CHAPTER 29: Kayleigh

"Pack your crap, we're moving to Parkersburg" Miles said coming up to us. It was late, and about a week after I had been shot. Me, Dean, Matt, Brian and Jo, Jack, Colin, Mason and Ally were gathered around a small fire down the path away from the Marion camp.

"As in Georgia?" Brian said.

"Yes, be ready to move out in two hours" Miles replied and walked back up to camp.

"All right, you heard him" Dean said, being the first to get up. We all packed up our stuff and met Miles over by the horses.

"It's just us?" I asked him. Seeing that us, along with Jason, Charlie and Nora were the only ones that had met him there.

"They're taking care of the forts down here. Foster wants me to take over Parkersburg for a while" he replied, "There's things I have to do there"

We grabbed the horses and tied down our packs to the back of the saddles. I mounted Indy and pulled Matt up to sit behind me. We followed Miles in single file as we headed to our new home. Life as a rebel wasn't what I had thought it would be, with my being a medic for a while and now with yet another injury I didn't get as much fighting in as I had hoped too. Parkersburg was just fifty miles from the Indiana border of the Monroe Republic and The Georgia Federation. We made it in about a week, making sure to stay away from any other known militia spots when grew closer to the border. I had never been over the border before, and being only a few miles in Georgia you could immediately see the difference between the two nations. Georgia was always known for being richer, in every aspect. Money, land, everything and anything. As we walked along the sides of roads, buses and trucks running on steam engines would zoom by us. Both me and Matt were taken aback in awe, but everyone else ignored it as it was nothing new to them. We made our way through cities, all beautifully kept just like the people in them. Women dressed in sun dresses and large hats, men in suits as they paraded down the streets of markets and small restaurants. It was like being in a whole new world. It even smelled nicer here...As we made our way out of the city, Miles lead us to a more rural area. Heading up to a large compound, it was hard to tell what it had use to be since it was decorated with Georgian Federation emblems and signs on each of the different buildings signified different needs for the Georgian army. The largest was used as housing for the soldiers on base, a smaller one was directed as an armory, and many more such buildings were scattered over the enormous compound.

"General Matheson?" A Georgian soldier said coming up to us as we reached a building that read 'War Room'.

"That's me" Miles replied, not seemingly pleased to be here at all.

"I'm Major Cornwall. Your...Friends can settle into any empty rooms in the housing units. If you would come with me please" he said, signaling towards the building. Miles waved us off, heading back down to the building labeled housing, soldiers came to take our horses as we grabbed our stuff and headed inside. It almost looked more like a hotel use to back in the old days, kind of like The Grand back in Chicago but...Cleaner. We decided to stick together, it was hard enough having to be amongst Georgians, let alone being the only rebels on base...We found a two rooms that were large enough. Separating up, boys in one and girls in the other we tried to settle in. Bunk beds lined the walls in our room, allowing for at least eight people to stay here. There were dressers, as well as an area for a wash basin.

"Damn" Jo said, looking around the room, "We're not in the Monroe Republic anymore thats for sure"

"Bunch of entitled snobs if you ask me. I bet they couldn't last two days out there" Nora said meaning the Monroe Republic.

"What are we doing here anyway?" Charlie said, looking out one of the windows that lined the back wall.

"I don't know, Miles didn't say anything" Nora replied going to lie back on one of the beds. She sighed as she fell back on the mattress,

"Maybe being rich and entitled isn't so bad" she said closing her eyes for a nap.

"Oh my god..." Charlie said from by the window.

"What is it?" I asked coming over to her. She pointed outside, the window over looked the front of the building. Looking up the path towards the building Miles had gone into I saw what she was glaring at. It was former Major of the Monroe Republic, Tom Neville. I felt the anger building in me as I watched him strutting up towards the building.

"He's in a Georgian Uniform" I said looking up at Charlie in a look of horrid confusion. Charlie ran from the room, going next door to the boys room I followed her.

"Jason" she said, walking right in.

He looked up at her from his bunk, he had the idea of a nap just as Nora had.

"What is it?" he said getting up and seeing the anger that was all over our faces.

"It's your father"

"You've got to be kidding me Miles!" Charlie yelled, "What happened to killing him the next time you see him?"

"He's under President Fosters protection. He's now a viable asset and a Georgian officer. If we want her to continue to help us beat Monroe we have to work with him" Miles replied, already hitting the whiskey. Me, Charlie and Jason had ran out of the housing unit to see what the hell was going on, that Miles could just let Neville go strutting around the compound.

"You can't seriously mean we have to willingly work with him" Jason said angrily.

"There's a mission we need to get done or a lot of people are going to get hurt and we need Neville for it"

"We don't have a choice. Now get Nora, if we want this done we're going to need her too"

Jason and Charlie left in a heat of anger, I stayed behind watching Miles as he poured himself what seemed like his fourth glass...Probably more since he had already been drinking before we came in.

"So you're back to that now" I said gesturing at the glass in his hand.

"What made you think I ever stopped?" he replied, swigging down the glass then pouring another.

"So is that your plan? Drink your way through this war, fighting with people like Neville pretending like he didn't have a hand in Danny's death, in Rob's. All those rebels, those families. After Nicholas and almost killing me as well"

"I was once militia. I killed men, brothers, sons...What makes you think i'm any better then Tom?"

"You left, you gave up that life. You're a better person then that now"

"Am I?" he said irritated as he continued to drown himself in his whiskey, "What the hell do you think this is now?"

"But you are...You are a better person Miles" I said in a loud firm voice.

"I don't think so, kid"

"Maybe if you stopped drowning yourself in that stuff you could see all the good things you've done"

"Like what?"

"What you did for Danny, for Charlie...For me. You aren't the same person you were seven years ago. And that's the difference between you and Monroe, you saw how bad it had become and you got away from it. You got out. The things he's done in the last few months, you would never have done that, even when you were General of the militia"

"How do you know"

"Because I do"

"Why do you care so much"

"Are you really asking me that?" I said taking a seat in front of his new, shiny desk, "The story, about you taking me and Charlie out for rides when we were little...Is that true?"

"You were little, just a baby. Sarah, was on her own at the time with just you and your brothers and sometimes to give her breaks I'd take you. I would take you out in the car. We had just moved to Chicago and lived close enough to Rachel and Ben that Charlie and Danny would come along with us sometimes. She'd sit in the back between the two of you and make faces at you and Danny to try and make you laugh..."

I could see a hint of a smile as he talked about me, Danny and Charlie together, but then it became hidden once more behind the glass of whiskey.

"You never told me that..."

"Because it doesn't matter anymore"

"It does to me"

"You have to understand something Kayleigh...A few months before you were born Bass's parents and little sisters died in a car accident. It destroyed him. He was always drinking. It was why he wasn't there the day you were born. Sarah told him if he didn't get better she wouldn't let him see you. As much as it killed her she couldn't let him be around you. The first time he held you he almost dropped you because he was still out of it from the night before. Sarah kicked him out, he left and I followed. I was what kept him from going over the edge. When he got better, we had left for the Marine Corps. I had always meant to bring him to see you but I never got around to it and then the blackout happened. Maybe if I had, maybe if I hadn't gotten him in with me and starting the militia he could have been a better person. He could have been a father to you"

"Maybe...But he should have come to me himself. He shouldn't have needed you to do it for him. If he had been a better person he would have stopped before everything got so out of hand. That isn't your fault, Miles...it's his and I'm not blaming you i'm blaming him for everything that happened"

"Are you going to join us" he asked, referring to the mission he had mentioned earlier.

"No. If I do i'll probably kill Neville before we even leave the compound and you said we need him so, i'll stay. Besides, I owe it to Matt to at least stick around for a while before throwing myself in front of danger again. I'll probably just get myself shot or something. I've found i'm no rebel fighter"

He nodded in understanding and didn't say anything else so I got up from my seat and left, heading back down to the housing unit. As I walked back, the wind was picking up. I looked up to the sky to see dark clouds heading our way. As I continued to watch the darkness grow closer, I thought about how much everything had changed. It use to be just me surviving on my own...That's all that had made sense, that's all that had mattered. Now everything was so complicated and twisted I didn't know what to think. But I also couldn't picture what life would be like without them, my family. Matt, Brian and Jo. Mason, Colin and Ally...Even Jason, Charlie and Nora had grown close to me.

Then there was Miles. Even as much apart of the complication and twist of my life now that he was, I couldn't really picture it without him.

And of course Dean. He had become my rock, my everything. I didn't even want to imagine what it would be like without him at my side...Several occasions almost making that a reality.

I loved him.

It was simple and complicated just like everything else. Walking into the building, just as rain was starting to fall lightly, I ran into Dean.

"I was just coming to look for you" he said, "Charlie told me about Neville"

I looked up at him, he seemed more concerned for me then angry about Neville's new partnership with Georgia.

"I need a drink" I said leaning into him, my head only coming up to his chest.

"You don't drink" he laughed, putting his arms around me.

"Now feels like a good time to start as any"

"Follow me"

He took my hand and pulled me towards a door labeled 'STAIR WELL' in bright yellow letters. We headed down only two floors as we reached another door that read 'FIFTH FLOOR' in the same yellow paint. He pushed open the door and led me down the hall and into a large empty room. It looked a lot like a science lab, short counter tops lined the room in two rows of six tables. An old wooden desk stood at the front of the room, facing the counter tops. Old glass beakers, tubes and other strange looking equipment were stacked on top of a counter that lined the back wall of a room and covered in cob webs.

"I found out this use to be a high school" he said leading me into the room.

"A high school?"

"Well, private school...Just like the peach eaters they were considered to be a bunch of rich snobs. That's why the campus is so big, which is of course perfect for us"

"Aren't we under ground?" I said looking towards the light coming from windows high near the ceiling.

"Not exactly, this building was built on a hill. They carved part of the back out...There's a door down the hall that leads to the back of the building...I had time to explore" he said seeing my confused expression for how he knew so much.

"Why did you bring me down here?" I asked, moving to examine the strange glass tubes and equipment on the back counter.

"So we could be alone" he said moving behind me and putting his hands on my waist.

"Right, because all this dust and mold is every romantic" I said sarcastically.

"I meant so we could be alone to talk"

Turning me around to face him he lifted me up and placed me on top of the counter. He took my hands, holding them tightly he looked into my eyes and smiled at me.

"What about?" I asked.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine...Why?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay after everything with us and Evansville, then everything with Monroe and Dixon shooting you...and now Neville being here"

"Right..." I said, sighing slightly.

I pushed a loose strand of hair from my braid back behind my ear and looked down at our hands. His thumbs were moving softly over my palms. It was a lot to think about...I had already forgotten our fight. But now it was at the front of my mind as he mentioned it again. Then of course everything in Evansville...The militia boy I had seen and all the bodies still haunted me. Then next Monroe...My father...The man who threatened to kill me then stood over my body and cried when I had been shot...And now Neville, the man I partially blamed for Danny's death and before when he nearly killed Dean back in Indiana...back when everything seemed so much simpler when it was just me and Dean in that little farm house...

"I'm just trying to take everything a day at a time, I guess"

He moved his hand like he was going to put it to my cheek, but hesitated and moved it back. I held it tight, leaning in and kissing his lips. I felt his hands move to my waist, then down my body as he pulled me towards the edge of the counter and into him so our bodies pressed tightly against each other. He pulled his lips away, smiling. Looking happier then I had seen him in a while. I leaned my head against his chest and closed my eyes, my fingers clutching his shirt tightly.

"I'm sorry I left you that morning..." I said referring to the day me and Miles ran off to Monroe, "I wanted to stay. I would have stayed with you all day if I could have"

"I know"

"I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass"

"I know" he said slightly laughing.

"Promise me something?"

"Depends" he replied.

"If this is ever over...the fighting...the bloodshed...Promise me you'll take me back to that little farm house in Indiana"

"Is that really what you want?"

"Yes" I said softly.

"Then I promise"


okay well the next few chapters move really quickly...so yeah.

And also where I am right now is pretty much where season two starts...And I actually have two versions. One that's following the plot and one that I had started and went off on my own back when all we had for information was from the promo. So idk which i'm going to post but because that isn't for several more chapters I got time to decide :)