Madison awoke, she felt the thirst upon her tongue and the weakness in her body before she even opened her eyes. She thought back to the last thing she remembered. The dam.. the water.. Nick.. Alicia..
She opened her eyes and looked around. She had awoken in a house, the white ceiling was her first sight, she then noticed she was on a red couch, her feet propped up slightly on one side of the piece of furniture. A now defect TV laid in front of her, adjacent to a small glass table which a full glass of water sat on.
It was night out, she tried to focus her eyes and look out to see where she had woken up at, but her blurred vision forbade her from being able to. The weighting light of a candle was her only way to look around.
Madison moved her body upwards, she felt as if she had a weight constricting her body, causing each limb to be heavier than she could lift.
But she did, she sat up, feeling dizzy in her head and nauseous, but she prevailed. She tried to stand, but when she got halfway up, still using her hands for support, her legs gave out.
She fell onto the marble flooring with a thud. She didn't know if it was loud enough to alert any inhabitants of the house, or if the occupants of the house were even in the building with her. She reached over for the glass of water. In her hand she could feel the lukewarm water in the glass. She half expected it to be ice cold, a remnant of her old life in Los Angeles.
She barely felt the water touch her tongue before her weakened hands gave out, the glass slipped and hit the floor. Breaking into many shards with a crash.
Goddamnit she cursed herself. If the people in the house with her didn't hear her falling from the couch, they definitely heard the glass breaking.
And she was correct, within 10 seconds she heard the creak of a door opening in the upstairs of the house. And a few seconds later, another door opened.
She heard whispers, a low deep voice of a man and the high pitched, childlike voice of a girl. She tried to make it out, but her senses were still impaired, and they were in Spanish from the bits she could make out through her nearly deafened ears.
She looked to the stairs, they were behind the couch and had a cheap looking metal railing. From the stairs she saw a body march down, slowly and carefully.
The baseball bat Madison saw as he moved further down the stairs alarmed her. She felt her breathing speed up, her heart speeding up even faster. If the man attacked, she knew she couldn't fight back.
The man came down and looked at Madison's sprawling body, struggling to stay up on the one arm she had propped herself up with. Shaky and tired, despite the prolonged sleep she has awoken from. The man's body relaxed, letting the baseball bat fall from the attacking position now to resting in one hand.
He rushed over to her and lended her a hand. She took it and he lifted her onto the couch. She now had the chance to get a good look at him. He was a Mexican man, with a long tired face and large bags around his eyes. His black hair, speckled with gray hairs, rested just above his eyes. He wore a baggy flannel shirt combined with a baggy pair of gray sweatpants.
He handed her the glass of water. "Drink," he commanded with a thick Spanish accent, "please, you need water."
The water touched her tongue, Madison now realized how thirsty she really was. With the man's assistance she nearly chugged the water, with it being gone before she even felt quenched.
"Thank… you.." she managed between heavy breaths.
"De nada." The man replied, he motioned backwards to the stairs and the pitter patter of little feet came running down. Two little girls, she assumed to be his daughters, came by his side. Curious as to who this American woman was.
Mixing Spanish and English, he said, "I am Arturo Pinto, these are mi daughters, Andrea y Elena." He motioned to the girls. Andrea was the older looking one, being about 10 to Madison's guess. Elena was younger, maybe 6. They both wore white night gowns.
"Madison," her eyes darted around. "Where am I?" She asked, worry filling her voice.
"Tijuana. You are safe here, Madison." Arturo said, trying to reassure her.
"I don't care about my safety, I need to find my family." Madison began to lift herself up again. The first thing that came into her mind were her children. Her minded raced. Nick, Alicia, even Strand and Daniel. I want them to be safe, I want us to be a family again. Living in a city with air conditioning and television and electricity and cigarettes and-
Her thoughts were interrupted when Arturo grabbed her and forced her to stay on the couch. "You are not well, you need to rest. Get your strength."
"How long have I been out?"
"Half of a day since Andrea found you."
Half of a day. 12 hours for my children to be hurt, dead, bit, or even worse.
"Why did you save me?" Madison looked towards Andrea, wondering what made her save a washed up American, half to death. It's a waste of food, time, energy. It's a risk even. What if I turned?
Andrea looked slightly scared when Madison pressured her about her reasoning. Likely not understanding the English Madison spoke to her.
This fact was backed up when Arturo leaned down and translates the English into Spanish, Andrea then whispered back, looking over at Madison while doing it. Their faces being lit up by the burning of candlelight.
Arturo looked back, "She said she knows you were behind the explosion of La Presa." He paused, looking back at her, his eyes saying how thoughtful these next words would be. "The explosion saved us. It saved all of Tijuana. It brought water back, the way God intended."
That statement brought Madison to a metaphorical halt. When she blew up the dam, the people of Tijuana weren't on her mind. The butterfly effect. She remembered Travis teaching it when she had to observe a classroom. A butterfly in Brazil can cause a typhoon in the Pacific.
"Gracias señora." The younger girl, Elena said, a smile creeping on her face. The smile reminded her of when she had her own young children, and despite her new found ability to shield her emotions, she felt a smile force it's way onto her lips.
"De nada." Madison whispered. Madison felt the weight on her body again, everything ached and her head still pounded. Through the pain she continued, "But I still need to find my children. It's dangerous out there and I know they can't survive alone."
That wasn't true, Madison knew it. Nick was always a loner and Alicia could manage. But any help with the oncoming search, especially from a local, would be greatly appreciated.
"I will help you, but not now." Arturo began, putting his foot down. "The city is dangerous at night. Men and los muertos can sneak up in the dark. I will help you in the morning, or when you are well enough to search." While he spoke, his daughter refilled the cup of water from a tank, sitting on a countertop, that Madison now noticed. Arturo grabbed the cup and handed it to Madison. "Drink, please. Again." His English being noticeably choppy.
The water traveling down her throat felt like heaven. A feeling she had not experienced since the fall.
"Now, sleep. And I will check how you are in the morning."
Madison nodded to Arturo's command. Him and his daughters returned up the stairs, back to their beds. Meanwhile Madison sat on the couch, her thoughts fighting with her body for sleep. She thought of many things, seemingly of everyone she had known and lost, and all the matters at hand. She thought of Los Angeles. Of her old life, of Stephen and her job. Then Travis and Chris and what Chris's body must have looked like after the crash. She thought of how Travis was shot and his body was lost and she could never bury the man she had loved.
She thought of the ranch, of Troy and Jake and Jeremiah and the Trimbles who were murdered when they tried to leave, and how she couldn't kill Gretchen.
Her thoughts wandered more. She was glad she killed Troy, he was a monster in human form. Everything he touched he burned. She damned his father and his mother for how they raised him. She remembered what Travis told her about one of his students, she couldn't remember their name, "The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth."
After what felt like an eternity, her body won the battle and she fell into a deep slumber.