Tainted Future (The Rememdium Series Book 3) (9 page)

Walt’s mouth went dry. “How long?”

Kyle scooted over to Turner’s feet. “That’s a question for Jane, not me. In my opinion, just from this quick observation, three months.”

“Shit,” Walt muttered. “Can’t think about that now. Will you check the woods through the scope one last time before we haul him outta here?”

“You bet,” Kyle answered, pulling the rifle up. Squinting, he took his time and scoured the woods. “We’re good. You ready?”

Nodding, Walt and Kyle eased Turner into the sitting position. After securing their bodies, they hoisted Turner to the standing position. “This ain’t gonna work. Not in this terrain. Too rocky. Here, let me take him,” Walt said.

“You sure? No offense, but my back and knees are younger.”

“Positive. I’ll need you to take point anyway. Guide me through this mess. Now, help me get him on my back.”

In seconds, Turner’s body firmly secured on his back, Walt and Kyle headed to the glen.

After the first ten minutes pulling uphill, Walt’s back and legs throbbed. He wouldn’t give in to the temptation to switch places with Kyle, no matter how much his muscles begged him to change his mind.

Twenty minutes later, Walt had never been so glad to finish a hike. Reed and Jane were waiting at the edge of the trail. Walt noticed the sky was a dark, ugly gray as snow clouds twisted above them. A few snowflakes fluttered around in the light breeze. Thankful the weather waited until he was off the trail to take a turn for the worse, Walt smiled. Turner woke up and asked, “What’s goin’ on, Dad? Why are you carryin’ me?”

Walt stopped and eased Turner off of his back. Turner’s words sounded odd since his lips were so swollen. Walt didn’t care. He was thankful Turner was talking and at least making sense. While he’d been toting his son through the woods, he’d worried Turner might have a suffered damage to his brain from the fall. “Because you got your mom’s balance, not mine. Took a nasty tumble over the cliff and broke your leg. Don’t you remember?”

“Oh, yeah! I saw somethin’ down at the bottom of the cliff, Dad. Looked like shallow graves. I was tryin’ to get a better look, then everythin’ kinda goes blank after that. Glad I don’t remember bouncin’ down the hillside.”

Kyle stepped over, draping one of Turner’s arms around his shoulder. “Boy, you certainly are one lucky kid, Turner. You fell over fifty feet. Guess that thick skull of yours came in handy. Saved that little brain of yours from gettin’ cracked open.”

“Your humor sucks, Kyle,” Turner muttered.

“All of you hush. You can pick on him later. Right now, we need to get him back to the cave so I can fully care for all his wounds,” Jane groused.

“Does Martha know?” Walt directed the question to Jane.

“No, she left with Jesse earlier to go get more supplies. You’re the lucky one, Walt. I’ll have time to examine him and get him cleaned up before his mother comes back. If she sees him lookin’ like this—”

“Yeah, I know. She’s gonna flip her lid. Y’all might wanna stay outside when she returns. My wife’s got quite a temper when she’s—”

“Holy Mother of God! Turner! What happened to you?”

The sound of Martha’s voice cut through Walt’s chest like a hot dagger. Under his breath, he muttered, “Shit,” then turned around to face the only person in the world he feared.

“Baby!” Jesse chirped from behind Martha. Both women ran full speed up the trail to their position.

Kyle leaned over and whispered in Walt’s ear, “Not one, but two pissed off women headin’ your way. Sure am glad I ain’t wearin’ your boots.”

“You know, I expected an ass-chewin’. Had myself all prepared for it, but gotta tell you, the silent treatment is worse.”

Martha stiffened at Walt’s words, yet didn’t turn around. Ignoring Walt, she continued to stir the soup heating on the small cook stove. Walt moved closer, resting his hand on her shoulder. “Lover, please? Talk to me. Say your peace and let’s get past this. Okay?”

Turning around to face him, Martha’s eyes were backlit with fury. Jaw clenched tight, Walt could tell she was fighting the urge to rip him to shreds. After swallowing several times, Martha finally said, “You didn’t do your job, Walter. You failed.”

“Martha, he’s a grown man, and I can’t keep an eye on him twenty-four—”

“I know that,” Martha hissed through clenched teeth. “I’m not talkin’ about today’s incident.”

Stunned, thankful Martha was whispering rather than yelling at the top of her voice, Walt asked, “Then what are you talkin’ about? How did I fail him?”

“You bullied that boy from the minute he was old enough to understand words. Scolded him for not bein’ tough and rough like you. Mocked him about his interests in design, art, playin’ games.”

“I—”

“No, don’t you interrupt me, Walter Addison. You wanted me to talk, so I am. Sayin’ things I shoulda years ago. You were ashamed of our son because he wasn’t a jock, didn’t have any interest in the things you did. That boy’s been scared of your shadow ever since he was a toddler. All he’s ever done his whole life is try to live up to your ridiculous expectations of him, and look what happened! Every time he’d come close to succeedin’, you never gave him praise or any congratulations. Your pathetic compliments were always back-handed digs. By the time he was a teenager, you’d mashed his spirit to the point he didn’t care anymore. He quit tryin’ because he knew he’d never live up to your standards!”

Anger flared in Walt’s gut. “That’s not fair, Martha. I’ve always loved Turner.”

“I never said you didn’t. I said you failed him. Had you taken a softer touch, made yourself more accessible to him, he woulda paid more attention and
learned
rather than
mimicked
your actions. And I wouldn’t be so freakin’ terrified, knowin’ my son almost died today. Not only that, but he’s now basically immobile
durin’ the middle of the end of civilized society
. What happens if we have to flee here? Or one of those movin’ corpses finds its way to the cave?”

“That’s what guns are for, Martha. And since we’re discussin’ the well-being of our son, recall you were goin’ to leave without him before. Why are you so freaked out now?”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Martha’s face turned bright red as tears filled her eyes. “You best leave me be, Walter, and let me cool off before I say somethin’ I regret. I’m thinkin’ you need to keep your distance, at least until our son can walk again. I’ll be busy takin’ care of him, like I always have.”

“Martha Louise, that ain’t fair. Okay, I’ll give you the fact I wasn’t the greatest father. I tried my best. Truly. However, what happened today wasn’t because I didn’t love our son enough. It happened because he
did
use the skills I taught him and caught somethin’ I missed. Of course, that’s when your genes kicked in and his balance failed him. You can be mad at me all you want, but considerin’ the way things are now, I don’t think that’s such a grand idea. Aren’t you the one who said we should all stand together, keep each other safe, and pull together as a unit?”

“Don’t you dare try and use my words against me.”

“Why? You’re willin’ to use my actions, or lack of, against me.”

For a split second, Walt thought Martha was going to hit him. So many emotions blazed across her face, he felt dizzy. Instead of balling up her fist and letting him have it, Martha dropped her head. Her shoulders bounced up and down as quiet sobs wracked her body.

Martha Louise Addison rarely cried. Walter tried, yet couldn’t remember, the last time he’d seen her fall apart. Seeing her so distraught made tears of his own swell. Pulling her to his chest, he whispered, “Oh, lover. Turner’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay. I swear.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Walter,” Martha whispered in between sobs. “Just…don’t.”

Something inside Walt’s mind broke free. If they were all going to make it, and keep each other safe, there could be no secrets between them. They’d all have to open up and expose true thoughts, worries, feelings, and any information they’d been hiding, in order to function as one unit.

Walter had been hiding what he’d seen in the woods, and the fact he’d followed Jesse and Shaun. Now, he needed to come clean, stop pretending that he could handle things covertly, on his own, without sharing with the rest of the group. He also needed to confront Jesse about the drugs, and the reaction of Kevin Warton when he thought she’d taken some.

Inside the dimly lit cave, while the rest of the group huddled around Turner’s cot, Walt clung to his wife, offering Martha all he had, which was only his love. “You know me, lover. I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep.”

Martha pulled away and wiped her tear-stained face on his sleeve. “And I don’t cry over nothin’. I’m scared, Walter. Scared.”

“Me, too, so we’ll just use the fear as fuel to make ourselves stronger, okay?”

Martha nodded.

“Now, about that order to stay away?”

“I didn’t mean it. You know how I get when mad.”

“Good. Because I’ve lived my whole adult life by your side, Martha Louise. Don’t intend on livin’ out the remainder of it shut away from you. We need each other. More than ever.”

“I know. I was just blowin’ off steam.”

Walter leaned down and kissed Martha, long and hard. She returned the kiss with passion, so Walt had to pull away before he forgot all about the others. “You’re the last one who hasn’t taken a shower. Go, get yourself under that hot water. It’ll help ease the tension in your back and shoulders. I’ll finish this here soup and make sure our boy eats it all.”

“Thank you. I love you, Walter. Sorry about losin’ it. Guess it was just my turn.”

Walter shooed Martha toward the latrine. “Get yourself all clean and soft, then later, we can figure out a way for both of us to ease the tension in our muscles.”

Martha grinned and shook her head. “Even with the end near. Men.”

He watched Martha make her way through the cave, stopping once by Turner’s bedside to check on him. Reed Newberry rose and headed toward him. Turning back to the soup, Walter smiled, grateful his ass cheeks were still in one piece.

“From across the room, it looked like you dodged a bullet,” Reed said.

Walt chuckled. “Yeah, she let me have it but then forgave me.”

“Don’t take it personally, Walt. Mother’s get like that when their chicks get hurt. Lord, how many times did I see Regina…”

Walt heard the hitch in Reed’s voice before it trailed off. “I know, and I didn’t. How’s Turner?”

Clearing his throat, Reed answered, “Turner’s fine. Hell, half of Rockport is fawnin’ over him like he won the lottery. Plus, Jane gave him a hefty dose of morphine. Why wouldn’t he be?”

“Funny. How’s Jesse takin’ all this? Should I expect her to get all emotional and freak out on me, too?”

Reed looked back over his shoulder. “I don’t think she’ll leave his side long enough to give you a piece of her mind.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. Not sure I could stand havin’ two women losin’ it in one day on me. So, while you’re here and everyone else is out of earshot, got somethin’ to run by you.”

Reed turned back around. “Shoot.”

“Once we all finish eatin’, we need to have a group meetin’. Got some things I need to share about a few items I’ve been keepin’ from everyone. While in the middle of gettin’ my ass reamed by my wife, I decided it was time to make some changes. Come clean about certain things. Like Martha said—we all need to work as a group, and can’t really do that if each of us is runnin’ in different directions.”

“Well said. Couldn’t agree more, but why tell me now? Why not wait until you address us all?”

“Ain’t tellin’ you what’s on my mind, just that there’s somethin’ on it, and givin’ you a heads-up in case you’ve got somethin’ you need to get off your chest.”

“Oh, gotcha.”

“I’m gonna ask everyone to be honest with each other and work as a group. If we don’t, we’ll get picked off one by one. It’ll probably be like poppin’ a boil: painful, stinky, and full of nasty goo, yet once drained, feel much better.”

Reed shook his head. “Nice analogy to use before we eat.”

“Hey, I said I’d changed my mind about some things, but not all. I still enjoy makin’ folks cringe sometimes with—oh, what does Martha always say? My inappropriate humor? Yeah, that’s it. Inappropriate humor.”

Picking up a tray of plastic bowls, Reed laughed. “I can see why Turner hates jokes. If I’da grown up listenin’ to that kind of humor, my funny bone would be gone, too. Don’t worry about talkin’ to us all, Walt. We’ve got each other’s backs now. Since we’re stuck in this cluster-fuck together, may as well make the best of it.”