The Restoration Project

4.06 - Lovely

"You think you could have, I don't know, gotten a bicycle or something?" Kyle complained. "Would have made this trip faster. And less wet."

Lovely threw her bag over the top of the barbed wire fence surrounding the airport. Rain drenched her and the bag fell in mud on the other side with a splat. Kyle was dry, making his complaint fall flat. She sighed and ran her fingers along the fence until she found a pre-cut section, peeling it back to slip through. Afterward, she pushed the fence back into position—no need for someone to follow her. Or accidentally stumble across her not-so-secret entrance.

She could have walked around the tarmac to the front of the building, but she had wasted enough time already. And Kyle was getting on her nerves. The fact he knew what she was thinking and what she intended didn't help.

"So what, you're not going to talk to me now? You know that's the first sign that you might be going crazy," Kyle said.

"Yeah, that's the first sign," Lovely muttered under her breath.

"She speaks!" Kyle exclaimed.

"We're going inside," Lovely said, eyeing the tower.

"Figured that much. I know you're here to grab supplies, but why? This group in the North should have all we need. You saw Wheels' place!" Kyle exclaimed. So maybe he didn't know all of her intentions. "Not that I mind too much. At least you were smart enough not to bring Marybelle here."

"Would you shut up?" Lovely shouted, rearing around on Kyle.

But he wasn't there.

She was alone, standing halfway between the fence and the air traffic control tower, on a long strip of runway. She turned back to the tower and stomped through the puddles to the side entrance. Rifling through her bag, she pulled out a set of keys and inserted one into the lock. The door was heavy as she pulled it open, revealing a darkened stairwell. She stepped inside, the stairwell a symphony of pinging raindrops. It sounded oddly comforting as she started her ascent.

She was almost out of breath by the time she reached the top and wondered why she ever thought this would be a good idea while pregnant. She peeled back the barricade and entered her living area, careful to put it back when she was done. She wasn't afraid of N3s following her up the stairs—not that she had seen any recently—but of someone else following her. There were worse things out there.

"Still mad?" Kyle asked, appearing on the far side of the room, cowering from her.

"I'm not mad," Lovely replied, taking in the space she had called home over the winter.

"Right. You're not mad, but you're not talking to me," Kyle complained.

"I'm not talking to you because you're not there," Lovely replied.

"I take offence to that."

"I'm sorry," Lovely said, although she wasn't. Not yet, at least. She crossed the room to the consoles that lined the perimeter, radiating outward to match the 360 degree view.

"What're you doing?" Kyle asked. There was a hint of worry in his voice. That was good.

Lovely opened the access panel on the middle console and pulled out a duffel bag. She didn't have to, but she unzipped it anyway to confirm its contents: Kyle's clothes, his wallet, a picture of him. The only worldly possessions she had retrieved from the farmhouse. She felt a sting in the corner of her eyes when she looked at his picture.

"What're you gonna do with that?" Kyle asked again, his voice clipped and fast.

Lovely stuffed the picture back in the bag, zipped it up, and slung it over her shoulder. She kept Kyle out of her field of view as she stepped on the first rung of the ladder leading to the roof, but froze when she looked forward and saw Kyle standing on the other side.