Brian Saves the World, Maybe

Chapter 29 - Family Ties

Brian looked at Dale, in shock. "This guy is your cousin?"

Dale continued to smirk. "Nobody's perfect." Then he added, "But I'm close."

Brian shook his head. No wonder Dwayne had seemed like a redneck version of Dale. He wondered what their family reunions were like.

* * *

Brian watched, as Watkins took pictures of the Harvester. The camera's lens must work like Jessica's binoculars, he thought.

Dwayne and his men had been tied at the wrists, with the whole group joined to one another in a line. Dale now held the shotgun, and was watching the group with an eagle eye. Watkins had given the slingshot to Brian to carry. He looked at it, wondering if he could even use it properly if he needed to. Watkins must have wondered the same thing, because he had offered it first to Jessica—she had declined.

Brian walked over to where Jessica stood. She had briefly told him how she escaped and had discovered his whereabouts, but he hadn't heard the whole story. "How did Watkins get involved in this?" he asked her.

"Dale called him," she said. "And Brian, he had my car!"

Brian raised an eyebrow. "Dale had your car?"

"No, Watkins!" she continued, "He was patrolling the Cafeteria area and found my car abandoned. Said he thought it had been stolen and had it towed. He wasn't able to reach me without cell service in the area."

Dale must have heard his name mentioned. He walked over, and said, "Nice outfit, Brian. What prison did you escape from?"

Jessica laughed.

Brian hadn't realized he was still wearing the orange jumpsuit. He began peeling it off. "Hey, how were you able to reach Watkins?" he asked, looking at Dale.

"I got his number before we left the bunker. Figured it might come in handy. Called him as soon as I got your message."

"And the cabin? There has to be a lot of cabins in these mountains. How did you know which one?"

Dale grinned. "When Jessica mentioned the name 'Dwayne', and 'Bo's Gap', I knew exactly where to go. I used to come up here on hunting trips from time to time."

Brian was still trying to absorb the fact that Dale and Dwayne were cousins.

When they all got back to the cabin, Officer Watkins set the men free, warning them not to talk about what they had seen. Brian had decided not to press charges, given the peculiar circumstances. Watkins kept their weapons, saying he would give them back after a few weeks of "good behavior."

Brian thought he should confiscate their instruments as well. They were just as dangerous.

Before they left, Dale had a long conversation with Dwayne. Brian wondered what they were talking about. Probably giving him pointers on the proper way to kidnap someone, he thought.

Probably, TV said.

* * *

Brian sat in the back seat of the cruiser with Jessica, while Dale sat upfront with Officer Watkins.

Brian took a sip from the water bottle Watkins had given him, trying to relieve nausea caused by the winding mountain road. "Are we going to get Jessica's car?" he asked, when it was clear Watkins wasn't headed back to the small town.

He answered without turning his head. "Your aunt wants to talk to you."

Brian looked over at Jessica, grimacing.

* * *

"What were you thinking, going in there?" Carol looked at Brian through narrowed eyes that conveyed a cool anger.

They had met up with her at a nearby diner. Watkins had stayed in the car.

Brian frowned. "Well, something happened to that phone you gave me, and—"

"The Communicator?"

"Oh, is that what it's called?"

"What happened to it?" Carol snapped, her anger level clearly escalating, now.

Brian swallowed. "So, it stopped working, and—"

"It stopped working? That Communicator should have been good for at least a year."

Brian nodded, and pressed on. "We thought maybe the battery was dead, and—"

"You didn't try to replace it did you?"

"Um—"

"Because a self-destruct mechanism engages if it's tampered with."

Jessica turned to Dale. "So that's how it happened!"

Carol looked sharply at Jessica, then Dale, then back at Brian. "You destroyed a piece of equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars?" She spoke in a sort of pseudo-whisper that was unsettling.

"What did you expect?" Jessica said. "You gave it to him with no explanation as to what it was, or how it worked."

Carol's steely gaze shifted to Jessica.

Brian looked at her also, equally surprised and grateful for the cover. But he didn't want Jessica taking heat for him. "An instruction manual or something would have been nice," he offered.

Carol's expression seemed to soften slightly. "You don't truly know what's at stake here."

"That's because you didn't tell us anything!" Dale barked, rapping his fist on the table.

Carol looked at him coolly, meeting his gaze. "When I don't speak of something it is always for a reason." She maintained eye contact with him until he looked away.

Brian sighed. "Aunt Carol, we want to help. Maybe if you shared your plans with us, we could do that more effectively."

She looked down for a moment. "I am afraid I can't do that. You've shown I can't trust you. You're sidelined."

Brian stared at her. "Sidelined? When haven't I been sidelined? You've never trusted me with anything."

"Enough." Aunt Carol had clenched her fist. "I've had to make sacrifices my whole life, Brian. Some of those sacrifices required me to withhold things from you."

"At least your sacrifices were voluntary," Brian said, glaring at the table.

The meeting ended there. A half-hour later, Watkins had taken them to Jessica's car.

The three got into the vehicle and waited for Watkins to pull away.

"Now what?" Jessica said.

Brian frowned. "Now, we save the world on our own."

* * *

Brian lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was asking himself the same question Jessica had raised. What now?

Brian.

He frowned. TV didn't normally begin a conversation this way. Yes?

Reports indicate there has been an airstrike on North Korea.

Oh, man. Brian sat up, grabbing his phone.

News sites were reporting that Japan and the United States had just jointly bombed North Korea's missile test sites. Reporters were saying that casualties were thought to be at a minimum, as it was a precision strike meant to only destroy the test facilities.

Brian took a deep breath, wondering how Russia, China, and the rest of the world would respond to this.