Released (8 page)

“So you came out and just shot al the little buggers?” Charlie asked Taya. “That’s pretty impressive for such a twig of a girl.”

“I’m not a twig!” Taya said defiantly and we al laughed.

“Charlie, you said you had a radio, does it work?” I asked. I was dying to check and see if the transmissions were back on.

“Sure, but you’re not gonna hear nothing, but static.”

“I’d like to try any way if that’s ok with you?” He considered it for a moment and nodded.

“Sure kid.” Charlie slowly stood up with a grunt and walked to a back room as I folowed. I looked back and saw Carter whispering something into Max’s ear and Max shook his head solemly.

I could tel Carter didn’t much like Charlie, but that was only because he didn’t agree with him. Carter was stubborn like that. He didn’t want to be wrong and he didn’t want anyone to question him. No matter how much we al warmed up to Charlie, I could tel it only irritated Carter further.

It was nice to have the escape though. To sit around a table and talk and laugh, like things were normal. I silently prayed that once we made it to New Mexico we could spend al our evenings like this. Just hanging out, chatting and having a good meal together.

Charlie slid into a squeaky desk chair and pushed open the lid of an antique wooden rol top desk. It was a beautiful large mahogany desk, with intricate carvings decorating the sides and trim of the piece.

“That’s a very pretty desk,” I commented.

“It was my wife’s.” He touched the wood lovingly. “I always hated it. The damn thing weights a ton. She always insisted that we take it with us wherever we moved, but I always wanted to sel it. Now, I don’t know if I could ever part with it.” Charlie turned the knob on an old radio and turned it toward me.

“There you go kid.” He rose from his seat and offered it to me.

I sat down gingerly and started to play with the dials trying every station I could. I faintly remember hearing him say, good luck as he left the room.

After unsuccessfuly finding anything on the radio I closed the desk and left the room. Max and Taya were seated back in the living room with Charlie, but Carter was no where in sight.

“Where’s Carter?”

“He’s headed back for the Bronco.”

“You let him go alone?” I couldn’t believe how careless the two of them were being.

“He wanted to,” Taya added sounding hurt.

“He was a little upset, with this one here.” Charlie said pointing to Taya. “She asked if I wanted to come with you.”

“Oh,” I added a little surprised. “So what did you say?”

Charlie chuckled and said, “Don’t look so shocked kid. I thought about it for a moment, but I’m not leaving. This is my house, has been for over thirty years.”

“I think he’s crazy for staying.” Max added sitting up from the couch and puling a bag onto his shoulder.

“What’s that?” I asked pointing to the bag.

“Oh I just gave you kids a few things I thought you could use,” Charlie said and winked at us as we walked to the front door.

“Thanks for everything.” Taya hugged Charlie quickly and walked briskly out of the house.

I wasn’t going to hug him, but I was grateful for al he had done for us. He noticed my hesitation and extended his hand. “You kids be careful, ok? If you get there, and get that transmission going again, maybe I’l come see ya.”

I doubted that he would but I shook his hand and we said our thank yous before exiting.

“So Carter realy got that pissed?” I asked as we made our way to the gas cans. One of them was missing so I figured Carter had grabbed it on his way out. Max picked the remaining can up and we heading back toward the Bronco.

Taya took the lead, looking eager to either get back to Carter or the Bronco, I couldn’t tel which.

“He’s not mad at you, ya know?” Max told Taya. “He just thought that guy was going to try to talk us out of going. Tel us to go back home. He got realy paranoid, thinking we were going to turn against him.”

I started to laugh at that. “Turn against him? We’re family. He can be such a stubborn ass sometimes.” Taya shot me a nasty glare and I raised my hands up in surrender, giggling al the while. Max started to laugh too which made her even madder.

“What’s got her panties in a bunch?” Max asked.

“I think she has a little crush on Carter.”

“I do not!”

We laughed some more, “Geez, ok. Keep it down, you don’t have to yel.” I didn’t want to have her be too upset with us so I tried my best to force my smile away.

“If you two can be together, why can’t Carter and I?” she asked. She stopped and turned to face us with her hands on her boney hips.

“Taya, were not…” I looked to Max and he was avoiding my eyes, squinting into the distance at the Bronco that was far ahead. I knew he was dying to hear how I answered this accusation. His lips were quivering and I could tel he was desperately trying not to smile.

“Don’t try to lie Abby. I saw you two, not that I care that you were sucking face, but don’t try to deny it. I see how you look at each other.” I blushed at that and quickly tried to hide it by taking a smal step away from Max. I wasn’t ashamed about how I felt for him, but it was so new. The kiss we shared was something I never thought would happen and I hadn’t figured out what Max and I were now that it had.

“That’s different Taya. Carter is…” I didn’t want to tel her that I didn’t think he was interested in her cause I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I could see in her eyes how much she was holding back. I was a bit taken aback by how much I realized she liked him.

“He’s just a bit older than you, that’s al we’re trying to say.” Max added.

“Oh. Wel, don’t worry about that. I’ve dated lots of guys older than me. My last boyfriend was seventeen.”

“We just don’t want you to get hurt.” I added trying to sound supportive and it worked.

Taya softened and headed toward the Bronco again, almost with a skip in her step.

“Poor Carter.” Max chuckled. “He has no clue what he is in for.”

Max and I continued the short walk to the Bronco in silence, just enjoying each others company. I had inched my way closer to Max’s side as we walked and I could tel we were probably closer than necessary by the look on Carter’s face when we made it to the Bronco. The more my feelings for Max grew and the more I dreamt that my chance of being with him was possible, I started to care less and less if my brother knew about us.

Carter quickly grabbed the gas can out of Max’s hand and filed up the Bronco while the rest of us crawled in. Taya insisted on sitting shotgun, so Max and I gladly sat in the back. As we made our way into Utah the terrain slowly began to change.

“So what did he give you?” I asked Max randomly, trying to break the awkward silence.

“Who, Charlie?” Carter groaned as he heard the name. “He gave us food mostly, some soaps, oh, and he wanted you to have this.” Max dug into a side pocket and puled out a smal radio. It was not much bigger than my hand and the antennae was broken, but it brought a big smile to my face. “He said that he hopes we find what we are looking for, and doesn’t want us to give up.”

“Wow. That’s nice of him.” I sounded more appreciative that I should have, but that was probably the most thoughtful gift I had received in ages.

“That guy is ful of crap. We wil find what we are looking for and we are going to win this.” Carter held up his book. “We’ve got so much information. We’re going to give it to the military and it’s going to make a difference, just you wait and see.”

“I believe you Carter,” I added. “No one is saying that they don’t. You don’t need to be so defensive.”

“Me too. I never doubted you,” Taya added while squeezing his shoulder.

I could tel that recent events had realy shaken Carter and he was starting to lose hope, but I wasn’t sure of what I could do to raise his sprits. The only thing that would truly matter was getting to safety in New Mexico and we were stil a long ways away.

As it got darker, our surroundings became more and more populated. I knew the gas we had gotten wouldn’t get us far and we would have to stop again soon.

Carter realized this too and we puled into a gas station to try the pumps.

Max went inside the store to turn on the pumps while we each tried a nozzle. Taya’s was working, so we puled the Bronco to pump number eight and were able to almost fil it up.

With that smal victory we al made our way into the convenience store, scouring the aisles for any hidden treasures. I noticed Max puled a door closed near the back of the store and I smiled at him. That was good thinking on his part. The last thing we needed was a demon to come barreling out of a back room again. I realized that I had become less vigilant of my surroundings since I was hurt, and silently vowed I would be more observant.

In the end we had al carried what we found back to the Bronco and pigged out.

“Wow, I never knew Funyons were so good,” Taya said with a mouthful.

“Yeah, I can’t believe you never had any before. They are the best,” Carter added. Food seemed to have lightened his mood.

“Where do you think we should stay for the night?” I asked taking an over eager bite out of a power bar. I normaly would stick my tongue out at the thought of having to eat one, but I quickly realized that they weren’t so bad. The texture was a little off, but I liked it anyway.

“Maybe we can find a nice house to stay in?” Taya asked excitedly.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. What do you two think?”

“Sounds good,” Max said inaudibly. His mouth was packed ful of stale Pringles. We passed around a two liter bottle of Mountain Dew that we found and al took a swig. It was flat and a good while past the expiration date, but after a few test sips we deemed it edible.

“How about those houses?” I pointed to what looked like newly developed homes that were visible down the street from the gas station.

“As good a place as any,” Max said.

Carter let Taya pick the house and she chose a beautiful two-story, complete with a white picket fence and shutters on the windows. Even though the garden out front was dead, I could imagine what the place looked like in al its splendor with the rose bushes in ful bloom.

After the guys made a thorough inspection they deemed it safe and we entered. A tiled foyer led to a large staircase that was lined with family pictures. Although it was certain the family in those pictures would never return to their home, I stil had a feeling that we were intruding.

“Wow, this place is gorgeous.” Taya’s eyes lit up as she eyed the expensive furniture and décor. I was different however, the more fancy a place was, the less comfortable I felt. I liked a house that looked lived in, not a place that had to have everything in its proper place. I saw a picture of a beautiful woman, whose eyes looked down at me from over a slightly pointy nose, half expecting her to snap at me for walking on her carpet with my shoes on.

“Come on Abby, let’s go check upstairs.” Taya grabbed my hand and nearly dragged me up the stairs behind her. She opened doors, peeking into rooms, caling out in her too chipper voice what they were.

“Looks like this one is a guy’s bedroom. Ooh wait, look at those double doors, I bet that is the master bedroom.” We opened the doors and walked into the master suite. A large king sized bed dominated the room, stil freshly made with hideously floral sheets. The four wooden posts of the bed were obnoxiously carved and it occurred to me that these people bought things just because they were expensive and not necessarily because they looked good.

“Wow, these people had terrible taste. Look at these curtains.” I stuck my tongue out as I tugged at the drapes.

“I like it. This place looks like it came straight out of magazine. Wow, Abby look at this closet.” It took some digging but I found some plain shirts and jeans buried in the back. Taya went straight for the designer threads, trying things on and twirling around in front of the mirror.

“I don’t know how you do it?”

“Do what? Look totaly awesome in these boots?” she asked displaying her leg and the almost knee high leather boots she put on over a pair of skinny jeans.

“I don’t know how you can act like nothing happened.” I didn’t mean to be a mood kiler, but I blurted the words out before I could stop myself.

“What do you want me to do Abby? Mope around and be sad al the time like you? My mom used to tel me al the time that I could be upset al I wanted about something, but it wouldn’t change anything. Get it? I can be sad and depressed, and believe me I am, but what is that going to do for me? Nothing.” She walked over to me and unzipped the boots handing them to me. “You gotta let things go. If you are just going to be sad al the time, you are going to forget what it is you are fighting for.”

I stared at the boots she held dangling in front of my face and grabbed them. “You have a point.” I wasn’t too proud to admit it and for the first time in a long time, I let go of al the grief and fear that consumed me.

We spent the next hour laughing as we tried on ridiculous outfits. The clothes fit Taya better than myself, as their previous owner was closer to her height. I, however, was a good few inches taler than Taya and tried on a few of the male blazers in the closet as we laughed hystericaly at our mirrored images, until we turned to see Carter and Max looking at us like we were two crazy people.

“You’re right Carter,” Max said simply, “She has completely lost it. This is definitely irregular behavior.” The two of them were trying their damnedest not to smile, but giant grins stretched across their faces as they pointed at Taya and me. They suddenly burst into hysterical laughter until their faces turned red and for a moment I thought for sure that Carter was going to pee himself from laughing so hard.

“I don’t think they like our outfits,” I said eyeing Taya who was hidden under a giant brimmed hat and wearing a very ridiculous bal gown.

“You know what Abby, I think your right.” An evil grin crept onto her face and we both nodded to each other as we bolted for the giant bed and started the biggest pilow fight we had ever had.

When I landed a particularly hard blow on the back of Max’s behind that sent feathers flying everywhere, it only further encouraged the battle. Within ten minutes we had completely exhausted ourselves and we al lay in a feathery heap on the bed and giggled at the same time, the laughter slowly dying away.