Across the Deadzone

Chapter 26: Ophelia

So, apparently, a desecrated town in the literal middle of nowhere still had a functional jail. And sure, it smelled like piss and dead bodies, but it was capable of holding us.
I couldn't help but wonder if the smell came from the other people that refused to comply.
From what I could tell, we'd been in here for about a day. Faint light flickered from torches set just outside the two-inch thick cell bars, but other than that, we were encased in darkness. An indistinctly shaped pile of woods was shoved in the corner- probably left by the old inhabitants of this town to fix up buildings after storms hit.
My machete had been placed on a table beside the stairs we'd used to enter the jail.
I sat cross-legged in the middle of the cell the three of us shared, staring blankly at the wall. Timber laid half in my lap as Stevie paced, running her hands through her hair constantly. If I hadn't been so zoned out, the action would have irked me.
I'd messed up. I had gained my freedom for a few seconds back there. I could have taken that time and fought tooth and nail to get Wystan and the others and we could've ran. But instead I sacrificed everything for Timber.
And I found that I didn't regret it. Not fully. First of all, because I know that they would've been able to catch us again. There were too many of them.
And second, Timber had sacrificed her safety and well-being for me, whether she knew it or not. It was only fair that I did the same for her.
"How are you just sitting there?" Stevie pressed angrily, her pacing never stopping, even as she turned to glare at me. "The love of our lives could both be dead right now!"
"The love of my life died years ago," I said, my voice echoing dully off the prison wall, mirroring the dullness I felt in my chest.
That made her pause, giving me a somewhat pitying look even though she tried to hide it.
I laughed slightly, conjuring Becka's face up in my mind, trying to imagine what she'd look like now. "She would've known exactly how to get out of here. She'd probably even know how to save the people the Zombie-crawlers took."
Stevie fell quiet as she took a seat across from me on the dirt-covered floor. "What was her name?"
I knew what she was doing, and for once, I wasn't complaining. I found that I wanted to talk about her.
"Becka," I said, her name drifting like a prayer from my mouth.
"How did you two meet?" she asked.
"That's a long story," I replied.
She chuckled bitterly. "I think we've got time."
I sighed, considering what I should tell her. To my surprise, I found myself smiling at the memory. "She lived in a town near the ocean. Seabreeze Bay, I think they called it. It was a bunch of condos out where California used to be. I was just passing through. She was standing there on the beach, wearing this beautiful white sundress, cooking up the day's catch of... tuna? I don't remember. All I know is I saw how the sunlight caught her hair just right, so it looked like there was a halo around her head."
I saw Stevie smile at this, probably thinking about Zilla with a similar air of reverence.
"In that moment, I swear she was an angel." I laughed to myself. "Let's just say, I stayed there for a few weeks.
"I told her about what I had to do- why I'm out here now- and she-" I bit my lip in an attempt to keep my voice from trembling. "She came with me. I shouldn't have let her. She'd-she'd probably still be alive. I would give up all my time with her just to bring her back. Just to know that she's safe."
I sniffed, letting the memories of her flutter away like leaves in the wind.
"You loved her," Stevie said simply. I nodded slowly, fiddling with my bracelet instead of meeting her eyes.
"I... yeah, I did."
"The way you look when you think about her is the way Wystan looks at you now," she observed, cocking her head to the side much like a dog.
I blinked, lips parting as I processed what she said. "You think he..."
She shook her head, understanding my incomplete sentence. "No, I know he loves you. Zilla and I had a bet going. She thought you were just friends. I thought you were together." Her words were hushed when she spoke again. "I guess she was right."
"Hey," I started, reaching out and laying a hand on her arm. "We're gonna get out of here. They'll be okay."
She ran her hand down her face, pulling down the skin of her eye so I could see the red underneath. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right." She took a long pause, inspecting my face to the point where I became self-conscious. "You know, Becka sounds a lot like Zilla. They both always have a plan."
That's when an idea struck me, and I finally understood the old saying about a lightbulb going off in your head.
"I have an idea," I told her, hopping to my feet and grabbing a long piece of wood off the pile and judging its strength. "But we have to get it perfect or it won't work."
"No pressure." Stevie sucked in her bottom lip before looking at me with a determined glimmer in her eyes. "Alright, let's hear it."
I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could say anything, there was a creak and the door at the top of the stairs flew open.
Hurriedly, I set the piece of wood back with the others, and joined Stevie on the floor. Timber growled again, pacing in front of the jail door.
It wasn't Coatés' body that greeted us this time, but a woman's, tall and slender, with wild light brown hair framing her head.
"Your conditioning begins now," she said, her voice just as bland and flat as Coatés' had been.
I got to my feet again slowly, keeping my eyes locked on the creature in front of me. "If this All-Powerful Being is all powerful, why can't he burrow into our heads now?" I asked cooly. "Why do we need conditioning?"
She just stared down at me with something akin to hate. "Do not question the All-Powerful Being. It will only bring you more pain."