by K. D. Jones
Maggie and Walter invited Lily and Thomas to live with them in their subway car. They would offer support and safety to one another. Having Walter live with them added a certain measure of protection. Not that Walter, being a much older man, was much protection, but he did have respect, not to mention an old army blade that he kept close by and was good at using.
He was also the one to find the supply area with all the weapons the government had stockpiled. He refused to tell anyone but Maggie where it was. He went there only once and brought back an M4 rifle, two double-action revolvers, and a semi-automatic pistol. He gave the leader of the Tribe at the time, Ben, the semi-automatic pistol, he kept the rifle for himself, and he trained Maggie well on how to use her revolvers.
Six months living in the subway was hard on Walter. He was already sixty-eight years old and couldn’t move around without it hurting. Maggie remembered the day she came back from scavenging for the Tribe and found him. Lily wasn’t home yet and Maggie was surprised to find Walter still in his bed. He had died in his sleep. His health had been slowly deteriorating since the day the bombs fell, but she felt like she had lost her family all over again.
Maggie sometimes wondered if there had been foul play involved. There were others who were jealous of Walter for knowing about all the supply areas. When she found him dead, his shotgun was gone. She took his knife for herself and gave Lily one of her handguns, even though Lily wasn’t very good with a weapon.
Walter dying was a catalyst for another event in Maggie’s life, one that changed her irrevocably. Without a man living in their subway car home, Maggie and Lily became easy targets for the other men in the Tribe. They had to take turns watching over one another and Thomas. But no matter how careful they were, it was impossible to be careful enough. Maggie learned that lesson the hard way.
The tribe designated certain areas with water fountains as places where people could bathe. The women and children went separately from the men. One horrible night four and a half years ago, Maggie had gotten there late for bathing and thought she would just wash herself quickly. Ben, their Tribe leader, had snuck up behind her and attacked. He kicked her gun out of reach and beat her until she couldn’t move or fight him anymore.
He had whispered, “Be nice to me, Mags.” He held her down as her hurt her. She screamed but no one came to help her. He wanted to drag her back to his subway car and keep her there. But had she managed to reach the knife hidden under her clothes. She cut the side of his face. While he was distracted, she took his semi-automatic and hit him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. She grabbed her clothes and limped her way back to her subway car. Thomas was asleep but Lily was waiting up and she had her gun nearby.
Lily treated her wounds and then went to get some of the other Tribe members. Maggie was thoroughly embarrassed to have to tell so many people what had happened to her. She couldn’t even look at Corey, the boy she had been crushing on since she and Walter joined his tribe. He was so hot with red hair and the warmest brown eyes. He was twenty years old, but she was only sixteen and a half and he looked at her like a little girl most of the time. She didn’t want to see how Corey would look at her now.
The tribe brought Ben forth to question him. They had a hard time believing her. Ben had been a strong leader, not always fair, but he got the job done. He was blond haired and considered attractive by most of the women in the tribe. Ben tried to deny it what he had done claiming that Maggie pursued him. But the evidence was stacked against him. He had been found naked on the floor of the bathing area, with Maggie’s blood all over him and the floor. The Tribe had no choice but to find Ben guilty of the assault.
There was only one form of punishment in the subways: banishment. He was stripped of his supplies and weapons and left with nothing. But Ben didn’t leave alone; he convinced a group of friends to leave with him.
She wished that had been the last she had seen of Ben. But he came back periodically with his own little rebel tribe to trade supplies. Maggie always made sure that she, Lily, and Thomas were protected whenever he showed up. Ever since the attack, Corey would come by their subway car to check up on them, and he tried to be nearby whenever Ben was in the vicinity. Despite her initial shame and embarrassment, Corey proved to be a true friend to Maggie.
She did her best to put the incident behind her. However, every time Ben visited and traded with her tribe, it not only reminded her of the innocence he had stolen, but also of the deeper scar left on her soul, the loss of her child.
The assault had resulted in her ending up pregnant. After the shock of realizing she was pregnant wore off, she came to want the baby. It was a part of her, almost like having her family back with her.
So there she was not quite seventeen and pregnant. She didn’t know anything about having babies. She was scared beyond belief. She had been three when Rachel was born. But as the baby grew in her womb, she felt a deep connection and began looking forward to holding her little one. But five months into the pregnancy, she miscarried. It had been a little girl that she named Darla. She only got to hold her baby once in her arms, but she would hold her in her heart and soul forever.
She was grateful for Lily, Thomas, and Corey. They were there for her and kept her going when she would have given up. She learned hard lessons but ones that were essential to survival.
Subway living was a hard life, but they found a way to not only survive, but to survive as a family. That didn’t mean a day went by she didn’t think about her mom, dad, or even Rachel. She wished she could have been a better sister when she had had the chance. That chance was gone now. This had become her life and she was going to make the best of it.
***
Maggie’s thoughts brought her back to her conversation with Lily about Ben. “How long were they here for this time?”
“A couple of hours. Looked like they found them some more weapons.”
“Shit! Did they bother you?” Maggie quickly checked Lily and Thomas over to make sure they were okay.
“I didn’t really see Ben, but Taylor stopped by the sub car.” Taylor was Ben’s right-hand man. He wasn’t as bad as Ben, but there was a ruthlessness about him that Maggie didn’t like.
Taylor wanted Lily. Every time he was in the area, he stopped by and tried to convince her to leave with him. Lily had spent some time with him before the whole incident with Ben, but when Taylor chose to follow Ben, Lily ended things between them. Maggie always felt bad about that, though Lily swore she would have ended things anyway. Taylor might have wanted Lily but he did not want Lily’s son Thomas. That was a done deal for Lily. She wouldn’t give up her son for anyone.
“Did he try anything?”
Lily shook her head. “He just talked. He wanted me to leave Thomas with you and come away with him.”
“God, he’s an idiot. How many times does he have to ask and hear you say no before he finally gets it?” Maggie said, shaking her head.
“I know. He honestly thinks I would leave my son for him. He’s delusional.”
“Well, he is friends with Ben, so his mind frame is questionable.”
“I was worried at first that he wasn’t going to leave and I was going to have to shoot him or something. But then Corey stopped by and it pissed Taylor off enough that he finally left.”
“Corey came by? Why?”
“He knew that Ben was around and he was worried about you. He’d do anything to protect you,” Lily told her.
Maggie shrugged. “He’s just being a good friend.”
“Honey, that man has the hots for you bad.”
“What?” Maggie blushed. Once, a long time ago, she had a crush on Corey, but after what happened with Ben, she didn’t think about men that way at all. “Corey only thinks of me as a little girl.”
Lily snorts. “He sees you for the woman you are now. Don’t you notice him watching you whenever the two of you are in the same place?”
“I …” She didn’t know what to say.
&
nbsp; Lily smiled and pointed ahead of them. “See what I mean.”
Maggie looked up and there he was, leaning against the side of their subway car with his arms crossed. His red hair was shoulder length, but he kept it tied back. He was taller now, about six feet three inches, and despite the thinness to his frame, he still managed some nice muscle definition. Of course, everyone in the tribes was on the thin side. Corey Nash was still the best looking guy she had ever seen, before the bomb or after the bomb. He smiled at her and she felt the heat rise in her face again.
“Like I said, he has the major hots for you, honey,” Lily whispered.
Chapter 2
“Captain Estro, report to the command deck immediately!”
Liam sighed as he turned off the showerhead. He stepped out of the shower and dried off. He quickly donned his dark uniform and stepped out of his bedroom to find his younger brother Kyle lounging on the couch.
“Uh oh, brother, what did you do this time?”
“Nothing,” Liam insisted as he straightened his uniform and left his family suite. He strutted down the ship’s corridors to the lift that would take him to the command deck. He wasn’t in so much of a hurry that he couldn’t take the opportunity with a couple of passing female cadets, though.
“Good evening,” he said with a wink. They giggled but kept going. He paused to admire the view.
“Captain Estro, the Commander is awaiting you.”
Liam turned to find Lt. Commander Jalen standing behind him. “I am on my way, Lt. Commander.” He followed his father’s second-in-command to the lift. “What’s this all about?”
“That’s for the Commander to explain,” Jalen replied primly. “I was just told to come and get you.” They didn’t say anything else as the lift carried them to the top level of their Drastan Battleship.
Liam wondered how long this tour would last before they headed home for some down time.
He was on board the same ship with his two brothers, Jared and Kyle, under their father, Devlon, as the Commander of the ship. None of them got along with their father, so he wasn’t sure why all three of them were on tour with him. The latest tour had lasted almost two years now, and they were all ready to get off this ship.
The lift stopped on the top level. The Lt. Commander escorted him down the corridor. Halfway down, Jalen stopped beside a door on the right, which opened automatically. Inside, Liam’s father was waiting for him, arms crossed over his chest and a disappointed look on his face.
“Captain Liam Estro reporting in as requested, sir,” Liam said.
“What took you so long, Captain?”
“I was in the shower, sir,” Liam said, standing in front of his father with his legs apart and his hands folded behind his back.
“At ease, Captain.” His father turned to look at his computer screen. “What do you know about this solar system here?” He pointed to the screen.
Liam came forward and looked at it. “Not much. I try to do a brief search on each solar system we pass through, but this one is not very advanced, technology-wise. From what little I could find, the solar system is called Sol. There are eight planets in the solar system and they share one sun. The only life forms detected were on the third planet from the sun, called Earth. The Earth people have done minor space exploration within their own solar system, but nothing of consequence.”
“Well, we’ve recovered some recordings from this Earth. One is a mayday call.” His father motioned for the Lt. Commander to play the recordings.
***
“This is the president of the United States. We are issuing an emergency mayday to anyone out there who can help. All the world’s nuclear weapons have been deployed. We have very little time to get our people to shelter and we hope at least some of us will survive. If you get this message and are able to offer any kind of assistance, we would be eternally grateful.”
***
His father turned to face him. “There are over twenty more of these recordings recovered and translated, all in different languages, with designations from all over the Earth.”
“What’s the problem? Let’s go help them!”
“The problem is these recordings are about five years old. We don’t know if there’s anything remaining of Earth or its people. We will be entering the Sol solar system in less than twenty-one hours. I am assigning five teams to investigate each of those areas where the recordings originated. You will be leading one of the five teams.”
Liam stood straight and pulled his shoulders back. Finally! He was going to do something more than be a glorified pilot. “Who will be on my team?” He wouldn’t put up with anyone goofing off.
“Each team leader will get to choose his own team. But I’m putting Kyle with you for the first two investigations.”
“What? No way. Not Kyle.” Liam shook his head.
His father narrowed his eyes at him. “Yes, Kyle. He needs to learn how these searches go. I may need him to lead a team if need be and I want you to make sure he is ready for it.”
“I’m not a damn babysitter. Sir.”
“You are a captain for the Drastan Fleet and are required to assist in training our soldiers,” his father reminded him.
“Yes, sir,” Liam answered with an air of resignation. “Is the whole fleet coming with us to Sol?”
“No. I’m sending the fleet on to Drastan. It will be just our battleship.”
“Is that safe, sir?”
“I don’t want to waste the whole fleet’s time on something that might not pan out. I’ll send them home while we investigate. If we find anything, I’ll contact Drasta for reinforcements.”
“How long do I have to prepare my team?”
“You have one hundred and twenty hours to select your team and to prep them. I don’t know what we’ll find when we arrive. It could be all gone, or we may have a serious containment issue to deal with. No matter what, I want our men ready for it.”
“We’ll be ready.” Liam was dismissed. He headed off the command deck. He already knew which men he would select to be a part of his team: his old flight crew. They were eight of the most trustworthy soldiers he had ever known… and then there was his younger brother Kyle. His father must be trying to punish him or something.
Kyle was wild and uncontrollable, not a good combination for a soldier. Liam sighed. He would practically have to put a leash on Kyle to keep him in check. Harder said than done. He needed every member of his team to be on guard; there was no telling what dangers they could be facing. He wished his mother was still living to help corral her wayward child.
His mother had been a very caring person, a mediko on their home world. She believed so passionately in saving lives, he used to wonder what she ever saw in his father, since he was a military man who had taken many lives in battle. They were complete opposites. But she had truly loved his father, from what he could see. They were not hala asawani, a love match, but they did love each other well enough to have three sons.
Liam entered the suite he shared with his father and brothers. Kyle was still on the couch. He looked up and smirked.
“How much trouble are you in?” Kyle asked. He seemed very eager to hear the details.
“This was a military discussion. I am going to be heading a team in a few days time.”
“Why are you heading up a team? Why can’t I lead a team? I’ve been training hard!” Kyle complained.
“Grow up, Kyle. You’ll be with me on a few of those missions. If I sign off, you’ll be able to take over a team. But I need to see you taking orders before I feel you can give them.”
“That is crap! I don’t need my big brother babysitting me.”
Liam sighed. It was always the same argument with Kyle. He was angry with their father because he never sent him on missions on his own. Liam understood his father’s hesitance; Kyle was the baby, after all. Despite their father’s overprotectiveness, Kyle and their father did not have a close relationship.
Liam felt it was partl
y because Kyle looked so much like their mother. She had died shortly after giving birth to Kyle. They almost lost Kyle as well, but the medikos on Drasta worked for days to keep him alive. Their father wasn’t there for his asawani’s passing, but he stayed on Drasta until Kyle was released from the private Medik.
The loss of their mother left Liam and his older brother Jared devastated. They saw their mother in Kyle’s little face and wanted to protect him. They were all guilty of babying Kyle too much. He needed to be able to prove himself as a man and as a soldier.
“It was not my choice either, brother. So do us both a favor and keep it professional so it will only be two missions together and not five.”
“Fine,” Kyle huffed.
“Where’s Jared?”
“In his private office, like he always is.”
“I need you to call my old flight team together for debriefing tomorrow morning at oh seven hundred.”
Kyle perked up some at having been given a task. “Yes, sir!”
Liam growled at him as he walked down the hallway to the study that had been turned into a medical research lab by his older brother Jared. Liam and Kyle had both gone into the military like their father, but Jared followed in their mother’s footsteps and became a mediko. He was one of the best on Drasta and could have stayed on their home world or chosen any ship in the fleet, but for some reason he chose to serve on their father’s ship. Liam knocked. He knew his brother would be furious if he didn’t.
“Come in!”
He opened the door and stepped into the room. He shook his head at all the beakers, chemicals, and even a patient bed that had been crammed into the small room. There had originally to be a huge metal desk, but Jared had that replaced with one just big enough to hold his computer in favor of more space for all his other stuff.