Isolation , Jones, Nathan [top 20 books to read TXT] 📗

“I messed up, I know. I lost my temper and did something stupid, and now I've ruined everything for us.”

There was a long pause before Aimee sighed. “Well, it's in the past now.” She still sounded upset, and he couldn't blame her for that. He was just grateful she was being understanding.

Hopefully that wouldn't change with what he had to say next.

“I'm looking at five years,” he mumbled. “The conditions sound pretty reasonable, all things considered, but I won't be able to come back here until my sentence is up. I don't know if I can ask you to wait that long.”

Her fingers clutching his through the chain-links tightened fiercely. “Maybe you don't have to. Nick also got scooped up by Gorstrom, and Gen's going to be going with him. I'm going to see if I can do the same for you. And I think your dad wants to come too . . . there wouldn't be much for him here with all of us gone.”

Chet felt mingled relief, joy, and guilt at that. This was more than he could've hoped for, after she'd already been so good to him. But he was afraid she didn't grasp the full reality of what that would mean. “The relief worker who filled me in said I can only have visitors once a week and on holidays. I couldn't ask you to uproot your entire life for just a few hours a month.”

Aimee was obviously disheartened by that, but she gave him a tremulous smile. “A few days is more than nothing. I'd go through more than that even if it was just a few minutes.”

He felt awful at how well she was taking this. “But you'd have to leave our home, all our friends. For five years.”

“We'll make it work,” she said firmly, squeezing his hand. “As long as we're together, we'll figure it all out.” She offered him a warmer smile, the love shining in her eyes nearly taking his breath away. “Who knows, maybe you'll get a reduced sentence for good behavior.”

Chet's return smile was sickly. “Maybe. I love you, Aimee. And I'm so sorr-”

“Shh,” she said, more fond than annoyed. “That night I was almost more annoyed you hadn't invited me to go with you than that you went. Jay had just got finished smashing up your family's house and we'd just found out he'd unleashed Zolos in the camp. Believe me, I wanted to burn Wensbrook to the ground too.” She laughed bitterly. “And hey, if I'd gone with you then we could go to this work prison thing together.”

Chet didn't even want to hear her joke about that; the last thing he wanted was for her to suffer for his poor decisions.

Behind Aimee the soldier cleared his throat, and she nodded at him reluctantly. “I'm going to go sort things out,” she said, brushing her lips across Chet's fingers. “Hang tight, we'll get through this.”

“Yeah,” he said, watching with a leaden weight in his stomach as his fiancee was led away. Things didn't look quite as grim as they had before her visit, but he still felt terrible.

He jumped slightly as Ben clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey,” his brother said quietly. “Don't look so glum. If we're lucky we'll be able to stay together, and five years will be over in no time.”

Chet snorted. “Yeah.” He hesitated, then reached up to grip his brother's hand. “I'm sorry you're in this mess with me. But if you have to be here, I'm glad I have you here in this mess with me.”

Ben laughed and pulled him into a brief, fierce hug. “Me too, big bro.”

Chapter Nineteen

Farewell

“We have to do something,” Ellie snapped.

She was with Darby, Starr, Denny, and the other town leaders who'd been arrested, along with Borden and Bruce Norson and a few others, all gathered in the gazebo in the middle of the park in Stanberry's town square. They'd spent the last few hours trying to find a way to stop Gorstrom's arrests, but so far hadn't made much progress.

“I'm open to ideas, Mrs. Westmont,” Darby said bitterly. He was seated in a chair by the railing, looking down at the flower gardens below. “The appeals process seems like an elaborate practical joke.”

That was, unfortunately, the conclusion Ellie had come to as well. Both Stanberry and the camp had issued formal appeals to the relief convoy, not just to Gorstrom but to the military leaders as well. The appeals had been duly accepted, and then they were informed that it would take up to a month to get a response.

Meanwhile, the administrator planned to ship out all the people she'd trumped up charges for, along with those who'd volunteered to join the rebuilding effort, tomorrow at noon. Ellie doubted that timing was coincidental.

“It's easier to prevent something than to undo it, once bureaucracy gets their claws in,” she said. “If Gorstrom manages to get everyone she arrested onto those buses tomorrow, it's going to become a hundred times harder to get them back.”

“What do you suggest?” Johnny snapped. “Running seems like a bad idea when Gorstrom can send the entire Armed Forces after us if she needs to. And trying to fight is an even worse idea for the same reason.” He snorted dourly. “Assuming we could even convince anyone to join that fight.”

“Not me, that's for sure,” Starr grunted. “Even with what Gorstrom's doing here, I won't abandon my loyalty to my brothers and sisters in arms . . . you'd have to go through me to get to them.” He snorted. “Besides, even if you thought you had a shot against just the platoon she has here, Gorstrom could easily call in as many reinforcements as she needs to stomp you flat.”

“I certainly don't want to fight,” Ellie protested hastily. “But we have to do something. This isn't fair.”

Her words prompted another glum silence. “This is BS,” Bruce muttered darkly after a while. He'd become the informal leader of the group