The desert scenery of New Mexico flew by as Coralee put her foot down and sped down the empty highway. Hallie and I sat in the back, resting our exhausted bodies. Taking the weight off of our feet and laying back on the luxuriously comfortable, padded seats was heavenly. There was an excitement quietly brewing between us, an exhilaration at moving without having to move. Hallie had kicked her sneakers off and had her feet up on the seat, displaying her holey socks for all to see with little shame. She’d sat herself at a safe distance from me, and I couldn’t blame her. Now that my adrenaline and focus had worn off, I realised that I did actually smell pretty bad.

We’d initially planned for Hallie and I to be dropped at the state line, but the offer of warm water, clean clothes and food had convinced me to visit Coralee and Cole’s camp in exchange for some grafting. I had no idea what work I’d be put to, but a safe haven and a break from the monotonous travelling was more than welcome, whatever the cost. I was already eternally grateful for the ride. The distance we’d covered in just a couple of hours with Coralee and Cole would have taken a week of focused walking on foot, something I didn’t think my body could have handled, let alone Hallie’s. I looked over at her, her bony frame relaxed against the seat, her head lolling to the side as she contentedly watched the scenery pass us by at 80 miles per hour. I wondered if I was doing Viola proud? Time had cruelly continued on as though nothing had happened, but despite the passing of the months, her blood was fresh in my mind. I could still hear her gurgling and gasping last breaths before I fell asleep at night, and see the emptiness in her lifeless, glassy eyes. Hallie was all I had left of her now; I only wished I could make her existence a happier one. What kind of life was she leading for an eleven year old? The past few months had stolen her innocence away and hardened her. She was not yet a teenager, and yet she’d seen things that no one should ever have to see. I worried for her, about what kind of person she might grow into having been shaped by such atrocities.

The car began to slow. I craned my neck to look out of the windshield and see what was ahead. A tall fence spanned around the perimeter of a wide area, looming over us as we approached a set of gates. Coralee gave the horn two short beeps, and a panel on the gate slid to the side. A woman’s face appeared in the gap, peering out at the car. As quickly as she’d appeared, the panel slid shut, and the gates began opening, one at a time.
“Thanks, Mal,” Coralee called through the open window as she drove through.
“Wow,” Hallie exclaimed, as we took in their ‘camp’. Camp had been an understating descriptor for this. It had conjured up images of sleeping bags and camp fires, when in actual fact they’d essentially sectioned off a small part of a town.
“How many of you are there?” I asked in astonishment, aware that this was no small feat.
Cole turned back to face us with a scowl, “Enough that you’d better not cross us.”
“Cole,” Coralee scolded, “Stop intimidating them, I think they’ve been through quite enough.”
He returned to facing forwards and mumbled, “Yes, Cora.”

I watched them with interest, mulling over their interaction. Coralee obviously had some kind of authority over Cole, or maybe even the whole camp. She parked the car up in a small lot, which contained 3 other vehicles. We all got out of the car, and I looked around properly at our surroundings.
“Welcome to our haven,” Coralee smiled, as I took it all in.
“How long have you been here?” I asked, noting that everything was in relatively good condition. It almost looked untouched by the outside world, as though the pandemic hadn’t existed here. No smashed windows, no graffiti, no burned out cars.
“We’ve been here since the beginning, pretty much,” she stated, joining me in looking around. “As soon as the chaos had calmed a little, a group of us began constructing the walls of this place. As we worked, more and more joined us until we evolved into this little community you see here.”
“Little?” I repeated, in shock. “This place is huge, I’m in awe.”
“Well, I’m glad it pleases you,” she smiled, as she began to walk away. “How about you let me show you around.”

"I knew from the first night I met her that I wanted something more with her. It just felt so different with Blair, so real."
“So, how did you meet her?” I asked, swigging my beer. We’d been working our way through the alcohol stash and as a result, my line of questioning became more personal and Brian became more loose-lipped.
Brian smiled fondly, “I actually met her through Jimmy. He knew her first - found her backstage at a gig, looking lost. She was quiet, spent most of her time hiding out in smoking areas. It was all a ruse though; because when she found her feet, she was just like Jimmy - one of the most lovably irritating people you could ever meet.”
I giggled, “That’s a pretty good description of Jimmy.”
“Fucking right it is,” Brian snorted, as I lifted my can to my mouth, “I’ve never met anyone else who’s so fun and yet so fucking annoying all at the same time.”
I burst out laughing, spraying beer everywhere. Brian dissolved into hysterics as well, slapping his knees with glee.
“What’s going on in here?” Hallie asked, appearing in the doorway and peering at the both of us. “Are you guys drunk?”
We couldn’t answer, we were laughing too hard. She cast us a disapproving glance and vanished again. Brian tossed me another can from the collection he’d accrued by his feet. He'd gotten tired of walking backwards and forwards to the cooler after the third journey.
“I haven’t finished this one,” I informed him, wiggling my current can in his face.
He shrugged, “So finish it now.”
It seemed like a sound solution so I tipped the can back, gulping the last of the bitter liquid down. I cracked the new can open.
“How many have I had?” I slurred a bit, trying to count the cans, but even a task as simple as that caused extreme confusion, so I quickly gave up.
“Don’t count them, Jesus. Just drink them,” Brian groaned.
“Did you just call me Jesus?” I blinked, my brain trying to make sense of his words.
“Did I?” he smirked at me, his eyes ever so slightly unfocused.

“Do you guys know what time it is?” Matt’s voice rang out from the doorway. We both looked up in alarm to see him standing there, arms folded. Hallie peeked around him at us.
“Did you tell on us, Hallie?” I asked, giggling madly. My laughter set off Brian’s in a chain reaction. Hallie appeared in full view.
“I did not,” she insisted, pouting at me. “It was impossible for anyone to not notice you, you’re both being loud.”
“Guys,” Matt cut in, “It’s fucking noon.”
A silence hung in the room for a few moments before Brian broke it.
“Sooooo?” he looked at Matt, waiting for him to continue.
“So, you’re blind drunk,” he explained, exasperatedly. “We’ve still got shit to do, man.”
“We’ll do it later,” Brian waved him off, turning back to me. We shared a knowing smirk, like two children who’d been doing something they shouldn’t have been.
“I could help you do it,” I offered, trying to look alert.
Matt scoffed, “You probably can’t even stand up.”
“I can too,” I argued, forcing myself up from the couch. I was wobbly, but I stood. Matt rolled his eyes at my triumphant grin.
“Yeah, and let’s see you walk in a straight line, Anna Nicole Smith,” he quipped, watching me start to teeter towards him. “I didn’t mean it. Please just sit.”
I obeyed, and plonked myself down next to Brian again, who had a stupid grin plastered on his face.
“Stop drinking,” Matt ordered, “we’ve got more stuff to sort out, Brian.”
He stormed out of the room, Hallie on his heels. Brian threw a ‘wanker’ sign at his back, causing me to fall into another fit of laughter.

“Fuck him,” Brian grinned, pulling his knees up and tipping his can at me. “Bottoms up.”
Never one to be left out, I let him persuade me into necking another can. At this point, even I knew that I was making a poor decision, but Brian’s openness was encouraging me onwards.
“Bri?” I began, slinging an arm over his shoulder, “may I call you that? Bri?”
He shrugged me off with a snort of laughter, “You may.”
“Okay, Bri. Well, I wanted to thank you,” I slurred, throwing my arm around his shoulder again, more for stability this time, though he was equally as wobbly.
“What for?” he asked, trying to focus on my face.
“You’ve been so good to Hadley,” I hiccupped, with a giggle. “I mean, Hallie.”
“I gathered that,” he snickered, steadying me.
“You’re like a big brother to her, and it’s so good. You’re a big ass brother,” I explained, almost incoherently.
“What’s a big ass brother?” Brian asked, putting emphasis on the ‘ass’, before falling back with laughter. As he went one way, I went the other, somehow resulting in my face connecting with the floor. I lay in a crumpled heap beneath the couch, blinking slowly as Brian’s hoots resounded in the air. I tried to get myself up, but gravity was working against me, drawing me back down.
“Help,” I called to Brian through hysterics, “help me, you ass.”
“Is that a big ass?” he asked, cackling as he got on all fours and extended a hand down to me. “Come back up on the island.”
I gripped onto his hand, trying to pull myself upright.
“Don’t let me drown,” I wailed, as he tried to haul me back onto the couch. My balance had completely deserted me, making the task at hand rather difficult and comical to complete, until finally my excess of gravity successfully overpowered Brian’s strength. He toppled off the couch, his momentum sending him rolling across and onto the other side of me. We both lay in a squirming heap of hilarity, unable to catch our breath as we rolled about gleefully.

“What the fuck is going on?”
We looked up from our tittering mass on the floor to be faced with Johnny and an offended looking Jimmy. He folded his arms at us.
“You started a party without me, that’s just rude beyond words,” he complained.
“And yet you’re still talking,” Brian mouthed back with a smirk, the alcohol apparently not slowing his wit. I high fived him as I tried to catch my breath.
“Holy fuck,” I gasped, “I have to pee.”
I rolled myself over and, after making numerous unsuccessful attempts to stand, began a slow crawl to the doorway. Jimmy’s face creased up.
“Need a little help?” he asked, offering me a hand.
“Need a lottle help more like,” I replied, grabbing onto him with both arms, thankful for the assistance. He hauled me up onto my feet, pulled my arm around his shoulder and began walking me out of the room. As we departed, we heard Johnny’s stern voice.
“Don’t get any ideas, Brian, I’m not helping you piss.”

Jimmy got me all the way up the stairs and to the bathroom. He helped me wobble over to the toilet, where I insistently waved him off.
He hovered until he was sure I was steady, then walked away, call out over his shoulder, “I’ll wait by the door.”
“No peeking,” I teased, helpless to stop the wide grin on my face. I managed to shuffle my trousers down and sit down without falling over, and got to work emptying my bladder.
“This is fucking awesome,” I informed Jimmy, who had sat himself in the corridor outside. “Best pee of my life.”
“Good to know,” he returned, laughing at me. There was some silence as I sorted myself out and threw some water down the toilet (and around it). My mind carried on a one-sided conversation with itself as I shimmied my trousers up, until it hit a topic that piqued my interest again. I swished my hands in the bucket of water until I was satisfied I’d done an acceptable job of ‘washing’ and then wobbled upright.
“Hey, Jimmy?” I called out, stumbling towards the doorway. He appeared at the sound of my heavy footed steps, ready to catch me.
“Yes?” he answered, reaching out his arms to steady my wobbling.
“If Blair was married to Brian,” I began, looking up into his eyes.
He hesitated, “Yeah?”
“Then why do you have the wedding ring?” I asked, my complete and utter bafflement obvious.
He gave me an odd smile, “I don’t have Blair’s wedding ring. Or, not the wedding ring anyway.”

“What does that even mean?” I groaned, as he helped me stagger out of the bathroom.
“When Brian proposed to Blair, she joked that she couldn’t marry him without also marrying me because the three of us were so inseparable. So, I went out and bought this crappy ring, and when their wedding day rolled around I presented it to her as a joke. But Blair being Blair, she humoured me by putting it on the opposite hand, and she wore that lame-o thing every fucking day. Right until the end,” he finished his tale sadly as we reached the bedroom, where he helped me sit at the end of the bed. My usual reservations had been dulled by my inebriation, and I pulled him down next to me. He looked slightly taken aback as I threw my arms around him, but quickly recovered.
“Physical affection, Marina? To what do I owe the pleasure?” he joked, squinting down at me.
“Because you’re a fucking beautiful human,” I murmured into his chest. I felt his arms wrap around me, returning my gesture and enclosing me in a bubble of Jimmy.
“Right back at you,” he replied, laughing awkwardly. His laughter set me off and I giggled into him before leaning back again. My eyes trailed over his tattooed arms, all the way up to his electrified black hair and then to his sapphire eyes.
“You’re pretty,” I remarked, before I could stop myself. His cheeks flushed as he snickered.
“Pretty?” he repeated, amused.
“I didn’t mean that,” I hurried, slurring my way through my words. “I mean, I did mean it, but I didn’t mean to say it. It just fell out, you know? Like words sometimes do. Or they do when you’re drunk, anyway. The filter on my brain has stopped working and I-”
“Marina,” he laughed, giving me a gentle shake to stop me. He smiled lightly, “I think you’re pretty, too.”
“Huh?” My mouth hung open at his declaration. “You’re not even drunk.”
“I know,” his replied, his cheeks pinking again.
I looked deeply into his icy eyes, trying to find any insincerity. I came up short, and also incredibly close to him.
“You give me butterflies,” I admitted, with a little giggle. My god, shut up, Marina. Just shut up. A little smile pulled at the corner of his lips at my confession. I couldn't stop myself as more words came out, “Hallie thinks we should kiss.”
“Does she?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes,” I replied, holding his gaze.
“And are you sober enough to let me kiss you?” he whispered, leaning in close.
“Uh-huh,” I nodded, feeling electricity pulse through me.
I drew in a deep breath as he brought his lips down to mine, and let the collision of our lips explode through my being with a wave of dizzying pleasure. He moved his hands up to my face, pulling me deeper into him for a moment, before breaking away, leaving us both breathless.

“Fuck,” I uttered, his hands still cupping my face.
“I just love your eloquence,” he murmured, with a playful smile. I leaned back, letting myself fall flat against the bed and closed my eyes with a grin.
Jimmy snorted, “I know what that means.”
“Hmm?” I replied, not looking at him.
“That’s a drunken nap coming,” he accused, “you’re going to be asleep any second.”
“I’m not,” I protested, but I could already feel my mind powering down.
“Come here,” he laughed, gently pulling me upright and shimmying me up the bed. He pulled the covers out from underneath me and then laid them over me. I was already almost asleep, but just awake enough to hear him whisper to me before leaving.
“Sweet dreams, Marina.”

Notes

FINALLY!!!!!!!!! Only took 30 fucking chapters!!!!!