by Susan Lowry
Travis grumbled under his breath while he removed his lifejacket. He climbed out of the boat onto the dock and Lucy handed him his bag. “I guess Rose wants me for dinner. See you later,” he said, irritably.
Lucy watched him trudge across the wooden planks and then down the path to his cottage. She sighed and finished putting the boat in order. The hot day had been tiring and as she began to gather her things her thoughts turned to the meal she knew Sarah would have waiting for her.
She hadn’t expected to find Christopher at their picnic table and her heart began to pound as she skipped up the hill toward him. At the sound of her steps he glanced behind him. “Hey there Lucy!” He patted the spot on the bench beside him. “Come sit by me pumpkin.”
Lucy squeezed in beside him. “Glad to finally see you around. Thought you’d gone on vacation or something,” she teased. “Oh, by the way, we found thirteen turkeys in the bay!”
“That’s awesome,” said Sarah, who had just arrived. She set three plates, heaping with food, on the plastic cloth with some napkins and a pitcher of water and sat across from them.
Her hair seemed shinier than ever in the early evening light as she smiled at Lucy with her green eyes sparkling. “Could see the two of you docking the boat from the window. Did you have a good day?”
Lucy nodded and then gazed at Christopher. “I was thinking that next spring, if the turkeys are doing okay of course, it might not hurt if we borrowed a few of their eggs. Don’t you think we could use the protein? I mean, with us women in our reproductive years and all,” she said, earnestly.
“Well,” Sarah sighed, still smiling as she sat across from her, “I doubt they will be all that far along by then, they’re probably about as fragile as we are – like everything that’s survived. We’ve been discussing that a lot. Jack, Kate and I at least.” She glanced at Christopher. “We are quite capable of growing all the nutritious food we require.”
“I think I’m just overly hungry at the moment,” Lucy conceded. Her mouth was watering. “You made your spicy burritos again. They’re my favourite!”
Christopher took a huge bite, put his burrito back down on his plate and finished chewing. Then he cleared his throat. “There is something I wanted to talk to you about, pumpkin.”
Lucy groaned. “It’s about time,” she said, and suddenly shifted her gaze to Sarah. “But, I thought we’d discuss that privately.”
He squirmed a little. “Well, I don’t think it’s exactly what you’re expecting. But, you know, we all agreed that you are too young to have a child just yet — not at fifteen, Lucy. In a few years you’ll make a fine mother, but we want you to wait.”
She could feel the blood rushing to her face. This was supposed to be between the two of them; it wasn’t for anyone else to decide. She was going to be sixteen in a few months and besides, with everything she had gone through her maturity was that of a twenty-year-old. Christopher was well aware of that, he had told her so himself. She felt betrayed.
“Sarah, I — I can’t believe you –”
Christopher’s eyes were solemn as he took her hand. “I’m thirty-five Lucy, way too old for you. Sarah and I make more sense. You’ll see that in time.”
Lucy couldn’t breathe. “That — that’s not what you told me before.”
“Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry.” Sarah’s huge eyes were welling up with sympathy and sparkling like emeralds. “But, it’s better to get this out in the open. The last thing we want is to hurt you hon; that’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid — though I’m sure it doesn’t seem that way to you right now. In the long-run you will see that this was the right thing to do, Lucy — please believe me sweetie.”
In a nightmarish fog, she could barely speak, but knew immediately what was required of her. “I — I’ll get Jack to help me with my trunk,” she whispered. “Just need to pack it up again.”
She left her dinner on the picnic bench and began to walk away from them, then to run across the grass toward the cottage. She opened the screen door, rushed inside to her room, and sat on the bed in a daze — her experiences since the plague had hit were playing over in her head.
Despite the continual pings from Travis pleading that she try to hang on a little longer, Christopher was the one who’d found her at death’s door; she had all but given up and wanted him to leave her to die. But he’d encouraged her to keep on trying to survive, promising that it would be worth it, convincing her they had a brighter future together.
Lucy was too shocked to cry. She sent a ping to Travis, telling him to bring Jack to help them move her things to another cottage. She placed the photos of her foster-family at the bottom of the trunk unable to fathom that this betrayal had actually just occurred, chastising herself for having been so naïve. The signs had been so glaringly in front of her for the last several weeks. Even Travis has seen them.
With someone as beautiful as Sarah around, she hadn’t had a chance. It was cruel that of all the people at Moonstone, she had liked and trusted Sarah the most. None of them had the right to judge her maturity; they didn’t understand that life had made her grow up fast, even before the plague. And yet, after everything she’d been through, they all — except for Travis — still believed she was a child.
But, Christopher had broken so many promises. When she had been well enough, he’d taken her with him in search of more survivors. Eventually Lucy had made him understand that it was Travis who had guided the astronaut to her. Then, she had brought light to the man’s latent telepathic-gifts. It had been no easy task convincing him there were others just like them out there — others with whom Travis was in contact, both by physical proximity and telepathically.
Once this had finally sunk in, they had laboured to preserve what was left of civilization and bring it to the survivors. It felt like they had been through so much together. Her trust that he loved her and wanted to start a family was what had given her motivation to go on from the start. But now that he’d found Sarah, it was obvious all of that had meant nothing to him.
Chapter Nine
The Stranger
(July 26th, Year Two, PA)
Kevin brought his car to a short stop before the Moonstone Lake Resort sign. A new message had been hung beneath it recently: SURVIVORS AT THE LAKE, PLEASE DON’T PASS US BY!
Without delay he started down the country road. But when the lake and cottages were visible through the trees he drove off the road where his vehicle was concealed in the bushes. His cowardice was soul-shattering — so utterly uncharacteristic of his previous self. Yet, now that he was so close, Hannah’s dark theory regarding the survivors replayed in his mind and he felt paralysed by the possibility she’d been right all along.
Survivalism had intrigued him in his youth, picturing himself in differing versions of a post-apocalyptic world — well-armed with weapons and supplies and physically fit for the challenges. He had always enjoyed a little danger, taking unnecessary risks just for the thrill. His parents had worried about him. But life got so busy in his college years. Now that seemed in another universe.
The reality of what had happened, especially since he’d lost Hannah, had made a young man old and he felt ready to throw in the towel. But he deserved some closure and hoped Moonstone would provide it. Somewhere inside of him there had to be at least a smidgeon of his old spunk. He just needed to dig deep enough.
***
“Lucy, is this your sister?”
“Foster-sister… an hour before the crash, or so.”
“Was she nice?”
“Yes she was.”
“Lucy?”
“What?” She could hear the emotional void in her voice as she pulled some earrings from the trunk and put them in a drawer.
Travis pinched his lips together thoughtfully. “I’m sorry you aren’t going to marry the astronaut. But that’s only because he’s made you so sad.” His perfect eyebrows arched high on his forehead and then creased. “Do you know why I’m glad about it?”
>
Of course she did, but she couldn’t possibly talk about that right now.
“I want to be a father someday.”
He was going to make her weep again.
“Hon, help me move the chest out of our way so we have more room to unpack.” She blinked and a tear ran to the side of her nose.
“You’re crying. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to —”
“That’s okay. It isn’t you. Let’s not think too far into the future, okay?”
“Okay.”
After they had moved the trunk, she decided to shift the bed under the window so she could see outside. Travis tugged the brass headboard as Lucy pushed it into place. She lay down and Travis flopped onto the mattress beside her.
“That’s perfect,” Lucy said, sniffing the fresh breeze.
Travis inhaled deeply and sighed. He gazed toward the picture of Lucy’s foster-family posed in front of a Cessna. “Do you remember dragging yourself out of that plane with your leg hurting so bad?” He chuckled. “I made you feel better, didn’t I?”
Lucy lifted her knee so they could see the scar. “It makes me think of you… not the crash, just how you’re always there for me.”
Travis grinned and Lucy admired his striking dark eyes. He would only be nine in October.
“Why are you the way you are, Travis?”
“What way?”
“Such a good person… and so very special. Is it because you had a nice family, parents and a sister and brother?”
“I don’t know,” Travis began to pout.
Lucy propped herself up on her elbow. “You’re a prototype Travis.”
He giggled.
“You don’t know what that is, do you?”
“What is it?”
“Like, a pattern for something – the first of its kind. That’s you Trav darling.”
They lay silent for a bit. Gradually Lucy became aware of the sound of a car approaching. They both turned at once.
“Travis, do you see what I see?”
***
Kate dribbled warm water over her plump little Ben who wiggled in his tub on the kitchen counter. The rattle of computer keys beneath Jack’s enthusiastic fingertips coming from the other room was like music to her ears and she suddenly remembered an old Disney tune. Humming softly, “Hi ho, hi ho…” her eyes wandered to the second floor of the hotel where five servers had already been set up, and she smiled at Ben, knowing that when all of the solar panels were finally out in the field, there would be a semblance of normalcy, and she would be able to do her research.
“Jack, whose car is that in the lot?”
His chair screeched over the floor as Jack jumped up from his desk. He headed for the window but someone’s rapping on the back door diverted his attention before he could look outside. Kate lifted Ben from the water and held him in a towel while Jack went to the door, soon ushering a man, taller than himself with light brown hair, into the kitchen.
The two eagerly exchanged handshakes while Kate stepped back to allow them to move through the narrow galley. In the more open dining room Kate gazed up at the man and Jack introduced her and then Ben.
“I’m Kevin,” he said with a burly voice, smiling with thin lips and taking her hand. “It’s good to meet you Kate.” Bending over slightly, he patted the baby. “Hello Ben.”
“Well, welcome Kevin,” Kate enthused, shaking his hand. Then she couldn’t help a reserved laugh. “I’m sorry, I think I’m in shock.”
“Guess I can’t blame you,” he replied, putting his hands in his pockets, “Glad your sign got my attention though.”
Kate hoisted Ben a little higher on her hip. “If we hadn’t spotted your car on the highway a while back we might never have bothered. That’s when we finally realized how badly we needed to do something,” she admitted.
Kevin’s eyes widened. He had pronounced cheekbones on a long face.
“Kate means we assume it was you,” Jack explained, glancing out the window at the stranger’s vehicle. “That’s the car Lucy described all right. You don’t know of anyone else in the vicinity driving a red Jag, do you Kevin? Lucy saw it from up the road. Chased you all the way to that service center north of the lake; unfortunately, she broke down. We had to rescue her.”
Kate was beginning to worry. “I hope nobody else got by us. We were too darn preoccupied, in survival mode, you know? Thought there weren’t any more survivors out there I’m afraid Kevin. It had been so long. No evidence left of life, not anywhere. To think how easily we could have missed you.”
He was a much younger man than she’d thought at first and his eyes, an ambiguous shade of gray, seemed haunted; neither his large physique nor the deepness of his voice did a thing to conceal his pain.
“Kevin, come have a seat,” she coaxed, leading him toward the living room while squeezing Jack’s arm enthusiastically. “What a wonderful turn of events this is! Let me get you a drink or something to eat.”
“If it isn’t any trouble. Just some water if you don’t mind,” he said easing himself down at one end of the couch. Glad that she’d baked earlier she pulled a large plate down from the cupboard and went into the fridge for some cold water.
When she returned he was at one end of the couch with his legs crossed and his hand gripping the arm. In the wingchair across from him, Jack held a freshly diapered and squirming Ben. She set a plate of cookies on the coffee table in front of them, gave them both a glass of water and sat in the chair beside Jack.
“My sister Sarah and I found this place last September with Travis. We managed to rescue the boy on our way here – miraculously. He’d been surviving in his parent’s backyard for months and months. Far too long — poor thing was afraid to leave his family. But, he couldn’t go indoors, where they were… Anyway, you can imagine how awful it was for a seven-year-old. He’s with Rose now, in the cottage next to us, doing really well. It’s been almost a year next month hasn’t it Jack? Rose showed up, just after Ben was born – Chris and Lucy, only last month.”
He jiggled his knee slightly, his gaze shifting to Jack. “So, how many are there here, then?” he said, after chugging his water.
Jack was about to respond when a commotion on the porch distracted him. There was a quick knock, the door slowly opened, and in came Travis, followed by Lucy, Rose, Sarah and Chris.
Chapter Ten
In Kevin’s Cabin
(July 27th, Year Two, PA)
At the sight of Christopher approaching, Lucy’s feet sunk to the sandy bottom and she stood with her upper-half exposed to the breeze. Squinting, she cupped her palm behind an ear and waited until he was at the end of the dock.
“I said — you have the best view,” he repeated, referring to her place on top of the hill where she lived by herself now.
The water slapped against Lucy’s navel and before her angry words could escape she dropped back into the waves and pushed off, slicing through the water one arm over the next, propelling herself away from him as swiftly as she could.
Closer to the middle of the lake than the shore, she glided onto her back and drifted, squinting into the deep, blue firmament.
“Lucy!”
“Leave me the fuck alone Christopher,” she muttered.
“We need to talk!”
No way. Not if she could help it. But there was no escape unless she wanted to have a go of it on her own; this was a one-way ride, and with her enemy only two doors away, she suddenly felt like she’d been forced to colonize a foreign and hostile planet.
“I have something to tell you… it’s important!” His voice resonated across the lake.
Anything was possible on Mars. Only, why couldn’t he have sent someone else in his place to tell her, like Travis? If he really cared he would at least give her some space to breathe for a little while.
Finally, he threatened to come in after her. She moaned, filled her lungs with air, and plunged into the depths like a submerged missile, her arms thrusting her forward until she wa
s a yard from the dock.
His flaxen locks fell slightly over his navy shades, which he removed, rubbing the glass with his thin, cotton shirt while he spoke. “I have a request.”
She glared at him.
“Kevin took the cottage at the far end last night. Well, we went over to help him get settled. Stayed quite late. He appears to be a very nice young man. Sarah was especially impressed.”
She rolled her eyes.
“He wants you to have lunch with him. I didn’t know if you’d agree but… said I’d give you the invite.
“Is that everything?” she snapped.
Apparently it wasn’t, as he scrunched his brows and knelt down, waiting for her to swim closer. She put her fingers on the dock and looked into his concerned, gold-brown eyes.
He sighed. “It would be confusing for someone like him – especially in the state of mind he’s likely in. He obviously doesn’t have a clue about us. I think it would be best to keep quiet about the telepathy thing for now, don’t you?”
Lucy chortled haughtily. “You think you need to tell me something like that? I’ve kept our secret most of Trav’s life! I know how to handle this Christopher,” she huffed.
Christopher stood up abruptly brushing his palms together. “That’s all pumpkin. See you later then,” he said, turning away and sauntering towards the trail. Lucy wanted to heave poisonous darts into his back.
***
Rose carefully pulled a long, slender scallion out of the soil and placed it on top of the other vegetables in her basket. The pungent whiff in her nostrils must have sparked that sensation again and she froze at the edge of the patch.
There had been a number of times lately in which this undeniable yet elusive feeling synced with an odour; it was uncannily reminiscent of that period following the plague when her telepathy had just started to awaken. Back then, she had assumed it was a strange side-effect of the trauma.