Blanket of Fear

“Mommy, why did we have to leave?” Eliza heard Harlow ask Nicole before she smiled as she turned to look at the small child, who had a look of impatience on her small, chubby face. “I wanna go outside and play again.”

“We can’t sweetheart. We have to go to the other house. You’ll be able to play when we get there,” Nicole said to her small daughter before she turned around to look at Joel, who had a small smile on his face as he drove.

Eliza couldn’t help but look at the small family that she and Zacky were driving to Canada with, feeling like someday she and Zack could have that. She knew it was a long shot, since starting a family right now wasn’t in their cards. They had to worry about getting out of this situation with Castro, and then they had to make sure that the situation with Val was dealt with. There was a lot left they had to worry about before they started a family, and she knew that. But it didn’t stop her for wishing for one and wanting one with him. She loved Zack, and she already knew she wanted to be with him forever.

“Baby, what are you thinking about?” Zack asked her softly, touching the side of her leg before he kissed her shoulder carefully. She smiled and looked up at him before she shrugged, touching the side of his face. Starting an argument with him now wouldn’t solve anything, especially with two little kids and some friends in the car.

“Just about Canada, and how I’m hoping that it’s not as cold as I think it will be,” she murmured as she leaned her head on his shoulder, hiding her real feelings about what was going on.

Zack frowned, not believing her, but he finally nodded before he pushed his hand back through her hair. “It’s not cold where we’re going. I promise,” he muttered before he closed his eyes. “I mean, it’s not Arizona or California, but it’s not horrible.”

She nodded, and then closed her eyes as well. She knew that getting across the border was going to be tricky, since she didn’t have a passport. They had forged one, but she knew that there was a possibility they’d know it was forged. Zack hadn’t told her exactly what was going to happen if that came to pass, but she figured they were probably going to kill the people at the border to get through if they had to. It wasn’t something she liked thinking about, but she also knew it wasn’t something she could change.

Zack just leaned his head onto her shoulder and wrapped one of his arms around her, resting his hand on her stomach. “As soon as everything is over, baby. I promise,” he murmured. Eliza’s eyes widened, wondering how he had figured out what she was thinking about, and she smiled in spite of herself.

She knew that Zack probably wasn’t as eager to start a family as she was. After all, he had Avenged Sevenfold as his family, for all they were worth. They were like brothers to him, and they’d been all he had for so long. She knew that she fit into that equation now as well, but children wouldn’t be an easy transition for him. He hadn’t had that kind of family in a long time; much longer than she’d even been alive.

“You don’t have to promise me, Zack,” she said as she looked at him, a small smile on her face. “I understand if you aren’t exactly thrilled about it. When it’s right for both of us, we’ll work on it.”

Zack didn’t say anything else before he grabbed her hand in his, holding it tightly before he started to fall asleep. The sun had come out, and even if it didn’t burn him or hurt him, it was normally when he slept. It was something that had taken a lot of getting used to for her, so she was happy that he was getting the opportunity now to get some rest before they got to Canada, because she was sure shit would hit the fan once they got there.

The rest of the drive to the border was relatively boring for Eliza. She played a game of Go Fish with the kids, and then took a short nap, although she woke up when Sparrow started poking her leg asking to play a game of I Spy. She played that with him for awhile until he too started to doze off, and then she talked with Joel and Nicole for a little while.

She was surprised at how the two of them had gotten together, and how they’d stuck it out and managed to raise a family through all of the shit they’d been through. Joel had met Nicole while he’d been living on the streets in some shady city, and Nicole had taken him in to the hotel she’d been working at and snuck him into one of the empty rooms. It had been then that she’d figured out he was a vampire, she told him—she’d always been a believer in things of that kind of nature. He’d been hungry, and she’d fed him, and they’d been together since then, through a hell of a lot of ups and downs.

She couldn’t help but remember the first time she’d met Zack. It had been a night when she’d been certain she was going to die; she’d thought that he and the rest of them were going to murder her in cold blood, and that she wouldn’t be missed by anyone. Back then, she thought to herself, she had been naïve. She’d actually believed that Sean loved her, and that he wanted to be with her for the rest of her life.

She had also believed that her family at least somewhat cared what had happened to her when she’d moved to San Diego, but now, she knew that wasn’t true, either. Since she’d ‘disappeared,’ there had been no real mention of her in the news, except for the few cruel calling-outs that Sean had given the police with the bodies he’d put in public locations with the news reporter. Her parents seemed to have forgotten about her existence, and that was one hell of a hurtful thing for her to go through. But she didn’t regret it.

They soon reached the border, which pulled her out of her thoughts. Everyone in the vehicle got tense quickly, as though they knew things might be changing soon. Sparrow and Harlow were both asleep in the backseat of the Suburban, and Zack had woken up and was alert as ever. Both Joel and Nicole had small frowns on their faces, as if they didn’t think things were going to go right during the border crossing.

“Baby, relax. Don’t look so stressed out or they’re going to suspect something,” Zack murmured into her ear as he reached into his pocket to grab their passports to show the men. She sighed and nodded, though she was still far more than terrified about everything that was going on right now. They were about to cross over into Canada, and once that happened, she knew everything was going to change. She knew that once they left the United States, everything was going to be far different than it was now, and though change was sometimes a good thing, she wasn’t so sure this would be a good change.

The men looked over the passports carefully before one of them asked to see vehicle registration and insurance tags. Zack knew that they were only stalling, wanting to see if there was any more suspicious activity going on than there already seemed to be with so many people in the vehicle with so little luggage, but eventually they let the vehicle pass through and Joel started driving again.

Eliza turned around and looked out the rear window and felt her breath hitch in her throat in fear when she saw the men pointing guns at the vehicle that Matt and Val were in. They also had Jacoby, his children, and Kelly in the vehicle, and though Eliza more than wished the men would shoot Val, she didn’t want the kids to be exposed to that.

“Why are they pointing guns at their vehicle?” Eliza asked, although Zack had a grim frown on his face before he shook his head. Joel continued driving, not saying another word either before Nicole finally spoke.

“Because we sacrificed Val,” she said softly before she turned to look back at Eliza. “We planted a couple of grams of coke in the vehicle, and Joel passed on a note to the men. The kids, Jacoby, and Kelly will be alright. They’ll meet us in Canada.”

“And what about Matt?” Eliza asked slowly, before Zack turned and looked at her with a grim frown. He obviously wasn’t happy, but he finally spoke after a few minutes.

“He’s going to make his decision. Avenged Sevenfold, or Val. It’s his choice. This is our way of letting him know that he can’t have us both now.”

Eliza nodded, but she didn’t say anything else as the vehicle continued moving. She had no idea what this meant, but she knew it couldn’t be great. She was just hoping that with Val out of the picture, they’d be able to move things along even faster.