“But at eleven?”
“Jim, if she’s strong enough to hold the gun then she should be taught how to use it. You know how nuts the world is. Odds are that someday she’ll have to use it.”
“I thought your Empire was making things safe again. I thought you were chasing away the monsters and we weren’t going to have to worry about that type of thing anymore.”
“Not going to have to worry? Hell, Jim, even before the invaders came our world had monsters in it. I was a cop, and the first thing I told people is learn to watch out for yourself because the police don’t usually get there in the nick of time. Nowadays? Are you kidding?”
He said, “I just want her to have as normal a life as possible. I want her to be a little girl.”
“In less than two years she’s going to be a teenage girl. This world we’re in, it’s still full of danger and not just from aliens. I’m just saying, she needs to know how to protect herself. Sometimes there’s no where to run, or hide.”
He scratched his head and retreated on the subject.
“Yeah, well, I mean, I just wish…I just wish-”
“You wish I had asked your permission first. Is that it?”
He did not respond.
“Maybe I should have,” she conceded.
He smiled, her answer apparently pleased him.
She went on, “Are you going to have a hard time giving these kids up?”
Brock answered with a question of his own, “That depends. I mean, what’s going to happen next?”
The two stopped and enjoyed a nice view of a long-dead marina. The condition of the small yachts and luxury fishing boats there ranged from half-sunk to pristine.
She explained, “Assessment teams due down here tomorrow. They’re going to come through, register everyone, and ask a bunch of questions.”
“Register?”
“That’s right. To track the people who have been found or freed from slave camps.”
“Why? What’s the purpose?”
“Lots of reasons. First would be for medical needs. There aren’t that many doctors around, so the first thing is to identify any health issues like if you’ve been exposed to any communicable diseases. Like, if the chicken pox went through Wrightsville last year or something then they’d have to try and keep you guys from places where people haven’t been exposed. I guess. That type of thing. That and establishing what type of skill sets you and your people have.”
“Skill sets?”
“That’s to help them make a recommendation as to where you could best help out.”
Jim cocked his head to the side and said, “I don’t follow.”
“Well, no one gets paid to work these days. It’s all a question of everyone pitching in to help the war effort. You got some people out there doing some crappy jobs but it’s all they know or can do, so that’s how they pitch in. But if someone was a doctor or an engineer or worked construction back then, well, then there might be some special jobs you could work.”
“Wait, they’re going to tell me where I have to work?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not like that. No forced labor. I think they give you a list of what they’d recommend and what’s needed. You then choose. Or maybe you choose nothing. But there aren’t any welfare programs anymore. The people who fight, work, or produce get the rations and the medicines first. Of course, there are lots of people who barter for stuff. They’re all over.”
He smiled a nervous smile. “Denise, she’s too young to get drafted, right? I sure wouldn’t want that. That’s no way for a girl to grow up.”
Nina’s brow grew taut again and she said, “Sure, she needs to learn how to walk in high heels and bake cookies first, right?”
Jim gulped and closed his eyes.
“Sorry. That came out wrong. No insult intended. This is still new to me.”
Nina relaxed her glare. “She is a little young to go into a military unit, but she’s not too young to learn how to protect herself. In fact, that’s way past due.”
An awkward silence came over the two, at first broken only by the call of seagulls, then eventually broke by Jim Brock’s wavering voice as he asked, “So, you’re just doing the target shooting today?”
“I want to keep this up for a while until she gets the hang of it. After that, I have some big plans for the rest of the day.”
His mouth widened, his eyes bulged, and he said, “You’re not thinking of taking Denise out to hunt down some monsters? Are you?”
“Relax, Jim, we’re going to do something really girlie-like. You’d approve.”
His cheeks turned a shade red.
She told him, “We’re going shopping.”
By the time they finished with target practice, Denise Cannon managed to knock a couple of cans off the railing. She required many more hours of practice before her aim would be satisfactory, but the novelty of the weapon faded, allowing the girl to focus on her marksmanship. Nina also made Denise disassemble and re-assemble the pistol.
With their day at the range complete, Nina fulfilled her promise to take Denise ‘shopping.’ Although the word ‘scavenging’ would be more accurate, ‘shopping’ sounded a lot more fun.
They took a Humvee with Odin the Elkhound and a large Rottweiler as escort. The two stopped first at City Hall where Nina checked in with the Hunter-Killer commanders who reported only minor scrapes with small predators.
Before leaving, they raided the commissary where Nina packed a couple of pork sandwiches and something akin to homemade potato chips. They fit nicely in a backpack which they opened a half hour later on a scenic lookout along the riverfront. The same riverfront that, ten days prior, Nina had cleared with the Hunter-Killer force.
Nina finished chewing a bite of the salty meat and asked, “So what are you shopping for today?”
The words felt awkward to Nina, as if she played some sort of game; maybe a variation of ‘dress up.’ She managed to suppress an urge to giggle.
“I really need to get some new duds. My stuff is so out of style,” Denise said and she sounded surprisingly serious.
“Out of style?” The thought amused Nina. “What’s in style these days?”
“Oh, lots of stuff. I mean, besides machine guns and black soldier outfits.”
Nina paused and looked self-consciously at the black BDUs she wore.
“Oh,” she said.
“Don’t sweat it,” Denise told her. “I’ve got us covered.”
Denise laid her sandwich on top of its wax paper wrapper, unzipped her own backpack, and produced copies of Glamour, Teen, and Mademoiselle magazines.
“See, I’ve got it all right here,” she said.
“Um, Denise, they’re a little out of date.”
“Well, like, duh. We’re not going to find clothes in the stores that were made since five years ago either, now are we?”
Nina shrugged and conceded the point.
“So what do they say?” Forest asked as she took another bite.
Denise opened one of the magazines and flipped through the pages full of color pictures of gorgeous models showing off fashions from the days when said models occupied a higher rung on the food chain.
Denise pointed to one summer dress. “I think you’d look hot in that.”
Nina nearly gagged on her food.
“H-hot? I don’t think I’ve ever looked hot, Denise.”
Still, Nina leaned closer to look at the photo.
“Well don’t worry,” the eleven-year-old told her. “I’m here to help you with that.”
“So I teach you to shoot and you’re going to help me look ‘hot’?”
Denise nodded, “You got it.”
Nina peered at the model wearing the dress and said to Denise, “She looks familiar. I think that’s an old movie star. Check the photo caption, what’s it say?”
Denise squinted and tilted her head. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. She leaned close to the page, ran a finger over the sentences,
and then said, “It doesn’t…it doesn’t really say who it is.” She then flipped through several pages very fast.
Nina watched the girl who kept her eyes planted on the magazine.
“Wait a second,” she finally figured it out. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. You don’t know how to read, do you?”
Denise shot, “I can read, sure I can, just not very well.”
Nina put her sandwich down and threw an arm around the little girl. She gave her a good hug.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Denise. You spent your school years running and hiding from monsters. Just trying to stay alive. Hell, you’re smarter then any kid I knew when I was your age. You just didn’t get the chance to learn stuff like that. Like reading.”
“I’m sorry,” Denise said dejectedly.
“Hey, hey, you don’t have to be sorry. What’s with this ‘sorry?’ Listen, you were-what? — six years old when this started. But don’t worry, we’ve got schools.”
“Not around here we don’t,” Denise pointed out.
Nina told her, “There’ll be schools down here soon enough, once we’ve got these lizard-aliens beat. There is a small elementary school and even a high school back where I live.”
“Where do you live?”
“Annapolis. That’s up in Maryland along the Chesapeake Bay. I live in an old hotel with a bunch of other military people. Got a little place there. Nothing special.”
“I bet it’s neat.”
“The town is really neat. Parts of it are hundreds of years old but they don’t look old. They just look neat.”
Nina found herself amused by her choice of words, again to the point of nearly giggling.
“We’re going to get you to school so you can learn that stuff.”
“What does it matter?” Denise shrugged. “I mean, with all the monsters around. I should just be a soldier, like you.”
Nina thought Jim Brock would not like that answer.
“That’s a decision you have to make once you learn to read and write. Who knows, maybe you’ll be a scientist or an artist. Something that makes the fighting we’re doing now worthwhile.”
“You think it will be over by the time I’m your age? You think we won’t need soldiers anymore?”
Nina wondered if she should tell Denise the truth; the truth that this war might never end. Such a huge world, so many invaders, so few people…it might take generations for victory to be achieved, or it might take one bad campaign to cause it all to collapse.
“I don’t know about that, Denise. Maybe the war will be over by then, maybe not. But even before this invasion we needed soldiers and police. I’ll be honest with you, there will always be bad things; there were bad things before all this. You have to learn to protect yourself,” Nina thought, gave Denise a hug, and added, “and to protect the people you care about.”
“Man, what a downer. Let’s stop talking about this and think about what we’re going to shop for today. What are you getting?”
Some feminine impulse caused Nina to answer, “Shoes. Lots of shoes.”
They stopped first at a shoe outlet. The prices were right but the selection thin. Plenty of pump heels and sandals could be found on the shelves, but Nina saw no boots or sneakers until they happened upon a couple of boxes that had fallen behind a counter where looters from years gone by had failed to search.
Next they visited Independence Mall. The dogs barked and howled until Nina found, shot, and killed a Type B Sloth hiding in a video game store under a toppled shelf.
Denise then dragged Nina into stores, one after another, primarily clothing boutiques offering selections that had been in style five years ago. The eleven year old found jeans, shorts, even a skirt that fit.
Then she approached Nina with something for her.
“Try this on,” Denise said.
“You think I’d look ‘hot’ in that?”
Denise nodded and handed her a hanger on which hung a black party dress with a rather short hemline.
Nina held the hanger aloft and examined the skimpy outfit. The sight of the dress transported her mind back in time to the day when she awoke after having lost that year of memories.
On that day, Shepherd took her to the apartment where, he told her, she had lived for nearly a year. It felt like a stranger’s place, particularly when she heard Patsy Cline on the stereo and found a black dress in the closet.
She did not wear party dresses. Yes, she knew she sported a gorgeous figure but she never felt the need to put it on display. To Nina, her body was a very personal thing. She was proud of her strength and good form, but she preferred not to be the subject of leering eyes. That’s what made her decision to get the wolf’s head tattoo even more puzzling. The idea of her wearing a dress so short and so, well, sexy, felt just as crazy.
“C’mon, try it on,” Denise said. “You have just got to stop being Miss Military all the time.”
“Advice…from an eleven year old?”
“I’m just saying,” Denise retorted in a near-perfect imitation of Nina.
Forest laughed and took the dress into a curtained booth. A few moments later she returned.
They moved a mirror closer to one of the outer doors to make up for the lack of light inside. The sun bounced off the mirror and cast Nina and her black dress in a sharp glow.
“Wow,” Denise said. “I told you that was perfect for you.”
Nina gazed at herself in the mirror and saw all the things she had never been; popular in school, fashionable in life, sexy in a bar or nightclub, the center of attention at a party.
In that close-cut black dress she could see the allure of being those things. She could see herself-for the first time-as beautiful. And she was not embarrassed. She was not self-conscious. She did not look out of place, she felt comfortable…natural.
For a moment she did not miss the fatigues or balaclava. For a moment she was glad not to have a gun in her hand. She wondered how it might feel to play the role of princess for a night.
“Girl, you are all that,” Denise admired.
Nina realized, yes, the black dress hanging in her apartment closet had belonged to her, and she had worn it. When? For who? No doubt those answers were stolen from her, too.
“So,” Denise interrupted Nina’s thoughts. “Will that be cash or credit?”
“You know, for someone who can’t remember the old days you sure know a lot about them.”
“Hey, I talk to people. You should try it sometime.”
“Right. You talk to people.”
“And watch the occasional movie,” Denise admitted. “We found a Cadillac with a DVD player in it a couple of years ago. Watched all sorts of movies until the battery died.”
“Great, you’ve been taught pop culture. I can see we really need to get you into school.”
Denise jumped at the opening. “Guess you’ll just have to take me back to Annapolis with you.”
A few minutes later they left that store and walked through the mall. Denise carried bags full of shirts and underwear; Nina carried her new sneakers and one other package; a dress box.
Denise lugged her shopping bags inside the beachfront condominium she called home, leaving Nina alone outside with Jim Brock.
He asked, “Hey, since you were out for lunch today what do you think, I mean, how about dinner?”
Nina nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
The two wandered toward the beach. The Atlantic Ocean rolled in, one white cap after another, the same routine repeated for eons. Seagulls fluttered about in search of scraps, litter tumbled across the sand, and the long shadows of beachfront resorts stretched toward the water.
To Nina, it felt like summer vacation. She had spent ten days in Wilmington, a symptom, certainly, of the delay in General Shepherd’s advance. Nonetheless, other than her apartment in Annapolis, she had not spent this much time in one place for years, nor this much time with anyone other than her Dark Wolves comrades.
“I thi
nk it’s great that you spent the day with Denise,” Jim told her. “She really likes you. I’ve never seen her open up with anyone like that.”
“I know what that’s like.”
“I can tell that. Honestly, even with all the years I spent with her I didn’t get to know her that well. There were just so many kids, and I’m a guy. I suppose I spent more time with the boys because I understood them better. Women are different. Harder of figure out. Especially, well, you’re a bit of a mystery, too.”
Nina said, “Me? I’m not really that interesting.”
“You have to be. You are…I mean…you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. You’ve got a nice smile, too, you should show it more often.”
The words sounded nice, but Nina heard a familiar tone running beneath.
Jim said, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl as tough as you. Probably not many guys, for that matter.”
Yes, there it was. It could have been one of the kids from her elementary school.
“Teacher…why is Nina so quiet?”
Or maybe a girlfriend from junior high.
“Hey, here comes Nina Forest; you trying out for the football team, Nina?”
Perhaps a high school date.
“Ouch! Let go! Geez, I was just being friendly you freak!”
Maybe even Scott from the Philly SWAT team.
“Hey honey, stop acting like you’ve got a dick.”
She knew he did not intend to be mean, he just did not know any better.
“You’ve never met a girl as tough as me,” she repeated.
“I like you, Nina. A lot. I haven’t known you that long, but I can tell that something is bothering you. It’s like you’re looking for something. Maybe you feel out of place. I’m hoping you might find what you need here. You could help us rebuild, and maybe we could help you, too.”
He started to say more but his words were drown out by the roar of a Blackhawk helicopter swinging over the rooftops and descending toward the beach. Nina and Jim retreated to avoid the sand storm that raged to life under the rotors.
Empire ba-2 Page 34