by V. L. Dreyer
He glanced up at me, then looked back down at the little boy, who was nestled in his mother's arms. Suddenly, Zain shoved his way through the crowd and dropped to his knees beside her; he wrapped his arms around his wife and child, and hugged them both fiercely. His eyes shone with tears of relief, and I felt a knot of emotion gathering in my own throat in response. When I looked around, I saw that I wasn't the only one affected by the sight.
"Thank Allah." Elly sighed heavily, hugging her child's battered body. "Someone truly is watching over us this day."
The little boy stirred in her arms. His eyes fluttered open and looked up at her. "Mama? Papa?"
"We're here, Omid," Elly said, with the kind of tenderness that only a parent could have. "It's all right, my baby. You're safe."
"Is he okies?" Priya whispered to me. I just nodded and put my arm around her.
"Yeah, he's okay," I answered. "Thanks to you, Priya. You and Matt."
"No," Priya said quietly. I glanced at her, and saw a strange expression on her face, one that I didn't recognise. "Thanks to Maddy."
"What do you mean?" I asked, equal parts curious and surprised.
"Maddy knew," Priya said, turning to look up at me with huge eyes. "Maddy knew. She said to me last night that a pig was going to come, and we had to save Ommie or he would die. She told me what we had to do. She made me practice with her, and told me which stick to pick up and keep with me. I thought she was just… strange, but she knew, Mama. How? How she knew?"
"I don't know, honey, but I'm glad she knew." I tightened my grip around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. "You did the right thing by listening to her."
"The little girl is a prophet?" Suddenly, Zain's voice interjected. I glanced at him, and found him and Elly watching us with wide eyes. "Madeline?"
"I don't know," I admitted, searching for her in the crowd, but now she was nowhere to be seen. I gave up and looked back at Zain. "Maddy has a gift. We don't know exactly what kind of gift, but whatever it is, it's saving lives."
"It's given us much more than that," Elly said, her tone carrying equal quantities of determination and awe. "That child has given us a miracle. You were the one that said to us that we must find our own hope, to save the children. If Madeline is a prophet, then she is the one that can lead us to a new future."
Suddenly, I heard a child laugh. Maddy squeezed through the wall of people and plopped down on the ground beside them, with her hand resting on Elly's arm.
"That's not my job, Missus Yousefi," Madeline told her. She smiled broadly, an expression that made her little face seem almost angelic. "That's Miss Sandy's job. She's going to save the children – all of the children, even me." Suddenly, she turned and looked at me, her eyes twinkling. "Isn't that right, Miss Sandy?"
Madeline had a way about her that never failed to take me by surprise. It took me a second to recover, but once I did, I simply nodded my agreement. Maddy beamed for a moment, then her expression turned serious.
"We need to go now," she told us all. "There are more pigs. If we wait too long, then they'll come here as well."
"I don't know about you lot, but that's enough warning for me." I straightened up, and gestured broadly to the people gathered around me. "Sorry, guys. Lunch is going to have to wait. Let's clear the forest, and see where we stand after that."
A chorus of wordless grunts met my instructions, and the crowd dispersed back to their assigned tasks. I waited until Ommie had been transferred to one of the trucks, then returned to the vanguard where I belonged.
CHAPTER TEN
We made it to the edge of the forest safely. A shout from the scouts greeted me as I stepped out of the foliage and back onto solid tarmac. I waved to Skylar, then plucked my radio off my belt and relayed the news back to the rest of the convoy.
Within a few minutes, all the vehicles were lined back up and waiting to go. I did a quick headcount to make sure that no one got left behind, including the animals. Once I was sure that everyone was where they were supposed to be, I climbed back into the passenger seat of the Hilux and we were off. Michael was back behind the wheel again, but this time the only company we had was Alfred in the back. I shot a glance at Michael, and studied the contours of his face in the midday sun.
"You're staring at me," he pointed out without looking at me. "What's up?"
"Nothing," I answered. "I'm just thinking about Ryan and Skylar. Or more specifically, Ryan and Hemi. When Ryan figures out how Hemi feels about Skylar, it's going to be trouble. I can feel it in my bones."
"Ah." Michael nodded thoughtfully, then shot me a quick glance and gave me a smile. "There isn't much we can do about it, so try not to worry. Their relationships aren't our problem."
"It's not them I'm concerned about, it's the structural integrity of the group," I replied, sitting back in my seat and folding my arms across my chest. "Still, like you said, there isn't much we can do about it now. I'm going to try and take a nap. Wake me if you need me."
"Of course." Michael turned his attention back towards the road and fell silent. I shifted around in my seat until I was as comfortable as I could be, then closed my eyes and relaxed. At first, my mind was too busy for me to sleep, but eventually the sound of the rain, the hum of the engine, and the boredom of the road lulled me off to sleep.
***
I snapped awake suddenly, instantly alert but uncertain what had woken me.
"What is it?" I demanded. "What's going on, what's wrong?"
"Nothing at all," Michael answered. I glanced at him, and found him peering at me curiously. "Everything is absolutely fine. We just passed Pukeatua, and we should reach Arapuni in another hour."
"Oh." I paused for thought, suddenly feeling a little bit stupid. "That's good. Sorry, it seems like whenever I sleep in the car, I wake up to bad things happening."
"You do have some particularly bad luck in that regard," he agreed, an amused smile dancing across his lips. "But, not this time. Everything's fine. Let me guess: you were having the shoe dream again, weren't you? You always wake up stressed out after the shoe dream."
"Argh, I never should have told you about that," I groaned, covering my face with my hand. "Yes, I was having the shoe dream again."
"It's okay, honey," he said, his tone deep and soothing. "Tell me about it. What was it this time?"
"Well, I guess there's no point trying to hide it." I sighed heavily, and shot him a long, sideways glance. "Sparkly purple pumps. They were awful and magnificent at the same time, but I didn't have enough money to buy them."
"So, what did you do?" Michael asked. His expression was one of eternal patience, even in the face of my stupid recurring dreams.
"Same thing I always do," I admitted. "I stole them. I ran out of the shop wearing these stupid purple stilettos, but then they turned into roller skates. I was skating down the street, wearing sparkly purple pumps. And then the police were chasing me, and—" I stopped mid-sentence and stared at him, suddenly embarrassed.
"—and I was the police officer, wasn't I?" Michael finished for me.
"Yes, but after you arrested me, you started taking your clothes off." I looked away, feigning interest in the foliage on the side of the road. "And you can guess where it went from there."
"Your recurring shoe nightmare turned into a sex dream?" Michael asked incredulously. "You really are a worry, Sandy."
"I know!" I groaned and covered my eyes again. "I don't even know what it is. I'm not obsessed with shoes or anything. I mean, they're all over the place! They're right there for the taking. If I wanted sparkly purple pumps, I could grab some out of any store, and no one would care. So, why does my subconscious turn me into some kind of kleptomaniac shoe fiend all the time?"
"I suspect it has something to do with issues of possession," Michael answered, his voice turning serious. "You mentioned your philosophy, about everything you possess having to be carried on your back from place to place. I think some part of you hates that, and desperately wants to own so
mething pretty and completely frivolous. That's not such a bad thing, Sandy. In fact, once we find a place to settle, I'm going to bring you lots of pretty, frivolous things. I bet that will put an end to your nightmares."
"You think?" I looked at him, far more curious than I had any right to be. "I mean, I don't need any of that stuff. It's not practical. In fact, it's the opposite of practical. We probably shouldn't waste any time on it."
"Just because we live in a post-apocalyptic world doesn't mean that you can't have nice things, honey," he told me firmly, reaching over to take my hand. He gave it a squeeze and smiled at me. "You want to take a turn driving, to distract yourself?"
"Sure," I agreed. "Let's change over all the drivers for the rest of the way. I'm sure the morning drivers could use a rest."
"No kidding," he commented dryly. "Watching you nap was putting me to sleep."
"Well, that doesn't sound very safe at all." I laughed; somehow, Michael always knew just the right things to say to cheer me up when I was feeling down, no matter what the reason was. He just gave me that dopey grin I loved so much, and eased the Hilux over to the side of the road. By the time I'd conveyed the order to switch drivers, he had already climbed out, and come around to open the passenger door for me.
I felt strong arms around me before I even realised that he was there. He undid my seatbelt, guided me out, and wrapped me up in a hug. It was just a brief hug, but it was enough to make my heart race.
"How is it that you always make me feel like a teenager again?" I asked. "In the good way, I mean. Not the grumpy, hormonal, puberty-is-kicking-my-ass way."
He just laughed, of course. "Are you blaming me because you feel good? Again?"
"No!" I exclaimed, shoving myself out of his grip. I planted a quick kiss on his cheek, and raced around to the driver's side. "It is your fault, though."
"I am more than happy to accept the blame for that," he said cheerfully. While I was buckling up and getting myself ready, he reached over and picked up my radio. "Everyone ready to go again?"
"We've been ready for a while, but you were too busy groping our illustrious leader to notice." Skylar's voice crackled through the radio, laced with a heavy dose of sarcasm. My automatic response was to turn red as a beetroot, but thankfully no one was there to see it.
Well, no one except Michael. And he loved it, because it really was entirely his fault.
***
As it turned out, Michael hadn't been kidding about his desire to indulge in a nap. Within a couple of minutes, he nodded off to sleep with his head resting against the glass. I shot a quick glance at him and smiled to myself, then returned my attention back to the not-so-arduous task of driving.
The roads east of Pukeatua were in decent enough condition, compared to some of the other ground we'd covered. We were still in pig country, though, so I kept myself alert for trouble in all its forms. Of course, thinking about pigs turned my mood sour. To lighten it, I distracted myself by trying to think up ways to improve my group's overall chances of success. Eventually, an idea began to form in the back of my head. I picked up the radio and spoke into it.
"Doc, you there?"
A few seconds later, Doctor Cross' voice came on the line. "I'm here. What can I do for you, Ms McDermott?"
"I want to discuss something," I replied. "First, though – how's Ommie?"
"Young Master Omid is doing very well, thank you," the doctor replied. His voice was even and calm, and immediately relaxed my nerves.
"Oh, good." I sighed heavily, and made no attempt to conceal my relief. "Is he awake?"
"Very much so," Doc answered. "In fact, he seems to be more loquacious than he was before the accident. The children were trying to play I Spy earlier, but it somewhat failed due to the fact that Omid isn't terribly good at spelling yet. So, Madeline has taken it upon herself to improve his reading, and she's teaching Priyanka as well. At this rate, I won't even need to hold lessons myself anymore."
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "That's great news. I don't suppose you've had a chance to assess the other Yousefi kids yet? "
"I have, actually," he said. "Mrs Yousefi tells me that she's been teaching them as much as she can along the road, and she's done an excellent job of it. All four of them are fluent in both English and Farsi, and they have a grasp of mathematics and science well beyond their years. She's quite the teacher, if I do say so myself."
"And I have told you to call me 'Elly', Doctor," a third voice intervened, crackling through the radio in my hand. "But, I thank you for the compliment nevertheless."
"Hey, Elly," I greeted her. "I thought you were with the kids?"
"There wasn't enough room," she answered. "I opted to let the good doctor ride with the children, since he can take better care of Ommie at the moment. Besides, it has given me an opportunity to get to know your friend Anahera."
"Ahhh." I nodded my understanding, even though none of them could see it. "I bet you two are getting along like a house on fire. You're cut from the same cloth."
"I like to think that we are, yes," Elly answered.
"Good." I paused for a moment, then took a deep breath and continued. "Speaking of Anahera, is she there?"
There was a moment of silence, then the voice changed to Anahera's. "Yes, Sandrine; I'm here. How can I help?"
"I've got a project for you and Doc," I replied. "We need to start thinking about ways to improve the survivability of our group, and I think the best way we can do that is through education. I don't just mean the kids, either – I want you to go through the entire group, and work out who has skills they're willing to teach. Pair them up with people that want to learn."
"You mean the way you've been picking Zain's brain when you think no one's watching?" Doc asked dryly, his voice carrying a note of deadpan humour.
"We had been trying to avoid making a big deal out of it, but yes, exactly like that," I agreed just as dryly, more amused than annoyed that he'd let the cat out of the bag. Why shouldn't I be the first to do what I was asking the others to? "Talk to people, see what they're interested in. I want everyone to have important basic skills like self-defence, cooking, first aid, driving, and how to start a fire, but we also need to start planning for the long-term survivability of more complex skills. I mean, what would we do if we lost you tomorrow, Doc?"
"To use your own terminology, you'd be pretty much screwed," he replied dryly. "I'm happy to help, of course."
"As am I," Anahera added. "We'll take care of it, don't worry. But, while we're speaking, there is something urgent we need to discuss. I feel it's critically important that we find some way to warn the other people in the Waikato as soon as possible."
"Isn't that why we're going to Avalon Studios?" I asked, uncertain what her point was.
"Well, yes," she answered dryly, "but it'll take us weeks to get there, perhaps even months, and by that stage the entire population of the Waikato may very well have been wiped out. We can't allow that."
"All right," I acknowledged, nodding thoughtfully. "You have a fair point. What's your suggestion?"
"At this stage, I don't know." There was a long sigh on the other end. "But we need to do something. It is our duty to try and save as many as we can, even if all we do is warn them to be away as soon as possible."
"Okay, so we keep our eye out," I said. "If anyone has any ideas or sees anything useful, sing out. Otherwise, we're going to have to keep going and hope for the best. We're almost at Arapuni. Once we get there, I want to find us somewhere secure to bed down for the night. If I remember right, there's a big, empty warehouse somewhere in the north of the town. We should be able to get all the trucks in there and lock the door."
"But we still have a few hours of daylight left," Michael spoke up suddenly in the seat beside me.
I shot a startled glance at him. Everyone else had heard the comment while I was speaking, so I answered them all. "Yes, but we're going to try and convince Rebecca and Jim to join us. If they agree, then they'll
need time to get ready. I want you guys to spend the time foraging. Look for clothing and footwear, specifically. We need to get some stuff for Anahera and her blokes, otherwise they're going to be stuck wearing the same thing until their body odour leads the mutants right to us."
A chorus of guffaws and chuckles punctuated my joke. I grinned to myself and put the radio down, then I shot a glance at Michael. "I thought you were sleeping?"
"And I thought you were driving," he countered, grinning right back at me. "I slept for a bit, but you woke me up. My little social butterfly."
"Oh God, that again?" I groaned and rolled my eyes heavenwards. "If I have to be the boss, then I have to act like the boss, and that includes pretending that I know what I'm doing."
"Well, you certainly do a good job of it." Michael leaned over, and pressed a kiss against the curve of my neck, which sent a shiver all the way down my spine. "Have I told you how sexy it is when you get all commanding?"
"No, and I'm not sure that you should right now," I answered, shooting him an alarmed look. "Do you really want to distract me while I'm driving?"
"Maybe not," he answered with a chuckle, easing himself back into his own personal space. "Sorry. We haven't been getting much private time lately, and ever since you freed the genie…"
"That's what we're calling it now?" I teased, giving him a wicked grin. "That does seem kind of appropriate, considering what happens if I rub it just right."
Michael froze, staring at me, then he burst out laughing so hard that he couldn't speak for several minutes. By the time he got himself back under control, we'd crossed the top of Arapuni dam, and turned north towards the power station, and the township.
"Phew," he gasped when he finally started to sober up. "Thanks, I needed that."
"You're more than welcome," I answered brightly. "Now, if you're done, I need you to do something."
"Anything," he agreed immediately.
"Good." I gave him an appreciative smile, then focused back on the road. "I want you to take Hemi, and go bring Rebecca and Jim to talk to us."