Page 26 of Chaos Destiny
“Whereismy baby girl, by the way?” I asked.
Tayler smiled, and unexpectedly, that smile mattered. I didn’t know why or what that meant, but it was the second time she’d done something that didn’t make kindness feel as fleeting as it once did. Before the end, I’d found people to be mostly made up of shit. Where there wasn’t shit, there was shitty water. Every once in a while, a flower bloomed—as flowers were often wont to do when fertilized by manure. But, at the end of the day, I’d found most people to be ignorant, arrogant, lying, selfish fucks.
That didn’t change with societal collapse.
Yet, here she was.
A ray ofsomething.
Phil continued, “What about after? You think, after the baby and his wife are all better, he might be able to help us out?”
After a long moment, she shrugged. “We’ll see. We’ll decide on that later.” She faced me, tilting her chin upward to look me in the eyes. “Are you all done here?”
I nodded. “All done and at your service.”
“Well, grab some breakfast and then report to the clinic in thirty. I need help with some heavy lifting.”
“I have some experience as a combat medic,” I said. “Maybe I can put some of those skills to use as well.”
“That would be amazing. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
We returned to locked gazes.
Then, she turned away, and as she walked off, I caught a smile unfolding along the side of her face. It wasn’t until Phil cleared his throat that I realized I was staring, her worn-out green scrubs shifting with each step. Based on how she was shaped, her body would claim all the tissue from her upper half before it considered drawing nutrients from her curvier lower portion. Those curves would outlive the apocalypse.
“The sick lady’s your wife?” Phil asked.
I shook the remaining water from my hair. “Why?”
“Nothing. Just that I’m sorry she’s sick.”
“She’ll pull through. Ari’s strong. Stronger than even she realizes.”
“And the baby?”
“She’s going to pull through, too. She has to. She needs to see this world turn over. The two of them, they’ve lost so much…”
I canceled my train of thought.
“Are you married?” I asked.
His right shoulder jerked in a shrug. “Was.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Sometimes I wonder why we keep going.”
“I ask myself the same question.”
“And what’s your answer?”
“Because I’m not ready to die,” I said, headed back to the main building. “I’ll see you around.”
10
TAYLER
