Ever Hayes - Redemption

“Danny,” a man yelled across the din. “Phone call.”

Danny limped over to the phone and waved at everyone to quiet down. Most of them just left the room—including Ava. Blake, Flynn, Eddie and I gathered around Danny as he picked up the phone.

At first it was Damien on the other end. Apparently everyone in Area 52 had been wondering the same thing as Danny. How did Keena program a hundred nuclear missiles in twenty minutes? No one thought she could have. Danny was doing more listening than talking which was bothering me because I couldn’t hear what was being said. And then I saw the expression change on Danny’s face, along with the tone of his voice.

“No way,” he said, shaking his head.

No way, what?

A minute later his position on the mystery topic had changed. “I guess it’s possible. That would certainly explain a few things.”

And then he was asking us for a little privacy. We backed away as his voice changed completely. “Hey,” he said softly. Now he was on the phone with Kate.

I watched his face from a distance, straining to listen to his side of the conversation. He was calm for the most part. He said “sorry” a few times. He wiped his eyes a few times. I saw Danny take some bad news, and say, “Oh my… Seriously?” But it was his glance at me that made my heart both drop and accelerate simultaneously. “Quiet, everyone,” I pleaded, trying to catch every word, but Danny wasn’t saying anything now. “What?” I asked, walking towards him. Blake, Flynn, and Eddie followed me over.

“It’s Dad.” Danny lowered the phone and shook his head. I could see his hand shaking. “The hurricane hit Redemption hard. He didn’t make it, Hayley.”

Tears filled my eyes, and Flynn was quickly beside me. “No…” I whispered.

Danny continued to shake his head. “Dad, Grandpa, Jenna, and…” Now Danny glanced at Blake.

“Kaci?” Blake asked quietly. Danny nodded.

I could barely feel anything, but my eyes were drawn to Blake. He was nodding, his eyes glazed over, and I watched him wipe his face. “How?” he asked Danny.

“Something called a meteotsunami hit Redemption in the eye of the hurricane—storm surge basically. Ramped right off Ni’ihau and wiped Redemption clean. There’s nothing left out there.”

A stunned silence dropped over the five of us. Blake shook his head and left the room. “Yeah, I’m still here.” Danny spoke into the headset. His eyes were back on me. “There’s more.”

I didn’t know if I could take any more. I was tempted to follow Blake. What else? “Okay…”

“Someone wants to talk to you.” Danny held the receiver out to me.

I took it from him, and the voice on the other end made me drop it. I could hear the words coming from the handset. “Hello…Hayley…hello.” I fell to my knees, my hands shaking like crazy now, and picked the phone back up. “S-s…Sam?”

“Yes, it’s me,” he answered with his deep warm voice.

“How…” I didn’t know what else to say.

“I’ll tell you all about it soon, okay? I promise.”

I cringed instinctively at those words but nodded—even though he couldn’t see me. “Okay.”

“I need to give the phone back to Kate, but I wanted to tell you I’m here, I’m safe, and I love you.”

It was my turn to wipe the tears away now. “I love you too.” I handed the phone back to my brother. “Kate wants to talk to you again.”

I didn’t even think about why, until I saw Danny hang up the phone, sit down, and bury his head in his lap. “Danny?” I knelt beside him.

He was trying unsuccessfully to hold the sobs in. “She lost…”

She lost the baby! He didn’t have to say a word. I brought the wheelchair he occasionally used over to him and wheeled him down the hall. He kept his head down past all the partying people—many of whom cheered him as he rolled by—all the way to his room. Ava met me in the hall just outside his door. “I’ll take him from here.”

I wanted to object, but Danny grabbed my arm firmly. I knelt down beside him. “Hayley, please, just this once, don’t say anything. Just let it go.”

Let it go . I nodded, stood, and backed away. I stared Ava down as she wheeled him into his room and closed the door.

Let it go .

I felt a cold hand on my arm and turned to see Flynn standing beside me. “Come on.” She pulled me toward our room.

I took one last look at Danny’s door. I knew I’d lost now. Ava was going to get what she wanted. I’d lost. Kate had lost. Damn it, Danny .

Dinner was a mixed bag of tears and laughter later that night. The group of soldiers outside had dispersed, clearly fearful of the encroaching radiation from the missiles that had struck the San Diego/Tijuana hub. It would be several months before we’d even be able to safely leave this bunker, but we’d find a way to survive in here until then. I looked around the tables at the twenty-six men and women who had been living here at Disneyland for the past two years. I watched them interact with Blake, Flynn, and even Eddie—who had been released from his cell hours ago. Danny had asked to be excused from dinner tonight—he wanted one night to himself. Well, with Ava, of course. I was inclined to give it to him, but I had a few things on my mind that couldn’t wait. Turns out so did Blake.

I let Blake go talk to him first. When he returned, I stepped away from my seat at the table and walked down the hallway toward Danny’s room. I knocked on his door. Ava opened it a crack.

“I need ten minutes.” I didn’t even want to look at her, but I couldn’t help but take in what she was—or wasn’t —wearing.

She turned to look back into the room. “Should I let your sister—”

I shoved the door open then. “Ava.” I stepped up to her, face to face. “I don’t need your permission to talk to my brother. So move your T&A out of my way.”

“Hayley!” Danny snapped at me, then looked at Ava. “It’s fine. Could we have ten minutes?”

Ava glared at me but stepped out, in a transparent enough T-shirt— just a T-shirt .

I sat down opposite Danny, staring at him. Finally he raised his head and looked at me. “Nothing happened,” he said bluntly.

“She’s practically naked.”

“Hayley… nothing happened.”

“Today?” I don’t believe you.

“Ever.”

“And by nothing you mean…” Still don’t believe you.

“I mean nothing.”

“You haven’t even kissed her?”

“I haven’t.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“I don’t care what you believe.”

“So why let her sleep in here with you? Why let her dress like that?”

“She’s lonely.”

“Oh, bullshit.”

“Did you come in here just to yell at me? Cause if so, your ten minutes are up.”

I did want to keep yelling at him, and I still wasn’t convinced he was telling the truth, but I hadn’t come in here to make him feel worse. I took a deep breath and hit reset on my emotions. “I’m sorry about Kate.”

Danny’s shoulders sagged as he accepted my apology. He nodded. “I really wanted to be a dad.” The pain was thick in his voice. “That was really driving me—”

“You still can be.”

He bit his lip and shook his head. “She can’t…”

I knew what he was saying. Kate had been seriously injured—in the same storm that had killed Dad. “You know that for a fact?”

Danny nodded. “Yes.”

“That has to be terrible for her,” I said, then quickly added, “For both of you.” I placed my hand on his knee. “Is she okay otherwise?”

“I don’t know.”