He jerks his head in agreement and slides toward me so I step back out of the way so he can get down. I don’t really know what more to say to him right now but thankfully, Ethan steps up beside me and takes the guy’s arm and leads him toward the building. I watch them for a few seconds before turning back to the open truck door. Joslin has slid over and she’s hovering half in, half out of the truck when we lock eyes again she starts talking.
“Skylar…I just want to say…”
I cut her off mid-sentence. “No, not now. Tomorrow we can talk. I need some time first.”
She nods sadly and looks away as she slides the rest of the way out of the truck and shuts the door. I turn toward the building and see Rex and the boys disappearing through the door so I dash ahead and leave her to follow. I know I’ll have to talk to her eventually about what happened tonight but I’m just not ready. I don’t know if I really ever will be.
I enter the building and take a look around but it’s just your standard plain lobby so I move down a hallway that has lit lanterns every six feet or so. There are rooms off of the hallway but the lantern light doesn’t penetrate them so I just pass them by. Tomorrow will be soon enough to explore. I follow the hallway to the end where I can hear the sound of voices and step into a large open space.
There are lanterns placed all around the huge room and I find myself looking up to the domed glass ceiling that covers the area. With the lanterns on, the glass acts like a mirror and reflects the light back. I can only imagine how much work it’s going to be to clean seven years worth of dirt and grime from the glass in order to let the sun shine through so we can grow plants in here. Again, something to worry about tomorrow.
I catch sight of Rex and the boys off to the left so I head toward them and see a nest of blankets with a few pillows set up. I drop to my knees beside Rex and start pulling the boots from Ben’s feet before guiding him under the blankets and tucking him in for the night. Matty crawls in beside him and once again they snuggle up together like puppies and are asleep almost instantly. I sigh in relief that they’re too exhausted to ask all the questions I’m sure they have about this new place.
I push myself to my feet and look around the large room to get my bearings and see that other nests have been created for sleeping. Belle and Sasha have already laid down and next to them, just a few feet away, Ethan is kneeling in front of Jackson and coaxing him down to the floor where he drapes a blanket over him. I keep turning in a circle until I noticed Joslin standing in the entryway, still looking hesitant. I turn away from her before she sees me looking in her direction and lean toward Rex.
“Can you help her, please? I just can’t…deal with her yet.”
He looks over toward the entry to the room and sees her standing there before giving my arm a squeeze. “Yeah of course. I’ll take care of it. Why don’t you lay down with the boys and get some sleep? We’re going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow and it’s already pretty late.”
I lean forward and rest my head against his shoulder for a second.
“Thank you, Rex,” I whisper. “Thank you for everything. I don’t know if I could… I mean, AIRIA…Benny…” My voice chokes off as grief swamps me.
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me against him in a hug and whispers into my hair. “I’m here for you Skylar, I’m here for all of it. Don’t worry about Benny. I’ll help you. I’ll help you with everything. We will keep him safe and will build something real here. Something to be proud of.”
With a last squeeze, he lets me go and pushes to his feet and heads toward Joslin. I let him handle her and crawl into the blankets with the boys, pulling both of them close to me and close my eyes. I want to escape in sleep but my mind won’t stop going round and round with all the memories I have of AIRIA and my lost home. There are so many “what if’s” that I circle around on how I could have done things differently to maybe change the outcome of what happened. I lay there for hours after I hear Rex join us on the other side of the boys but no answers come to me. I finally just give up on second-guessing and start to accept the changes in mine and Ben’s life as the darkness of the room starts to brighten. It’s then that I finally find the escape of sleep I was looking for.
Chapter Two … Skylar
When I open my eyes next it’s to the sun shining down on me. Even through the dirty, dusty windows of the atrium, it feels glorious. I stretch my stiff body, my muscles are sore from sleeping on the hard concrete floor with nothing but a blanket to provide padding and reach for Ben. The blanket beside me is heaped into a pile and there’s no sign of either of the two boys that I fell asleep with. Rex is missing too so I assume he’s taking care of them but when I sit up and look around the room I see that I’m the only one in it.
I quickly push to my feet and follow the hallway and the smell of oatmeal in the air. I start checking doors randomly until I come to the one with a kitchen behind it. Belle and Sasha are the only ones in there and they are stacking the food we brought from my pantry onto shelves. I step deeper into the room and rub my eyes just as Belle turns to reach into a half-empty bin. When she sees me, a sweet smile crosses her face and she comes rushing over to me.
“Skylar there you are! Oh sweetie, you look so tired. Rex said that you didn’t sleep much last night so we let you rest.” She reaches out and grabs my hands, peering down at them with a frown. “How are you feeling? Are your hands still hurting you?”
I stiffen in surprise but force myself to stand still with my hands resting in hers as she studies the healing palms. I gradually relax and let her warmth and kindness wash over me. I haven’t had a real conversation with Belle since the day she helped me get ready for our party in my bathroom. I had forgotten just how kind and caring she is.
I close my hands around hers and give them a small squeeze. “I’m okay Belle. My hands are healing nicely but I am a little bit tired. I had a lot to process last night so it took me a while to fall asleep.” I look past her and notice Sasha has stopped stacking food and is now watching us. I take in everything they’ve managed to stack on shelves so far and wince. “Wow, it sure felt like we brought a whole lot more last night while we were clearing the shelves of my pantry.”
Belle lets go of my hands and turns to the side to wrap one arm around my shoulders and takes in the shelves as well. She gives a little laugh. “We’ve barely scratched the surface, honey. Sasha and I have been bringing in the bins ourselves because we lost our heavy lifters first thing this morning so we haven’t made a whole lot of progress.”
I lift my eyebrows in confusion. “Oh? Where’s everybody at then?”
She gives my shoulder another squeeze and then drops her arm and heads back to the bin they were unloading to keep emptying it as she talks.
“Well, the men were up first thing this morning grumbling about sleeping on concrete so they went out to check all the cabins and decided that most of the mattresses in there are useless. So they unloaded the cargo truck and drove it over to some resort that’s nearby to scavenge new ones as well as more bedding. They left a stack of the supplies in front of the door outside that Sasha and I have been bringing in bit by bit.”
I stiffen in concern at that. “They took Benny and Matty on a scavenging run?” I ask in a sharp tone.
Belle looks up at me with a frown and shakes her head. “No of course not! The boys are outside entertaining themselves with the cow and chickens. Don’t worry, Joslin’s watching over them.”
I don’t even bother replying to that. I just spin on my heel and storm out of the room down the hallway and out the main doors. I’m looking in every direction but freeze when I hear Ben’s high-pitched squeal of laughter and zero in on him. I want to be angry that the boys have been left with Joslin, who I don’t consider a real part of our group, but it’s hard to keep that feeling when I see the look of pure joy on my little brother’s face as she pushes him on a swing for the very first time.
It brings back memories of when I was small and my mo
ther would push me on the swing. The thrill and rush of happiness to soar back and forth while clutching the chains is a unique childhood must that my brother never got. I let the anger go and slowly walk over to the play structure on the opposite side of the yard. I feel a laugh bubbling up in my chest when Matty zooms down the slide with an almost perfect replica of Marsh’s trademark rebel yell. This is what I wanted for Ben. A life under the sun where he could run and play and laugh with his best friend. The loss of the bunker and AIRIA dims slightly at the sound of their laughter.
“Sky, Sky! Look at me! Look at how high I’m going!” He yells in delight when he sees me coming. I let the smile grow bigger on my face at the pure joy he’s feeling. Matty dashes toward me and skids to a stop.
“Can you push me on the other swing? I want to fly too!” He begs.
I start nodding my head but Joslin speaks up.
“I’ll push you, Matty. Let’s let Skylar push her brother for a bit first.”
It’s kindness and understanding that I see in her eyes before she quickly looks away and moves over to the next swing in the row as Matty whoops out his agreement. I have so many conflicting feelings about this girl but I still don’t want to deal with them yet so I just move into position behind Ben and give him a light push to keep him swinging. Soon Matty is pumping his legs and they’re both flying in tandem. I let myself relax in the repetitive motion and start to look around between pushes. I’m getting my first real look at the camp after coming here last night in the darkness and I like what I see.
The large double gates are closed, leaving us secured with the wall running all the way around the camp. I count eight small cabins and two other buildings besides the main one we slept in last night. I can see Nods tethered like a dog to a post that has a bare metal ring on it that once must have been a basketball hoop. There’s a mound of hay spread out around her and she seems happy enough. There’s no sign of the chickens but I can hear their squawking now and again so they must be around here somewhere. I feel bad knowing that I didn’t tend to them myself last night but I’m grateful someone took care of it. My eyes land on the pile of bins and supplies that we had filled the truck with sitting in front of the main building waiting to be put away. I wince at the reminder of all the work that needs to be done that I’m shirking.
I stop pushing Ben and let him slow down. “Ok, guys. Break time is over! We have a lot of work to do to get this place set up and I’m going to need your help.”
Both boys jump from the swing seats and nod eagerly. I beam at them proudly. They’ve both missed out on a lot of normal childhood activities in their short lives but they never hesitate to lend a hand when work needs to be done. They’re such good boys. All four of us head toward the stack of supplies just as Belle and Sasha come out of the building to grab another bin. When we meet up with them, I point at the stack.
“I’m not sure which ones have the meat and other perishables we took from the fridge and freezer last night but they need to be done next or we could lose a bunch to thawing. We need to cook, can, dehydrate or smoke everything we can before we lose it.”
Joslin clears her throat and steps forward. “Actually, we should be able to keep it the way it is.” When we all just stare at her she continues. “In one of the truckloads that came here in the last few days were some boxes with solar panels, batteries, and inverters. Once the guys get back we can hook them up to get the freezers and fridge working but until then we should take them inside and put them somewhere that’s cool so they last as long as possible.”
I look away from her back toward the pile considering everything we brought and ask, “How much power can we get from what you had sent over?”
She lifts her hands up in front of her and looks down at them before shaking her head and dropping them back to her sides. “Sorry, I’m used to having my tablet with me to get all the information that I need. I’ll have to check the lists and calculate how much of a load we can put on them. We did bring the generators but fuel will be a concern.”
I nod my head in agreement. “Okay, then let’s just start with getting all this stuff inside.” I turn to the boys. “Matty, Ben, you two start carrying the plants into the atrium and stack them along the far wall for now and us girls will carry in the bins to the kitchen. It’s going to take a while to sort through everything that we brought so let’s just start with relocating everything indoors.”
We get to work moving everything, with some bins being so heavy that two of us are needed to carry them inside, but slowly the pile disappears. Joslin and Sasha stay inside to start sorting the goods while Belle and I head out to grab the last two bins. I’ve just bent over to pick up mine when the sound of engines reach us and I stand up again.
Belle and I both turned toward the gates and my hand automatically reaches down to rest on my holstered handgun that’s not there. I blow out an annoyed breath. It’s been less than a week since the General disarmed me and I’ve already gotten used to not carrying one around. I never even thought about being un-armed this morning. That’s going to need to change. It’s a dangerous world out here even if it seems like there’s no one around and we’re going to have to protect ourselves every minute of every day just in case.
Thankfully, we see Marsh push the gates open to allow the cargo truck, my dad’s pickup truck and surprisingly, a tractor pulling a flatbed trailer with what looks like farming attachments on it through. They must have driven down to the planting fields and got it this morning. Clearly they had no problems, but it concerns me that they went somewhere we didn’t know they were going and we have no way to communicate with each other if something had gone wrong. We’re going to have to have a meeting and lay out some basic rules to make sure all possible eventualities are covered. Right now, I’m just glad they made it back so I stand with Belle and wait for them to drive up.
Lance, Ethan, Jackson, and Rex jump down from the trucks and tractor and head toward us with grins on their faces while Marsh is reclosing and securing the gates. Rex comes over to me and drapes an arm around my shoulder and gives me a squeeze.
“Hello sleepyhead! Sorry I didn’t get to talk to you this morning but we wanted to get a jump on things and I felt like you needed a few more hours of sleep.”
I give him a smile but motion toward the tractor. “I didn’t realize you guys were going to go so far away. I thought you were just going over to the resort. You didn’t run into any trouble?”
Lance is the one that answers me. “No, no trouble and that’s exactly why we wanted to go right away. We figure it’s going to take a while for any of the people we left back there to make it to the fields on foot so we wanted to go and get what we could before they showed up. If they’re smart, that’s where they’re going to head. The only food anywhere around here is sitting down in that field.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “You really think they’re going to make it that long? It will be months before any of the seeds they planted will produce.”
Lance nods his head with a grimace. “It’s not just the crops that they’re going to be after. There were four pallets of MREs sitting in one of the supply tents they set up. They moved them there for when they were going to relocate the workers to live on site. We took one pallet with us along with the tractor and the attachments that we will need to plant our own crops up here, but Jackson made a good point. He reminded us that not all the soldiers were bad or agreed with his father’s plans. Right now, they face starvation so we felt it was the right thing to do to leave three pallets for them. If they’re careful they can ration them out to last until some of the crops start producing.”
I look over at Jackson but he has his back half turned to us and is staring out into the distance. He must be having an even harder time than I am with all of this. I might have lost AIRIA yesterday but he walked away from his father. No matter how at odds they were, he’s probably still concerned about his well-being. Instead of bringing the painful subject up with him, I leave him
to his thoughts and turn back to Lance.
“Do you think that’s going to be a threat to us? They’re not exactly close to here but they’re not as far away as I would like.”
He shrugs a shoulder. “I’d like to say no but there’s no way to tell for sure. There’s no reason for any of them to head up in this direction, especially on foot. There are buildings much closer to the planting fields than these ones so I can see them hunkering down close by to the crops and not venturing too far away. Who knows what any of them will do at this point. Some of them might go in the opposite direction and try heading to Banff to see what they can find there. Some might even carry on past the fields and head toward Calgary. It’s impossible to know what will happen in the next few months so we just have to concentrate on our area and make sure we take our security seriously.”
I nod in agreement and think of all the things that we need to accomplish in the next while and decide we should have a more structured meeting before we all scatter to jump into projects. Marsh has joined us after closing the gates and Sasha and Joslin have come out as well so I figure now’s as good a time as any.
“I think we should go take a seat at the picnic tables and have a discussion before we move on to anything else. There’s a lot of things we don’t know about what happened yesterday and I’m sure we all have questions. We should also draw up some lists and prioritize what needs to be done first.”
I glance over at Joslin but she’s looking at her feet and won’t meet my eyes. She’s going to have to provide us with the information we need to know about what happened in the bunker. Lance pulls my attention away from her by agreeing with me.
“You’re right Skylar, we do need some answers but more importantly we have to prioritize our to-do lists and figure out who’s going to be doing what. As much as I think we’re safe here, at least for a while, I think we should have some sort of guard rotation to keep watch. Let’s go take a seat and we can start figuring some of the stuff out.”
Endless Winter Box Set: Books 1 - 4 Page 53