Robbie should have just let Carol die, left his NaU in the syringe, and then just up and dealt with the Parkinson’s himself. Walter didn’t know jack shit about diseases like Parkinson’s, only having a vague understanding from any commercial he saw with Michael J. Fox, but he knew a thing or two about addictions and people whose lives are headed down a path that they didn’t want to be on. And the only thing that people shouldn’t do is act out on it, to try and change the course of things. Now, addiction to alcohol was one thing, because much to the displeasure of a younger Walter, people can give it up. It hurt like hell, but when you dig yourself a big enough hole, then dirt seems like a solid enough foundation for life. The only problem being that as soon as it rains, that dirt turns to mud, and you get swallowed up in that hole you dug.
Robbie acted out against the grain, and in doing so, drowned everyone else around him rather than just himself. And now Walter was involved in all of it as well, much to his displeasure. This wasn’t so much out of a need or desire for redemption as being thrust into the narrative of someone else’s life and playing a part. It was a good part to be sure, but it wasn’t a story that Walter ever wanted to be a part of.
Not like there was much of a story for him to begin with. What else would he be doing? Playing out the tired old man with a lot of secrets in his past and no mystery or excitement for the future, to slowly wither away and die to become nothing, and have no one care about him?
He put his head in his hands. Was it still redemption if he didn’t want to do it? But he did want to do it . . . didn’t he? Why else would he have jumped in front of Jolie’s bolts and allowed himself to almost die? Almost die for Becca of all people, a girl who had threatened to kill him a few hours prior, her, the girl who had killed not only her own father but Nigel as well? There wasn’t much redemption in saving her, and even if there was, Walter couldn’t find himself to see it.
Yet he jumped and protected her all the same.
Why?
He looked around his children’s room. They had died much younger than Becca was now. They didn’t deserve what happened to them. And neither did Becca.
He stood up off the bed. Whatever he had been hoping to find in that room, he must’ve found, since he never wanted to be in it ever again. Beth probably felt the same when she went in. No wonder she never wanted to talk about it.
He walked back to the door, turning back one last time. It was a nice room underneath all the dust and webs. It could only have been better if there had been two people to live and grow up in it.
He heard something.
It was quiet at first but quickly got louder. He called out to Becca.
And then the windows shattered.
Chapter Eighteen
Becca has been blessed by all of this. I feel that. She has a lot of power inside of her, not only the NaU. She was able to take down Nigel with a pencil. I think that if any of us should have the strongest NaU, it should be her.
-Robbie’s Journal
Walter’s house was old and dusty, much like the man himself.
Matt hadn’t come after them yet, but even if Walter believed that her brother would put all his rage and anger aside because of Jolie’s death, they both knew that it was only a matter of time until he came after them. It would have to be soon too, since, with four NaUs in him, Matt wouldn’t survive the night. He’d need to come after them.
Even if it wasn’t for her NaU, he could still try and find them. Once his body finally deteriorated and the NaUs had nothing left to consume and destroy, they would go on to find the nearest person to latch themselves to. Possibly all four of them, or they would spread out and attack four people at once. That would just be more people to add to the death count, and Matt wouldn’t want that.
He didn’t want anyone else to die, but then he killed Jolie.
Or you did, Rebecca thought, staring out the window in Walter’s house. The two of them had ceased conversation for a bit, and Walter had walked down the hall to some room. He made a big deal out of it, and as much as Rebecca liked to snoop, this time, she felt it best if she stayed where she was. She had, after all, unintentionally ruined his life.
But how could she have known that the old man would get NaUs inside of him? Killing Danni had been no small task, and the NaUs should have gone to her. As much as Jolie and Matt claimed that they didn’t want anyone else to die, they didn’t want to make Rebecca’s life any easier.
Sure, they justified it by saying that they wanted to save Walter, that Jolie hadn’t intended to attack him. She hadn’t even meant to do that, since the energy bolts that raced across the snow at him were supposed to hit either Danni or Becca herself. She could vaguely remember hearing her brother say to stop him, and not her, but she might just be giving the man the benefit of the doubt. The bolts might have been to stop Danni, or they might have been to kill Becca. Who knows
