Chapter Forty Two
Year One, Day Three Hundred and Thirty One
As the two groups come back together for the first time in just over a week there is more than enough sadness and confusion to go around. After almost a year of living inside the compound the community has been forever shaken down to its very core by the tragic string of current events. As they stand there together in a circle around the two newest members of the communities little (but growing larger far too quickly) cemetery, hand in hand with their heads bowed, they utter the Lord’s Prayer together once again. All their voices coming together in chorus, even Cain’s and Sophia’s, as they lay their friends and loved ones to rest under what was left of the willow tree that once dominated the hilltop. Tears fall from their faces to mix with the rain that still falls lightly from the blackened skies above their heads.
Later that night as the compound once again settles in for a long restless night, Veronica lays alone inside her bunker comforted only by the tears that fall on what was once Clay’s pillow. Ray sits propped up against a tree next to his daughter Rose’s grave site, alone save for the empty bottle of whiskey that lies on its side next to him. Holly cries herself to sleep over first the emotional loss of Belle due to her attachment to Lily after the dog attack and now the physical loss of her husband Colt. Lily and Belle (who now walks with a limp from the attack that left her foot maimed) walk to the far side of the compound to sit with Dylan who is feeding Marie with the formula the group was able to bring back under the pavilion by the fire. Sophia withdrawals within herself as protection from a world she no longer understands or has any will to survive in. Willy and Jim sit sipping whiskey and reminiscing over a game of chess and times long past. Doing their best to avoid speaking about the obvious misfortunes that had befallen the compound as of late. Levi and Paige lay together in the entanglement of young lovers’ bliss. The tragic events that have unfolded before them and at the compound making them realize that waiting “for the right time” to fall in love was no longer a sensible or realistic option. Laura and Grant do their best to reach their mother by telling her about the group they had met while they were out and that all was not lost. That the compound had found a friend and an outpost, as well as possibly a future, with Broderick and the others at Firefly Hills. While Cain sits and waits in the skeleton forest beside a rock, under an umbrella, for a friend that has long ago been lost to the madness that is survival beneath the ashen veil of darkness.
Chapter Forty Three
Year Five, Day One Hundred and Seventeen
Paige stands on top of the mountain that overlooks the compound and the valley below. Bleak and desolate in its vastness, the barren forest that once the Ouachita National Forest surrounds them in all directions. She is still annoyed with the fact that Levi drug them all up here without a real explanation, but his persistence finally won her over. Whatever secret he was keeping had him more excited about anything than she had seen him in quite awhile. The savagery of existence in the world of the aftermath of the volcanic eruption didn’t allow for a lot of excitement and pointless frolicking. Paige is quietly preparing her scolding speech for Levi if this all ended up being a big waste of time and used up valuable energy and the limited resources of the compound for his little “field trip.”
“What are we supposed to be looking for Levi?” Jim asks him as he reaches his spot on top of the mountain. “What brought you all the way over here in the first place?” Willy adds. “You’ll see” Levi answers, slightly out of breath from helping his mom up the hill. Veronica’s back still kept her in obvious pain from the fall she had taken on the one (and only) excursion she had accompanied a scavenging party on. Even so, Levi’s smile was brighter than the light from the flashlight he held out in front of them so that they could find their way up the path. Paige realized that it was the first time she had seen Levi smile like that since Cain ran off into the barren Ashland “chasing ghosts from days gone past” Ray had said. None the less it had devastated Veronica and, from association, Levi. Ronnie hadn’t been the same since. Not that she ever fully recovered from the loss of Clay. Sophia had thankfully come back to life not long after Ray had come home. Dylan and Lily’s relationship seemed to help out a lot with that as well. A relationship that, in spite of their age difference of just over three years just seemed to make sense with the way that they had fostered Marie and Belle after Jackson’s and (soon after that) Holly’s suicides.
Belle had been awakened by the eerie sound of a steady creaking (like the sound that comes from someone sitting in a rocking chair on an old porch). Not knowing what the sound was, Belle’s curiosity gets the best of her as she follows the sound into the sitting room of the bunker she shared with her mother. Standing in the entranceway to the room looking into the dark held within, Belle can just make out the silhouette of her mother Holly slowly swinging back and forth, back and forth. Holly had hung herself from the single support beam that ran down the center of the shelter. Standing there for several seconds Belle listens to the hypnotizing creak of the rope as it rubs against the beam. Her mother’s body slowly continues to swing back and forth, back and forth. Belle looks down at the floor and quietly turns around to leave her mother. Limping on her permanently damaged leg she exits the bunker to go and find Lily, the only real mother she had had in quite some time. She would remain at Lily’s side until Jim and Willy went into the bunker to remove Holly’s body and lay her to rest forever on the little hill that overlooks the compound in the cemetery next to her husband. The only thing that Holly left for her only child to remember her by was a note that simply said “Sorry”.
“Again, why do you come all the way over here?” Ray asks. His eyebrows raised in the questioning look of puzzlement. “Dylan and I started coming up here to gather most of the firewood for the community about a year ago so that we wouldn’t keep thinning out what little bit of cover the trees around the compound offered us by chopping them all down and burning them.” Willy and Jim instantly nod in agreement at the foresight that process of thinking offered for the shared optimistic outlook on the future of the compound. “That makes a lot of sense Levi, Dylan. That was good thinking on you boys part” Ray says nodding to the duo as he does. “Wish we would’ve thought about it earlier” Jim adds. “Plus with the way this downgrade runs off over here it would be an excellent spot for a third water filtration station” Willy points out, turning to Levi and Dylan as he adds, “Since you guys are over this way most days anyway.” “That’s a great idea Willy” Ray comments. You could see him working out the schematics as he adds “You know what, that just might work. If we dug this natural run off ditch a little bit more….” Ray, Willy, and Jim instinctually start mapping out the path and position for the barrel as everyone else chuckles at the expected response from the trio who are always looking out for ways to improve things around the compound. “Hey guys! We’re not up here to scout out new filtration stations” Paige jumps in adding “Levi brought us all up here to see something, remember?” “Ha-ha oh yeah. Sorry Levi” Ray says as he takes off his hat and runs his hand through his hair. “Just always looking for things to make life a little easier around here ya know” Willy adds. “It goes without saying how much we all appreciate what you guys do for us and the community” Paige says. “Here and at the outposts” Laura puts in from where she was sitting behind them, “the set up for giving us hot water was like the second coming of Jesus.” The group bursts out in laughter and agreement at Laura’s observation of the boiler tank Willy and Ray had come up with for hot showers at the community washroom.
“Ok son, you have us all up here, so what is it you would like us to see?” Veronica asks from the folding chair Levi had carried up here for her to sit in. “You’ll see. Just be patient” is all Levi says as he turns away from the group and gazes off into the horizon. “Oh Levi” Paige gasps. “Daddy what is that?” Marie, who is now five, asks the only real father she has ever known, “Why does the sky look like that?” Dyla
n scoops Marie up into his arms and places her on his shoulders as he answers her. “Those are the colors of a sunrise baby-girl.”
Standing on the porch overlooking Firefly Hills Grant and Ally stand holding each other next to Xander, Broderick, Benny, and Larry. The spectacle they are witnessing coming over the horizon takes all of their breaths away. Levi had gotten word to them through the CB radios they had rigged up from the eighteen wheelers they had found abandoned on the side of highway two seventy. Every three days at what was designated to be sunrise, they checked in with one another to let everyone know that everything was ok. The gashers had long ago stopped being a problem but you could never be too cautious or take anything for granted. Infection, broken bones, even something as simple as the common cold could mean death while you’re trying to live in the darkness. So they stayed in constant contact. Communicating every three days and getting the two groups together every three months. It had become a tradition that they all looked forward to. Especially since the group had begun to spread out to living at the outpost as well as the compound. Laura for one split her time between the compound and Firefly Hills. Grant, with his relationship and subsequent marriage to Ally had moved permanently to Firefly Hills long ago. Now as they stood looking out at the horizon that laid over the family property of Broderick Thomas, they all wished that this was one of the times they were all together to witness the first unmistakable sign of the true healing power of nature.
The gathered group from the compound stands in awe and wild optimism at the view they are witnessing take place before them. Off on the horizon was an orangey, red globe standing out against the blackened ash cover that has blanketed the earth for more than five years. Thin red and orange tendrils filtered out from it going in all directions fading to light and then dark purple before finally fading back into the black they have all become so accustomed too. “Isn’t it beautiful” Levi whispers, “Dylan and I noticed it about two days ago.” “It’s the most beautiful thing I think I have ever seen” Paige whispers in his ear. “Well, it’s almost the most beautiful thing anyways” Paige adds shyly, kissing Levi on his cheek as she places something in his hand. Looking down he can just make out the results of the positive pregnancy test he is now holding in his hand. Levi’s tears fall from his cheeks to wet his collar as he places his hand on Paige’s belly and kisses her softly on the lips. Pulling back from the kiss he softly whispers “I love you” in Paige’s ear. “And I love you” Paige answers as her own tears of joy and hope begin to form and fall. Hope for herself. Hope for Levi and the community. Hope for their child. Hope…..for the future.
Prologue
The satellite equipment receiving signals had been the indicator that the underground facility beneath Fort Smith, also known as the FEMA residential housing center for western Arkansas, district six, sub-section nine was to begin recon operations for the obtainment of evidence that anyone or anything had survived the aftermath and calamity that followed during the years since the eruption. As Master Sergeant Kenneth Brown stands looking over his team as they pack up camp so that the team can again move out in their search life. His heart is tugged by the dead and barren landscape that greets him and his team around every corner. He hadn’t known what to expect when they ventured out of the underground base for the first time, but this, this was almost more than he could bear. The volcano was quick and efficient in its complete and utter annihilation of the life and civilization that had once scurried across the surface of the planet. As he looks around at the devastation the speaker in his ear fills with static as he can just barely make out his scout team reporting in from the outskirts of town. “Come again Fox Two” he says into his microphone.
Looking down the barrel of his weapon Pvt. Lynch is both shocked and amazed at what he sees resting in the center of his scopes cross hairs. Over his ear piece he hears Sgt. Brown say “Come again Fox Two, last transmission was inaudible.” “I repeat, existence of survivors is confirmed, awaiting orders sir.” As Pvt. Lynch sits waiting on his orders he watches as the man looks at something he is holding in his hand, then places it on the woman’s belly and kisses her softly upon her lips.
“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
Beneath the Ashen Veil of Darkness Page 17