Bones by the Wood (40 page)

He knew he sounded ridiculous, he could barely move from the fucking bed, but he meant every word like a vow.

Samuel softened.  “I believe you, brother.  I can’t make you guarantees.  We killed the ones we found, six in all.  No reason to believe there were more there. But we haven’t got a fuckin’ clue how many of those rodents are breedin’ in Mexico.”

“I will salt the earth, Samuel.  I will fuckin’ kill them and salt the earth.”

“And we’ll be right by your side, brother.”

~o0o~

Samuel had rustled up a couple of pain pills, something small, white and opiate-based and some anti-inflammatories and then had left Dizzy to a numbed, restorative slumber.  When he’d woken again, sometime the next morning, he’d been able to move more easily by small degrees.  Every time he shifted, the numerous stitches in various places pinched and tweaked at his skin.  It was as irritating as it was painful.  He still couldn’t open one eye, but the other was more or less under his full command now and it didn’t take long minutes for his vision to clear each time he opened it. 

Moira had come in to help him eat some coush-coush.  If that was on the menu, he knew she’d cooked it.  It was worth every bit of effort it took to eat it.

He’d wanted to see Thea again, but she wouldn’t leave Josh, and more disturbingly, would not bring Josh anywhere near him.   He knew he probably looked like a Halloween freak, and he hoped it was that she thought the boy would be scared by his appearance, and not because she was pulling away.  But he knew.  It was his responsibility to keep them safe.  He’d failed her.  He’d failed them both.  That knowledge ate at his gut.

~o0o~

Before lunch, after he’d suffered the indignity of Moira helping him to take a piss, there was a knock at his door.  It opened a crack and Cage peered into the room.

“Hey, Pres.  You free for company?”

“No, I’m paintin’ my nails.”  Dizzy grunted, and grimaced as he tried to push himself further up the pillows.

Smiling broadly, Cage entered, followed by Fitz.  Fitz closed the door behind them.  There was only one chair in the room. Cage took it and pulled it close to the bed.  Fitz leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

“Fuck, boss, you’re gonna look as pretty as me when you heal up.”  Fitz nodded towards him.

The covers had been folded at Dizzy’s waist to allow air to get to his skin, and to stop the material from chaffing on the stitches and raw patches of charred tissue.

“Tell you what, next Halloween, we can go trick or treatin’.  You can be Freddy and I’ll be Leatherface.”  Dizzy quipped.

“The others wanted to see you, too, Pres, but Moira’s on guard duty.  Samuel says since it’s healin’ business that he’s not arguin’ with her.  Fuck me, she’s a feisty one.”  Cage shook his head.  “We had to promise our firstborn babies to her to get up here, and if we upset you, she’ll take our balls. I’m pretty sure she meant that part.”

Dizzy knew damn well what Moira was like in protector mode.  “Yeah, I’m sure she did mean it.  She’ll be more ornery than a junkyard dog ‘til I’m on my feet.  Then it’ll just be me on the receivin’ end.”

“I don’t envy you that, boss.”  Fitz said.

“Nope, that’s why you’re all gonna bust me out of here as soon as you can.”

“Jesus.  I like my dick where it is, Pres.”

“Don’t worry.  I should be able to talk her round tomorrow.”  Dizzy wasn’t convinced he’d be able to get out of the bed without showing the cost of the effort, which would be vital to mitigate any argument Moira would make, but he would fucking well try.

“And how’re you plannin’ on ridin’ that far, boss?” Fitz asked, a little too sarcastically for Dizzy’s liking.

“I’ll be in Thea’s truck.  We’ll get Scrat to follow us with my bike.”

The silence that followed the revelation of his plan was not comforting.

“What’s up?  You two look shiftier than a whore at confession.”

Cage scooted the chair a little closer.  “Pres, Thea won’t speak to any of us, not more’n she has to, and she won’t let anyone see Josh.  Shaggy’s about ready to break the door down.  We’ve got him on oath he’s gonna wait for your say so.  But there’s talk that she’s plannin’ on leavin’ tonight.  I can’t say I know for certain.  She won’t let me in the fuckin’ room, and I don’t want to force it.  The kid’s out of his mind enough already.”

Dread twisted every internal organ that Dizzy could name.  “You get in there, or get ahold of her.  I wanna see her before she goes.”

Cage simply nodded.  Dizzy looked over at Fitz, who paused before he nodded, too.  Dizzy knew that Fitz would drag Thea in kicking and screaming if he had to.  He didn’t want that, but he didn’t want her leaving without the opportunity to find out what was really going on in her head.

“How is everyone?  When they’re not provokin’ Moira or anyone else?”

“Concerned about you.  They’ll be better when we report you’re not surrounded by angels.  You were a mess, Pres.  Not afraid to say I was worried when we found you.”

Dizzy didn’t respond.  He had nothing to say on that score.

After an uncomfortable pause, Cage spoke again.  “Shark found the Taser.  He’s kinda giddy about it.”

“It’s a lot wrong how giddy he is.”  Fitz added.

“He’s trying to persuade Chiz to let him try it out on him.”  That idea obviously amused Cage.

“Tell Chiz from me, if he can stand twenty shots over, without passin’ out, then Mardi Gras next year is on me, however he wants to do it.”

“Twenty times?  Pres?”

Dizzy offered the best shrug that he could manage.  “I lost count after that.”

The uncomfortable quiet blanketed the room again, until Fitz made a joke about Shaggy, Scooby and Shark comparing bicep circumference and Dolly making fun of the size of a bicep being related to other muscles, then they were easy with each other again, until Moira arrived to shoo his brothers back downstairs.

~o0o~

Lunch was an omelet that he’d managed to persuade Moira that he was capable of eating without help.  Afterwards, Dizzy was resting and gathering his strength for the forthcoming confrontation with his President’s wife, and the hurt that he knew the journey home would lay on him.

He wasn’t expecting another visitor.

He nearly fell out of the bed when Josh crept into the room.  The kid was wearing the clothes he’d worn for the wedding, although they looked a little more rumpled now.  He was pale and drawn, and there were harsh, dark circles under his young eyes.

“Hey, li’l bro.  How’re you doin’?”  He spoke quietly; Josh looked like he might spook easily.

“Mama doesn’t know I’m here.  She’s sleepin’.  She didn’t think I should see you.”  Josh was standing just inside the door.  He hadn’t come any closer to the bed.  He looked at his feet, then looked up.  “You’re really hurt, aren’t you?”

“It’s not so bad as it looks, li’l bro.  The bruises make it look bad.”  He fought to push himself up without making a face to prove his point.  He’d seen his body.  He knew fucking well that he probably looked like Frankenstein’s freaking monster to the boy.

“Josh, I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry I didn’t keep you safe.”  It was all Dizzy could do to get the words out.

Josh looked at him for a long, silent moment, and then he said, so quietly that Dizzy almost missed it, “I’m sorry you’re hurt, Dizzy.” 

Josh turned and left the room as stealthily as he’d entered it.

Out of everything that Dizzy had endured, the unspoken accusation in Josh’s eyes had hurt the worst.

~o0o~

A little while after that, his door opened again, and Thea walked in.  She stopped short, as if unsure where she wanted to put herself in the room.  Eventually she opted for the chair.  She, too, was wearing the dress she’d worn for the wedding.  Dizzy had fond memories of that dress.  It looked a little incongruous on her now, since it wasn’t her style to dress up every day.  The bruising on her face, which was turning the predictable rainbow of colors, was a poor accessory.

“Cage said I had to come see you.”  She said.  Her voice was devoid of emotion.

“You didn’t want to come?”

“He made it plain that voluntarily was the best option, and I’m done bein’ kidnapped.”

Christ, that barb hurt.  “Not fair Thea.  Not fair.”

She just looked him steadily in the eyes and didn’t apologize or back down.  He fucking loved her strength, her attitude, but fuck, she could be stubborn.

“You were plannin’ on leavin’ without sayin’ goodbye, then?”  He asked, although he knew the answer.

“I didn’t want to make a fuss, Dizzy.  I want to get home.  I need to get home.”

“You could wait?”  He suggested.  “I’m breakin’ out tomorrow.”

She didn’t even try and smile at his joke.

“I need to get back to my job.  I can’t afford to miss another night.  And I’m not so sure Moira’s gonna let you out tomorrow.”

“I’m not goin’ to give her any choice.  And what’s goin’ on with your job?  What the fuck aren’t you tellin’ me?”  It was bad enough he was stuck in this bed for the moment, but he was seriously considering crossing the room so that he could shake some sense or feeling into her.

Thea raised one eyebrow at him.  “I’d like to stay and watch you take Moira on.  My money’s on her, well and truly.  And nothin’s goin’ on with my job, Dizz.  But I’ve got rent to pay and I have to make my shifts to earn the money to do that.  I can’t afford to miss too many.”

“I’ll...” He started.

“No you won’t.  Don’t even say it.”  She shot him down before he could make the offer.

“Thea, sweetheart, I wanna take care of...”

“You wanna take care of us?  Really?  You’re goin’ with that?”  Her disbelieving tone opened every wound on his body and then some.

“Jesus, Thea,” he exclaimed.

“Sorry.  You’re right.  That was harsh.  It wasn’t fair.  But there’s no gettin’ around the fact that me and my boy are in danger if we’re with you.  You can’t ever guarantee to me that you’ve killed everyone that wants to hurt us.  Everyone that would try and do that to us again.”

Honesty was his best option here.  He had nothing to hide behind.  “You’re right.  I can’t guarantee shit.  But don’t you see that you’re safer with us, with me, than on your own?”  He would not beg her to stay... would not... would... He fucking would if he had to.

“I’m not so sure about that, Dizzy.  I thought that was the case but... now I’m not so sure.  We’re goin’, Dizzy.  We’ll be out of here within the hour.  Don’t get the guys to try and stop us, that would really piss me off.  I need some space, I have to figure shit out.  I have to figure out what’s best for Josh.”

There was a lump of lead in his chest, approximately where his heart should have been.

“You ain’t even gonna give me a kiss goodbye?”

“I think it’s best all round if I don’t.  I wouldn’t want you pullin’ your stitches.”  She offered a tight, wry smile.

And with that, she was gone.

Dizzy lay back on the bed and tried to order this thoughts.

He was in the beating heart of his family, and he was alone.

Walking through the door of their apartment was... strange.  It was strange, because it was normal.  She experienced the same sense of reality having stayed still for her as she had when they’d come home after the lockdown.  In the early hours of Saturday morning, they’d left to celebrate a wedding, full of excitement and anticipation and hope for the future.