Becca (22 page)

“As long as you’re sure.”

She took a deep breath and took one step, then another. And then she was standing right in front of me. She dropped her bag and we grabbed onto each other, hugging, then kissing, then hugging some more.

“Ladies, I’m afraid you’ll have to go.” Leo said.

“We’re going.” I told him.

“Bye Mom, bye Dad. I’ll always love you guys.”

“We’ll miss you.” her dad said.

“I wish you could come inside, Rebecca.” Mrs. Johnson said.  

“We’re going to be okay. I’ll keep her safe, I swear.”

We walked away. Everyone was crying, even Janet. And when we made it to the car Tasha and I just sat there, holding each other.

“You look like shit.” she said, laughing.

“Thanks so much.”

“You need a shower, you need to do something with your hair, and you need to eat about twenty meals.”

“Were there warm showers in there?”

“Yeah. At least there was that much.”  

“I’m so sorry, baby.” I said. “To have to take you away from so much.”

“Let’s just go home, Becca. Wherever it is.”

“Are you sure you're okay?”

“Yes.” she said. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes. “Oh, hey, trade me places.”

“What?”

“It is
my
car.” she said, smiling a little. “I'm taking it back.” 

“Oh.”

“Well we'll share, okay?” she told me. “But I want to drive.” 

We swapped positions and she turned the car around in the middle of the road. She didn't even ask how we were getting home. Instead, she followed the signs toward Cheyenne.

“I think you'll want to turn right up...”

“I need to get something first.” she told me.

“Um... what do you...”

“You'll see.” She smiled over at me, then reached out and took my hand in hers.

She drove for what seemed like forever, then stopped in the parking lot of a small strip mall. I was looking around to make sure there wasn't any of those things around. It would suck to be attacked and killed now.

“Becca,” she kissed my hand. “I can't wait any longer.”

“Wh-what?” I looked up at her face.

“You came all this way for me.” She whispered. “The whole time I was in there I couldn't think of anything but you, and then you came and rescued me.”

“Um,”

“And I know I will be with you for the rest of my life now. There's nobody in the way, no reason to wait.”

“Tash,”

“Come on.”

She got out of the car and hurried around to me. She pulled me along, holding my hand, laughing and smiling at me. And then we were inside a jewelry store.

“Let's see if we can find anything that we like.”

“Tasha, are...” I looked at the display of wedding rings and had to swallow the lump in my throat. “Are you sure?”

“Very.”

“But you know we can't really get married?” I asked. I reached for the case, but it was locked. I used the gun as a hammer to break the glass.

“Who says?” she asked.

When we were done selecting the most gorgeous rings I had ever seen, Tasha drove around and around until we found a church. She guided me up the steps and inside, laughing a little at my nervousness. 

“I would have liked to find you a white dress,” she said. “But I don't want to wait that long.”

“It's okay.”

“Here.”

She stopped me in front of the altar. And then she started saying impromptu wedding vows, staring deeply into my eyes. I was sobbing like a baby when she put the ring on my finger. And then I repeated it back to her and placed her matching ring on her finger. 

“I guess we kiss now.” I said. She leaned forward and kissed me.

“I guess we're married now.” she said.

“I guess so.” I replied. I couldn't stop smiling. 

“We should, um, go find a place to, um, consummate it.”

“I'm not,” I pulled her to me and kissed her. “Doing that in a church.”

Wednesday, June 1
^st
 

I stared down at my ring while Tasha stopped to get a drink. We’re as married as any two people can be, no matter what the laws are. I suppose if there were any such thing as a government we would have both had to have parental permission, but that doesn’t matter any more.

“Ready to go, my love?” she asked.

“Yep. We should bring a gift. Something for everyone. Maybe cupcakes?”

“And where are we getting fresh cupcakes now?”

“Well they won’t be fresh, but something prepackaged, or something. They’re good.”

“We’ll worry about that later, let’s just get home. It’s so close.”

We approached the hotel. Well, I don’t see any signs of any problems. No bodies piled around it, no fresh blood. That’s good.

“Freeze!” someone shouted as we entered the lobby. “Identify yourselves.”

“What? Who the hell are you?” I asked.

“I’m the one asking questions here.” he said. Some boy, probably around our age.

“Natasha Johnson.” Tasha told him, playing along.

“Rebecca, um, Johnson.” I said. Tasha smiled and grabbed my hand. “I live here.”

“Right. Well since I happen to be a resident here, I think I know better than that.”

“I’ve been away for a while.” I explained. 

“What did you say your name was?”

“Rebecca Johnson.” Hey, I’m taking her name. That’s just all there is to it.

“Hang on.”

He lowered his gun, but kept a close eye on us. He reached around behind and pulled a walkie talkie off a clip on his belt. Walkie talkies. Why didn’t I think of that? I’m an idiot.

“We have a Natasha and Rebecca Johnson here.” he said. “They claim to live here. Do you know anything about that?”

“Becca?” I heard Amber’s voice say over the walkie talkie.

“Are you Becca Lang?” he asked me.

“Well, sort of. It’s not Lang anymore, but yeah.”

“Affirmative.” he said into the walkie.

“Are you serious! Let them in, Craig.”

“You can go up.” he said, waving us by.

“And who are you and when did you get here?” I asked him.

“I’m Craig. Me and my group got here about a week ago.”

“Okay. Well it’s nice to meet you.” I guess.

“Nice to meet you, Craig.” Tasha said, extending her hand.

We went past him, into the stairs. I glanced over and saw that the hasps had been added to. Now there were two more. I wonder whose idea the extra reinforcement was.

“Becca!” Amber shouted, lunging against me. We were on the landing at the fifth floor. “I’m so glad you’re back.” She let go of me and hugged Tasha. “And you too.”

“It’s nice to see you again, Amber.” Tasha said.

“Did Craig say Rebecca Johnson?” Amber asked.

“Um,” I held my hand up and wiggled my fingers, showing off my ring. “We said our vows. We’re married in our hearts, even if we don’t have a piece of paper saying so.”

“Wow. Congratulations.”

“Thanks. I want to see everyone.”

“There’s a lot more everyone to see now.” she said.

“How many?”

“Um,” She stopped and counted on her fingers. “Fourteen. They were no threat, I made sure.”

“How’d you make sure?”

“Well there’s an eighty year old woman, the boy you met, Craig, four teenage girls, Craig’s Mom, and seven children under the age of ten.”

“Oh my gosh, you’ve all been busy.”

“You have no idea. We’ve had to bring a lot more supplies. And so we’d have plenty of room to stretch out, we decided to build up the bottom door and then use all the floors. So the tenth floor is just a play area for the kids, now. We all take turns keeping an eye on them.”

“Good.”

When we passed the tenth floor I could hear a bunch of kids screaming. I smiled. Life is going on. This is good. There is a next generation.

“Dad.” I said. I was standing in the entry to Mom and Dad’s room.

“Rebecca!” Mom shouted. She got out of bed and hurried over to me. “Oh, and Natasha. Oh, I’m so happy to see you two!”

“It’s good to see you back.” Dad said.

We spent about twenty minutes talking to them. Dad cried. Both of them kept looking at my hand, at my ring. And when I told them I was now going by Rebecca Johnson they both smiled and welcomed Tasha to the family.

“Oh, oh!” Bridget shouted. I turned toward her just as she ran into me, her arms outstretched. “You’re back.”

“I’m back.”

“I th...o...ne..see...ga...” she blubbered through her tears.

“I’m sorry, Bridget. I didn’t understand any of that.”

“I think she said she thought she’d never see you again.” Tasha interpreted.

“Oh. I told you I’d try to make it back.”

“Don’t ever leave again!” she shouted.

David came past as Bridget was gushing. He poked his head in, smiled, waved, then went on his way. I’m glad he isn’t making a big deal of this.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Bridget said.

“Bridge, I’m tired.”

“Come on.”

I followed her down to the tenth floor. She yelled for everyone to come into the hall. A bunch of little kids and several women and girls appeared.

“Everyone, this is my sister, Becca, and her girlfriend Tasha.”

“Bridge,” I said. She turned to me, I pointed at my ring. “Tasha is actually your sister in law now.”

“Oh cool! Anyway, this is Mrs. Banfield.” Bridget said, pointing to the old lady.  

“How are you?” she said.

“This is Caroline,” she pointed to the middle aged woman. “Craig and Elena’s mother. Oh, this is Elena.” she pointed to the girl next to Caroline. “Oh, they’re from California. Craig is seventeen, Elena is fifteen. This is Sara, fifteen and from North Carolina, Mena, fourteen and from Florida, and Taylor, fourteen and from... Michigan?” Taylor nodded. “Yeah, Michigan.”

“Hi everyone, it’s nice to meet you.” Tasha said.

“These are Joey and Eddie, nine years old. Twins, obviously. They’re from Arizona.”

“Hi.” one of them, Joey I think, said.