Rhett + Link = Rhink

Chapter 3: “Goodbye”

“Are you two sure you wouldn’t rather be out there? We got some pretty big names in the house…”

Despite Cat’s young appearance she strode into the kitchen looking undoubtedly mature, her mastery of the stiletto heels she wore adding to the effect. She had been professionally styled and dressed and looked like a million bucks, and Link smiled warmly when he saw her.

“We’re happy back here, Cat, we promise. Henry’s calling the shots so I don’t have to actually know anything about cooking.”

Rhett snorted. “That’s an understatement. And we’re not dressed for the occasion, so you wouldn’t want us out there anyway.”

Cat’s eyes widened in alarm. “Of course we would! I can squeeze you in right now if you want–”

“No, honestly, thank you,” Link insisted. “This’ll be fun. Right, Rhett?”

Rhett waved the knife he was using to chop vegetables, an enthusiastic smile on his face. “Weapons and food!”

Cat rolled her eyes and grinned. “If you’re sure. Hey, Henry?” she called to the tall man across the kitchen, and he turned at the sound of his name. “Can you make sure there’s enough for the guys, even if they insist on eating it back here?”

“You got it, Cat!” Henry responded with a smile, and she waved to them all as she returned to her guests, heels clacking in her wake.

Link’s eyes wandered aimlessly around the kitchen looking for a job to do until Henry caught sight of the action. He strode over and rested a hand on Link’s shoulder.

“Would you mind lining up the dessert glasses on the counter here so we can fill them with the mousse when it’s ready?”

“Oh, yeah, sure!”

“Thanks, man. They’re over there.” Henry turned Link slightly by his shoulder as he pointed to the stacked glasses near the sink where they’d been rinsed and dried, and Link nodded. Henry patted his shoulder in parting and returned to his place by the stove.

When Link had carried over the first set of glasses, he sidled up next to Rhett as he arranged them.

“Was he flirting with me?” Link whispered.

“Were you flirting with Cat?”

Link’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”

Rhett shrugged. “I mean, she’s pretty, but–”

“She’s taken. And not into me. And I’m–”

“You’re what?” Rhett prodded.

Link narrowed his eyes and scowled. “I’m nothing. I’m single. Happy?”

“I wasn’t trying to be a jerk about it.”

“You don’t have to try.”

“Neither do you.”

Link huffed as he returned to the counter for the next cluster of glasses. Rhett eyed him with speculation. “You okay with those? We can’t afford to replace them if you break any.”

Link scoffed. “I’m fine.” The glasses clinked as Link lined them up neatly, nudging them back and forth until they were perfectly symmetrical. “You never answered my question.”

“Which one?”

Link cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “Was Henry flirting with me?”

Rhett chuckled. “I dunno. Maybe it was wishful thinking on your part.”

Link’s jaw dropped again, this time with a hint of playful amusement in his eyes. “Now, don’t flatter yourself!”

“He does look a lot like me. I’m just saying…”

“Well, stop sayin’ it. Just because I’m single doesn’t mean I’m into your tall ass.”

“My ass is tall? I always thought it was my legs that were mostly to blame, but maybe you’ve gotten a better look at my ass than I have.”

Link laughed loudly, sudden and high-pitched, and he covered his mouth with embarrassment when members of the catering team glanced his way. Rhett chuckled at his own joke as he scooped the vegetables he’d chopped into a mixing bowl. When Link returned with the next load of glasses, he leaned in and spoke in secretive tones again.

“How many of those rich people out there do you think actually care about Jace’s charity?”

“Well, they’re paying a lot of money to be here. More than a plate of food’s worth.”

“But do you think they all do it because they care? Or is it for appearances?”

Rhett shrugged. “Does it matter? Either way their money’s going toward the cause.”

Link straightened the glasses idly, long after their arrangement was perfect. “How much do motives matter? Do good motives cancel out bad choices? Or vice versa?”

“You worrying about what we’re gonna do?”

“We’ve already done it. We stole from that lady at the golf course.”

“We needed to survive, Link.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Does that excuse us? And does what the others did to us excuse our stealing from them too?”

“I thought you said–”

“I know, I know,” Link sighed. “But it still feels wrong. That’s money we’re taking from Christy and Jessie and the kids too. And they’re not the ones who…”

Rhett nodded. “I know.” He paused as Link retrieved more glasses, both of them working silently as they chewed on their thoughts. When Rhett could see that Link was once again over-straightening the glasses, he cleared his throat.

“You nervous?”

Link nodded.

“You sure you wanna do this?”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“We could figure something else out, man. Or I could go my house instead.”

“Your wallet’s gonna be balled up in the pocket of your…his jeans on the bedroom floor.”

“Fair point.”

“Mine’ll be where it always is. On the ledge above the keys by the door. I can get in and out without going near a soul.”

“But will you?” Rhett asked quietly.

Link swallowed. “I don’t know. I’ll play it by ear.”

“Since when do you play it by ear?”

“I’m a new man, Rhett. Quite literally. It’s a fresh start. I can be whoever I want.”

Rhett nodded, conceding his point. “So who do you wanna be?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet. But I guess he’s starting out as the kind of guy who would steal from his own family.”

“Link…”

“Don’t. It’s fine. I know.”

***

They waited until the following evening before they hugged Jace and Cat goodbye, thanking them profusely for the temporary use of Jace’s car, which they promised to return within a few days. Their new clothes were stored in the shopping bags they had come in, along with the toothbrushes, toothpaste, and some water bottles. They swore they were fine – their journey was over and they just had to get back to Burbank.

Link fidgeted in his lap as Rhett drove, and from the corner of Rhett’s eye he could see that his friend’s right hand kept returning to the empty space at the base of his left ring finger. The agitation seemed to grow in him every time he subconsciously returned and found only skin there. Without thinking, Rhett reached over and covered Link’s hands with his own as he had in the taxi when they left the golf course.

Link stared for a few moments at where his hands disappeared under Rhett’s larger one. Rhett could feel the hands beneath his shaking well beyond their usual tremor.

“Studio first?”

Link nodded. “We can’t go to the house until late anyway. Might as well.”

Rhett nodded, and with a hint of reluctance he pulled his hand back to the steering wheel. He didn’t want to leave Link alone in his fear, but he didn’t want to overstep either.

When they pulled into the alley that led to the back lot behind the studio, both men took deep breaths in unison and then chuckled. It felt surreal to be there, this place they’d been a thousand times and only once. The lot stretched behind a building which housed a few other businesses, all of which they passed before they reached their end, with its telltale black-and-white striped wall that faced the studio’s red back door. There were no cars there at this hour, though the men felt agitated, frightened of exposure. They sat quietly in their friend’s vehicle and stared at the door. Rhett was surprised when Link’s hand reached over and grasped his tightly.

“Is there anything else we want from in there?” he asked in a near whisper.

“I don’t know. Play it by ear?”

Link nodded. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

Link hopped out as soon as they’d said the word, as if hurrying would get him past his nerves. He punched in the simple code and swung the door open, and Rhett had to grab the door before it slammed in his face. Link led the way, striding with purpose through hallways, flipping on lights like his fear was gone, like he owned this place and had every right.

He walked straight to the GMM desk and stopped. Rhett watched, at the ready if Link needed him, if he needed to talk, to break something, to cry, to scream. But without a word Link turned on his heel and left the room, passing through the open office area absent of their crew, the kitchen that stood quiet and cool aside beneath the hum of the refrigerator, the hallway lined with framed posters that led to their shared office. Link stopped outside the closed door and shut his eyes, breathing evenly through his nose. Rhett waited, but Link didn’t move.

“Do you want me to–”

“No,” Link stopped him. “No, I have to do this. Just…”

Rhett nodded despite the fact that Link couldn’t see him. After a few more deep breaths, Link opened his eyes, set his jaw, and turned the knob.

Rhett hit the light switch and moved past him as Link stood just inside the doorway, his eyes on the grey-striped chair where he’d fallen. When Rhett had walked halfway into the room, he turned back around.

“What do you need, brother?”

Slowly Link rounded the chair, looking at it as if he could see his limp body lying there bleeding. A hand came up to rest on the place in his chest where the knife had entered, a reassurance that the blade and the wound were long gone. Rhett stepped forward and placed a hand on Link’s shoulder from behind.

“What can I do? What do you need? Talk to me, Bo.”

“Do you hate him?”

Rhett thought about the question before answering. He sighed. “I don’t know. Do you?”

“I don’t know. Yes. Kind of.”

Link rested his hand on top of the chair for a moment before pulling away. He moved to the brown leather couch opposite it and sank down to sit, facing the edge where Rhett’s body had lain. He placed a palm on the spot and spoke in a whisper.

“I wish I could have stopped him. I wish I’d figured out what they were gonna do in time to stop him from–”

“You didn’t have to save me, Link. I’m fine. I’m here.”

“But you weren’t. How could he have…how could they…”

Rhett sat down behind his friend and placed his hands on Link’s upper arms. When the man in front of him relaxed under his hands instead of tensing further, Rhett slid his hands inward around the front of Link’s shoulders, wrapping his arms all the way around him and dropping his chin to Link’s shoulder.

“You may not have saved me, but I didn’t save you either.”

Link nodded and lifted a palm to grip Rhett’s arms where they wrapped across his upper chest. “You would have.”

“So would you.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, too.”

Link pivoted in his spot within Rhett’s arms until he was facing him, then he wrapped his own arms around Rhett’s middle and sighed heavily, dropping his chin to Rhett’s shoulder.

They sat together for long moments, soaking in the novelty of hearing the other breathe, of feeling each other’s heartbeat against their own chests.

“You okay?” Rhett said when he could no longer bear the silence, his voice low and hoarse.

Link nodded against his shoulder.

“Good. I’ll grab the guitar. You want anything from in here?”

Link extricated himself slowly from Rhett’s embrace and stood, moving with careful steps to his other self’s desk as Rhett watched him. He ran a hand over the objects in his space, tidy and dusted and organized. He trailed a finger over the top of a picture frame housing four smiling blondes, and he coughed to clear the lump that had formed in his throat.

“No,” he said. “Get your guitar. Let’s get outta here.”

Rhett strode to the guitar perched in its stand near his counterpart’s desk. He picked it up and slipped the strap over his shoulder, slinging it around to hang over his back. They turned to leave the shared office, but just as Link hit the light switch Rhett froze and flicked it back on.

“Wait.”

“What? Forget something?”

Rhett strode back into the room, and when Link saw his trajectory it occurred to him where he was headed. A small safe sat in the corner beneath a stack of books. Rhett punched in the code, swung the door open, and grabbed a cash box from inside. He cleaned it out, shoving the money in the pocket of his jacket, and replaced the empty box. His hand lingered inside, indecision twisting up his mouth, until finally he wrapped his fingers around two gray stones, one slightly larger than the other. He pulled them out and glanced at Link who nodded, solemn yet decided. Then he swung the safe door shut and spun the lock.

“Alright. Last stop.”

Link stopped in the doorway when they reentered the studio, taking in the scene. Rhett had a purpose, and he walked straight to the place on the back wall where two more guitars hung against the forest-themed wallpaper. He ran his fingers along the edges of the gold Hamer electric guitar, humming something soft and nondescript.

“You takin’ her too?” Link’s voice came from behind him. Rhett turned to see his best friend in his usual place at the desk, palms spread as they caressed the wooden surface. He smiled sadly before turning back to his old guitar.

“It’s not mine to take.”

“None of this is ours to take.”

“He’s the one who lived it though. I remember it, but he’s the one who was there. I know what he did, but…”

Link shook his head and dropped his forehead to the desktop. He didn’t look up when he heard the chair to his right pull out and felt Rhett’s familiar presence settle into the space beside him. Rhett’s hand settled onto the back of Link’s neck.

“This is it, Rhett,” Link murmured into the desk.

Rhett nodded. “I know.”

“I can’t freaking believe it wasn’t us. I remember everything. I can't…” Link’s sentence broke when a sob choked off the air in his throat. He sniffled loudly as he sat up and looked at Rhett. Rhett’s hand stayed against his neck, his fingertips in the short dark hair. Link was surprised to see tears in Rhett’s eyes that mirrored his own.

“You know what the worst part of it is?” Link asked.

“What?”

“We gave in to Aimee. We gave this up. It wasn’t even ours to give. Maybe we deserved–”

Rhett’s right hand flew to Link’s mouth to stop the words before he could finish. “That’s not funny.”

Link shook Rhett’s palm loose, and Rhett relented and dropped it to the desk.

“I didn’t say it to be funny.”

“No one deserves that. Not even for giving all this up. This was…it was amazing, but that doesn’t mean we–”

“I know, Rhett. I know. I’m not thinkin’ right. I’m sorry.”

Rhett dropped his left hand to the back of Link’s chair. “You ready?”

Link sighed. “You know what time it is.”

***

It was well after midnight before Link allowed Rhett to drive to the Neals’s house. He parked Jace’s car on the street three doors down and walked with Link to the front yard where he stayed out of sight of any windows. Link slipped around the side of the house, tip-toeing like a cat burglar, to the place where the spare house key was secured in a small hidden lockbox attached to the outer wall behind a gutter. Then he returned to the front, pressed the key into the lock, and vanished inside.

The house was still, asleep yet vigilant. It smelled like home, like the residual scents of the meal Christy had cooked, like hot, clean dishes cooling in the dishwasher, like Jade’s soft fur and his children’s warm skin. Link forcibly swallowed the longing and terror that lodged themselves behind his windpipe as he pressed inward.

In the dim light he saw the keys to his car hanging on a tiny hook, and above them sat the wallet, his prize. He picked it up slowly and slid it into his pocket like he’d done thousands of times before. It felt natural there and soothed the guilt a little; it didn’t feel like theft when it seemed to belong.

His mission complete, Link squeezed his eyes shut and tried to retreat, but his feet were rooted. The thought of walking out the door brought on a wave of nausea, and he swallowed again, breathing in slowly through his nose until the feeling passed. He tried again to leave, but it only solidified in his mind what he already knew what he had to do.

With his heart pounding in his chest, Link tiptoed up the stairs to the bedrooms, avoiding each point on the steps that he knew housed creaks and groans. It took every ounce of effort he had to steady his breathing as adrenaline surged through him.

He reached Lily’s room first. Link turned the knob with a faint click that made him cringe before slipping inside. She lay flat on her back with her arms over her head, her long blond hair splayed on the pillow, and Link covered his mouth to hold the sob inside. She was so grown up now, nearly a woman, and yet when she slept she looked years younger, the little girl who made him a father. The moonlight from the window softened her features and lit up her eyelashes and the wisps of hair that framed her face. Link bent near, smiling tearfully as he cupped her cheek, the skin warm from sleep, and kissed her forehead. With a shuddering sigh he straightened, turned, and left the room before he could allow himself to look back.

There was music playing quietly when he entered Lincoln’s room, and Link smiled when he realized it was their own.

I’m gonna get you back   I, I’m gonna get you back  Maybe I should let it slide, but I’m gon’ get you back

He swallowed hard at the lyrics, their meaning a comical play on words. The comedy was lost on him now, both meanings a brutal reminder of the realities within which he found himself trapped.

Lincoln’s back faced the door, and Link approached him on silent feet. Like his sister had, Link’s eldest son looked young and innocent beneath the shroud of moonlight and slackened muscles. He breathed steadily, his eyelids restless in the rush of his dreams, adventures waged in the safety of his mind. Link wanted the world for him, his namesake.

He felt a bittersweet pang at the reminder that their true father slept down the hall, his family oblivious to his crimes, and Link, this Link, couldn’t help but be a little grateful. He would live on with a gaping wound in his soul where his children belonged, but that didn’t mean they had to live on without a father. They would be okay, even if he wouldn’t.

Link pressed a kiss softly into Lincoln’s blond curls before moving to retreat. He pulled the door shut quietly behind him and crossed the hall to the room with the door always left cracked open, the nightlight in the hallway free to spill in. Lando’s room was the smallest, as was he, and he slept light and fitfully like his mother. Even without a click of the doorknob to interrupt the stillness of his room as Link entered, Lando shifted and smacked his lips when the shadow of the man who looked like his father loomed over him. Link froze, waiting for the boy to still again as he slipped back into a heavier sleep. When he did finally still, Link lowered to his knees to brush his fingertips across his forehead. Then Lando’s eyes popped open.

“Hi Daddy,” he whispered before his mouth stretched into a yawn.

Link made a strangled noise in his throat, but he swallowed it down, forcing a natural smile.

“Hey, bud. Just checkin’ on ya.”

“I’m okay. Sleepy.”

Link chuckled. “Then go back to sleep, silly.”

Lando hummed in affirmation and nodded as his eyelids began to droop again. “Hug?”

Link swallowed the sob in his throat as he nodded, and Lando pushed his upper body up just enough to wrap his arms around Link’s neck. Link breathed him in, the smells of boyhood and heedless sleep, and pressed a kiss to his cheek as he lowered the boy back into his bed.

“I love you, Lando.”

“Love you too, Daddy. See you in the morning.”

Link kissed him once more on his forehead and smoothed his hair back as he drew himself away. He backed out of the room, remembering to leave the door ajar as he’d found it, and collided with a soft body that let out of a startled “oof!”

Christy’s eyes were as wide and shocked as his in the dim light of the hallway, but she chuckled quietly as she recovered.

“What on earth, Link!” she whispered, her small hand pressed to her chest. “I didn’t hear you get out of bed!”

“Sorry. I, uh…” he scrambled, “I heard Lando makin’ some noise. Thought he mighta had a bad dream or was sick or something.”

“Well, I must have been sleepin’ harder than I thought if you heard it and I didn’t. Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. What’re you doin’ up?”

“Oh, I heard a noise in the hall. Must’ve been you.” Her brow furrowed as the thought tangled in her head. “Though I coulda sworn I felt you sleepin’ by me when I got up. I must have been half asleep still.”

Link chuckled to hide the nerves. “Guess so.”

Christy smiled and reached for his arm, tugging lightly. “Well, come on then. Back to bed, cowboy.”

“Oh, I’ll…be right in. Gonna use the bathroom.”

She nodded and turned away, but in a moment of panic Link grabbed her hand and dragged her back to him. He pulled her in close and pressed his lips to hers, and her surprise only registered for a moment before she relaxed into it. He gripped her head between both of his hands as he kissed her, and the feel of her hands sliding around his waist and drifting up to his shoulder blades as she pulled him closer made him sigh, love and loss breathing from his mouth to hers. Her eyes opened when she felt it, and she pulled back.

“You okay, baby?”

Link pressed his forehead to hers as he caught his breath. “Yeah. I’m okay. I just…I love you.”

“I love you too, Link. Get back to bed, now. You got work in a few hours.”

He nodded as she slipped from his grasp. It was only when she’d reached the door to their bedroom that the panic struck him, and he flew down the stairs as fast as quiet feet could take him.

He only barely managed to close the front door without slamming it, rushing to return the key to its box, rounding the corner to the driveway where Rhett watched him wide-eyed. Link grabbed his hand and took off in a sprint, dragging the taller man behind him without acknowledgement of his demands for explanation until they were shut into Jace’s car, their lungs heaving for breath.

“Go!” Link demanded, his voice still a harsh whisper after having kept quiet for so long. Rhett turned the key to the ignition and was gone. Link didn’t dare to look back.

“What the hell happened in there?” Rhett demanded again when Link’s breathing had begun to slow and the house was far from sight.

Link pressed his eyes shut tight and covered his face with his hands. “I had to say goodbye.”

Rhett rolled his eyes. “Of course you did. What, did you get caught?”

“Sort of. Both Lando and Christy woke up. I mean, they didn’t know I wasn’t him, but she was on her way back to the bedroom, and she was gonna notice…”

Rhett’s eyes widened and his eyes flicked instinctively to the rear view mirror. When he realized it was stupid to worry they were being followed, his shoulders relaxed slightly and he let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Don’t you wanna say goodbye too?” Link asked, his voice soft and pained behind his palms.

Rhett shook his head. “No. I can’t.”

Link dropped his hands and turned to look at him. “Just like that? You’re okay with never–”

“Stop. I just can’t.”

Link quieted, and Rhett sighed, a low, rumbling growl of frustration buried deep in the sound.

“Well, did you get it, or did you completely forget why you were there?”

Link had forgotten all about the wallet in his pocket. He reached in and slipped it out, opening it. He pulled out the company bank card he knew would be there, just to reassure him that one of their primary targets was present. Then he pulled out the driver’s license. One of the two of them having an ID would open up a lot of lot of possibilities they wouldn’t have had otherwise. He studied the license, squinting at the image.

“Do you think we have any physical differences, us and them? Like, do we have the same fingerprints?”

Rhett’s eyebrows raised and he shrugged. Then he smirked. “We could use our DNA to frame them for a crime.”

Link smirked back. “No, thanks.” His expression sobered as he thought. “This is enough.”

“It’s not equal.”

“It doesn’t need to be equal. I’m not interested in murder.”

“Just theft?”

“I’m not interested in theft either. But you said it yourself: we need to survive. They owe us that. We’ll take what we need to get on our feet and then figure out what we can do that’s sustainable and under the radar.”

Chapter 2: “Never”

Jace Benson didn’t look prepared for guests, but despite the bedraggled look of the men on her doorstep, her face lit up when she saw them.

“Rhett and Link! What on earth!” Her eyes dropped to take in the wreck of their clothes and she hurried them inside. “What the hell happened to you guys?”

“You wouldn’t believe us if we told you,” Rhett chuckled as the door closed behind them. “Sorry for busting in on you like this.”

“No, no, please! You know you’re always welcome here! Cat?” she shouted into the house.

“Yeah?” came the distant reply.

“Your favorite YouTubers are here!”

The tiny redhead swept into the entryway a few moments later, all smiles and enthusiasm. Cat was the perfect complement to her wife: petite where Jace was tall and solid, fair-skinned to Jace’s deep olive tones, bubbly to Jace’s smooth calm. She fit perfectly under the brunette’s arm, her own bright red hair gathered on her head in a messy knot.

“Is everything okay?” Cat asked. “I don’t think you two have ever stopped by without warning before.”

Link looked embarrassed, and Jace bumped Cat with her hip. “Not that we mind,” Jace emphasized.

“No!” Cat clarified. “No, please, come in!” She slipped out from under Jace’s arm and moved toward the kitchen, and the men followed with shy smiles. “Are you hungry?”

“Oh gosh, yes,” Link gasped, and this time Rhett was doing the scolding, smacking him across the bicep with the back of his hand. Jace caught the interaction from her place at the back of the line and laughed out loud.

“I’ve always liked your honesty, Link Neal.”

“We were in the middle of dinner; there’s plenty,” Cat assured them. “Sit, join us! Tell us what’s up!”

Extra plates were retrieved from the cabinet and filled with salmon, rice pilaf, and a green salad. They gratefully accepted water and glasses of white wine and dug into their food without hesitation. The women still had food on their own plates but watched the men eat, astonishment clear on their faces. When the men’s frenzied pace began to relax as their stomachs became sated, Link wiped his mouth on a napkin and smiled an apology at their friends.

“Sorry. It’s been a weird day, and we haven’t eaten a thing.”

Jace waved him off. “No need to apologize. But we’re dying to know the story here…”

Rhett and Link gave each other a loaded look as they tried to telepathically work out their response. Rhett cleared his throat and took the plunge.

“We were hiking…in the desert. Something for a project, you know, some field research. It’s kind of hard to explain without giving the whole thing away–”

“–and it’s top secret!” Link took over with an excited grin, pleased Rhett had given them a good start on their story. “So we got some research in and then encountered some unexpected…issues,” he said with a gesture toward their tattered, stained clothing. “And now we need to spend a little time debriefing, you know, putting our findings together, plotting out some next steps, that sort of thing.”

“So we were sort of wondering if you had any space we could crash…just for a few days, you know, until we figure out what’s next,” Rhett said with a sheepish look. “I know, we should have called first, and if you say no we’ll figure something else out, but–”

“Of course you can stay,” Cat interjected. “Of course! Right, babe?”

Jace had a squinched look on her face as she tried to communicate something to her wife without words, and Cat seemed to be holding up her end with a silent counter argument. Rhett and Link looked away from the exchange, and Jace sighed.

“I’m sorry; I don’t want you to think I don’t want you. It’s just that we have an event later this week and I don’t know how we can manage it with house guests…”

“We’ll help!” Link exclaimed, and Rhett shot him a look.

“Except that we can’t be seen… ” Rhett murmured through clenched teeth, and Link’s smile faded.

“Right…is there anything we can do to help, like, behind the scenes? Any pre-event stuff?”

Jace tapped her mouth with her fingertips as she considered it, and Cat fidgeted beside her, eager to help.

“What about set-up?” Cat offered. “Can they run some errands? Or do some paperwork for you?”

“If you could just feed us and give us a place to sleep, that’s all we ask,” Rhett said. “We’ll do whatever you need as long as we can stay out of sight.”

“Y’know, secret project,” Link reminded them. “Under wraps. Real hush-hush.”

Jace smiled as she conceded. “It would be nice to have a little help. This thing really crept up on us and I’m in way over my head.”

Link and Cat both clapped their hands with excitement, and Rhett smiled as he thanked Jace.

“You boys okay with the guest house out back?” Jace asked. “I’m afraid there’s only one bed, but it’s a California King. You skinny boys won’t even have to be in the same zip code in that thing.”

“Whatever you can offer is perfect,” Rhett assured her.

Link chattered happily with Cat as she cleared their dishes, hopping up to help her the second it occurred to him to do so.

“How’s Christy?” Cat asked as she dropped plates and silverware into the dishwasher. “And the kids?”

Link felt a wave of longing crash over him at his wife’s name, but he fought to maintain a mild expression. “They’re great, staying busy. I’ve been gone so much lately, but Christy keeps the kids on their schoolwork and doin’ activities and stuff; I think they barely notice I’m not there.”

Cat smacked his arm. “Of course not. I’m sure they miss you when you’re gone.”

He smiled. “I miss ‘em too.” He went quiet after that, and Cat spied him from the corner of her eye.

“When are you guys gonna be done with this project, whatever it is? You gonna be away long?”

Link shrugged. “I don’t really know. By nature it’s a little uncertain.” He glanced up and met her eye, then looked away again. “It’s hard to explain.”

“That’s alright, Link. You guys do such crazy stuff, you’re always surprising people. I’m sure I’ll find out about it with the rest of the fans.”

“Ohh…” Link leaned in and wrapped an arm around her neck, pulling her in to give her a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re not just fans, you know that, right? You’re friends!”

Cat beamed at the attention. “Thanks, Link. You guys got luggage to bring in? I can help you take your stuff down to the guest house.”

Link looked down at his tattered clothes. “This is it, actually. We travel light.”

Cat gasped. “Are you kidding me? Jace!”

“Yeah?”

“The guys need clothes! We don’t have anything lying around here, do we?”

Jace poked Rhett in the chest playfully as she stood up from the table where they’d been chatting. “Nothing likely to clothe a giant. Come on, we’ll go shopping.”

“You really don’t need to–”

“I’ll work you to the bone this week, I promise. You’ll feel like you got the bum end of the deal no matter what we spend tonight. Let’s go!”

***

Link stood at the foot of the giant bed pulling piles of clothes from shopping bags, removing price tags, and folding them neatly into appropriate piles. Rhett’s bags were discarded on the floor of the guest house while he lay back width-wise across the bed.

“Your stuff’s gonna be wrinkled if you leave it in the bags all night,” Link murmured.

“The last thing I want to do after a day like we’ve had is sort laundry. Can’t you give me a day off?”

Link shrugged. “Your funeral.”

“Don’t.”

Link’s nose crunched up. “Sorry.”

Rhett closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply, and Link assumed he’d drifted off even before he’d changed into his new pajama pants. He’d have to wake him eventually to remove him from his sprawled position so Link could stake a claim on half the bed, but for now he’d leave him be.

Link found he couldn’t keep himself from dwelling on the morbid realities of their situation. Before they’d been served dinner, they’d told the ladies they hadn’t eaten a thing. The truth was deeper than that. They had literally never eaten a thing before that salmon. Never. They were born from a dream, they were murdered a few hours later, and they’d spent their entire post-resurrection life wandering hungry and tired in the wilderness. They had quite literally, up to this point, survived on nothing but the magic to which they owed their lives – twice over. A cold shiver ran through him at the surreal thought of it. Link remembered barbecue and fixins with his mom, pizza and pudding cups with Rhett, tacos and chocolate chip pancakes and everything in between with his wife and children. He remembered the countless culinary abominations they’d eaten on the show. He remembered peanut butter. He remembered Frosted Mini Wheats. Yet he knew he had never taken a bite of any of it.

He had never been to North Carolina, yet he remembered the tobacco fields and the way the sun sparkled on the Cape Fear River. He had never laid eyes on Christy, yet he remembered her every dip and curve, the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed, the way her breath tasted when she sighed into him as he kissed her. He’d never met his children, yet his heart constricted with the way he loved them, the way he longed for them. Link’s eyes filled with tears and he sniffled loudly as he blinked them away. He glanced up at Rhett to see if he’d woken him, and he found his friend watching, a concerned look etching his brow.

“You alright, brother?”

Link wiped his eyes on the back of his hand and sniffed again.

“We’re never gonna see them again, are we?”

Rhett’s brow crinkled more deeply. “Those bastards who–”

“Not them. Christy. Jessie. The kids.”

Rhett heaved a sigh and swung his arms from over his head down toward his knees, using the momentum to hoist himself to a stand. Once he was upright he paused, bending his knees and twisting his trunk back and forth.

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

“What?”

“My back doesn’t hurt! I don’t know how I didn’t notice it all day. Had other things on my mind I guess.”

“Did it hurt before…before they…”

“I’m not sure. Maybe? I think so. I guess I didn’t have a lot of opportunity to test it between the bike and the song.”

Link swallowed at the memory he hated being constantly reminded of.

“Well,” Rhett went on, “whatever force it was that put us back together must have polished up any older injuries as well. How’s your shoulder?”

Link swung the affected arm experimentally, angling it in ways which would have agitated the injury in the past. His eyebrows rose.

“Nothin’!”

“See? They try to keep us down and we come back better than ever.”

Link smiled sheepishly. “Y’know, I can see too.”

“What?”

“Without my glasses. I can see fine.”

“Why didn’t you say somethin’?”

“I dunno. I didn’t think about it at first. Took me most of the day before I remembered I didn’t have my glasses on and hadn’t noticed the difference.”

“Man, I feel great,” Rhett said as he bounced around, testing his new agility. “I bet I could take the other guy in a fight now.”

Link shook his head. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

“You don’t want payback for what they did?”

“I just want it to be over, Rhett. I wanna live. And I don’t wanna give them the chance to try and finish the job.”

“You said that earlier. You really think that would happen?”

“Why not? We know they’re not above it. If they had any inkling we survived they’d probably assume we were gonna want revenge and they’d try to beat us to it.”

“Is that would you would do?” Rhett asked.

“No! But they somehow already got it in their heads that killing us wasn’t murder! Apparently we don’t know ourselves as well as we thought we did, because we turned out to be capable of something this horrific, and now those bastards are sleeping with our wives with our blood on their hands, and–”

“They’re not our wives, Link.”

Link’s glare darkened. “You shut the hell up.”

“Don’t take this out on me, man! I’m the only one on your team!”

“Then why don’t you start actin’ like it?!”

Rhett stormed past him and grabbed one of his shopping bags off the floor while Link stomped to the attached bathroom and slammed the door behind him. His eyes were wide and wild, and he scanned the room for something to damage. His fury couldn’t drown out the instinct to respect the space and property of their hosts, however, so he settled for damaging himself, his fist slamming hard into the tiled wall outside the shell of the shower. He felt the snap in his middle finger accompanied by a blinding flash of pain.

“Fuck!”

He bit down hard on his lip. With his good hand he twisted the knob of the shower to drown out the silence, to drown out the curse still echoing off the bathroom walls, to drown out the sobs that creaked from his lungs for the ache in his hand and his heart. His wounded right hand shook violently as Link used his left to carefully strip the ruined clothing from his body, kicking them toward the far wall. He stepped into the steaming water as Rhett’s gentle knock echoed through the door.

“Link?”

Link ignored him. He pressed the palm of his good hand over his mouth to muffle his sobs.

“You okay?”

He stood still, crying silently beneath the stream until Rhett left him alone. It was a struggle to wash himself with one hand, and he hated himself for breaking the other. Who knew how many showers he’d have to wrestle through one-handed before this thing healed? He refused to do an inferior job due to the injury, however – there was still blood dried into every crevice of his body, blood in the roots of his hair, blood scenting the steam as it loosened and rolled from him, making him gag at the smell. He lathered himself with far more of the lavender-scented soap than he needed. He scrubbed his skin raw with the washcloth he’d found in the linen closet, chasing from his body the memory of the carnage his other self had inflicted.

After his shower, Link took his time drying off. There were fresh toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste on the counter, and he took his time with that as well. When he could no longer avoid the inevitable, he wrapped the plush white towel around his waist and opened the door, assaulted by the cool air that rushed in as the steam from his shower rushed out into the bedroom.

Rhett was sprawled across a chaise positioned under a window that overlooked the valley beneath the mountain. It was dark out, and while the Los Angeles haze blocked out most of the night sky, one could still appreciate the lights of the city in the distance. Rhett didn’t look up as Link padded to the foot of the bed where his clothes lay, just as he’d left them.

“You leave me any hot water?”

“Think so. It wasn’t cold yet.”

Rhett nodded and sighed as he lifted his long legs from the chaise to the floor. Link felt Rhett’s eyes on him as he passed but he refused to meet them. He pretended to be absorbed in flipping through the folded items until Rhett had closed the bathroom door behind him, and when he was alone Link dropped his towel to the floor and pulled on the pajama pants without troubling with boxers. There was a dresser along the wall behind him, and Link wrestled it open with his left hand. He found the upper drawer full of Rhett’s new clothes, so he opened the second. Finding it empty, he returned to his piles of clothes and balanced them on his left arm as he transitioned them to their place, one stack at a time. He closed the drawer with his hip and returned to the bed.

Link had never eaten before tonight, and neither had he slept. And he felt it. He felt the weight of a body that had only known the sleep of death. He crawled beneath the heavy blue-grey comforter and pulled it up to his cheekbones as he curled into a ball, facing away from the other side of the bed. Within moments he was asleep.

 ***

Link woke the next morning facing the opposite direction from how he’d fallen asleep, and the first thing he saw was Rhett’s eyes. They were staring straight at him, and Link flinched.

“Morning…?”

The corner of Rhett’s mouth quirked up at Link’s rattled wake-up. “Mornin’, brother. You okay?”

“I was until I woke up to your creepy stare-down.”

“You were sleepin’ weird. I was concerned.”

Link wasn’t eager to continue a conversation with Rhett – unnerving or otherwise – while they lay in bed together, so he rolled over and swung his legs out from under the sheets. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he ran his fingers through his messy mop of dark hair. He reached automatically for the nightstand, fingers scrambling for a moment before he remembered his glasses weren’t there.

“You looked like you were having a nightmare,” Rhett went on, unfazed by Link’s avoidance.

Link shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t remember.”

“I’m sorry I got mad last night.”

Link turned to look at Rhett. “Did you?”

“Yeah. Not as mad as you though. Did you hit something in the bathroom? I heard a thud and a big, fat, uncharacteristic curse.”

Link’s eyes dropped to his right hand. He was leaning against it on the bed, and he quickly lifted his weight off of it and brought his left hand to explore the middle finger of the right. It was sore, like a bruise, but nothing like the pain he’d felt last night.

“I broke it,” he muttered to himself.

“You broke it??” Rhett gasped.

Link’s brow furrowed. “I heard the snap. I felt it. But now it’s…”

Rhett shook his head in wonder. “Is this ever gonna go away?”

“I think it’s fading. I still feel the pain, like it’s healing fast but not, like, undoing permanent injuries and poor eyesight. I think our days of beating the odds are coming to an end.”

“Well, good thing you punched the wall now instead of in a week. Why’d you do a stupid thing like that anyway?”

Link sighed and stood to his feet. “Don’t be dumb, Rhett.”

Rhett climbed out of bed, crossed to the dresser, and began to pull out some of the new clothes he’d picked the night before. “How am I being dumb?”

“Why are you acting like this isn’t hard for you? Don’t you feel like…like you? Like the real Rhett? Doesn’t it bother you that you’re never gonna see your family again?”

“Of course it does!”

“Then why are you acting like I’m the weird one here for being upset?”

Rhett shook his head. “You’re not weird for being upset. I just…I compartmentalize. I’m gonna have to face it eventually, but I’m just saving it for later.”

Link scoffed. “That sounds super healthy.”

“Right now we have to survive, Link. We can’t live here in this guest house. We need a plan, and I have to focus on that. I can’t fall apart about Jessie and the boys right now.”

“So what’s the plan?”

Rhett wagged a finger in the air. “I’m still workin’ that out. Let’s just get through helping Jace with her event. By the end of the week I’ll have something figured out, and then we can talk logistics.”

“The big picture guy.”

Rhett sniffed out a laugh. “That’s me.”

***

“I keep wanting to remind you to be careful of your back!”

Link’s voice was muffled from beneath a curtained table, and when Rhett glanced his way he laughed out loud.

“Oh gosh! I was not prepared to make eye contact with your butt.”

Link waggled his ass a few times for emphasis before climbing back out and straightening up. He followed the length of a cord that ran from the power strip beneath the table to the mess of electronics on the top, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he mumbled to himself about the tangle. “You sure you’re okay doing that alone?” he asked without looking up.

“Oh yeah. I feel twenty years younger!” Rhett punctuated his response with the creak and metallic snap of folding table legs being hinged into place before he lowered the long table to rest upright.

“You’re only a few days old, so that does make some sense.”

Rhett rolled his eyes. “Stop it with that.”

“With what? Reality?”

“Fixating on it. Just be yourself.”

“How can I be myself when my other self is still out there? Doesn’t he have more claim to the name? He’s been here longer.”

“And I told you,” Rhett said as he strode to Link’s corner of the conference room, “that they gave up their rights when they murdered us. We’re the better men. They killed us, but we’re choosing not to exact revenge. So I say we can feel confident in claiming the titles.”

Link murmured under his breath as he bent down to return to his place beneath the table. “Tell that to the millions of people watching them on our show while we’re running for our lives.”

Rhett sighed. “It’s not our show, Link. I know this is hard to come to grips with because we remember it all like it happened to us, but it didn’t.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Link said as he straightened again. “I get it, Rhett. Okay? I get it. We can’t go back. It was never ours, even though I feel like it was. But that doesn’t make it fair.”

“No,” Rhett agreed. “It’s not fair. But it’s reality.”

“Can you stop being Captain Reality for one second, please?” Link stooped back beneath the table. “And can you run that cord back around for me while you’re here crowding my space?”

“Which cord?”

“The one from the laptop.”

Rhett fed the cord around the back of the table and dangled it until Link grasped the other end from underneath and plugged it into the power strip.

“Are you gonna miss it?” Link asked.

“What specifically?”

“GMM. Mythical Entertainment. Our jobs. All of that.”

“Of course I’m gonna miss it. But it’s not like it’s all gone.”

Link climbed out again and turned to face him. “Well, sure; they’re gonna keep the show going. I guess we could watch it if we really wanted to.”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean it’s not all gone for us, everything that was good about what we did.”

Link squinted at him but didn’t reply. He knew Rhett would elaborate without prompting.

“Why did we get into this, Link? How did it start?”

“I dunno, the song we sang at Gregg’s reception?”

“No, before that.”

Link cocked his head. “What happened before that?”

“The blood oath, Link.” They held each other’s stares for a few beats before Rhett ran his fingers into his beard, scratching at his chin as he turned back and moved toward the tables still waiting to be set up. Link followed him without a word, abandoning his own project to aid Rhett in his. When Rhett began to speak again he kept his eyes on his work.

“We did it for each other. We did it to create together. We never set out to be minor celebrities, though I’m not saying we didn’t like the idea. It just wasn’t the primary motivation. At least not for me.”

“No,” Link replied as he took hold of the far end of the table Rhett was maneuvering. “Me neither.”

“So we’ve still got that. We’ve got each other. And who says we can’t create? We can’t do anything publically like we did before, but maybe this is good for us in that way, y’know? Maybe it’ll be refreshing to remember what it was like to create purely for the art’s sake rather than the views.”

“It wasn’t only for the views,” Link added.

“No, I know. But we’d be lying if we said it didn’t influence the art.”

Link nodded. “So, what are we creating in our vacuum of anonymity?”

Rhett grinned and met his eyes. “Whatever we want, brother. We’re free agents now. It’s like before.”

“Before?”

“When we were kids. It was just you and me. We did what we wanted and we did it because it was fun. Whaddya wanna do?”

Link smiled in spite of himself at the thought. “Gutless Wonders 2?”

Rhett laughed out loud. “No, thank you.”

“Think you could get ahold of a guitar?”

Rhett frowned. “My guitars. I’m gonna miss them.”

“Let’s go get one.”

“How?”

“1-2-3-4. I remember the code now.”

Rhett’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you kidding me? I thought you weren’t interested in a life of crime.”

“What did they say in the office before the song? ‘I don’t think it would technically be murder?’ Well, following that logic, wouldn’t it be true that stealing from them wouldn’t technically be theft?”

Rhett shrugged in concession, then rubbed his beard again. “How do we get there? We don’t have a car. We returned that lady’s wallet to the police station like you wanted.”

“We could borrow money or a car from Cat and Jace. Either way, we’ll give it right back.”

“So if they lend us money, how do you propose we pay them back right away? We don’t have a dime to our names.”

Link’s face took on a solemn, haunted expression. “Those bastards owe us more than a guitar.”

“So what do you suggest?”

Link met his eyes. “I’m gonna go home.”

Chapter 1 - “Blood”

There can only be one me  There shouldn’t be another we Oh, I would dismember me And bury me under a tree If I had another me ~ What if you got buried alive? Who’s gon’ dig you out from the ground?

They had been singing. It had been exhilarating, really, the perfect blend of voices, the elation of multiplied unity and possibility. But in a flash the joy had been eclipsed by horror and searing pain, and the world had been swallowed into a black void.

Rhett felt his eyelids open to a blinding flash and a surge of energy, but the wonder gave way to another blackness, this one substantive rather than the nothingness of before. He registered a tenderness in his joints coupled with a faint tingling that made him desperate to move, to stretch, but his hands reaching out met immediate resistance. With a wave of terror he realized he was surrounded, enclosed by a slippery cocoon that smelled like the acrid tang of blood. In spite of the blackness he saw a flash of red panic fill his vision and he clawed like an animal, desperate and pleading, his throat aching at the thin air.

Something heavy was weighing down the surface above him – or what he thought was above him – something hard and smooth and angular. Rhett clawed toward it, digging his fingers into the membrane until a digit popped through and he was met with a tiny cascade of cool dirt.

Rhett flinched as it invaded his already cramped space. He was underground. Trapped. Had there been an attack, a bomb dropped right on Burbank, and he was locked beneath the rubble that had once been Mythical Entertainment? Or an earthquake, one that had hit so fast he hadn’t even registered the vibrations before they knocked him unconscious?

Link. Where was Link? Oh God.

There shouldn’t be dirt above him if the building had fallen on top of them. How did he get underground? Could someone be nearby who might help him? He was anxious about using up the precious air he had available to him, but he took a lungful before bellowing out a loud “Help!”

Rhett held his breath as he listened. Right beside him, through the membrane, he felt a shift, a roll like when his sons had done somersaults in Jessie’s womb, and then the panicked voice of his best friend.

“Rhett?”

“Link, are you okay? Where are you?”

“I dunno,” he whimpered, “it’s dark and I’ve got something heavy on my leg. It’s getting hard to breathe. I’m scared, Rhett!”

Rhett tried to keep his breathing steady despite the panic escalating in his chest at the sound of Link’s distress. He had to get out. He had to get them both out.

“Hold on, brother; just stay calm. I’m gonna get us outta here. Try to slow your breathing to save your oxygen. Close your eyes and relax. I’m coming for you.”

Link didn’t respond, but he quieted. Rhett looped an index finger back into the hole he’d created, loosening the dirt that had compacted temporarily. He took several deep, full breaths before holding the last one, and he tore the shell open around him.

Dirt poured over Rhett’s head, and he regretted instantly that he hadn’t thought to close his eyes first given the fact that it had already been pitch dark. He reached through the dirt shower and took hold of the object above him, feeling cold metal bars. He got his feet under him and pushed, and Link yelped beside him. A fresh surge of urgency stretched his torso through the opening he’d created, and he lifted, straining against the heavy contraption until he’d pressed it up and off of his body and onto the ground that became visible as the dirt settled around him.

Rhett stood hip-deep in a pit of loose dirt, the exercise bike lying on the ground before him. He clambered out of the pile and onto the sturdy ground, then he turned and began to paw frantically at the space beside where he’d just extricated himself.

“ Link!” he shouted into the dirt. “Can you hear me, buddy?”

“Rhett!”

“I’m comin’, bo! Hang on!”

The dirt had been loosened by the removal of the bike, which meant it was easy to get through but not easy to remove. As he clawed at the soil it kept sliding back to its place, and Rhett cursed as he wished for a shovel. He scooped as fast as he could, tossing the dirt as far back as possible to keep it from resettling into the hole, and eventually he reached the smooth surface of the black plastic garbage bag that surrounded Link.

“Hold your breath, Link!”

He listened to the sharp inhale from within before gripping the plastic in his hands and tearing at it. His fingers slipped the first time, but on his second try he got his nails into the plastic and ripped it wide.

They both choked on sobs when they caught sight of each other in the sparse light. Link’s face was smeared with blood, a sight that alarmed Rhett, but he quieted the panic to keep himself focused. He pulled the plastic open as far as he could before reaching in to get a hold of Link’s slippery forearms. They gripped each other tightly as Rhett pulled, Link pressing with his feet until his body slipped from the bag and Rhett pulled him free from the pit.

They lay together on the ground beside the bike, catching their breaths and slowing their racing hearts for a moment before Link crawled to Rhett and laid a cheek on his chest. He was shuddering violently, and Rhett wrapped one arm over him and closed his eyes.

They were safe. They were alive.

The sun was beginning to light up the horizon in preparation for its rising, and Rhett found himself staring up at the tree above them. The breeze was faint but enough to chill them, and the leaves trembled above them in sympathy.

When Link’s shaking had begun to calm he pressed himself away from Rhett’s chest and looked down at him with alarm in his eyes.

“Rhett! You’re bleeding! And…naked!”

Rhett’s eyes went wide as he looked down at himself. He was, indeed, naked and covered in blood, and as he glanced up he realized Link was in the same condition. Their circumstances had had them so frantic they hadn’t even noticed. He pointed at Link’s body, and Link looked down before squeaking and covering himself up with his hands. They each crossed their legs and angled away from each other to maximize decency, and when Rhett rolled away he noticed the scarf.

The blue plaid fabric peeked out from the dirt where he’d been buried. He crawled to the spot and pulled it free, and after studying it for a moment, he began to paw through his side of the pile once more.

“I don’t think I’m bleedin’, Rhett,” came Link’s voice from behind him.

“Then how do you explain the blood?” Rhett replied without turning around.

“I dunno, man, but I’m pretty sure I’m fine. I don’t have any pain and can’t find any wounds.”

Rhett shrugged as he pulled the plastic garbage bag free, and he shuddered when he reached inside and found it slick and gritty with blood-soaked dirt. Inside he found a burgundy-and-blue half-sleeved tee, grey-green shorts, shoes, and a puffy orange vest. He was sure he’d had socks and underwear as well, so he swiped his hand around until he found them, completely saturated with sticky red wetness, and he gagged and dropped them on the grass.

“How’re we supposed to wear these? People are gonna think we killed someone!”

Rhett heard a choked noise behind him, and he turned to see Link with his hand pressed to his bare chest.

“Rhett?” Link whimpered, his voice tight and small.

“What’s wrong, bud?”

“I think I remember what happened.”

Rhett didn’t want to remember. There was something in the back of his mind coaxing memories back into the foreground, but he fought it. It wasn’t just the pain, or the carnage, or even the betrayal. It was the reality that they had done this. They had done this. They were capable of this… this…

“C’mon, Link,” Rhett said, interrupting his own thoughts. “Do you need help gettin’ your clothes out of there? Because bloody or not, I can not walk around with your naked ass hangin’ out right next to me.”

Link passed up any number of perfectly-timed sophomoric jokes he could have made about his ass not being the part that would be hanging. His hand was still pressed to his chest as he stared at the dirt, his eyes glazed over.

“C’mon, man, you’re goin’ into shock. Start movin’. Get your clothes. Even if they’re dirty and wet, you won’t be as cold as staying naked will leave you.”

Link nodded but still didn’t move, so Rhett pulled his own clothes on before turning to Link’s side of the pit and digging for his bag. He yanked it free of the dirt and pulled out a grey t-shirt, cargo pants, a blue vest, socks and shoes, glasses, and his pink-and-white scarf. Link was shuddering as violently as before, rocking and cradling his legs against his chest with a far-off look in his eyes. The sight of Link’s body slicked head-to-toe with blood didn’t help calm the anxiety Rhett felt when he looked at him. He took the blue vest and wrapped it around Link’s shoulders, rubbing his back over the top of it.

“We did this, Rhett,” Link murmured.

“It wasn’t us.”

Link turned and focused on Rhett’s face. “It was! We’re the same! I remember everything, our whole lives, like it was me who lived it! If something like that could come outta him then it can come outta me, and we…” He trailed off as his eyes unfocused again. “Why would they do this?”

Rhett closed his eyes and let himself remember. It was just a song. There were so many things they could have accomplished together, the four of them. How many times had they wished they could clone themselves to get more done? To have enough time for the show, the extra projects, each other, their other friends, their wives, their kids… The universe had given them a gift, and they had destroyed it.

Them. They.

Rhett remembered the twinge of discomfort he’d felt as the lyrics shifted quickly from positive to contrary to sinister. He remembered the sharp pain and the wet slink of the knife sinking into his heart, the terror he’d felt in those last conscious moments that doubtlessly Link had just encountered the same fate, and Rhett was powerless to help him. Then it was over.

“I don’t know why they did it, Link. I guess we were a threat.”

Link scoffed, his tone bitter. “A threat. We weren’t the ones doing the murdering. Who’s the real threat?”

“I know, I know. I’m with you. But the fact is that they did it, and we’re gonna have to live with that.”

Link stopped rocking suddenly and turned toward him again. “Rhett. Why are we alive?”

Rhett felt a surge of adrenaline rush through him. They were alive. They’d died, been buried, and they were alive. He brought hesitant fingertips to the front of his sodden shirt, and he felt it. The knife hole. He pulled up his shirt to examine the spot immediately behind the hole, but the skin was flawless.

“The magic is real,” Link whispered, his face both terrified and awed.

Rhett shot him a look. “You think this was magic?”

Link’s eyes were fixed on the pile of his bloody clothes on the ground. “Rhett, we were born from a freaking hallucination. We became flesh and blood when we broke the hallucination barrier, which we were told about by a talking exercise bike. Does any of this sound logical to you? You wanna spout off some theory that makes it make sense, you go right ahead.”

Link dropped his forehead to his folded-up knees and breathed into the dark space inside his cocoon. Rhett had nothing to say. Link was right; it wasn’t logical. Regardless of whether ‘magic’ was the word for the force that had created and later revived them, it was something otherworldly.

When Link spoke again, his voice was small and tired, and Rhett struggled to hear him from his place hidden behind his knees. “Either way, we were murdered. And now we’re alive, with nothing to show for our deaths but knife-holes in our shirts and the blood they didn’t bother to clean up.” Link shuddered again, though Rhett didn’t know if it was from fear or cold or both.

“Buddy, you gotta put your clothes on. We gotta get help.”

“Help? Like, from people? What, are we gonna tell them who we are? Or who we aren’t? Then what? Whaddyu think’s gonna happen when the other we hear we crawled outta our graves? You don’t think they’ll come finish the job?”

Rhett sighed. “Fine. I get it. But either way, you’re gonna get sick if you sit out here wet and shiverin’. Go on, man. I’ll turn my back to give you some privacy, but you gotta do it. I have to get away from here. I can’t keep sittin’ by my own grave.”

That was enough to shake Link into action. With his back turned, Rhett could hear his friend sliding on the cold, stiff, sticky clothes through noises of disgust and protest. While Link dressed, Rhett stepped hesitantly toward the exercise bike lying on the ground. He circled it slowly, arriving finally at the front, and he recoiled at the sight. A knife had been driven through the face – a face remarkably like his own. Apparently whatever magic had resurrected them had not been granted to this piece of sentient machinery. He didn’t have the heart or the stomach to speculate why.

“Ah, crap,” Link’s voice came from behind him.

“What?”

“My glasses are broken.”

“Aw, man. That sucks.”

“You can turn around.”

Rhett did, and the sight of Link with a giant bloodied hole in his shirt was as shocking as seeing his own had been. Rhett was suddenly overcome. He took two long strides toward Link and wrapped him in an uncharacteristically emotional hug. Link let out a noise of surprise, but he wrapped his arms around Rhett’s ribcage in response. They held each other silently for long moments, the only sound the rustling of the leaves above them. Finally Rhett tore himself away, gripping Link’s shoulders and pressing him back far enough to look at him.

“Ready to go?”

“Where’re we goin’?”

“I dunno, brother. Somewhere safe. Somewhere they won’t find us.”

Link nodded, grief in his eyes. But when Rhett smiled, Link smiled back. They were on their own. But they were together.

***

They didn’t know exactly where they were, but it was likely the others had brought them northeast of Burbank. There the city faded away and the landscape became dotted with parks, golf courses, and other such places specializing in showing off the quieter scenery. They needed water, but they were unlikely to find it in the desert unless it was surrounded by an attraction that had been raised up around it, and this was a problem. They couldn’t stride into a park from out of the desert looking like – best case scenario – they’d just slaughtered a horse.

“I have a theory,” Rhett stated after a long period of silence between them. The heat was oppressive this far from the coast, and after several hours of walking they’d realized that excessive talking used more energy and moisture than they had to spare, and they could feel themselves getting dehydrated fast.

“What’s your theory,” Link responded in a weary deadpan.

“It’s like on Doctor Who–”

“Since when do you watch Doctor Who?”

“I dunno, Jessie got me into it. Er, him. Whatever. She thinks Ten is hot.”

“I prefer Eleven myself.”

“You just sympathize with the gangly awkwardness.”

“It’s endearing and adorable,” Link chuckled.

Rhett rolled his eyes. “Anyway, when a Timelord or Lady regenerates, they have all this excess regenerative energy that lasts for a while and temporarily gives them special healing abilities. I figure that’s kind of like what happened to us. We were created by some mystical energy birthed out of the other Link’s hallucination, and I don’t know why that happened, but it left us with regenerative ability. So whatever they did to us, we were able to heal.”

“What do you mean ‘whatever they did to us’? Don’t we know what they did? They stabbed us in the heart. We’ve got the holes in our shirts to prove it.”

“Think about it though,” Rhett reasoned. “If they had just stabbed us, why take all our clothes off before burying us? Why the garbage bags? And why was there so much freaking blood in there with us?”

Link shuddered. “Do we need to keep talking about this? Isn’t it enough to know we’re alive and we need to steer clear of them?”

Rhett ignored him, too deep in his thoughts to be distracted. “I felt something when…when I came back to life. Didn’t you feel it?”

Link sighed. “Feel what?”

“There was a tingling and an ache in my joints. I dunno. I felt like something was happening, or had just finished happening.”

“Well, you’ve obviously got it all figured out so just tell me,” Link huffed, clearly less interested in the topic than Rhett was.

“I think they hacked us up.”

Link cringed and grabbed Rhett’s arm, halting in his steps. “Gosh, Rhett. Why are you–”

“They dismembered us, threw us in garbage bags with our clothes, stabbed the bike in the face, and buried us all under that tree.”

“I swear, Rhett, if you don’t shut up I’m gonna puke.”

Rhett looked at his friend and saw the pallid color of his face despite the dried blood still streaked here and there. “You look awful, man. We need to get you some water and something to eat.”

“You aren’t lookin’ so hot yourself. Where are we gonna find anything in the desert?”

Rhett smiled a little as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “I think I know where we are. Follow me.”

They’d kept off the road but stayed close enough to it to keep it in sight. After another thirty or forty minutes of walking, the landscape ahead began to take on a tinge of green. “What is that?” Link asked. “A mirage?”

Rhett chuckled. “Better. A golf course.”

***

The light was fading behind the sparse, brown hills as they approached the artificial green of the golf course. They were desperately thirsty and weak, but the hope of finding some kind of relief had given them a fresh burst of enthusiasm.

“You know what this makes me think of?” Rhett murmured.

“Keith Hills?”

They grinned at each other at the memory. Sneaking into a golf course had been a staple of their youth, the quickest way to the pasture where they made their blood vow and to the Cape Fear River beyond. It still stung slightly to know that their memories weren’t their own, but they were real all the same.

“I think we need a cover story,” Link whispered as they crept around the perimeter of the course, looking for a good place to sneak in. “Like if someone catches us, we need to have an explanation for all this blood.” Most of the carnage on their skin had been sweated and rubbed off throughout the day, but their clothes were a dark brownish-red, stiff, and vile-smelling. Rhett stepped back to give Link a good look-over.

“Okay, first things first. We need to turn our shirts around and hide those holes. Then the vests will cover them in the back.”

“But your vest has a hole in the front too. You had it zipped when they…”

“I’ll leave it open, it won’t be as noticeable that way.” Both men dropped the vests they had been carrying onto the ground, pulled off their shirts, and replaced them backwards. Then they put their vests back on and looked each other over.

“Better,” Rhett said. “You think this would pass for mud?”

Link’s nose crinkled. “I dunno, man. We stink like death. This stuff’s been baking in the sun all day.”

Rhett shuddered. “Well, it’ll have to do.”

They waited until dusk before striding onto the green, postures confident so as not to arouse suspicion. A fewer golfers could be spotted packing up in the distance, but none got close enough to them for trouble.

Link spotted the water hazard first, and he gasped. He didn’t have the energy to run, but he picked up speed toward it with Rhett on his tail. They leapt in without a second thought, guzzling mouthfuls of water, heedless of sanitation. When their bellies felt full to bursting they slowed and laid back in the water, reveling in the coolness. The dried blood in their clothes began to soften as they soaked. It seeped into the water like rust-colored smoke, but despite the distaste of it they would rather see it swirling in their oasis than stuck to their bodies. They rubbed the fabric between their hands, removing the outer items in turn to scrub them more vigorously until they were confident they’d gotten off as much as they could. The fabric would be stained, but only slightly. A faint brown tinge didn’t turn heads.

When they were satisfied, the men walked toward the clubhouse at the center of the course, still dripping but happy to be clean. Several men and women were mingling inside, chit-chatting as they prepared to head home for the day. Rhett and Link received both open stares and less-than-subtle glances, all of which they tried to ignore as they sidled into an inconspicuous corner.

“We need a plan,” Link whispered. “Hitchhike?”

“These people don’t seem like the sort who would be open to giving soaking wet strangers a free ride.”

“Then what do we do? We’ve got no money. And I’m freaking starving.”

Rhett glanced over Link’s shoulder and surveyed the room. After a few moments he looked back at Link.

“You’re not gonna like this.”

“Like what?”

“I need you to create a diversion.”

“They’re already staring at us; how much more of a diversion do you need?”

“Enough. Any ideas?”

Link ran a hand through his floppy wet hair as he thought. “Where do you need me to be?”

“Near the door. Quick escape.”

“What are you gonna be doing?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just trust me.”

Link nodded and strode toward the entryway. He stood for a moment studying a glass case boasting trophies and certificates before his eyes rolled back and he dropped to the floor.

He was likely to have gotten attention anyway with the way people had been watching him as he dropped, but for added measure, he began to convulse.

A few concerned club members rushed to his side while others moved closer but left the immediate care to those crouching beside him. Some stayed where they were in the room, but to Rhett’s relief, all eyes were on Link. He only needed a few moments to accomplish his goal before he rushed to Link’s side as well, signalling the end of the charade. He squeezed through the crowd and knelt down at Link’s arm.

“Hey, Chuck, are you alright? You okay, man?”

At the sound of Rhett’s voice, Link stilled his body and slowly opened his eyes, keeping them half-lidded and his voice weary.

“Jim?”

Rhett nodded vigorously. “It was just another seizure, buddy. You okay to stand up?”

Link reached out an arm and Rhett took it, other hands joining in to support Link as he stood shakily to his feet. They were surrounded by wide, concerned eyes.

“Do you want us to call an ambulance?” a woman asked.

Link waved her off. “No, no, thank you. This happens sometimes. I’m okay, really. Thank you.”

“Can I get you something to eat? Come here, sit down.”

Link was about to accept when Rhett interjected. “Thank you, but I’d better get him home right away. He’s had a long day.”

Link gave him an offended glare but played along, turning back to the crowd. “Thanks again for your concern. We’ll see you guys on the green, yeah?”

They were met with concerned smiles and waves as Rhett turned Link around and led him out the door. Link tried to object but Rhett quieted him with a look. Once they were out the door, Rhett directed them around a corner, out of view of the doorway.

“Rhett, I told you I’m starving! What did you do?”

Rhett pressed a finger to his lips before sliding a woman’s wallet out of his vest, flashing it just long enough for Link to take in the knowledge before it was hidden away again. Link’s eyes went wide.

“You stole that??” he whispered harshly.

“Shut up! Listen, Link, I know it’s not that woman’s fault, but we were literally murdered just over twenty-four hours ago, depending on how long we were in the ground I suppose, so I think we’ve earned a little leeway to help us get on our feet until we can come up with a more honest living. I know it’s wrong, but these people are loaded. We’ll use only what we need. She’ll be fine.”

Link rolled his eyes. “You have to give it back.”

“And then what? How do you propose we get out of here? You wanna live in the desert and eat shrubs? Sneak back into the golf course to drink from the water hazard when you get thirsty?”

Link’s expression was pained, but Rhett knew he had him. Link finally huffed noisily as he relented.

“Fine, but just what we need. No more. And how are we supposed to get out of here anyway? I don’t suppose you have her phone too, hmm?”

Rhett squinted as he considered the problem. He glanced around them, peering back around the corner toward the parking lot. He spotted a man he was fairly certain hadn’t been present at the time of Link’s mock seizure, and he held up a finger to Link indicating he wanted him to stay put before jogging toward the man.

“Excuse me, can I ask you for a quick favor?”

The man looked him up and down before nodding slightly.

“Can I just use your phone for one second to call a cab? My car broke down. Or you can even call for me if you don’t want me to use your phone. I just need a ride.”

The man squinted at him, then shrugged. “I suppose so.” He pulled up the browser on his phone and searched for taxi companies. The closest one was in Burbank, and he held up the phone to Rhett in question. Rhett nodded, and the man touched the number to dial it, then handed Rhett the phone.

After the call had been made, Rhett thanked him and jogged back to the place where Link was hiding around the side of the building. They were grateful for the darkness – parking lot lights illuminated the front area, but their corner was shrouded in shadow, and they could watch for their ride without risking exposure.

Link didn’t speak much. He was clearly put out by this life of crime, but Rhett knew he’d come around when he’d truly processed the fact that they really had no other choice. They didn’t have anyone they could call for help – not when their appearance back in their other lives would immediately signal the fact that there were duplicates running around. When the taxi pulled up, the men rushed out from behind the building to hop in. Rhett had been too nervous to check earlier, but once they were in the back seat he pulled open the wallet, praying for cash. He heaved a sigh of relief at the large bills he found inside.

“Where are you headed, fellas?”

“Hollywood,” Rhett answered, and Link shot him a wide-eyed look.

“That’s no quick trip,” the driver pointed out.

“Yes, sir,” Rhett responded, and the driver shrugged and pulled out onto the highway. Link was still staring at his friend, waiting for an explanation, and Rhett leaned in.

“I’ve got an idea. Trust me.”

“Enough with this ‘trust me’ crap,” Link whispered, and Rhett caught the driver’s eyes glancing at them in the rearview mirror. “Look what happened last time you said that. Are we in this together or not?”

Rhett sighed. “Alright, fine. Where did we go last time we needed to ‘get away’?”

Link squinted. “Get away from what?”

“From everything. To plan. To think. Just the two of us.”

Link’s eyes widened. “Jace and Cat’s place? On the mountain?”

Rhett grinned and nodded.

“But wouldn’t they–”

“Not if we asked them not to. Y’know, secret project or whatever.”

“But they’ll be–”

“They’ll let us stay in the guest house. I know they will. Jace owes us one anyway after that promo thing we helped her with.”

“But we didn’t–”

“Yes,” Rhett enunciated. “We did. Okay? We are…us. Put the others out of your head. What they did…it disqualified them from any right to the names, y’know? So who and what we are has no bearing on our right to our own identity. You understand?”

Link swallowed hard and nodded.

“I don’t mean to pry,” the taxi driver interjected, “but are you two a couple?”

Rhett chuckled while Link jumped to answer, “No, we’re not.”

The driver huffed out a laugh. “My mistake. You were just readin’ each other’s minds for a while there, seemed like you got a lot of history.”

“We do have that,” Rhett said under his breath.

“Well, you don’t look like brothers, at least not by blood.”

Rhett smirked. “Blood brothers. That’s it, buddy.”

Link’s faint smile turned down as his head dropped. He began to pick at the dark red residue still trapped beneath his fingernails, and he shivered. Rhett saw it. He reached out to cover the nails Link was picking at, shielding his best friend from the reminder. Link’s eyes stayed focused on his hands, and he tried to smile through the tremor that haunted his limbs. Rhett curled his palms around the shaking fingers beneath them, holding them steady.

“We’re okay, brother,” he whispered. “You’re okay. I’m here. We’re gonna be okay.”