101 Chapter One Hundred - Saying Goodbye To The Pas (1/2)

Those eyes flickered over the people who'd she'd once lived with, before returning to the woman she was most familiar with.

”Autumn,” Brooke greeted her, though there was a lack of warmth and not a small amount of tension in her stance.

”How are you doing?”  Autumn asked, clearly concerned about her cousin.  She knew she shouldn't be, that leaving was Brooke's choice, but it was ingrained into her DNA.

Brooke shrugged and replied nonchalantly; ”I'm well enough.”

”That's good then,” Autumn sighed inwardly, feeling the large distance that had grown between them.  But then, when were she and her cousin ever really close?  Only on Brooke's terms had they a connection and it could never be said to be an equal relationship.  They were blood-related, but Autumn had always been the shadow to Brooke's light.  ”I'm relieved.”

”I'm so glad that you are relieved,” Brooke retorted with not a small amount of bite.  ”I should sleep so excellently knowing that you are relieved.”

Beside Autumn, Dexter's face fell.  He'd never really liked Brooke, never disliked her either, it was more that he never felt that this little girl was on the same page as the rest of them.  The world had gone to shit, yet Brooke wanted life to continue on more or less the way it had for her before, where she was in the spotlight heading for some glorious future that only she could imagine.  But celebrities, V.I.P's, royalty, all of them were not immune to the sickness that had befallen the world and caused the apocalypse.  All of them for all their influence and wealth were likely in the same boat as common people.  There no longer was a glorious future, surviving was what most hoped for, living was what only a few could obtain.

Still, Dexter didn't hate Brooke, until she tried to step on his lover, to suppress her once more.  His Autumn was beautiful and kind, too kind, but this girl was her cousin, so he'd always bit his tongue in the past so not to upset Autumn.  He wouldn't continue to do so.  He stepped forward to shadow Brooke, crossing his arms about his chest.  She glared at him with anger swirling in her eyes.

”Can we go somewhere and talk?” Autumn asked Brooke.  The girl did not answer, just spun on her heel, head held high.  However, this was not a refusal; Brooke would do this sort of thing in the past and Autumn would always rush to appease her.  Although the latter had no intension of doing so now, she still followed after her cousin.

Brooke led her into a large building, once a place for single army soldiers to sleep, often they had to share rooms between two.  Now single men slept in a room of up to four so that civilian men could also move in.  Thomas had been more fortunate and share his room with one other man, but that man had moved out to be with a civilian woman in the small camper van that she owned.  He could have lost this gained privacy easily to men looking for a little more space, living in more cramped quarters, but Brooke had moved in with him.  They were currently on the waiting list for a bigger space, but the wait had increased thanks to the new arrivals on base.

The room originally had twin beds, they'd been pushed together, but otherwise the room was not too much unlike the other army men's rooms; simple with few personal items.  They shared a bathroom with four other rooms, but the plumbing had long since been turned off, they had to bring their own water to wash with.  There was a laptop on a chest of drawers, currently it was being charged by a solar panel device.  But that was it for luxuries.  The couple didn't even attempt to keep a tomato or fruit plant for additional vitamins.

Brooke placed the small bag with her purchases on a simple office chair, before taking off her shoes and tossing them under the bed.  Then she turned around to her cousin, her arms crossed about her chest.

”So what exactly do you want to talk about?” Brooke asked her, before adding; ”Or is it that you just wanted to let go of your guilty conscious?”

”What do you mean?” Autumn queried, frowning.

Brooke's eyes reddened and her expression was no longer proud, but of one who felt wronged.  ”We were supposed to stick together, Autumn,” her voice cracked with emotion, ”we swore we would!”

”But it was you that made the decision to leave...” a feeling of guilt that had not been there before suddenly began to stir in Autumn's stomach and her voice became small.

”You could have come with me, but you didn't!” Brooke continued her tirade, pushing Autumn into a virtual corner.

”Brooke, that's not fair, I...” Autumn's heart faltered along with her speech.