Page 45 of Chaos Destiny
Seconds later, I spotted someone walking toward us, their steps hurried yet measured. I tossed the radio to Memphis, and when Julien’s face came into view, he looked every bit of what we’d all gone through.
“Gage, don’t lie to me,” he pleaded. “Don’t…don’t lie to me. Are they really alive? They’re alive, and I can see them and?—”
I pulled him into a hug.
Julien and I had spilled blood together, which made him as much my family as Ari was, despite me knowing Ari for much longer. Seeing him alive, regardless of what shape he was in, further helped to assuage the rest of the despair that had started to creep in the moment Ari first began showing symptoms of an illness.
I released him and motioned to the group. “Omar, Memphis, Dallas, this is Julien.”
“Julien here, he’s Thandie’s real daddy, ain’t he?” Dallas asked. “I see her face in his. Ari and Thandie, that’s who he was askin’ about, ain’t it? Man, you got a nice family. And you’re lucky—I was just gettin’ ready to ask Ari for her hand in holy matrimony. Least once Gage and the doc was together and everything.”
Allen frowned.
“Yeah, I’m Ari’s husband,” Julien said, and visible relief further weighed down his shoulders. “But Ari was due around the time of the collapse when I was in a completely different state, so I haven’t met my baby girl yet.”
“You got a vehicle, Julien?” Memphis asked, all traces of suspicion gone from his expression. “‘Cause we got a truck. Y’all can fit. And I’ve met your baby, and she’s the bee’s knees. I can get her to laugh, real loud and high-pitched too, and I ain’t even all that funny. If it was my daughter, I’d be runnin’ to camp right about now.”
Julien laughed, his head hanging and his usually light hair strands dingy and soiled. “If I had the energy, I would be. And no, me and Shida have been on foot.”
The woman raised a hand. “I’m Shida, by the way. I’m Julien’s?—”
“Shida, not now.”
My gut told me that there was a story there, but it wasn’t clear what that story was. There was also the possibility that this woman had provided a particular type of “comfort” for Julien, especially if he’d believed Ari was dead. But he’d left Ari with me, so I would take offense if that were the case. He knew who I was and how I operated. Ari and Thandie would have floated to safety on my corpse if need be.
“So, uh, we got a deer,” Dallas said. “And my brother caught some fish and crab. They’re in the truck. Maybe your baby likes seafood, Julien?”
“Can babies eat seafood?” Memphis asked.
“I don’t know. We could ask the doc.”
Memphis swatted Allen’s shoulder. “Oh, you heard what Julien said, Allen? Gage and Ari ain’t married. Baby Thandie ain’t his daughter. You know what that means?You’re about to lose your girl.”
He turned the declaration into a song that Dallas danced to as if listening to an R&B song. Julien looked from the brothers to me, and I nodded, agreeing with his unspoken declaration; they were like an equally unhinged yet more animated version of our sociopathic former teammate.
“Memphis, Dallas, think you can handle the deer?” I asked.
Memphis saluted.
Dallas snapped his feet together.
Omar raised a hand. “I’ll help them, boss.”
All the day’s luck finally came front and center, and I felt a smile on the cusp. “The rest of us, let’s head to the truck,” I said. “Before I left, I made Tayler a promise. I want to make sure she sees that I kept it.”
“You like making her smile?” Dallas teased, glancing at Allen.
“Yeah, man. That smile does something to me, right here.” I tapped my chest. “And I gotta admit, I miss her.”
I waited for Allen’s reply—a quip, a jab, a sneer—but all he did was peel the skin from his bottom lip with his teeth.
For his sake, I hoped my little trick with the gun to his head hadn’t bruised his egotoomuch. I could do worse, and I looked forward to showing him just how much more damage I could do.
15
JULIEN
I would have preferredto be traveling alone.
