“I was scared,” Teddy said.
“No need to be scared anymore. Your mama has you now. You hear me? I’m here. I’m here and I’m never going anywhere again. You hear me? I’m here forever.” Sometimes she thought of the promises parents make to their children—the ones that are used for comfort, but shrouded in half-truths: safe lies. She couldn’t promise Teddy forever, but she could come close.
An explosion startled her and Teddy screamed and clawed at her shoulder. Her heart leapt and her body went into panic mode. She threw her body over his and tried to shield him from the ensuing violence. There they were, on the beach, exposed. She waited for rapid gunfire, armed men, and the evidence that her reunion with Teddy was too good to be true. When none of those things happened, Darla lifted her head to the sky. She smelled smoke.
A yellow and red ball of fire appeared in the sky and then a pillar of black smoke followed it. From down the beach, Ethan stopped and looked at the place from which the sound and fire came—it was several miles up the coastline. He jumped and clapped. It took Darla a second to realize that he was celebrating.
“It worked! He did it! That son of a bitch did it!” Ethan cried and he moved up the sand with a quickened pace. “Come on! Go. Go!” He waved for Darla and Teddy to get off the beach, his arms flying in circles as he jumped up and down. “Go! Go!” he continued to yell.
Darla scooped Teddy up into her arms and rushed back toward the amusement park. She could feel the mixture of the sand and her wet clothes rubbing against her body; it created little stabs of sharp pain as she moved and rubbed her skin raw. She flew under the clown gateway and straight to Dean, who took Teddy from her arms and spun him around.
Grant went back for Ethan, grabbed his arm and wrapped it around his shoulder and then allowed Ethan to use him as a crutch to get off the dry sand. When they reached the road, Ethan untangled himself from Grant and they rushed forward into the Palace Playland—the clowns smiling at them, the smoke still billowing from out at sea.
“Car?” Ethan asked, out of breath.
“Van,” Darla answered. She sniffed and began to cry again. “I’m sorry. Hold on…I’m trying to get a grip.”
“We grabbed a few vehicles...we didn’t know how many to expect. We can take the larger passenger van. Leave the minivan,” Dean answered. He put his hand out for Grant and Grant grabbed it and let his dad pull him into a shared embrace with Teddy. Then he let Grant go and beamed.
“We have to go,” Ethan said, and he clasped Darla on the back—his substitute for a hug. “It’s good to see you, Darla. It’s so good to see you.” He put a hand over his mouth. Then he smiled through the tears. “I’m sorry…”
“It’s not your fault,” Darla answered. She leaned over and took Teddy from Dean. She looked at her child and ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his freckled cheeks. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Dean and Grant stood side-by-side. “Dad—” Grant started and without hesitation Dean enveloped Grant. He wrapped his arms around his son, and the moment Grant was safe against his father, he began to cry. “She didn’t come with me,” he said. “She didn’t want to choose...so...I told her...”
“Hey there, cowboy,” Dean said, closing his eyes. “I know a little something about that. Right?”
Grant nodded.
“If it’s meant to be, she’ll find a way. It’s not the end, son. It’s not the end.” Dean leaned down to make sure Grant had heard him. Grant nodded again.
Ethan shifted on his leg and looked around the empty carnival. He scanned the booths and the rides, and just as he was about to ask Darla, he saw her by the Ferris wheel. Her hair was blowing in the wind. She stood up on her tiptoes and waved at him, and then she came rushing forward—barreling into Ethan’s chest and knocking him over. He hit the pavement with a thud and he groaned.
“My tailbone,” he cried out.
“I can’t amputate that,” Ainsley said. She sat him up. Then she pulled back, embarrassed, and she stood to her feet and smoothed out her torn pants and shirt. She offered him her hand.
“You look like hell,” he said.
“Waiting around for someone to rescue themselves is hard work,” Ainsley replied. “Thanks for being sensitive to the fact that I don’t think I could spend another night in this awful, awful place. I had a nightmare last night that the Tunnel of Love was really a portal to this level of Hell ruled by demented giant stuffed animals.”
“That’s a real thing,” Ethan replied. She poked him in the shoulder with a single finger. He smiled. “I thought you were dead.”
“I’m alive because I was a coward,” she said in a whisper. “My mom is dead.” She stopped and closed her eyes. “I’m alone...”
Ethan shook his head. He looked at Dean and Grant; Darla and Teddy; and then he looked at Ainsley. “We’re a family. Look at us. It’s the best kind of family…the family you choose. You’re not alone.”
A secondary explosion jarred them, and together they looked out to the sea. A cloud of smoke lifted beyond their view, and Ethan clapped his hands together.
“They’ll do a search here soon enough. So we need to hightail it out of here. They’ll inspect the crash site first...”
“Sweepers?” Darla asked.
“What are sweepers? They’ll just send the guards out,” Ethan clarified.
“The pilot?” Dean asked, worried.
“Safe. I hope,” Grant replied. “The plan was to put it on autopilot and set the timer on Scott’s bomb. He was supposed to parachute to the beach and send the chopper out to sea. James Bond style.”
“Goodness,” Ainsley exclaimed.
“Look,” Ethan gathered the group together in a huddle. “No one from Huck’s army is on the mainland right now. We gotta go. If we can get out of this area without being spotted and hunker down, we’ll be free. Safe.”
“Forever?” Ainsley asked. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, unblinking.
“I don’t know,” Ethan replied. He looked to Darla. “Get us out of here. You have any idea of a place we could go?”
Her face was a bloated, puffy mess. She smiled at him brightly, her eyes glistening. “Excellent idea. I know just the place.”
“No!” Grant snapped, everyone turned to look at him, and he stepped over to Darla. “No. I know a place. I know a place. And it’s where we need to go.”
“We’ve got contacts in Montana. A group of survivors that have started a little community there. I think that’s where we should go…we’d be welcome there.”
“No,” Grant said again. He was adamant. “I’m going to Wyoming…I promised Lucy that’s where I would meet her and that’s where I’m going. No one else has to go with me, that’s fine, but then give me my own keys.”
“We stay together,” Dean said to his son. “Wherever we go, we go together.”
“Wyoming,” Grant replied. “Jackson Lake.” He stood tall and looked at Darla, his mouth rigid.
Darla reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of keys on a leather keychain. She tossed them to Grant and he caught them awkwardly against his body.
“Lead the way,” she said, and Grant panned the expectant faces of the group, steeled himself against the charge of leading the group, and marched off toward the Playland parking lot. Darla smiled and kissed Teddy’s face.
“I love you, little dude,” she said.
“Love you, Mama,” Teddy answered.
Darla beamed and marched off behind Grant, content to let him take the lead. They climbed into a large white van. There were two other vans in the lot. Grant peered in through the windows and saw keys sitting on the seats. He exhaled, relieved, and continued to their vehicle. He slipped behind the wheel, started the engine, and started to drive out of the parking lot. Nobody said a word. Dean sat in the passenger seat and looked at his son; Ethan and Ainsley had climbed into the very back and sat next to each other, their legs barely touching. And Darla rested Teddy against the middle seat, buckled him in, and rested his head in her lap. She ran her finger through his hair and closed her eyes.