Abandon (3 page)

Annalise grinned.  “How’d you know I’d be leaving?”

“Are you going to try to tell me that Cort didn’t message you this morning?” Meredith prodded walking to the kitchen and pulling out some oven mitts from the drawer by the stove.  “Because if you are, I’m not going to believe it.”

Annalise stood up and walked to the kitchen island, taking a seat on one of the short stools in front of it.  “He did.  I’m meeting him at the rally point just outside of  Cumberland.  You comin’ with me?”

Meredith shook her head as she pulled some cupcakes out of the oven.  “No, I’d love to - but I think I’m going to Tennessee instead to be with my parents for the holidays.  If you wait a while before you leave I can give you some cupcakes to take with you.”

It was so like Meredith to prepare cupcakes for her during a crisis.  As long as she had known Meredith, she had always thought that cupcakes could solve any problem.   Break up with a boyfriend?  Cupcakes.  Parents died?  Cupcakes.  Skinned your knee?  Cupcakes.  The amazing part of it was Meredith’s cupcakes actually did somehow manage to sooth the soul.  The night Annalise had officially broken up with Cort she had called Mere in hysterical sobs and forty minutes later Meredith had shown up at her door with red velvet cupcakes that had “I’m sorry” spelled out in cream cheese on the top and three bottles of champagne.  They had played video games, drank champagne and ate all the cupcakes that night in between Annalise’s sobs and self doubt.  When she woke up the next morning she realized she already felt slightly better besides the pounding headache from the champagne.

Meredith was icing the cupcakes with Annalise’s favorite topping.  “When were you thinking about leaving?  We could pop a bottle of champagne, eat half of these and watch on the chaos in DC before you go.”

Nothing would have pleased Annalise more, if she couldn’t have Meredith come with her.  Since both of Annalise’s parents died in the past five years due to extreme liver failure from their drinking, Meredith had been the closest thing to family Annalise had.  She understood why Meredith was going to her family instead of coming with Annalise though.  Her dad was a retired CIA operative whose paranoia had followed him long into his twilight years, and he and his wife had retired in the middle of Tennessee on a hill that was defendable against almost everything.  Plus, Annalise was pretty sure Meredith’s father had collected enough guns and ammunition to last them well into the next century.  If Meredith was going to go somewhere, Tennessee was the safest place to be.  Annalise pulled a bottle of champagne out of the fridge and grabbed two flutes from the cabinet above the sink.  

“So what did Cort say,” Meredith asked, moving to the living room with the cupcakes.  

Annalise popped the champagne, settling into the couch.  “Not much, woke me up via text and asked me if I remembered the plan.  Texted him back and said I’d meet him at the rally point.”

“Are you nervous?”

Annalise pondered the question for a moment and grabbed a cupcake from the table.  “Yes and no.  I haven’t seen him in months, but in theory this is a survival scenario right?  I still trust him with my life.”  

Meredith nodded as she took her glass from the table and sipped it.  “I always thought you guys would get back together.  You were too similar.  Who actually enjoys coming up with these kind of plans anyway?”

Annalise raised an eyebrow.  “We’re not getting back together.  We’re surviving together.  There’s a difference.”

Meredith laughed.  Her laughter sounded like a thousand windchimes and never failed to put Annalise in a good mood.  “He’s inviting you to the middle of nowhere for an undefined amount of time.  You guys are getting back together.”

Taking a bit of the cupcake in her hand, she savored the flavor pondering what to tell Meredith. “I hadn’t even really thought about it Meredith.  I was busy packing my car and getting over here.  I don’t even really want to think about it.  Shit, he could have a girlfriend for all I know.”

“No way,” Meredith shook her head emphatically.  “You guys were too good together.  You haven’t replaced him and there’s no way he could replace someone as awesome as you.  You’re getting back together.”

Once Meredith had something in her mind, it was impossible to change it, so Annalise turned to the TV and lapsed into silence with her thoughts.  Leave it to Meredith to bring up the one question that she had somehow avoided in her head so far.  What
was
 this invite from Cort?  Was it just a knee-jerk reaction because most of his plans had included her, or was it because he wanted to be with her?  Maybe it was a mix of both, but the last thing they needed in a survival situation was unresolved issues between them.  She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and twisted it in her hands.

“Don’t text him to ask,” Meredith said without even looking over.  “Just go with it.  That was always what did you guys in.  You both thought way too much.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Annalise responded, putting her phone back in her pocket.

“I know, I’m always right.”

How like Meredith, to just state that she was always right.  In the history of their friendship there had been many points when Meredith had been wrong, but Annalise would never bring that up.  When it came to the important things, she was right.  Annalise reached out and grabbed Meredith’s hand quickly.  “If this isn’t just a quick vacation, if it really is that bad, I want you to know that you’re my best friend, and I want you to know that I never would have survived without you to this point.”

Squeezing her hand, Meredith smiled.  “It’s nothing but a free vacation, but I know.  I feel the same.”

Annalise hoped she was right, but the knot in her stomach was growing with every image that streamed across the TV.  

Chapter 4:  Cort

Route 70 West
December 12, 2012

They had been on the road for a little under thirty minutes and Katy was already starting to get on his nerves.  Sitting next to him she had spent the entire car ride calling all her friends to make sure they were okay and telling them where she was going.  After she had shown up at his house earlier, he had attempted to get her to stay with one of her friends.  She had been in hysterics, saying that none of her friends were answering the phone, and eventually he had reluctantly relented and let her come with them.  Bitterly, he listened to her on the phone with one of her friends, apparently they had all finally managed to find their phones.  Cort made a silent prayer that none of Katy’s friends tried to meet them at the rally point, even though she was inviting all of them.  He didn’t know how Katy would react to being out in the wild, and he sure as hell didn’t want to deal with multiple versions of her.

A year or so ago there used to be a show on TV where they would put people in the middle of nowhere and tell them to survive in any way possible.  It had been one of his favorite shows to watch with Annalise and they had spent hours after every show picking apart the characters’ decisions and talking about how they would have done everything differently.  One of the funniest parts of the show was that the producers had always picked one supermodel type in there who had absolutely no talents that were useful to join the cast.  As he and Annalise had watched the show together, she had always commented that the supermodel's talent had actually been giving the guys blow jobs behind the scenes - she was sure of it.  Smirking, he looked over at Katy as she twirled her blonde hair around her finger and continued to yammer on the phone to one of her friends.  At least he was sure that Katy could perform that task to perfection, although he doubted that she’d be blowing anyone but him.

“How much longer until we’re where we are going?” Katy asked when she finally got off the phone and put it down on her lap.

“Probably another three hours, but we’ll have to stop at couple stores on the way to pick up supplies,” he responded, shifting his train of thought to more important matters.  They could still use a little more ammunition as well as perishable food.  He was sure that Annalise would be bringing her snowboarding gear, but hopefully he would find a place for them to pick up some heavy duty snow gear for him and Jake too.  If they were going to do this, they were going to do it right and be prepared for the long haul.

“Great, I need clothes.  Do you think we’ll be able to stop at a Nordstroms?”

Cort thought it was an absurd question to ask.  What could Nordstroms possibly have that would warrant a stop there.  “No, probably only a couple of grocery stores and Wal Mart's.  It will be faster there, they’ll have everything we need instead of just nice clothes.”

Katy made a disgusted face.  “I don’t shop at Wal Mart.”

“You do now,” Cort said curtly, reaching out to turn up the radio in his SUV.  Maybe if he drowned her out he’d be able to pretend that she wasn’t with him and focus on the things that he needed to.  The song on the radio was R.E.M’s ‘The End of the World (As We Know It)’ and he tapped his left along with the beat.   The song choice was apt, even if it wasn’t the apocalyptic scenario he had secretly prayed for years on end, the world was never going to be the same in the face of the political corruption the election.  He was living in a time of extraordinary change in America, and for that he supposed he was truly blessed.  How many people got to say they lived through something that changed the face of the world as everyone knew it?  If they made it through this, he’d certainly have one hell of a story.  

In the cup holder next to him, his phone began to buzz.  His car automatically turned the radio down.  “Jake Johnson, calling - would you like to accept?” his bluetooth connection asked him.  Cort pressed the button on his steering wheel and responded in the affirmative.  

“Hey bro, what’s the plan?” Jake’s booming voice came over the surround sound speakers.  “There’s a Walmart two exits up if you want to stop.”

“It’s as good as place as any,” Cort responded, slowing down so that Jake could pass him and lead the way.  “I’ll follow you.”

“Roger that,” Jake said and disconnected the phone.  

Katy sighed again.  “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Walmart.  What if there are undesirable people there?”  

Cort didn’t even dignify her question with a response.  He turned up the radio and thought that if she was like this the entire time, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to control the urge to push her out of the car.

Four miles and one more song about the end of the world later, they were pulling off the highway towards the nearest Walmart.  The parking lot was surprisingly empty considering it was roughly 2PM on a Friday.  He assumed people were probably glued to their TV’s at home, or making plans to get out of the area like they were.  It was just as well, that meant they would be able to get in and out without much hassle.  Parking in a spot as close to the front as he could get without pretending to be handicapped, he stepped out and began walking to the store.

“Wait for me!” Katy yelled after him.  She skipped towards him linking her arm in his.  “I don’t know my way around this store.  I don’t want to get lost.”

“Yeah, you might run into some undesirables,” Cort muttered under his breath.  Every minute that passed, he was wondering what he saw in her to begin with.  Turning his head, he ran his eyes lazily over her body while they waited for Jake.  He was slowly  realizing the more she spoke, the less attracted he was to her firm butt and her perky breasts.  They didn’t hold the same appeal once he realized they belonged to someone so shallow and one-dimensional.

Jake had parked his car on the other side of the lot and met them at the front door.  “Should we do this together, or split up?”

“Together.  From here on out we do as much together as possible.  The buddy system is in play every minute of every day,” he stated, grabbing two carts.  “We need to get anything we can as far as perishable foods and ammunition.  We also might need additional blankets, batteries, candles, and lighters.”

They stepped inside the store and one of the first things they saw was womens clothes.  Katy eyed the section with despair.  “I need more clothes,” she stated releasing his arm.  “So we’ll start there.”

“You go ahead and grab the clothes you need, meet us back in the electronics section,” he responded, nudging Jake quickly towards the back of the store.

When they were out of Katy’s earshot, Jake bust out laughing.  “What happened to the buddy system?”

Raising his eyebrow, Cort rolled his eyes, “Was she always this annoying?”

“Pretty much, but you needed a rebound.  We all understood.”

They reached the electronics section and starting pulling things they needed off the shelves in bulk.   The entire bottom of Cort’s cart was full of various types of batteries.  Next they moved on to the mini-flashlights, grabbing them off the shelves and putting in the cart.