Chapter Fourteen: Family Reunion
When morning came, Gen awoke to find herself alone in the room. For an instant, panic twisted her gut at Eve's absence, then the chatter from the next room slipped into her groggy head; Bernie's voice and the girl's giggles.
Gen stood from the hospital bed and stretched a bit, grimacing at the slow ache in her legs and the frigid, damp feel of her clothes. She needed to find some new ones before she caught a cold or worse, if she hadn't already. She had been too tired last night to bother with it.
Gen stepped out into the quiet hall, and began her search. Rounding a corner, she found an employee locker room. Most of the lockers had been broken into, likely by Travis' friend or the people the man had been staying here with before they'd been killed. Some lockers were bare, save for a few toiletries, and others had nurse's scrubs hanging from the clothing rods. Gen grabbed the scrubs that looked her size. The uniform was pastel pink with a kimono style, floral-patterned top and plain bottoms. Gen toed off her shoes and socks, peeled off her damp clothes, then pulled the dry ones on. She grabbed a pair of white nurse's shoes from the locker and sat down on the bench to put them on. They were ugly as sin, but they hugged and cushioned her bare feet. Never in her life had she'd worn more comfortable shoes; not even the soft-soled ones she'd worn with her cop uniform could compare.
Gen headed out of the locker room and back the way she came. She stopped at the threshold to the room where the chatter she'd heard earlier had come from, but there was only one occupant now.
She knocked on the door frame so as not to startle the man with her sudden presence. He was always on edge, though no one could really blame him for that. The situation called for it, but considering his past, Gen was almost certain being on edge was a rooted part of his personality, as much as his mistrust for just about anything that breathed.
Seated on the window sill, Niko glanced toward the sound and looked her over for a moment. He decided pink was a good color on her, complimented the tan of her skin. A corner of his mouth twitched. "You get tired of being a cop?"
Gen grinned. "Yeah, I thought I'd try out being a nurse for a while. Where is everyone?"
"They have gone to the cafeteria down the hall, in search of food," he answered.
"Okay." She turned from the threshold.
"Hold on," he called to her. "There is something I wanted to talk to you about."
Gen stepped into the room, folding her arms at her chest as she waited for him to go on.
She is already getting defensive, he noted. But perhaps that was half his fault, considering how he'd been treating her lately. "About what happened yesterday-"
"You've already explained how stupid you thought my actions were. Which is fine; you're entitled to your own opinion, but I-"
"It's not that," Niko cut her off. "Connor had you, then he didn't. I want to know what happened; I wasn't back there with all of you."
Gen regarded him for a moment, then shrugged and explained what took place, leaving out no detail.
"So, he didn't let you go?" he asked, afterward.
"Is that what you're concerned about?"
"I just want to understand."
"He didn't let go by choice. I made him. That freak had me around the chest; he was using me to get into the chopper, I was certain of it, and he was so close. So I did what I had to do; I did what I thought was right." And though she did sound defensive, there was something else in her voice, too.
"Then why do you sound guilty?" he asked.
"Because you guys came back for me. You risked your lives, and to be honest, I'm not really sure you should have."
"We knew the risk and it was our choice to take it. You're a friend to Bernie and like a mother to Eve. And you're my friend, too, Gen. I don't know how it could've happened so quickly, but what you did made me realize it."
Gen didn't know what to say. She was touched, and more than a little surprised.
"I guess you didn't expect that," Niko observed.
She laughed. "No, not so soon. But neither did you, apparently."
"Sometimes things have a strange way of sneaking up on you."
"They do. But...are you sure that's what it is, that it's friendship and not something else?"
His brow bent. "What are you getting at?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure you aren't mistaking it for something else? Like...maybe you came back not because you realized I was your friend, but because you didn't want another death on your conscience?" She made a slight cringe, anticipating him to take that for an insult. Oddly enough though, he didn't look offended.
"I'm sure. I was concerned for more than just my conscience."
She smiled. It was that same delightful smile she'd given him in the chopper, the one that made his gut feel weird. "I grew on you."
"Just a little." He could've laughed at himself. Sure, only a little. It wasn't like he'd risked everything to bring her back. She'd grown on him a lot in a short time. There were things about her he had found himself getting drawn to, despite their differences. Those few but important things they shared in common; loss, suffering, being betrayed by people they had grown close to. Her stubborn, protective nature; annoying though it sometimes was, it was hard to pretend like he didn't understand it and harder not to admire it. And there were others things, but he couldn't think like this. He needed to focus on the bad things, not the good things. The bad things were safer.
Niko gave her a grave look. "Regardless, don't do anything like that again. Not for me."
Gen shook her head, still smiling. "We're all mixed up. I don't think I'm worth the risk, you don't think you're worth the risk, but we both think the other is worth the risk."
"Not for me, Gen," he repeated and with force this time. "I fucking mean it."
Gen noted the slight tone of anger in his voice, but she kept her patience. She didn't want to ruin the nice little moment they were having, considering they were few and far between as it was. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go to the cafeteria. I don't know about you, but I'm really-"
"No. You are a woman of your word. We go nowhere until I have it." Keeping her word had always been an important thing to her. Niko was certain that if she gave it, she wouldn't be able to break it.
"I can't give you my word."
"You've given it before."
"This is different."
"Gen, I don't need your protection. For the hundredth time, I can take care of myself. Will you please get that through your damn head?"
"You're asking me to be someone I'm not. I can't help wanting to look out for and protect my friends."
His face took on a cold expression. "And you are terrible at it. Stop wasting your time and focus on something you're good at, like being a bitch."
Gen stuck her hands on her hips and gave him the deepest frown. "What the hell is the matter with you, Niko? One minute you're calling me your friend, the next you're calling me a bitch. Are you bi-polar or something?"
Niko folded his arms and looked irritated by the remark, but ignored it all the same. "I'm still waiting."
This seemed to be something he needed to hear, so Gen gave the stubborn ass what he wanted. "Fine. I won't do anything like that for you again."
"You are giving me your word?"
"Yeah," she lied. When hell freezes over.
"I don't believe you."
Damn it. When did he start reading minds? "Well, what do you want me to say? You want my word, I gave it to you, but it's not good enough for you."
"No, not when you are lying to me. For a woman who fights and argues about everything, you agreed too easily. I want you to mean it. If you can't, then I cannot be friends with you."
Gen studied him for a moment, calculating his expression, wondering if he was bluffing. But all she saw was a grim look. "Good God, you are actually serious. You're going to force me into this?"
"No. It's your choice."
"Some choice."
Niko didn't respond, only waited for her decision.
"Okay, Niko," she sighed. "You win."
"What do I get for winning?"
"My word. But just for the record, I hate you for this."
"No, you don't. You are irritated with me, but you will get over it."
"You just think you know everything, don't you?"
He smiled. "I have often been called a smartass."
After the group finished the junk food breakfast Connor and Bernie had liberated from the cafeteria vending machine, they left the hospital behind for Meadow Hills.
There was not much further to go; a few blocks and they would reach Roman's house. Eager though Niko was to reach his family, a horrible feeling of apprehension spread through him like a virus. Now that they were so close, the questions and fears and worries he'd tried to keep at the back of his mind surfaced with a vengeance. What if he found the house destroyed? What if all this time he'd been trying to reach them and they weren't even there? What if they'd been out in the city when the outbreak struck and they'd turned into freaks? What if they were dead? What would he do if they were dead?
The street they traveled on was free of debris, save for the garbage and sheets of old newspaper that swirled around in the cold November wind, and the few bits of crumbled stone, splintered wood, and twists of metal that had gotten blown over from the destroyed neighborhoods. Rubbish wasn't the only thing the wind carried. It blew up dirt and dust from the ground, tossing it into the faces of the five survivors. On both sides of the road, businesses were lined up and still intact, everything from a veterinary clinic to a deli. Most if not all had been broken into and looted.
Gen walked a pace behind Bernie with Eve and Connor ahead of them. Her face was lined with a frown. She felt strange, but it was a feeling she had known before when Cole had sent her and Niko out on a wild goose chase. Eyes, was the first thing that came to mind. Eyes are following us. But whose eyes were they?
The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Gen glanced over her shoulder. She caught movement down the street a ways. A shape, a shadow darting between two shops. It moved too fast for her to get a good look at it, but it justified her feeling. They were being stalked.
Calmly, Gen increased her stride to a brisk pace, passing the other three until she reached Niko's side. She glanced back for a moment, seeing no movement, then she set eyes on him. "We're being followed."
He looked at her, his brow knitting. "You're sure?"
"Yeah. I got a weird feeling a moment ago. When I looked back, I saw movement."
It fucking figures, Niko thought. Not a day goes by without some kind of trouble. "How many?" he asked.
"One."
"Human?"
"I couldn't tell. I only caught a glimpse before they moved between two buildings. Maybe we should find out who they are and what they want."
Niko considered this. "Yes, we should. I don't want to lead this person to our destination, no matter their intentions."
Gen nodded. "Right, so what's the plan?"
"We call them out," he said. "Once we are safely behind cover." Gen may have seen only one person, but that didn't mean they were alone. Or unarmed.
Cover was easy enough to find. Niko led the group into a small alleyway, where he was then attacked with a small arsenal of questions.
"What's the deal?" Connor asked. "Why are we moving off the street?"
"Did you see something?" Bernie.
"Was it the freaks?" Eve.
"Shouldn't we be...oh, I don't know, running away instead of hiding?" Connor added.
"How many were there?" Bernie inquired.
Niko made a face. "We are being followed. That is all I know. Now shut up and stay back against this building."
Every last one of them did as he said without protest or anymore questions. Niko stepped to the mouth of the alleyway, keeping himself as hidden as possible behind the wall of the shop, his M-16 at the ready. Then he called out to their hidden stalker, "We know you are there! Come out!"
The street remained deserted.
We ain't got time for this shit. Niko grit his teeth. "This will not end well for you if I have to come find you! Show yourself!"
At last there was movement. A humanoid shape stepped from between the buildings down the street. The elevated railway above threw shadows against the person, but in the faint darkness, Niko saw glowing red eyes.
Fantastic. It just had to be one of them.
He had no idea what to do. There seemed to be only one of them, but he could not lead this thing to his family. Yet killing it would likely bring more of them if they were around the area. Then there was the fact that the thing had been following them for God only knows how long. It could've tried attacking them any time it wanted, but it hadn't. Everything about this was wrong. And for all he knew, he was being played with, being made to see what really wasn't there; there could've been a horde where he saw only one.
The freak moved up the street with something akin to caution; slow-moving with his hands raised above his head. Then he spoke a single word, "Peace."
Niko recalled Travis telling them that some of the freaks in Broker could speak. He'd thought if he'd ever got a chance at hearing one, the freak might sound weird, have some kind of otherwordly accent or something, but the voice was normal as could be and the only accent it carried was a slight Alderney one. For some reason, that was more strange to him than if it had spoken with some alien dialect.
"Did it seriously just call for peace?" Gen asked.
"It did. Not that I believe it for a second."
"I don't know..." she said.
He gave her a short look of disbelief. "Gen, come on, even you aren't so stupid as to believe a word one of them says."
"And even you can admit it's strange that one of them would trail us. Maybe it wants something."
"Yes," Niko said. "It wants to rip us apart and feed on our blood."
"It would've done it already."
"Maybe, maybe not. I don't care." He came to a decision. He couldn't walk away from it, leaving it free to follow. It had to die, no matter what it brought upon them. "I will deal with this thing. Get ready to run."
He stepped out into the street, and faced the freak. It was standing in the middle of the street with its hands still raised up. Niko leveled his assault rifle on it. The freak understood the threat. Those strange red eyes widened, then the freak dropped to its knees and pleaded, "Peace!"
Its actions confused the man, caused him to hesitate for a moment. Why was it acting like this? Why did it plead for its life when it could easily kill him? Even in his hesitation, the freak could've taken the advantage and ripped him apart. And yet it kneeled there, begging. Was it some trick?
Niko unwittingly spoke, and was astonished by his own actions. "What do you want? Why are you following us?" He was certain he was dead as soon as the words left his mouth, yet he remained. The freak did as well, still kneeling there.
"You must deliver a message," the freak said. "To your kind dwelling at the place you call Meadows Park. Tell them three of us come. Representatives of Peace. We come when your sun has risen thrice. We come in peace, we come for peace. Not all of my kind wish to harm humans. Some seek co-existance."
"Why should I believe what you say? Your kind has done nothing but rip my kind apart every fucking chance it gets!"
"You are alive now," the freak said. "When you would not normally be, Niko."
He frowned at his name coming from the mouth of one of them. At first, he wondered how it knew, then he realized how. "Get the fuck out of my head, or I will put bullets in yours!"
The freak had the nerve to smile. "Peace. Will you be the one to end it before it begins?"
"It will be a cold day in hell before I believe you fucking parasites want peace."
"Yet you could kill me, and have not. Uncertainty clouds judgment. Your hesitation gives me opportunity. I could kill you, and have not. I offer peace."
The freak rose to its feet, and Niko backed off a few paces, keeping his M-16 trained on its head, ready to pull the trigger if the thing so much as twitched in his direction.
It had the sense to back away. "Deliver the message." And then it was gone, slipping off between the buildings.
Niko's companions were there, gathered behind him.
"It talked to you," Bernie said with amazement.
"What did it say?" Gen asked.
"It wants me to deliver a message," he said.
"To who?"
"People staying in Meadows Park."
"What was the message?" Bernie asked.
"They are coming to pay those people a visit. Supposedly, some of their kind want peace with ours."
"I find that hard to believe," Gen said.
"As do I."
"We should still deliver that message, though," she said. "If they're coming, those people need to be warned."
"Yes."
She smiled. "So, how does it feel to probably be the first human being to talk to one of them?"
"It was strange," Niko admitted, and a faint, dry smile curved his mouth. "I don't think I made a good impression on it."
The woman laughed. "You probably made a better impression than our president ever could have. When it comes right down to it, I'd much rather have a badass former hitman making the first impressions than a stuffy old guy in a suit. At least they'll know there's some humans out there who're more trouble than they're worth."
The man shook his head. "You are a strange person, Gen."
"Uh...a good kind of strange?"
"Maybe, maybe not. If I ever figure it out, I will let you know."
A small group of freaks forced the quintet to detour around and find another way into the Meadow Hills neighborhood. Quiet as they could manage, they hopped fences and ducked through backyards until they came to a street Niko informed them had a straight shot to his cousin's home. Unfortunately, it wasn't deserted.
Niko made a gesture for everyone to take cover behind a fence as three freaks came strolling up the street, speaking in their gibberish language. Once they passed by, Niko stuck his head out to look around the bushes obscuring his view of them. The trio turned onto another street. He checked the opposite direction and it too was clear.
"It's safe," he declared, rising from his position.
At least he had thought it was. The moment they stepped out from behind the fence, a fourth lunatic burst out from between two houses across the street and darted for them, his face twisted up in rage as incomprehensible screams erupted from his mouth. Stealth no longer mattered; the entire neighborhood must've heard the noise.
Three firearms were raised at the same moment, but it was Bernie who got the kill. His rifle thundered and the freak's head jerked back, a good chunk of it spraying through the air and raining blackened blood and bits of brain on the concrete. The body crumpled mere feet away from them.
No sooner had the shot been fired, the other three freaks they had seen a moment ago appeared at the end of the street where they'd turned the corner, and they weren't alone. Six more came around another corner. This wasn't a fight that would end in the group's favor.
Niko got a frustrated look. "Fuck this fucking shit."
Gen looked around for a solution as the group of freaks rushed forward. And she found one just in time. "You three stay here, and stay hidden," she said to the others, then looked at Niko. "Come with me. We're going to draw them off." At his doubtful look, she added, "Trust me."
"Okay. But I hope you know what the hell you're doing."
The woman checked the freaks' position, then bolted across the street with Niko hot on her heels. He turned back only once to fire off a few rounds to slow the freaks down. When he faced forward, he saw Gen climbing up into a tree lining the sidewalk. Climbing it like a monkey on speed.
This was her plan? "Oh, come on, you've got to be kidding me!" Nonetheless, he shouldered his weapon, jumped into the v-shaped trunk of the tree and hauled himself up among the branches.
By the time he made it to the midst of the tree, Gen had already found a perch, a sturdy limb that protruded out over the street and gave perfect line of sight to the freaks. She shot down as many as she could as they came on. Ridiculous though her plan had seemed, he now understood it. The height gave them a great advantage over the freaks; they were both safely out of reach and had the time to take the freaks down.
Niko found his own perch, right below hers. He got situated on it, pressing himself back against the thick trunk the limb birthed from so as not to get thrown off balance from his weapon's recoil. He aimed the assault rifle down at one of the freaks standing below him. It didn't move, simply stared at him. All at once, Niko felt a strange buzzing sensation in his head and his vision blurred. He had to shut his eyes to get his focus back. When he opened them again, he was no longer looking at a freak.
Kate McReary stared up at him, a sweet but sad smile on her lovely face. She was dressed in the clothes she had died in.
Niko's breath and heart seized up. He felt cold all over. He said her name aloud, but he wasn't aware of his own voice. Some small part of him knew this wasn't real, but she looked so real. Real enough to touch.
Small red stains blossomed on the woman's shirt, here and there; blood, released from the bullets that had killed her. He remembered where each one had struck her; he never forgot. Blood seeped from between her parted lips.
Her face changed, paled to a corpse pallor and contorted with anger. Then she spoke, condemned him, "You did this to me. It was your fault."
"No!" Niko shouted, unable to control it. "This isn't real." He shut his eyes against her, tried to collect himself, assured himself again that this wasn't real, but when he opened his eyes, she was still there.
"You killed me."
"It was supposed to be me, not you. I never meant for it to happen! I didn't know it would happen!"
"You killed me."
His eyes burned and a lump that felt the size of the moon lodged in his throat. He choked the words out around it, "Forgive me." He needed her forgiveness. "I'm so sorry. I wish it had been me!"
"Right your wrong. You have a gun."
A hand fell on his shoulder, shook him, and a voice yelled near his ear, "Hey! Are you okay?"
But he was dead to the world. It was just him and the woman he had once cared for. The woman his actions had put into an early grave.
Kate's white face softened with a tender look. "You can bring me back," she said. "A life for a life. Make me live again, Niko. I want to live again."
There was a loud bang that jolted him. Kate's head recoiled, a dark hole right between her eyes.
"No! God!" The words tore from his throat, sick with outrage and despair. His head whipped around. Sometime or another, Gen had made her way down to him. She stood on a lower branch, supporting her outstretched arms on the limb he straddled, the Glock in her hands.
"What did you do!?" he shouted at her, a tremor running along side the rage in his tone.
"Whatever you were seeing, it wasn't real," Gen said. And she had never seen him look so horrified. She reached for his shoulder, to offer some kind of comfort or reassurance.
He pushed her away, unable to help his thoughts. She'd killed her, forced him to watch her die again. Gen lost her footing. Flailing, she tried to grab hold of a branch.
The realization of what he'd done set in a little too late. Niko reached for the woman, got a hand on her arm for a second before she slipped from his grasp. She fell, striking a branch on her way down.
Two freaks remained below. The moment Gen struck the ground, they moved on her. Niko blasted one of them away, but that gave the second one enough time to get to her. The freak fell on top of her. His head dove for her throat. Gen jerked to one side and screamed when his teeth burrowed into that space between her neck and shoulder. Had she not moved in time, it would've torn her throat open.
Niko couldn't take the shot and risk the bullets going through the freak and into her. He hurried down a few branches, then jumped from the tree, landing a bit unsteadily. Once he had his balance, he delivered a powerful kick to the thing's ribs. The freak rolled over onto his back and Niko filled his head with lead.
He knelt beside his friend, staring with dismay at the hideous wound the freak had inflicted on her. He'd torn away a chunk of flesh and there was too much blood for comfort. To top it off, her other shoulder had gotten dislocated in the fall.
Gen stared up at him, wordlessly, another one of those expressions he couldn't read on her face. He didn't blame her if she never spoke to him again.
Niko glanced around and called for Bernie.
He and the others came from behind a house, hurrying over.
"Oh, my God," Bernie gasped as Eve rushed forward and fell to her knees beside her replacement mother.
"You're hurt!" the girl cried, her face lined with concern and fear.
"I'm okay," Gen assured her. "Just a little bite."
"But there's so much blood..."
"What the hell happened!?" Connor demanded to know.
"Give me something to stop the bleeding," Niko said.
Eve was the one to provide him with what he needed. From her backpack, she retrieved a shirt and handed it over. He bunched it and pressed it to the wound, firmly. The woman cried out in agony.
"Bernie, her other shoulder is dislocated. Can you fix it?"
"I can certainly try. Scootch over, sweetie," he said, nudging the girl.
Eve made room for him. Bernie got on his knees and took Gen's arm in his hand, rotating it around a bit. He leaned over her, his free hand pressed below her shoulder. With a firm yank on her arm, he was able to get the joint back into the socket.
"Ahh!" Gen yelled at him. "You could've warned me you were going to do it first!"
Bernie smiled. "It would have hurt a lot more if you had expected it, hon. Can you move it?"
Gen tested it by giving him a harmless punch to the chest. The shoulder throbbed like hell, but at least her arm worked.
Bernie looked over at Niko. "The wound?"
The man lifted the shirt away from it, frowned, and shook his head. "I don't know."
"Move out of the way. Let Dr. Bernie have a look."
Niko gave him his spot, and glanced around the street to make sure they were still alone. They were in the clear for now.
"Oh, dear," Bernie said as he examined the wound.
"Is it bad?"
"Well, it's not pretty."
"That's not what I asked," Niko snapped at him.
"The bleeding is bad, but I don't think it's serious," Bernie said. "The wound needs suturing, but we are far away from the tools we need."
"No, we're not. We are only steps away from Roman's house. Come on." He reached down to help Gen up, surprised when she didn't shy away from him as he'd expected her to do after he'd nearly gotten her killed. Once she was on her feet, he took her hand and pressed it over the shirt covering her wound.
"Keep pressure on it."
She made no reply, but kept her hand in place. He was not surprised with the silent treatment.
Bernie kept at her side as Niko lead them all off onto the street they had been trying to make their way to before the freaks had rudely interrupted. Connor scooped up Gen's Glock from the ground and handed it over to her.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"Your shoulder is half eaten and the other one was dislocated, and nothing happened?"
"That's what I said."
"I'm not buying it."
Gen sighed. "I saw my dead sister," she confessed. "It freaked me out. I fell out of the tree. He saved my life. That's what happened." It was half true. She had seen Giselle, an extension cord wrapped around her bruised neck. She had accused her of giving up on finding her rapist, accused her of not doing enough, not loving her and caring enough to keep seeking the justice she deserved. Painful as it was, Gen had been more concerned for her friend than the accusations of some false phantom. But the rest she told Connor was a lie, a lie for a friend who must've seen something just as terrible.
"Then why are you giving him the old silent treatment?"
"Stop with the interrogation, Connor," Bernie said. "She's been through enough."
"Fine. But you shouldn't be protecting that asshole if he did something."
Gen frowned. "Go away."
Connor rolled his eyes and picked up his pace, joining Eve's side.
"Are you protecting him?" Bernie asked when they were alone.
"He saw something. It really freaked him out. He was white as a sheet, yelling things that sounded like guilt and regrets. He said a name."
Bernie got a sad look. "Kate."
"Yeah. You heard it?"
"No, just a guess. I imagine since these freaks can get inside our heads, they will weaponize our weaknesses. You remember when I told you he lost someone he cared for? It was her."
"Oh. Girlfriend?"
"No, just good friends, but you only had to look at the way he looked at her to know he wanted more."
"She didn't?"
"It was complicated; everything is with Niko. She liked him in that same way, but she didn't want to get involved with someone with his lifestyle."
"So, this was way back in the day when he was playing hitman?"
"Yes."
"So, what happened to this woman?" Gen wanted to understand, but she knew she would never get the details out of Niko; as the man had told her once, there were some things people could talk about and some things they couldn't, and this seemed like one of those things he couldn't get into. Bernie, however, seemed to enjoy talking.
"She was murdered, gunned down at his cousin's wedding by a man he worked for, a man who believed Niko had double-crossed him."
"Did he?"
"He made a decision he thought was best," Bernie sighed. "But it had such terrible consequences. The man was there to kill Niko, but he got her instead."
In horror, Gen realized something. "I shot the lunatic that was messing with him. He was staring right at it when he was yelling all that stuff. I knew what it was doing, but I wasn't thinking about what he must've been seeing there. Dear God, Bernie, did I make him watch her die all over again?" It was no small wonder the man had flipped out.
"You did what you had to do. If he doesn't understand that now, he will."
They finally reached the place, a three-story, traditional German-style home. As charming as it looked, it was recycled; every house on the block was an exact match. The yard was small and cluttered with a child's toys. A girl, Gen guessed, by all the bright pink and purple she saw, and she was likely no older than five. There was a towering tree in the middle of the yard, complete with a swing.
Niko breezed up the walk, climbed the porch steps, and stopped before the door. He had to resist an urge to burst through it in his eagerness. Niko had given Roman a shotgun a few years ago for security purposes. Such an unexpected and aggressive action as busting through the front door would likely make him freak and shoot if he was armed with it. He hadn't come all this way just to die at the hands of his own relative.
He took his eagerness out on the doorbell instead and called, "Roman? Mallorie? It's me. It's-"
The door opened, and Roman stood there, leaning on a crutch with his right leg in a cast. He looked like he had aged considerably in the time that had passed. His face was drawn and haggard, there were dark circles around his eyes, he seemed to have dropped a few pounds, and had a growth of beard coming in. Nevertheless, Niko had never been so happy to see anyone in his life.
Without a word, he embraced his cousin, and they stood there like that in the threshold for the longest time.
"Jesus, Niko," Roman sobbed. "I never thought I would see your face again! You were in a coma, we thought you might have died! Or went nuts, or was trapped behind the Algonquin walls with no way to reach us! We didn't know what to think..."
He went on like that for a while. Niko let him, and as he continued to hug the man, he noticed the other two standing in the living room.
Jacob and Brucie, the former armed with an AK and the latter with a shotgun. It was as Bernie had assured him; his friends had come to protect his family. He should have never doubted it.
Brucie nudged the Jamaican with an elbow. "What did I say, man? What did I fucking tell you? Never doubt. Our boy NB is fucking invincible!"
"Me wicked glad to see ya, star. Ya take de long way?" Jacob greeted Niko, smiling.
"You have no idea, man," Niko said. "The hell I've been through to get here..."
Roman finally held him back. "But you are here and you are alive. We are whole now. That is all that matters." He pulled Niko inside off the stoop, hugged Bernie, and greeted the strangers.
"Where is Mallorie?" Niko asked.
"I'm right here," came a voice from the stairs. The small woman was all smiles as she hustled down the stairs to give him a big hug. "I'm so glad you're okay. We've been worried sick about you, not knowing anything." She leaned back a bit to kiss him on the cheek a few times. "Katie is having her nap, but she's going to be so excited to see you when she wakes up. She's been asking about you non-stop."
"I have missed her, too. All of you. I didn't know if I would ever see any of you again," he admitted. He moved from Mallorie to Jacob to greet the man with a bro hug. "I was almost sure you were dead. A military jet destroyed your entire neighborhood."
"Me was at de Homebrew when de badness started. I and Badman and some real rude boys from de crew. We tried a protect de neighborhood, seen?" Jacob's face took on a sorrowful expression. "But de crazy ones got dem. Badman and de rest. Nuttin I and I could do."
Niko put a hand on his shoulder. "Shit, Jacob. I'm so sorry."
"I and I come right over fi Roman's. Bredren gotta stick together in times of sufferation, ya know."
"Thank you, my friend," Niko said. "For looking out for them." He glanced at Brucie. "Both of you."
"It nuttin," Jacob said. "Ya'd do de same fa I, star."
"Like the man said," Brucie replied. "We gotta stick together and shit, 'cause when we do, those fucking weirdos out there ain't got shit on us. We're the fucking Untouchables, man! Three unstoppable, badass warriors! I mean, shit! You should've seen me and Jacob in action the other day. Three of those weird-ass people got close to the house. We drew them off and blasted those fuckers back to hell!"
"Ya learn a lot fightin long side others," Jacob said. "Him scream like a woman."
"It wasn't like that!" the muscle-bound man protested. "That one weirdo came out of nowhere! Right in my fucking face!"
"And it helped you get in touch with your feminine side?" Niko teased.
"Hey, the Bruce Man is all male. Masculinity secretes from these pores."
"Are you sure that ain't the juice?"
Brucie stared at him for a moment, then a wide grin split his face and he slung a heavy arm around Niko's shoulders. "Shit, I've missed you, man! It's like old times again."
"Niko," Roman said. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your new friends?"
"What?"
Roman made a gesture at the three strangers, who were gracious enough to keep out of the way of the reunion. With all that was going on, Niko had forgotten they were there.
"Shit, sorry." He nudged the former cop front and center. "This is Gen, the woman who has been driving me crazy for the past week. But she has done much to get me here. Too much."
Gen offered an awkward smile and rose a hand a little, the other still keeping a firm press on her shoulder wound. "Hi."
Niko presented the girl next. "The sweet, little one here is Eve." Then he jerked a thumb over a shoulder. "And Connor."
Through watching Niko interact with his family and friends, the others needed no introductions.
"Are you okay?" Mallorie asked Gen. "Your shoulder...doesn't look good."
"It looks worse than it is," she said.
"It needs to be seen to," Niko said. "Before you bleed out or the wound festers."
"I'm on it," Bernie said. "Mallorie, can you help me?"
"Of course."
The two ushered the injured woman into the kitchen. Bernie nudged her into a chair at the dining room table and ticked off items he was going to need to Mallorie. The small woman hurried off to retrieve what she could.
In the living room, Niko sat down with his cousin and friends. Eve curled up next to him, wary of the strangers.
"Does my cousin have a little admirer?" Roman asked, grinning.
"It would seem so."
"You are strangely good with children, Niko. I will never understand why you never got around to having any of your own."
"Roman, the world has gone to shit, and your concern is me being childless?" He laughed. "I think you need to get your priorities straight."
"Hey, I'm just saying!"
Niko changed the subject. "What happened to your leg?"
"It got busted in the wreck."
A look of deep guilt and regret lined Niko's face. "God, I'm a fucking idiot. I'm sorry, Roman. I could have killed you."
"What are you talking about, cousin?"
"I was driving the night of the accident. Drunk." He looked confused. "Wasn't I?"
"The doctor told us you might have amnesia from that head injury. No, you weren't driving. We took a cab home. It was hit head on by a fucking garbage truck. The driver fell asleep at the wheel or something, I don't know."
Well, that was a heavy load off his conscience.
"So, now that we are all together, what the hell are we going to do?" Roman asked.
"We are going to find a way out of this city."
"And if we do, what then? Where are we going to go?"
Niko sighed. "I don't know. The mountains? The countryside? Anywhere that isn't a city. That's where all these freaks are. I think we should be safe if we steer clear of populated places."
"Yes, but in the mountains and countryside there is no food or water or shelter," Roman pointed out. "And winter will come soon. If we don't freeze to death, we will starve."
"And that's if we don't go fucking Donner party on each other first," Brucie added with a shudder. "That's just fucking sick, man. I don't even want to think about it."
"Dey make good points, bredda," Jacob said.
"We cannot stay here," Niko said. "The freaks were bad enough before, but now that they can fuck with our heads..." He shook his own. "One did it to me already, and I do not want to go through that again. That shit...it will drive me insane. We have to leave."
"How, Niko?" Roman replied. "We don't have a way to get to the mainland."
"Maybe we might be able to locate a boat or something. I don't know yet. But with your leg, we are not going anywhere anytime soon. We have time to find a way."
A/N:
Little Jacob has always been one of my favorite IV characters, but his dialogue is hard as hell to write. I'm unfamiliar with Jamaican Patois, but am learning what I can off three dictionaries I found on the net so that I might have LJ as comprehensible and in-character as possible. That being said, if any readers are familiar with the dialect and notice anything wrong or misused in his dialogue, please let me know.