They Call Me Daring

Chapter 37

"Liam." Meg was waiting for me inside with her arms crossed, her face stone and her eyes frozen. "We need to talk."
    "Oh, God." My heart stopped, and I was paralyzed in fear. "What happened?"
     She raised an eyebrow at me. "What do you think?"
    I blinked. "Well, jeez, leave it that open, will ya? God, what happened? I could go on for days."
    She rolled her eyes. "Anyone ever tell you you're an idiot?"
    "I think you might've mentioned it once or twice."
    "Well, you're an idiot."
    "Thank you. I love a good compliment."
    "I wasn't complimenting you."
    "I know."
    "Oh my God, Liam!" She groaned, pressing her hands into her eyes. "Why are you so difficult!?"
    I shrugged. "Dunno."
    "Well, maybe you should find out! No wonder they're trying to lock you up-"
    "Whoa, whoa, whoa-" I clamped my hand over her mouth. "Say what now?"
    She rolled her eyes down at my hand, which I removed. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at her feet. "Some people... I guess... they- they're kind of... planning a mutiny, of sorts." She grimaced, like it was hard to say.
    "What?!"
    "Yeah... some of them... and not all of them," She added hastily. "In fact, I think it's only a couple... but, yeah, they don't... really... like the idea of being told what to do by a-" She stopped herself, obviously trying not offend me. "You know. They're planning to, um, restrain you."
    "What!?"
    "Maybe kill you."
    "WHAT?!"
    "Will you stop saying that?" She slapped me. "This is serious, Liam!"
    "I know! Do you think this is my I-don't-care face!?" I pointed at my expression, which I believed to be one of disbelief. "But anyway, who is it that wants to... restrain me?"
    "Um..." She scratched the back of her head. "Uh, well... I'd kinda prefer not to name names."
    "Why not?" I asked sharply, suddenly on guard. My eyes read her expression. My heart shuddered at the thought of one of my own family members teaming up against me... but I shoved the thought away. Clark was obviously on my side with the whole bomb idea. Jess... well, he probably would like to commit mutiny against me, but I doubted he knew what that meant. And Dad... no. No, as much as the rift between us had grown, even if he had... had rejected me as a son, I had seen him helping with the preparations... unless....
    "Well," Meg bit her lip, looking down.
    "Meg," I said softly. "Tell me who it is." I slid my hand under her chin and lifted her face. "Please."
    "It's..." She sighed, closing her eyes for a long moment, then finally looking into mine. "It's just... my mom." She said at last.
    First I felt relief. So my father hadn't completely turned against me. We might not be on great terms, but I knew he would never go behind a man's back, even if that man was somebody he had turned away as a son.
    Then I felt bad about that, because I could see it was obviously hard for Meg to tell me this. For one of the first times, I could see the fear etched on her face. She was scared of me. But not for herself.
    She was afraid I was going to hurt the person she loved.
    "Thank you." I said after a brief silence. I put a hand on her shoulder in what I meant to be a comforting way, but it felt really awkward. "Meg?"
    She was still looking at the floor, and I felt her trembling. "Meg?" I asked again, and she looked up into my eyes, unshed tears cowering in the corners of her eyes.
    "What are you going to do?" She said softly.
    I suddenly felt so bad. She was absolutely terrified I was going to do something terrible to everybody who was planning against me. Granted, I wasn't gonna go in there and hand out candies. I needed to teach them a lesson, or this kind of thing would keep happening. Somehow I needed to stop it, once and for all. Gain their trust completely.
    "I promise I won't..." I stopped. What could I promise? Not to hurt anyone? I would liked to have promised that. Truly. I didn't want to hurt anyone... that would make them more likely to drive against me, scare them even more... but they would obviously infuriate me, and what if I lost control, and didn't even... "I promise I-I'll try not to hurt anyone." I said pathetically.
    "Trying isn't enough, Liam." She muttered.
    "Have you tried talking to her, at least?" I searched for way around the problem.
    Meg nodded. "How do you think I found out about it? She saw me hanging out with you every day, and then last night... she came up to me, and told me she didn't want me near you anymore. I asked why not and..." Meg sank down to the floor against the wall, her head in her hands. Her voice was muffled. "and she told me she and some others had been planning against you for a while, and now, they've found out about the bomb and... they think you're trying to kill them all." She looked up at me, tears sparkling in her eyes. "They think you're just a zombie with just enough human left in you to fool us all and use us to your advantage. They believe the bomb is some kind of scheme to wipe out humankind once and for all." She sighed. "They're gonna try and do everything in their power to stop it. And they plan to strike soon, before the bomb is finished." She added.
    I took a deep breath, running a hand through my hair. That didn't give me much time. "Right. And did she give you any other information, meeting times, names, places, anything?" I kneeled next to Meg, and she nodded slowly.
    "Tonight." She said slowly, softly. "Hannaford's around the block at midnight. She didn't give me any other names, though." She grimaced. "She didn't trust me enough."
    "Maggie..." I whistled softly. I just couldn't believe it. She had been such a close friend of my mother's... had made rounds to the mansion weekly for the last seven years, taken care of my family. Why would she turn now? But something told me she wasn't the one who'd come up with the whole crazy notion in the first place... and I had a pretty good idea of who had.
    "Thank you, Meg. Really. And... and I'll try to be diplomatic." I tried to smile, but one look at her face stopped me cold. "Right." I got to my feet and turned away.
    "And, Liam?" She suddenly whispered behind me. I didn't turn around, stopped dead in my tracks and stared ahead.
    "Mmm?"
    "There's something else..." Her voice cracked, and she had to pause and regain her thoughts. "She, Mom.... She asked me to join them."
    I clenched my jaw and waited for more.
    "And?
    "And I... I accepted."