ACTIVATION

by M. G. GILIBERT

  As John enters the shelter and starts climbing down the ladder, he cannot help but feel sick. The smell inside the bunker is very bad and already leaves a bitter taste in his throat. He tries to get accustomed to it, but it is very strong. When he reaches the bottom of the ladder, he realizes there is almost no light. John can barely see anything. He goes back up to get a flashlight. He is also be able to breathe some fresh air before re-entering the tunnel and its stuffy smell.

  He pulls his sweater over his nose as he believes that if he breathes the filthy air directly, he will simply throw up. It is possible the people inside have not showered for weeks, and that would explain the smell. He turns his light on and discovers the place where Jen and Gabe have spent the past few weeks and probably even months. It is quite small and consists of one rectangular room. Probably six feet by fifteen. Apart from a small spot that looks like a kitchen, or maybe just a sink with a few dirty plates inside, the walls all are covered with shelves. Empty shelves.

  John sees an opening at the back of the room. He manages to step over the various stuff on the floor and finds himself in front of another room. Much smaller than the one he’s in. Probably the sleeping area, he thinks. There are mattresses on the floor. Dirty mattresses. His eyes instantly catch a horizontal shape covered by a blanket in one corner of the room. It must be Mary.

  “Mary?” he whispers. He waits. No reaction. He comes closer and as he reaches the shape, he gets on his knees and puts his hand on what he believes is Mary’s shoulder. She seems to be stretched out on her side. He gently shakes her skinny shoulder and pronounces her name again. No reaction.

  John expects the worst now. He is not naïve. He knows the conditions inside the bunker are very bad, even for someone like him. He digs deep inside himself to find enough courage and slowly starts turning the body around so it can rest on the back. To his surprise, the body is extremely light. He could have moved it with just a couple fingers.

  The body turns slowly and unveils Mary’s face. His doubts are confirmed.

  Mary is dead.

  He comes back to the surface. Gabe and Jen are now sitting. Jen actually sits between Don’s legs. She looks weak. Gabe looks better. He is drinking and eating. His father tells him to go slow if he doesn’t want to bring everything up as his body probably needs to get used to being fed again.

  Gabe looks like a strong boy who takes good care of his body. Don makes a point for the community to stay in good physical condition at the base. He probably does the same at home. Gabe is strongly built, but apparently skinnier than he must have been in the past, which brings up his finely chiseled features even more.

  Don keeps Jen from slipping. She can barely hold herself. He gives her water and tries to clean her face a little. She is the shadow of the Jen he left a few months ago.

  As he supports his wife, Don sends a quick look to John who interprets it as a request for a status update on Mary. John doesn’t say a word. He just slowly shakes his head. Enough for Don to understand that Mary did not make it.

  He then asks John to bring the car over here. Jen and Gabe clearly cannot walk and it will be dark soon. They need to rest.

  John doesn’t say a word. On his way to the car, he lets his eyes wandering around, trying to find some form of distraction. He cannot remove the sight of the old lady’s face from his mind. It is the first time John sees a dead person so close. Of course, he saw some of the mercenaries he and Jack killed but he only saw their bodies. Not their faces. And to John, these people were not human anymore, and they definitely were not innocent. They had it coming. But the old lady was innocent. She was a victim.

  He knows he is shocked. He knows he needs to stop thinking about it. But he needs to stay focused and help Don take care of the ones who are still alive.

  He comes back slowly to the house. He drives the car over the house rubbles and parks it near the bunker, under a large tree. It should provide enough cover to stay unnoticed in case an aircraft patrols the area.

  Without waiting for Don’s instructions, John decides they will not go anywhere until Jen and Gabe feel better. He opens the back of the car and begins to put things in order and to arrange a place to rest. He is trying to make it as comfortable as possible for the two survivors. He and Don will sleep outside or on the front seats.

  John tries to stay busy. He is not comfortable going to the newly reunited family. They need privacy. He doesn’t want to intrude. And if Don needs him, then John knows he will not hesitate to let him know.

  After another hour being taken care of, Jen slowly seems to regain some appearance of strength. With Don and Gabe’s help, she manages to stand up. They carry her towards the back of the car. Don did not notice what John prepared earlier and now that he sees it, he seems very pleased and grateful. He nods his head and thanks John with a smile. Jen lies down comfortably and falls asleep almost instantly. The fatigue and the emotions are now taking a toll on her. Gabe looks better. He is staying close to his mother and tries to take care of her. But Don tells him he should get some rest as well. Gabe doesn’t object and lies down next to his mom. It’s been a rough day for him as well. Rough weeks. He falls asleep in less than a minute.

  Don and John are alone now. They will be able to exchange a few words and plan their next steps.

  “I’m happy you found your family,” John says.

  “I am too. Gabe seems fine. Amazing kid, I’m telling you. But I’m worried about Jen. She looks very weak,” Don says.

  “I don’t think she is in a condition to travel. It’s probably preferable we stay here until she gets better,” John says.

  “Yes. I’m thinking the same. She only drank a little. Didn’t even feel like eating … I’m very worried about her,” Don says.

  “Wait, I think we have something. Give me a minute,” John says as he returns to the car. He comes back, a large white box in his hands with a red cross on the cover and on the sides. It’s a first-aid kit. Not the usual one, the army one. For bigger injuries. Among other things, it contains IV bags.

  “Good catch, John. We need to look for something that says ‘PN’, for Parenteral Nutrition, or ‘TPN’, or ‘TNA’, or ‘PPN’. We just need one bag, as it should be good for three days I think,” Don says.

  “There you go. Total Parenteral Nutrition” John says.

  “Ok, find me a syringe, something to disinfect and join me in the car,” Don says.

  After a few minutes of careful and gentle preparation, Jen is finally hooked up. The bag is attached to the car ceiling and a pipe goes straight from the bag to the syringe and then into her arm. Drops of highly concentrated nutrients are released every few seconds and find their way into Jen’s bloodstream. She should feel better soon.

  After making sure everything is working properly Don and John go back outside. They need to eat, too if they want to stay in good condition.

  “So, Mary …,” Don says, “Is she …?”

  “Yes,” John replies.

  “She was a good woman. I don’t know how Jen is going to react to that. Did you find anyone else inside? Her husband?” Don asks.

  “No. Just the lady. No one else,” John says, “The conditions down there seem to have been awful. I think it’s a miracle Jen and Gabe made it out alive.”

  “What do you mean?” Don asks.

  “I think they were running out of food. Every shelf I saw was empty. I think they also had power issues as there was no light inside. And the smell was very bad, which leads me to believe that the ventilation system was not working properly either,” John says.

  “Jesus …”

  “I think if we had come a day later, it would probably have been too late. They would probably have suffocated tonight,” John says.

  “I should have come earlier … But I was too focused on the base and on you guys …” Don says. “I’m sorry … That’s not what I meant. It’s not your fault if I decided to stay over there. It was my decision. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t w
orry, Don. I get your point. I understand,” John says.

  “Sorry, John.”

  “What about Mary? Should we do something about her? I mean, a proper funeral?” John asks.

  “Yes, we should. Definitely. We have shovels in the car. We should bury her tomorrow. I’m sure Jen and Gabe would like to say proper goodbyes,” Don answers.

  “We’ll do that, then. In the meantime, we should probably get some rest as well,” John says.

  While John is cleaning up around the car, Don spends a few minutes checking on his wife and son. They seem fine, better than earlier. John tells Don he will take the first watch and wake him up in four hours.

  The night is warm, Don decides he will sleep outside.

  John wakes up the following morning and sees Don sitting on the back of the car. He is looking after his family. They are still asleep.

  As Don realizes John is awake and already carrying the shovels, he slowly gets up and joins him.

  They do not exchange any words. They know what they have to do. They spend a few minutes trying to find the most appropriate spot for Mary’s last resting place.

  They agree on a spot right under an old oak tree and start digging. The hole doesn’t need to be very big as per Don’s memory and John’s feedback from his trip inside the bunker, Mary was a very small woman. Despite that, it still takes them more than one hour to dig the hole. They are in fact not in a hurry. They dread finishing this hole and what it will mean for them. But despite their efforts to postpone the inevitable, the most difficult part of the ceremony is now upon them.

  They need to get down there and retrieve Mary’s body.

  “Cover your nose,” John says before they enter.

  They are both silent inside the bunker. The atmosphere is now one of a crypt. Silence and respect are appropriate.

  They wrap the old and fragile body inside a bed sheet and carry it towards the exit.

  But they get nervous as they realize they have to climb the ladder. They want to show respect to Mary and need some time to think of the most appropriate way to bring her body back to the light.

  Don finally decides he will carry her. He should be able to manage to climb the ladder using just one hand. It will not be easy but that is the only solution they have been able to come up with.

  John will go first and he will grab Mary when Don is high enough.

  They manage to bring Mary’s body back to the surface very delicately. She is now resting under the oak tree, wrapped in a white sheet.

  Don believes that if Jen and Gabe are still alive, it’s probably thanks to Mary. He feels like he owes her something. Maybe everything. The nice little lady who loved children so much. He wants to take care of her one last time. He goes to the car and comes back with a piece of cloth and some water. He opens the sheet and unveils her face.

  She looks rested, almost as if she was taking a nap. Don smiles and gently rearranges her hair behind her ears.

  He then starts washing her face. Slowly, delicately, with respect. He wants her to look the way he remembers her. The way she probably would want to be remembered. He knows Jen and Gabe will want to see her one last time and he wants them to carry in their hearts a nice picture of Mary.

  When he is done, John tells him he did the right thing. Gabe joins them. He woke up a few minutes earlier and saw what his father did. He comes to Don and hugs him, simply whispering “thank you, Dad”.

  Shortly after that, it is Jen’s turn to wake up. She actually manages to sit down on her own. Don runs to her and helps her remove her IV. She looks much better than yesterday. The IV served its purpose very well.

  Her first reaction, just like her son, but for different reasons, is to throw herself into Don’s arms and to thank him. A minute later she notices the white sheet. She understands she will never see Mary again.

  They improvise a small ceremony where everyone says a few words about Mary. Even John who did not know her feels like he needs to say something.

  Once everyone has spoken, they each spend a few seconds on their knees, next to Mary. They kiss her on the forehead, gently put a hand on her cheek, and stand up.

  After that, Don and John slowly lift the body and carefully let Mary rest for eternity. Everyone wishes her to find peace and to be in a better place.

  This is over.

  The group stays another day here. Jen and Gabe are recovering fast. During that time, Jen explains how they survived.

  They went to the old couple’s house the day after Jen called Don. This is exactly when the robots arrived. The village did not know they were being relocated so soon. They expected it would not happen until a few more weeks, and possibly months. It took everyone by surprise.

  As soon as Jen, Gabe, Mary and her husband heard the robots, the husband said he was going to his bunker. He didn’t want the robots to take him away from the place he spent his entire life building. He tried to throw Jen and Gabe out. But Mary started to protest. She said they couldn’t leave them behind and asked them to come back and hide with them in the bunker. But her husband didn’t want to hear anything and he started to threaten Mary. He told her that if she liked them so much she could stay outside with them. That would be one mouth less to feed.

  But this time he went too far. The little lady pushed him so hard that he fell and hit his head against the table corner. He passed out. Jen tried to reanimate him but quickly understood there was nothing she could do.

  When Mary realized what she had done, she took Jen by the hand and asked her to come with her. She and Gabe will be able to stay with her. And before they left, Mary turned around and said to her dead husband, “The ‘mouth to feed’ wishes you to rest in peace.”

  Jen and Gabe were so shocked that when they finally realized what just happened, they were already inside the bunker.

  There was enough food for two people, who were not eating a lot in the first place, but they were three now.

  After a month or so, Jen decided to go outside. She wanted to assess the situation. When she realized her house was destroyed, she decided to write Gabe’s name with a few planks. She was hoping Don would eventually come and see it. And as their last conversation was about Gabe and the neighbor, he would probably remember the bunker and think about looking for them there.

  As she was about to get back to the bunker, she noticed that mercenaries were patrolling in the dead city. Probably looking for whatever was left to steal. She knew about their reputation and went back straight to the bunker.

  The group stayed inside since that day, hoping they will not be discovered. They were scared to go outside as they didn’t know what to expect. Even though Gabe wanted to go outside to try and find help, Jen formally forbid him to do so.

  And then the food supplies started to get scarce. They had to ration the food. Same for the water. There wasn’t enough water anymore to clean up and drink. They decided to save the water for drinking. Washing was no longer a priority. And eventually, the electric system broke down. Gabe tried to repair it and they managed to have just enough power to breathe normally. Gabe started to ignore his mother’s orders and regularly wandered outside. It was becoming a necessity to renew the air and also to get a better feel of the situation outside. He managed to catch a few small animals to feed Mary and his mother. But without much power and limited possibilities to make a fire, they had to eat raw whatever meat Gabe managed to find. And unfortunately, despite Jen and Gabe’s best efforts, the conditions started to get too rough on Mary and she became ill. Everything and everyone was slowly deteriorating.

  They were about to lose all hope when they heard the knocking on the door. Gabe recognized his name and then the word ‘dad’. They knew they could come out. Jen told Mary to hold on tight as Don was here and everything was going to be alright now. And that’s when they got out. That’s probably also when Mary decided to let go, knowing that the people she tried to protect were now in good hands. She didn’t have any reason to resist anymore. Jen and Gabe were s
afe now.

  Don and John can feel how painful it is for Jen to remember all the details of their ‘captivity’, but it also shows them how resilient and resistant Jen and Gabe are. If Jen stayed alive, Don believes it’s probably thanks to Gabe. They will fit easily with the rest of the community at the base.

  Don promises to them he will never let them out of his sight. Never again.

  As they all climb in the car, Jen takes on last look through her window, in the direction of Mary’s resting place. She kisses the tip of her fingers and gently presses them against the window while whispering a “thank you”.

  Don looks at her and only starts the car’s engine when he is certain she is ready to go.

  They are going back to the base.

  All of them.

  CHAPTER 20

  After a week spent in the car, the little group understands they are approaching from the base when a voice crackles through the radio. The vehicle is now visible on the command center radars and one of Don’s men in charge of surveillance is welcoming the team.

  A few hours later, the vehicle stops inside the parking garage. The entire base is there to welcome them.

  After the necessary introductions and the hugs, the team is escorted back to their rooms.

  Pam, who apparently did a good job keeping the base as organized as when Don and John left, confesses that the community has prepared a little surprise for them tonight. They shouldn’t expect too much because they only had a few hours from the moment they learned the car was coming back.

  “Don’t worry, Pam. The most important for us is to be back here. Together,” Don says.

  The following days are spent by Don getting updates from everyone on the list of tasks he left them before his departure.

  Henry has not made much progress with the programmers. He gave them all the pages of code he took with him when he left his house and they are now studying it. However, knowing about GAIA’s abilities to defend itself against any kind of cyber-attack leaves the small team of programmers powerless and clueless with regards to the next steps.