When the rains may come (Science Fiction)

40. Mist Unravels

Germaine and Brendan had left together. The lady who'd moved in next door to the young nurse with her daughter had brought the news to Erik.

She'd gone knocking at Brendan's door hoping to get him to examine her daughter who'd come down with a bad cough. But the door had been open and Brendan was nowhere.

Erik had checked the woman's daughter himself. She had no fever nor cold and it certainly wasn't the virus. She had a simple strep throat. He sent the woman and her daughter back with a pack of antibiotics that he knew Gemmy used to give him when he would have that ailment.

His heart had grown heavy again at the thought of Germaine. He'd gone over to Brendan's house. He was unsure why he did it. It wasn't like Brendan had left behind a shadow that would answer his questions.

And if he had, what was Erik even going to ask? Lisa had been right, Gemmy was a grown woman. She had the right to decide if she wanted to be a part of his eccentric schemes anymore or not.

After the prison incident the Last Hand would probably be declared a national threat. Germaine had every right to not be a part of it. And hadn't he been prepared for this?

I want Germaine to be safe. Even if I get arrested or die. That's what he'd told Cathy.

Erik walked into Brendan's empty house. It had the dead stillness of a toy abandoned by a child that had grown up and moved on from toys.

He gazed out at the empty road from the living room window. It looked just as abandoned as the house. Abandoned by Germaine.

Wasn't this town your dream, sister? He thought. Breath constricted in his throat as he lingered over the thought. A realization slowly dawned on him. He wasn't sad that his sister had left him. He was sad because he'd made her abandon her dream.

Her dream of making this city of their childhood what it used to be. And now she was gone. He'd chased her away, made his ambition eclipse hers. There was no point in blaming Lisa.

It is me, he thought, I'm the one who failed.

He felt the tears in his eyes again. He let them roll, let himself cry more freely than he'd cried last night. There was no booze to soften the blow of sadness this time. He wanted to feel this misery in all it's bitterness.

"I deserve this..."

###

Luce had only managed to make it barely a hundred kilometers away from Kingsville when he ran into the choked up highway. Yes, all of these people were coming from the neighboring cities to watch Eli Hodges scream down a microphone in person.

The Ardvenian sun was glaring down at all the cars boxed on the road. A cacophony of horns rang out on the highway. As if honking their dumb vehicles was going to clear this mess.

The dashboard clock of his rental car showed half past three. Grifftown was maybe another three hour long drive from here. And there was no way of telling when this traffic would clear up. The only thing he knew was sitting and waiting for the road to open up was the worst idea in this situation.

So he climbed out of the car, hopped over the roadside rails and started limping down the dirt path next to the road. He had to get ahead of this crowd. He had to meet Ylsa Shrike before it was too late.

###

Erik ran out of tears after about fifteen minutes. He'd cried without catching his breath. He felt drained, vacant. As if someone had turned his body inside out and knocked him empty of all life.