by Muga, D. M.
Isabelle looks over to her sister for confirmation, and Mia nods without saying anything then goes back to stuffing her face with the stew.
Good God! They must be starving... poor girls.
Ben walks over to Eileen and kisses her on the top of her head. “Thanks for vouching for me.” He says as he smiles.
“Sure thing, hon.” She says with a grin. “But before you eat, you should probably go rinse off.”
Ben lifts his arm, smelling his musky odor.
I did do a lot of running around and heavy lifting today…
“Yeah, alright. I’ll take the first shower.” Ben replies.
“Make it a short one though, Ben.” Eileen adds. “We need to save enough warm water for the girls and then Alexander, too. Plus, once you get out, the girls can jump in the shower and you can sit down and enjoy your dinner. Who’s up first for watch tonight, again?”
Ben raises his hand. “First watch shift is mine for this week.”
She nods to him. “Okay. You go get cleaned up. Then I’ll get them ready to get cleaned up and get them situated to get ready for bed. Where are they sleeping?”
“The couch pulls out into a bed.” Ben replies.
Eileen turns to the girls. “Mia, Isabelle… Is that okay with you, sleeping on the couch bed after you two take a shower?”
Neither of the girls answer right away, when they both look up. Isabelle looks to Mia, then Mia looks to Alexander. Alexander nods. “It’s comfy. I slept there the first night I came here a couple months ago.”
This gets a question out of Mia. “You didn’t live here before?”
Alexander smiles at her. “No, Mia. I met Ben when all of this started, and then Eileen a couple days later. This is Ben’s Uncle’s home and he was kind enough to share it with us. His name’s Steven, remember?”
Mia nods.
“I used to live out on the east coast with my wife, Michelle, and daughters… Sydney was your sister's age, and Aliyah was 13.” Alexander explained.
“Oh, they aren’t here, too?” Mia asks.
“No, Mia. They are not…” Alexander replies.
Ben can feel his heart sink thinking about Alexander's family and the grief he must still be going through.
“What happened to them?” Mia asks, just as any young child would ask without thinking of the implications.
“Well, they moved to where my wife was born, in Illinois. Do you know where that is?” Alexander asks.
“Yes, I've seen it on a map. My family moved here from Texas. We used to live in San Antonio.” Mia replies.
“Very nice! I have never been but hear Texas is nice.” Alexander answers and Mia nods.
Ben notices that Isabelle has stopped eating and is listening to Alexander as well. What is more, Eileen’s listening too. All of them were interested to find out what happened to Alexander’s family, including Ben.
“My wife went back to nursing, raising our daughters. Some years later, Aliyah became a nurse too and eventually had a family of her own, with two kids, Trent and Leah. Sydney, my youngest, went into the Air Force. She became a scientist like me, and eventually became a leader in the Space Force.” Alexander explained.
Wow! Space force, huh? No shit...
“So, one turned out like her mom and the other like you? Did the one that went to the Space Force get to go into Outer Space?!” Mia asks.
“Yes, she did… several times.” Alexander replies.
“Your daughter was an astronaut?!” Isabelle asks, with this being the first time Ben has heard the little one’s voice.
“Yes, Isabelle. She was.” Alexander replies.
“Wow.” Isabelle says slowly.
“Where are they now?” Mia asks.
This question really hurt Ben’s heart. Geez, kid. Just twist the knife in, why don’t you.
Alexander smiles at the young girl. “They lived their long lives, after we were all trapped in this Radius, and they all passed away a long time ago.”
Mia looks embarrassed for a moment. “Oh… I'm sorry, Alexander.”
“It’s alright Mia. It was a very long time ago.” Alexander replies, “A very long time indeed.”
Alexander looks up to Ben and then over at Eileen.
“I’m glad you were able to find out what happened to your family, Alexander.” Eileen says, barely being able to hold back her tears, but still with her eyes glistening.
Ben scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, sounds like they turned out pretty damn awesome, Alexander.”
“They did, didn’t they.” Alexander answers.
“I think so.” Mia replies.
“Me too!” Isabelle adds.
Alexander smiles at the two girls and they both provide small smiles in return.
Well that's a good sign. Hopefully, as time goes by… they start to feel safer and start getting back to being kids. I truly hope that they have a chance to regain their childhoods and grow up, just like Alexander's kids did.
Ben sighs. “Alright, I better go clean up.”
“What?” Eileen says. “You’re still here? Go get cleaned up stinky!”
This gets another smile and even a light giggle from the girls.
“Alright, alright… I’m out of here.” Ben says, smiling as he turns to head downstairs to get cleaned up, then get some food, then off to his watch shift.
16
Eileen Rivera
Taking one day to get the girls settled in and the animals situated actually ended up taking two days and a couple trips to the Lake Drive Marketplace for supplies. Eileen had begun to realize just how reliant they had been on their phones and SuperNet up to this point.
Yesterday, she was on one of the trips to the Lake Drive Marketplace and there was a good amount of the people from town that were very worried about the lack of communication. Sheriff Steven, was riddled with questions... which he had no answers to.
Whereas, the group had a good idea of why there was a recent change in their communication capabilities, with that change being the lack thereof, Steven was not ready to start a panic and get people all riled up.
He continued to assure them that he would speak with Captain Jackson and see if he couldn’t help with the situation. Eileen and Ben had provided many of the same assurances during their afternoon patrol of the small town of Crestline, that Tuesday afternoon. In truth, it was Alexander and Steven’s theory that Captain Abraham Jackson was behind the sudden loss of communications and the SuperNet. It didn't take much convincing for Eileen and Ben to see their reasoning and logic.
Adding more fuel to the fire of distrust between the mountain communities and the people of Earth two, the four of them were convinced that Captain Abraham Jackson and the Federalists had something to do with Edwards Air Force Base, too.
To find out more information, Steven sent Deputy Joseph Gomez along with Deputy Janice Fuller and a small group of other people from Crestline’s newly formed militia, the DFC, to Edwards Air Force Base. The groups consisted of two vehicles and eight people in total. Steven wanted to avoid another situation of their people being outnumbered in another conflict along the roads.
Eileen found it interesting that two of the new members of the DFC were the young couple from the stockades, Briana and Christian, which Alexander had pointed out to her. She was happy to see such young people stepping up to help their community and protect it. She figured it made sense for the wrongfully accused young couple, not wanting what happened to them to happen to anyone else.
Regardless, the scouting group of the DFC left earlier this morning and were expected to drive back by this afternoon. Steven had sent them the back way through the mountain to the High Desert, instructing them to take the 395 up toward Edwards. They were instructed not to go in if it looked dangerous, and at the sign of trouble to high-tail it back home. In the world before the Radius, the trip would have only taken an hour and half. With the group leaving around 8:00 AM on this Wednesday morning, they weren’t expected b
ack until around 4:00 PM, before they would get worried about them.
Shortly after the scouting group had left, Mia and Isabelle had a ceremony to celebrate the life of their mother. Alexander and Ben had thought it best to bury her in the far back corner of the property, in the area right before it slopes down. The idea was that the girls could come visit their mother’s grave when they wanted, and talk to her.
Steven agreed with the idea, but Eileen wasn’t sure if it was really healthy for the girls. Alexander had reminded her that people had been doing this practice for centuries and many relatives had often been buried near their homes so they could pay their respects.
Eileen trusted Alexander’s opinion and saw that he wanted nothing more than to take care of the two young girls. The younger one, Isabelle still didn’t speak much, but Mia had started to talk more and more to Alexander, to herself, and even to Steven and Ben. Eileen hoped that in time, Isabelle would open up more as well.
The ceremony was short, with the girls saying goodbye to their mother over her grave, a wooden cross as her marker. Both girls cried and then Alexander ushered them back into the house to look at the new clothes that had been acquired for them at the Lake Drive Marketplace.
They had also been able to find some feed for the animals and enough studded T-posts and vinyl welded wire to help enclose and separate the animals, keeping the chickens and rooster in the smaller shed, and the sheep with the piglets in the larger shed. This is what Eileen was doing with Ben when she heard vehicles pull up in front of the house.
She looks to Ben and then Ben looks to the sky.
“If I had to guess, it’s around 1400. Maybe… I don’t know. It’s after noon, for sure. It’s really hard to tell without our phones. But it sounds like the scouting party has returned.” Ben says.
“Yeah, we need to get watches next time we are in the Market. We should have thought about this earlier.” Eileen replies.
Ben shrugs. “We can’t always think of everything.”
“I expect more from you, Ben. You are supposed to be the prepper guy.” Eileen says with a sarcastic smirk.
“Yeah, whatever you say…” Ben says with a smile.
She nods. “Good, you’re catching on.” She says and laughs at him.
“We better go see what the news is.” Ben says, putting down the tools and the last bit of the vinyl fencing.
She gets up and follows him through the side of the house, careful not to trip on the alarm system that Ben had set up when they moved in. It was made up of ropes and a lot of various items that bang against each other and make noise. She follows him through the side gate, closing it behind her, which puts them just outside the front porch of the cabin.
She can see Joseph, Janice, Briana, Christian, and the others all talking at once with a frustrated look on Steven’s face and wide-eyed look on Alexander’s. She and Ben walk up to the group.
“Quiet!” Steven shouts. “You all aren’t making any sense!”
“Where are the girls?” Eileen asks Alexander.
“They are inside resting. They are still pretty tired from today’s events and likely still recovering from everything that happened with those monsters out on the road.” Alexander replies.
“Now! One at a time… Please! Joseph, why don’t you start us off.” Steven says loudly.
The rest of the group looks to Joseph. Joseph sighs and she can see that he’s trying to calm himself down.
“Everyone’s dead, Sheriff. And I mean everyone.” Joseph blurts out.
What?! Everyone at the base is gone?!
“Everyone at Edwards is dead? Are you sure?” Steven asks.
“No, Sheriff… you’re not understanding me. It’s not just Edwards. When we got to Kramer Junction… that’s when we saw the first of them.” Joseph adds.
“The first of who, Joseph?” Steven asks.
“The first of the dead bodies, Sheriff… and we kept going to Edwards and saw more of the same.” Joseph replies.
“How did they die, Joseph? Were they shot?” Steven asks.
“No clue, Sheriff. But we didn’t see any wounds or blood anywhere. Just bodies collapsed on the ground, on the road, in houses, at the base, and it just kept going. Once we got to Mojave… where your contact was located… we finally got the idea that it may have been a virus or disease.” Joseph explains.
Oh dear God! A deadly pathogen?! Eileen thinks as her eyes go wide and she looks at Ben.
“But, Joseph, you all are fine.” Steven points out.
“Right! Yeah that took us a little bit to catch on to... after we were done panicking for a little bit.” Joseph answers.
Eileen then sees the look of embarrassment on several of the group's faces.
“So, it’s not a pathogen or a virus? How do you know?” Eileen asks.
Joseph shrugs. “We don’t really know for sure, but if it was… I don’t think we would have made it back at all. I mean if the bodies were carriers, there were so many of them that we would have got it too. Right?”
“Deputy Gomez. What did the bodies look like? Were there any signs of vomit or blood, or anything that was strange at all?” Alexander questions.
“Aside from all of them being dead? No… wait… just their eyes.” Joseph admits.
“What was wrong with their eyes?” Steven asks.
“Nothing really, just the fact that they were all closed. Every single one of them. I didn’t think much of it at first, but after what we saw on the road… with the women and children… It finally struck me as strange. A lot of their eyes were open after they died and we pulled them from that trailer of death. This was not like that. None of these bodies’ eyes were open... not a single one.” Joseph explains.
“Are you certain Deputy Gomez?” Alexander asks.
Eileen can see that the man’s brain is working full speed and he’s thinking something, for sure.
“I can’t say for sure, but everybody that I saw, had their eyes closed. We went from Mojave down toward Rosemond and even Lancaster. A whole shit load of the same. Without GPS and not knowing what else was in front of us… and honestly with all of us being pretty freaked out, we turned around and went the same way back home... here.”
“Smart thinking, Joseph.” Steven says, scratching the back of his head. “I’m glad you all made it back here safe and sound.”
“So, Deputy Joseph… if you had to describe these bodies, did they appear as though they were sleeping?” Alexander says, interrupting Steven.
Joseph looks to Janice and then to the rest of them and their heads all nod.
“Yeah, sleeping is a good way of describing what they looked like. But they were not sleeping. We checked dozens of bodies before we stopped checking.” Joseph replies.
Sleeping… wait... Eileen thinks, connecting the dots for herself.
“Son of a bitch… it was the sleepers.” Ben says it loud enough for everyone to hear, but likely just meant to think it to himself. Looking up, he realized he said it aloud.
Alexander shakes his head and sighs. “Yes. I'm afraid so. I believe this had to do with the sleepers that Commander Yang warned us about.”
“Shit! I knew they had something to do with this! Between this and them knocking out our communications and access to the SuperNet…” Steven says aloud and angrily, likely also not realizing he was speaking his mind and not in his mind.
He looks up and sees that everyone is catching on to his train of thought. “Alright… Nobody panic, and nobody is to create panic. You hear me?! Everyone here, keeps their damn mouth shut!”
He looks around the group, to all of them. “Do you understand me?!”
This elicits a bunch of quick nods at once.
“Good! Alright. Here’s what we are going to do. You all get back in your vehicles and use your bullhorns to go around town to let everyone know that there’s an emergency meeting at the Post Office. don't tell them what you saw. I will tell everyone at the meeting.” Steven explains.
This receives another round of nods.
“Again, don’t go scaring the shit out of people. Give me a few hours to formulate a viable plan and we’ll go over it at the meeting.” Steven adds.
“What time is the emergency meeting, Sheriff?” Briana asks.
He looks down at his wristwatch. “We’ll say in four hours, at 1800 or 6:00 PM.”
Of course he thought ahead enough to have a wristwatch… or has he always had one?
The group just stands there awaiting further instruction. No one ready to move, letting the new information sink in.
“Alright ladies and gents! This is the primary reason we formed the DFC, to help us defend against aggressors and invading forces. Don't panic and keep a level head! Get the word out about the meeting and then meet me at the Post Office at 1800. Now you all get going!” Steven explains and then orders.
With the groups saying their goodbyes, the two vehicles are filled back up with the scouting party and they all head off with their orders.
Once they are gone, only the four of them remaining, standing in the driveway.
After a moment, Steven speaks again. “Son a bitch! I knew they were up to no good. With that talk of helping us but referring to us as your kind. Arrogant pieces of shits! They think they can just come back and invade us.”
“What?! Invade us?!” Eileen asks, alarmed.
Steven looks up to her and doesn’t respond.
“He’s right Eileen. It’s damn near a textbook invasion. You go after a region that is already in chaos. You take out their military. You take out their communications. Then you come in, offering help and salvation.” Ben replies.
“We just cannot catch a break, can we?! It’s enough that we have each lost people that we have loved. Then we are thrown into this whirlwind of a new world, 1,400 years into the future...” Eileen begins.
“Actually, 1,410 years into the future, Eileen…” Alexander interrupts.
“Dammit, Alexander… really? Right now? I know the exact amount of years. That’s not the point. The point is that we had to have an actual battle! That’s right! A freaking battle with the MS13 gang! The point is that we are now attempting to take in and raise two young girls because their parents were killed by monsters and rapists! My point is that we just got finished dealing with a psychotic maniac that has been picking us off one by one... even the late Sheriff Patterson. My point is!” Eileen continues her rant of anger and frustration with the realization that they are about to be invaded in the very near future and are going to be having to fight for their lives again.