Chapter Two - These Boots Were Made For Kicking Ass
Max pulled the covers around herself tightly, hoping to fight off the chill that swept through the house. The news had promised things to be warming up, but it seemed as if the weatherman was wrong again. She looked to the small window in the room and was glad that she couldn't make out any snow falling. The last thing she needed was more snow. She hated the sound it made as she crunched through it everyday and she hated the perpetual sogginess it brought. It never ceased to amaze her how quickly the bottoms of her pants became soaked and uncomfortable. She hated the snow. She also hated the cold, but the cold was easier to deal with and was far less uncomfortable.
The cold and snow had been welcome companions once and only once: when she went into heat.
They had settled into the house and endured one of the worst snowstorms she had ever seen just when it hit. As the last flakes fell, her hormones kicked into overdrive and she suddenly found herself pacing the perimeter and climbing the walls. She noted the way Zack looked at her during those few days. When she would enter the room and offer him that smile, his jaw would clench and his eyes would fill with clouds. While Max held a strict 'no memories' policy, there was one she couldn't manage to shake.
It had been in her last day of heat. She was in between herself and the animal within when she met Zack in the hallway. She had stepped in his path and offered him that smile - that invitation. Instead of clenching his jaw, he reached out and grabbed her by the arms. He slammed her against the wall roughly and looked her up and down, his mouth hanging open and something primal in his eyes. The moment passed rather quickly. He pushed away from her and stormed off into his room. She swallowed the rejection with relief and walked numbly to the back porch. She briefly considered crying, but banished the thought. Instead, she stood on the railing and stretched out her arms, then leaned forward. She fell off the railing gracefully and landed in the snow with a comforting whump.
Max pushed the memory from her mind and rolled over onto her side. She stared at the alarm clock and watched the minutes tick painfully by. Something deep within her longed to analyze that moment with Zack, but something near the surface shoved the thought away. Analyzing would lead to "checking up" and the last thing she wanted to do was "check up" on Zack's actions. Everything was better left buried.
When she saw the first rays of daylight filtering through the frosted window glass, she threw the covers off herself and accepted the morning chill with a grimace. She changed quickly into a pair of jeans and heavy sweater, then slipped on the only shoes she found practical - combat boots. She owned only one other pair of shoes. It was the pair of sneakers she had been wearing the day she left Seattle. They were shoved, along with the clothes she had been wearing that day, into an unmarked cardboard box that she kept on the top shelf in her closet. She never opened the box and tried to never think of it. The sneakers were impractical anyway - the combat boots were perfect for trekking in the snow and were useful when it came to landing a kick on Zack's chest when he pissed her off.
She ran her hands up and down her arms, still hoping to fight off the chill. She sighed and walked to the kitchen, where she prepared herself a sorry breakfast of cereal and a glass of milk. She settled herself at the wobbly table and ate her meal, pretending that it was a culinary miracle instead of cold cereal. It worked until she took the first bite. She finished the cereal quickly and drank the milk from the bottom of the bowl, then proceeded to drain her glass of milk.
The sun was barely rising when she got up and put the dishes in the sink. She stood and stared out the window over the sink. The sun was struggling for exposure against a cloudy gray sky. It managed to find pockets in the cold and grim sky to shine through, but she doubted it would make much more progress during the course of the day. The sun never stood much chance in that part of the world.
The sound of heavy boots on fragile floorboards announced Zack's arrival. He grunted a greeting and switched the coffeemaker on. He yawned loudly then crossed his arms and leaned against the counter.
"You busy today?" he asked.
"My calendar has a few spots open," she replied with a shrug. She gave up on the sun and turned to her brother. "Why?"
"I need you to grab some stuff from the store for me."
"Why can't you do it?" she asked then smirked. "Meeting your boyfriend for lunch?"
He sighed and shook his head. "If we're going to make this whole situation work, you have to stop fighting me, Maxie. Are you going to pick up what I need or what?"
"Yeah, fine," she said and resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Zack had been on her ass about "fighting him" since they first arrived in Canada. Even in situations when she wasn't fighting him on an issue, he insisted she was and went into a whole speech about staying alive and making it work. Something within her told her that sometimes Zack didn't mean making their time in Canada work. Sometimes she thought he meant… something else, but she always pushed those thoughts from her mind. She just choose to nod, roll her eyes, and let him know she was all in… even if she wasn't.
"Good," he said with a nod. "I already made out the list."
He handed her a small slip of paper and some money and she pocketed it.
"So, why can't you get the stuff? Busy today?" she asked. She wasn't hoping for a fight.
"I'm meeting someone," he told her. It seemed Zack's main job was to be vague.
She nodded and looked out the window again. "All right, well, I'm gonna bounce."
"Don't forget to buy that stuff," he warned.
"I won't," she replied, her mind everywhere but the conversation.
She left the house without another word. She took the long path that led from the house to the main road with ease. The only thing that bothered her was the constant crunch her boots made as she walked over the delicate snow. She was thankful when she reached the plowed road and could walk on the silent pavement.
To describe the nearest town as "nothing special" would have been giving it too much credit. The "town" was about a block long and consisted of the following: a City Hall that housed not only the local government but the police station, post office and church, one diner that comfortably seated ten people, a one story school that housed grades K - 12 comfortably, a general store, and oddly enough, a Laundromat. There was also a phone booth in front of City Hall, but it hadn't been operational since the Clinton administration. All of the houses were located in the surrounding wilderness - in some cases, so far away that going into town was cause for their Sunday's best.
Max entered the general store and was immediately greeted with the unpleasant scent of burnt coffee. She looked to the register and found Buck Harvey, the store's owner, sitting behind the counter. Three other men were gathered around the counter and Buck read them highlights from The Daily, the only newspaper that ever reached the town. They looked up when they heard the bell above the door jingle and smiled at her, then went back to the paper.
She pulled Zack's list from her pocket and examined it. It called for rope, a canteen, a box of hair dye, and a Swiss army knife. She rolled her eyes but began searching for the items all the same. It took her over fifteen minutes to find a box of hair dye and another fifteen to locate the other items. She walked to the front of the store and placed everything on the counter.
"Higby is getting another police car," Buck said to the small crowd.
"Where'd they get the money for that?" one of the men grunted.
"Doesn't say," Buck told him as he scanned the article.
"Probably the taxpayers," another man grunted.
Max smirked. She doubted there were enough taxpayers in the community to purchase a banana, let alone a police car.
Buck began ringing up her purchase and the three men looked at her.
"Camping trip," she explained with a sweet smile.
They nodded and went back to looking at the newspaper.
She paid Buck then grabbed her bag and left the store.