S. Bodeen - The Fallout

I went back to the original networking site and made up a fake account name. @1Turducken. A homage to the main course at one of Dad’s nightmare Christmas parties when I was a kid.

And I posted:

“Whole family in Miami! Mansion on beach. #yksighting.”

Immediately, responses popped up.

“Knew I saw them in Sarasota last week!”

“Camping 60 miles away, will check it out.”

“That was them at Busch Gardens.”

I blew out a sigh of relief. Those people would believe anything. Thank heavens.

But then @dpreppin replied:

“Untrue. In Seattle. Chickens return to roost.”

I shoved away from the desk so hard the chair twirled me around, so I was facing outside.

He knew. @dpreppin definitely knew it had been me at Costco.

I stood up and went to the window, looking at our front gate and the security guard there. What if he’d followed us? What if he knew where we lived?

I went back to my computer. Another reply had posted. The icon was a photo of a little girl, and the name was preppin.

“Definitely at aquarium today.”

I glanced back at the icon. The little girl. I’d seen her before. She’d been crying, while the dad in camouflage had tried to get her to stop.

The guy in camo had to be @prep_man

We’d been seen twice. People were looking for us. And now they knew what we looked like.

I scoured the Internet, trying to find out more about the guy with the doomsday preparation website. It was all vague, except there was a list of meetings in the Seattle area. Which made me wonder. Did the guy with the website just happen to live in the Seattle area? Or had he purposely moved here because of my father? Because of what the world knew about us… and the Compound?

A knock on my door made me jump. “Yeah?”

“Can I come in?”

Lexie.

“Yeah, come on in.”

She opened the door and peeked around it, then stepped in and pulled it shut behind her. Her dark hair was down and she wore black yoga pants and a white T-shirt that bore a primping Marilyn Monroe. She walked over to my bed and sat down. She looked down at her hands and didn’t say anything.

“What’s going on?”

She had kind of half a smile on her face. “I know you thought it was dumb the other day, but I can’t stop thinking about it and… I decided that I really want to find my biological parents.”

Hadn’t we been over all that? I sighed. “Why is this all coming up now? Before the other day you never even brought this up before.”

Lexie rolled her eyes. “Well, let’s see. Hmmm. The past six years I thought the entire rest of the world had been destroyed.”

“Valid point.” I scratched my head, wondering what I could say to talk her out of it. “Seriously though. Why now? We’re just starting over, figuring out how to live in this world again.”

“Exactly. I’m almost eighteen, I’m going to be an adult and I don’t know the first thing about…” She trailed off. “I just want to know where I come from.”

I didn’t get it. “Why?”

“Because I do! I thought you would help me.” She stood up. “God, just forget it. Obviously it was too much to ask.”

I grabbed her arm as she started to walk past me. “Stop. Just stop.”

She turned and stood there, tears welling in her eyes.

“Lex, I’m sorry. Sit down. Of course I’ll help.”

She leaned against the back of my chair. “I hate not knowing. I don’t want to…” She sighed. “It’s not like I want a relationship with them or anything, but I want to know.” She waited for me to say something. When I didn’t, she said, “Is that so bad?”

I shook my head. “But I have no idea what Mom will think.”

“We don’t have to tell her.”

My mouth dropped. Was she planning to keep it a secret from everyone but me? “You’d actually do this without telling her?”

Lexie stood up and paced to my windows and back. “You’re right.” She leaned forward and put her hand on my arm. “Will you ask her with me? Please?”

Her eyes were tear filled and her expression was so sad.

“Tomorrow,” I said. “First thing. We’ll go to Mom and tell her you want to find your birth parents.”

“Thanks. I’m glad I have someone to trust.” My sister lightly kicked my shin, then dodged my reach as I grabbed for her. She laughed as she skipped out of the room.

Eddy walked in just as she walked out. “What was that all about?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. Hey, look at this, will you?”

I showed him the discussions I’d found about our whereabouts.

Eddy frowned. “It was inevitable, wasn’t it? We can’t hide forever.”

True, but still … “Aren’t you worried about it? People knowing where we are?”

He shook his head. “They don’t know where we live. Maybe someone saw us at Costco. Maybe someone saw us at the aquarium.”

I pointed at the icon of the little girl. “I definitely saw her at the aquarium.”

Eddy said, “But they don’t know for sure. One person jumps on the wagon, and they all jump on.”

“Should we tell Mom?”

“No way. She’s got enough to worry about. I really don’t think it’s anything to stress about.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Holy crap, you’re like one big knot.”

I put a hand on each temple and rubbed. “I’m just stressed.” I pointed at the screen. “Between this, and Lucas going missing and Lexie—” I stopped. How could I have let that out?

“Lexie what?”

“Nothing.”

Eddy sat down on the desk and met my gaze. “What is she up to?”

I said, “Well… she’s decided she wants to find her biological parents.”

His eyes narrowed. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

I kept my tone light, tried to make it seem like no big deal. “People do it all the time. It’s not like she wants to move in with them or anything. She just wants to know where she comes from.”

Eddy raised his arms out to the sides. “Here! She comes from here. She has everything she wants. Why would she go looking for anything else?” He stood up. “She can’t do this. All it’s going to do is hurt Mom. I’m not letting Lexie do this.” He stormed out.

“Are you kidding me? Eddy!” I ran after him, wishing I had kept my mouth shut.

I reached Eddy just as he was knocking on Lexie’s door.

“Eddy! Seriously.” I grabbed his arm to keep him from knocking again. “She hasn’t done anything.”

He yanked his arm back. “She’s about to break Mom’s heart. There’s been enough of that.”

Lexie opened the door. “What?” Her gaze went from my face and then to Eddy’s. She glared at me. “You told him?” She shoved me. “Leave me alone.” She started to shut her door, but Eddy managed to get in the way.

He said, “You can’t do this. Mom can’t take this.”

Lexie backed into her room. Like mine, it had a bank of windows, but instead of Lake Washington, hers looked out on the pool and veranda, and one opened onto a balcony. The room was all colored in oranges and yellows, with bold stripes on her matching bedding and draperies. She went over to her window seat and sat down, looking out the window, blinking fast. Clementine was curled up, sleeping, and Lexie dragged her into her lap.

I pushed by Eddy with a low “Way to go,” and went and sat next to Lexie. “I’m sorry, he just asked and I told him.”

She didn’t look at me, and didn’t answer either. She reached up and wiped her eyes. “I should have known not to trust you.”

I breathed in deep. I was so stupid. “I’m sorry. You can trust me.” I held out my hands, palms up. “I only told Eddy.”