#when crosshair said we’ve taken down worse was he talking about this?

[twinsunstars]

theory time everyone WHO IS THIS

[ace-oreos]

Way of the Hunter Ch. 19

We are back and excited to share the next chapter! It’s a little longer than usual but maybe that’ll make up for some of the angst? 

Enjoy! :D 

When he woke, the first thing he registered was noise. He scrabbled blindly for his knife before it dawned on him that there was no threat; it was his brothers, bickering over something he suspected wasn’t worth the energy. 

Just as he was contemplating drifting off once more, the argument came to an abrupt halt. He was resigned to opening his eyes when he heard light footsteps - it had to be Tech; Crosshair had more of a slinking gait - beside him. 

“How are you feeling?” The relief in Tech’s voice was palpable. Hunter was fairly sure he hadn’t been in any real danger, but he was nonetheless touched by his brother’s concern. 

He sat up tentatively and breathed out a sigh of relief. He was battered but alive; that was good enough. He swung his legs over the edge of the rack. Like the universe is out to get me. 

“Never been better.”

“Yeah, right,” Wrecker muttered. 

“I’ve been awake for two minutes and you’re already doubting me? Whatever happened to having respect for your fearless leader?” 

Wrecker looked away. Tech fidgeted with something on his belt, and Crosshair deliberately avoided eye contact. After a long silence, Wrecker said abruptly, “You’re not our leader anymore.”

That hurt. “Okay, maybe not like I used to be, but -” Hunter faltered when he saw Crosshair’s eyes darken. “What?” 

“Are you going to explain?” His brother’s voice was clipped, distant. He’d never once spoken to Hunter like that before. It cut deeper than anything he could have said.

“Explain…?”

“Why can’t you take your helmet off?” Wrecker cut in. 

“Why do you have Mandalorian armor?” Tech added.

“Why did you leave?” Crosshair’s voice was quiet, but his question hung in the air long after the others faded away.

“I…” 

What could he say? They must have felt as if he’d abandoned them; did they have any recollection of what had really happened? Had they ever realized they’d turned on their leader, tried to gun him down where he stood? Did Crosshair know what he’d done? 

“I only left because…” 

Hunter forced himself to look into his brother’s eyes, even though the cowardly part of him wanted to hide. It was just as well that they couldn’t see his face. “I left because I didn’t have any other choice.”

That wasn’t enough, and he knew it. Hunter steeled himself, then went on softly, “I left because you would have killed me if I’d stayed.” 

_____________

“No.” 

It was out of Crosshair’s mouth before he could stop himself. Hunter seemed taken aback. The black helmet tilted slowly toward each of them in turn before returning to Crosshair. 

“What do you mean?” 

Part of Crosshair hated hearing the confusion in Hunter’s voice, but his growing anger brushed the empathy away. “That’s not good enough.”

“What do you mean?” Crosshair could see Hunter’s exhaustion slowly transitioning to anger. He couldn’t remember the last time their brother had lost his temper with them, but it was rising fast.  

“We wouldn’t have killed you,” Tech said quickly, possibly hoping to avert the confrontation before it erupted. “Hunter, we would not kill you. Ori’haat.”

That was a lie. Crosshair was tempted to say it, to spit it out before someone else could, but he was paralyzed by his own shame. 

“Look, I don't pretend to understand what happened,“ Hunter said quietly, “but I know what hunting a target looks like.”

Do you know who pulled the trigger? 

“That doesn’t make sense,” Wrecker interjected. Like Tech, he was obviously upset by what Hunter was saying. Crosshair felt like he was watching the conversation unfold from a great distance. 

He snapped back to reality in time to hear Hunter say, “All I heard was Order Sixty-Six, and you - something happened to all of you, I can’t explain it - you were… different.” 

“Different?” Crosshair asked sharply. 

“I don’t know, you were all just repeating the same thing, over and over, and when I tried to talk to you - ” Hunter’s voice shook, and he broke off, shaking his head. After inhaling slowly, he started again. “You just kept saying good soldiers follow orders. It was like you were all in a trance. Like something… took control of you.” 

“That’s not true,” Wrecker said suddenly. Crosshair agreed, although part of him thought there had to be some semblance of truth in Hunter’s words. “There’s no way - ” 

“It is possible,” Tech started slowly, “that something… interfered.”

“Interfered how?” Crosshair demanded, rounding on him. The whole conversation was making him sick. “This isn’t like one of your computers, Tech.”

Tech met his gaze steadily. “Something made the entire Grand Army turn on the Jedi.”

No one said anything to that. During the silence Crosshair wondered vaguely what would happen if he hurled himself out of the airlock. Nothing problematic for him, at least. Tech might disagree, but Tech wasn’t carrying anything close to the burden weighing heavily on Crosshair’s shoulders. 

He considered making his exit, but the others were talking again. Tech looked uneasy; Wrecker looked baffled, and judging by his body language, Hunter was as well. Crosshair guessed that he himself probably looked like he wanted nothing more than to throw himself into space. He tried to rearrange his expression, but as anything resembling a smile would’ve been entirely out of place, he settled back into a grimace. That was easier anyways.

“Then why didn’t it affect me?” Hunter was asking. 

Tech shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Crosshair rather thought that was the wrong question to be asking now, but he kept his opinion to himself. If they wanted to speculate, fine. He wouldn’t have to get involved. 

His plan crashed and burned just seconds later when Wrecker turned to him to ask, “What do you think?”

“Me?” Crosshair tried to think of something that would make his brother back off without causing more trouble but came up with nothing. Finally he said, “I dunno - shouldn’t you be asking Tech that question?”

“You were there too,” Hunter pointed out.

Crosshair froze. “What do you mean by that?”

“I thought you might have your own idea,” Hunter said with a shrug. 

“Well, I don’t, and there’s no point talking about it now,” he snapped. 

Hunter seemed taken aback. Any reasonable person would have taken that as a signal to back off, apologize, reassess, Crosshair knew, but it wasn’t quite that simple. He struggled to voice his tumultuous thoughts. 

Not for the first time he thought it would’ve been a lot easier if his brothers could just read his mind. He could read Hunter pretty easily most days; he would know Wrecker’s state of mind from a glance. Tech was much the same, when he could be bothered to set aside his projects. They never hesitated to share what was on their minds even at the worst possible moments. As much as they were outspoken, Crosshair was equally reserved.

It was Wrecker who finally said, “Are you okay?”

Crosshair clenched his jaw. “Terrific,” he ground out. He pretended not to see Tech’s eyes flick uneasily to Hunter. 

Their former sergeant sighed. “Whatever it is that’s bothering you, spit it out.”

“I don’t have any grand theories, if that’s what you’re looking for,” Crosshair said to buy time while he searched frantically for words that could capture the agonizing guilt that was threatening to choke him. 

“Well, something is wrong,” Tech opined. He peered at Crosshair. “You’re obviously upset.” 

“How astute of you,” Crosshair huffed. 

“Cut it out,” Hunter said sharply. He moved as though he was going to lay his hand on Crosshair’s shoulder but paused. “What’s going on?”

Suddenly the dam burst, and he could finally speak.

“Why are you acting like everything is okay?” Crosshair demanded. “What are you doing here? It’s too dangerous - we almost killed you once. What makes you think that won’t happen again?”

“Chances are, if nothing’s happened by now - ” Tech began. 

Crosshair rounded on him. “You don’t know that!”

“Logically speaking - ”

“Logic has nothing to do with it,” Crosshair hissed. He turned away before he could see the hurt in his brother’s eyes, forcing himself to look into Hunter’s dark visor. “I almost killed you, Hunter.”

The airlock was looking like a better option with every passing second. The silence was stifling, so crushingly suffocating that for a moment Crosshair wanted nothing more than to be away from his brothers for the first time in his life. 

“What do you suggest, then?” Hunter’s tone was carefully controlled, neutral, but Crosshair knew as well as any of them that his anger was dangerously close to the surface. 

Crosshair looked away. “I don’t know. Forget it.”

“Fine.” Hunter’s voice was toneless now. He turned to face Tech and Wrecker. “How long has the Empire been hunting you?”

They exchanged uneasy looks. Crosshair’s feeling of watching the conversation unfold without being fully present persisted.

“Not long,” Tech admitted. “We’ve been keeping a low profile.”

“They were tracking us from the start,” Wrecker pointed out. “They were scanning all inbound and outbound ships. The Marauder must’ve been tagged or something.”

“But we didn’t have anyone after us before we landed on that space station,” Crosshair argued, relieved he could look at Wrecker rather than Hunter. “Something else tipped them off.” 

“The Empire is hunting deserters,” Hunter put in. Crosshair looked to his brother despite himself. “I couldn’t have been the only bounty hunter hired to go after you.” He paused as if in thought, then said, “I shouldn’t be here.”

“If we really are being followed, then none of us should be here,” Crosshair retorted. He didn’t need to hear Hunter’s hissing sigh to know his brother was still on edge. It was only a matter of time before the explosion, he thought. 

Then Hunter let out another sigh. “I can’t stay.”

“Hunter, no,” Tech started, but he trailed off. 

“You’re already in danger. I don’t want to make things worse,” Hunter said softly. He hesitated, then added softly, “This is the Way.”

It was that phrase, the stupid mantra Hunter had been repeating when they were hauling him back to the Marauder, that set Crosshair off.

“Does that code give you an excuse to be a coward?” he spat.

Hunter pulled away, clearly stung. “I’m trying to protect you!”

“We don’t need you to protect us!”

There was a frozen pause. Crosshair waited for Hunter to finally lose his temper, to snarl a reply - and he hated himself for it, but he couldn’t help hoping that Hunter would lash out in some way; then Crosshair would have a target for the anger that was burning in his chest - but when Hunter spoke, his voice was ragged.

“I have to go. I’m sorry.”

[tellerford-mayhem]

Americano: No hablo su Jesu Cristo Chapter 7

Masterlist

Ship: Chibs x OC

Word Count: 5,860 Words

Synopsis: Now that she is home and safe and her father’s killer is dead, things start to heat up between Chibs and Isa. 

Rating: M

Warnings: Language and Violence, Sexual Innuendos, Mentions of Death/Suicide Attempts, Sexual Harassment -very brief

A/N: I’M BACK!!!! Here is chapter 7! I hope this is enough spice to keep you interested in the characters! Please let me know what you think! xoxo

Chibs POV

She was cursing up a storm in both English and Spanish as he pulled the pieces of wood out of her forearm with tweezers. He held her arm down on his kitchen table while he picked at each splinter under her skin. Isa’s arms were black and purple from earlier that day when she landed on them. After he pulled the last one out, he handed her some hydrogen peroxide to clean her skin. He was thankful for his brief medical experience in the army. “Thank you,” she said as she carefully cleaned her arm.

“My pleasure, lass,” he replied. He sighed and watched her flinch as the peroxide washed over her arm. “Can I get ye somethin’ ta eat?”

She shook her head. “I just want to rest.”

He wrapped her arms in bandages and scooped her up in his arms. “I can walk,” she laughed.

Chibs smiled and ignored her comment. Gently, he set her down on his bed and helped her get comfortable. “I’m gonna call yer uncle and let him know ye are safe and restin’. I dinna care to have him show up at my door lookin’ fer ye.”

She buried herself down into his pillows. “Fine. Use my phone.”

He sighed and grabbed her phone off the nightstand and walked into the other room. He dialed Marcus’s number; it only rang once before he answered. “You are on the fast track to Nevada, Isa!”

“This ain’ Isa. She wants me ta tell ye that she’s safe and restin’ now.”

“Listen here, punta, I will be keeping a close eye on you. If anything happens to my niece under your watch, again, I will make sure your last breath is long and painful.”

Chibs lowered his voice and whispered into the phone. “Nothin’ is gonna happen ta her under my watch, Marcus. I can promise ye tha’. Now, I dinna take to threats idly, so if ye dinna mind, kindly fuck off.”

He hung up the phone and placed it on the table in his living room. He leaned back on his couch and let out a long, exasperated breath that he had held in since she was taken. Chibs had just closed his eyes when he heard two bikes pulling into his drive. He sighed and shuffled over to his door. Jax and Juice were taking off their helmets when he stepped out on to the stoop. “Did you take her back to the rez?” Jax asked.

Chibs closed the door behind him and stepped closer. “She’s inside sleepin’.”

“What is she still doing here?”

“She’s going to be in the AB’s crosshairs if she stays here!” Juice exclaimed.

“Nothin’ is gonna happen ta the lass.”

Jax smiled. “Chibs, are you hittin’ that?”

“No!”

Juice laughed. “Of course he is. Have you seen her?”

Chibs punched Juice in his shoulder. “I just feel responsible for her.”

Juice and Jax eyed him and laughed. “We have a meeting tonight,” Jax said, “Clay wants to discuss Zobelle and the Mayans. Mayans. He wants you there.”

He sighed. “Is ‘e pissed?”

“Well, he’s not happy that you’re involved with the Mayans. Let alone, Alvarez’s niece.”

He muttered something in Gaelic under his breath. “I’ll call someone to keep an eye on her while I’m gone,” he said.

They stood in silence for a moment, looking at the ground. The last time they had church, the club voted to let Jax go Nomad. Chibs was still very upset with him, but appreciated his brother’s assistance in getting back Isa. Finally, he disrupted the stillness in the conversation. “Are we gonna talk about ye goin’ Nomad?” he asked.

Jax grew stiff. “When this is settled, I’m leaving. I can’t be around Clay any more. If I am, we’ll kill each other.”

“Jackie Boy…”

He shook his head. “There is no changing my mind, Chibs.” He walked towards his bike. “Church. Six o’clock. Don’t be late.”

And just like that, Juice and Jax rode off on their bikes together, back to the clubhouse. He shuffled back inside and picked up Isa’s phone again. This time, he dialed a number he dreaded more than Marcus’s: Wolf’s. “Isa!” He exclaimed into the phone after the third ring. “Oh my god! Are you alright? We’ve been worried sick about you since we haven’t heard from you in days!”

“Wolf,” Chibs breathed into the phone.

“Chibs? Where is she? Why are you calling? What have you-”

“Will ye shut it and let me talk?”

Wolf stopped talking and impatiently listened to him.

“Isa is sleepin’ at my house. I have ta leave fer a few hours t’night. Can ye come by and stay wit’ her?”

“Yeah. Of course,” he said, “why does she need someone to stay with her?”

“Long story, but I ken she’ll explain when ye get here. Come by at five?”

“See you then.”

“I’ll text ye the address. If ye abuse this knowledge, ken I’ll kill ye.” He hung up the phone and slouched down onto the couch and closed his eyes. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, resting his head on the armrest.

It must have been a couple of hours after he fell asleep, because he woke up with a blanket on him and the smell of something coming from the kitchen. He sniffed the air and closed his eyes with a smile. It reminded him of the brief time when he and Fiona were happy. Sundays, she’d cook him a big Irish breakfast while she let him sleep in after a busy week. He heard footsteps as she walked to the doorway of the kitchen to peek out at him. Chibs rolled over and opened his eyes. “I see ye made yerself at home, lass.”

“I was hungry. I figured you’d be too,” she replied.

His stomach growled. “I am,” he laughed. He looked down at his watch to see it was 4:30. “Wolf will be ‘ere soon.”

She rolled her eyes and stepped back into the kitchen. “Why?”

“I ‘ave ta leave, and I need someone ta keep and eye on ye in case…” he trailed off.

“I’ll be fine.”

“I ken, but it’s fer my peace of mind.”

He heard her audibly sigh, clearly her sign of acceptance. “It could ‘ave been worse,” he laughed, “I could ‘ave called Alvarez.” He rose from the couch and stumbled into the kitchen where she was intently focused on the vegetables cooking in the pan. Chibs sheepishly smiled at her. She was even beautiful when she was annoyed. The small wrinkles that formed on her forehead when she forced her eyebrows together were light and delicate; almost misplaced on the perfect dark skin. “Speaking of,” he said, leaning against the cabinet next to the stove, “ye want ta tell me why ye hopped on the back of my bike when we left?”

She vigorously stirred the vegetables, causing a few peppers to fall out onto the stovetop. “Because he’s an ass.”

Chibs laughed. “I could ‘ave told ye that.”

Isa slammed the spoon down and looked at him. “I don’t being like told what to do, okay?”

He crossed his arms and looked at her, knowing that wasn’t the full truth. “And…?”

“And he blames you for everything.”

His body grew rigid. Alvarez agreed with him. Her kidnapping was all his fault, and had anything serious happened to her, he would have never forgiven himself. “Well…”

“No, Chibs,” she said, turning the burner off, “none of that was your fault. Besides, you found me. I’m safe and out of their hands now.” Isa placed her hands on both sides of his face to force him to look at her. “I’m safe now, and that’s all because of you.” She was close to him, close like she was the night she was taken.

He couldn’t tell if he was feeling the heat from the stove or between them. Chibs rested his hands on her hips as he contemplated putting them each out of their misery and pulling her into him. There was no doubt a chemistry between them, a longing to be together in more ways than one. Desire overcame his better judgement as he drew her into him passionately, hungrily kissing her. She was just as ravenous as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her up on the counter and tugged at his SAMCRO shirt that she had claimed as her pajama top. Her fingers dug into his arm as his hands flirted with the top of her sweatpants.

The roar and rumble of a truck’s engine came up the drive, but neither of them heard. It wasn’t until there was a loud knock at the door did she pick her head up, but that didn’t stop him from traveling down her jawline and neck. “Chibs, stop. There’s someone at the door,” she whispered, feeling her stomach fill with butterflies, secretly wishing he wouldn't.

“They can go ta hell,” he replied.

There was another knock. “Chibs! Open up! It’s Wolf!”

She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away. “Shit.” Isa jumped off the counter and fixed her clothes. She fixed Chibs’ shirt and hair before answering the door herself. “Wolf!” She wrapped her arms around him into a big hug.

Chibs stayed in the kitchen, instantly jealous of the young Native currently getting all of her attention. He was trying to catch his breath and slow his heart rate so he looked less aroused than he was. “It’s so good to see you,” he heard her say.

“What happened to your arms? Where’s your bodyguard?”

“Long story. He’s in the kitchen. I was making myself something to eat.”

He was still leaning against the counter when they entered the kitchen. Wolf sat down at the table and glared at the Scot. “How much longer are you planning on staying here?”

She shot a glance over to Chibs who was scraping the vegetables and rice onto a plate for her. “I’m not sure,” she said.

“Ye can leave whenever ye want, lass,” he said.

Isa’s eyes grew wide at his sudden shortness. “Oh,” she began, hurt by his coldness, “then, probably tomorrow.”

Wolf crossed his arms. “Good.” He turned his attention to Chibs. “Don’t you have to be somewhere?”

He mumbled something to himself and walked into his foyer. “I’ll be back tonight,” he said, as he stormed out the door.

Her POV

She looked out the kitchen window and watched him drive off towards Teller-Morrow. She grabbed the plate off the counter and sat across from Wolf. “Are you ready to tell me what all of that was about?”

“What?”

“Well, for starters, why the hell are you staying with him?”

She sighed and took a bite of her makeshift stir fry. “Don’t start this.”

“Come on, Isa! For years, years, you hated SAMCRO, and now you’re shacking up with one!”

“It’s not like that!” Although, had he shown up a half hour later, it might have been. “He’s just trying to protect me. After he and Jax discovered who my Uncle was, they needed to protect me from the rest of the club!”

Wolf cocked his head to the side. “Is that right?”

“I swear!”

“Then what happened to your arms? Did you start cutting again?”

“No!” She let out an annoyed growl. “Look, I fell and broke a chair. Splinters got in my arms, and so he cleaned them for me. Chibs has medical background, so he was able to patch me up so I wouldn’t get an infection.”

He leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. “Isa, you know I really care about you, so I’m just worried. I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re safe and that he’s taking care of you, but we miss you back on the rez.”

She smiled and took another bite of her dinner. “He’ll drop me off tomorrow.”

“Why don’t you just come back with me after he gets home?”

Isa continued eating to avoid the question. She knew she couldn’t argue this point, but she also wanted the opportunity to talk to Chibs about what had just happened between them. She lightly nodded as she contemplated her response.

“He said you can leave whenever you want,” Wolf said.

She chewed through a red pepper and swallowed. “I guess you’re right,” she replied, taking her final bite of dinner. “I’ll clean up in here and then grab my stuff. Why don’t you go into the living room and watch some TV, and I’ll join you when I’m done?”

Wolf looked at her unconvinced. “Okay.” Slowly, he rose from his seat and walked into the other room.

Isa picked up her phone and immediately sent Chibs a text. “I know you won’t get this until after church, but Wolf wants to take me home with him tonight. I can’t say no, but we need to talk about what happened.”

She held her phone close to her chest and took a deep breath before she began doing the dishes. Her head was still spinning from the very intimate moment she shared with Chibs. His touch was something she could feel herself longing for as each second passed. She closed her eyes and touched her lips as she tried to remember the kiss. Everything about it breathed passion. It had been awhile she had been kissed with such desire. Her lips were still a little swollen and plump from the interaction, and she could feel herself blush. “Lass, ye need ta get yer shit together. Ye dinna want Wolf ta catch ye, do ye?” She smiled as she heard his voice in the back of her mind.

She quickly finished the dishes and walked back into his bedroom to pack her small satchel. Her own clothes were folded neatly on his Idresser next to the few hygiene products she brought with her. She didn’t have much to pack, so she sat on the edge of his bed and looked around. The room looked the same as when she arrived: bed unmade and clothes everywhere. She leaned down and grabbed some of the dirty clothes off the floor and tossed them into the laundry basket on the other side of his dresser. Soon, she began making his bed, straightening up his night stands, and cleaning up his bathroom. She grabbed old towels and dirty socks to place in the hamper before she opened the door to leave.

Isa sat down next to Wolf as they enjoyed a few reruns of old episodes of Married...With Children while they patiently waited for Chibs to return home. It was soon 10:00 and her phone rang. “Isa?” he said through the phone.

He had disturbed her from the nap she had accidentally taken on the couch. “Yeah, Chibs?” she said, still half asleep.

“Put Wolf on.”

She nudged him awake and handed over the phone. She could still hear him. “Take her home,” he said, “I’ll be here all night. Just take her back to the rez.”

“Okay.”

Suddenly, the sleep was gone from her eyes. “Wait!” she exclaimed. “No, Chibs!”

By the time she got her phone back, Chibs had hung up. She immediately redialed but it went to voicemail. She threw her phone into the love seat adjacent to the couch and growled. “Stubborn Scot.”

She stood up. “Let’s go,” she said.

Wolf stretched and yawned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she muttered, “take me home.”

Chibs' POV

He decided to stay at the clubhouse that night. After Gemma revealing what the AB did to her and losing Isa, he wasn't in the mood to return to an empty house. He knew the retaliation for Gemma was going to turn ugly, and he wanted Isa as far away from him for her own safety.

His burner rang. He looked down and noticed it was an unfamiliar number. He sighed and answered. “What?”

“Are you sure the deal is off the table?” Stahl breathed into the phone.

He muttered under his breath before replying. “Fuck off.”

“I thought you might say that,” she said, “who's the new chica, Chibs?”

He froze. He knew she meant Isa.

“Maybe I'll pick her up and she what she knows about the Irish.”

“Na cuir thu dragh oirre! She has nothing to do with any of this.”

He could tell she was smiling at the other end of the phone. “Who is she?”

“Crow Eater.” It pained him to say that about her, but he would rather tarnish her name than to get her involved with ATF.

“If my new lead doesn’t pan out,” she added, “I’ll be in touch.”

He closed his phone and tossed it on the foot of the bed.  He leaned against the door and sighed. He felt the need to blame Wolf for taking her away, but Chibs knew he couldn’t keep her there forever. “It’s fer the best anyway,” he said to himself.

As soon as his head hit the pillow, he shut his eyes, drifting off to a restless sleep.

Her POV

Days had passed and she had neither seen nor heard from Chibs, let alone any of the Sons. She found herself moping around the house, going through the motions. She would wake up, work in the garden in the morning, help make the “beads” for the Sons, have dinner with her aunt and uncle, and go to bed. She tried calling him several times, leaving him voicemails saying they needed to talk about what happened, but he never returned her calls. After a week, she stopped calling him.

Wolf and her Aunt Dana noticed her change in behavior. “Isa,” she said one day at breakfast, “What happened in Charming?”

She glanced up at her aunt from her cup of tea and then back down. She wasn’t sure exactly how to answer that question.

“Something happened, didn’t it?” she asked.

Isa sighed and knew she would have to confess eventually. “He thought I was in danger, so he and Jax thought it would be best if they put me under lockdown until the threat passed.”

“And?”

“And, it passed. I’m home now.”

Dana leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Oh, that’s it, huh? Then why are you constantly checking your phone? I hear you calling him late at night saying you need to talk. You’re pining.”

“No,” she said, a little too defensively.

She smiled at her niece. “I’m not blaming you, dear. I just want to know what happened.”

“Ugh!” Isa exclaimed as she rested her head on the table. “After he proved they had nothing to do with Father’s death, things changed. I thought something was going to happen, but nothing did.”

She couldn’t see Dana smiling as she continued to read the morning paper. “Well, the Sons will be here today.”

Isa picked up her head. She felt her heart race just a little. If she was going to talk to him about that night, today was going to be her only shot. She tried to downplay her apprehension. “He doesn’t want to see me, Biazi.”

Dana raised an eyebrow at her. “I saw the way he looked at you the first time you met. I think you’re the reason he keeps coming back with them.” She waited for Isa to reply, but she just continued staring into her drink. “Does Marcus know?”

“He does not get to dictate that aspect of my life.”

“Oh, Isa. He’s going to…”

“We’ve talked and I told him I can do what I want. I am twenty-six years old. I can take care of myself.”

Dana sighed. “Yes, but you just got out of the hospital for your last attempt, and we decided to keep you away from that life until you were back on your feet. I don’t want him to send you to Nevada again.”

Isa finished her cup and placed it in the sink. “I applied for a position at the diner in Charming. I’m going to start saving for my own place in Oakland.”

The bikes rumbled as they came down the drive. She and her aunt exchanged a look before heading outside. Juice and Tig were in front, followed by the van and two more bikes: A new Prospect and Happy. Isa walked over to the parked van but froze in her place when Opie hopped out. She looked over to Juice and Tig, who were both taking their helmets off. Juice leaned over and whispered something to Tig before approaching her. She folded her arms and tried to appear annoyed by their presence. “Sorry, Isa,” he said, “I tried to get him to tag along.”

“Who?” She asked.

Juice smiled. “Did something happen?”

She laughed, a little too loud. “With the Scot? No!”

“You keep calling him.”

“I thought I left my glasses there, but I found them,” she lied.

He leaned against the van. “You’re really bad at this. Chibs told me.”

Isa straightened her posture and took a step back from him. “Nothing happened, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Look, a lot has happened recently. Someone took Abel, Jax’s son, and he’s been helping Jax try to find him.”

“I’m sorry to hear about Abel, but I don’t care what Chibs has been up to.”

Juice started to walk past her and help with the load. “I’ll tell him to answer his damn phone.”

She rolled her eyes and walked back into her house. Dana was still sitting at the table, now drinking coffee. “Phone rang,” she said, “it was the diner. You got the job. They want you to call them back.”

“Thanks.”

“He’s not here, is he?”

“I need to run to Oakland. I’ll stop by the diner while I’m out and talk to them about my hours.”

Chibs POV

He leaned back on the couch in the clubhouse pretending to listen to Bobby and Jax. He looked down at his phone again to see if she called, and it was the same. She had stopped calling him a couple of weeks ago. He placed it in his pocket and stood. “When are we leavin’ fer Belfast?”

“Tomorrow,” Jax said, “I’m bringing my boy home.”

Chibs sighed. “We need ta be careful, Jackie. Jimmy has been playin’ ye since the beginnin’. He’ll use yer boy as leverage if he has to.”

Jax nodded. He sat down next to him and leaned his head back. Chibs completely understood. “We’ll get him back, brother,” he added.

“I know we will.” He looked at Chibs, desperate to change the subject to something more uplifting. “So, you heard from Isa lately?”

“I’m afraid that’s said and done.”

“Juice said she’s working down at the diner on Main.”

“I ken. He told me last week.”

“Why don’t you go down there? From what you said, it sounded like she likes the taste of Scottish Whiskey,” he smiled.

He shook his head. “Nah.”

Jax hopped up. “Come on. We’re going there for lunch. Bobby?”

“Oh, I am definitely in for this,” Bobby laughed.

“Jackie Boy, let’s just leave the lass alone. Even though we found her da’s killer, she’s still Mayan.”

Jax ignored him and headed out the door with Bobby close behind. “Jax!” Chibs called behind him. “Jax! Ah, shite!” By the time he caught up to them, they were on their bikes revving the engines. “Let’s leave the lass alone! She’s been through too much.”

“Bobby and I are hungry.” They left the lot, with Chibs running to his bike to catch up to them.

He sped after them, only to catch them at the diner. They parked their bikes and waited for Chibs to make his way over to them. He looked over at the restaurant and saw her through the large windows in the front of the building. She was delivering an order to a small family. “Looks like our new favorite waitress is working today,” Bobby said.

“She’s goin’ ta send a fork through ma’ arm,” Chibs said.

Jax wrapped his arm around Chibs shoulder. “You should have called her.”

She had gone by the time they entered the diner and were greeted by the hostess. “Just the three of you?” She asked nervously. Any time they ate in the diner, many of the patrons were nervous. They accepted the Sons as part of their community, but they were an obviously intimidating bunch.

“Yes. Put us in Isa’s section,” Jax said.

She grabbed three menus and led them to an empty booth between the family Isa served and a group of college guys clearly still working off their hangover from the night before. “Your server will be right with you.”

Chibs looked around nervously for Isa, but she had yet to reappear. Suddenly, the kitchen doors flew open and thin, tall, curvy, dark-haired woman emerged carrying a tray full of food. When she turned around, it was Isa. Her hair was pulled back into a loose braid with short pieces falling around her face. “Damn, Chibs. You’re chasing that?” Bobby said softly.

“Shut it, Bobby,” he replied.

A small smile formed on her face when she saw them. She set the tray on a table nearby and began serving the food. “Is there anything else I can get you?” she asked.

One of them leaned forward. “How about your number and when your shift ends?”

Isa rolled her eyes and walked to Chibs’s table. “Even better when you walk away,” he said to her.

She turned on her heel. “One more and I’ll have my manager handle you,” she said.

“Now, that’s no way to get a tip. Unless that’s not the tip you’re wanting.”

“Leave the lass alone,” Chibs said. Jax and Bobby stifled a laugh.

The frat boy turned around. “This doesn’t involve you, Gramps.”

“Chibs,” she said quickly, trying to prevent a fight, “it’s fine.” She ignored the man in front of her and walked to their table. They were still talking about her as they ate their food, but she tried her best to ignore them. “What are the three of you doing here?”

“It was their idea,” Chibs said, immediately regretting that.

“Hey, darling, a man’s gotta eat,” Jax smiled.

“Yes, but a man doesn’t know how to answer his damn phone.”

“Oo,” Bobby winced as he pretended to look at the menu.

“Sorry, mo ghaol.”

The three men behind them burst into laughter as they peeked over at them. She glared at them over her shoulder before turning back to Chibs. “What do you want to eat?”

Jax and Bobby laughed.

“Off the menu, pendejos!”

“I’ll just take a burger, lass.” He sheepishly handed her his menu.

“And you two?”

“Same.” They handed their menus back, grinning like idiots. She snatched them and walked away. “Man, this is the exact distraction that I needed,” Jax said, “thank you.”

“Tha mi air a chuairteachadh le stiotan (I am surrounded by idiots),” he said under his breath. He leaned back against the booth. “She’s going to poison my food.”

The blond frat boy turned all the way around and faced them. “Any pointers on how to hit that?” he asked. “I mean, it’s clear you somehow did, Gramps.”

“I told ye ta leave her alone.”

He shrugged and turned back around.

“Look,” Jax began, “it’s not busy. Go talk to her. It’s been almost a month since you last talked.”

“I ken.”

Isa returned to them with some coffee. “Sorry to hear about Abel, Jax,” she said as she poured a cup into his mug.

“Thanks,” he replied, suddenly remembering why he needed a distraction.

“I’ll pray to all of my gods that he makes a safe return home soon.”

“Thank you, darlin’.”

“I don’t think we’ve met,” she said to Bobby.

“Oh,” he coughed. “Bobby. I’ve heard a lot about you, Isa.”

She shot a glance to Chibs. “You have?”

He smiled. “Enough.”

“Alright, Bobby. Shut it,” Chibs barked.

She neglected to give Chibs any coffee as she turned away with the pot to refill the guys’ cups behind them. “Arsehole,” he said to Bobby.

“Chibs, if you don’t do something, they will,” he said, motioning to the repulsive table behind him.

He sighed and followed her back to the waiting station. “Isa,” he said.

She set the pot down and turned to him. “What?”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Not returnin’ yer calls.”

She shrugged and folded her arms. “It’s fine.”

“No,” he said grabbing her shoulder, “I should ‘ave. What happened tha’ night…”

“Was a sleep deprived, stupid mistake,” she added, stepping back from him.

He sighed and shook his head. He didn’t want to do this now, knowing they were leaving for Ireland in the morning and the slightest chance he might not come home. However, he knew Jax and Bobby would say it for him if he didn’t. She was just as beautiful as the day he met her, but less angry. He felt his heart skip a couple of beats the longer he looked at her. “No, it wasn’,” he said. “Look, I ken I’m no spring chicken, but I’d like ta give tha’ another try.”

“You’re married, Chibs.”

“Fi? She doesn’ give a damn about me. We haven’ been together for well over fifteen years.”

“I get off at seven,” she added, “We can talk then.”

Chibs looked around to make sure no one was within ear shot. “I leave fer Ireland tomorrow.”

“When will you be back?”

“I dinna ken.”

“Figures.” She turned and walked into the kitchen.

Defeated, he turned back to his table, passing the frat boys laughing at him. Jax stirred his coffee and looked at him. “Well?”

“I dinna ken what her answer was.”

“It was no, old man,” the blonde man said.

“Rejected!” his friend exclaimed.

Bobby quickly intervened. “Don’t cause a scene. We need to stay on the DL if we’re going to pull tomorrow off.”

Isa arrived carrying their food and a cup of coffee for Chibs. “Call me when you get back,” she said.

Jax and Bobby smiled at him. “I will, mo ghaol.”

She turned to the table behind them and handed them their check. “I normally say no rush, but please just pay and leave,” she said.

“How about you upgrade to a newer version? Gramps there isn’t going to last another year. All my parts are new and don’t need a little blue pill to keep us going,” the blonde one said.

“Bleh,” she rolled her eyes at them.

“Oi,” Chibs said, standing up, “I told ye ta leave the lass alone. She dinna want any part of your prepubescent dick.”

“Like your geriatric one can get the job done.”

She grabbed Chibs by his arm. “Sit down, please. I can take care of myself.”

He started mumbling to himself in Gaelic as he glared at the men. They all stood up, the blonde one pulling his wallet out of his pocket. He handed her cash for their lunch and then pulled out a five, sliding it into the collar of her v-neck shirt. “My number is wrapped up in there. Call me if you’re looking for a better ride than his Harley.”

“His Harley can do a lot more than yours can,” she whispered in his ear, “now fuck off before I let him off his leash.”

“I’ll see ya around, darlin’,” he said, mocking Jax, as he slapped her right on her ass.

That was the final straw for Chibs. He grabbed the man’s arm as he walked by and punched him in his jaw, sending him into the empty table behind him. Chibs stood up and grabbed the blonde perv by his shirt collar to drag him outside. He threw him into the parking lot. “Get up, you piece of shite,” he said.

Jax and Bobby had run after him and held back the other two. He stood up and wiped his mouth clean from the blood. Isa stood at the door watching with most of the restaurant. “You’re nothing but a biker bitch,” he spat at her. Chibs punched him again, dropping him to his knees. “Is that all you’ve got, old man?”

Chibs reached down and grabbed him by the hair. “If I ever see yer face around her again, I’ll kill ye,” he said before punching him hard enough to knock him out. He let his body fall to the ground as he walked by everyone back to his table to finish his lunch.

Isa ran after him to thank him. “Chibs,” she said, “thank you.”

“Marcus woulda killed me if anythin’ woulda happened ta ye in Charmin’.” He took a bite of his burger.

She kissed him on his cheek. “Still, thank you. They have been in here all week harassing me.”

He looked up at her. “If they give ye anymore trouble while I’m gone,” he added, “I want ye ta let me ken. I’ll take care of them when I get back.”

She smiled and refilled his coffee. Jax and Bobby took their seats again and finished their meal. They overpaid for their food and left Isa a large tip. “Aren’t you glad we forced you to come here?” Jax said.

Chibs didn’t look at him as he straddled his bike. “Alrigh’, Jackie, I’ll give ye this one.”

Isa burst out of the diner doors after him. “Before you left, I just wanted to give you something for good luck for your trip to Ireland.”

Bobby and Jax glared at him. The less people that knew, the easier it was for them to leave. “Sorry, fellas,” he replied, “what is it?”

She placed both of her hands on the side of his face and kissed him the way he kissed her so many nights ago. Again, it was passionate and ravenous. His beard rubbed against her face, as he pushed back against her, causing a sensation in her body she hadn’t felt in a long time. She slowly backed away from him as she looked into his eyes. “Now, you have to come back so we can talk.”

Chibs smiled. “I was gonna come back regardless, lass, but now ye’ve made it worth ma time.”

He revved up the bike and slowly followed Jax and Bobby out of the parking lot, looking back at her one last time. The sun kissed her skin delicately, making her appear almost golden from where she stood. The loose strands of her hair softly flowed with the wind as she watched them disappear around the corner. His drive back to the clubhouse was a blur as images and memories of her flooded his memory. Since he met her, he had been enraptured by the very thought of her. Something about her pulled at him, forced him in her direction. Her fiery personality made her even sexier to him with every snarky, clever comment she had. She was damaged, but so was he. They both had messy pasts, but he was willing to accept the baggage that came with her. To him, she was going to be worth it.

[arplis]

Arplis - News: “Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky

There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.” — Albert Camus, The Plague Time is cruelly elastic. When March began, Joe Biden was celebrating the resurgence of his presidential campaign after a win in the South Carolina primary. When March began, downtown Atlanta was packed with marathon runners, while the Hawks were, reliably, scraping the bottom of the Eastern conference. When March began, we were going to restaurants, and to school, and to soccer games and concerts and plays and funerals and weddings. When March began, we were going to work. When March began, dozens of Georgians were walking around with absolutely no idea that within a matter of days they would be dead from a virus that had traveled across the world only to alight on them. How many more of us will step into its crosshairs? Each day feels like a month. So much news is compressed into 24 hours—thousands more infected, ICUs at capacity, unemployment rates reaching heights not seen since the Great Depression, our 401ks decimated—that our brains seize up. Grocery store visits are planned with the precision of a wartime raid. Kids’ days are ostensibly scheduled—Reading! Enrichment! FaceTime with the teacher!—but how do you homeschool and telework at the same time? You don’t. The screens you once cursed are now free childcare. That’s, of course, if we even can work from home. Some of us can’t. Many of us have been laid off or furloughed as restaurants close their doors, as nonprofits’ funding dries up, as fitness studios go dark. Others of us who have been deemed “essential”—nurses, doctors, first responders, grocery-store workers, mail carriers, truck drivers, delivery people—come home late at night and shed our clothes outside so as not to bring the virus near our loved ones. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was guaranteed to happen. But to us? Now? We spoke with our neighbors about the world we’ve left behind, and the one that awaits. Interviews edited for length and clarity. Tap on each person’s name to read their full interview. • • • Dr. Michelle Au | anesthesiologist at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital I first started hearing about the virus after Christmas. But the news still felt like something distant. It was in China, so you’re watching with this detached interest. I am in the unusual position of being a Chinese American physician with a public-health degree who also happens to be running for office [Au is a Democratic candidate for the 48th state Senate district, which incorporates parts of Fulton and Gwinnett counties]. I was talking with voters in the Chinese community who said that I should be speaking out on the issue more. I probably should have paid more attention. I should have taken it more seriously. Dr. Meria Carstarphen | superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools Right after Valentine’s Day, one of my friends was going to Venice, Italy. While my friend was there, they shut down Carnival [due to coronavirus]. That was my reality check. I said to our team, “We need to prepare for the day when we have to shut down the district.” There were moments where I felt I was pushing a wet noodle up a mountain. As things started escalating, we had to make decisions. I said, “We have to prepare a contingency plan that starts with the worst-case scenario.” Devon Clinkscales | senior at Booker T. Washington High School This year was my senior season of high school baseball, my last year. I was really excited about going out strong and getting ready for travel ball. It was my best opportunity to get some scouting. Hugh Acheson | owner of Empire State South in Midtown and 5 & 10 in Athens and operator of By George in the Candler Hotel The real canary in the coal mine was [in early March], reading about restaurants in Shanghai. Shanghai to Wuhan [where the virus is said to have originated] is an immense amount of distance. [Restaurants in Shanghai] were saying that they didn’t know how long they could stay open. Their sales were down 80 to 90 percent, and it was just a ghost town. We’re not an industry with deep pockets. Everybody’s like, “Oh, Hugh, you’ve been on TV. You must be rich.” I’m like, “You have no idea how this works, do you?” Kathy Weeks Lowery | self-employed travel agent in Marietta [A client] was supposed to leave on March 28 out of Tokyo for a 12-day cruise. That was her son’s college graduation gift. Holland America held tight. They said if she cancels now, she’s losing 50 percent of her money. That was January 24. Travel insurance doesn’t cover a pandemic. Since then, they canceled the cruise and gave her the rest of the money. Cruise lines are offering as much as 225 percent of your refund toward a future booking. For me, it’s been everything. I had 117 kids going to D.C. for a field trip, 10 people going to the Grove Park Inn, a busload going to Mary Mac’s and Hamilton. All canceled. I only get paid after clients travel. I figure this year’s income will be 20 percent of last year’s. Amy Phuong | vice president of government relations for the Atlanta Hawks My wedding was set for March 28. We had everything planned. I even had a final walkthrough at the venue on March 4. We’d invited 200 people. Mike Gallagher | co-owner of Brick Store Pub and Leon’s Full Service in Decatur, Good Word Brewing in Duluth, and partial owner of Kimball House. Together, the four restaurants employ approximately 200 people. 2019 was a tough year. We had opened [Good Word Brewing]. The contractor had gone belly up when we opened. We lost our chef and sous-chef. We had a lot of money invested in Duluth. But 2020 was starting great. We’d put down a sizeable amount of money on a redo of Brick Store. On February 26, after seven years running the pop-up restaurant Eat Me Speak Me, Jarrett Stieber opened his first permanent restaurant. The build-out took months. Jarrett Stieber | chef-owner of Little Bear in Summerhill We had inspectors tell us we had to change things, and we covered the cost. So, like every restaurant, we ran way over budget. We opened with $285 in our checking account after buying products for the first week and just prayed that we were busy. We, thankfully, were. On March 2, five days after Little Bear opened, Governor Brian Kemp announced the first two confirmed cases of coronavirus in Georgia—two members of the same household in Fulton County. Nationwide, only 90 cases had been confirmed, six of whom were fatalities. “Georgians should remain calm,” Kemp said. Stieber We had one customer who said that she couldn’t believe that a place like Little Bear was here, that it reminded her of restaurants in San Francisco. That’s exactly what I had in my head when I planned this restaurant, that small-capacity hole-in-the-wall that basically is a neighborhood restaurant in terms of how it feels but has food as good as any high-end restaurant. We were hitting our stride. Jarrett Stieber: “My focus is keeping the business open any way I can.” Photograph by Audra Melton Clinkscales On March 2, we were evicted from our apartment, but they didn’t change the locks. If they’d changed the locks, we’d have nowhere to go. Our stuff would be out on the street. My dad and my mother had a couple of disagreements on how to maintain. I have an older sister who has an apartment in a project, so my mother, my other sister, and my niece all moved in with her. But I stayed with my dad. He didn’t finish high school. He needs someone. He doesn’t understand how things work. I love my dad, and I have to be with him. Belisa Urbina | founder/executive director of Ser Familia, a nonprofit that provides services to Latino families My husband’s family is from Spain, so we knew what was going on there. We knew what was going on in other places. I knew that if this was happening in all these other countries, it was going to happen to us because we are connected. Flights are coming in and out. People are moving around. Shawn Ware | owner of Vibe Ride cycle studios When the news about the coronavirus first came out, I was taking a break at home, between working at the Westside studio in the morning and Grant Park in the afternoon. I thought, Okay, well, this is just a flu. I’ve always been a gym rat, and I’ve always joked that I’ve been a germophobe since I was in the womb. I’m always washing my hands, using hand sanitizer. I thought, So, now you all are jumping on board for what I’ve been doing my whole life? But then, as the hours and days went on, I realized this was serious. On Friday, March 6, President Trump, wearing khakis, a windbreaker, and a Keep America Great baseball cap, visited the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for a photo op and press conference, where he referenced his “natural ability” at understanding the complexities of virology and addressed the sluggish pace of testing for the virus. What he said wasn’t even a complete sentence: “As of right now, and yesterday, anybody who needs a test—and that’s the important thing.” While other countries were ramping up their tests to include even those who were asymptomatic—results which indicate who is contagious and who is not—the United States was (and as of late March remained) unequipped to test any but those suffering the most extreme symptoms. By Monday, March 9, the number of Georgians who’d tested positive for the virus had climbed to six, with 11 more presumed positive. Kemp announced that space at Hard Labor Creek State Park in east Georgia would be outfitted to accept COVID-19 patients who needed to be isolated. Phuong Even that week [of March 9], I started out feeling like, Okay, our wedding is so soon there’s no way it’s going to be impacted. Even though Italy at that time had made a turn for the worse, [my fiance] Kerry’s family is from Spain, and we felt good because they weren’t impacted the way Italy was. Then, we got to Wednesday, and that’s when it dramatically switched. That’s when the Hawks had their final game. That was the same evening that Trump instituted the travel ban from Europe. Kerry’s family would not be able to make it. Carstarphen The day when I said to my fellow superintendents that I’m considering closing the district even though we don’t have any cases—that was a bit of a shock. Even to myself. I work with children. So, the idea that I would even put on the table this notion that they might not have a prom, they might not be able to play for the state championship, they might not be able to get closure after 12 years of public school, that their moment gets snatched away from them? It’s sobering how your decision can change the direction of people’s lives. Dock Hollingsworth | senior pastor at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church Wednesday, March 11, was a turning point. We were here for the Wednesday night services. There was still a lot of levity. A 94-year-old man came up to me and said, “Boy, I was relieved that this is targeting people 60 to 80 since it’s been so long since I was 80.” By Thursday morning we were in a whole different mode. I was in a peer group with other Atlanta pastors. Everyone was asking, “What measures are you taking?” Keisha Lance Bottoms | mayor of Atlanta I went to Sam’s Club on Thursday. A woman asked me what I was doing there. “The same thing you’re doing.” I have four kids at home. My husband makes grocery runs on his way home from work. But I knew we needed to stock up with a family of six. I’m now cooking three meals a day. But my personal adjustment pales in comparison to what’s happening. People are dying. Urbina We provide services to about 4,500 people. The services that we provide are very difficult to find. To give you an idea, there are 700,000 Latinos in metro Atlanta but there are less than 70 counselors who are fully licensed that can speak Spanish. There are four psychologists in the state of Georgia who can speak Spanish, and there are five psychiatrists who can speak Spanish. Latino children have twice the chance of having anxiety and depression compared to other teens. Our Latina girls, almost 20 percent of them attempt suicide. Joey Camp | cook at Waffle House in Canton who also drives a party bus part-time I started getting pneumonia [in early March]. I felt like I was drowning. The chills had gotten so bad that I could not keep my teeth from chattering. If my teeth weren’t chattering, I was coughing. [On March 12,] I went to the emergency room. They did all these tests—a CT scan with contrast, x-rays, everything. They were like, You got really bad pneumonia. We’re going to put you in a room and monitor you for a few days. Well, I was in there for probably nine hours when they hung the isolation box on my door. Which is where they keep all these gloves, smocks, and masks that everybody has to put on before they’re allowed into the room. I got a little nervous.   Photograph by Audra Melton Phuong It hit me Friday night. We’d been planning so long, and now, our wedding is not going to happen. It was emotional. Dr. Laurence Busse | medical director, critical care, Emory Johns Creek Hospital On March 13, it was profound the amount of people coming into the ER. That was a scary day, and we all finished that day thinking, What are we in for? Dr. Jessica Nave | hospital medicine, Emory University Hospital I was hoping that, by early April, we’d peak. But now, my projection is we’ll peak at the end of April. And that’s still optimistic. It’s just the numbers. If you look at Seattle and New York, they’re still going. We didn’t start getting cases until the second week of March. We have to have a solid month of getting hit really hard before we peak. Marshall Rancifer | homeless advocate and relief worker There are 4,000 homeless people out there on the streets. Youth and adults. Homeless people share everything: food, clothes, hygiene products, blunts, crack pipes, needles sometimes. I brought a bunch of crack pipes to them so they wouldn’t share pipes. Some don’t know there is a virus outbreak in the city. They don’t have access to social media or the news. If you’re not in a shelter, you’re walking around in suspended animation all day. I saw people starting to light cigarettes and pass them around. I knocked the cigarettes out of their hands. I said, “You can’t share cigarettes, can’t share food, don’t touch nobody, don’t shake nobody’s hand. Don’t hug nobody.” Had to explain to the mothers in a park on Proctor Street what they can and can’t do. We’re not just educating the homeless; we are educating poor people and marginalized folks. They just don’t know. The weekend of March 14-15 was surreal. Social media and television were talking about nothing else, and school districts across the state, including Atlanta Public Schools, were announcing or had just begun indefinite closures. But for many Atlantans, life went on as normal. Bars were full. Restaurants were open. The BeltLine was packed. At Brick Store in Decatur, the owners decided to go ahead with a planned St. Patrick’s Day celebration, which included a short parade to the bar, scheduled for Saturday. Their decision, announced on the bar’s Facebook page the day before, brought out the knives. “You are encouraging people to make a very selfish decision,” wrote one of the more restrained commenters. “Public health providers are telling us to behave AS IF WE HAVE THE VIRUS, because many of us likely do.” Gallagher Calling it a “parade” is a stretch, because there were about 15 to 25 people. There were more people congregated in front of retail stores than there were in the parade. But we did it, and we had our event. We removed some tables. We put some tables spread out outside. We removed some barstools. I think people were clustering with whom they felt safe, their own household member or a family member, and then they spread out otherwise. It wasn’t six feet apart in the whole place, for sure. But our staff was militant about sanitizing bartops, tabletops, stools, chairs, menus in between their reuse, faucets. I got a lot of feedback from staff and guests about how meaningful it was to them and how they viewed it as a beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak moment in time. So we certainly got a lot of great feedback. But the bashing on social media was unfortunate and unnecessary, quite frankly. Carstarphen I always believed we would be here at mitigation—not prevention, not containment. Mitigation was probably the only way we’d go given the spirit of our country, given we’re a democracy, given that people love their personal freedoms and their individual decision-making. Stieber This is the first time that social media and the general public have been able to kind of force people’s hands in a business sense, beyond just what is recommended from a health standpoint. We live in an era where people are so polarized and proselytizing of everything from behind their screens that whether you want to stay open right now, to fight for your business, you don’t really have much of a choice because of the stigma associated with doing so. As new restrictions kept restaurants from opening to guests, they pivoted to takeout operations. They started GoFundMe accounts for furloughed staff. At Brick Store, owners reduced their menu to soups and sandwiches. Donations to the “soup kitchen”—meant to compensate workers—were encouraged, but if you couldn’t pay, you could still grab a bag. Acheson My real worry is for all the people that I promised to provide for and can’t. That’s very hard, because I want on my tombstone to be remembered as a good employer, and a good human, and a good dad. The people who are going to get hit worst by this are undocumented. It’s not like we have a huge number of them on the payroll, but across the country, there are. They can’t get unemployment. They pay taxes through payrolls, but they don’t get taxes back. They are screwed. But we’re all screwed. Everybody’s like, Well, we’ll recover. No. Fifty percent of the restaurants that just shut down across this country will never reopen. Gallagher Most restaurants are lucky to have two full weeks’ worth of financial runway, and employees, probably even less. A lot of these guys are paycheck-to-paycheck. We are taking the money from the GoFundMe, the money from the gift cards, and any additional monies that have been given, and we’re divvying them up among staff on this upcoming payroll. We’re going to try to find an hourly threshold. For instance, if you worked 24 hours or less, you’ll get this pay rate. If you’re 25 or more, you’ll get that pay rate. We felt that was the most equitable, least cumbersome way to do it. I’ll be honest, it was tough. Do you pay more because they make more? Do you pay more because they need more? Do you pay more because they worked with you longer? Acheson I’m really happy that people are buying gift certificates. If we sell $2,000 of to-go food today, I’ll be impressed. That does not equate to being able to pay $16,000 in rent next month that Empire State owes and payroll costs of $44,000 every two weeks. Urbina Our community works in hospitality, restaurants, construction. Those are the first industries that are affected. We have already had clients who have lost their jobs. They know that they’re probably not going to be able to pay rent at the beginning of April. While most coronavirus infections don’t require hospitalization, roughly 15 percent do. Usually, though not always, the person needing hospitalization is elderly or immunocompromised. The infection ravages the lungs, leading often to pneumonia. Patients can’t get enough oxygen on their own. Some require a ventilator, a machine that augments the patient’s respiration through forced exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Busse I’m critical care. So, when patients get to me, they’re in dire straits. The typical thing that’s seen down in the emergency room is fever, some increased work of breathing, some hypoxia [low levels of oxygen in tissue], and some malaise or body aches. Those folks who have, let’s say, a little bit of increased work of breathing or need some oxygen would be admitted to have supportive care while they get through their illness. But if they have a higher degree of oxygen needs or they’re in septic shock or they’re in kidney failure, then they come to me. And those folks can be exquisitely ill, anywhere from just needing a few extra liters of oxygen to having multiorgan failure and needing a full bevy of life support. Dr. Laurence Busse: “When patients get to me, they’re in dire straits.” Photograph by Audra Melton Nave Sometimes illness is difficult to define by objective measures. We’ll get a call from the ER physician saying, “I think this patient needs to get admitted.” I’m looking at their chart and saying, “Well, they’re not hypoxic, they’re fine.” They’ll say, “Just come and lay your eyes on them.” So, I do, and it’s, “Oh yeah, this person is not going to do well.” They have a look about them. Their breathing pattern is abnormal. They’re using more accessory muscles. Au The act of intubating a COVID-19 patient is essentially the highest-risk procedure you can do. As you’re putting in that tube and they’re breathing out through this channel you’re putting in, it gives an opportunity for the virus to be in the air. Usually, it’s in droplets. Aerosolized virus can float around. It’s one of the most infectious potential procedures you can do on a COVID patient. The person who is best and most senior and experienced at doing intubations should do it. They take the least amount of time possible. Put in the tube, quick, hook up the ventilator, and minimize exposure to everyone. Nave Some of our sickest patients have been in their late 20s to late 30s and otherwise healthy. We don’t know why. Camp On Saturday [March 13], they tested me for COVID-19, and I got positive affirmation on Monday. How in the world did I get this? I have not been to Italy, I haven’t been to China, I haven’t been around people, to my knowledge, that have been to those places. I live a very boring life. When they finally told me on Monday, they also released me from the hospital to self-quarantine. The house I was living in had an infant in it. I didn’t want to take the chance of getting that infant sick. So, I was like, “I need options.” Camp was brought to Hard Labor Creek State Park and put in a camper to recuperate until he was no longer contagious. He was there for six days. Camp It had a nice bed in it. There were cookies. The state health officials were super helpful. I asked them to go on a grocery run because a diabetic cannot live on chips and cookies. And they went and got me some bananas, some apples, some cucumbers—all this stuff for me to snack on. I offered to pay for some of the stuff, and they wouldn’t have it. They paid for my medicine. They got me a new blood-sugar meter. The first few days were rough. The coughing was the worst part at that point. I had stopped having chills, I had stopped having a fever, but I was still coughing my brains out. It was like starting a car. Just whoop, whoop, whoop, just constant. And it just slowly went away. One day, I was coughing every three or four minutes; the next day, it was every half hour; the next day, it was every hour. And by the time I was done, I was only coughing very, very rarely, when I got a tickle in the back of my throat. It wasn’t even in my lungs anymore. Au We know that some of the sick are going to be our colleagues. We know that the more we are going to engage, the more people are going to be sick. Over the weekend, I started sleeping in the guest room in the basement because it’s separate from the rest of the house. I have my own bathroom because I don’t want to share a bathroom with anyone. I’m very meticulous about hygiene now—I mean, I always was because I work in the hospital—but now it’s like, shower and change into clean clothes before I leave the hospital. And then, I shower and change clothes again [once I’m home]. Rancifer I wasn’t scared before, but I’m scared now. My father and mother always taught me not to run away from trouble—run toward it, because you can be the person who can change something or save someone’s life. But once this gets out of hand, I’m not going to run toward someone that can kill me. I’m 63. I fall under the category of major at-risk. After I meet with big groups of folks, I skim down to my skivvies. I wear two pairs of gloves. When I get in the car I take my clothes off and throw them on the ground. I take the top pair of gloves off and put them in a disposable Ziploc bag. Then, I take the sanitized clothes out, get dressed, and then move on back home. Au Yesterday I cried talking to a high-school friend. When you’re at home, because the kids are there, you want to be like, Everything’s cool. It is so disruptive for them, so you put on the cheerful face. And at work, since I’m an attending physician, you want to put forth that “everything’s under control.” You get accustomed to trying to keep other people calm. But talking to someone that I’ve known before this, it was just an unguarded moment. What if I get sick? [My husband and I are] rewriting our wills right now. He’s a doctor, too. One of us has to stay well. Clinkscales My mom is worrying about what we’re going to do. She is part of a housecleaning business, but people haven’t been allowing them into their homes because of precautions. My dad works in building services for a hotel, and his income has been dropping. Because of the pandemic, baseball has been canceled, five games in. Colleges aren’t recruiting. Some schools aren’t even accepting students. Ware I spent most of the day today on the phone with our creditors and sending emails to landlords and to the people we lease bikes from, and they’re like, We get it. They’ve been extremely understanding, but it is a very, very scary time. One of our creditors said, We can defer for three months but we’ll still collect interest. Our largest creditor, Wells Fargo, is deferring payments with no late fees and no interest and no reporting to our credit bureau. But a community bank is going to charge us interest. They said, That’s just what we have to do. When we sent the email that we were going to suspend everyone’s membership, we had 35 to 40 people call and say, Don’t cancel. Don’t suspend our accounts. We want to continue to pay because we know you are hit hard, and this is our gym. We want to help and support you as much as we can. Some of these people have been members since the beginning. They’re not clients or strangers; they opened the doors with us. That has been so amazing. Shawn Ware: “I spent most of the day today on the phone with our creditors.” Photograph by Audra Melton Acheson I had $26 in my checking account last week, last week, before this all happened. I’m borrowing personal funds from people I know to pay payroll. Small business is being abandoned. It’s been abandoned for a long time in this country. Nobody has any inkling about how much hurt this is going to do. Lobbyists are on the Hill right now getting every meeting that they want to bail out Delta Air Lines yet again, and the auto industry is going to get bailed out. One in 10 people in the States work for the hospitality industry. Nobody’s bailing us out. We bail out all the wrong people in this country, consistently, over and over again. These are the same people who don’t want Medicare for All, yet they want a socialist handout when they make bad decisions in business, and they go broke. When the coronavirus closed Atlanta Public Schools, the district implemented a massive effort to continue offering free meals to its 52,416 students. Working with the Atlanta Community Food Bank, APS offers a bag of free groceries every Monday at four locations around town. The district hosts an additional giveaway on Tuesdays and is offering meal service at 10 sites around town, including delivery of meals via the school bus system. Carstarphen Our goal as of yesterday was to be at 40,000 meals on any given day in a school district. We let everyone eat. As food supplies diminish or are late, and as staff continue to self-quarantine and find other challenges trying to come to work every day, we’ll have staffing shortages. Bottoms I drove to my mother’s house, and she stood outside my car. I hadn’t seen my mother in a few weeks. Which isn’t normal. My grandmother would quote the Bible: “Be anxious for nothing.” You hear from people all the time, “This, too, shall pass.” I had to write that on the wall in the mayor’s office to remind myself. We’re going to be alright. When I need to take a breath and clear my mind, I’ll go and sort some shoes. This too shall pass. Camp I work in the service industry. Half of my income has been wiped out by this. The party bus industry is on hiatus because all the bars are shut down, proms were shut down, all of that. That’s killing my income. I still have bills. Part of me feels like the government shouldn’t be telling businesses to close their doors. I feel like that should be a case-by-case basis. Busse The preparation [by the federal government] has been poor, but I didn’t really expect it not to be. Do you plan for the worst-case scenario? Or do you put resources elsewhere? So, the response in general has not been great. And I think that’s sort of what I expected. And frankly, if I was in that position, I’m not sure I would’ve done it differently. I mean, it’s really hard to plan for something like this. I’ve never had this in my lifetime. And I’ve been here for Ebola, for H1N1 influenza, and I was here for the first SARS illness back in 2003. We’ve seen these things erupt on a regional level but never really become a global pandemic. This is new in our generation. Urbina My nightmare is that one of my employees gets sick, and I have to close my office, and our families have nowhere to go. At the moment, what we need most are donations or gift cards. One donor asked if she could bring baby formula, and I said yes, that would be fantastic. We have another person who asked if they could bring baskets of food. Yes, whatever you think you can do. We are very grateful. Busse When we run out of ventilators, that’s not something that we can just pull out of the closet. So, we’re relying on and hoping for support from the government to get more ventilators. We’re relying on and hoping for support from industry to get us more resources. We’re using what we have now, and once that’s it, once we’re out, we’re going to have to get creative. We don’t have enough N95 masks. We don’t have enough personal protective equipment. We’re using what we have, and we are hoping that we don’t get the virus. Nave We’ve started rationing our personal protective equipment. We’re trying to be very, very smart about when to use it and on which patients. It’s kept under lock and key because there’s panic even in the healthcare system when something like this hits. People start hoarding. Ware My husband is 60 and has heart disease, so we want to make sure he is extra-protected. I’m a breast-cancer survivor. We live in a condo downtown. We are in and out of the parking garage, touching that door all the time. Those are the things we have to be conscious about. We’re here, and we’re in the house more now, obviously. But it’s fine, it’s family time. We’ve got a puzzle. I got me some wine. Brad Levenberg | rabbi at Temple Sinai So many of us have relied on physical gatherings to provide comfort when we’re going through difficult times. When it’s joyous, we gather to celebrate. In the days after 9/11, we gathered in homes and apartments to watch the news. Now, this kind of support is all being challenged. We need to find other ways. Busse Right now we’re not seeing the normal volume of patients that show up needing care at the hospital. And is that because patients are being more careful and taking their medicine and having telehealth visits with their primary-care doctors? Are they no longer using the emergency room as a sort of a primary-care outlet? And it makes me think: Is this what healthcare could be if we were sort of using the system appropriately? Now, of course, the pessimist in me worries that when this is all said and done, we’re going to look at mortality and morbidity of people that were not infected with COVID-19 and we’re going to see that go up. Nave Italy had so many cases that all presented at once that it overwhelmed their entire system, and they’re having to choose who’s going to live and who’s going to die. They’re looking at two patients who are actively dying and there’s one ventilator, and they’re saying “You get it.” That’s probably the most horrific experience for a physician. I can’t even imagine. That’s what we don’t want. Hollingsworth We are in the holy season of Lent right now. It’s already designed to be a season of introspection and asking the big questions. So, in many ways, this makes the Lenten questions more real and more pressing because the ground is shaky under people. But personally the ground doesn’t feel that shaky to me. Because I have a different kind of existential hope. We may see people turning to the church to ask, Are there answers there that perhaps I’ve been making fun of for a long time? This is an opportunity to live inside a hope that is not built on markets or how many widgets you can sell. Carstarphen This is going to have a huge and disproportionate impact on black and brown and poor children. When you’re in a city that has the label of being the most unequal city in America when it comes to income disparity, and you’re working with people who are already fragile and incredibly strained in the healthiest of economies, this is crushing. If you’re wealthy, you can still get the access to the things you need for your family. Our kids weren’t getting that at the outset. It took a pandemic to wake up some people to know that we have to support our marginalized brothers and sisters. Clinkscales I don’t have money to pay for college on my own. Scholarships have been taken away. I’ve been thinking about starting a business. I have always wanted to own a sports bar. Now, I’m scared about what I’m going to do after I graduate. I was working hard, doing extracurricular activities, filling out scholarship applications, playing sports, trying to do something better for my family. And it all got taken away because of the virus. Devon Clinkscales: “I’m scared about what I’m going to do after I graduate.” Photograph by Audra Melton Urbina This pandemic has proved how connected we are. Nobody can say that they have not been touched by this. I am Latina, but if something is happening to my friends in the black community, it’s my problem. I have to do something about it because they’re my people. With everything that’s happening to the Asian community, I feel so sad that people have made them feel they are to blame for the situation, which, they’re not. We need everybody’s help so we can survive. There will be repercussions from this that we can’t even imagine right now. Do whatever you can, but just do something. Stieber My main focus is keeping the business open any way I possibly can, which right now means switching to a to-go–only format this week. But we have to do what we have to do, and I’m doing whatever I can to make sure I pay my staff and keep their jobs. If you have the ability to stay home and still get paid and you’re willing to share with the people who need it, then do so. Just stop posting the same memes—pony up and do something legitimate to help. Nave I don’t leave my house a lot [when I’m not at the hospital]. We have gone to the grocery store. We do not bring our children. I keep hand sanitizer in my purse. The second I get in my car, I sanitize my hands again. We bring all the groceries in, unload then, and immediately wipe every single food item down: boxes, milk jugs, whatever. Then, we take a wipe and retrace our entire steps from the time we entered the house—every doorknob, every baby gate, every counter. Levenberg This is a time when you don’t have to put your life on the line to be a hero. You’re a hero when you pay your yard people to not show up. When you pay your cleaning people to stay home. When you send a gift card to teachers who are learning new tools to teach your children. These are all heroic measures. Bottoms I’ve been thinking a lot about the Holocaust and the diary of Anne Frank, how people’s lives changed and they had to go in hiding. When I think about that, this is a minor inconvenience. There are people who live across the globe with disease and war. I’m in a house with AC and a backyard and two dogs who get to run around and play. It’s made me grateful just about the little things—going to a restaurant, getting your nails done, going to the store. These conveniences we take for granted our entire lives. It’s given me a perspective, another layer of empathy. Nave This is a different infectious agent than we have ever seen in most of our lifetimes. This truly is unprecedented. I was at Emory when we dealt with Ebola. Ebola’s mortality is way worse than this, and it’s very infectious—but not as infectious as this. This is crazy: You start with one city in China, and now, the whole world has it because we’re so interconnected. This is such an unprecedented infectious agent that we have to be more diligent and cautious, even at the cost of some of the economics of this country. Because how do you put value on a life? Hollingsworth If we have a death in our community, it’s our practice to come together as a community and tell stories. We can’t do that now. But an interment can’t wait. The staff here will do small graveside services, and we’ll encourage families to push a memorial service into the future. Gallagher [My wife and I have] had some difficult talks about the greater good. Is it being available as a soup kitchen, or selling food to raise money for our staff, or closing down and keeping the highest level of social distancing? This morning, she shared a dream she had where she was in the grocery store and there was too many people and she could see the hand sanitizer and she couldn’t get to it. Levenberg I hope we have a renewed understanding of those who are more marginalized than we are and of the privileges we claim by default. Maybe that sense will be awakened in people who are seeing that there are a lot of people who are worse off, who are seeing that they’ve milked the existing system for their families at the expense of others. Amy Phuong and Kerry O’Brate Photograph by Audra Melton Phuong We thought, What’s preventing us from still getting married? So, we went to the courthouse to get our marriage license the last day the court was open. We pulled up the weather app to look for a date when it wasn’t going to rain. Bill Bolling [the founder of Atlanta Community Food Bank, who was officiating] said, “Pick a pretty spot.” I thought, let’s just pick our neighborhood park, Cabbagetown Park. When Kerry and I first started dating, it was midway between our houses. My parents came, my sister. We had to keep it under 10. We had hand sanitizer. I picked up pastries from Alon’s that morning. We used Kerry’s Zoom account to do some livestreaming. We wanted to make sure family and friends got to be a part of it. On the virtual stream, somebody wore pearls, somebody put on a dress and makeup, someone wore a tuxedo T-shirt, one of the bridesmaids who couldn’t be there even wore her dress. There was a beautiful moment in the ceremony where Bill was addressing the virtual crowd. His remarks almost made the park feel like it was full. He did an affirmation: “Will you guys support this couple?” That was a beautiful moment, looking over at an iPhone on a tripod and hearing everyone say, “We will.” Expanded interviews: These Georgians had so much more to say than we had space to print. To read their full stories, click on the names below. Dr. Michelle Au | Dr. Meria Carstarphen | Devon Clinkscales | Hugh Acheson | Amy Phuong | Mike Gallagher | Jarrett Stieber | Belisa Urbina | Shawn Ware |Dock Hollingsworth | Keisha Lance Bottoms | Joey Camp | Dr. Laurence Busse | Dr. Jessica Nave | Marshall Rancifer | Brad Levenberg This article appears in our May 2020 issue. The post 21st Century Plague appeared first on Atlanta Magazine. #JarrettStieber #EmpireStateSouth #KeishaLanceBottoms #MichelleAu #Coronavirus

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