Survival

Chapter 34 Friendly Encounters

Her father simply nodded. The tears that refused to stop coming down her cheeks probably helped the matter. She was beyond doing this for attention; the only thing she had a bit of control over now was her speech.

“You can meet her, you know so you don’t think I’m having sex with every guy on this floor.”

“Mischa-” her father started as he looked at her with big vacant eyes.

“I know you don’t believe me, so come on. She’s two doors down.” Fire began to burn within her chest. She had spent over a month here in misery and now the person who was supposed to look out for her only caused more. Just when happiness had been restocked.

“I didn’t mean to accuse you of those actions.”

“Then why were you down here? Don’t lie to me; you weren’t down here for a friendly chat.”

“You come home after I’m sleeping; you skip your internship. What is a father supposed to think?”

“He’s supposed to believe he raised a daughter with a good head on her shoulders. I have reasons for my actions. You could have asked me about it.” But he never did. He had been too busy for years so she had set about making herself just as occupied.

“It was brought to my attention by a security officer who keeps an eye on this floor. He was concerned by your actions. I never have a chance to ask you.”

Mischa’s arms grew heavy. People watched her and her movements. Could it have anything to do with the hospital incident? She tried to swallow the thought.

“If you would have asked me, you would have known I’m miserable most of the time. The only way I make it through my awful internship is by spending time with friends who can make me laugh and forget there used to be a whole beautiful world out there. A world I’m locked away from.”

“Mischa, I did this to keep you alive. Knowing what was coming, this was the best alternative.”

“What about my friends? I was supposed to be okay with letting them die?” Even though her heart begged to differ with the reality of the statement, it could still be valid.

“If I had any say, they would have come with you, believe me. I fought for months to get you a spot here; it was far from easy.”

“If these people are so restrictive, why did you choose to come here?” Could he know about what went on in the hospital? No, surely the guards would have brought it to his attention before the dorms issue. Unless he was already involved...

“Their methods may not be ideal, but given the choice between living and dying, I choose the former. They had the best resources and odds. All I cared about was keeping us safe and if I think some punk is taking advantage of my daughter, you bet I’ll be sitting outside his door.”

His response brought a smile to her lips. She brushed away the final batch of tears. “Dad, do you think I’d let someone take advantage of me.”

Her father laughed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Have I got the roles reversed?”

Mischa began to laugh. “No, we’re just friends, Dad. I’ve been very clear about it and he respects that. I think you’d like him if you actually met him.”

“Invite him to supper tomorrow and we’ll see.”

Oh no, what had she gotten them into now? “Only if you promise not to be a drill sergeant.”

“I’ll make no such promise.” Mischa rolled her eyes, but gleamed on the inside. At least it meant he cared about her enough to give him a hard time. She would take that any day of the week over the previous assumption.

Mischa waited outside the electrical shop for Quinton, who was probably one of the last ones out today. He did a double take when he saw her waiting there. “Mischa, is everything alright?”

She frowned, had everything about her screamed bad news lately? “Yeah, I just wanted to catch you before supper. My dad wants to eat with us.”

Quinton raised an eyebrow and leaned back on the wall. “With us? There’s an us?”

Mischa shook her head. “Some of the security personnel have been ratting me out and he’s a bit concerned. If we have supper together, he’ll see you’re a respectable guy and it’ll make my life a lot easier.”

Quinton leaned closer to her with a smile. “Are you presuming that we’ll be spending a lot of time together in the future, Ms. Hues?”

“You’re the closest thing to a best friend I have out here. I would hope so.” She had to keep this straight forward.

“I thought you’d run out the door the moment, you know...”

She took a moment to think it through. Leaving the moment the tracker started working seemed unreasonable. Obviously she wanted to, but with operations like the one down in the hospital wing, the risk could be huge if she went about it the wrong way. “I do still want to go through with it, but it’s just not doable without some planning.”

“Do I get to help with that part?”

“I was kind of hoping you would.”

Quinton smiled. “I want to show you something before supper. I think you’ll like it.”

Mischa wasn’t sure what he meant. It had sounded optimistic, maybe he had made progress with the tracker or designed a whole new project. Last time he had gotten her hopes up with unrelated something he made at work.

They went straight to his room. He went for his nightstand drawer and the original tracker came out. Her eyes widened. They hadn’t been working with that one since they tested all the batteries initially.

“We already tried those batteries Quinton.”

He played with the back a bit before hitting the power button. Mischa’s heart nearly stopped when the screen lit up. “Oh my God!” The device went to the start up screen and they both looked at it curiously as neither had operated one before. Mischa went for the retrieve location option and the screen changed to a map. She kept hitting the zoom until the screen entered a rural area outside Albuquerque. They watched with anticipation for any type of movement from the orange dot.

Moments later it came to life, budging in the slightest. The first movement provoked a small gasp from Mischa, the second a scream of excitement and by the third, she dropped the device on the bed and wrapped her arms around Quinton’s neck. His warm body pressed up against hers as she squeezed tighter, head to his chest. They were alive! Against all the odds they were still kicking and screaming, most likely literally, knowing those two.

Quinton pulled away slightly to look down into her eyes. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as her heart soared. His lips curled in a similar fashion and he leaned down, closing his eyes. Mischa panicked and turned her head to the side. His lips made contact with her cheeks, sending hot shivers down to her toes. She closed her eyes and frowned. Why did she have to enjoy that moment? He only lingered for a moment, before his whole body pulled away.

“My bad, I misread that moment.”

“It’s fine, just don’t do it again,” since she probably wouldn’t have the power to turn away next time. 

“We should probably go before your dad thinks we’re up to less respectable activities,” Quinton said and smiled.

Mischa looked away quickly, not ready for him to joke about this. Her body certainly refused to act as her ally in the situation as her stomach felt anxious with the hope of something new and exciting. Friends, that’s what they would be. That’s what they needed to be. She could and would control these silly feelings of hers.