When a beaten and lost, near-dead girl walks up upon the gates of Jackson unannounced, people are bound to be suspicious of why she's shown up. But, when she reveals that she knows something about an organization in Seattle planning to come to Jacks...
"I know my love should be celebrated, but you tolerate it."
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Daydreams
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Nothing was the same. At least, that's what Robin had been told all her life. She wasn't alive before the outbreak, she had been born a few years after, but the stories that had been passed down about concerts and restaurants had seemed like heaven to her. Her mother had told her all about how she used to stargaze with her late husband; Robin's father. Of course, you could stargaze after the outbreak, but the looming threat of an infected leaping out at you was too great.
So, Robin aspired to be as close to the 'real world' as she could. For years she would create an atmosphere where she could forget that the outbreak had even happened. She created worlds in her mind where she could be anyone she wanted to be. Sometimes people would fear for her because she would no longer wish to live in the world that she was really in. But most people admired her ability to create worlds in her own mind.
Robin sat down in her bedroom, laying on the ground with a hopeful glint in her eyes. She imagined herself to be at a concert, screaming lyrics to old-world songs that everyone had forgotten the words to years ago. Her eyes glimmered against the flickering red lights, the band on-stage belting their hearts out to their songs. It was just like she had imagined when her mother had told her about the Four Pathways concert that she had gone to all those years ago.
Her mother stepped in the room, shutting the door softly behind her. She leant down, shaking Robin's shoulder lightly. The girl's eyes shot open, and her mouth turned into a frown as she realized she really wasn't in the old world, as much as she tried to be. Maybe one day the cure would be made and life could go back to normal. Maybe then Robin could live happily in her own body- in her own world. Maybe then her daydreaming and love for old world technology would finally be understood.
The young girl sighed, sitting up straight from her laid-down position. Her bare feet swept across the carpeted flooring as she stood up, facing her mom fully. "Is Carl downstairs?" She asked timidly about her stepfather. Although he had only been married to Robin's mother for a few years, the two had grown an inexplainable bond.
"Love, we need to get out of here." Her mom spoke in a panicked tone. "Something's happening at the lab." She explained to Robin, who still had not even the faintest idea of what was to happen within the next hour.
"What's going on?" The young girl asked, troubled. Her mother ignored her, taking her hand and pulling her out of the bedroom. "Mom, I'm scared, what's going on?"
She dragged Robin out of their house in Salt Lake City, letting her look at the large hospital across from them. Daylight poured over their bodies, emitting a gorgeous sparkle in both of their eyes. Summer was nearing, but Robin still wanted to hold onto Spring. It was her favourite season. Everything would begin to bloom, meaning the flowers and trees would grow as vibrant as ever. But something felt off during that spring, she just couldn't put her finger on it.
Her mother gazed at the hospital, the corner of her mouth tugging upwards in a smirk. Although, it wasn't a sly one- it was genuine. "Something big his happening, something that will change the world forever." She exclaimed, turning to Robin. "One day, you will come to realize that this is the biggest day of our lives." The girl still had no clue what her mother was implying that was so special about that Spring day, but she nodded, nonetheless.
They stayed out there for what seemed like hours to Robin, when it was only minutes. The grass underneath her bare feet prickled her toes, making her giggle a bit. She would admit, yes- the hospital looked gorgeous in the limelight of the day. But she wanted to know what was happening that made that day so different from the others. Robin thought for the rest of the time she was out there, but when her mother pushed her back inside the house, she still had no clue what was to come.
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Robin sighed, rubbing her hand against her mouth as the weight of everything settled in. She had become accustomed to daydreaming more recently, it was the only way to truly escape from the fact that the person closest to her had died. The only thing stopping her from going after the girls that had killed him was Ollie. He wanted to take things slow and make sure that Isaac wasn't hot on their trail if they left for the county, which was understandable. But Robin couldn't wait.
She waited for him, anyway. The girls could've kept camp in Seattle, who knew where they could be in that moment. No matter what, Robin was going to go after them. Even if they were in the stadium as she stood up and walked over to her washroom. Robin doubted that they could make their way through Seattle without trouble from the WLF, but then again, they were slacking off with their patrols. Hence the Scar attack that had happened to her and Ollie.
The woman entered her bathroom, preparing a few towels on her countertop before turning on the shower head, letting it run for a few moments before stepping in. The scolding water was like heaven to her body, and it relieved her tense muscles. At the end of the day, a hot shower was always going to help her clear her mind and save her sore body, but nothing would take away the emotional pain she was going through in the moment.
Water splashed down on her hair as she began to lather shampoo into it, a luxury that not many people outside of the stadium got to have. Robin felt the dry skin on her head sting as the anti-dandruff shampoo sunk into her scalp. It was a heavenly feeling. After years and years of living without the beauty of a hot shower, dandruff shampoo stinging on her head was an amazing feeling. Robin felt like she could stand in the water stream for hours.
But, she didn't. Water was still a sacred supply, even to the WLF, so she rinsed her hair out of shampoo and squirted some conditioner onto her palm. She let it sit on the bottom half of her hair for a few minutes as she lathered body wash onto her skin, rubbing off the dead skin as she went. Dirt and blood splashed onto the bottom of the shower tile, she hadn't showered right after the Scar attack, which wasn't a great idea in hindsight.
She quickly stepped out of the shower, turning the nozzle off and covering her body and hair in towels as she faced herself in the mirror. For the first time since Kam had broken the news to her, she looked decent. Robin's hair wasn't tussled, her face didn't look sunken, she looked healthy. It was almost as if nothing remotely draining had happened in the last few days. Well, maybe besides the regular wear-and-tear of Isaac's assignments.
Robin left the washroom, making a beeline for her bedroom and shutting the door behind her. She quickly got dressed into pajamas and slipped under her blankets, nuzzling under the warm covers. It felt different without Kam lying next to her. She tried to imagine him, maybe reading a book. He loved to read books before they went to sleep, it would occupy him. Robin looked at his bedside stand, smiling sadly at the number of unread novels on it. Maybe one day she would read them. For closure.
