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It’s been a while since Michelle had slept at Katie’s house. Ever since she and Bryan fell into bed and became more than just strangers—an actual girlfriend and boyfriend (and, hopefully, husband and wife)—it had been soooo fucking long since she’d actually hung out with her best friend. She was living with Bryan now, whose house was three hours away from Katie’s, so it had become rare for them to meet up for a casual girls’ date. They both had their own jobs, their own lives, and, most of all, their own boyfriends to deal with.
And ever since the pregnancy test, there had been the fear of having to tell Bryan, followed by that fear turning into pure rage and anger when he bailed on her and disappeared to God knows where with that fucking “job” of his. Michelle knows fuckass well that he’s using it as an excuse for a reason—just so he doesn’t have to deal with the pipe bomb they all call having a child.
So yeah, excuse Michelle for being pregnant, angry at her own boyfriend, and tempted to choke the life out of him. But she just cannot stay in their apartment knowing damn well that he’s not on board with having a kid, especially when she’d spent almost two weeks trying to psych herself up to tell Bryan, to keep the baby, and to finally become an actual family.
She can almost imagine what her mom would say again, always rolling her eyes and muttering words under her breath that sound like I told you so and you always like boys who do nothing but sit on their asses all day. Even though, as much as Michelle is angry at Bryan right now, he isn’t really the type to sit on his ass. He’d take five jobs a day if his body could handle it. He was just that kind of person.
Michelle doesn’t even have to work for herself if she doesn’t want to, not with how hardworking Bryan is. Which is why she’s in such a slump right now. Bryan is the most dedicated man she’s ever met. The psyching-herself-up part didn’t even take more than a month—which she expected from herself after finding out she was pregnant—because she’d expected Bryan to be ecstatic about the baby.
He’s a family guy, even when she’d first met him at the bar, looking high and drinking glass after glass like he wanted to kill himself.
He is. And she knows he still is—
“You know, you deserve better, Mish. I just wish you didn’t have to stay with that addict,” Katie comments as she places a mug of chocolate ice cream into Michelle’s hands. She curls up beside her with a heavy sigh, leaning against the couch cushions. Michelle is already curled up in the corner of the couch, watching Ryan Gosling kiss Rachel McAdams, causing her to roll her eyes and avert her gaze from the screen. She picks up the spoon and scoops some ice cream.
“He’s not an addict anymore,” Michelle replies, glancing at Katie with a small glare before shoving the ice-cream-filled spoon into her mouth. Katie scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Keyword: anymore. You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back to doing that shit. Didn’t you mention that he’s been all weird and spacey with you last month?”
Katie cocks her head as Michelle looks back at the television, blinking furiously as she shoves another bite into her mouth.
“He works from seven to nine, Katie. He’s tired,” she sighs. “Come on. You notice it too. You’re pissed. You’re angry.” Katie pokes her shoulder as Michelle lets out another tired sigh.
She is. But she’s just tired of being angry. The seventeen-hour mark of being angry at Bryan has passed, and she just wants him back home. She just wants to talk.
She wouldn’t even mind if he broke up with her just because she wanted to keep the baby. At least he’d be being transparent about it instead of running away. She doesn’t want him to prove her mother right…
She just—“I just want him to come back and tell it to my face that he doesn’t want it, and he can break up with me. I wouldn’t care.” Michelle’s grip on the spoon tightens as she says those words, and Katie notices. She lets out a sigh, shaking her head. “My God, you poor woman. What happened to you? It was never like this.” She says it in such a soft yet harsh way as she curls closer to Michelle, leaning her head into the nook of Michelle’s neck. Michelle leans against her, licking her lips to get the chocolate flavor off.
“He’s a good guy, Katie… I guess just not good enough to start a family with me.” Michelle mumbles. “It must be me.”
That causes Katie to sit up, looking annoyed and furious. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. No, girl, it’s not you. It’s him that’s the problem, and it’s not the baby either. Clearly, Bryan just isn’t that kind of guy who can actually fully commit to a relationship,” Katie says, crossing her arms over her chest.
Michelle groans, leaning her head back and pressing the back of her hand against her forehead. “I thought he would be into it,” she mutters under her breath. “I mean… it’s Bryan. You’ve met him. You liked him! You said you got good vibes when you met him.”
She drops her hand and sits up to meet Katie’s eyes.
“That was back then. Clearly, I got rusty,” Katie replies. Michelle shoots her a tired look. “Serious,” she says, dropping her voice low, and Katie groans at that.
“I’m serious,” Michelle says once more just to prove her point.
Katie shrugs. “Me too—I mean, clearly, he’s a bastard for leaving you. And look… Bryan was good—was good to you, and I’m happy that at least he didn’t hurt you like the last guy. Both physically and mentally, which just says a lot about men these days.” Katie shakes her head with a soft sigh. “Erick won’t be back for two weeks. You can stay here, Mish. You know you can. Get your shit tomorrow from his apartment. You can sleep in my room.”
Katie places her hand gently on Michelle’s arm, caressing it as Michelle meets her eyes for a moment and gives her a small, weak smile. “Thanks. You know I love you, right?” Michelle leans onto Katie’s shoulder this time, and Katie lets out a soft laugh, lowering her head onto Michelle’s while still holding her arm. “I know that, babygirl. Now just finish your ice cream and we can go to sleep. It’s already twelve. It’s not gonna be good for the baby if you keep sleeping late.”
She kisses the top of Michelle’s head, and Michelle blows out a raspberry. “Boo, boring,” she says, though she has a small, genuine smile on her face.
For once, her chest doesn’t feel as heavy with Bryan’s absence. Maybe she should just accept it. What if he doesn’t want a baby and doesn’t want to start a family? That’s a non-problem. Michelle’s keeping the baby anyway. She doesn’t care about what Bryan thinks anymore. He already made it clear that he doesn’t want it, either.
Michelle didn’t know what had woken her up at the ass crack of dawn. The green light from Katie’s digital clock flashed across the room, partially blocked by Katie’s shoulder as she curled up on her side of the bed, hogging the double blanket that was supposed to be split between the two of them. Somehow, though, Michelle’s half had ended up on Katie’s side throughout the night. Katie had always been a mover when she slept. She’d done this multiple times back when they used to have sleepovers in high school.
For a moment, Michelle just lay there, blinking blearily at the digital clock before turning around and facing away from Katie with a small groan. She rubbed her palm over her face, shivering a little as she tugged at her blanket from Katie. Katie didn’t even move as Michelle half-heartedly wrapped it around her waist before curling in on herself with a small yawn.
It had been a while since she’d woken up in the middle of the night like this. She was mostly a heavy sleeper unless she was sick… which, maybe because she was pregnant, meant her sleep was lighter than ever—
BANG!
Michelle’s eyes snapped open at the sound, her heart thudding in surprise. What was that? Did something fall outside in the backyard? She had no fucking clue. She didn’t remember Katie putting anything outside that could possibly fall that loudly—
BANG!
She sat up, turning toward Katie, who was still fast asleep and hadn’t even seemed to hear the banging outside.
What the fuck was that? Was it a dog that had gotten out? This was technically a suburban neighborhood, so maybe some neighbor’s dog had escaped and was trying to get into their house. It shouldn’t matter, right? The front door and back door both had double locks. Michelle shouldn’t be worrying about it this much…
BANG! BANG!
Okay, maybe she should wake Katie up and tell her. Michelle grabbed Katie’s shoulder and shook her, but Katie only grumbled, turning away from her and pushing her hand away before wrapping herself into her own blanket burrito. Michelle huffed, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“Katie…” Michelle shook the other woman again, but Katie didn’t reply or even move. Michelle stopped, staring at the back of her head.
Then she leaned over and shook her again, this time much harder than before. Finally, Katie groaned and peeled her eyes open as she rolled onto her back, staring up at Michelle and rubbing her eyes. She pushed the blanket off her shoulders, slowly unwrapping herself.
“Whaaaat?” Katie whined, pawing blindly at Michelle’s face. Michelle moved her head out of the way before Katie could accidentally poke her in the eye. “I hear banging downstairs, outside. I think it’s by the front door. It might be a loose dog,” Michelle whispered.
She had no fucking clue why she was whispering, but for some reason, she was afraid. Of what? No fucking clue. She grabbed her own phone and unlocked it. Beside her, Katie sat up.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. It might be that stupid fucking mutt again. Let me check.” Katie sighed loudly as she fully unwrapped herself from the blanket, throwing it to the side before padding toward the door. She unlocked it, opened it, and switched on the hallway light as she shuffled down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Michelle threw her legs off the bed. She noticed a missed call from a random phone number and a voice message. “Fucking finally,” Michelle muttered under her breath. This had to be Bryan. The fear in her chest was gone now, replaced with plain annoyance as she swiped her phone open to check the voicemail. This had better be good, or she was actually going to strangle him to death when they finally saw each other again.
That was… if the voicemail contained anything that didn’t start with him telling her he was leaving and end with him breaking up with her. Which was fine. At least he’d told her. But at the same time, why couldn’t he just do it face-to-face?
Asshole. And was he really using a different phone again just to break up with her? Jesus fucking Christ.
“H-H-Hey, Michelle… I—I, uh, just—just came back from Raccoon City. I’m—I’m, uh… uh, at some diner. It’s—it’s open twenty-four hours, and—and I borrowed the phone. I just want—want to let you know I’m coming there—to, uhm—pick you up so we—we, uh, can finally talk and—and shit, stuff and all…” There was an awkward pause. “…Haha. There’s a lot of stuff that happened today—er—yesterday? I don’t know anymore. It’s like—everything is coming by in a flash. I’m so dizzy right now, and I haven’t had a moment’s rest… I ran back as quickly as I could. I just wanna talk right now…”
And then—There was a loud sniff. For a moment, Michelle’s heart dropped. Did he relapse again? Oh shit. Did he really—?
“I really wanna come home right now,” Bryan continued, letting out a shaky breath. “I’m sorry about our last talk. I want to keep the baby, okay? I really want to keep the baby, so please, can we talk when—when I get there? And, uh—uhm, don’t leave, okay? When you get this? Please? I love you, Michelle. Please wait for me. I promise I’ll be there.”
There was a long pause. Then came the sound of clattering plates faintly in the background, some doors slamming and someone’s cough echoing in whatever room he is in right now. It must have been because he was in the diner. Then, faintly, Michelle heard the sound of a toilet flushing.
Michelle can hear small sniffles, whimpers, and shuffling before Bryan speaks again. “Bye, I’ll be there.” The voicemail ends, and Michelle looks down at the screen of her phone. The message had been sent before 1 AM. She and Katie had gone to sleep around 12:19, and Michelle had forgotten that she’d put her phone on silent, especially with her own mother constantly bothering her about the baby ever since she’d revealed the news to her after telling Bryan.
“Michelle!” Michelle flinches at the sound of Katie screaming, scrambling to her feet and dropping her phone onto the bed as she rushes out of the room and into the hallway, then down the stairs. “Michelle!” Katie screams again.
Michelle rounds the corner and skids to a stop when she sees Bryan standing by the doorway, breathing hard and shaking.
Katie is standing right in front of him, blocking his way with a bat in her hand. Under different circumstances, Michelle might have laughed at the sight, considering Katie is, like… four fucking feet tall, while Bryan is almost six feet if he’d just stop slouching.
But right now, Michelle’s eyes are focused on Bryan—on how pale his face is, how his hair is soaked with snow, and… is that blood?
Oh my fucking God.
His eyes look sunken, and he looks sick, like he can barely keep himself upright. His breaths come in short, ragged pants, and he’s leaning heavily against the doorway. Despite all that, his eyes are wide as he stares down at Katie and her goddamn bat. It isn’t until a moment later that he finally looks past her.
He lifts his head, his gaze shifting from Katie to Michelle, and he looks instantly relieved. He moves closer, stepping into the house as Michelle approaches Katie.
“Stop that, Katie. Put the fucking bat down—” she starts, but both she and Katie scream when Bryan suddenly collapses to his knees with a strangled yell. The two women immediately dive forward to catch him.
“Michelle.” Bryan starts sobbing the moment Michelle finally manages to hold him. He’s cold and wet, and he smells like copper and iron. His entire body is shaking, and his skin is so cold, almost clammy.
“Bryan, what the fuck—?” Michelle asks, but Bryan only wraps his arms around her and hugs her tightly, sobbing loudly.
“Michelle,” he cries again, trembling as Katie slowly backs away. She looks over at Michelle, who is holding Bryan in confusion, then glances at her friend. Katie looks mildly annoyed and angry, though Michelle can see the underlying worry beneath it all.
What the fuck happened?
[...]
It was particularly hard to wrangle Bryan off of her and get him to the bathroom so she could give him a proper bath, mostly because, one, he fucking stinks like weird hell, and two, there are weird, browning, blood-looking spots all over his clothes and skin that are a little suspicious. But she’s not one to assume. For all she knows, he might have accidentally helped with the surgery or something when he went to give the organ and got blood all over himself.
Or maybe he just fell over a fucking canal and got his ass handed to him there. Thankfully, Katie, as much as she looks like she wants to yell at Bryan, doesn’t say anything. The guy hasn’t been responsive ever since he got a hold of Michelle and refused to let her go, just holding onto her like a goddamn Velcro baby and letting her drag him to the bathroom and peel him out of his disgusting-ass clothes.
And that’s basically how she finds herself kneeling beside the bathtub, her shirt sleeve pushed up to her shoulder and her hands up to her elbows stained with bubbly water as she scrubs Bryan’s hair as gently as she can. He sits there quietly, barely responding ever since she managed to wrangle him into the tub.
What the hell even happened? It was just a job, right? As far as she’s concerned, he had some kid’s organs or something to bring to something city—was it Raccoon City? She doesn’t know shit. She was too angry to listen anyway. So what the fuck happened?
“Bryan?” Michelle continues to scratch the shampoo into Bryan’s hair, watching some clumps of brown foam fall down his shivering back.
“Hn?” Bryan makes a weak sound.
“Bryan,” Michelle says again, and Bryan makes the same “Hn?” sound without fully responding. Michelle sighs to herself. “What happened, baby?” she finally asks in a soft tone. It’s always the tone that works on Bryan.
For a moment, she continues cleaning his hair before washing her hands in the warm water and grabbing the body soap to wash his back, scrubbing his skin with a silicone scrubber.
“Bryan—” Michelle says again, her patience running thin, but before she can say anything else, she hears him sniffing again. His back begins to shake, his head bowing as he drops his face into his hands, splashing water over the sides of the tub and onto Michelle’s knees.
She stops scrubbing his back when she hears him cry.
Bryan’s not the type of person to cry. You can tell him to go to hell and he’d just take it and smile at you. You can do a lot of abominable things to him and he’d never cry. He wouldn’t even cry at movies that would make Michelle bawl her eyes out. You could make him watch a dog growing old and dying, and he’d just say it’s adorable. For the longest time she’s known this motherfucker, he’s been that heartless bastard with a heart of steel.
But now he’s crying. Bryan is crying. And damn Michelle can’t help but let that sink in.
And suddenly Michelle realizes something. Whatever happened in Raccoon City must have impacted Bryan a lot. Maybe he saw a surgery that was so mind-numbing that he couldn’t handle it? No... It can’t be. She’s heard him talk about the countless surgeries and shit he’s walked in on, and she doesn’t think anything could beat those. And he doesn’t just look like he’s about to cry—he looks like he’s one step away from sobbing his heart out.
“Bryan... Hey, baby. Bryan, hey, breathe.” Michelle stands, sitting on the side of the tub as she grabs Bryan by the shoulder and turns him around. He moves with her, burying his face into her stomach as he wraps his arms around her, shaking.
“I’m sorry, Michelle—oh god...” he mutters, sobbing hard. So hard that it gets her worried he’s about to lose his breath from crying like that.
“Baby, it’s okay. What happened? Please, tell me. What happened?” Michelle runs her hand through his still-soapy hair, pushing it back so the soap won’t fall into his eyes, though most of it has already transferred onto her shirt as he refuses to let her go.
“I d-don’t know how to tell you... Fuck—It’s... just... Do—Do you have your phone?” Bryan asks weakly.
“I—yeah? It’s in Katie’s room right now. Do I need to go get it?” Michelle asks, about to move, but Bryan’s arms tighten around her. “No! Not yet—stay. Don’t leave me, please. I don’t—I don’t want to be alone right now,” Bryan pleads. Michelle sits back down with a heavy thump
“Do it later, please. Not now, okay?” Bryan shakes and trembles like crazy at that.
“Okay, okay. Calm down baby. It’s okay.” Michelle rubs his back, and Bryan shivers again. “Just search for Raccoon City. It’ll... It’ll explain a lot. And—I—we need to talk... about the baby first, okay? Let’s just... let’s just forget about me for a second.” Bryan sits up. He still looks like shit, his eyes sunken and his pupils blown wide, like he’s scared something in the walls might attack him, which doesn’t make any sense at all.
“Bryan.” Michelle says as Bryan just shakes his head. “No—I swear—I swear to fucking God… I—I, you’re right. I was being an asshole. I should have not… should not have taken that fucking job.” He lets out a shaky laugh. “But it also—uhm—made me realize some stuff, and how I want us to… to keep the baby. I want to have a family.” He says it almost like a whisper as he grabs her hands. His skin is still cold—in fact, the water was already warm enough that the warmth clung to Michelle’s skin, but Bryan’s skin is still cold, like he’s made of ice himself. He still looks so goddamn pale, too. The warmth isn’t bringing back the normal redness in his cheeks…
“Baby… We can talk about this when the two of us finally get some better sleep, okay?” Michelle sighs.
“No, please—I’m sorry, okay? I don’t want us to stop. I want you and the baby, and I want to stay.” Bryan holds her hands tighter. Michelle holds back, but not as tightly, causing Bryan to loosen his hold a bit, as if he’s realized he’s holding her too tightly.
“Okay… Okay, Bryan,” Michelle says.
Bryan looks up at her. “You don’t believe me?” he asks, his voice weak.
“It’s not that, but clearly something happened for it to change your mind about me and the baby.” Michelle sighs as she shakes her head before letting out a surprised sound when Bryan’s hold on her hands tightens.
“It’s not that… It’s not that—I—I want it. I was just s-scared. It’s a hard decision. I didn’t know if I would be a good father. I’m not even a good boyfriend to you. I have a shit job, we have a shit apartment.” Bryan lowers his head, looking like he wants to plunge his own head into the water, but Michelle pulls away before he can. Bryan lets out a hitched breath as she grabs his chin and forces him to look up.
“We aren’t perfect, Bryan. That doesn’t mean you have to run away,” she finally says with a small smile, though a flash of relief finally seeps into her chest.
He was just scared… Of course he’d be scared. She was scared too when she saw the test and realized she was pregnant.
“…Yeah… Yeah… I didn’t have to run away—I just wish I didn’t.” Bryan whispers shakily as he lowers his head again for a moment, and the two of them fall silent.
Then—
“We should get you washed up so we all can rest. I can hear Katie pacing back and forth outside.” She flashes him a smile when he looks back up again, and he nods shakily as Michelle stands back up, ready to scrub him from hell and back again before giving him a rinse and drying him off.
Thankfully, Erick’s clothes fit Bryan perfectly, and Michelle made sure to fit him with two sweaters as well. He just looks so fucking cold right now, and it doesn’t help that she can hear the snow pouring down loudly outside. It might as well be a blizzard at this point. Did he walk all the way here? Surely he had at least ridden a taxi, right?
Right…?
Katie was kind enough to let them borrow a guest room together, with minimal glaring at Bryan, who didn’t seem to notice because he seemed so out of it. Right now, the lights have been turned off, and Michelle finds herself lying on her side, staring at Bryan, who is lying on his back and looking at the ceiling. She can’t see his face, but with how his hand on her side keeps clenching and unclenching against the sheets beneath them, he must be thinking about something that she herself can’t understand.
“Bryan?” Michelle murmurs, reaching over to place her hand on his chest. She can feel how fast his heart is beating, like a rabbit or something, or at least like the heartbeat of someone running track. And she can feel it through the dozen layers he’s wearing. She doesn’t doubt she’d still be able to feel it even if she put the thick blanket over his chest.
“Bryan.” She taps him, and he flinches, letting out a gasp as if he just came back to himself. He turns his head to glance at her. “Michelle?” he whispers.
“Yeah, baby? What’s wrong? Are you sick? Did you really walk home on foot?” Michelle asks as Bryan turns onto his side, moving closer to her and pulling her close.
Michelle lets out a sound a bit before turning around and letting Bryan pull her into his chest, holding onto her tightly, wrapping his arms around her stomach protectively and curling around her closer. “I walked,” Bryan says quietly.
“Jesus Christ, Bryan, from Raccoon City?” Michelle turns her head as Bryan tucks his face into her neck, nodding. “Yeah.” His voice is muffled.
“Wouldn’t that be… hours? I’ve never been to Raccoon City, but I know that shit isn’t the convenience store downtown. Didn’t you at least hitch a ride?” Michelle asks worriedly. No wonder his foot was tender earlier, but she had assumed it might be from the cold. He’s wearing fucking fake-ass Crocs, for God’s sake, and wet socks. His shoes are gone.
“No one wanted to give me a ride,” he says after a few moments of silence. “Why?” Michelle tilts her head further to look at him in the face, though she can’t see him properly in the darkness. He’s quiet for a moment. “I don’t know… probably ’cause I look like shit?” he says wryly.
Michelle blinks furiously at that. “What the fuck?” Michelle mutters under her breath, feeling a bit angry at that—not at Bryan, but at the fact that no one around had helped him get back home. What even happened for him to come back home on foot? Where’s the car? Where the fuck are his fucking shoes? Just what the hell happened at Raccoon City?
Michelle is tempted to stand up from the bed and get her phone from the nightstand, but Bryan is wrapped around her so tightly, like he’s afraid she’ll get up and leave him, which prevents her from doing that. So instead, she just lays her head back down and leans further into Bryan’s chest. His heart had gotten a bit slower, which was good, but his arms were still tight around her, and there were bouts of tremors coming from him that worried her a lot.
Michelle sighs internally as she glances at her side of the nightstand, seeing the digital clock about to hit six and the area behind the blinds slowly lightening.
“Sleep, baby. We’ll talk later, okay?” She reaches behind her to touch Bryan’s cheek, which is colder than ever. Bryan nods weakly, murmuring under his breath and humming.
“’Night,” he murmurs softly.
“Good night. Sleep.” Michelle pats his cheek again before moving her hand onto his waist and holding him there, patting him gently—it’s in such a weird angle where she had to move her elbow just to do it, but it’s fine, it’s for Bryan after all. She usually does this because, between the two of them, Bryan has always been an insomniac. He just can’t seem to fall asleep right away, even if he’s had a whole day of running around and shit.
So Michelle would have to pat his back until he fell asleep, or run her hand through his hair to soothe him so that he could finally drift off. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep this time, because a minute later, Bryan had gone quiet, his breaths coming in weak puffs behind her. His arms had loosened around her waist enough that she could probably slip away if she wanted to, but she didn’t. In fact, she decided to just stay put.
She doesn’t even realize that she, too, had fallen asleep until she opens her eyes again and sees that it’s light outside the blinds. It’s faint because of the snow, but there’s still light, and she can hear the faint sound of the news downstairs.
Bryan is still curled behind her loosely, still holding onto her, fast asleep. Slowly, she carefully slips out of his arms and sits up, cracking her back a bit and rolling her neck as she looks over at Bryan. She leans over and places a hand against his forehead.
Michelle hisses silently when her own warm hand meets his cold skin. Why is he still so fucking cold?
She moves her hand under his neck to touch his pulse, feeling the fast beat of his heart, which sends a relieved breath escaping her. She quickly pulls the blanket over his waist and up to his shoulders, tucking it under his chin to make sure he’s fully covered and warm. Hopefully, by this time, he’ll be warm enough. She makes sure the blinds are fully closed without letting any light in before padding out of the room and shutting the door behind her.
As she walks downstairs, she can smell pancakes and eggs, and the sound of the news is much louder. Katie really acts like she can’t hear shit from five steps away. Jesus Christ…
“Jesus, Katie, you’re watching it like how my dad watches football. I can hear it from up there,” Michelle says as she sees Katie throwing another pancake onto the tower she’s making on the dining table.
“Oh, hey. Good morning. Took you long enough. Made sure to start breakfast late ’cause I know well enough you both aren’t gonna wake up early with what happened earlier.” Katie raises a brow at Michelle, who rolls her eyes at that. “We slept at five. Of course we’d wake up late,” she says.
“Is that all there is?” Katie tilts her head as Michelle blinks at the other woman. “Dude, I’m pregnant,” she says, her voice raising as her face heats up. Katie laughs. “Well, not even a month in yet! It’s not like it’s beyond you two to have sex even when pregnant,” she jokes.
“Oh, Jesus Christ.” Michelle pinches the bridge of her nose as she sits on one of the chairs, turning toward the television mounted on the wall and huffing loudly.
“I was kidding, sheesh. Calm down,” she says.
“Nothing happened, girl. He’s probably sick right now. He fucking walked through the snow from Raccoon City back to here. I probably need to visit the pharmacy to get some medicine for him,” Michelle sighs. “I got some in the bathroom, but I don’t know if they’re expired or not.” Katie walks by the kitchen again, disappearing behind the wall. Michelle can hear the scraping and humming.
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, focusing on the news as she runs her fingers through her hair to fix it. It was just some random ice accident, with people hitting trees on the roads because of how slippery it was—Not before the news switches to an overview of a city being blown up. “What the fuck?” Michelle mutters under her breath as the video stops and the reporter appears back on screen, with an image of the aftermath of the city, now reduced to ruins. Is there another war?
“I got the eggs!” Katie comes back in with a bowl of scrambled eggs, humming as she places it on the table, but Michelle can’t take her eyes off the news.
“Last night, a terrifying incident befell Raccoon City. As of the moment, no one has explained exactly what happened, but air strikes were reported to have been carried out last night at 11 PM, turning the once-lively city into ruins,” the reporter says.
Michelle gapes. Raccoon City? As in… the same Raccoon City where Bryan had gone? Katie must have noticed as well because she pauses and falls silent. “Whoa, whoa, whoa hold the phone. The government nuked a fucking city?! And did they just say Raccoon City? Didn’t Bryan go there?” She glances at Michelle, who is still gaping at the screen, then looks over at Katie.
“I think this is what he meant about searching Raccoon City on my phone. What the fuck?” Michelle says. She pats her shorts, looking for her phone, before realizing she left it upstairs. She turns to Katie, who’s still staring at the screen wide-eyed as the video of the ruined city plays again.
“Katie, quick, give me your fucking phone right now.” Katie quickly fumbles to take out her phone and hands it to Michelle, who immediately types in Katie’s password before going straight to Google and searching for Raccoon City. Suddenly, she’s bombarded with numerous news reports from different parts of the world talking about how the city had been bombed just last night because of some bio-terror attack.
“What the shit…” she slowly mutters under her breath. She continues to scroll, finding pages and pages of pictures of the now-bombed city, along with images of missing people being posted on threads—“Jesus Christ,” Michelle whispers, horror slowly filling her as she places a hand over her mouth.