56: Back to the Ropes

It was getting dark. Boris suggested that they get it over with. The reverend agreed. Boris and his men carried the coffin outside the church. There was a grave ready just outside. The tombstone was yet to be prepared. The coffin was taken to the grave and was let down gently. It all seemed very disrespectful to Aaron. The man was a role model and there were only a handful of men attending his last rites. He wondered if he had any family or friends that needed to know about his sad demise. Even if he did, it was highly unlikely that Boris would inform them. It would put them at risk as well. Their enemy was rabid and they couldn’t take any risks. Aaron, Sophie and Mike walked back to their car. Aaron was willing to go home now. He wondered if Mike would let her stay with him at his place that lacked the basic necessities. Boris approached them from behind. Aaron turned to see him, curious about what was in his mind.

“I can either come with you or tail you with my own car. Your call”, Boris sternly spoke as he neared Aaron. “You may not comprehend it but the threat to your life is tenfold now”, he added. There wasn’t much of a choice. Aaron motioned him to get in the car. They drove the entire trip in silence. Aaron asked Mike to take him to his home. Mike agreed without any hesitation. Boris sat in the back seat and stared outside the window. They reached their destination and exited the car. Aaron stood outside the house with the keys in his hands. He blankly stared at the door from the sidewalk where the car stood. Sophie paced to him to accompany him. He looked like he needed a hand. Mike was still in the car, making sure that he had picked up everything necessary before getting out. Boris was still in the back seat.

“A word? If I may?”, Boris abruptly spoke in his intimidating coarse voice as he stared outside the window. Mike looked at him in the mirror and found the man as serious as one can get.

“Yeah. Go ahead!”, Mike cheerfully responded. Boris suddenly turned to him and stared right into his soul through the mirror. Mike felt a shiver run through him. Such was the aura of the man. And knowing what the man was capable of, only made it worse for Mike.

“I would take her far away from here if I were you”, Boris grimly advised Mike, who closed his eyes and shook his head. “Hal-Eck is not proving to be a good omen for the people who come near him”, Boris continued. Mike was getting more and more agitated by the conversation. “You pulled off a miracle once. A survivor needs luck every time but the killer needs it only once”, he added. Mike respected the man but the conversation was getting on his nerves.

“She won’t take no for an answer”, Mike tried to put it on Sophie and evade it. Boris wasn’t impressed.

“Sometimes we gotta force the kids to do what’s good for them”, Boris responded. Mike didn’t like the remark but he was fighting to keep his calm. “It’s not her fight”, he added.

“It’s not your fight either. You can sit on your ass miles away from this shit storm yet here you are!”, Mike miraculously managed to say without sounding offensive.

“But she is not a werewolf, I am!”, Boris responded in an equally forceful yet harmless tone.

“She made it her fight when she fell in love with your Alpha and as far as I know her, she won’t abandon him even if I say so”, Mike said and took his eyes off the mirror for the first time during the conversation. “And besides, I’ve already lost one kid trying to play God. I had put eight men to shadow him day and night but when the time came….”, he bailed on it as he choked on the words. Boris knew about his son’s sad demise but he didn’t want to go there. “I’d rather let fate take the wheel this time around”, he added with a strong weight of sadness in his voice. It pained Boris to see that the man still had the sad memory at the surface of his mind. He couldn’t bear to see his face and took his eyes off the mirror as well. Both sat silently for a while.

“So what’s the plan?”, Boris softly asked, looking away.

“I’m gonna stay and help in any way that I can”, Mike responded. Boris nodded and got out of the car. Mike followed suit. They found Aaron and Sophie standing hand in hand. They were both staring at the house they were about to enter. Continuation of life after such a loss always feels incriminating, Mike thought to himself. Aaron finally summoned enough courage to approach the door. Big T’s wife Samantha caught him as soon as he entered the house. Aaron was sure he was in trouble for bringing too many guests. Little Ezekiel clinged onto his mother’s waist like a koala and stared at Aaron like he was some kind of an exhibit in a museum.

“There was a package for you in the morning”, Samantha revealed as she shook her son up and down to keep him pacified. She didn’t even acknowledge the crowd behind Aaron. “Tyrone put it at your door before he left for work”, she added and went back to the kitchen. Aaron was sure it was something from the elders. He soon realized that one of their closest agents was standing just a couple of feet away from him. He looked at him for a clue and found him oblivious to it with a look of pure confusion on his face.

“Everybody stay where you are. Let me take a look”, Boris warily announced and went upstairs. Samantha stopped half way as soon as she heard those alarming words. He had only climbed three steps when he sensed something. He gave it two audibly strong sniffs. Everyone looked at him with restlessness.

“Get out of the house! It’s a fucking bomb!”, Boris shouted at the top of his lungs and made his way out of the door. Samantha’s survivor instincts kicked in and she ran with a toddler on her waist, faster than anyone else. They were still at the driveway when the deafening noise originated in the house and they were thrown several feet away. The blinding flash was the last thing Aaron saw before passing out.