The Dark Days Series | Book 2 | Sanctuary

by Cole, Christopher

  I smiled, “That’s funny and clever.”

  “Yeah, but this one really got me laughing. You remember Peter from Family Guy and one he was running around kicking shit while saying ‘Roadhouse?’ Well, Will was doing the same thing, kicking people and their stuff. Then it showed Kayley driving a bus full speed and hit Will and he went flying through these houses. When he lifted his head to see what hit him, everyone including Kayley yelled back at him, ‘Roadhouse!’ I couldn’t stop laughing. It was perfect karma!”

  We chatted about funny moments that we encountered in our lives. Then finally, we reached what used to be a hotel – now an apartment – and delivered the last supplies for the day. We’ve been all over the north end and some of the downtown to Gold Rush City, but I hadn’t been to the south side. I could see the hospital from here, and it was barely half a mile away.

  “Hey, Private Thompson, we have some friends in the hospital, can we stop by and visit them?” I asked.

  “Seriously?” Private Thompson asked annoyed.

  “You said we’re done for the day, so why not? Come on.”

  “Yeah, please,” Molly begged.

  Private Thompson sighed, “Alright, whatever gets me close to some nurses.”

  We drove to the hospital and Private Thompson said we have half an hour before we have to head back. We went upstairs to Izzy and Blair’s floor – according to the information desk, they’re both sharing a room. I wished I had Kayley’s camera to take pictures of Izzy and her baby Hope. We found the room by the clipboard in the file holder outside the door with their names; Isabella Green and Blair Evans. Their door was open and they were both chatting and laughing.

  I gently knocked on the door, “Hey.”

  “Hey, how have you guys been?” Izzy smiled, as she and Blair hugged us.

  “Good, we got a job delivering stuff across town,” Patch answered.

  “Oh, really. That’s great!”

  “Yeah, I taught Sunshine here how to drive.”

  “Wait a minute. They’re letting you drive?!” Blair said amazed.

  “Yeah, don’t worry. There aren’t that many cars on the roads. We mostly have to watch out for horses and people,” I said smiling.

  “Well, just be careful.”

  Izzy looked at me and asked, “So, what was the deal with that woman yesterday? Why was she calling you Nathan?”

  I looked at my friends before closing the door and I explained the whole thing about Clara being in shock and how I agreed to help by pretending to be her son until she can confront the truth . . . of his death. Izzy and Blair looked stunned.

  “My God,” Izzy said.

  “Wow . . . that’s truly unbelievable,” Blair said.

  “Well, believe it. He thinks that he should help these people rather than leave them to face the truth alone, and risk making her worse,” Patch said.

  “Are you sure about this? How are Will, Kayley, and Tracy okay with this?” Izzy asked.

  “They’re not. Not entirely. They had to meet Clara to see that she wasn’t crazy or dangerous. She’s just emotionally confused; she’s in shock. It’s a defense mechanism, she needs to deny reality psychologically until she can accept what’s happened,” I explained.

  “Yeah, but Sonny are you sure about helping these people? Pretending to be someone else’s son, that’s an odd thing to ask,” Blair said.

  “It is, but somehow I think it’s the right thing.”

  “You can’t just pretend he didn’t die and have people participate in the lie to make it okay,” Blair stated.

  “Yeah, but forcing her to confront the truth before she’s ready isn’t the solution either, it might be too much for her, she may even take her own life.”

  “Yeah, but how could her husband put you in such an odd position like this?” Izzy asked.

  “Come on guys, this is a mother who lost her son. Her son died in her arms,” I said.

  “Wow, okay, now you’re really breaking our hearts,” Blair said.

  “Look, I do this until she’s able to handle the loss and then I’ll go by my real name again, but until then, it’s Nathan. Besides, she can’t go yet . . . not while she still has a daughter to worry about.”

  Izzy and Blair exchanged looks.

  “Alright . . . Nathan, whatever you think is best,” Izzy said.

  “Thank you for understanding. It means a lot,” I said.

  “How’s Hope doing?” Molly asked.

  “She’s good, she’s sleeping right now,” Izzy answered.

  “And you Blair? How are you and your baby doing?” Patch asked.

  “I’m good, but my little one has been kicking up a fuss in here,” Blair told.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, she’s kicking right now. Go ahead, feel.”

  We all felt where her baby’s at and she’s right. This little baby wants out!

  “Wow, your baby’s got energy!” Molly said amazed.

  “She’s due pretty soon, so they let me stay here with Izzy,” Blair said.

  “Have you thought of any names?” I asked.

  “Yes, if it’s a girl I’ll name her Emily and if it’s a boy I’ll name him Max.”

  Private Thompson called from the hallway, “Alright kids, time to go.”

  “Okay, we’re coming! I’m sorry, we gotta go,” Patch said.

  “It was great seeing you two,” I told.

  “Always,” Izzy said, hugging us.

  “So long,” Molly said.

  We hugged and said our goodbyes before heading back to the truck. We drove back to the warehouse and Private Thompson gave us each fifteen-point labor cards. After that we took the monorail back home and chatted the whole way. Once we reached our stop, I walked with them to the apartment to visit my friends. Carrie had her back turned and I thought I could sneak up on her, so I shushed Patch and Molly.

  I covered her eyes and said, “Guess who.”

  Carrie giggled, “I know who that is! What are you doing?”

  She turned around to hug me.

  “Hey kids, how was your day?” Kayley asked.

  “It was good,” Molly said.

  “Did you get these, too?” I asked, holding my labor point cards.

  “Yep we did,” Carrie said, showing her cards.

  “The adults got them, too. Ones with more points,” Ashley said.

  “Don’t waste them,” Kayley told us.

  Will, Tracy, Faith, and Jeff were sitting on the balcony watching the sunset. The sunset was pretty, casting orange light on the scattered clouds, the water, and on everything else. Molly and I walked out to join them while everyone else stayed inside to relax. Jeff and Faith were holding hands with their thumbs rubbing the other’s hand – seeing them together brought the same amount of happiness that I see when Will and Kayley are together. All their faces glowed orange from the sunlight and there was a calm breeze gently blowing in our direction.

  “Hey,” I said softly.

  “Hey,” Tracy responded, reaching her hand out to hold mine.

  “You know, Kayley and I planned for a long time to live by the beach. We hoped that one day we would move out of Colorado and get a place like this – one that has a view of the water and a sunset just like this,” Will said.

  “Wish granted, huh?” Tracy asked.

  “I guess. After the outbreak, I thought that was a pipedream.”

  “This must be a pleasant surprise,” Faith spoke.

  Will nodded.

  “This kinda reminds me of Faith’s and my anniversary vacation down at Miami Beach,” Jeff said.

  “Oh, what was that like?” Molly asked.

  “It was great, we had a blast. Just thinking about it makes me long to be back there.”

  Molly sat on Will’s lap. Patch sat next to Faith and Jeff.

  “I could die happy if I could spend one last time at the spa,” Faith said.

  “Me, too,” Tracy said.

  I sat close next to Tracy still holding
her hand. I leaned my head to rest on her shoulder and she rested her head on my head.

  “So, how was your first job?” Will asked us.

  “It was good. Patch and I got to learn how to drive,” I answered.

  The adults all turned toward Molly and me.

  “They let you drive?” Will questioned.

  “Yeah, we had this old Ford truck and it wasn’t really that hard so don’t worry. There aren’t really that many vehicles on the roads,” I assured.

  “Well, just be careful alright?” Tracy asked.

  “We will, when are we ever not careful?” Molly asked taking her shoes off.

  “Exactly,” Jeff agreed before sipping his drink.

  We hung out for a while until the sun went down and I knew I had to return to the house. I knew my friends didn’t want me to go, but I had to go for Clara’s sake – and for Jonathan. I wished that I could just stay with my friends, but I said I’d do this.

  “I need to head back,” I said.

  “Can’t you stay longer?” Ashley asked after sipping a drink.

  “I should go,” I answered getting out my chair.

  Tracy wasn’t quick to let go of my hand. I hugged her and planted a long kiss on her head. She gave a sweet gentle smile while rubbing my hand before kissing me back.

  Molly sighed, “Okay.”

  I hugged the girls and kissed them goodbye.

  “Be safe,” Carrie said to me.

  “I will, see you tomorrow,” I told everyone.

  “Bye,” they all said.

  I headed back to the house with limited light as the sun was almost down. Since tomorrow was Sunday, I thought I should go visit Father Lawrence at the church – I wonder how he’ll look when properly dressed as a priest.

  I entered through the front door and called, “I’m home.”

  Clara popped out from the living room, “There you are. Where have you been?”

  “I was working with my friends delivering supplies across town.”

  “Yeah, but I mean, why did you come home so late? It’s 8:30.”

  “I went to visit my friends at Will and Kayley’s apartment. I wanted to see how they were doing.”

  “Oh, they doing okay?” Clara asked.

  “Yeah, they’re fine,” I answered.

  I sat on the couch to relax with Clara sitting close next to me.

  “How was the new job?” Clara asked.

  “I actually like it. Plus, I got work point cards,” I answered, pulling them out of my pocket.

  “Oh, that’s great! So, what is it really? The job.”

  I explained, “Since you have to pay work points to get food and whatever else you want to your house, we take what we can into a truck and drive what they order to their addresses.”

  “Sounds like fun. It’s better than my first job.”

  “What was your first job?”

  “Cashier for a coffee shop,” Clara answered.

  “Not your favorite thing in the world?” I asked.

  “No, I’m not that crazy about coffee. I actually don’t miss it as much as most people. It helped some mornings, but I can go without it,” Clara answered.

  “Yeah, I’ve seen people go crazy about it and I always wondered what’s the big deal about it?”

  “It really helps you wake up in the morning, some people drink after going all night partying and drinking, and some just really enjoy it. Some drink it almost every day and when they stop, they sometimes get coffee withdrawal.”

  I stared at her surprised.

  “You serious?” I asked.

  “Yep, I had some friends joke around like it’s a drug and say, ‘Gotta have my cup of Joe!’ or ‘Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my cup of coffee!’ with a crazed look in their eyes.” Clara smiled.

  We sat on the couch and talked for a while – she told all her coffee jokes and some of them made me laugh. As expected, my laugh made her laugh. It felt good – just sitting here and just talking without the prospect of dying or worrying about what might be around the next corner. Before I got ready for bed . . . for the first time, I hugged her first before she hugged me.

  Clara smiled and kissed my head, “I love you, Nathan.”

  That felt good, too.

  Chapter 5

  Nathan/Sonny

  “Stand up for what you believe in, even if you stand alone.”

  – Suzy Kassem

  The school day wasn’t what I expected at all. Somebody forgot to tell us that gym class wasn’t normal exercise, but consisted of Taekwondo, Karate, and Judo – it also wasn’t optional, but required. So, it felt weird to walk in with almost half the school wearing Karate Gi uniforms practicing kicks, punches, and defensive throws and counters.

  “You believe this shit?” Carrie asked.

  “Well, at least we’ll know how to defend ourselves,” I suggested.

  “Yeah, knowing fancy ways to break plywood is not in my repertoire,” Jess stated.

  “How the hell do you know the word repertoire?” Patch asked, turning to her.

  “What? I can know stuff, too. Sunshine here isn’t the only one that reads. For example, I read a book about poisonous plants and some of them are pretty mind blowing – like Pokeweed, which looks like delicious berries, but can actually cause serious plant poisoning enough to kill you. Same goes with Oleander and White Snakeroot.”

  “White Snakeroot? Yeah, you can’t tell what’s so bad about that. A plant with a name like that screams danger loud and clear.”

  “Yeah, except you don’t have to worry about that plant since it doesn’t grow here on the west coast. However, there are some plants you guys need to know like Pokeweed, Lantana, and Oleander—"

  As she went on, I looked around at the gym which was pretty big – big enough where there’s loud echoes. There big telescopic bleachers on both sides of the gym, nice shiny hardwood flooring and big electric scoreboard on one side of wall in the school colors, white and blue. We were assigned to a group where new kids like us gathered at and an instructor was waiting for us. He bowed and introduced himself as Sensei Indiana – yeah like the movie – and he went over what we would be learning and what some of the history of the fighting styles. Karate and Taekwondo were mostly of kicks, punches, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and some grapples and throws. Judo, however, was mostly all throws and takedowns – basically techniques to bring your opponent down or get them into locks or chokes by changing their momentum with force. We started with mostly stretches and warm-ups until we started to learn all the stances and strikes. I looked over and saw some teenagers wearing face shields, chest guards, shin guards, foot guards, and gloves while engaging in fighting matches. Some were really good as they took down their opponent and held them down. How long will it take for us to learn those?

  I went to use the restroom, but when I came out, I ran into Warren, Shaun, Scarlet, and Sarah. They were wearing black Gi uniforms with the tiger martial arts symbol on their backs.

  “Hey! You’re here!” Warren said, with a smile.

  “Yeah we’re here,” I replied, as they hugged me.

  “Finally, here with the ass-kickers huh?” Shaun asked.

  “Yep we are, I see you guys are familiar here.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll shed your civilian clothes soon and be part of the clan. Where’s everyone else?” Scarlet asked.

  I pointed, “Over there with Sensei Indiana.”

  “Oh man, it’s gonna take forever for you guys to start knowing how to kick ass with him. He takes his sweet ass time,” Sarah said.

  “He does?”

  “Yep, it took us months until we actually started learning the real useful stuff,” Shaun answered.

  Warren placed his arm around my shoulder and pointed, “You see those teens over there? Those guys are black belts and for a few point cards, they’ll teach you whatever you want.”

  I looked over at Warren.

  He looked back at me, “Listen, you and your friends are g
ood people so we’re not gonna leave you hanging. We’re gonna look out for you, and some of the things they can teach are things that can’t wait. Talk to your friends and let us know when you’re ready. Okay?”

  I hesitantly answered, “Yeah sure.”

  As I walked back to my friends, there was this girl sitting up high on the benches looking at me. She was sitting in a relaxed position with one knee brought up with her arm resting on it. I could see clearly, she was about my age, a little shorter than me, athletic build, and had short brunette hair that only reached the bottom of her neck with a pretty face. Her appearance didn’t surprise me as much as her eyes. Her eyes were mismatched – her right eye was blue and her left eye was green. For some reason, I stopped and stared back at her. It was as if we were both observing each other. Unlike how Molly was staring at me in Fort Denver where all noise fell away leaving a peaceful silence with a wonderful feeling of curiosity, this girl staring at me left a different silence and an empty feeling of complete unknown. I’ve never seen her before, and I had no idea whether she’s an outsider like me or a domestic kid like these people. We stared at each for half a minute, until two teens that were fighting each were making loud grunts as one did a shoulder throw. I looked back at the girl again before walking away, but I could feel her eyes on me still – I almost looked over my shoulder.

  After some more lessons, they sent us to go jogging on the track outside. I took this opportunity to tell my friends of the hookup Warren and the others have set up for us.

  “Hey, listen up, Warren and the others told me of this group of black belt teens that are willing to teach us some effective self-defense techniques right away. There’s a catch, it costs some point cards, I don’t know how much, but I think it’s worth it,” I told them, as we were jogging.

  “Black belts?” Molly asked.

  “Self-defense? Are you serious?” Carrie asked.

  “Yeah, Warren said to come find him and the others when we’ve made a decision,” I said.