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He immediately jabbed a finger into my stomach, damn well knowing that I was extremely ticklish there. Squealing like a demented pig, I thrashed in Ryder’s arms. Ryder didn’t release me, but he also didn’t join in on the tickle fight (slaughter). He began to flip through channels.
My laughter died in my throat when a familiar city was mentioned.
“Wait!” I yelled, sitting upright. Both Ryder and Ronan froze, identical expressions of concern crossing their faces. I grabbed the remote from Ryder’s hand and turned up the volume until it was almost earsplitting.
“...plans?” somebody, the news anchor more than likely, was asking. The camera zoomed in on another man, white hair pulled into a low pony and keen eyes zeroed in on the camera.
“We don’t have any answers to what started this outbreak,” the man, which the screen identified as Dr. Colvin, stated. “All we know is that the entire city has been evacuated after the virus began to spread.”
“And what about the ones that hadn’t been evacuated? The ones infected by the virus and the ones being attacked by the infected? Any word on them?” the anchor pressed. Dr. Colvin’s lips went into a thin line.
“As of right now, that number is unspecified...”
“You have to have some answers,” the news anchor said. “How many of those people are dead?”
The conversation continued like this for awhile. The news anchor would ask a question, and the doctor would immediately deflect. He didn’t have to say the words; I could read between the lines easily enough.
From the government sanctioned evacuations, to the immense army presence on the border, it was startling apparent: Atlanta had fallen.
Atlanta, a city I had never visited but had heard numerous stories about.
A large city, home of some football team that I couldn’t remember the name of.
The home of Nikolai.
My heart began hammering in my chest. Before I realized what I was doing, I had crawled from between Ryder and Ronan and was grabbing my backpack.
I needed clothes. And food. And water. And something to protect myself with. And-
“What are you doing?” Ronan asked in alarm. He came to stand up beside me. I barely processed his words.
I had to hope that Calax could continue looking after Mof until I could come home. Would he be mad? Would he-
“Addie!” Ryder snapped, his use of my real name breaking me out of whatever trance I was in. Still trembling, still feeling as if my heart was breaking, I grabbed his hands.
“I need to go to Atlanta. I need to go see that he’s alright.”
How could I have forgotten about him? What type of person was I? He should’ve been the first, the only person, that I thought of when the world went to hell. Heaven knows that my parents wouldn’t. They barely even remembered I was alive, let alone him. And, if for some reason they did bring him up, it was only as a means to make me do their bidding.
He was a ghost. Forgotten and hidden away.
But he was mine.
My person; my responsibility.
“Okay, calm down. Let’s talk this out.”
Tears, unbidden, formed in my eyes.
“I can’t. I need to go. I need to leave right now.”
Ronan and Ryder exchanged a long look that normally would’ve pissed me off, but now only proceeded to bring more tears to my eyes.
The way they understood each other...
Nikolai and I never had that. We never wanted to have that.
Why couldn’t I be more like these two amazing brothers?
