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The Beginning at the End of the World: A Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian Series (The Survivor Diaries Book 2)

Page 26

by Lynn Lamb


  “No,” he said slapping one hand to his forehead. “I meant the body underneath it.”

  I felt the fire of my blush as he reached behind me and unclasped it for the second time.

  “That’s much better,” he said as he threw it on the icy ground.

  ∞

  I woke up to find myself still inside of the love den. How was I ever going to explain this?

  “Specialist Patton, thank you for watching over Sleeping Beauty in there.”

  “No problem at all, Colonel,” she said. Thankfully, she left off his new nickname. “And Colonel, I wouldn’t call her that if I were you.”

  “Noted,” he said.

  Before I knew it, he was at my side with a coffee in hand.

  “Thought I would bring you this because I like my balls right where they are,” he said.

  I took the mug and sipped the warm, brown water. It was better than nothing.

  “I like them here,” I said as I reached for them.

  “Oh, I get it. That drink is like a magic potion? I’ll make sure I remember that,” he said with a look of pleasure as I manually inspected him.

  “Yes. And now I am doing positive reinforcement,” I said as I felt him respond in my hands.

  “Heh, heh,” he laughed. “As much as I would like to continue this lesson, and that is clearly very, very much, we have to get out there. I made sure everyone heard that you fell asleep in here while I was debriefing you.”

  “I enjoy your style of debriefing, Colonel,” I said, not ready to give up the intimacy we found last night.

  “I don’t know what you said to Bri, but she sure did help me out this morning. She’s been standing sentry. I went to your tent just after you feel asleep so no one would suspect, and I saw her on the way. She said she would make sure no one woke you.”

  “You know what?” I said as I got up and pulled on my pants. “I am getting sick of this sneaking around already. It’s just not me. I need to take care of it. Today. How is Levi?”

  “He’s going to live. Doc says he will have a pretty nasty limp though,” he said. “Laura, what did you mean when you said ‘I’m going to take care of this’?”

  “You have to trust me, Prince Phillip. I understand our people better than you do.”

  He didn’t look too happy. “And you call me the loose cannon.”

  ∞

  “Carrie,” I said. “I need the big tent set up for a Village meeting. I am not sure when I will be ready. Will you please take care of it?” I asked.

  “Aye, aye, Cap’n,” she joked. Having all of the military around was beginning to sink in now.

  I felt Jackson behind me, but I didn’t turn around, nor did I slow down.

  People were gradually waking up. Some had coffee in hand and some were still digging. I looked where the trucks were lined up under their snowy concealment. Three more were uncovered while I slept.

  I tore the lid off the com cave, and descended into the morning meeting of the MT. Jackson was coming down the ladder and when I said, “Everyone out,” he started back up the ladder without missing a beat.

  Not everyone responded as dutifully as he, though.

  “I’m not kidding. Go. I need to talk to Mark.”

  This time they did leave.

  When we were alone, he said, “I’ll pretend it never happened, and we can go back to where we were.”

  “No, Mark. No more pretending. It’s slowly killing us both.”

  ∞

  We talked for an hour and a half. I didn’t record it.

  When we finished, we climbed the ladder and went to assemble my family in their cave. It was hard on Bailey, but in the end she stood up strong and asked, “When will the meeting be?” Is she really only eight years old?

  The big tent was up and people were filtering in while I set up my video camera on its tripod and framed and focused the shot.

  When everyone was there, Mark and I walked down the center aisle, hand in hand. It felt like our wedding day, but in reverse.

  I searched out Jackson, and he looked devastated when he saw Mark’s hand in mine. He would understand soon enough.

  “Good morning, Villagers,” I said. “Or should I say, good afternoon? Thanks for coming. I know that all of you are busy working, so we will be brief.”

  I looked down at our clasped hands and knew that as soon as we let go they would never come together in that way again. I looked up, and Mark nodded at me. He was ready.

  “We have to announce something that we have been told might hurt the Village. But I don’t believe that to be true. Mark and I have made the personal decision to separate.”

  I looked out at the group as they stood there looking confused. Except Jackson, who looked like he was going to blow a gasket.

  “There are some who say that you need us to be together for the feeling of security. But I don’t believe that. Your security doesn’t come from Mark and I being a couple. You proved last night that it comes from knowing that as long as we come together, we can accomplish anything. That’s real security.

  “In the coming days, my family and I are going to need our privacy more than usual. I still love and deeply admire Mark. I don’t know what is in store for our future, but we have decided that this will not have an effect on the work we do for the survival of the Village. It’s not like the old world with its time for pettiness anymore.”

  I dropped Mark’s hand and felt the weight of what it meant.

  “One last thing, I hope that you will respect us enough not to spread gossip or take sides. Thank you,” I finished.

  I hugged Mark and whispered in his ear, “I will always love you.”

  He whispered back, “Like I said, I will never give up trying to get you back.”

  I nodded and released him.

  ∞

  I still had tears in my eyes when Jackson found me outside of the tent. No one said a word to us. They all just went back to whatever they were working on.

  “What do you have to say?” I asked him.

  “For the first time in my life, I’m dumbstruck.”

  “Good. Now please go and gather your buddies. I need to have a military meeting. Include Mark.”

  Minutes later, I found myself in the com cave in front of all of the military personnel, including Bri.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to give kudos to you all for the operation that brought Levi back to us. Colonel Jackson, you and your people did a tremendous job.

  “I would also like to make you aware of the equally impressive job Sergeant Balous did back here with the Villagers. Had he not organized the medical truck’s removal, the doctors would not have been able to give Levi the surgical procedure that saved his leg and his life. And that is why I would like to give Sergeant Balous a promotion to Major Balous.”

  “Um, Laura,” said Mark.

  “Shut up and come here,” I ordered.

  Mason stood and walked toward me. “That’s not how it works in the U.S. Military,” he said.

  “I realize that Colonel. But this is the Village Military, now. And this is how it works here.”

  Jackson turned to Major Kim and pulled the rank off of her uniform. She tried to conceal a smile. Jackson went over to Mark and slapped it on his chest.

  “Congratulations, Major Balous,” he said.

  Mark saluted, and Jackson saluted back.

  Wonders will never cease, not even in the post-apocalypse.

  ∞

  Jackson followed me out of the com cave.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” I said. “I could have made him General Balous.”

  “You have giant balls, you know that?” he asked.

  Bailey came running up to us at that exact moment.

  “Baseballs, you have giant baseballs, Laura. For when you play baseball,” he tried to cover up, but failed.

  “That’s okay. Bri says Laura has giant balls, too. And then Laura says she doesn’t want those sensitive, squi…”

&n
bsp; “Hi, Bailey Bug. What’s shakin’?” I cut her off.

  “You said that we could ask Mr. Ramirez if he could teach me to milk a goat,” she reminded me.

  “Yes I did,” I said. “Let’s go there right now.”

  “Jackson, what did the wall say to the ceiling?” Bailey asked.

  It took him a minute to realize that she was telling a joke. If he was going to hang out with the Pattons, he was going to have to be quicker on the uptake than that.

  “I don’t know, what did the wall tell the ceiling?”

  “Meet ya’ at the corner. Get it, meet ya’ at the corner?”

  “Good one,” he said playing along.

  “Bailey Bug, maybe you should call him Colonel Jackson,” I suggested.

  “But everyone calls him Jackson, except for Bri, she calls him…”

  I covered her mouth, but she muttered under my hand anyway.

  “Yeah, we all know what Bri calls me. You can call me Jackson,” he said.

  “I used to know a boy named Jackson in Kindergarten. But that was his first name. He used to take rolly-pollies after it rained and stuff them between his cheek and his gums.

  “Look, there’s Ramirez,” she said as she ran off.

  “Heh, you never told me that you had a mini-me,” he said.

  “Yeah, she’s kind of a combination of Bri and Ammie when they were that age. But you should know this right now - you want me, you have to take my whole loony family package, too.”

  “I can do that,” he said with a grin. “Where are you going?”

  “To learn how to milk a goat,” I said.

  Part V: Moving On

  January 14

  The sirens blared through the frosty snow caves and tents that made up the temporary encampment for the Villagers. It had only been just over a week since the last bombs fell. In fact, it had only been a few hours since the MT set up the warning sirens.

  How could this be? Certainly, Mark and Cassie would have intercepted the radio signals. They told us that the enemy was on its way to Colorado. How could they have been this wrong?

  The shocked camp panicked and became a frenzy of chaos. I began to shout orders, but either they couldn’t hear me, or I was being completely ignored.

  “Get into your caves and take cover. Don’t forget the drill,” I yelled to whomever was within the range of my voice.

  No one listened to my warnings, and the terrified people fled into the dense tundra of the forest.

  The sun was dipping behind the surrounding trees to the West.

  “Jackson,” I screamed over and over until I realized that no sound was coming from my parted lips.

  The unmistakable whistling and whirring followed by an explosion punctured my eardrums. I dropped to my knees and covered my ears with my hands.

  I couldn’t go back into the caves without him or I would stop breathing. I would be buried alive.

  “I can’t do this alone. Please don’t leave me alone,” I screamed a soundless plea.

  The bursts of explosions sent fire high into the flame covered skies. The trail that had been our promise was gone now. I knew it.

  There was no going forward and no going back. Could the frozen woods become a home? Would I become their sole inhabitant?

  I ran and ran into the deep slush of the forest. When the snow was thigh high, I could move no further. And that’s when I saw them.

  My friends, my family, everyone I had left were on the ground, floating in a sea of their own blood.

  And then a dark brown liquid began to float up from the earth to cover the pure white and red snow and drowned its victims.

  Then I felt a strong arm grab my waist from behind. Jackson?

  I turned to see a figure wearing some kind of body armor. Where his face should have been there was a ghoulish gas mask.

  I screamed with all the air that occupied my lungs, and this time there was a sound.

  ∞

  “It’s all right, honey. You don’t have to do this alone. I won’t ever leave you alone. I promise. Please, wake up,” said Jackson. He was holding me from behind, rocking me gently as he spoke soft words; promises of shelter in his arms.

  I was drenched in sweat and tears. Even under the many blankets, I shivered against his warm body that enveloped me so fully, and with such earnestness, that we were one. I have never felt a closeness like I did in that terrifying moment.

  “Breathe, Laura,” he begged. I inhaled deeply so he would know that I could hear him. He began to rub my arms to keep my blood circulating.

  “You’re so thin now, it’s no wonder you can’t shake the cold. You don’t eat enough, but that changes today. I won’t let you wither away,” he told me.

  Of course, that didn’t sit well. “I’ll, I’ll take, take it under advisement,” I told him through chattering teeth.

  “Heh, sure you will,” he said.

  ∞

  The morning started out like the last few mornings, but this time we had a plan, and everyone knew their job. The MT would be leading this “reconnaissance mission.”

  How I despise military speak, I thought as I was dressing in Cassie’s uniform. Even though she was on the smaller side, it was still too big on me. I guess that she had been eating better than I have in the last few months. I hate when Jackson is right.

  I looked into the small compact mirror Ammie had loaned me. I looked like hell. The last shower I had was days ago, and I could barely brush the tangles out of my hair. It smelled of my sweat, and in that moment I considered chopping it all off. I hadn’t had it cut since the Last War, and even then it was long overdue. My knotted, red locks lay sloppily down my back now. It looked nothing like the perky little bob I had when I was working my corporate jobs. I missed feeling put together like I did back then. Oh well, I thought as I pulled on the cap that bore the name tag of “Kim” stitched on the back.

  I was actually excited for this trip out of the slushy area where we had been camped. This outing would give me a chance to be alone with Jackson outside of the hours that we stole away for private time at night.

  Jackson officially took over my one-person tent and gave me his snow cave. It was so cold in there when I was alone, but I hid under the many blankets to keep warm. Most people returned to the RVs and tents, but I wasn’t really in the mood to be very social, as of late. I also wanted us to keep a low profile, for Mark’s sake. He needed to get out and explore his new rank, without the shadow of our failed relationship and all that brought with it in the eyes of the other Villagers. As far as I could tell, Mark was spending most of his time with the other military people, everyone except for Jackson, of course.

  Mark and Jackson seemed to have a fuming, hostile truce going. According to Jackson’s accounts, they would pass each other without a word, shooting looks filled with poison arrows at one another. I am just glad that Mark hasn’t adorned Jackson’s face with any more of his handiwork. Physical aggression has always freaked me out, and it would do nothing for Village morale.

  When everyone was ready, the MT stood in front of us, describing our “missions” as if our non-war focused minds could not comprehend what we were supposed to do.

  Fitzpatrick took the lead. “You must stay with your military or security counterpart at all times. Do not stray off course. Remember the mission. We need to ascertain where the strikes hit on the trail and to get an idea of how to get around the bombed out portions of the road. There might be a few ways to get around it, but take pictures and let us study them to determine our next course of action. If you become separated at any point from your counterpart, radio it in immediately. Do not, I repeat, do not go looking for them yourself. Just stay in your position, and we will help you reunite.”

  That annoying “informational” lecture went on for about ten more minutes, and by the end I was antsy to get away from all of it. The possibility of an adventure actually excited me.

  We walked in a comfortable silence, hand in hand, for over an hour to
the south before we came upon the first sign of destruction. The strike hit in the middle of the trail, near where the path hugged the hillside to the east of it. Jackson called in something over the radio that I didn’t understand.

  He took my hand again and led me into the forest to the west of the road.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “To see if there is a way we can get around it if we want to get to Carmel Valley with all of our vehicles and supplies.”

  “Can’t we just cut down the trees that are in our way like we did before?”

  “In some places, but these hills are tricky. There are some deep inclines that the trucks might not be able to get over. We need to find a way around them.”

  It sounded logical to me. Really, I was just enjoying the walk and fresh air. If and when we found an alternate route, we might not have a chance to be alone like this again until we made it to our destination. Being alone with Jackson was like a little taste of freedom.

  I still don’t know what I really feel about him. He has used the word “love,” but I have not been able to say it in return. I know that I feel the excitement and lightheadedness of a budding romance. Sometimes it’s all that I can think of. I have felt this before. It has been a long time though, and it feels great. It’s exciting, in fact. But my logical mind knows that these feelings don’t last, at least not in the way that they do at the beginning of a new romance. I want to get around the pitfalls of believing that the feelings of the first blush of love will last throughout a relationship. They don’t. They can occasionally make a cameo appearance, but reality seeps back in again. Something different needs to grow in the place of those giddy emotions. It’s not that I don’t believe in true love. I do; I just don’t believe in “happily ever after,” especially now.

  We rounded a corner, and I felt Jackson’s hand on the small of my back. He was trying to pull my pants back up, but they were determined to hang low on my hips, allowing the ice cold wind to blow on my bare skin.

  “What the hell?” said Jackson.

  He stopped, and we both looked at a small log cabin house that peeked out of a snow drift that only partially buried it. I took out my camera and pressed record.

 

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