“You went away a little. You were there and then you were lost for a second. I forgot to warn you that it does that too.”
She looked at the burning joint pinched between her thumb and forefinger. She took a shallow drag from it, and then passed it to David. She held it for as long as she could and then let it out coughing as she did, but not as bad as she had the first time. The warm feeling spread into her thighs, up into her face. She felt more alive and on the ball than she had in a long time. “I like this pot, David. I do,” She said after what seemed to be an hour. It seemed their conversation had slowed to a crawl and she wondered why. There were millions of things they could talk about. Millions more they could do. She could see every one of those things clearly.
“I would feel responsible,” Janna said at last, picking her train of thought right back up from where she had left it. “I do feel responsible, even now. I didn't mean for this to happen.”
He held her face in his hands. He didn't remember touching her, or taking her face into his hands, but it was there. He could feel her flesh. See the flecks of gold in her eyes. Feel the warmth of her body, her breath as it touched his cheek. “But nothing has happened, Janna. Nothing. We haven't even kissed. Some touching. Accidental... That's all it was.”
“It isn't all,” Janna said. “I don't think it can be all, because I want more... I think you want more.”
“I do,” he admitted. “I do.”
He moved forward and pulled Janna into his arms. He kissed her as his hands moved on her body.
“But people will be hurt,” She said.
His mouth closed over hers and she gave up arguing.
~
“Come on, come on,” Bobby said. She pulled at Bonnie's hand as they came up to the door that had been fitted into the mineral baths.
Bonnie smiled and looked up and down the wide rocky passageway.”Someone might come.”
“That's half the fun,” Bobby told her. She reached down, turned the knob, and pushed the door open quietly.
The room was lit with a few electric lights, enough to push the shadows back. She began to step into the room before she came to a fast stop, and suddenly began to back up. Bonnie froze for a second, peeked around her shoulder into the room, and then backed out the room quickly. Bobby closed the door as quietly as she could. She looked up at Bonnie, her face red, her mouth a surprise oh of shock.
“That was Janna,” Bonnie said in a low whisper. “Did they see us?”
“Janna? Oh, God, that was David with her... I don't think they saw us... I...”
The door opened and Janna hurried out of the room and stalked off down the wide passageway. Just as they had both begun to wonder if they really had seen someone else in the room with her, David opened the door, saw them both, nodded in embarrassment, and then walked off down the passageway himself. He ran to catch up to Janna. Bonnie leaned back against the rock. “We should keep this to ourselves, after all we don't really know what it was about,” Bonnie said.
“They were naked,” Bobby said. Her voice was incredulous. “Didn't you see that?”
“Oh, I saw it... I mean, sometimes, you really don't know what it was about. It wasn't something we were meant to see. We should keep it to ourselves,” Bonnie repeated.
Bobby pushed the door open. “Well, it's empty now,” she said and smiled widely.
“After that? I don't know,” Bonnie said.
Bobby pulled her sweater over her head in one fluid movement. “Well, I'm going in.” She turned and walked away.
Bonnie laughed. “You are so bad...” She hesitated a moment longer, then pushed inside and let the door close quietly. “Just keep that to ourselves, okay?”
“Whatever you say,” Bobby told her as she peeled the rest of her clothes off and lowered herself down into the water.
~
“It's been a long couple of days for you, Jessie, sorry for this,” James said.
The barn was empty as James lead Jessie into the open area. The hay mow rose above her, hay weeping over the edge. One of the horses whinnied from the stalls, the smell of animals and dung was strong, yet comforting. There was something she liked about it.
“Hit a horse on the way here,” Jessie said now. “It's how I met Conner.” She looked up at James and then around at the barn. James stopped at a row of single hay bales, he motioned for Jessie to sit and then sat himself without waiting.
“I must say, this isn't like you, James.” Jessie looked around the barn once more. Her eyes showed a hint of nervousness.
“I try to be predictable. I watch myself, because as a younger man I didn't always do it. People can get hurt so easily. Lies, half truths, maybe as simple as misconceptions,” James said. “One hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing... Was it like that, Jessie? Did one hand not know what the other was doing?”
Jessie turned her eyes back to James from her examination of the barn. “I could say I don't know what you are talking about, but I would be lying, and I won't do that.”
“Well, that's something, I suppose, “ James said.
“That's Hard, James. Not a side of you I have ever seen.”
James' face turned grim as he nodded. “I had hoped you would say you didn't know what the hell I was talking about. Maybe even throw fuck in there to really show your indignation... I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was to hear you admit it.”
“What do you think I am admitting,” Jessie asked? Two spots of red colored her cheekbones. The pockets under her eyes were white, clashing with the rest of her complexion.
“I think you are saying you planned to take this place away from us. Those of us who built it, founded it,” James said quietly.
“I thought you were with us on it,” Jessie said, every bit as quietly.
“No... Did you hear that from me? No. Maybe my wife,” he sighed “A lot of treachery has been going around. Did my wife intend to take over with David at her side?” James asked.
“I don't know what you mean,” Jessie said.
James watched her face, but he saw she hadn't known. That or she was a superb liar, and so far she had not been. Hard to think she hadn't known, but it was possible. He reminded himself that even he hadn't known for sure until tonight. He had watched the looks they gave each other for the last few weeks and figured it out. Tonight he had sent a note to David asking him to meet her after dinner, another to Janna asking her to meet him and they had. He hadn't really believed it would work: When it came to being devious he had no experience. Even so, his trick had worked: A simple trick, but it was proof enough for him. He had been close to going into the baths room himself when Bobby and Bonnie had come along and done it for him. He had stood in the shadows of an unused alcove and watched it all happen. It was no longer a maybe in his mind, it was a real thing. It was the reason he was here.
“Arlene's David?” Jessie asked.
“Yes,” James allowed. He shook his head. “And my wife... Don't know how long it's been going on... Maybe that's why she promised my vote to go along... She told me that you twisted her words, misconstrued what she said, and I had hoped that was true... Up until I caught the two of them tonight, that is. Then it stopped mattering to me.” He drew a breath and scrubbed at his eyes with fisted hands. “I'll tell them, the council. Only fair that you know. You can stay until spring. They'll be angry, but I will see to it that you can stay until spring.”
“No meeting,” Jessie asked.
“It isn't up to me,” James said. “If there is a meeting it will be to lay it all out, not to take a vote to dismiss us and replace us.”
“How do you know that,” Jessie said. “A vote might go against you.”
James shook his head. “How can you be so,” He threw his hands into the air. “Callous... He saved your life, and you want to repay him this way. This is not some project here, something we hope will work, these are real people trying to survive... What are they to you, subjects? Pawns to an end?”
“That
's ridiculous,” Jessie said. She started to get up, but James dragged her back down none too gently.
“No? Then what? Don't you owe some sort of explanation to me?”
“No,” Jessie said. “Now take your hands off me so I can leave or I'll start screaming. See how your reputation holds up to that.” She launched herself from the hay bale and stalked away to the door. James sat alone for a few minutes and then went to talk to Conner. Better to get it over with.
~
December 9th
The Greenhouse Project
James Adams
The plastic panels had been going up all day. A solid foundation had been built: Concrete poured to even the surface of the ledge: Four courses of concrete block built up from there. The aluminum beams were easy to assemble and made a strong wall. The bottoms were bolted into the concrete blocks, the upper frame bolted into holes that had been drilled into the rock. Bolt anchors had been inserted with epoxy resin. The rest was just installing the plastic panels. The aluminum beams had been over thirty-six feet long, so it had just been a matter of cutting them to length and then welding the units together. The arch that Josh had envisioned had been built in, as the beams were originally made to attach corrugated siding to. A curved wall/roof configuration. One of many prefabs building styles. The arch was gentle enough over the thirty foot run so that it was easy to attach and mount the plastic panels in eight foot sections. Add a gasket and a second piece, a third and fourth took them to the top. The last panel was shorter, and James was using that top most section to install mechanical vents in. They operated simply by temperature, venting excess heat when needed, closing when they weren't needed. The long rubber strips were pulled from large rolls, measured out, and cut to length.
Darren and Violet had taken advantage of the heated space and all the extra help to complete their basic dwelling in the second cave. Both projects had gone ahead at full speed over the last few days. The house was up, built into, and protected under the ledge of the same overhang the greenhouse was going up under. The walls were cinder-block, the windows that faced the exterior, glass block. The bathroom and kitchen were in. The cement for the tub walls had been cast. They intended to cover the cinder block with wire mesh and then stucco. Creating a finish they hoped would blend in with the rock that surrounded it.
The glass block was a perfect substitute for windows. It allowed the light in, but could not be seen through. Besides, Darren had joked, someone would have to be standing a hundred feet off the ground to be able to see inside. They had jumped in with the others to work on the green house for the balance of the day as they were waiting for cement to dry.
A huge opening had been left at the end of the overhang that lined up with the entrance to the long tunnel and the ramp on the outside that had been built up with earth. It would allow direct access to the entire tunnel and cave system. They had installed two huge, steel doors of the same type that had been used on the barns they had built from kits down in the first valley. The barns had been assembled from several kits put together, so there were a half dozen doors leftover and the hardware to hang them. They had to use straight pieces of steel, but they had set them within the arch of the beams and they worked perfectly. The doors had originally been designed to slide open, but since they were set inside the beams they would not be able to slide. James and Jake had built huge hinges from flat steel and welded the doors up to swing open or closed.
They had used the steel doors frames, stripped the corrugated panels from them and intended to install the plastic sheets in place of the steel. The welder had made quick work of putting up the new hardware.
What remained now was to finish attaching the plastic panels to the frame work. Out of nearly one hundred panels they had started with, they were now down to just five or six full panels. The full exposure of the greenhouse was a little over one hundred and ten feet long by just short of thirty feet in total height.
With the arc of the beams and the space the ledge already held under the overhang, it gave them a greenhouse that was over one hundred and fifty feet long by sixty feet in width. The doors capped the end that had been slightly widened so that they could use them to enter the tunnel.
James was working at the top of the structure. The last panel was being bolted into place on the outside as James was testing a set of vents and the mechanism that moved them, to make sure they moved properly and operated freely.
He was not as comfortable thirty plus feet in the air as Aaron or Conner would be, but he was getting used to it.
He reached over and tugged at the heavy vent cover that had stuck open, and tried to push it the rest of the way close. It was under tension, twisted slightly in the frame that housed it, and a second or two of looking at it showed him the problem. A small piece of steel slag, left over from cutting the sheet steel to make the vent, had not been ground down. It had caught the edge of the ducting and jammed the vent cover so it could not completely close. He leaned closer to get a better look. The cover was sitting out a good six inches from where it should be seated, and all because of the small quarter inch bead of slag at the back of the vent duct.
He rested his hand on the vent cover at the front, and then twisted his body to reach his hammer where it hung at his side. A split second later he was falling. The small piece of slag that had held the lid had broken free with the extra weight of James' body as he twisted to get his hammer. The lid slammed down, his hand shot out into air, his body shifted and he tumbled from the ladder almost as if he were performing some sort of graceful diving exercise.
The small piece of slag hit the stone floor a split second before James did.
The Clinic
Jessie
Jessie stepped out of the clinic and tried to catch Conner's eye without coming out far enough for Janna to see her. When he met her eyes, she shook her head.
It had been no more than twenty minutes ago that James had been standing at the top of the ladder finishing up the last vent, and now he was dead. How, Conner wondered, was he supposed to help Janna deal with that. He nodded back and then got up and walked over to her.
“I've already called Katie, Amy, Lilly, they're on the way. I want her to have support before I talk to her, and, I have another emergency on the way,” Jessie told him. She left him and went back into the clinic. Conner walked back to where Janna sat quietly with Sandy and Susan before he thought to wonder who the other emergency was.
Sandy had kept Janna distracted so she had not seen Conner get up and go to the clinic door to talk with Jessie. The door itself was out of view from where she sat, but Sandy had seen, she had watched Conner walk over towards the door. She probably knew, he thought, and as if to confirm his suspicions she looked over at him and raised her eyebrows. Conner shook his head. The look on Sandy's face remained the same. She had known.
Conner heard the huge door to the caves' main area open, felt the cold air sweep past him and turned expecting Katie, Amy and Lilly, but when someone did come into view around the corner it was Craige carrying one end of a stretcher, completely out of breath. Jake brought up the rear in no better shape. Arlene lay on her side on the stretcher, her face a mask of pain. David trailed along beside her looking like a zombie, blood covered his hands, his face expressionless, wooden. Conner leapt to his feet and tried to catch David as the group swept past him, but they hurried past him without acknowledgment or stopping.
The clinic door opened, Jessie and Steve stepped out and motioned to the next door down. They hurried Arlene inside, but Steve stopped David and looked back at Conner for help.
“David,” Conner told him as he tried to lead him away. “David, let them look at her. Come on over and sit down with me and I'm sure they'll be back to get you soon. Just give them some time. A few minutes,” Conner told him. He had no idea if any of what he said was true, he only knew he had to let them do what they had to, and David couldn't be there. Steve patted David on the shoulder and then hurried into the room after Jessie. Co
nner had walked David to the bench and sat him down beside Janna before he had realized what he had done.
They had looked up, met each others eyes and burst into tears.
It was no secret. James had come to Conner and told him about the relationship as well as what Janna, Jessie and the others had planned to do. He had not got around to deciding what to do about it. He had only discussed it with Katie, Aaron and Amy, but someone else had known about Janna and David. He had been approached by Jake down in the barn this morning who had heard about it from Josh. By noon others had been asking. James had not heard it, but nearly everyone else had known about David and Janna's meeting in the baths.
The door opened, the cold air blew in, and this time it was Katie, followed by Lilly, Bonnie, and a few others he couldn't put a name to.
“Amy is coming with Aaron,” she told him as she kissed him. Her eyes shifted to David and the blood on his hands. Conner rose and pulled her aside and filled her in on Arlene being bought in. Susan and Sandy had risen and went back into the clinic when Jessie had appeared at the door and motioned for them, Katie walked back to Janna, sat down beside her and pulled her head to her breast. She talked to her in low tones as if she were a child, one hand stroking her hair, smoothing if from her brow. Conner sat next to David, one hand on his shoulder, unsure what to do. A few seconds later Lilly got up to talk to Amy and Aaron as they entered. A second after that the clinic door opened, Jessie came out, took a nearby chair, turned it around backwards, straddled it, and sat down in front of Janna. She took one of Janna's hand and patted it lightly, her face set.
“No,” Janna moaned. She began to weep and tried to get up, but Katie held her. Janna broke down and sobbed.
“I'm sorry,” Jessie began.
THIRTEEN
The OutRunners
Year One December 20th
New York: Manhattan
Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7] Page 133