Redaction: Dark Hope Part III

by Linda Andrews

“I would know if my mother’s affections were engaged.” Staggering out of the tunnel, Audra blinked rapidly. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness of this room. Strings of lights draped across the basketball court sized area. Foil lined the concave ceiling, trapping the heat of the incandescent bulbs on one side and funneling the water seeping through the rocks into the pipes. For a moment, she pictured herself inside a baked potato.

  She cleared her thoughts.

  Months of subsisting only on Meals-Ready-to-Eat had driven her mad.

  “Look.” Tina pointed across the room the outcropping of rocks. “Your mother just gave Principal Dunn her shortbread cookies.”

  That was Tina’s proof of an affair? Audra laughed and adjusted her scarf to cover her neck. “My mother detests sweets. Always has.”

  Some things not even an extinction level event and nuclear meltdown could change. Thankfully, she had not inherited the gene. Cookies were about the only thing that made the slab of cardboard affectionately known as meatloaf, edible. Of course, the Tabasco sauce helped. “Not a word about my necklace to my mother.”

  She didn’t want to give the children something else to fear.

  “I’ll get Faye to cover for us after school. Then we’ll find the police.” Tina led the way across the cavern.

  Audra’s sneakers sunk into the clover and grass growing in clumps around the space. Patches of black night soil filled the spaces between the weave of green. On her right, her students sat on benches carved from the rock walls. Others lounged on the grass. The younger one climbed the bulldozer in the center. The machine had scraped off the topsoil outside and moved it inside before being consigned to playground equipment. Here and there cones of natural light sprayed over the walls. The triple layers of sealed glass kept out the radioactive rays and toxic melted snow from their tomb.

  Jacqueline Silvestre lifted two beige MRE baggies from where they rested against the wall near the bench. “Your meatloaf should be good and hot now, Audra.”

  “Thanks.” Audra’s stomach cramped when she accepted the packet from her mother. She shouldn’t complain. Food was food. Yet, their limited selection had her taste buds on the verge of sliding off her tongue and marching into the wasteland outside. She dumped one small bottle of Tabasco then added Tina’s for good measure.

  “Will Eddie be joining us for lunch today?” Her mother studied the speared potato on her fork.

  “I don’t think so.” Audra lowered herself onto the grass and crossed her legs Indian style. She stirred the contents and selected an orange cube. “He planned to eat with Forrest.”

  Tucking it inside her mouth, she felt the stuff dissolve. Just as she thought, a carrot taste was too much for the orange cube.

  “Oh, yes.” Mrs. Rodriguez nodded. A red cross on her jacket identified the former school nurse as medical personnel. “He’s being quite responsible.” She jabbed her white plastic fork at Audra. “That’s good father material there.”

  Her stomach returned the cube. It stuck inthe back of her throat. She coughed and pounded her chest. Her eyes watered before it fell back into her gut. “Father material?”

  “That’s what you’re practicing for, isn’t it, Princess?” Mrs. Rodriguez grinned at her. “At the rate you’re going, you’ll be experts in no time.”

  Flames of embarrassment flickered over Audra’s body. Snickers traveled from the nurse to the principal to Blind Connie who taught preschool and her mother… Jacqueline nodded and nibbled on a piece of meatloaf. Her own mother! For the love of… “We’ve only been together for six weeks.”

  “Seven,” her mother corrected. “Plenty of time for you to be with child.”

  “Mother!” Goodness! Sure the world had ended, but that was no excuse. Silvestres always did things in the proper order. Sleeping with Eddie may have changed those time-honored steps, but… really. “We’re not even married.”

  “Just a formality.” Her mother batted the words away. “A baby would be a blessing after everything. And to think, my grandchild would be the first citizen born into this new world. She’d be a symbol of hope and endurance—just as Silvestres have been since before this country was a country.”

  Ah, that explained it. Audra loosened her grip on her fork. Too bad the notion of a Silvestre’s duty hadn’t been eradicated in the meltdown. Eddie wasn’t about duty; he was about her and what she wanted and how he made her feel.

  She liked that.

  She liked who he made her become.

  Using the edge of her utensil, she cut off a hunk of meatloaf. “Sorry to disappoint you, Mother, but I’m on the Pill.” Thanks to Eddie’s scavenging, she had four more months of pills to go. “No babies.”

  Not until she was ready.

  Not until she knew Eddie wasn’t going to blow himself up in his new job.

  “The Pill?” Her mother dropped her MRE. The pouch plopped over and brown gravy dripped onto the green clover. “Why would you do such a thing?”

  Tina’s eyes widened in her face. The principal stirred his food. Blind Connie’s lips twitched.

  Audra chucked her fork into the bag and set it between her feet. “Geez, it’s not like I robbed a bank.”

  “Watch your mouth, young lady. I am your mother and will not condone such blasphemy.”

  Blasphemy, over geez?

  Tina coughed but Audra saw her friend’s lips curve into a smile. Traitor.

  Principal Dunn pushed to his feet. “I think I’m needed outside.”

  “Sit down, Howard.” Her mother shoved the principal back onto the bench.

  His face flushed red and he studied his MRE pouch as if trying to figure how to climb inside.

  “Audra Martha Silvestre.”

  Uh-oh. She straightened. Nothing good ever followed someone’s full name.

  “Relax, Jackie O.” Mrs. Rodriguez patted her mother’s hand. “Princess A here could be pregnant and not know it.”

  Audra blinked. What was going on? Had they switched her birth control pills for placebos?

  Her mother’s green eyes narrowed. “How is that possible?”

  “We’re all on Cipro, right?” Mrs. Rodriguez opened her packet of cookies with a pop.

  “Yes, of course.” Her mother nodded. Principal Dunn scooted away from her, but before he made it a foot, her mother reeled him back to her side. “It’s the only thing to keep that nasty anthrax at bay.”

  “Everyone knows antibiotics diminish the efficacy of birth control pills.” Smiling, Mrs. Rodriguez nibbled on a shortbread.

  “What!” Audra pushed off the ground. Not everyone knew that. “That’s a myth. It isn’t true.”

  Why wasn’t it on the label of the stupid antibiotics? She had read the warning label on Cipro, hadn’t she?

  “Do sit down, Audra.” Her mother flapped her hand toward the grass. “You’re making me dizzy.”

  Audra clenched her fists. Sit down. Get pregnant. Do your duty. When did she ever just get to be herself, owe nothing to anyone but herself? “Mother—”

  A hard yank pulled her to the right.

  “Audra thinks we should teach radiation awareness in the classroom.” Tina’s eyebrows reached for her hairline. Pleading filled her brown eyes.

  Audra flopped to the ground. Fine. She’d let it go for now. But the topic was far from closed. Right after school, she’d visit the doctor and order a pregnancy test.

  “After everything those children have been through, do you think it is wise?” Her mother regally nodded, an acknowledgment of the ceasefire but not an end to the war. The Silvestres must not perish from Earth.

  Principal Dunn stroked his clean-shaven chin. “Funny you should mention that, I’ve had some questions about radiation today.”

  “I think it was that movie we streamed in the canteen last night.” Audra wrapped her arms around her shins and rested her chin on her knees. What if she were pregnant? Could her egg basket have been exposed to radiation during their flight to safety? “Oscar, Pete and Paul seemed to th
ink that we’ll have huge vegetables and ants from the radiation.”

  Mrs. Rodriguez shoved to her feet and began collecting the utensils. “I had a few folks request sleep aids because of nightmares. This is the new boogeyman and I think knowing a bit about it might help keep the kids and adults calm.”

  Tina collected the bags, pouring the uneaten bits into one. She frowned at the nearly full contents of Audra’s pouch. “I think we should teach physical self-defense in addition to mental resiliency. Especially to the girls. I could certainly have used it when…”

  Tina swallowed hard.

  Audra squeezed her friend’s cold hand. When they’d been pulled off the bus, had pillowcases shoved over their head and taken to a house to await their new ‘duties’. None of them had been raped, but it had been a close thing. God only knew what would have happened if Eddie and Principal Dunn hadn’t come back to rescue them. “Self-defense is a good idea and provides exercise in our limited space.”

  She opened her arms, gesturing to the cavern.

  Her mother smoothed her napkin over her lap. “We’re safe here, aren’t we? That won’t happen again. Not here where we all know each other.”

  Audra adjusted her collar.

  Principal Dunn patted her mother’s knee. “You know we’ve had folks stealing our tablets, Jackie O. Perhaps a little Thai Chi would be good for everyone.”

  Whoa. Audra watched the Principal’s hand until he set it in his lap. Good heavens, there really was something going on with her mother and the Principal. She’d have to ask Eddie how long this courtship had been happening. He would know. He seemed to have a sense of these things. She raked the packets that came with the MREs into a pile.

  “Who’s going to teach it? I have my hands full with English. Phil teaches Math and Science for the junior high and high schoolers.” She glanced around for the geologist, but didn’t see him. Probably glued to the TV watching the cabinet meeting. “Tina and Faye are teaching those classes to the elementary students. Connie, Maddy and Erin are assisting with numbers and letters plus reading for the younger kids. Mom and Principal Dunn teach history, geography, art and music. Our assistants don’t know self-defense.”

  Blind Connie unfolded her red-tipped cane. “Papa Rose and Falcon should teach self-defense.”

  Audra shuddered. The two big men looked as if they should be moving small mountains with their bare hands. She squelched the unkind thought. “The counselors?”

  “Yes.” Connie’s white curls quivered on her pink scalp. “They’re both ex-military and know plenty of hand-to-hand combat. Plus they have children in the school, and thanks to their counseling work, they know almost all the youngsters.”

  Principal Dunn caught Audra’s eye.

  She shrugged. Funny how he looked to her for leadership since their exodus. “Wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

  He nodded. “Agreed. Now, on that subject, Doctor Spanner has approached me about putting together training modules to help raise the next generation of teachers.” He rubbed his hands together. “It’s time to look to the future and, just like the Founding Fathers, we will have a hand in shaping it.”

  Audra smiled. The future. They might actually live to see it. She touched her sore neck.

  Her mother tugged a repurposed paint can off the shelf and pried open the lid. “A Silvestre helped shape the United States, it’s only appropriate one helps form these United Caves.”

  Leave it to her mother to remind her of her duty. Audra scraped up the condiments and added them to the can before standing. Maybe they could do better this time around and build something that would last more than two hundred thirty-six years. “Perhaps, it should be United Caves, Caverns and Mines.”

  “UCCM?” Tina rose to her feet. The full MRE pouches waggled in her hands. “We need a better acronym. Something catchy.”

  “Catchy?” Mrs. Rodriguez snorted. “I think we’re done with contagious anything.”

  Audra joined the others in chuckling. By God, humor would keep them sane no matter how bleak their future looked. “Amen to that.”

  The red phone on the wall rang.

  She held her breath. No, that couldn’t be about Eddie. The lights were back on. Sure there was that little tremor earlier but everything was okay, wasn’t it?

  Mrs. Rodriguez crossed the cavern. “Probably for me. I’m due to take a shift in the infirmary in twenty minutes.” She lifted the phone and held it against her ear. “Hello?”

  “I’m sure Eddie’s fine.” Tina set her hand over Audra’s. “The lights out was fifteen minutes ago.”

  Audra nodded and met the nurse’s eyes.

  “I’ll tell her.” Mrs. Rodriguez cleared her throat. “There’s been an accident. They’re prepping Infirmary two for Eddie.”

  Audra swayed and reached for the necklace Eddie had given her. Her fingers closed around empty space. Infirmary Two. That’s where they took the terminal cases.

  Chapter Seven

  Sunnie Wilson clutched the limestone column and panted. Wrapping her free arm around her belly, she cradled her ribs. In. Out. She breathed slowly and deeply. Two weeks after being ‘cured’ of anthrax, it still hurt to breathe, to stand, to live. Stop being such a whiney baby. You’re alive.

  “You okay?” Former Private First Class Robertson rubbed her back.

  The metal banding her ribs eased. “Sure.”

  Robertson dipped the manure-caked shovels in a bucket of water and toweled them off. “You might have overdone it today.”

  “Nah, I stuck to my fifteen minutes on/fifteen minutes off.” Okay, maybe she’d pushed it to sixteen minutes on but she needed to be useful. At nineteen, she should have something of value to contribute. Unfortunately, half a year of online Gen. Ed. classes and art didn’t mean much at the end of the world. Pity party of one in cavern number four. She had to snap out of it.

  Otherwise, she was doomed to create gray matter spatter art.

  She couldn’t do that to Aunt Mavis.

  Or Robertson. Her personal watchdog had been at her side since she’d beaten back the worst of the infection.

  He dipped the next spade. Bits of waste material floated in the water as he swirled the blade around. “Even so, you can’t push yourself too hard. Between the cold and damp, your lungs are still at risk.”

  “It’s warm and dry in here.” Pushing away from the column, she grabbed another rag off its hook and took the wet shovel from him.

  “Fifty-five degrees isn’t warm to anyone from Arizona.” He slopped the half the bucket of water into the wheelbarrow. “As for the damp…” He pointed to the ceiling.

  Cobwebs of chains and fishing lines caught the water dripping from the ceiling and funneled it into plastic troughs to be carried to parts unknown. She slouched in her maroon Arizona State tee and thermal shirt. “It’s warmer than the mines. High of forty-seven degrees Fahrenheit with spotty showers and a low tonight of forty-five degrees with spotty showers.”

  Of course, she hadn’t minded the temperature so much when her fever spiked. But that had been a while ago.

  She hung the shovels on their marked pegs. The metal scoop knocked against the pickax. For a moment, both clattered against the chain wall.

  “Can you carry the bucket?” Robertson cocked a black eyebrow and gripped the wheelbarrow’s handles.

  “Of course.” She hooked the handle and heaved. Muscles trembled but she didn’t let go. One day, she’d remember how to breathe and have strong muscles. Following him through the ankle-high grass carpeting the cavern, she felt the dampness seep into her jeans.

  “Won’t be long before the horses and goats are moved in here to graze.” Robertson paused by a small metal door. The word emergency exit painted the black surface. “They’re already eying the buffet.”

  She glanced at the tunnel leading out of the bubble of stone. Red yarn knitted two children’s security gates together. While one Billy goat chewed at the fibers, another butted it to get to the strands on Sunnie’s side. T
he animals had traveled safely from Phoenix with them. “Even goats think the grass is always greener on the other side, huh.”

  Chuckling, she switched the bucket to her left hand and opened the two-by-two-foot door. The pungent scent of manure wafted out of the sixteen-inch, plastic-lined reinforced concrete pipe. Bits of grass stuck out of the black smears.

  Robertson lined up the wheelbarrow on a small ledge under the pipe and poured the watery sludge into the chute. “I always feel we should shout something when we do this. What if some farmer is taking a lunch break in front of the shit cannon? Wouldn’t you like to be warned?”

  Shaking her head, she wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think anyone could eat near a pile of poop.”

  Besides, the waste was supposed to go to a separate greenhouse. Not that she’d ever seen the greenhouses. The radiation was too high and she’d been too sick. Propping her hip against the open door, she rinsed the wheelbarrow with the bucket’s contents.

  “You might have a point.” He tugged the rag out of his back pocket and swept the rest inside the chute.

  A whinny echoed in the cavern.

  The horses were close. Tossing the bucket into the barrow, she glanced at the gate. The goats stared back at her with their freaky square pupils.

  “Come on.” He wheeled around and headed for the tool cage. “I’ll let you pet the horses before lunch.”

  She grinned. “You like them, too.”

  “I like that they pull the wagon full of manure so I don’t have to push wheelbarrows all day.” After securing it, he double-checked the tools then draped the damp towels over the bar.

  Her stomach growled.

  “Change of plans. Food first, then you can pet the animals.”

  She sighed. There was no point in arguing. He wouldn’t give in. He’d been assigned to guard her health and welfare and, despite the dissolution of the military, he wouldn’t stop.

  “Are you having the Chicken and Dumplings today or the Dumplings and Chicken?” Robertson lifted her jacket from its peg and brushed the grass and dirt off. After a quick inspection, he draped it around her shoulders. His fingers lingered for a moment before they skimmed her neck.