Chapter Eight-Fraidy Cat

Chess woke half on and half off his bed in room 10 at the Motel 6. Hungover and naked. He had absolutely no recollection of the previous night or how he got there or how he got naked. He heard the shower running and he had a feeling that he'd find out shortly with whom he had shared his bed. He moved, shifting off the mattress to his feet. He dragged himself into the bathroom, took a long piss and peeked around the curtain at his temporary roommate. He didn't know what or who to expect, male or female.

Female. "Hi." She said rather happily.

"Hey," He said back to her. "Your name again. Remind me."

"You said names weren't important."

Very well then. That would be something that he'd say. "Mind if I get in there?" He asked, checking her out. She was semi-tall, about 5'6 with a slim waist, hippy with nice fat tits. Her long brown hair hung over her shoulders and she looked pretty decent soaking wet and covered in a soapy lather. Where the hell had he found her? He had no idea. But he knew he wasn't keeping her beyond this shower. She turned and had a pretty sweet ass. She was put together pretty nice, a little loose, but "How old are you?" He asked as his eyes scanned her. She made room for him in the shower stream.

"You said that didn't matter either, kid."

His dick stood at attention for her.

"Mina," She added some soap to a cloth and cleaned him, which felt fantastic. His entire body ached. His muscles loosened beneath the spray of hot water and her strong and cleansing hands. "I'm old enough to be your mom."

"You look hot, Mina, for being old enough to be my mom."

"You said that, yes, thank you."

He wanted her again because he couldn't remember having her the night before. "We fuckin, mom?" He asked, reaching arms around her and grabbing her jiggly ass. He spun her around, letting the water run over her back and over that ass that spread as she bent over for him. "We fucking, Mina? You want this?" He asked, rubbing his cock over her pussy. She was slick and ready.

"Fuck me. Yes,"

The pussy was not worth it, but she was pretty. She wasn't tight either despite his size, that was a disappointment. He wondered if he had a better time blacked out. Didn't matter as she moaned and came for him anyway. He fucked her like she wasn't old enough to be his mom and when he came he pulled out and finished on the shower floor. He didn't trust a female. Not since Jess lied to him. Never again would he trust the female that uttered the words birth control or, for that matter, tubal ligation. He wasn't sure what the fuck that meant and assumed she was fixed, but those words he didn't trust either.

"Your dick is huge." She said and he took it as a compliment. And that ass is fat, he said to himself.

"Thanks, I guess."

"I'm so sore right now." She smiled as she reached for a towel. She stepped out and head in the room. He grabbed a towel and followed.

"Good thing, mom?" He asked, turning on his TV. He watched her dry off and dress in the clothes she had worn there. A long skirt, falling tight over her hips and legs, a white button down blouse and heels, black ones. It was then he decided why he liked what he saw. She was pretty in a grown and classy kind of way. Where on earth did I pick her up? He was clueless.

"Great thing. I haven't been fucked like that in years." She said as she used his brush to smooth back damp hair and pull it into a tight bun. "My husband is so lame in bed." She wore a ring, plain as day on her hand. Manicured red nails. She reached into her purse and applied her face, her black eye liner, mascara and some red lipstick. "You're sweet. Thanks." She smiled and she kissed him, leaving a red mouth print on his cheek.

"Uh, yeah, sure, you're welcome."

Mina, married and old enough to be his mother, walked out of room 10 into the lot and got in her car, a sporty little beamer and she drove away. Probably to work and back to her life. Chess pulled himself together, packed his black bag and head out to get in his truck when he realized it wasn't there. He pulled his cell out of his pocket and he called his brother.

"Ray, was I with you last night?"

"Nah, you all went to Bangers. I wasn't down for that. I stayed at the bar with Candace."

"I don't remember any of this."

"Call Julia. I don't know what happened after you left."

"Yo, you met a girl?"

"Yes. You met her, Chess, at the bar."

"Great, Ray. Great. Get some ass?" He asked.

"No, she's a nice girl and we talked."

"About?"

"We talked about everything." He answered. "You can meet her all over again if you want. We're going out again tonight. She's gonna pick me up."

"I'd like that, Ray. I'm gonna call Jules."

Julia had never been so happy to have her cell ring than at that moment. "Hey, hey, I gotta answer this." Julia said, slipping from beneath Jay's arm and out of bed, shuffling nude to the bathroom where she closed herself inside. She didn't necessarily want to answer the phone, but she did. Chess looked for his truck. If he hadn't got shit faced drunk, made an ass of himself and then disappeared with a woman old enough to be his mother, he would know exactly where his truck was. She couldn't be mad at him, though. She knew exactly what it felt like to be an asshole and make a complete embarrassment of herself. She reminded herself that others were allowed to do the same thing on occasion.

"You calling to apologize? Well, you're calling the wrong person."

"Ok, I am sorry." He wasn't sure why at that moment, but he would find out sooner or later.

"If you come get me when you get that truck, asshole, all is forgiven."

"I will. Where the fuck is it?"

"Oh, call Jo. He has it. I cannot believe I have been sober through this fuckery. You people and your moral fucking standards. Poor lack of judgment."

"Sure, Julia. I don't remem-" She hung up on him, which indicated to Chess she was pissed off. But she was not. Jayson was awake.

"Babe, you alright?" Jay asked through the door.

"Fine, yes. Alive." She answered, opening the door with her cell in hand. She cracked the door enough to get him inside the bathroom with her. She locked it behind her. He gave her a knowing look, a look that said what his voice said. "Told ya."

"She's fucking nuts, Jayson." She whispered against his shoulder as he pissed.

He nodded. He knew. He sympathized. He understood. Stef Monroe was very easy to please if you followed instructions, sat back and enjoyed the ride. Last night Julia was like a kid in a candy store.

She had met her match, found her equal and she enjoyed every single moment of Stef.

"You weren't kidding." She whispered. "She is unbelievably controlling." Nothing I cannot handle, break down, manipulate right on back or kill if need be. Julia had to put herself in a particular frame of mind and remember who she was dealing with. Not necessarily Stef, but Jayson. She and Chess, for instance, could do a number on this girl, but her and Jayson...Jay was not cut out for it. He was as sweet and loving with Stef as he had ever been with Julia. He had known her longer, spent time at the psycho's side and fought and killed for her. He knew her story, her history, the background that made Stef tick. Jay laughed a little too loud.

"Shh, don't wake her up." Julia moaned under her breath.

"She's a good time. She's fun. She's a free spirit for sure. And she's pretty and she's smart and she's a very nice girl. She does not like men."

"She was liking you just fine."

"She likes you just fine too."

"Hmmm, I am tempted to stay here. She's an eager little fuck, Jay."

Jay reached for the door knob and she stopped him. She didn't have a problem hiding out in there till Chess arrived to take them home. She held up her cell, explaining he had called looking for his ride. "I'm gonna beat his fucking ass." Jay warned her. "Do not get in between us like you did last time."

"Jay, I don't think he even remembers." Jay gave her his blank, 'I don't give a fuck' stare. "Let him apologize and I-"

"Fuck you, Julia." He moaned. "Sorry. But seriously, fuck you. I am going to beat the hell out of him, then he can apologize."

"Don't go on what a drunk person says. I have been where he was last night and when you get lit, you say things and you act a certain way that you normally would not."

"You're seriously sticking up for him."

"No, no. Not quite. But I understand him is all. Jay, please think here. Be my rational, peace loving boyfriend."

He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her against the door, holding her there. "I'm not your fuckin boyfriend, Jules." He was angry. "Who am I?" He asked her, holding her against the door. He squeezed her shoulders. She could feel the blood pumping through her and she debated for a split second whether to fight him. She had seen that look before and he was giving it to her again. Chess brought up a lot of things that happened on the flipside that he would not have brought up in reality. Sober, he knew the difference between reality and the flipside. It would have been a non issue. Stay in reality, please, Jody had warned them both.

"I am Mrs. Keller. Get your hands off me. You are hurting me for no reason." She hissed at him. "I know who you are and I know that you got shit you aren't talking about too. I know about you and Julia. How do you think that will fly with Mr Morgan?"

"I never said and neither did she what we did or didn't do."

"The suggestion though, Jay, like he suggested last night...it's the same thing." She teared up for him. Maybe tears would have an effect? "Jay, he was drunk. We do and say things we do not mean when we are drunk. Please, trust me on this, Jay."

"You speak from experience, do you?"

"Yes, I do." Sometimes people act on feelings when they are sober too. Like Stef Monroe. She reminded him who his wife was like he had reminded her who her husband was. "So, I catch you two together or I think anything is going on, I will mutilate her to the point she is unrecognizable."

"Yes, Julia." He knew better. "I have her now though." He moved his hands over her shoulders to her hands. "Since we're here, can I?"

Julia stepped aside and left him leave the small bathroom. He had a green light to go at her. Julia had her fill for one night and waited for Chess's text that he was on his way. She texted Jody to bring him up to speed about their night out.

"Julia, come in bed with us." Stef smiled excited as she reached for her.

Well, she certainly is pretty. "No, thank you." Julia smiled back at her as she took a seat on the chair at Stef's table. She reached on the table and she took a condom from Stef's little bowl of condoms. She reached forward and she handed it to Jayson. "I like to watch sometimes, too." Julia leaned forward and kissed her as Jay applied his condom. This guy and his moral standards, setting them aside for Stef and then calling someone else's into account once he was out of her pussy and her bed. If she hadn't handed him the condom, he would have forgot about that too. Her husband...Jayson didn't want to fuck with her head or her heart. He wanted to fuck her. She couldn't make him hate someone he didn't hate. No matter what the girl had done, no matter how hard she had come at him or messed with him, he didn't hate her or dislike her. Somehow he understood her, the fucking saint. Same page, she reminded herself as she waited patiently for an end to this night.

She hadn't slept well at all and Stef had kept her up long after Jay had drifted off to sleep. That had been rather enjoyable, watching this girl with a passion for learning as she explored Julia's body once she could give her the undivided attention she deserved.

Julia doubted to this point she even liked women anymore. But Stef, once she told her what she liked and wanted, was more than obliging and she gave it her all. If she did nothing else, the girl tried to please her. She managed, by the time they'd finished, to do a decent job of pleasing her. She gripped her around her throat and as she gave Julia the last orgasm of the night, she damn near killed her. Julia had nearly tapped out of that, feeling her entire body react to the tongue that Stef applied on her clit. She was only practicing and there was no true wrong way of doing it, she figured it out.

"You do that just like he does." Stef commented as she lay against her. Julia had no comment, but took it as a compliment. "I was worried I wouldn't please you. Did I please you, Julia?"

"Mmm, yes." Not the best she had ever had. Jess still took the crown there. It had taken months to hone Jess's confidence. Sexuality was not all skill, it was more confidence than anything.

"Julia," Jay said, bringing her back to reality from her day dreaming. "Jules, snap out of it."

"What? Yes?" She answered him, focusing on his eyes. "Sorry, I was thinking. What?"

"What were you thinking about?" Stef asked reaching for her again. She was just out of reach of Stef's hand.

"A pretty girl." Julia replied the truth. Not the one on the bed and Jay knew of whom she spoke. She slid the chair forward and propped her feet on the bed. She took Stef's hand and held it, lifting her hand and leaning to kiss it. She scooted closer to the bed and then finally said fuck it and got on the bed. The girl kept pulling her arm. Insistent till she got her way. "Whatcha want, chicklet? He's only got one dick, can't fuck us both."

Stef pulled her hair and dragged her face to meet hers. She kissed her. "Mmm, Jules. Your mouth. I want you."

"K." Julia smiled. "Get off her Jay." She pushed him and he moved, letting Julia between her legs. "Finish him, Stef." Julia said, thinking their ride would arrive shortly and this was taking entirely too long. She watched a while as her fingers played inside the wet Stef. She removed the condom, and took him in her mouth. Jay's focus wasn't on the girl who swallowed him whole, his eyes fixed on her as she worked Stef up and they both finished at the same time. "You." Julia said to Stef. "You stay. Don't move off this bed till we have left." She opened her mouth to speak. Julia shut it, giving her chin a push. "Quiet, chicklet. You learn to listen."

Julia slid off the bed and dressed in the clothes she wore the day before, smoothing the dress over her chest and hips. She applied black heels to her feet that she could barley walk on without breaking her neck. Jay sat beside her on the bed, talking, saying words she couldn't quite hear. He would tell her later once they were home and once they found peace and once they lay quiet together and alone. Julia snapped her fingers, getting his attention as she checked her phone. "Five minutes." She said, sitting in front of them on the chair. She crossed short, but shapely legs in her heels, bouncing her leg as she gave him a tap with the front of her shoe against his leg. He moved and got dressed as Stef lay quiet and still on her bed. She had already handed over a little control as she had complied with Julia's commands.

The text message alert dinged on her phone and she sent Jay on his way. Let him deal with and do with Chester Morgan as he pleased. A week before she had witnessed him snap 4 limbs and render a man immobile in less than a minute. He could proceed as he chose, but at his own risk. She doubted Chess Morgan would snap his cousin's limbs, but he would fight back.

"Miss Monroe," Julia said, her voice a whisper above the fair haired female. She purposefully paused to see if Stef would remain mute or speak. She silenced herself, listening. "Who is Jayson Keller?" She asked. Questions, Stef would be permitted to answer.

"A great guy, Julia."

"In the context of me and Jayson, who is Jayson Keller?" Julia asked, leaning over Stef and gazing into her pretty blue eyes. "Think before you respond, chicklet." Julia smiled and spoke her words softly, avoiding a menacing or angry persona. She didn't need to come off territorial or jealous or threatening.

"He's your husband." She answered.

"With that comes a level of mutual respect, not only from us to you, but from you to us." Julia uncrossed short legs and rose to her heeled feet, dreading the walk down that flight of stairs to the exit. "He is not single. So, that being said, you will communicate with us not him, if you choose to communicate at all. Make sense?" She didn't hang around waiting for an answer. She left, pulling the door shut tight behind her.

She managed at least 20 steps to the ground door in heels. Standing and walking short distances in heels was one thing, but steps and long distances made her uncomfortable. She rarely had a reason for heels and was uneasy in them. As she successfully made her way out the door and down the short alleyway between buildings to the street where Chess had parked, she stepped wrong on a stone, her foot twisted beneath her. As she went down, she heard and felt a snap and felt the pain jolt through her ankle. She sat on the ground and hesitated to look at her ankle, but she had to. A slight deformity, a little bulge and pain that was not tolerable. She straightened her legs, peeling off heels before she did so. She could move one leg and ankle perfectly fine. The other was not moving well at all. She felt pain when she tried to move it, so she stopped. As she sat on the pavement in a pretty black dress and heel-less, she listened to two of the men in her life argue and fight.

"Hello." She called. Made it through a zombie apocalypse twice and never had a broken anything. These heels took her out in less than 24 hours of owning them. "Hello." She called a little louder. As she sat on the ground, ankle swelling and bruising before her eyes, small scrapes on her legs bleeding lightly, she watched as they fist fought their way across the alley entrance. "Guys." She called loudly. She raised her arm with her heel in hand and she threw it as hard as she could and nearly hit them. Must they do this? She asked no one in particular. They had never fought over her before this day and why would they start now? Especially now that no one had done absolutely anything good, bad, wrong or otherwise. All this because of some speculation about Mayers and her being in love, which couldn't have been further from the truth. Mayers roaming hands didn't help the matter. He'd had one too many shots and got reminiscent in a physical way. Rightfully he should be fighting Jody, not Chess. "We're all whores." Julia had informed all of them. "We're trying to be less whore-ish nowadays." She had no clue what the big deal was. None of them had any moral character when it came to sex and love.

"Jayson, I need help." She screamed at him since he was the one on top of Chess at this point, scrapping on the ground. Geeze, the marine had held back. Jay looked to her as Chess shoved him off and away from him.

"What's wrong with you?" Jay asked, sitting back on his feet.

She threw the other heel at him down the alleyway. "Should have worn jeans and god damn sneakers like I wanted to."

"You fell?" He chuckled, hopping to his feet.

"Fucking ass hole," Chess muttered, sitting up and taking a breath.

"Fuck you, Chess." Jay yelled back at him. He jogged the short distance to Julia. His eyes noticed the obvious deformity of her ankle and he winced looking at it. "Doesn't that hurt?" He asked as he observed her sitting there calmly and not so much as a tear in her eye.

"Oh, this feels fantastic." She pointed at her leg. "Help me up." He got on her bad side, the left side and he lifted her to her feet. She put the pressure on her right and hopped along to the truck. "ER." She sighed, sliding into the seat with his help. No tears, no grimacing, no complaining, Julia weathered the injury like a bee sting. Appearing uncomfortable, a special shade of red on her already tired face. If she was in pain, she didn't let on that it was bothering her. She was in her special place, a place in her brain that let her relax and soothe herself. Any pain she felt, she went there naturally, nestling in and letting it cover her and comfort her. She self medicated soothing energy. She deep breathed, zoning into that comfort zone that she couldn't describe but only knew existed when she found herself there. She didn't deposit her physical pain there, rather she hid there from that pain. There, she didn't focus on it, dwell on it. "It's very strange actually. I automatically turned it off like it is second nature."

She spent a good portion of her day in the ER and when the nurse applied ice to her ankle, she could barely feel it at all. The staff knew her fairly well. The nurse was surprised to see her broken instead of unconscious. "Where's the tattoo?" She asked.

"It was fake, Lexi." Julia lied.

"Wow, didn't look fake to me when I saw it. It was so cool." Lexi commented as she took her vital signs. Nurse Lexi remarked she had a fever, 100.9. She took some blood and walked off leaving her with Jayson in the ER. She had Tylenol for the fever and she had a negative pregnancy test prior to the x-ray process. She wheeled to and from x-ray and she had a non-displaced fracture of her ankle. She left the ER with instructions and a boot that she was not allowed to take off. No cast was necessary, it would heal on its own and she had instructions to follow up with an orthopedic doc for further treatment. While they awaited their wheel chair ride to the door and their ride, Tavin, to pick them up, she remarked at the amount of people in the ER. They were near capacity if not already at capacity. "This one of those drills?" She asked curiously.

"Nah, they're sick." One of the housekeepers replied as she cleaned the area around them with disinfectant. "Started coming in here late last night from what I heard." Housekeeper kept it moving and Julia looked to Jayson.

"We gotta get outta here." Julia whispered. "Makes me nervous." She added, sensing the energy around her change.

Jay stepped outside the curtain that was already more than open and he started eyeballing the crowd. He listened and observed and walked away a couple minutes, heading toward the water fountain at the end of the hall. He quickly observed the general appearance of the patients around them. At least ten had appeared since they'd arrived. They got her in and out fast because she wasn't exactly a priority with her left ankle fracture. She was taking up a bed they needed.

Jay came back to her and stood at the end of her gurney. "About 25 in this section alone. One at a time as they turn, it won't be difficult." He commented. "I gotcha, don't worry." He said, looking at her boot. "Wanna roll outta here?" He asked, taking a look around. He could sense she was nervous because her fracture was putting her at a disadvantage. He watched her eyes navigate the equipment and the surroundings in the small curtained enclosure.

She swung her legs over the side of the gurney and she slid to the floor, putting her weight on her normal foot. She placed her left foot on the floor and tried to apply pressure. Sharp pain, but if she had to...no...she lifted her foot and she reached for him. "Out." She whispered, latching on to his arm. "Out." She urged, hopping along as he held her upright.

"You need crutches."

"Out." She stated again before the ER devolved into a situation she couldn't get control of. She had run and jumped, twisted and sprained, been scraped and wounded and survived. Never with a broken bone. Never with a boot on her foot. She couldn't run, then what good was she? She couldn't fight on one foot. She calmed her thoughts. She took a good look around as she made her way through the ER and to the exit. Nothing is happening. They're sick, not infected. They're only sick people. Stay in reality, please...she heard Jody's voice in her head. She had a slipper sock and a boot and her husband's strong arm to hold onto. "We need to start carrying." She wasn't sure if she had said that out loud or in her head as they pushed through the exit doors into the lobby of the ER.

"Penelope Ball." She heard the triage nurse call loudly. It startled her and as Penelope Ball stood in the lobby in the chairs, swaying and nearly passing out. Julia held onto a chair as Jayson caught her and kept her from knocking them over. Jay lowered her to the carpeted floor and he held her head to keep her from smacking it on the floor. The triage nurse rushed over, calling a stat in some less threatening code words as Jay slid his fingers over Penelope's neck to her carotid. The triage nurse got to the floor as Jay said, "No pulse." She was sporting a lovely gray pallor and her lips were blue and Jay started compressions as those in the chairs all reeled from the shock of seeing someone drop dead in front of them. Those in the ER clamored toward her and Jay kept compressing her chest as clothes were cut off her and leads were applied. A doc asked him to move aside and Jay did so, scooting back and letting him take over on the chest as Jay got to his feet. He stood back and away as the efforts continued on the floor in front of the waiting patients.

She heard Jay groan an uncomfortable sound, reminding him of the day he had woken with Stef dying at his side in her bed. Julia latched onto Jay as he watched a crew of people try to save the woman. They rolled her body and slid a board beneath her and as compressions still carried on, they lifted her off the floor to a stretcher where they wheeled her away behind the doors.

"Jay, that was awesome what you did."

"Yeah, I tried." He said sullenly. He was still adjusting to what happened. He was still thinking about Penelope Ball dead and on the carpet and his hands over her heart. He could still feel her ribs breaking beneath his palms, breaking like branches, so easy. "Jesus Christ." He mumbled.

A man approached as Jay gathered his composure and grasped his shoulder. "Thank you." He said. "Thanks." He repeated looking distraught and shaken up and scared.

"Uh, ok. You're welcome." Jay mumbled.

"I'm her husband, Grant. Thanks for helping her." He shook Jay's hand and thanked him again before he walked to the window about his wife.

"I thought she was just dizzy, falling." Jay said. "I didn't know-" He looked at Julia and she tugged at him. He didn't move. Witnessing and participating was traumatic no matter the level of involvement.

She sat a moment in the seat behind her. "Wanna stay, see how she does?" Julia asked.

"Nah, no. I don't know her, Julia." He shook his head and he came back to reality, turning to her. "Hey, come on. We can go." He helped her to her feet and they hopped out the automatic doors as they opened. Tavin wasn't there yet, knowing the wheels of medicine grind slower than the wheels of justice. She had told him Mav General was busy and they wanted the light cases out, but he didn't listen. They waited on the bench by the pick up horseshoe outside the main entryway. She thought briefly that she heard a scream or a squeal and she looked back over her shoulder to the hospital entrance. Julia groaned nervously as she hopped to her good foot. The waiting area poured into the horse shoe lot in front of the hospital. Living people in a damn hurry. Nothing dead and nothing ominous, all orderly but very rushed. 

"We hopping or running?" He asked her, rising to his feet. There he stood dressed nice in his black slacks and button down shirt, loose at the collar. He wore dress shoes and looked so handsome with his summer tan and his short hair cut. At that moment that's what she thought, not that they were about to get caught up in something dangerous or deadly. Her first instinct was to go in not back away or run away. She placed her foot down on the ground, tried to apply pressure to a fresh non-displaced fracture. If she did, all she would manage to do would be displace it. She needed to heal a few days before putting her boot on the ground. "Jules, lemme pick you up." He yelled at her.

"No, go in." She said, giving him a push.

He refused. "I'm not leaving you out here, Julia. No, not with your foot like that." He kept his hands on her waist like he was gonna lift her.

"How are we running like this? Jay,"

"I will throw your skinny ass over my shoulder."

"No. Ugh, I don't like this. Where's your damn brother?" She looked around the street as cars back out of spots in the lot to the left and pulled away from the curb in front of them only a few feet away. She pulled out her cell phone and didn't know who to call first. "At least go pull the fire alarm, Jay." She said as she opened her contact numbers. Who do I call? She asked herself. Tavin. She dialed her ride. "Where are you?" She asked him angrily. Maybe if she had taken that Percocet she was offered she would have been able to move her fractured joint a little easier. "Come on. You are still home. Fuck, Tav."

"Tell him we're running." Jay said as he pulled on the branches on the tree where they stood. None of them was strong enough to do damage. Too flimsy.

"Jay, the bus. We are getting on the bus." She said to Tavin as she pointed at the bus approaching on the opposite side of the road. She hit him hard, getting his attention. "The bus. The bus. Get us over there."

Jay reached in his pocket and pulled out a few bills, then hoisted her into his arms and carried her across the street as the bus pulled up. He set her on the step and set cash in her palm. She hopped up a couple steps and he stepped off the bus and stood on the curb. As she fed the dollars through the machine for the fare she sensed he wasn't behind her.

"Go home."

"Get on." She demanded.

"Go home. Call somebody." He said as he sprinted back across the street. She held onto the pole and hopped along to a seat by the window and he disappeared inside those sliding glass doors. "Jayson..." She said in disbelief. He had said he had a moral damn responsibility to assist if need be. As his body slipped through those doors, she saw blood spray on the concrete outside. "Awe, shit."

Julia sat down and she called...who am I calling? She chose Chess, being closer than any team. She had chosen that moment to cry and possibly panic as she sat on a local bus that was ushering her stop by stop toward home. "There's an incident at the hospital."

"So, I will call Cook." He said, still reeling from his hang over and his assault at the hands of his cousin. He knew she was alright because she was on a bus. She had left the hospital. "Why ya crying?"

"Jay is still there. He went back in." She cried. "Chess, it's gonna be a bloodbath in there."

"Julia, I am sure he'll be alright."

"Go for him."

He raised his voice and sounded insistent. "I'll call you back. Stay on the bus. Go home." He heard her crying. He heard the panic in her voice despite the fact Jayson knew as well as Chess what he was doing. "He will be ok, Julia. Go home." Chess disconnected.

She hopped off the bus at the corner near the park and Tavin waited for her.

"Where's Jayson?" He asked, putting an arm around her waist as she hopped to the car a few feet away. "Julia, where's Jay?"

"He went back in." She cried, her body trembling. She was worried and scared and about to have a melt down. "He put me on the bus and went back in." Her red face wet with tears and she cried like she hadn't cried in years. "Tavin, I told him to get on the bus."

"Ok, Ok, let's get you home." He said calmly as he pulled off the curb.

"He left me on the bus. He went back." She cried as he pulled into the drive way. She flung the car door open and he helped her out and into the house where she tried to calm herself down before she went into full panic mode. He's capable...she reminded herself multiple times. All she wanted to know was whether he was Ok. She knew what he was in for with the threat he voluntarily walked into, but she also knew that it was all dangerous. She knew he'd have to explain it all and that he'd be occupied for some time, but she was still worried. That had to be the most agonizing bus ride she'd ever taken. Tavin wasn't much for reassurance. He didn't seem very comfortable having his brother reenter the hospital alone, so he had left her alone at the house as soon as he placed her inside. Plus, he admitted to her, Carmen was at that very hospital.

The lovely Carmen Lopez, infamous and ever his girl. The first one's always the most memorable. Unfortunately for him, Carmen's separation didn't last long. His gut instinct told him Carmen hadn't truly split from her husband, but he went along with the story if that was what she wanted. He felt he was being used by her, confronted her before he caught some feelings for her, and she told him the truth. They were separated, but decided to work things out. He managed to get over it quick, was glad she hadn't lied to him, but the feeling he had been used and his feelings got hurt bothered him. She had mirrored similar feelings, but she didn't want to waste the years she had spent with her husband either. One would think that he'd gather a greater understanding of Kelly's feelings from that whole short lived rekindling of childhood romance, but no. Julia couldn't understand Kelly's devotion or Tavin's lack of interest in the one girl who lived for him. Seeing that whole relationship playout was like watching a train wreck, but she had her own train wreck going on.

"What a time to bust your leg." Jody said as he came in the door.

"Luckily for you or I would get up and beat your ass, Mayers."

"I thought we don't fuck or fight, Keller."

"First time for everything." She mumbled, sitting anxiously on the sofa with her leg propped up.

"Still wearing that cute little number, I see."

"I don't feel like hopping upstairs right now." She had thought about it. Jody walked over to her and reached his hand out to her. "What, Jody?"

"I'll help you. Told you I would carry you anywhere, so I guess that includes up a flight of stairs."

"Didn't say I couldn't get up there. Just said I didn't feel like it." She placed her hand in his and she pulled herself onto her good leg. "What are you doing here anyway? There's an incident-"

"I know, but you're wounded and I won't leave you behind. Know what I mean?" She said nothing, allowing him to lift her like she weighed absolutely nothing. "How was your night?"

"Fun and weird." She replied, holding him around his neck and putting her legs around his waist. He was up the stairs and setting her down in what seemed like an instant. "I need a trash bag and some duct tape, please." She requested those two things and he fetched them for her as she hopped around the second floor of the house. He was amused with each hop how her dress lifted and fell, lifted and fell. A tiny black pair of panties covered her ass. He could clearly see that beneath a dress that was too short for comfort. "How's the pain?"

"What pain?" She responded coolly. Honestly, once the boot was applied, she didn't feel the foot or ankle. As long as she didn't apply any pressure, she was fine.

"How about crutches? You look like you could use a pair. They really expect you to hop around?"

"Yes." She responded flatly. "They say I can put my foot down and walk on it, but that is uncomfortable." She explained. "In a few days maybe. This isn't the best time for a zombie apocalypse." She commented with a little laugh. "Umm, I will need an ice pack, but I can come back down." She added as she sat on the toilet and she pulled the trash bag over her leg. She wound the duct tape around the top of the bag and sealed the bag securely on her left leg to avoid getting the boot wet.

"Great idea." He nodded as she handed him the duct tape, but then thought better of it. She took it back and tossed it on the counter in the bathroom. "Need help?" He asked, but she closed the door in his face. "Julia, I apologize for my behavior last night. I don't know what I was thinking." She was silent. "I will speak with Jayson and apologize for-"

"He doesn't know what you did."

"You didn't tell him?" He asked her through the closed door. He heard water running and he heard her hopping around in there.

"No." She replied. She didn't need bad blood or hurt feelings between him and Jody on top of the bad blood that he had with Chess. She had a feeling that wasn't over between them. "I'll be out shortly."

They had cashed their zombie SWAT checks and Tavin gave them money back from each cashed check. Not the entire amount, but a few hundred. The rest he put in a check and sent to the mortgage company. Their night out at Banger's had been to celebrate their payday. As with anything they try to do or celebrate, it all went to shit thanks to alcohol. She and Jay were sober through the whole mess. Jody was buzzed when they left the local bar and then got further fucked up at Banger's. All the girls and all the strippers and the games and the fun and Jo chose to go the wrong direction. Hers. Chess and Tavin were wasted and it spiraled as each got more and more intoxicated.

Julia sat on a kitchen chair with her leg propped on another chair and thought about Joseph Mayers. His friendly hands and his friendly mouth. If Jay only knew...and he never would...what Jody's hands explored literally behind his back. She had already felt like shit for even allowing it and when Stef showed up, things went further out of bounds. She knew for sure it would have all been a lot more fun if she was drunk. Sober, all the behavior didn't feel right. But she had accomplished two things, a night out in heels without incident and staying sober in a bar where alcohol flowed. She got home with the same amount of money that she'd left with. It certainly was more budget minded staying sober and drinking soda as opposed to paying for drinks.

Something had told him not to leave that waiting room. Something had told him to remain in place. The dead woman...she had been hot. He'd felt that when he caught her as she went down. His focus had been on Julia, not the people in the ER. Due to her injury, he had no choice.

As he returned to the sliding glass doors, he met with one turned monster who had slipped through the open door from ER to lobby when Grant Ball, Penelope's husband, was brought to the back. Those who had run from the lobby, evacuated it for him and left one confined and had finally found escape when Jay opened the door for it. He'd succeeded in knocking this elderly patient down and stomped his head till blood sprayed on the concrete outside that open door. Moving on, he found semi controlled chaos. Staff, patients and family members in fear and most patients unable to move due to their own disease and family unwilling to leave their sides.

"Sir, may I have this?" Jay asked, ever polite, as he swiped a wooden cane from an elderly visitor. The man was standing close to his ailing and uninfected wife, acting as a human shield of some sort. Jay broke it in half and took the pieces of broken cane across the hall to the noise. The death that zoms do was noisy on the part of those in harm's way. The screaming and the panic was an indicator of the problem's locale.

Jay arrived to the enclosed code room where Mrs. Penelope Ball had been taken and he stood alongside an aging hospital security guard. They looked through the glass panel at a monster and her scrubs clad companions, two turned and one being their meal. He had managed to secure a door and for that Jay was grateful. The security officer mentioned Philadelphia, "as seen on TV", and he wasn't equipped for that battle. This being outside the realm of his job description, Jay held the broken cane, and, on three, he pushed his way inside and put down those two that fed and then the one on whom they fed. Two others in the room had flipped the stretcher and had armed with an IV pole and one had EKG paddles held up and ready to fire, which was a pretty smart idea. It would not have harmed a zom, but it would have disabled one for a minute.

The paddles and pole were dropped and Jay informed them, "No one leaves this room."

The wait began as they stood in a room with corpses. Officers on the scene arrived too little and too late to the room with weapons drawn and ordered them out, which Jay declined through the glass panel and instructed them to call whoever they would need to call to clear this up. He instructed them that each person who had been present for the code that took place in that confined space needed to be found and accounted for and confined to another area until authorities arrived. No one was permitted to leave.

The local law enforcement may not have known who Jayson Keller was per se, but his story was further validated by the witnesses in the ER as well as the hospital security officer. The police were all well aware of the Philadelphia incident and that which happened simultaneously in Maverick. They had a healthy fear and respect for the situation that had occurred inside the ER that day. They knew exactly who to call, their superior officer.

The others who had been involved in the treatment of Penelope Ball and her own husband were brought to the door and Jay refused to allow them inside. He wasn't sure what he was doing or if he was securing the scene properly, but he knew that bringing them into the area with the woman's husband wasn't smart. "Isn't there a break room or something? Keep them all together in one area and place an officer outside the door."

The long wait started. An investigative team needed to be organized as well as a clean up team. All this took time. A lot of wasted time. D day had just passed and nothing had been put in place locally in order to deal with this type of small and isolated incident. At the very least the hospital should have given the security guard a gun, put a plan in place, considering the staff and the hospital would be on the frontlines of this war against the dead. People typically got sick first and turned at death or shortly thereafter. No plan opened them up for legal action. They were unprepared.

"We react, effective reaction, we need an intervention. A cure or vaccination. What on earth is McGill doing with my blood?" Jay ranted through the door at Shelby Reagan. Her face contorted into confusion. She had no idea who McGill was or what blood Jay spoke of. "We are playing defense here, Shelby. Where is the offense?" He ranted at her. "I want to speak with Cookie Fields." Jay asked of her.

"I'm doing my job." Shelby countered him.

"I'm not saying you aren't doing your job. I am well aware of your job description. Cookie knows more information about us. She knows people who know the people I am talking about." He put his hand on the door to step out.

"Can't let you do that." She said, placing her hand on her firearm at her side.

"I am immune to this." He argued, starting to feel defeated.

"I am not." She replied.

Jay thought about that statement and he removed his hand from the door. He wondered if she was better trained than her predecessor? Being that he was not immune to bullets, he backed off and waited. This would take all night and it didn't have to. This could have been wrapped up and cleaned up in half the time if local response was in place. The small local incidents could rapidly progress to large local incidents. People would die in the time it took to get teams in place and move out. Granted the response was faster than previously documented response and more persons had been set in place and mobilized, but the small, contained three or four body incident didn't need this red tape and confusion and sequestering.

As the hours passed he began to feel like he was being held against his will. This is why people don't get involved. Hours later he and his new found friends from Mav General's ER were still sitting in the same room as three foul smelling corpses in blood splattered clothes.

"We are sitting in a biohazard." Jay yelled at Shelby. The fact the three of them hadn't touched anything and they were all fairly separated across the room from one another didn't matter. He had boxed them inside there. Thankfully the virus wasn't air born, exchanged simply via exchange of bodily fluids. Jay sat and gave the hospital staff an overview from what he had learned from McGill. He had listened to the man, he had only been disinterested at the time. "Can you at least call my girlfriend and tell her I am ok?" He asked as he stared at a dead cell phone. All his requests and ranting fell on deaf ears.

"You did this for free." Chess chided him.

He was in no mood to listen to Chess's voice. All the beating he had given him earlier, and there wasn't a scratch on him. Chess never cared about the well being of people in general. He was selfish in whom he chose to care for and protect.

"How can you say that? All those people would have died, Chess. Why don't you care about the health and lives of other people? How can you put a dollar sign on their souls like that?" Jay asked as he left the ER well into night shift. Jay looked tired and his actions weighed on him heavy. He had been released from the confines or the ER room, allowed to shower in the staff bathroom and then walked out in a green scrub outfit. "Four dead or forty. Which is worse?" Jay explained. "That's the price that would have been paid if I had gone home." Jay felt a rant coming on, but held back.

"I would have done the same thing, Jay."

"If I didn't put her on a bus, I would not have gone in at all." He muttered. "Then I get in there and I ask myself one more fucking time, who do I call? The old guard secured the door, but then what? The cops? They weren't coming in there. They were more than willing to leave us sit in there and they were happy because it was all resolved for them."

"For free." Chess added.

"I don't care about money, Chess."

"The difference between zero dollars and living on your own, completely understandable." Chess droned.

"There is no price that can be placed on human life."

Chess doubted that. He got paid nicely for taking society's trash out to the curb. "I understand that, but you did it for free. You went to work for zero dollars and zero cents."

"Oh, shut up. You don't get it." He mumbled. "Hey, how can I get in touch with McGill? He still have that office in Maryland or did he move to a different place?"

That caught Chess off guard, transitioning from the living dead to Dr McGill. "Why?"

"What is he doing in that fucking lab? What is he doing with my blood? Does he need more? Why are we still dealing with this? Where is the vax, Chess?"

"Um, I don't know. He said that takes time."

"How much time? I am sick of watching people die. I am tired of all of this. It's been years of this."

"Well, there's no vax for HIV and that's been around for decades and has funding and has a lot of people dedicating their lives to it. Where's the vax for that?"

"There was a whole new class of antivirals created to treat it too. Where's the antivirals for this? Huh? Where? Antivirals are better than nothing. What's this virus called officially? Where is the detection and what is the course of treatment outside me breaking an old man's cane and smashing human skulls? Explain to me how many more people need to die or get infected before something is done?"

"I can't, Jayson."

"Well who can? Why isn't this a priority?"

"I don't know, Jayson."

"What do you know? You're the fucking expert."

"I am not. I'm good at death and handling shit, not preventing it and coming up with a vax. I didn't go to medical school."

"I want to see him. Is his office still there? Why isn't he following me anymore?"

Chess laughed at him. "Um, I recall your girl saying otherwise. Mrs. Keller put the whammy on your interaction with the doc. She has her reasons, which she made very fucking clear."

"Caroline is one thing and I agreed with her, but I am a grown man."

Chess kept quiet, knowing very well that wifey would not appreciate that name mentioned in her company or anything related to McGill and his lab and his work. If their marriage didn't have enough stressors already, he wanted to go and add more. "Um, I don't think bringing him up will make her happy."

"Is there another doc, then? Another team? Something more legit?"

"Don't know, Jayson." He replied. He had no idea. He didn't deal with him or his team or his lab anymore. He felt rather strongly that things had changed, and doubted there was a specific underground quarantine anymore. The virus itself was out there and on TV. It was all handled differently. Anything that went on in a lab was strictly research and still operated under what Julia considered unethical practices. "I wouldn't bring this up with your wife though. That much I do know." He warned him, and whether he heeded that warning was up to him. She was no longer sedated in a cloud of meds. In fact he wondered how she had managed not to drink the night before. "How's Stef?" Chess asked curiously.

"The same." Jay answered as if Chess understood what the same meant. "How was the old lady?"

"I really don't remember. I was wasted."

"What do you remember?"

"Leaving for the bar with Ray. After that, nothing till yesterday morning. Woke up with Mina in the shower. Where did I find her?"

"The bar. She went there after work with her friends and then tagged along to Banger's." Jay answered. "She had nice legs."

"She did. I saw them this morning. She was pretty in a grown up and classy kind of way."

"Your dick." Jay mumbled, looking out the window. "She wasn't interested in you till you put her hand on your dick. That sealed the deal."

"Oh, it's the only thing I got going for me."

"That's what you told her. Told her to stop acting her damn age, too. I really thought she'd slap you, but she didn't and she let her hair down. Like partying with our moms, Chess."

"Like fucking our moms, too." Chess added as he pulled up to the curb. He let Jay out. "Want back up with that McGill idea of yours?"

"Nah, it's cool. I got this."

"I'm telling you, brother, do not go there with her."

"Make me an appointment." He told Chess.

"I'm not your damn secretary, Jayson."

"Find out where he is then. And see about starting that business of yours, too. I want a number to call for any future problems."

"You know my fucking phone number."

Jay walked away and left him in his truck at the curb.

Julia was asleep when he went in the house, but she woke right up. She was already angry that she had not heard one word from him in the course of the last 16 hours. She knew he was alive thanks to Chess and Tavin who weren't allowed inside the Mav General ER. Mav General was closed off to anyone that attempted to get near the doors and all patients were diverted elsewhere. He had to explain the whole situation one more time and he was tired of explaining the whole situation. From the sliding glass doors that allowed him back inside to the security guard securing the door and the long wait till he was allowed to be released from the crime scene.

Jay and his conscience. That was the part he unleashed on her, feelings. She understood them and she could empathize with him, but to verbally put all of that into words or offer some form of support, she couldn't form the words. She had been there, didn't know what to say to make him feel any better. She wanted to and told him as much. Without giving him a similar story from her own repertoire of memories, what else could she do? She didn't want to make this about her and what she had done.

"Well, um, it goes without saying that it's hard to deal with."

He stared at her over a cup of coffee and the counter where she sat with her foot propped up. He brought her a bag of ice and laid it over her ankle. She had opened that boot and let the cold soothe her. "Take any Motrin or anything?"

"No, I am ok." She replied. "Doesn't hurt necessarily, but it aches. There's a difference."

"I know. That body doesn't feel pain like regular bodies for some reason. She always took it in stride."

"So, um, you're alive and well, then." She said to him as he sat on the floor in his scrub suit.

"Looks like it." He sipped his coffee, going over his actions and the long hours in his head. Thinking and rationalizing and self-explanation or exploration calmed him. For Jay, it didn't matter how many times he'd witnessed or participated, he needed quiet to think. Bouncing the feelings off her wasn't working.

"I'm sorry, Jay. Once you kill one, you've killed a thousand and it doesn't feel the same to me as it feels to you."

"So you don't care about the people."

"I care about those that live. Those that are killed are dead. It's how I deal with it. I focus on the living, not the dead."

"In order to focus on the living wouldn't a vax be nice?" He proposed.

"I suppose. It's about twenty years off though."

"We have one sitting right in this room." He said calmly. "Is that vax circulating in your blood?"

"Huh?" She asked, sitting up. Had she heard him correctly?

"Well, being that I am immune and that helps form the vax, we can speculate that the very vaccination is sitting across from me. Right fucking there." He pointed at her. "It's in your body. Can we use that to create the vax necessary to stop all this madness?"

"How are we doing that?" She asked him.

"Can you hear me out and listen? Just give me a couple minutes of you on mute."

"Sure, Jay."

"McGill." He said. He waited for a reaction. "Or a doc just like him with your blood in a lab. A vial of Julia Keller's blood. What would they be able to do with your blood that they haven't been able to do with mine?" He asked her calmly, his voice tired and his mind thinking of people. "The bigger fucking picture, Julia, keep that in mind."

"They have my blood and yours."

"They have my blood and Julia Morgan's blood. They do not and never have had Julia Fry's blood. Or did you do a transfusion when you jumped your ass from your body to hers?"

"What are you thinking, Jayson?" She asked seriously.

"I'm thinking that a vial of your blood, placed in the right hands, could save a nation of people. That's what I am thinking."

"What do you think they'll do with my blood? What do you think they will do to people once they have a vial of my blood? As if experimentation on people is ok as long as it isn't our daughter?"

"Who else would they experiment on, Julia? Is there another population of people out there that would be willing to do that? Some suffering and some research-"

"No." She shook her head.

"People, Julia. Has to be done with people. Animals don't get this. People that are hanging on by a fucking thread and are gonna die either way. Who are they hurting? And honestly, not to hurt your feelings, Care was dead and didn't feel anything that was done to her." He paused letting Julia digest that. "I am her dad, my opinion is my opinion and I am allowed to have my opinion. She was dead and she was unfeeling, unknowing. Your blood could save a lot more babies and a lot more people from experiencing the exact same thing we have experienced."

"No."

"What is your problem, Julia? This is an option. This is a smart idea."

"No."

"Let my brother draw your blood. You would never have to step foot in a lab."

"Once they turn, there's no turning back, Jay. You know that."

"Before they turn, though. This could be in every single hospital across the country. You could prevent this from ever happening again. There is a potential for a vaccination and you have it in your fucking body."

"No."

"You're scared. The lab research is happening as we speak. It's happening whether me and you like it or not. It will not bring Care back, no, but we could have another baby, a healthy baby. There would be no risk there for us."

"There is not one now." She reminded him. "I'm vaccinated already and you're immune. We have no risk now, Jayson."

"What about everyone else? I cannot believe you are fine with letting other people suffer the loss we have suffered."

"You don't know it would work."

"I don't, but it's a shot, Julia." He argued. "One vial of blood. One. There would never be another baby born like Caroline Keller and never another experiment done on another baby like Caroline Keller. Why wouldn't you consider this as a possibility?"

"I-"

"Are you that bitter?"

"No, I-"

"Selfish?"

"Fine, Jay. One vial." She muttered. "I will not go there. I will not be involved in anything that has to do with that lab and it's work though. They will not own me or anything that comes out of me ever again. Understand?"

"I do. I completely understand your reservations. No one understands them better than I do. This would also be a positive way to deal with the fact you sacrificed Julia Fry to save your own ass. Fraidy cat."

"Stop, Jayson."

"You took her away from him. Check mate. Really fuckin' cold if you ask me."

"Jay-I-"

"No explanations, Julia." He shrugged, having thrown that accusation out there on a hunch. "My girl, your secrets are safe with me." He told her, sipping the last of his coffee. He got to his feet off the floor and out of the vicinity of Julia. "I got your back like usual."

"I got yours, too. I wish you'd trust me on that."

"What I did or didn't do with Julia is none of your business. For the life of me, I don't understand why it's so important to you to know about us."

"I won't tell Chess."

"Not about you telling Chess anything." He reached down and strapped her boot around her ankle and lower leg. "There's nothing to tell, Julia." He took the ice bag and drained it in the sink and then set it to dry out in the sink.

"Faithful and loyal, kid, huh?"

He gave her a hand and pulled her to her good leg. He held her waist. Jay smiled, lifting her little body up to hold onto him.

"Won't speak ill of the dead, Jayson?"

"I wouldn't speak ill of her if she were alive either."

Jay carried her up to their room, laid her on the bed and laid down with her. He said nothing more about Julia Fry. He was surprised he'd lived through their McGill conversation, that she had let him go there. He had a feeling it had to do with his bigger picture idea. She loved a bigger picture and loved people who thought about the bigger picture.

"Jayson Keller, it is nice to see you again." Dr McGill greeted him warmly. He hadn't moved, in fact he and his staff still operated in the same office in the same medical center. He welcomed Jay into his office and they both took seats. Jay had questions and McGill, true to form, couldn't answer or speculate.

"Well, I am disappointed with all the evasive answers, but I figured as much." Jayson said as he reached for his insulated lunch bag he had carried with him. "I do have this for you." He set the bag on Dr McGill's desk and the doc eyed him suspiciously. "It's not a bomb or anything, doc. Calm down."

"What is it?"

"Not my lunch, Sir." He answered as he unzipped the bag. In the middle of the melting ice was a vial of blood in a biohazard bag. McGill looked on with a level of suspicion. He didn't touch it or reach for it. "I'm going to leave this with you. It's a gift." Jay said, sitting back in his chair. "That blood has been drawn from a woman that has been vaccinated. Outside of that vial of blood, she doesn't wish to be involved." On that note, McGill's interest had perked up. Since Jay couldn't have any answers, then neither could he. "If you need more, you may contact me. I may be able to talk her into more blood." He stood up and extended a hand to McGill and he shook it firmly. "Thanks for seeing me."

"Her identity-"

"You'll know from the blood, doc."  Jay thought a moment and addes, "Her opinion on a cure, a vaccination has not changed. Her opinion on this lab and this work has not changed. She is still bitter. That being said, she still cares about the health and well being of others, including infants."

He realized he was putting Julia at risk from that moment forward, but outside the realm of the blood, he shouldn't or wouldn't need Julia for anything else. Julia could take care of herself and she had a squad of people that would have her back till the damn ankle healed. Two weeks in, she still couldn't walk on her boot and she reluctantly made an appointment with an orthopedic doc who could only tell her to give it more time.

Jay left his office and went through the hospital as calmly as he possibly could. The entire walk out he was nervous. Would anyone follow him? Would this cause problems? She waited for him in the same place he had left her. She breathed a sigh of relief as he approached. If things had gone wrong, she would have gone back in the building and she would have explained all this madness and she would have reentered McGill's lab. Julia didn't have any trust in this whole conspiracy. She had no faith in the medicine that functioned inside that building on some restricted level. The lab's in there somewhere...Julia felt sure of it. She wouldn't let Jay get detained or otherwise because of her own blood. She trusted Jayson and went along with this idea and allowed him the luxury of trying to help the people. They'd been at this hospital since 10am. She had seen the ortho doc in that building and he hadn't given her the news she wanted. Then Jay went off to his appointment with McGill, leaving her on a bench under a tree with her book and a drink from the hospital vending machine.

The afternoon sun was bright in the sky, and the last place she wanted to be was at a medical center an hour away from home. She hobbled along the sidewalk with a bedazzled pink cane like an elderly person, which allowed her to ambulate short distances. She was impatient when it came to her slow healing body. 

Julia had him drive to the bar. The bar in question was a hole in the wall and she didn't have a problem limping her way inside there with Jay complaining along the way. He held the door for her and as soon as she entered, she smelled food. She was there for the food, not the drink. Her ankle may have been broken, but her appetite wasn't as she made Jay take a seat in a booth with a menu. "We are not here to drink, Jayson. We are here to get fat." She mumbled as he ordered a beer and she ordered a soda. The server took their order and it was all a variety of big, fat, fried shrimp and an order of cheese fries. He drank his beer anyway.

"I'm gonna play music." He slid out of the booth and wandered off to the juke box on the wall with his beer in hand. As if he couldn't have left it, she could order her own. She heard Rod Stewart crooning through the bar and knew Jay had made his musical choices. How had she managed not to rub off on him. Their tastes were so opposite and that included music. Maggie May, if she had a dollar for every time she had been forced to hear that song. If it wasn't an anthem for their rocky relationship, then she didn't know what was. "This is good music, babe. Not that nigga shit you listen to." He told her as he saw the look on her face.

"Um, you cannot draw a comparison between Rod Stewart, an amazing artist in his own right, and Tupac. They're so different. I like this too. I listen to all kinds of music, Jayson."

"How'd you find this place, Julia?" He asked as the server set their shrimp on the table between them. His eyes perked up immediately because these shrimp looked so delicious.

"Chess." She answered. "Oh, yummy, this one's beer battered. Try it." She was excited over shrimp.

"We're gonna need more of this." He admitted, half way through the meal.

"Oh, there's more where that came from." They heard a familiar voice say approaching them from behind. She moved her compact body from out of sight to the end of their table. She slid into the booth beside Jay and snatched a fantail off their tray. "Coconut is my favorite. How you guys doing?" Blondie asked.

"Good." Jay answered. "Thanks for setting that all up for us, Cook." Jay told her as the server approached.

"You're welcome." She answered. She looked at the server. "Rum and coke, a dozen coconut shrimp and an order of potato skins. ASAP, I'm famished." She smiled softly, a pretty toothy smile, a lot of straight and bright white teeth.

"Want it over here or with the boys?" She asked.

"With them, thanks." She nodded her head toward the squad she had not seen in a bit. "How's Morgan?" She asked.

"You could call him and ask." Julia replied, unhappy with the proximity of her body beside Jay's.

"Oh, that's a lot of drama right there. Thanks but no thanks. You two have fun, alright?" She slid out of the booth and moved along to the marines across the bar.

"You could have been nicer." Jay informed her.

"I was nice, Jay. I didn't smack her with my cane. I could have smacked her with my cane, Jay."

"Well, thanks for the restraint." He smiled as the server set another beer on the table and another tray of shrimp.

"Are we gonna make it home, love of my life?" She asked.

"I am sober, Julia." He argued. "Don't worry about me, babe."

"She is pretty, isn't she?" Julia asked, noticing him looking at Cook.

"Yes." He replied honestly, looking back to Julia. "Who are they? You know them?"

"No. I only met Ben." Julia answered. "I'm only here for the shrimp, too."

They worked their way through the second tray of shrimp and the rest of the fries, then paid their bill. On their way out, a marine in street clothes stopped them at the door. "You're Julia Morgan?" He asked her.

"I'm Julia Keller, yes." She replied, staring up at this very tall and very built brick wall in front of her. "What's up?" She asked him. "Is there a problem?"

"No, you are a lot smaller than I thought you would be." He said. "I'm Devin. We're Morgan's team." He looked over to the table of marines that surrounded Cookie. "Come sit with us." He invited her, then went to touch her and Jay grabbed his wrist before his hand made contact with her. He was fast, too fast and maybe the beer was acting for him.

"Don't touch her." Jay stated calmly, giving the Devin's hand a push away from her.

Jesus Christ, Jayson...the man didn't mean any harm and he certainly wasn't going to be inappropriate.

"Who are you?" He asked, bristling from having anyone's hands on him. He moved a little closer.

"I'm with her. Don't touch her." Jay replied as Julia wedged a little closer to Jay.

"Um, hey, guys, geeze." Julia said nervously.

Devin's body backed away if only slightly. "Wasn't gonna attack her. Just help her over there."

Jay put hands on Julia's shoulders. "Kinda what I'm here for, Devin."

"Wanna sit with us or not?"

"I don't know. We were kinda leaving." She looked over her shoulder at him, leaving the decision up to him.

"Why though?" Jay asked.

"You're his family. We're his family. Been through the same shit, man."

"Oh, I see. You wanna trade war stories or some shit?" Julia asked, cocking her head up toward this hulk of a guy. She felt a bit intimidated, and he was hard to turn down what with him all ominous above the both of them. Jay obviously didn't feel the same level of intimidation. A smile, a shit eating grin, in fact, crossed Devin's face.

"Yeah, sure, ok. Is that cool, Julia?"

"Who are you?" Devin asked Jayson as he kept Julia close to him.

"Jayson Keller." He answered. Julia was famous in some way among this squad. Chess had told them about the wife.

"Heard about you too. Good to meet ya." Devin's large hand clasped Jay's shoulder and ushered the two of them along to the table where the drinks were on them.

War stories...they traded them. Julia's videos had made the circuit among personnel. Chess brought them back from wherever and they witnessed what Julia had filmed. Jay had seen several of them, the damn films. Julia Fry had shown them to him despite his lack of involvement. Jody had brought them home to the fortress on her iPad. Julia always felt uncomfortable when anyone brought up her work. Work she hadn't done in real time, so it didn't very well feel real. She wasn't used to talking about any of it outside her small group of people either. The fact that anyone had witnessed anything she recorded or described made her anxious. Then tacking on a congratulations or addressing her as an operator in any way, shape or form, made her more anxious. She told them that.

"Main theater." Devin said.

"That was us."

"2 operators and how many bodies? Like 40."

"45." Jay replied.

"All put down with knives."

"Yes." Julia answered. "That was all in the I report we filled out."

"For civilians, that's incredible."

Julia and Jay looked at each other. "It's not that big of a deal. We've put down more." Julia shrugged.

"Where? You guys only put in one report."

"Philadelphia." Jay answered.

He and Julia sat and explained Killadelphia in its entirety. From the time they arrived to the city till the time they left, omitting the part that had to do with Kevin. Just because their names weren't on any I report for the city of brotherly love didn't mean they weren't there and involved. Cookie confirmed their tale of events, having spoken with Shelby Reagan.

"We know what we're doing."

"Then why aren't you a part of this?" Cookie asked him. "Why haven't either one of you signed on to do this?"

"I am not joining the marines." Jay answered.

"I wouldn't survive boot camp, plus I have mental issues."

"We all have mental issues, Julia." One of the men informed her.

"Long term ones." Julia said quietly.

"Why do you drink soda?"

"I'm an alcoholic." She replied.

"You were drunk in half the videos we saw."

"Yeah, that was some honest shit we watched."

"An accurate point of view when it comes to war and this job we do."

"Was it all true?" A man asked from the end of the table. "Did you really sell women? And children?"

"Sell them, no. I made no money off them." She answered honestly. "But I greased palms with them. The child was 13, a female. I gave her to a friend."

"The girl, Ashley, he raped her."

"Um, yes."

"Why would you do that?"

"Um," She looked at Jay and then around the table of men and Cookie. They waited for an answer.

"What are you looking at me for? I wasn't there." Jay nudged her.

"Um, the guy worked for me. You have to understand the circumstances and those who survived. But, yes, I did that. He had a particular taste and I found a girl that satisfied his particular taste."

"Why though?"

"I believe I explained this in the video. Until you live it, you wouldn't understand."

"Rape though? That's-"

"A fact of life. The reality the girl would have faced outside of where I placed her was much worse. She got off easy. Females are treated like second class citizens now. Can you imagine what happens to us with no rule of law? When men turn into monsters worse than those that want to eat you. Do you have any idea how I survived and what I had to live through outside of what you saw? The things I had to do to keep not only myself but others alive?" She glanced at Devin. "I'll take that drink now. Vodka, double, no ice."

"Mixed."

"No. Straight." She replied, her hand shaking in Jay's hand.

"How'd you break your leg?" Devin asked, setting the drink in front of her.

She smiled, then took the double shot on like a pro. She swallowed it down fast and then set the glass down. "Another." She said softly.

"Julia," Jay groaned at her.

"I'll stop. I need to calm down."

Devin set another in front of her. She downed it. "Heels." Julia answered. "Reckless lifestyle I live, I realize that."

"That's how you broke your leg."

"Shoes, yes." She nodded. "Made it through a zombie apocalypse twice and break my ankle in heels. Yes."

"Running in them at least?"

"Walking down an alley, caught the shoe on a small rock. It snapped and popped and I got this fancy boot."

"What do you do for fun?" Cook asked curiously. "Other than kill zombies."

"Um," She looked at Jay. "I don't have any interests."

He raised an eyebrow at her and squeezed her hand. Outside of her own house and away from her own table, she was awkward in a nonthreatening, social situation. The vodka seemingly had no effect whatsoever, and she thought she ate too much food for it to relax her, loosen her tough shell.

"None?" Cook asked.

"Poker." Jay answered for her. "She's a bad ass poker player."

"Oh, yes, that." She answered shyly.

"You alright, babe?"

"Yep." She nodded. "I-uh-don't get out much." She looked around the table and suddenly realized that outside the realm of a zombie apocalypse, she didn't have much in the way of a life. "I-uh- spend most of my time with Jay, our family."

"She likes music. She likes to goof around. She likes taking care of people."

She reddened as Jay tried describing her. He could list a million things that she liked to do and that interested her. It was odd seeing Julia as shy and as out of sorts as she was beside him. He recalled a conversation with Alex where he indicated that Julia was scared to leave the house, feared other people. Unless she worked or was in a situation she could control, she really was awkward and shy.

"You're so different from the girl we watched online."

"Online?" She asked. "That was a strange and weird accident. We had no idea that was being cast to the internet and beyond." She pushed her glasses up on her nose and she looked mortified that the squad had seen her alien sex video.

"Babe, calm down. They meant the ones Chess handed over, not that."

"Another. Please, another."

Devin slid another drink down the table and Julia sipped this one, adding it to her soda and stirring it while Jay sat and talked. Jay had a natural way about him when it came to people. He liked the company of others and he liked listening and then talking to other people. Having the gift of gab and a general interest in other people helped. Julia felt completely out of place in the company of strangers despite the similarities, work history, life experiences.

"How did you meet Chess again?" Cook asked, sliding a few seats over and sitting beside her. Jay had got up and moved onto the pool table with a few of the marines.

"Um, high school. Jay's his cousin. I've known him since we were kids."

"Friends."

"Um, yes." She answered.

"And you married him, why?"

"Because I love him." She replied. There was no simpler reason than that.

"He had some good ideas about a business." Cookie said quietly. "Julia, I think he could make that work. He's been asking around, but I think he should stop asking and just do it on his own, independently."

"Like my exterminators, yeah. How would we make money off that though? That is the question."

"Local. He wants local, then keep it local. Approach the right people. He's approaching the wrong ones."

"I'll tell him."

"If you want to do this, then do it. Stop asking permission and take the lead here."

"Me? It's Chess's idea. I didn't come up with it."

"If there is a need, then provide the service. If you think about it, you already know how to do this and how to make it work. If you take me and my people out of the equation, like in your videos, then it's simple, right?"

"We handle shit on our own and we..." Julia quieted with a grin on her face. "Yeah, I'll hop right on through the next incident with my cane and my boot."

"If anyone could, it would be you." Cook shrugged, picking up her beer. She took a long drink. "So have we finally reached a place of mutual respect?" Cookie asked her, which surprised her.

"Ha, you're funny." Julia pointed at her. "I would say our relations have improved, Ms. Fields."

"I actually like you more than him now. Strange isn't it?"

"He's a dick, Cookie. But he is a loyal dick. If he loves you, then he pretty much loves you for life. All that I have done to him and he's still hanging in."

"Y'all get along?"

"It's tense at times. But for the most part, I would say yes." Julia nodded. "Call the man. Geeze, he would like that. He feels bad."

"For getting a girl pregnant while we were dating."

"Were you exclusive? Did he ever once tell you that you two were exclusive or were you just dreaming? Be honest with yourself if no one else, Cook." Julia whined. "If you were just the two of you, honey, he would have told you." Julia sucked down her drink and turned her head to watch Jay take his shot. How and where did he learn how to shoot pool? "Being honest with myself makes it easier to be honest with other people."

"Oh, the vodka gets you all philosophical now doesn't it?" She mused, noticing that Julia had loosened up considerably.

"Could say that. It does a lot of other things to me too."

"Like?"

"I don't know when enough is enough. I can get violent. I start running my mouth and I grow balls. The kinda balls that start a rebellion and get shit stirred up."

"How long have you been sober, Julia?"

"Sober." Julia repeated. "What's that? I haven't seen sober in seven years. Pockets of it here and there, of course." Julia snapped her fingers at the server and ordered up another soda and another double shot of vodka. She drank easily once the first doubles were down. Once the alcohol tipped the scale  over the amount of food she had eaten, all was right with her and she felt fantastic. She sat and gabbed with Cook like they were best of friends. "You asked me a little while ago what I like to do with my spare time. Didn't you?"

Cook was feeling no pain as she had imbibed more than enough for herself. The bar had filled up and the men were rowdier and fun and definitely more appealing. "I believe I did."

"Well, now that I am lit, I will tell you." She put her hand over her glass as Devin attempted to have it refilled, indicating she had finished drinking for the night. "I like to kill things, specifically people. It is a lifestyle, not a career or a fad or a temporary calling. I have done it for so long and so well that it is second nature. I enjoy it. It makes me feel alive." She explained. "When I am not at work, I do nothing. I fill my time with people I love. When it all gets too much and I can't fucking deal, I get out of hand. I drink. I live an unhealthy and dangerous lifestyle to make up for that lack. I don't expect you to get it. I don't expect you to think about it beyond this table." She sipped her soda and she took Jay's hand. "Now, you also asked me if I love Chess, and I said, yes." She tugged Jay. "But this one right here, he's been standing next to me from day one. God only knows why he stuck around. I think he likes me. But he never lets me down, never leaves me hanging or alone. He's my partner, my friend, my husband, you know, everything that one person can be or do for another person."

"Julia, if you don't stop it." Jay said embarrassed.

"She's explaining it pretty good, man." Devin said. "She's on point with the killing."

"And everyone needs that one go to person that gets it."

"The world, Jayson, is like a snake and it bites and injects its venom. And you, Jay, you suck out the poison."

"And there's no more alcohol for you, woman. Can I have a bill please?" Jay asked the server.

"No, it's paid for." Devin answered as Jay reached for his card.

"Next time you're in town, let us know. You're welcome with us anytime." Devin shook Jay's hand firm. "And you, I wanna kill with you one day." He held Julia's hand up and kissed it. "Take care of her. And bring Morgan with you next time."

"That would be so fun. Maybe y'all can swing up our way." Julia yelled as Jay hooked an arm around her. "I'm not the only one, Jayson. You heard them, the way they talk and the things they've seen and done."

"I realize that, babe. I have done the same things. I don't talk about it, film it, write about it..." He tucked her drunk ass in the car. He belted her in and he got in the driver's side.

"You can, Jay, talk about it with me. I tried and you don't open up to me about it." She told him. "Chess does. He unloads every awful damn thought and action on me. He doesn't ever shut up about it, makes it his business to make it my business. That's why this is a family business. You're closed off and making sense of it on your own. You always have."

"You make fun of me."

"No I don't."

"I have cried-"

"Oh. That's how you tell me about it? All those fucking tears."

"And you tell me, man up and deal with it."

"That's how you let it out? The crying?" She asked. "All these years and all that damn crying? Why don't you just say something instead of getting all weepy. I love you, Jayson. I do and from here on out if Jay wants to cry, then you're allowed to cry. I won't, but you can cry like a girl all you want. I don't care."

"That's what all the drinking is about?"

"I guess, Jayson. I think and think and think and then I drink."

He had noticed she started drinking when they were talking about her videos. When they mentioned that they'd witnessed her private recordings of a time when she was alive against all odds and when her actions were brought into question.

"Ashley." Jayson said to her. "You really gave a child to a guy and-"

Julia stopped him. She explained Temple and his work and being inside that yard and all the company he ever had was Racer the Dog. Racer, ironically, was the only female that survived Temple. Temple treated his dog with more love, affection and respect than he did his females.

"What happened to her?"

"He killed her, Jay."

What was a fate worse than death? Being raped repeatedly before the man that raped you killed you. Ashley, true name unknown, was a dead girl wherever Julia sent her. She owed Temple and each time she handed over a female, she had hope that Temple would change. He never did. He never would. She used the three strikes rule with Temple and then let Julio deal with him and his desires. He listened to Julio and when Julio brought him a girl, he made it quite clear that she would be returned in the same shape as she was dropped off. Julio's girls were Julio's property. Maverick was Julio's property and if Temp had any desire to continue breathing in Maverick, then he'd take heed of that.

"Did he?"

"Did he what?"

"Take fuckin heed?"

"Yes, only out of respect for Julio's property. The girls were only with him over night. I wanted Julio to kill him. Julio chose otherwise. He was more useful alive than dead. If and when we ever cleared off the lot, then we would have ended him. He is a nice kid though. Ever met him?"

"No,"

"You never went to the lot with Chess and Jo, I guess."

"No. They tried keeping you secret."

"Oh, well how did you see my videos then?"

"Julia."

"What?"

"No, Julia showed me the videos. For one, she wanted me to know you were ok and that you could take care of yourself and you talked about me, that I wasn't a complete lost cause. Like you were gone, but you were going through it too."

"Why'd you fuck with my head on the roof?"

"A lot of time passed. I had no right to expect anything from you. I couldn't kill you, even though that's why I went there. I planned on killing you." He explained. "But I couldn't."

"I would have thrown you off the roof, Jay."

"I know. There was that." He paused. "Plus, it would have caused a lot of problems. I don't think anyone would have forgiven that move. It's funny. I felt the same about you in both worlds. Here and there. Separated and angry. Separated and sad."

"The other Jayson." Julia said quietly.

"What about him?"

"I found him. I moved him out, away from all of us. I had him transported to the Gettysburg compound."

"Why?"

"I really gotta answer that for you? I didn't want to be involved with him and I moved him to keep him away from her and out of Chess's hair. He was happy with her, smiling on the fuckin inside. The prick." She shifted in her seat and propped her good leg on the dash board. The alcohol still did a number on her. "You know, it didn't matter anyway. There was you, you were there, so I guess Chess didn't need two of you to worry about. One of you with his girl was enough. He didn't need the one she was crushing on flanking her other side."

"It wasn't like that."

"You mean to tell me that you were missing me for months on end and nothing, absolutely nothing went on between the two of you. Jay, you are an honorable person. Morals and all. But if I know anyone, then I know me. And I have questionable morals at times."

"I know."

"Anyway, she's a lot different from me and she's a lot the same as me. We are the same fuckin people in both worlds." She rooted around her bag till she found her cigarettes. "So that being said, it was bound to happen with someone. Maybe she didn't have enough time, being she started so late."

"Jules, you are speculating about a girl that you do not know."

"Maybe."

"Did she? Start late, I mean." Jay asked. "Or did she start early and didn't say anything to anybody?"

"You're fuckin confusing me now. Taking advantage of a drunk woman's faculties."

"Ok, chicklet. When you tell me, I will tell you."

"About Gun's dad? Are you sure you wanna slip down that rabbit hole? You'll wind up pissed off, Jayson."

"You were calling Stef chicklet."

"Oh, well, chicklet is a term I use for a trick, Jay. A sarcastic ass pet name for a fool, Jay."

"When he used it in reference to you, though."

"A pet name for a fool, Jayson."

"He hurt you?"

"Not quite. No." She answered uncomfortably. "You fucked Julia Fry, Jay."

He groaned a little. "No comment."