her voice.
"I'll explain everything later. Just, let me finish my promise to give you a lift home."
Abby reluctantly climbed back into the truck and remained quiet for the rest of the drive to the flat she and Connor still shared with Jess.
Jess lifted her head and stretched before glancing around. She was still in the Medical Bay with Becker.
She glanced at the bed. Becker was still unconscious.
There was a small piece of hair that was out of place, which Jess smoothed back into place.
"You know, Becker, it would be really great if you could just wake up now. I think the staff in the Medical Bay are tired of me already and I've only been here a few hours." Jess laughed to herself.
"Okay, that joke was rubbish even for me." She muttered to herself embarrassed.
Jess quickly looked around to make sure there was absolutely no one else in the room.
"Can I—can I share a secret with you?"
Becker lay still. The only noise being the machines he was hooked up to.
"I suppose it wouldn't be so much sharing a secret as it would sharing it with myself because you probably can't hear me anyway." Jess half-smiled, looking down at her feet.
"I—I really—think that I—might possibly—like—your eyes." Jess blurted. "So it'd be great if you woke up soon so—everyone could enjoy—your—lovely—eyes."
'What?" She mouthed incredulously.
'Dear God,' she thought to herself. 'That was worse than the 'stay warm' moment and he was conscious for that.'
She took a deep breath.
"Well, I guess since—since your unconscious, it wouldn't make much of a difference if I said—" she let out a deep breath.
'Breathe, girl.'
"If I said that I—liked you. Well, everyone likes you;—but the way that I like is different." She toyed with her hands nervously, twisting them in her lap.
"I suppose, that what I'm trying to say—is that I like you in a way that no one else really can."
"I don't suppose practicing in front of a mirror would've made you feel more confident about it?" A raspy voice spoke jokingly.
Jess shrieked and fell out of her chair, before jumping back to her feet, pretending the whole thing didn't happen.
Jess's face was burning up as she flushed to the darkest shade of red.
Becker lay in the bed, a smile on his face, but his eyes still closed.
"Oh my God." Jess squeaked. "Please tell me that you didn't hear all of that."
"Hear what?" Becker smirked again, before frowning.
"Are you alright? I mean, of course you're not completely all right, you were shot twice by the EMDs and ohmyGod! I totally forgot about Abby!" Jess rambled frantically before taking off, embarrassed.
Burton walked down the hallway of the ARC toward the office he bequeathed to Connor for Prospero research.
He was starting to wonder how long it would be until Connor cracked or if he and Connor could keep everything under-wraps for awhile without anyone else finding out.
As he entered the office, he noticed a pair of legs poking out from under one of the tables.
"Connor?" He inquired.
No answer.
Burton walked further into the room and set his briefcase onto the desk and knelt down by the pair of feet.
Connor was fast asleep underneath the table.
He cleared his throat and Connor sat straight up, barely missing the tabletop, which he would've whacked his head off of.
"I hope that you understand that sleeping on the job isn't exactly helping further the research." Burton spoke in his strong, business-like voice.
"Oh—um, yeah. Totally, definitely not asleep. I was—just resting my eyes for a bit while looking for my pencil." Connor rambled.
Burton merely nodded.
"How far are you on the research toward a possible solution?" Burton asked after a few moments of silence.
"I—um—I sort of made a huge mess when I first realize what was going to happen with the anomalies, so I've been trying to organize everything before I continue.
Burton lowered his voice and spoke with an authoritative and grave voice.
"Connor, this research is to take principle status over everything else at the ARC. I need you to make sure that your entire focus is on the anomaly research."
"But what—what about the anomalies?"
"Connor, if we don't solve this problem, there won't be much left to look forward to when the anomalies start destroying everything. Keep your mind on Prospero."
"Yep." Connor nodded.
"Good." Burton smiled and patted Connor on the back before turning and heading for the door.
"Phillip!" Connor called after him, leaping to his feet and jogging over to him.
"Yes?"
"When, um, when are we going to tell the others?"
Burton put a hand on Connor's shoulder.
"Leave that to me." He smiled.
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