Archie Macmillan cut an intimidating figure.
Meg stood mostly alone in the large room, surrounded by dozens of people as survivors and killers alike all spoke with their family members. Meg could see Nea talking with her parents, and though there was subtle tension in Nea's posture, but she seemed to be giving them a chance.
Meg looked to her side to see Phillip standing close by, watching her and Max, swiveling his head between them. Max stood in front of his parents. The senior Thompson was large in his own right, but looked small next to the former Hillbilly. None of the three said anything to each other, they just glared at each other intensely.
Claudette was having an emotional reunion with her parents, and Meg watched with both envy and happiness for her. Thankfully, Meg was not alone, because Bill stood beside her as she surveyed the room and took it all in. The once old man, now only in his fifties, didn't seem to have anyone coming to see him, just like she didn't.
Meg stayed close to him, her brain latching on to the only other person who wasn't with someone else. It was actually rather ironic. Her friends all had their own lives and other people to talk to, but Bill, her father, was always there for her when they couldn't be.
Meg was keeping track of how far away he was from her. It was mostly subconscious, but once Evan had stepped away from her in preparation for his father's arrival, she'd latched onto Bill.
At the reminder of Evan, Meg turned to look at him, and by extension, his father. Like she'd previously noticed, Archie Macmillan was exactly how Meg expected him to look from what Evan described him as. He was much like The Doctor, deceptively human, but with a putrid wickedness that seeped out of the cracks in his mask.
He was tall, almost as tall as Evan. His eyes met around Evan's chin, and the Macmillan patriarch obviously wasn't happy with it. But, if what she'd seen and heard of him was anything to go off of, nothing made him happy. As if to further support the idea, Meg had noticed hag he had a permanent scowl on his face.
His features were actually similar to Evan's, sharing the hawk like eyes and defined, proportionate nose. The biggest difference was his facial hair. Evan was clean shaven, with maybe the tiniest little bit on his jaw that could only be noticed if touched, while Archie sported a large and noticeable mustache. It was one stereotypical of men from the eighteen hundreds, and not common in the modern day.
Archie may have well been a long dead robber baron brought back to life.
Most of his attention was on Evan, looking his son up and down, and especially in the eyes. Archie's eyes were not like Evan's. His were an almost unnatural yellow that belonged on a mythical monster.
Evan, despite his much more human eyes, was doing an incredible job of imitating his father. The once comforting and beautiful eyes Meg had always seen gazing at her in the manor were hardened. They betrayed nothing, no joy, no anger, just cold apathy. The fact that they were partly lidded truly sold how little it looked like he cared.
It was probably how he had looked in trials under the mask of The Trapper.
However, in regards to everyone else, Meg both wanted it to end faster, but also never stop. If it ended faster, she wouldn't have to deal with the torture of knowing that her friends were possibly minutes away from leaving her. But if it took forever, then she'd get to stay with them, even if for only a little longer.
Bill placed a hand on her shoulder, and Meg looked up at him. Bill didn't look happy, but he didn't look angry either. If anything, he looked sympathetic. Meg already knew that he understood how she felt, but it still was touching to her. She gave him another bone crushing hug.
Bill groaned. "Red, I might not be eighty, but I'm not your age anymore." He said, twisting his back once she let go of him.
Meg's lips twitched. "I know, I'm just..." Meg stopped herself, not wanting to admit how emotional she felt with so many people in earshot.
"I get it." Bill said.
Meg looked down, she didn't want to call him a liar or say that he didn't, but there was so much more to how she felt that he didn't even know about. She looked up at him. "I..." Meg cut herself short again.
Bill picked up where she left off. "Trust me Meg, I've been alive for much longer than you have. I know you're scared." He said, rubbing her shoulder.
"Evan has to go back to his estate because of his father, everyone else has their own families that have been missing them, and your mother just passed away." Bill surmised, not making Meg feel any better. She looked up at him pitifully, hopefully conveying that she didn't need the reminder.
Bill sighed. "I know you're scared of being alone Meg. I don't blame you, anybody would after what your old man did to you." He said, but before he could continue, Meg's face hardened.
"Don't even call him that, he's not my father..." Meg paused, her face softening as the anger slipped away. "You are." She said quietly, unable to look him in the eye.
She heard a huff of amusement from Bill, and then felt him give her a bone crushing hug just like the one she'd given him a few minutes ago. Meg groaned at the pressure, Bill was stronger than he looked, but she grabbed him and squeezed right back.
"You're making me all emotional Red." He said, his voice a little lighter and almost...happier, than she'd heard it in a long time. "Haven't had anyone left in a long time. Never married, I was more committed to fighting than anything else, my parents died, and the friends I made fighting left for their own families." Bill said.
Meg's heart ached for him. He had been living her worst nightmare for years.
"But now, I know what I was missing out on by never finding someone special, and what comes after that." Bill said, chuckling and patting her on the back. He stepped back. "It sounds stupid, because I know that if I did, It wouldn't have been you. It would've been some other brat." Bill said with a smile.
Meg covered her mouth with her hand. The words her mom had spoken in the video echoing in her mind.
Why couldn't Bill have been her biological father?
Meg slammed into him without a word, hiding her face as tears leaked from her eyes. Bill seemed to understand, because he didn't say anything, all he did was pat her back and wait for her to regain her composure.
'What did I do to deserve someone like you in my life?' Meg thought. Because even though Bill hadn't been in her life from the beginning, what he'd done in the time she'd known him was more than worth the wait. So, she decided to try and return the favor.
"Even though my biological father left me, and even though he gave me abandonment issues, getting to have you as my dad was worth it." She said.
Bill went silent, his breathing shallow. Meg was almost scared she'd said the wrong thing. She backed away from him in a panic, looking at his face to see his reaction. However, it was not the horrified look she had expected. It shocked her, but not because Bill had been repulsed.
But because William "Bill" Overbeck, was crying.
Well, he wasn't crying, but Meg could see how wet his eyes were. The tears were there, ready to fall, but Bill stubbornly held them back. He looked at her with something in his gaze that Meg couldn't decipher. When Bill slowly stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, it finally clicked in her head.
Had Bill ever been told that he was worth the hardship and suffering? He had always consoled her and others when times were tough, acted as the authority and father figure that they needed. But had any of them come as friends and family to him when he was in their position?
"I'm sorry I never was there for you when you needed it." Meg said sadly.
Bill let out a single laugh. "You knuckle head." He said with amusement. "I'm the father in this relationship, you're not supposed to know or be concerned about my problems. I'm supposed to do that for yours." He said, sounding almost remorseful.
Meg scoffed. "What do you mean I'm not supposed to know about your problems?!" She asked, sounding incredulous. What was he saying? And how was that fair to himself!?
Bill rolled his eyes. "A good parent, if they can help it, doesn't tell their kid what they're afraid of or what is going wrong in their life until the kid is old enough to handle it." Bill said.
Meg didn't feel convinced in the slightest. "Well I am old enough to handle it." Meg said indignantly. "I'm twenty four-five." Meg corrected herself mid sentence.
Bill smiled. "Yes you may be old enough to understand, but it doesn't mean I should be venting all my frustrations to you. It's just how the relationship between a parent a child should be." He explained matter of factly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Bill continued before she could interject. "In most cases, if I'm having a problem, I'd go to a friend or my wife if I was having trouble. I'm not gonna drag you down with my issues." He said, summoning the same tone he used to use in The Fog when he was putting his foot down. Meg got the message, what he just said was final.
The red head rolled her eyes. She'd heard him talk like that so many time by that point. It had mostly lost its authoritative air with her.
"Fine." Meg huffed, giving up on trying to convince him. He made a decent point. It certainly would've been weird or disheartening if her mother had gone and vented to her about her lack of a love life or how scared she was of the cancer.
Meg looked away to check the rest of the room. It appeared that Nea was introducing Phillip to her parents. The Nigerian was probably busting out all the charm he used on Nea and then some to gain their approval. Meg could see him gesticulating as he said something both too quiet and just barely too far away for Meg to hear.
The runner looked at a different part of the room to see Claudette doing the same with Max. The southern farmer had put some distance between himself and his parents, the two elder Thompson's still glaring from the edge of the room.
Max seemed rather shy, and Meg could tell that Claudette's parents had also noticed. Claudette's father shook Max's hand before talking about something Meg also couldn't hear. He was probably just trying to find common ground and see what Max was like.
Meg could see Kate and Ace standing next to each other, their arms linked as they talked to what looked to be their respective parents and siblings. The red head could only imagine how surprised Ace's family was at how much more mature the gambler was. Meanwhile, Kate's family looked over the moon she'd found someone for herself.
Laurie was with Michael, talking to their parents and a woman who looked to be a couple years older than Michael. Meg tried to remember anybody else in the family that Laurie had mentioned.
Judith. Judith Myers. That's who the woman was.
Joey was off by himself looking rather awkward until, a black couple looking eerily like him, approached him. It must have been his parents.
Everyone else was doing the same. Jake stood next to Susie, talking to his older brother and parents, and Susie was hugging the life out of her own mother and father while introducing them to Jake. Dwight was talking to his parents, and unexpected to Meg, it didn't look as awkward as she'd expected it to be.
Sally was talking to her own parents and what Meg guessed to be her sister. Just like everyone else was doing with their significant other, Sally was introduced to Dwight's parents while she introduced Dwight to her's.
Everyone looked so happy to see their family again, and everyone seemed eager to introduce their parents to the person of their romantic interest.
'At least I've got Bill' Meg thought to herself. She would've been all alone without him. Evan was off with his father, and Meg wanted absolutely nothing to do with Archie Macmillan. What she wanted was him to just disappear and never come back. That way she could finally have the happy peaceful life she'd been wanting for years.
She turned around back to Bill, but saw that he was looking at her almost sadly. There was a certain regret in his face that Meg found unmistakable. "Bill?" She asked, wanting to know what was on his mind.
"Hmm?" He hummed, coming back to reality and actually looking at her, rather than staring into space.
"You just looked kind of sad." She said. "What we talked about before isn't still bothering you is it?" Meg asked, furrowing her eyebrows in concern.
Bill shook his head. "Oh no, I'm fine. I was just thinking about the past." He said. Meg didn't exactly know what to say in response to that, but thankfully Bill wasn't done taking yet.
"But I think it's about time we talk about something more important." He stated off with. "Meg, where are you gonna go after you leave?" Bill said, looking concerned. He took a quick glance at the others all around them, and Meg followed suit, her heart aching as she did.
"I..." She hesitated. "I guess I'll just go home..." She said. Bill looked disappointed. "I remember that my mom paid off all of the debt we had with the money we got, so I guess I'll inherit the house." Meg said, thinking back to her old home.
It was going to be so cold and empty now.
"Are you sure?" Bill asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Where else would I go?" Meg said, the question sounding small and nihilistic. She looked over at Evan, and then at his father. She longed to be with him, whether it was at her tiny bungalow or in his giant manor, or perhaps a different place that was a mix between. Some place just right for the two of them, and maybe...
Meg let the though drift away. She wanted it to happen. She wanted it to happen so badly it hurt, but she was getting ahead of herself. Archie still stood between them, and they were still so fresh and new to their romantic relationship. Meg knew she needed time to get Evan completely out of his shell, and Meg knew she needed to get completely out of hers in return.
Bill sighed next to her, and Meg looked at him over her shoulder. It didn't seem like he was using that to get her attention, but that he was genuinely sighing. Meg tried to read him and figure out what was wrong, but all she could get from him was that he seemed hesitant. It was almost as if he was afraid to speak.
"You could..." Bill started, sounding like he wanted to suggest a place, but backed out at the last moment. "You could always stay with me." He finally offered, looking at her hopefully. His gruff voice would make it difficult for someone who didn't know him to tell how he was feeling, but Meg had learned all the tiny little ups and downs in his voice that told how he really felt.
Meg stared at him in disbelief and fully turned to him. "You'd really...do that?" She asked, shocked at the offer. It actually sounded rather nice.
Bill nodded. "My house has been empty for decades, even with me in it." The veteran said. Although, he was too young to have fought in the Vietnam war, he would've been a newborn or just a child when it happened. So was he still a veteran?
"Hey Bill?" Meg asked. "It's a bit off topic, but I was just thinking. You never did fight in the Vietnam war, did you?" She asked, looking at him quizzically. Being in that experiment had really confused fantasy with reality.
Bill chuckled. "No, I was only born a couple of months after America joined the Vietnam war. But I did fight in the First Gulf War." Bill said proudly, a wide smile on his face at the memories he had.
Meg's eyebrows rose. "You did?" She asked, impressed. She hadn't even been alive back then, and she was only a little girl when the second Gulf War happened. "Wait, when is your birthday?" She asked.
"May seventh, nineteen sixty five." Bill said. "You still feel old Meg?" He teased, raising one eyebrow at her.
Meg shivered a little bit from both the chill room, and the thought of getting that old when she was still in her prime. "Not even slightly." She said.
"Good." Bill said, placing his arm over her shoulders. "You've got almost your entire life ahead of you still." He paused, looking to the ceiling in memory. "I made some good friends over in the Middle East. Real tough guys. They were all there for different reasons, some were so patriotic they enlisted, others had bad family they wanted to escape, and some needed the money, but all of them were decent men." Bill said.
Meg tried to picture a mid twenties Bill with a bunch of other soldiers. She imagined them all huddled together in the desert or Kuwait or Iraq, watching each other's backs in a similar way she'd done for Bill and the others in the trials. They must have been good friends, but like Bill said, eventually drifted apart over time.
Meg tried to not think of that happening with her and the others. She'd already dwelled on the awful possibility enough as it was.
"We drifted apart as time went on. Some of them left the military after their four years were up, some got transferred, and I stayed in the army until the late 90's." Bill explained, answering any questions she had.
"But what do you say red? Care to stay with your old man for a while?" Bill asked. Meg smiled at him, feeling somewhat surprised he'd managed to get her to when the death of her mom still hung thick in the air and in the back of her mind.
"I'd love to." She responded gently. She gave him one last hug, and then after a few minutes they began to be escorted off one at a time. Everyone had different flights to catch she supposed, so she spent those few minutes asking Bill where he lived, and making plans with him to move her stuff.
Even as all of her friends scattered, and the end of their relationships being a constant threat, she still had Bill. So she was going to cling to what she had, and cling to Evan. Because right now, she felt like she was in a tug of war with Archie Macmillan ,and Evan was the rope.
Or maybe she wasn't part of the struggle at all. Maybe she was just cheering Evan on as he tried to win the tug of war against his father. It was probably the latter, but Meg still clung to him so that when he won, she'd be the first person he'd turn to in his victory and celebration.
Evan had very... visceral feelings towards his father. However, it was the nature of those feelings that set their relationship apart from the others he knew.
Evan had learned he was a very visceral person in general. Maybe it was from the abuse he suffered as a child, maybe it was just how his mind operated, but regardless of why, Evan knew that his perceptions of people were usually to an extreme. It was one end or the other, and the only way to be in the middle was to be a complete stranger.
So, in line with that scale, words could not describe the utter hatred he felt towards his father. But in contrast, despite how others would say that his and Meg's relationship was still so fresh, he loved her intensely. He looked at her the way his father had looked at his mother when he was still a little boy.
When he looked at her, he saw startling blue eyes, blood red hair, and an athletic physique that he now shamelessly stared at ever since he first kissed her. But he also stared at her for more reasons than the physical. Yes, her athletic shape was gorgeous to him, but there were still curvier women in the world.
However, he knew that his eyes would always be drawn to her over any model because of the time they'd spent together. It was difficult to articulate, but it was something about her spirit, her wit, her charm, and natural loving demeanor that seemed to enhance her physical looks. It was almost like a glow that drew him in like a moth to a bright light.
He doubted any woman would be able to make him smile like she did, much less get him to open up like he had before.
Evan felt himself relax at the thought of her. He looked over at her briefly, and saw that she was talking to the now not so old war veteran Bill. Meg had all but stated that he was her father figure since her actual father had abandoned her.
The heir to the Macmillan fortune distinctly remembered the stare down he'd had with Bill. Meg had been the reason behind it, as Bill was distrustful oh him, while Evan had been concerned and protective of Meg.
His relationship with the old veteran would have to improve later on if he wanted his life to be easier. Evan might even need his blessing later on as well. Bill didn't seem so bad, so Evan was willing to give him a chance, especially if it made Meg happy.
"Evan." A deep voice called. It wasn't as deep as Evan's own, but it sounded similar, if not more hoarse. The heir to the Macmillan estate completed his turn, and faced the owner of the voice. It was his father, Archie Macmillan.
"Yes father?" Evan replied, making sure his voice was completely devoid of all emotion. He sounded like he was dead inside, just as his father wanted him to. To Archie, inflection meant emotion, and the only things a Macmillan should feel were greed, anger, and sadism.
Evan didn't know what to expect from his father. He certainly didn't expect him to ask how he was, but couldn't come up with anything else off of the top of his head.
"Production at the mines has gone down in the last four months." His father said while glaring at Evan as if it were his fault. "We return later today, and the first thing you'll do tomorrow is make sure that those maggots pick up the pace." He said harshly, anger and frustration creeping into his voice.
He was as heartless as Evan remembered him.
"It will be done." Evan said blankly, not moving a single facial muscle but his lips to speak, and his eye lids to blink. He looked like the perfect enforcer.
Archie Macmillan stared him down, and even took a step forward so he was right in Evan's face. Despite being the shorter one, Archie did not seem bothered or intimidated by Evan's size in the slightest. Evan chalked it up to the atrophy.
Once he got his muscle back his father would ease his tone. Or perhaps he wouldn't. Evan genuinely didn't know how confident his father was in his obedience. But it didn't matter, Evan had his loyalties and had chosen his side. There would come a day where his father would gaze upon him with fear, or begrudging respect.
Archie had yellow eyes, and they glared into Evan's green ones with a soulless fury that could make any man who didn't expect it flinch. But Evan had lived with this demon in human skin from the day he was born, the scar he carried on his jaw was a testament to how cruel Archie was. Evan was not phased, because Archie hadn't truly scared him in seven years.
When Evan refused to back down and look away, Archie sneered and looked away dismissively. The Macmillan patriarch scanned the room, and for a moment his gaze was firmly fixated on Meg and Bill.
Evan followed his gaze and felt his hands clench. Seeing his father even glance in Meg's direction was enough to make his hands ball into fists and his arms inflexible. Meg was crying, but thankfully being comforted by Bill, who's shirt she used to hide her face.
Evan forced himself to remain cool, and thankfully, Archie turned and looked away. After a couple more disgusted glances at the other survivors and the killer's they'd befriended, or fallen in love with, he tuned back to Evan. "They are all pathetic." Archie spat, and with that, he began to leave the room and head for the exit.
Evan perfectly understood what his father wanted. "They are indeed." It was all Evan could bring himself to say. He followed his father with large, slow steps, and heard his father start to speak again a few seconds later once they'd gone into a hallway.
"That red headed whore was quite pathetic, and so was that old man, but at least she has some value in her beauty. I imagine a night with her would be quite enjoyable." Archie leered. He said it casually and offhanded, speaking purely for the sake of demeaning others. But this wasn't just anyone, it was Meg he was talking about.
Evan felt rage burn hot in his chest. His jaw clenched almost painfully, and he put his hands behind his back to hide how tightly clenched they were, playing it off as simply clasping them together. His father would pay for that insult, along with everything else.
But not yet.
Archie Macmillan was deeply paranoid. Evan knew it because he had inherited the almost irrational fear from him. However, his father was also arrogant. It was a byproduct of the insane wealth and power his father held over their small town of Weeks, and even the nearby big city of Seattle.
The workers of the mines he owned were terrified of him, and he knew it. Despite how it was the modern twenty first century with unions to protect workers rights, Archie Macmillan had found a way to intimidate all of his workers into submission. Not to mention the borderline illegal working conditions and pay he handed out.
Evan had learned that Archie looked for a particular type of worker for his mines. They were usually the unluckiest of Americans. Most were uneducated, or never completed school, but also desperately needed a job to make money and support themselves or their loved ones.
Archie used that desperation and ignorance to rope them into his mines straight from Hell. They worked long hours, minimum wage, dangerous conditions, and due to coal being one of the biggest ores harvested behind iron, many would get black lung even with protective gear. Those masks didn't do much when they were faulty.
Evan had seen it all. He'd been one of the only miners to receive legitimate breathing gear for the mines. His father may have considered him weak as a teenager and young man, but he was still a Macmillan and his father's only heir. The rest of the breathing gear was old and failing. The tools they were handed were also not new either.
They may as well have been working in a third world country.
"Yes. Just a girl with nothing to offer but her appearance." Evan said, echoing his father's words. His father Archie nodded his head almost imperceptibly, and eventually walked out the door of the building. Evan followed, seeing a black limousine waiting for them, and a perfectly blank faced chauffeur opening the door. The chauffeur understood what all the Macmillan employees, and Evan himself understood.
'Play your role, show no emotion.' Anything less but total obedience and perfection was playing with your life. Because Archie wasn't afraid of making someone disappear. He had the money to make authorities look the other way, and hired thugs to do the dirty work for him.
Evan had to go a step further with the mantra as heir. 'Anything but rage, greed, and apathy will result in mockery and suffering.' Evan thought to himself. It was almost exactly what he told himself every day as a boy up until he entered The Fog. To do anything his father wouldn't do was weakness, and deserving of punishment until the weakness left his body.
Evan's fists clenched. Old habits die hard, and it was clear the teachings Archie had forcibly hammered into his brain didn't want to leave. Although, maybe it wasn't that they wouldn't go away, but that Evan was afraid of what his father would do to him if he rejected the lessons and broke free.
Dark green eyes bore into the back of his father's skull as they climbed into the car. Evan wanted to hit him over the back of the head and end it all now, but he was too weak. Despite his superior size, he'd lost too much weight, too much strength. It certainly didn't help that his father was still quite strong, not to mention large, for a man in his late fifties.
A superior weapon would certainly tip the odds in his favor, but even if he succeeded, he would get sent to prison for patricide. No, he needed to prove that his father was deserving of death in the eyes of the public and the law before he could end him. But his father was rich, and bribe more than just the cops. Judge's were still human after all.
Evan would need evidence. He would need proof so undeniable that any attempt to exonerate his father or declare him innocent would cause outrage. That was the second thing he'd need, publicity. Once Evan betrayed his father the world had to be watching it all unfold.
It would have to be perfectly set up. It would be a bear trap so cleverly camouflaged, with jaws so lethal, and springs so tight that escape would be impossible.
These things would take time however. Evan already knew he would be sent back to the mines once they arrived, but he would not complain, would not request any breaks. It would be no good, but Evan could use the harsh climates of the underground to regain his strength, to harden himself into the perfect fake heir.
Evan's mind drifted to Meg. She'd be heart broken if he came back to her like the stoic husk she'd first met him as. That couldn't happen. But in a situation like his? How in the world was he going to beat his father, and retain his humanity?
He didn't want to turn into The Trapper again, but The Trapper was the only thing Archie wanted him to be. Pretending to still be him was the only way.
'Forgive me Meg' Evan thought. He promised he would come back to her, and he didn't think he'd be able to ever live with himself if she looked at him like a stranger when he did.
"Dad?" A voice called out quietly.
Alex Fishback raised his head when he heard the voice.
His daughter, Rebecca Fishback, walked into the room slowly. Her body coming into view around the arch of her father's office. Alex stood up, walking around his desk. "Honey, what are you doing up? You should be resting." Her father said, coming up to her and placing his hands on her shoulders.
Rebecca had dark hair just like him, while her older sister harmony had blonde hair like their mother. Though both girls had the same green eyes as their father, while their mother Vivian had light brown irises.
"I just want to know what's gonna happen." Rebecca said, looking up at him with worry. It hurt Alex's heart to see his daughter that way. He had been in pain ever since he'd heard her diagnosis. But what good parent wouldn't feel like the world was ending when faced with their child slowly dying?
Alex sighed. He hadn't figured out all the details yet, but he knew what the best course of action would be. He'd have to find Meg Thomas and Doctor Forsyth, and he'd have to beg for them to cure Rebecca. It was the best chance his daughter had for survival.
He could try and find Doctor Forsyth's address, and he still remembered where Meg Thomas lived. But that was only if she still lived there. It was entirely possible that she could've moved all the way across the country by now, but he had to hope.
"I'm still figuring it all out, but it's gonna be okay." Alex said, hugging his daughter close. "We're gonna make sure that you'll be okay." He said softly. He was giving his daughter his best attempts at comfort because he knew she needed it. Rebecca was staring death right in the face, and now, the last person they ever expected was the one who held the cure.
Meg Thomas.
"Am I going to finally get to meet her?" Rebecca asked. Alex knew to whom she was referring to, and he nodded. "Yes. You will." He said. He wished they could've met under better, less stressful circumstances, but this might be the only circumstance in which they'd ever see her in this life.
They hadn't been able to see her before, and now they could. But if they waited too long, she could move and outright disappear without a trace. Then, if that happened, Rebecca's chances of survival would drop.
Alex didn't want to believe that Meg Thomas was his daughter's only hope for survival. After all, the country was trying to help as many people as it could. But with the cure so new, there was bound to be shortages, and her daughter didn't have much time to wait. They needed it now before her condition began to deteriorate.
"We'll go find her, you and Harmony can finally meet her, and we'll get you a cure..." Alex paused, feeling guilt choke his voice. "It's gonna be okay." He said, beginning to crack. His daughter sensed the change in his voice immediately, and hugged him tightly accordingly. "I know, but are you gonna be okay dad?" She asked, sounding worried for him more than herself.
Alex marveled at how calm his daughter was at the whole situation. She was a trooper alright, death was coming to knock on her door and here she was, more concerned for his feelings because she knew the storm that was coming for him. He nodded his head.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm okay." He said softly, holding back the fear he felt in his chest and gut. The future going forward was going to be a nightmare for him, and he was going to be faced with all his past mistakes.
He knew he probably deserved it. Meg was probably going to give him hell. But he wouldn't blame her.
After all, he had abandoned her as a baby. He'd come back when she was an eleven year old girl out of guilt, but then left when he remembered the promise he'd made to Vivian to raise their two daughters. It hadn't been fair to Meg that he'd chosen Harmony, Rebecca, and Vivian over her and her mother, but it was what he'd done.
He'd been an idiot and a coward as a young man, and it was what has gotten him stuck in between a rock and a hard place. It was what forced him to make a choice that changed his, and Meg's life forever.
He still remembered the day Meg's mother, Sally, had told him that she was pregnant, and he still felt the shame in leaving not long after. He tried to be the best possible father for Rebecca and Harmony, setting the best example he could. But he knew deep down that it would never make up for what he'd done to Meg.