Life After the Undead (Completed)

PART 7: Well Laid Plans .5

Lena's P.O.V.

Brandon had found a small apartment complex for us to hide in. He had left us in the car as he went and cleared out a safe place for us to stay the night. We tried to ignore the gun shots that echoed into the night as I fed Steven his dinner. Connor of course tried to stir up trouble and I refused to show that it did in fact upset me. It hurt to know that Brandon had this other life in Toronto he never actually left behind.

I mean, that's what I had assumed after all. He had shown up in Montreal with one purpose, to save as many people he could to atone for something he had run away from. I assumed that he had cut all ties with the group he had left in Toronto, other than Cooper who I knew was the one who sent him packages once a month. I had no idea that he was lying to me about where he was getting those packages. That they had been from her all along, just sent to us through Cooper.

He had never mentioned Evelyn to me before. He had only mentioned Steve, the mighty zombie hunter. The tales of Steve who could do the unimaginable were legendary within the apartment complex he had turned into a safe house for many. So, when the zombies broke through our defences and we were forced to flee the first thing I asked was if Steve could help us.

That's the first time I ever heard Evelyn's name.

I didn't like the way he said it. He talked about her like she was a God, but I could sense something else in the way he said her name. He said her name the way one would talk about an ex lover. Of course it was stupid to think that he didn't have other girls before me, but I liked to think that they all died and I sure as hell didn't want to be in debt to one of his ex-girls. She could try to take him from me and I wouldn't have a single thing to say back if she had saved our lives.

I was going to wait obviously to talk to Brandon about this, wait until Connor wasn't there to hear it and find some way to make it worse. But I wasn't certain if I even could after what happened with the bus. I didn't think it could be in him to leave those people behind but he had. Almost like as soon as Evelyn was reintroduced into our lives, I lost the Brandon I knew and he devolved into the person he used to be. That hard untrusting man who had saved me all those years ago.

So, Brandon was off hiding our car, and I was in the small apartment he had found and cleaned up. Connor was looking through the bookshelves for books he could take even though we told him he'd have plenty of time to collect once we were settled in Toronto. I had gotten Steven to sleep in his car seat and now I was just waiting for Brandon to come back.

I was nervous to see my husband, my heart raced when I heard the footfalls of his heavy boots on the floor. The door opened and my breath caught in my throat, he looked so tired and defeated, absolutely worn to the bone. I wanted nothing more than to wrap him up in my arms and soothe him but the scene at the bus as we drove off was still haunting me.

I swallowed quickly and reminded myself that I needed answers. So instead of holding him like I wished to do, I stood to greet him and folded my arms across my chest to seem imposing.

Brandon stopped short of me and sighed. He recognized my war face. "I'm too tired for this Lena," he said in a hushed voice.

"I need answers Brandon. I'm not stupid I know you're hiding things. I'm your wife, don't you trust me?" I asked going for the guilt trip first as to not drag this out and get him to bed as soon as possible.

"No."

Everything froze in that moment. I could literally feel my heart break. How could he say that to me? He must have noticed my face fall for he immediately grimaced and change his tone with me.

"You don't understand Lena. You don't know what I did."

"Then tell me!" I snapped.

"No! Don't you get it? I've lost so much I can't lose you too!"

My heart melted at that point, I couldn't help it. My precious Brandon was worried about how I thought of him. Lying to me or not, I cherished him for that.

I softened my approach to him. "Alright, then just tell me about Evelyn, do we really need her? Couldn't you just ask Steve for help? I mean you didn't even try to radio him."

Brandon winced. "You want to know if I slept with her, don't you?' he asked getting straight to the heart of the matter without having to ask me or needing me to tell him. That was my Brando. He could read anyone, but with me he might as well have been reading an open book. I shrugged and he nodded. "She was my girlfriend through college, she got this big job with the government and took me a long for the ride. So yes Lena, I've slept with her."

I frowned only because of his tone. I could tell that he thought I was just being a jealous shrew but that wasn't my whole problem, just part of it. "I don't care if you've slept with her, obviously it's in the past right?" I told him.

"Of course it is! We broke up while we were still working for the government. We hadn't been together for years by the time the apocalypse started."

"Alright..."

"We split ways you know? We didn't agree on what we should do, she went home to Toronto and I went with her because she had a safe place and lots of supplies, but we kept on disagreeing. Yeah, her place was safer, yeah, she had everything I could have wanted but I couldn't stand being there, listening to what selfish things she wanted to do and she wouldn't listen to me about saving people even though we had plenty of room in the place. So, I left. I don't regret leaving Lena, it's how I met you," he continued.

"But why do we need her now?" I repeated. "If you don't want to go back to her, why did you ask her to come?"

"You have to understand. My job, what I did. It was bad Lena, it's why Steve wouldn't come if I asked. I did things to him when he was younger, things that weren't ethical. Things that weren't necessary I just wanted to see if I could do it," he whispered avoiding my eyes.

I didn't know the specifics of what Brandon did for a living before the apocalypse but I knew it was in the government and I knew it had something to do with weapons and that he worked mostly on armour. I assumed that meant metals, I had no idea why he would be experimenting on a person.

"Evelyn... I mean, yeah she did her fair share of experiments on him too but he was hers. Always from the very beginning he belonged to her. She's the one who took care of him, and made a big show of being the only one who cared about him, always going off when we did things to him, protecting him from us. He just... loved her, he's always loved her. I could have called him if I wanted to but he wouldn't have answered. He only cares about Evelyn, he'll only come if Evelyn is already coming," he said. I could hear the pain in his voice, going down this path, bringing back these memories was hurting him. I felt bad, but at the same time I needed to know.

"Evelyn's... better than me," he finally admitted.

"That can't be true!" I cried softly as to not wake up our sleeping baby.

"No, I mean, not a better person. She doesn't like helping people, never has, I just mean she's more formidable. Orion... he wouldn't have pulled this on Evelyn, and even if he did she wouldn't have taken no for an answer. She could have fought off all those Drifters, hell they wouldn't have gone anywhere near her in the first place, not if Steve was with her," he growled, getting obviously distressed and I felt bad for being angry with him for leaving them behind.

"You did what you could," I said soothingly petting his arm.

"Lena, she's just a better protector. Her safe house has a moat for Christ sake, I need you guys to be safe, and Evelyn's the only way to keep you safe," he finished.

He was panting, near tears with his fear. I took him in my arms then, kissing his cheek and neck as he held me, shaking like he might come apart. We made love that night before we fell asleep and as I held him sleeping form to my chest I vowed to be as nice as I could to Evelyn even if she didn't deserve it.