Kimber

by L K Hingey

  Tristan’s jaw was on the floor. He seized the western region’s packet and began flipping through. Details on the Cheyenne Mountain Complex’s internal structures, resources, viability, and suggested populations were all laid out. A few pages had been dedicated to the schematics of a series of massive state-of-the-art solar-powered generators that had been retro-fitted into the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The reports stated that the complex had been built in the late 1960’s under 2,000 feet of solid granite... specifically to withstand a nuclear blast.

  The pages started to become a blur. The compound, which was comprised of over 15 multi-storied buildings, had been equipped with filters that could separate radiation and toxic biologic free radicals. The complex had been built on top of over 1,000 springs to prevent shifting of the buildings in the event of an earthquake or a nuclear shockwave. Details on how the compound had been occupied as a self-sustaining test city after the nuclear attacks of 2182 took up another few pages.

  It was all too much to take in, and Tristan set the folder down. His heart was racing as he thought about what it could mean. He had wondered, and had even calculated the high probability, that there were other cities that still supported life. For the first time though, he felt like he was holding proof that it existed. What would life in the west look like? Would it have scales and self-healing DNA? Would the humans have extra limbs, incorrectly positioned eyes, or misshapen appendages like they did in the photos that Kimber brought back from the lab? Would there have been grafting done at all?

  His energy must have been palpable because Kimber started to stir. She turned over in the bed and peacefully opened her eyes. Although Tristan’s mind was exploding with questions and excitement, he reined himself in and gently closed the folder. He tried to shove everything out of his mind to focus on what was real and what was in front of him. Right now, a friend needed him.

  Chapter XIX

  “What time is it?” Kimber asked groggily.

  Tristan glanced out the window and smiled at her. “A little after noon.”

  “It’s after noon?” Kimber sat up, mortified. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “We can make up the travel time, don’t worry. You needed the sleep, Kimber. Yesterday was a... long, day.” He spoke softly and had said all he had to.

  The events came flooding back to Kimber’s wakening mind as he watched her. Her eyes became clear with understanding once the memories snapped into place.

  “I got you something!” Tristan announced, trying to distract her. He didn’t want her day to start off in the company of all those nasty memories.

  Kimber looked at him with a surprised smile. “A present?”

  “Yeah,” Tristan grinned. “But you’ll have to humor me and eat some breakfast first.”

  “Breakfast AND a present? I need to sleep in more often!” Kimber beamed at him. “What’s on the menu?”

  “May I present to the mademoiselle: breakfast a’ la carte.” Tristan brought the cans goods over with flourish and a bow. She had her choice between great-northern beans, kidney beans, spam, and canned pears.

  Kimber’s eyes lit up. “Pears, please. Thank you, monsieur.”

  As she dug into the pears, Tristan grabbed the gift bag and the folder that he had been reading off the table. He crawled up on the bed and sat cross legged near Kimber. The pears smelled sweet, making his mouth water. He noticed how thirsty he was and made a mental note to find a stream as soon as they could. Kimber must have noticed him glance at juice and passed him the can.

  “Have a few and drink the juice. They are extra good this morning,” she said mischievously as she starting to pull the gift bag towards her.

  Tristan took a sip and laughed. “Nice distraction. I’ll let it slide because you are right; the pears are extra good right now.”

  He savored the juice as Kimber triumphantly hugged the bag. Presents were rare in Inanna. “I love it!”

  “You haven’t even opened it,” he said, laughing in between gulps.

  “I already love it!” she corrected, savoring the anticipation as if it were as sweet as the canned fruit. Kimber reached into the bag and pulled out the magazine. “Oo, the treasury!” she squeaked and flipped through the pages until she found the page bearing the same photo that was featured on the cover. “This will be a fun read!”

  “Grab the next paper-y thing you feel,” Tristan urged excitedly.

  Kimber obliged and pulled out the 1930’s newspaper. “Whoa,” she marveled at the black and white photograph. “This is incredible.” She unfolded the historic paper and gawked at the date. She looked up at Tristan speechless.

  He grinned. “Okay, you’ve got two more things to grab, and then I have another surprise for you.”

  Kimber could feel his excitement, and it was infectious. She reached into the bag and pulled out the jar of cherries. She loved cherries! She unscrewed the lid and popped one in her mouth. It practically melted on her tongue. She passed the jar to Tristan who had finished the pears. He set both containers to the side. Kimber happily reached back into the bag one last time and felt around. Her hand hit the stone keychain.

  She pulled the little granite figure up into the light and gasped. “Oh, I do love it!”

  “It’s an exact replica!” Tristan boasted. “Oh, and something else I think you’ll find really neat,” he continued as she handled her new ornament affectionately. “All three of these things,” he motioned around to her presents, “come from a different century. The newspaper is from the 1900’s, the keychain is from the 2000’s, and the magazine is from the 2100’s!”

  Kimber threw her arms around him and held onto him tightly. His gesture was so incredibly sweet. She kissed him softly and quickly on the lips and retreated back to her seat blushing.

  “I felt bad that the one thing you would have liked to have seen, the world can’t afford us time to check out,” he started, almost as if explaining.

  “Thank you so much, Tristan,” she said, her blues eyes shining. His grinned returned.

  “I’m glad you like them. Now, instead of your new articles, I have something... uh, a bit more pressing, for you to read.” He passed her the folder.

  She looked down curiously at the folder and touched the white label. She glanced up at the table with the briefcase on it and then back to Tristan.

  “After I hunted around for breakfast, I went through the loose paperwork while you were sleeping,” Tristan admitted softly. “Then I unloaded the contents of the briefcase. This was the most important thing in there. I read it only moments before you woke up, actually.”

  Kimber nodded, understanding the full message behind his words. He knew then, about the lists and the reports on the genetic experimentations. Tristan was sharp and Kimber had no doubt he had connected the same dots that she had regarding Sophia and her mother. Kimber felt as though a weight was lifted off her shoulders and expelled an internal sigh of relief. She opened the folder and concentrated on what Tristan wanted her to see.

  Despite not having much of a frame of reference for what she was looking at, it did not take long for her to understand what she was reading. Her eyes grew wide and she whispered, “The Rocky Mountains?” Tristan did not say anything. He just nodded and watched her thumb through the pages the same why he had. When she was done, she closed the folder and turned her stone vault over in her fingers, giving herself time to think.

  “We always knew it was possible. I mean, why not, right? The plans for Inanna began years before the flare. It makes sense for there to be more survivor cities. Especially now that we know the flare had been forecast...” Kimber pondered out loud.

  “Yeah, and this Cheyenne place sounds like a full-on treasury-level bunker. Who knows, it may even have operating electricity. The kind that doesn’t trap you in a freaky elevator.” Tristan contemplated what electricity would be like and shrugged.

  “I wonder why it’s been kept such a secret, though? Wouldn’t you think it would be knowledge worth cel
ebrating?” Kimber asked, frowning.

  Tristan thought on it and said slowly, “Not if they wanted to stack the odds in their favor that no one ever tried to leave Inanna...”

  “Who would want to leave Inanna?” Kimber asked before the realization dawned on her.

  “...Eve,” they said at the same time.

  Kimber groaned and dropped backwards onto the bed. Tristan smiled. She was so funny when she got dramatic, or shy, or sassy. He plopped onto his stomach and crawled forward until he was lying next to her, his hazel eyes staring into a pool of blue. “When did things get so complicated?” Kimber asked, staring at his face, which was only a few inches away.

  “Apparently, before we were ever even born,” he replied, looking over his shoulder at Colonel Roberts’s briefcase.”

  “New plan. Let’s run away. We can hotel hop. We can spend our days lounging around and when the food runs out, we’ll just pick up and go raid somewhere new,” Kimber said dreamily.

  “I could live with that.” A smile lit up Tristan’s eyes. The yellows and greens that surrounded his eccentric pupils looked electric this close up, and Kimber felt certain she could spend every day on the run with him. There was something comforting about staring at a face, beautiful and fierce, like her own. Her whole life, she had been studying humans, and for the first time, she was beginning to see how beautiful her own species truly was.

  His lips were plump and perfect, and she could not help but smile back at him. Kimber was not the only one enraptured. Tristan could hardly take his eyes off hers. Since she was facing the window, the light was striking her eyes at the perfect angle, making them appear so icy that it almost looked as if her irises were white riddled with veins of blue lightning.

  They fell silent, both lost in thought and admiration. As they laid there, their bodies grew bolder in color as their blood started to warm. Neither of them had ever lain so close to another Aurora that they could appreciate every single scale and color. Tristan was memorizing every detail from her high cheekbones to the pout in her upper lip and was loving how her colors became more vibrant every time she flushed.

  The memory of the mountain lion came back to Kimber, and she could see the conflict of tameness and wildness raging in his eyes. The dichotomy was exhilarating, and it made her soul stir with yearning. She yearned to be free, to be released from the cage that worry and responsibility had put them in. She longed to run and never look back. As she stared, she could see a deep steadfastness waring with the rampant wanderlust.

  The tenderness had always been there, deep in his eyes, but she had never seen it this raw. It made her want to be gentle, to be fair, and to be kind. She leaned in and kissed him. Not a quick peck this time, but a real kiss. Tristan returned the kiss, gently at first, growing more boldly. He was crazy about Kimber and could not believe that in the middle of all this chaos, they had found an island of happiness.

  Tristan propped up on one elbow and stroked Kimber’s hair. She looked at him with a sigh. “We need to get on the road, don’t we?”

  “Yeah. If we don’t leave soon, you’re liable to try to run the whole way back. And although leaving this bed is going to feel like it’s going to kill me, your pace probably will.” Tristan grinned and dropped one last kiss onto her lips before hoping off the bed.

  “Wait, you’re not in the mood to run all the way back? But I am so well rested!” Kimber teased and stretched.

  “Some of us got more sleep than others,” he contended, throwing a wink her way.

  “You and your winks. Hey, at least we have a lot to think about.” Kimber stood and became more serious as they started to pack the room up. “I really want to hear your take on how you think the events unfolded at the clinic. We need to make sure our stories are in sync so when we debrief everyone back home, we are consistent.”

  “You’re starting to sound like me,” Tristan joked as they worked on divvying the stacks of papers amongst the satchel and the briefcase. “I’ll mull it all over as the day goes on. Do the same?” Tristan picked up the jar of cherries. “Want to finish these outside before we go? It’ll help lighten the load.”

  Kimber nodded vigorously. All the sugar may give them a belly ache, but the cherries were so delicious, it would be worth it. He finished packing as much as he could into the briefcase, which was now swollen and awkward. He handed Kimber her leather bag. “For any less of a, uh, tank, I’d be a gentleman and offer to carry both bags. But, I’ll need all the help I can get seeing as how your pace is about to crush me.” Tristan ran his hand through his hair and grimaced playfully.

  Kimber shook her head with a smile and picked up a can of spam to take outside with the cherries. After doing a once-over of the room to make sure nothing had been left behind, they departed, surprised by how much they had acquired over the short number of days. They made their way awkwardly down the staircase and into the blazing sunlight. It was another perfectly windless day. Thank the gods, thought Kimber, whichever ones are looking out for us.

  There was a picnic table not too far away laying overturned on its side. Sand drifts had buried it slightly, and Tristan and Kimber heaved on it to dislodge it from the dust. It broke free, and they flipped it upright. They sat down on the tabletop to eat lunch, both lost in thought. “How far do you want to try to get?” Tristan asked as he was finishing up his can of beans.

  “Think we can make Sonora?” she asked, setting her spam aside.

  “Well we can sure try,” Tristan replied. “That’s just over 26 miles. We will need to start drinking water too. As soon as we cross some, okay?

  Kimber nodded and took a handful of cherries out of the jar. She savored each one as she popped them into her mouth, letting the juices tickle her throat. She passed the jar to Tristan, who did the same. The borealis danced above them, today debuting soft purple hues. The pair enjoyed the last of the cherries and got up to adjust their loads. Once they were set, they looked at each other and with a nod, they were off.

  Tristan set the pace up front. He knew the base better than she did and besides, Kimber liked letting him be the navigator. They passed by the many sites of the fort for the last time and were soon weaving out of the roadblocks they had entered through. The condition around the entry point looked as bad as it had on the trip in; full of vandalized cars, remnants of arson attacks, and graffiti. They were happy to be clear of the choke point and as they traveled away, the guard shack stared after them, its vacant gaze ignorant to the secrets they were stealing.

  As they traveled down Bullion Boulevard, Kimber craned her neck to catch a glimpse of the giant treasury building. She ran backwards for a while, watching it tower in the daylight. She stopped briefly and picked up her keychain which she had attached to her belt, comparing the miniature granite structure to the real one. It made her smile, and she tucked it fondly back into her belt loop. Tristan snuck a glance backwards and caught her fiddling with her little sculpture. It was a small thing, but he hoped it would be something she could look back on and smile, especially in light of so much darkness.

  He slowed the pace until Kimber caught back up, and then they settled into a quick clip, flying for hours over the south bound road. The briefcase proved to be awkward, but Tristan managed. He had to keep shifting it from hand to hand to prevent his forearms and grip from giving out. He tried to think of the killer arm workout he was getting, but by the time they crossed water in Elizabethtown, he was ready to fling the case into the dustbowl that was around them. Parched and sore, he trotted over the muddy water’s edge with relief.

  “Twelve miles. Almost halfway to Sonora,” he announced, eyeing the water filter like a dehydrated animal as Kimber unpacked it. The sun was starting to set, and his arms and legs were on fire. Kimber was feeling the extra weight too but could tell Tristan was hurting. She passed him the water filter, and he got to work. Tristan offered her the first water bottle, but she waived it away like he was crazy.

  “Let’s take a break here in Elizabethtown
to find some dinner. Then we can walk for a bit until we intersect I65,” Kimber suggested kindly, recognizing that Tristan needed some time to recover.

  He nodded in between long pulls on the water bottle. The water was lukewarm, and in Tristan’s opinion, delicious. Less enthusiastically, Kimber took the third filtered bottle and drank it as he filled one more for himself. “One thing I definitely miss about Inanna,” she said, as she drained her last few drops and then looked ruefully at the bits of sediment at the bottom of her bottle. Tristan, who was already feeling better after quenching his thirst, shrugged with a smile.

  “I don’t mind the water up here. I do miss the fresh food though. Eggs, chicken, goat milk...” his voice trailed away as he daydreamed about the hot food from Inanna’s kitchens.

  Kimber smiled to mask the familiar pang in her heart. Thinking of Inanna’s agriculture make her think of Caleb. She knew that she would always care about him but recognized that their worlds were split. She also could not help the feeling of betrayal that was stealing in and squatting like an unwanted tenant in her heart. Caleb had done nothing when the council had all but called to put her on trial. He had done nothing when the desperate hour came to call.

  What could he have done? she asked herself, trying to brush the negative feelings away. It was not like he could have stormed out of the caverns with the Auroreans. Even if he would have made some grand speech or had taken some firm stance, once the Auroras had left, Caleb would have been left alone in a sea of confusion and contempt. What had happened was what needed to happen. The sun was sinking, and Kimber glanced up and saw Tristan’s silhouette surveying the land under the intensifying borealis.

  Kimber watched Tristan stretching his sore body, lost in quiet thought. Maybe, even though it hurt, some things were meant to happen. She could not hide from the feeling that she had betrayed Caleb too. They had shared little more than a few pecks on the cheeks and forehead, but she could not lie to herself and say that a piece of their hearts had not belonged to each other. And though she had not planned it, her heart had fallen for the intense and intelligent Aurorean in front of her.