Aftermath
As Travis paced up and down Madison's driveway, Lourdes sat down on the doorstep, hands shaking, teeth chattering with delayed shock. Travis had driven them home, double-checking to make sure the coast was clear, with no neighbours loitering on their front lawns, or strangers on the sidewalk, before all but dragging Lourdes into the house, not wanting anybody to see their bloodstained clothes and start asking awkward questions. He'd let Lourdes use the bathroom first, Lourdes almost scalding herself by turning the water up too high, desperate to purge herself of death. Its traces clung to her hair and clothes, trailing at her heels like some forsaken phantom.
Travis had burned their clothes out back, even their underwear, flinging their shoes into a garbage bag, before dumping it in the trashcans out front. Lourdes shot a nervous glance at him, studying his deliberately blank face, his shirt and chinos almost conspicuously crumpled and creased. It made him look like he was trying too hard to hide something in plain sight, the tell-tale tic of his jaw giving the game away.
It was burning on the tip of her tongue to tell him that their damp hair and change of clothes was going to make Madison ask a lot of questions, but she kept quiet, not sure what storm her words would unleash. Instead, she smoothed down her denim mini-skirt, before plucking at the sleeves of her checked shirt, her fidgeting finally making Travis's falsely calm facade crack.
"What the hell were you doing in that church, Lo!" he exploded, beyond caring who heard or saw him.
Lourdes hesitated, her throat suddenly dry, the walls of her world tumbling down around her. "I had to see for myself," she whispered, the tears springing to her eyes again.
"See what?"
Lourdes shook her head, biting her lip, unable to trust herself to speak anymore.
"Is this anything to do with why you were carrying a knife?" Travis said, struggling to speak gently.
Lourdes nodded, still unable to speak.
"Where did you get the knife?"
Lourdes glanced at the house, her very look a lie, making Travis exhale sharply.
"So it was before Nick said anything to you?" he said, completely destabilizing her only defence.
Lourdes dropped her gaze to the ground, all her attention now deliberately focused on her battered blue Converse.
"Is Tobias behind all this?" Travis snapped, falling back on the only thing he could think of.
"No!" Lourdes flared up, finally forced to speak again.
"Then why!?" Travis exploded. "Why are you jeopardizing your entire future" -
- "Why the hell were you at the church!?" Lourdes spat, startling Travis, turning his own question back on him. "Why were you there, huh!?"
"I owed it to Nick" -
- "No, you owe it to Madison" -
- "Madison!?"
"Nick is Madison's son," Lourdes said, almost spelling it out, like he was an imbecile, "and since you're in love with Madison - as you keep ramming down our throats every day - you're going to pander to her progeny" -
- "Lourdes" -
- "Unless you're in love with Nick, and then we're dealing with a whole other ballgame," Lourdes ranted, "if so, I think I can hear Jerry Springer calling" -
- "You're insane, you know that?" Travis said in disbelief, shaking his head at his daughter. "Beyond bonkers."
"So would you be if you were living my life right now," Lourdes hissed, rounding on him, "knowing what I know."
"What do you know?" Travis said tiredly. "What did you have to see for yourself?"
"The flu outbreak," Lourdes choked out, "it's - it's not what you think it is, Dad. Something - something bad is happening, and the government is covering it up."
Travis looked at Lourdes as if she was mad. "Covering what up?" he said, brow furrowing.
"I think the - the dead are walking," Lourdes whispered, her hands curling into fists, the crescents of her nails biting into her flesh.
"The what?"
"The dead are walking!"
Travis stared at her, shocked, not so much at what she was saying, but at the state she was now in. "Sweetheart, zombies aren't real," he said slowly, "so I'm pretty sure the government isn't hiding them in a cupboard somewhere. I think they're got better things to worry about than the undead" -
- "But on the Internet" -
- "The Internet is a hotbed of conspiracy theories and fools with too much to say," Travis said irritably, reverting back to teacher mode, "I thought you had more sense than that" -
- "Nick" -
- "Nick took a bad trip, he was hallucinating" -
- "What about the church though" -
- "Something... something bad happened there," Travis said swallowing hard, "but that has nothing to do with us."
"But Nick was there."
"Why does everything have to be about Nick!?" Travis exploded again, startling Lourdes this time. "I'm sorry," he said, running his hand down his face, "I'm... just sorry, okay? But what you're saying is complete bullshit, Lourdes. The dead aren't walking."
Without another word, he went over to the truck, flinging open the cab door. Biting her lip, Lourdes hesitated, before following him. The journey to the hospital was conducted in tense silence, Travis gripping the steering wheel too tightly, turning his knuckles white. As soon as they arrived, Travis parking with a pained expression, Lourdes hurled herself out of the truck, desperate to put distance between them.
Time ticked slowly past, Travis crossing the road for coffee, not offering to get Lourdes any. He then paced the front of the hospital entrance, face like thunder, Lourdes perched atop a nearby bollard, feigning absorption in her phone, but her hands were still shaking from what she had seen at the church, making her nearly drop her mobile.
"Hey babe, these shoes don't go," Madison called over, making Travis whirl around, his face lighting up almost against his will
"Who said I was a style god?" Travis said, pulling her in for a kiss, making Lourdes roll her eyes despite everything.
"What's with the outfit changes?" Madison asked, drawing away from him, her gaze taking him in from top to toe. "And why are you not at school?" she asked, turning to Lourdes, before reaching out and smoothing back a lock of her damp dark hair. "Did you just take another shower?" she asked accusingly, brow furrowing, her suspicion forcing Lourdes to get a grip of herself.
"Food fight," Lourdes said smartly, startling Travis. "I had to go home and change, but Dad got caught up in my chaos, hence the makeover."
"Yeah, I got your message," Madison said, glancing at Travis, taking his hand as she did, "you sounded a little strung out. But as for you, missie, haven't you gotten into enough trouble for one day?" she fired at Lourdes, bringing out the maternal guns.
"Don't start giving me hell," Lourdes snapped, "I've had enough of that from him." She glared at Travis, making him roll his eyes this time.
"Good," Madison snapped back, "you've had daddy dearest wrapped around your finger for too long. If he'd bawled you out before, you wouldn't be acting like you were auditioning for PBS13."
"Where's Alicia?" Travis asked, anxious to change the subject, still shaking inside after what he'd seen.
"Oh, she's still with Nick," Madison said tiredly. "Maybe she can get through to him, make him see the damage he's doing not to just himself, but her" -
- "We're late," Alicia said, appearing out of nowhere, her sullen face making Travis and Madison exchange pointed glances, "again."
"Thank you for that astute observation, Alicia," Lourdes said sarcastically, setting off for the truck, figuring she would drive herself to school.
"Car, kid," Travis said, steering her by the shoulder towards Madison's vehicle, "I'm not letting you out of my sight again until you're thirty."
Lourdes just submitted, her jaw tightening, knowing she could blow the whole joint up by telling the truth. But she couldn't do that to her father, so she kept silent, unwillingly obeying him. He might deny the existence of the undead, but he couldn't deny the truth of what had happened in the church. But if he could escape it, if he could shield Madison from it, he would lie and fabricate until his tongue turned black. If the cops turned up on the doorstep, wanting to know about Nick's part in events, that was a risk he was willing to run, but otherwise, it never happened, and he knew nothing about it.
"Are you not going to stay with Nick?" Madison asked, brow furrowing.
Travis studied Madison for a moment, not wanting to go back in there, to be with what had brought him here. "I was actually going to head back to the school," he said, wringing his hands, "and that we could drop by Nick later – I could pick up the truck then."
"You can't just leave the truck lying here," Madison said incredulously, "and it's not good for Nick to be alone – you said you would stay with him" -
- "And I am," Travis said, spreading his hands wide in almost surrender, "it was just an idea, that's all."
"God, you and your goddamn ideas," Madison breathed, before suddenly grabbing Travis by the lapels and crushing his mouth with hers. As Lourdes and Alicia stood there, trying not to throw up, she finally deigned to let go of the now dazed Travis. "Catch you later, cutie," she said seductively, blowing him a kiss before sliding into the front seat of her car.
"Sick bucket. Now," Alicia said, gagging.
"Better make that two," Lourdes said darkly, before clambering into the car, forcing herself to think that one more year and she would be gone, before realising that everything might be gone, the world reduced to ruins.
And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above…