Protocol One

by Jacqueline Druga

  “I went out this morning. Saw the sun. I was happy.”

  “Me, too.”

  “And I realized,” Tony slowed down in dancing. “I’m alive. I looked at that sun, and realized I am alive … because of you.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “We’re alive, all of us, because of each other. You’re in a really good mood.”

  “I am.” He winked. “I was thinking about us. And, you’re going to tell me I am corny.”

  “Go on.”

  “How it took something so bad for me to find something so good.”

  His words made me stop.

  “With all that’s gone bad,” Tony said. “Am I wrong for feeling very happy that I have you?”

  “No, it’s not wrong at all. You promised me you’d be there every step of the way, and you were. You are. Not wrong at all. I honestly kept going for you and Joie.”

  Tony smiled gently at me, lowering his head to kiss me. “Thanks for taking a moment for this.”

  “Thanks for finally showing me your romantic side.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m about to get even more romantic if you’re …”

  The hiss of the radio brought Tom’s voice. “Tony. Tony, come in.”

  “Oh my God, are you kidding me?” Tony stepped back from our dance. “Seconds away from me going over the top and telling you that I love you and Tom ruined it.” He lifted the radio, smiled and winked at me. “Thank God. I could have looked pretty dumb.” He brought the radio to his mouth. “Yeah, Tom.”

  “We may have a problem. Need you up here STAT.”

  We didn’t need more than that. Moment tossed aside, both Tony and I made our way to the Switch room without hesitation.

  <><><><>

  “What’s going on?” Tony said as soon as he entered.

  “This.” Tom pointed to the monitor. “Intruder. One. What do we do?”

  I looked and saw the person walk through the gate. They staggered, carried a huge bag and even fought to stay upright without falling. The person had difficulty, so I moved closer to get a better look. In fact my eyes widened and I looked again because only when I took that closer look, for a moment I couldn’t breathe.

  “Anyone else out there?” Tony asked.

  “Not that I see,” Tom replied. “Just the one intruder.”

  “Oh my God.” I gasped out. “Oh my God!”

  “What?” Tony questioned.

  I spun from the monitor and ran to the door. “That’s not an intruder. That’s Gil!” I grabbed the arctic coat from the hook, and raced out.

  41 – Arrival

  I didn’t need to see his face, or even a close up to know that it was Gil.

  Even on that little screen, I knew. I just knew. I heard them calling to me as I ran, to stop, to wait.

  I didn’t need to.

  “Anna!” Tony blasted my name. “Stop.”

  I kept going.

  “Anna, I mean it. Stop.”

  When I finally reached the doors, I did. I didn’t want to stop on the steps. It was the first time I could recall not getting winded, I was so excited. The coat was a larger one, but that didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be out too long and although the temperatures were cold, they had been a lot colder.

  “Anna,” Tony spoke breathless. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s Gil. He’s out there.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I do.”

  “It was a brief one inch figure on a gray scale screen. He’s wearing a coat. You don’t know.”

  “And again, I do know.” I zipped up the jacket and slid the first lock open. “I’d know him anywhere. He could be a face in a crowd and I’d spot him. It’s Gil.” I tossed on the hood, and undid the remaining lock.

  I saw Tony reach for a coat.

  I opened the door. A fine mist of snow blew in. Not heavy, but more like ice crystals.

  Tony blurted out a ‘Son of a bitch’ as I ran to the man that had dropped to his knees.

  If it were possible, I don’t think I felt the cold as I stayed focused on getting to him. Was Tony near me, beside me? I didn’t know.

  He wore a classic pea coat, knit cap, and his jeans were tucked into his old work boots. Along with an old pair of gloves, his clothing offered little protection from the elements. He was on his knees, hands to the ground, ahuge bag beside him and his head was down. The sun glasses that he wore had dropped to the ground.

  It was as if he were frozen there.

  I knelt down to him and he raised his head.

  There was a moment of exhilaration that could never be topped or replaced. All the hurt, sorrow and pain I felt up to that moment were temporarily suspended.

  Gil.

  His shoulders shook and he brought his hands to his face, then dropped them. Gil tried to speak but only exhaled. His handsome face was white with areas of blue. It was easy to tell it pained him to make any expression.

  After another failed attempt at speaking, overwrought with emotions, Gil just grabbed onto me in gratefulness.

  <><><><>

  Gil who could barely walk, gathered up his strength and walked to the bunker. Tony and I were on both sides of him as a guide. Once inside the safety of the doors, Gil grew weaker. He made it half way down the stairs, before telling me he was sorry and passing out.

  His heavy bag rolled with a thunderous bang down the stairs.

  It took Tony and Tom to carry him the rest of the way, and Craig met them with a stretcher.

  Gil was out.

  When Craig finally let me in to see him, he was hooked up to a monitor and IV.

  But before letting me and Tony into the medical room, Craig told us his condition.

  “He’s suffering from exhaustion and dehydration. He has healing burns, that I am going to attribute to the heat we had,” Craig explained. “Right now he has second degree frostbite on his face. His body temperature is ninety degrees and all his vitals have slowed down. He’s still unconscious and needs lots of rest.

  “Where did he come from?” Tony asked. “Do you have any clue? Obviously he never made it to Texas.”

  “No.” Craig said. “We don’t. We’ll have to wait for him to wake up. I’ll put a round the clock watch on him. Anna, did you want to take one of the shifts?”

  “No. I’d like to see him though.”

  Craig allowed it and I went in alone. Tony said he had something to do.

  Gil looked peaceful and Craig had cleaned him up, which I appreciated. It was like a dream and was hard to accept as reality.

  I was told he didn’t make it, yet there he was. How did he get there?

  It was a mystery that would only be solved once he woke up.

  I stayed with Gil for a little while. Duke, Peter and Nelly all stopped in to see him and to tell me they were excited for me.

  Excited was not a word I would use to describe my feelings. Waiting for Gil to wake up started to feel more like something I dreaded. In reality, I did.

  <><><><>

  After an hour of sitting with Gil, Skyler came in and I left. I told him to radio when Gil woke up and I went to seek out Tony.

  Rumor had it he was in his office and that was exactly where I found him.

  He had Gil’s bag and was going through it.

  “Can I ask why you are going through his bag?” I asked.

  “Trying to find a clue as to where he was. Look what I found.” Tony tossed the frozen item on the desk.

  Though frosted over, I recognized the tinted blue plastic bag. “The rations I made.”

  “And left in the van.” Tony said. “He must have found the van.”

  “He had food to survive and matches. He was making a trip, that’s for sure. A blanket in here as well. No weapons. Frozen food. Not the type you’d find in a grocery store.”

  “Well it wouldn’t take long for his stuff to freeze. Obviously, he was somewhere.”

  “What’s he doing here, Anna?” Tony asked.

  “Why do you sound
angry about it?”

  “I’m not. I’m sorry.” Tony waved out his hand. “He had a chance for a great shelter. How did he miss it?”

  “I don’t know. Gil, of all people, is never unprepared.”

  “Point being this bag.” Tony said. “He knew what to bring. Except the SPAM. I don’t get that. It’s a can. Cans weigh you down when you travel on foot.” He exhaled with some frustration. “Why aren’t you with him?”

  “He’s sleeping.”

  “He’s your friend.”

  “I know.” I said.

  “I would think you’d want to be there when he woke up. I know you have questions.”

  “I do,” I said. “But I don’t what to be there when he wakes up.”

  “Can I ask why?”

  “I’m afraid. Because when he opens his eyes and comes to his senses, he is going to ask for Jackson.” My head lowered. “I haven’t a clue how to even begin to deliver the news of his greatest tragedy.”

  Just then Tom appeared in the doorway of Tony’s office. “Hey, Anna. Craig’s looking for you. Gil’s awake.”

  Tom disappeared before I cold say anything and I looked at Tony.

  “Anna, there is no easy way,” Tony said. “You just have to tell him.”

  I knew that, I really did. I stepped to Tony, laid my hand on his cheek and kissed him. “Thank you.”

  “If you need me, you know where I am,” Tony said. “But this is something you need to do alone with him.”

  Again, he was telling me something I already knew. But it didn’t make it any easier to face.

  <><><><>

  I heard Gil’s voice before I even arrived at the medical room. Immediately I started to tremble. I was scared, scared to death to tell him about Jackson. I didn’t want to be the one who delivered the news. Knowing Craig, he didn’t tell him. He wouldn’t. We were a very close knit group, but something like that, something that tragic, had to come from me.

  “Honestly, I’m fine. Really. The nap helped.” Gil said.

  I lingered in the hall listening.

  “I just want to get dressed and take a hot shower. I know you guys have the ability.”

  “You’re still a little weak, Senator,” Craig said. “Can you give me an hour, just an hour? Then after I see you walk without problems, I’ll let you go. Let’s see if we can get your temperature up a little more. We don’t need you collapsing in the shower stall.”

  “I’ll agree to that.”

  “Can you drink that tea?”Craig asked. “Then we’ll get you food.”

  “I’m fine. I’m not hungry, I’ve been good with that.” Gil stated. “Maybe after I shower. But could you please get Anna and Jackson? I am dying to talk to them.”

  Jackson.

  My eyes shut instinctively in pain. Finally, I had stopped crying every hour and every time I thought of him. Finally, I stopped crying myself to sleep. I was in the emotional position where I teared up talking and thinking about him. I sobbed much less and suddenly I could feel myself on the verge of revisiting that, going back to those painful days and weeks.

  I couldn’t hang back much more. Craig was in a bad spot, an awkward position and I needed to intervene.

  I knocked once on the archway.

  “And here she is,” Craig motioned out a swing of his hand. “I’ll leave you two be.” He walked by me, pausing to place a hand on my shoulder and to pass a look to me that wished me luck.

  “Anna.” Gil sat up straight in bed and reached out his hand. “I’d get up and give you a huge hug, but they have me hooked up.”

  “Craig has a thing about that.” I reached out and grabbed his hand. Gill pulled me foward and kissed me on the cheek. “It so good to see you. You look great. You really look great. I’m so glad this worked out. I was so worried.”

  “I know.”

  “Where’s Jackson? I bet he’s running around this place. Finding all the cool Easter eggs we've hidden here.”

  “Gil …”

  “I know he carried me in with you.”

  “That wasn’t Jackson. That was Tony.”

  Gil huffed out a laugh. “Okay, sure. I know he was wearing that big old coat and his face was almost hidden. But …that wasn’t Tony. I know that.”

  “Yeah, it was.”

  Gil tilted his head. “Anna, that wasn’t Tony.”

  Believing Gil was confused, and refusing to hear that it wasn’t his son who aided him inside, I tried to explain. “Gil, listen to me. Enough about Tony. Things … things happened. They didn’t go as planned.”

  “What are you talking about, Anna?”

  I lowered my head and sat on the bed next to him. “We ran into problems, and the trip kept getting delayed. Road blocks, curfews …”

  “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “We were out there when the comet hit.”

  “I know. I saw the van with Texas plates. I figured you broke down. I didn’t ….”

  “There was an earthquake.”

  “I know this too.” Gil pulled his hand slowly away from me. “What’s going on?”

  “Jackson … Jackson …” I couldn’t even say the words, they stuck in my throat and cracked with emotions as they seeped out. “He was injured in the quake and …”

  “Oh my God.”

  I grabbed his hand again. “He was hurt pretty bad.”

  Gil closed his eyes and kept them closed.

  “I’m sorry. I am so sorry I couldn’t protect him. I am so sorry. Jackson didn’t make it.”

  Gil didn’t look at me. Slowly, I slipped my hand from his and stood.

  “Wait.” He grabbed for my hand. Still not opening his eyes, he whispered. “Just stay. Please.”

  I sat again.

  “My son is gone?”

  “Yes.”

  I watched him. His expression stayed stone, but a single tear rolled down his cheek.

  “My son is gone.” His head lowered and a soft groan of a sob flowed from him. That was the start. Gil brought his knees up to his chest, pinched the corners of his eyes, clenched my hand tighter and shoulders shaking, silently wept for the loss of his child.

  42 – Revealing

  I stayed with Gil, by his side, while he drained a lot of his emotions. I knew it would hit him hard. Gil loved Jackson. He was a good father.

  He wanted to know about it all. Did Jackson suffer? What were his last words?

  I had to relive it all and in doing so, I relived that pain, and ended up crying with Gil.

  He took comfort in knowing I had Jackson’s things, his tablet, his music. I told him all about the pictures Jackson had and the wallpaper that was of us three.

  Gil was a strong man, and when he said he felt fine, I believed him. Craig came in, check on him and gave him the ‘Okay’ to move about, just to take it easy.

  I wanted to know how he ended up at our bunker. Why Damnation Alley presumed he was dead. I had a lot of questions and I was sure he did too.

  But the first thing he wanted to do when he go out of that bed was go see his son’s grave.

  Craig was adamantly against it, but there was no stopping Gil. I at least got him to wear the protective cold weather gear. When walked to Jackson’s grave, I told him how Duke had made a grave marker and that once the ground wasn’t solid, we’d mark the grave.

  We stayed outside for just a short while, then came back in.

  He walked fine and said his legs didn’t bother him. However he stressed how he really wanted to get clean.

  Problem was he didn’t have any clothes.

  Gil wasn’t a small man. He was a little bigger than Duke. Since Duke was the man in charge of storage, he found Gil some clothes. They were like a lot of the other storage clothing items. Cargo style pants and tee shirts.

  Fearful that he wasn’t healed, I stayed outside the shower door until he finished and then I convinced him to come with me to the lower level of Hive Two. There we could sit in front of the fire. Wood rations be damned, it was what
he needed. It was what I needed. It was good to have my friend back.

  During our walk back to the Hive, Gil met nearly everyone. Even the children, which seemed to delight him.

  Joie was a little bashful with him. Not saying much, I took that as her way of being protective of her father.

  Tony was the one person Gil didn’t run into. I was glad because I wasn’t sure how Gil would handle Tony, especially after he found out Tony and I were a couple.

  I cared and loved for Gil and I just wanted to be considerate of his feelings.

  On the way to Hive Two, we stopped at the Switch room.

  Gil asked Tom, “Could you contact Damnation Alley 113 and tell them that Senator Jenner arrived at your station?”

  “Yes, sir, right away, sir.” Tom replied in an official way that I never heard him use.

  “That is what I need to ask you about,” I said.

  “We’ll talk. I’m sure you have questions.” Gil said. “I do too. I also want to talk about Tony.”

  Peter’s ‘Uh oh’, cause me to snap a glare his way.

  “Uh, oh, I mean …” Peter covered. “I forgot it was my turn to feed the chickens.”

  “Then go feed them,” I said.

  “In a minute. Maybe I’ll hang out with you two. This could be interesting.”

  “Maybe not.” I pushed into his chair, swirling him to face the computer.

  “It’s nice,” Gil stated. “To see how well you all get along. Being so close.”

  Tom cleared his throat and Peter chuckled.

  I thought, ‘Assholes’, then took hold of Gil’s arm. “Gil, I have so many questions and I know everyone is curious. So since they are, let’s you and I go talk.”

  We walked to the Hive and I told him how the walking and stairs would become common place. We stopped by the kitchen, I fixed us a warm drink and then we went below to talk.

  “When they told me you never arrived at the shelter,” I said. “I feared the worst. I hoped for the best, but feared the worst.”

  We sat on the sofa, a cushion apart yet facing each other.

  “I wanted to call you but all our phones were seized during the holding process. We didn’t know where the main bunker was. All I knew was it was in Texas. I knew after the dust settled and the sun returned, they wanted to be able to start a society near the Gulf.”