This chapter is obviously long but it's kind of special. We finally get some of those sweet Maddy/Mark moments that I feel like this story has been building to. They haven't made it to the portal yet, but here is a much calmer chapter to break up the intense escape!
Mark eventually pulls the car over again and says they should ditch it by now.
"Couldn't we just sleep in here?" Josh asks.
"They'll be looking for it. Besides," Mark manages a smile. "I have a better idea." Mark gives Josh a reprieve from holding Zoe who is more than happy to cuddle against Mark, practically falling asleep with her head tucked in the crook of his neck. Mark leads them in a few circles – on the off chance they are being followed – until all of them are beyond mentally and physically exhausted and in need of a break. Maddy trusts Mark as they follow his lead toward what appears to be a construction site marked by a fence topped with barbed wire. They circle the perimeter until they come across a pile of rocks against the fence. Maddy takes Zoe and the boys move the stones silently.
The quad slips under the fence before replacing rocks to leave the scene appearing undisturbed. The building they approach is a half re-modeled, half-ruined abandoned apartment complex. "Some suits bought the place and decided to fix it into mansions for the rich who want close to the plaza," Mark explains leading them toward a broken window on the first floor they all gingerly climb through. "But their investment went bottoms up for whatever reason, so it went back to being abandoned."
"No security monitoring it?" Josh asks skeptically. They walk through dingey hallways toward an even darker, dirtier stairwell.
"No reason to. It's no longer privately owned, and the state put up the wire to deter the homeless."
As they climb the stairs, Maddy peers through the dark doorways at each landing, imaging the families who used to live here, imagining what happened to them and what's left of their old homes. Most are in various states of disarray, new flooring clashing with a hole in the ceiling. They finally make it to the very top of the staircase, what must be the 20th floor of the apartment. They exit through a hall and Mark grins, saying, "The penthouse was the only renovation near complete."
The group slides open the door and enters what can only be described as a castle in the sky. Everything is white and hard but it's clean. Aside from dust there is none of the dinginess and gray seen in most of the world they are all used to. What's more is that they have entered a room that appears to exist for the sole purpose of people entering, like a lobby in a business office or school.
Josh is at a loss for words as they walk through a set of doors to a large kitchen, separate dining room, and living room. All open concept and flowing together without being on top of one another. There are no appliances in the kitchen, but that doesn't distract from the awe of the immense space around them. There are other closed doors implying multiple bedrooms, bedrooms that are individual rooms.
Zoe had climbed many of the stairs herself as she is too big to be carried all the way up and was dragging her feet bleary eyed. Now, getting her second wind, she starts running around and glee. "When will mummy and daddy get here?" she asks excited, flopping on a large sectional sofa.
"This isn't Terra Nova quite yet," Maddy says breathlessly, though it might as well be a different planet from the one outside or even a few stories down. "What are these?" she taps a large black screen on the wall and a window comes to life. It's fake, but that is what makes it truly magnificent. There's a video of wind blowing through a grassy field with a swing set visible in the distance. She taps again and it's a gentle rain coating a vibrant city that isn't even encased in a dome. Turning on electric isn't a concern, since if someone does care enough to check the old building out it surely won't be until they are all gone tomorrow morning.
Josh and Zoe continue exploring, discovering three bedrooms each with their own bathroom. "Dibs on my own room!" Josh yells gleefully, enthralled that he gets to close a door to block out his sisters and be truly alone for an entire night. In eighteen years, he's never known such privacy.
"If Josh gets his own room so do I!" Zoe announces, scurrying past the others toward the largest where she sits content on the floor, opening and closing an inside the house kind of door because it is such a new phenomenon.
"Guess I still can't escape the couch," Mark jokes, smiling at Maddy.
As much as Maddy just wants to curl into a ball and sleep until the pilgrimage, her eyes can't help but drift from Mark's smile to his obvious injuries. They have some serious cleaning up to do before sleep. They gather the medical supplies they'd stuffed into their terra nova sacks for this very reason.
Josh has a severely sprained ankle which Maddy helps him wrap up.
Mark certainly made it out in the worst shape, covered in cuts and bruises from his fist fight with Curran. Unfortunately, with no freezer thanks to the lack of appliances in the kitchen, the best they can do in the way of cold compresses is running cold water and soaking rags. "How's your head?" Maddy asks concerned as she brings Mark another cold rag. There's a swollen knot on the side of his face where Curran's gun whipped him.
"It's fine, Maddy."
"You probably have a concussion," she shakes her head, disapproving of how he blows off his injury. "Concussions are serious. They're a form of traumatic brain injury that can cause headaches, confusion or memory loss, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, ringing in the ears …"
"Maddy?" Mark cuts her off tiredly. "I only have a slight headache, it's okay." He sighs, or attempts to, and Maddy is distracted from the head injury by the obvious discomfort Mark is in from taking a deep breath.
She glares at him pointedly and stands up with her arms crossed. "Take off your shirt," she says with a blush. Mark raises his eyebrows. "I know your injured, now let me help you. And I can only help you if I can see the injury."
Mark slowly pulls his shirt off, getting a first glimpse himself of the large bruise already forming on his side. "Does it hurt to breathe in?" Maddy asks to which Mark nods. "Lean over and tell me out it feels."
"It only hurts when I twist to the side."
"Okay now …" Maddy gently tries to touch the area and Mark jumps out of her reach.
"OW!" he says poignantly.
"Broken rib," Maddy responds sheepishly. "I think your rib is broken. Unfortunately, it'll take a month or two to completely heal and all you can really do is ice it for the pain and take meds. Luckily, it doesn't appear to have punctured any vital organs, so congrats!"
"I'm truly honored," Mark says with amusement.
They all gather around to distribute the food they'd stashed in their bags before leaving the apartment this morning and force themselves to gulp down water and a little sustenance. Maddy then draws Zoe a bath, the little girl sound asleep by the time her older sister carries and tucks her into bed, the biggest bed just as she wanted. Maddy is grateful for a turn to shower before joining her.
Taking off her dirt-covered blood-stained clothes feels like shedding an old skin. She's already feeling much better when she steps into the falling water, playing with the different settings from a panel on the wall. The warm mist is the nicest thing Maddy thinks she has ever felt. She closes her eyes and lets it run over her, rubbing the horrors of the day off her skin and down the drain.
By the time she finishes, the bathroom is filled with fog and her skin is pink and tingling from the heat. Maddy changes into sweatpants and a tank top before exiting the bathroom and sneaking past a sleeping Zoe. Despite having to force something down her throat earlier, now that she is refreshed the grumble in her stomach is truly calling.
After grabbing a snack off the island in the kitchen, Maddy notices a freshly showered Mark sitting on the couch in the living room. He is hunched over with his elbows on his knees. As she quietly pads over to him, she notices him staring intently at something gold in his hands. "I'd ask if you're okay," Maddy says softly, causing Mark to startle slightly though he'd never admit it. "But that would be an inadequate question, I suppose."
Marks looks up with a ghost of a smile gracing his tired face and motions for her to sit next to him. "Thank you for asking anyway," he tells her as he watches her eyes flutter down toward the necklace in his hands.
"Ken always wore that," Maddy points out.
"Yeah," Mark sighs. "Yeah, he did. He … he left someone behind. They were about to start a family." Marks voice breaks and Maddy immediately places a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. She was never a huge fan of physical affection, definitely not to be described as a touchy-feely kind of person. It was perhaps a natural defense, a barrier she built to hide the torment and abuse she suffered at school. Let people too close and they'll see the scars, they'll ask too many questions, they'll get hurt too … or realize she deserves what she gets and back away.
But with Mark, it is natural to want to touch him, to at least offer him a comforting hand when he's obviously in pain. Maddy finds it strange to be in the same room as him and not be next to him. Over these last few weeks, they've grown so close, she's grown so used to having him by her side.
Mark automatically places a large hand over hers. "I can't think about him right now," he says. "It too much. I'm too … tired."
"Do you want to get some sleep?" Maddy asks.
"Do you?"
Maddy purses her lips, speculating that he was planning on staying up all night, acting as guard though it is highly unlikely anyone would find them up here.
"Can I … Do you wanna see something? Can I show you …?" Mark sounds nervous, but Maddy merely nods, fitting her hand in his as he leads her from the couch to the door. "You don't think they'll notice, do you?" Mark asks, referring to her siblings.
With a furrowed brow, Maddy shakes her head to the negative. "They're both out cold," she says, wondering where Mark is taking her, what he wants to show her. She's curious, but she isn't worried. Mark has proved time and time again that he values her safety immensely … sometimes above his own. There's also an instinctual element to Maddy trusting Mark. It feels right.
Mark leads the way out of the apartment and to the end of the hall where a narrow door sits in the corner. It slides away as they stand in front, and the two begin up a short ladder. At the top, Mark pushes some sort of hatch open and climbs through himself before pulling Maddy up behind him.
They step out onto clean floors surrounded by four walls of darkness. Maddy's eyes adjust to notice the burst of electric running through the surrounding enclosure. "Is it … it's like a dome? A tiny dome …"
Mark carefully leads her over toward the nearest wall, catching her when she trips over her own feet in the darkness. She is glad he can't see the blush that ignites on her face with his fit body so close to her own. It dawns on Maddy just as they approach the wall that this must be a combination of a dome and the fake windows she saw downstairs. Confirming her theory, Mark taps the wall and world around them changes, showing the images the windows in the apartment did, but on a much larger scale. A scale so large it really feels like they're living in those fantasy worlds with bright blue skies and dark green trees.
Mark taps the wall a few more times until the fantasy fades and they are left staring out at the city of Chicago. Maddy gasps, realizing they are on the roof of the building, and Mark steadies her without hesitation. "It's enclosed, so you can't fall," he explains.
"How do you …" Maddy starts, but she is so focused on taking in her city like she's never seen it before. It sure is something when you managed to render Maddy Shannon speechless. "How do you know about all this?" she finally voices the curiosity that's been burning throughout her body since they crawled under that fence.
"I hadn't really thought about it until I was driving earlier, thinking about where we could go to hide out," Mark explains. "It's easier to show you …"
They walk toward the other side of the roof as thunder booms in the distance and the sun sets. Mark points to their right. "The tallest building over there is the hospital," he says before pointing left and adding, "And if you look that way you can see Hope Plaza."
Maddy's mouth is agape as she takes it all in.
"When my mom was in the hospital," Mark continues, "and it became clear that she wasn't ever going to leave, Emily stayed by her side all of the time. Our father went to work every day then straight home every evening, pretending that it wasn't happening. And when I wasn't getting into fights at school," Mark shrugged. "I'd run. I'd explore. And I found this place. It seemed like it was built for me. I'd sit up here and look at the hospital and think of my mom, and when that became too much, I'd turn toward Hope Plaza and think about the future."
"Oh, Mark."
They stand silently together, looking out at the city, the only home either have ever known. The hospital beckons Maddy because of its ties to her mom too, of course, in a different manner than Mark. A few hours ago, she believed she'd never see her mom again. She's almost afraid of looking toward Hope Plaza now, of allowing herself to look toward hope so blatantly. In the morning, she will walk in there and never come out, while Mark remains here.
Maddy can't – and doesn't want to – imagine what his life will look like after they have moved on, what with him and his sister in the middle of a huge fight and recruitment wanting him apprehended no doubt. But there's a part of her, the part that secretly loves reading melodramatic 20th century romance novels before bed, that imagines days from now Mark will be standing the exact same spot, but she will no longer be by his side. He'll look at the hospital and think of his mom, and then he'll look toward Hope Plaza, but instead of seeing hope, he'll see her face and think of every time he was passed over for recruitment. Both will be places associated with loss.
"What are you thinking?" Mark asks her.
"Penny for your thoughts," Maddy says softly. "It's what they used to say back in the older times. Before the world was like this, so grey and brown and … lifeless. Penny for your thoughts, Markus Reynolds?"
"I'm afraid I don't have a penny to spare, Miss Shannon," Mark grins, "but I'd give much more than a penny to hear what's on your mind. Your thoughts are worth much more."
Maddy giggles, saying that she doesn't think they meant it so literally.
Another clap of thunder rolls, and Mark says they should probably head inside. All of the sunlight has filtered from the sky now, but Maddy still looks at the silhouette of the city center, all of the buildings lit up from late-night workers and parents just now getting home to their kids. She looks up to an empty sky, a canvas void of all but brown and black clouds, and she is moved nearly to tears, though she is too tired to shed them. "I wish you could see the stars with me," she admits, looking at Mark with wide eyes. "That's what I was thinking."
Maddy shrugs and turns away, back toward the hatch to go inside and get a few hours of sleep. If this had been a romance novel, he would have dipped her back against the backdrop of their city, she would have been graceful and not crashed to the ground, and they would have kissed. But it isn't a romance novel, it's life, a life not interesting enough for such fantasies of the mind to become a reality.
After tonight, Mark won't be in Maddy's life anymore. And while they've grown close, no bond can stretch millions of years. And he probably doesn't even think of you that way, a mean voice sounding very similar to Louise's reminds Maddy in the back of her head. Mean, but honest.
Maddy starts down the ladder with Mark behind her, but when she reaches the bottom, she can't bring herself to open the door. In this small space, it is only her and Mark and darkness, and the darkness makes it seem almost like a dream without consequences. Maddy can't forget this will probably be their last moment alone together.
"Mark?" she whispers.
"Yeah?"
"Did you think we were gonna die out there?"
She doesn't need to clarify that her mind has gone back to earlier, to the alley. Mark considers her question carefully. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Maddy," he declares. "Okay, not tonight, not ever."
Neither say what they are both thinking – that such promise will be impossible to keep. What matters is the heart and truth behind the sentiment. As long as they are together, it will all be okay.
"Okay good," Maddy finally cracks a small smile but is unable to meet his eyes. They stand face to face in the dark little alcove, Maddy eye level with his broad chest when she takes a breath. "Because I was this close to asking you to kiss me …" she sighs a shaky, nervous sigh, "so that I'd know what it's like before I died."
"Well …" Mark begins, and Maddy plays through all of the worst possibilities in her mind. Well luckily it didn't have to come to that, I suppose. Well it doesn't seem fair to kiss you just so you can experience it because I don't like you that way, Maddy, and you deserve something real. But what he says is "Well, maybe I should. Ya … you know just – just in case."
He sounds almost as nervous as she which is strangely calming. Mark leans down slightly, and Maddy gulps in his warm breath. He places his lips hesitantly against hers, and she responds in kind. His lips are soft, gentle, just like he is.
The kiss is simple. It's innocent. But it also feels like everything because all of Maddy's self-doubt is smashed in a matter of seconds. Maddy muses to herself, head spinning, I suppose we did see stars together after all.
They break apart, both grinning widely.
"Now I can die," she jokes, and Mark promises her that won't be happening on his watch as they head back toward the beckoning of safe beds for the night.