Seed
Page 34
Unclipping himself from the chute, he scanned the crowd desperately, looking for Yael.
“Alex!”
He spun towards the sound of her voice, and saw her rushing towards him in a blur of motion, the little dog keeping pace at her feet.
“Yael!”
They collided with such force that she almost knocked him over. Managing to keep his balance, he scooped her up in his arms and, oblivious to onlookers, lifted her off her feet, kissing her with a desperate ferocity born of the loneliness of their long separation.
“Alex!” she cried, her face wet with tears of joy. “I can’t believe you came back!”
He wanted to speak, but couldn’t find the words. Holding her tightly, he rocked back and forth, overcome with emotion. The little dog yipped and ran in circles around them.
“Give the Chief a minute,” he heard Tom say. “There’ll be plenty of time to say hi.”
“I prayed every day,” Yael said, still weeping. “I hope that doesn’t piss you off.” She managed a smile.
“Not since it worked!” he said.
“Ever the pragmatist.” She smiled at him as she ran her hand through his hair.
He kissed her again, then, still holding her, turned to the others.
“Tom,” he said. “I don’t know where to begin. You saved my life, man. Shit, you probably saved the world, or at least what’s left of it.”
Tom grinned sheepishly. “Cut it out Chief, you’re embarrassing me.”
Alex walked up to him, and hugged him. Then Barbara, and the others. Turning back to Yael, he took her hand and pulled her close.
“What’s in the crates?” Sandi asked.
“Ah,” Alex said. “Almost forgot. Food, mostly, and other supplies too. Frozen steaks, cakes, that sort of thing. One of the boxes is a big refrigerator...we can plug it right into the generator. Oh, and those big ones have a few thousand gallons of diesel and gasoline in flexible bladders. This isn’t it, either. We’ll be getting regular deliveries.”
“Sweet!” Barbara said. “We can use the boat again! But what’s the diesel for?”
“You’ll see.”
“The plane’s coming back,” Ryan said, pointing at the sky. It was approaching from the west, flying extremely low and parallel to the strip of beach beyond the barrier.
“Is the barrier still down?” Alex asked Tom.
“Sure is, Chief. We only keep it on at night now.”
“What’s it doing?” Yael asked, looking up at the massive aircraft with wonder.
“It’s dropping something off for me,” Alex explained. “It’s a long story, but a buddy of mine is in charge now.”
“In charge of what?” Barbara asked.
Alex shrugged. “Everything, I guess. The government, the military. He wants me to be a senator or something, told him I’d think about it. Anyway, this buddy said I could have anything I wanted, so I asked for that.” He pointed at the plane. “There wasn’t much else to choose from.”
The C-5 rumbled almost overhead, stirring up a huge cloud of sand as it passed over the beach beyond the barrier. It ejected a massive object from its open cargo doors, followed by two smaller ones. The big one, trailing a parachute to slow it down, fell onto the sand and slid to a stop as the plane rose into the air and banked towards the ocean, heading back to the mainland.
“What the hell is that thing?” Tom asked.
“It’s our M3 Bradley fighting vehicle,” Alex said, grinning. “And two crates of cannon ammo and missiles.”
“A what?” Yael asked, shaking her head. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yep,” Alex said. “Armored personnel carrier. It’s like a light tank with room to transport soldiers. We’re going to kick ass and take names!”
“We’re on an island!” she said. “There’s no one else here!”
Alex shrugged. “So what? They’re fun. You’ll see.” He turned to the others. “It’s really great to see you guys again, but could you give Yael and I a minute or two alone?”
Barbara smiled. “I think you’ll need more than a minute.”
“Okay, guys,” Tom said. “Let’s give the Chief some space. We need to secure those supplies before the vultures pick them clean.” The two of them herded the others towards the crates while Alex led Yael away from the beach.
“He offered you anything you wanted,” she said, shaking her head. “And you took an armored personnel carrier?”
“Well I wanted an Abrams tank, but they couldn’t air drop one of those.”
“You’re incorrigible! What am I going to do with you?”
“I can think of a few things.” His smile left him as he considered what he had learned at the compound. Tom had gone over the data on the servers very carefully, and everything Chambers and Hughes had told them clicked into place. Hours of intense questioning had revealed no holes in their story. It was just so utterly and incomprehensibly stupid. A fancy trash disposal system had all but wiped out human civilization. Was it lack of testing? Had they rushed to production to meet a deadline set by greedy shareholders? Was there a single decision made in a board room that set the world upon a doomed course? These questions could drive him mad, if he let them.
“Besides,” he said, his smile returning. “He couldn’t give me what I really wanted, so I settled for the Bradley.”
“What did you really want?”
“You, dumbass. The only thing I really want is you.”
“I love you, Alex,” she said, reaching out to put a hand on his cheek. “And I’ve missed you so much.” Her moist eyes sparkled in the bright Hawaiian sun.
“I’m really sorry,” he said. “I should never have left you. It was a mistake.” There would be a price to pay for the things that he had done, that was a certainty. But he had Yael’s love, and Campbell’s forgiveness, and that would have to be enough.
“The only thing I care about is that you’re back now,” she said, then turned away, her lips pressed together tightly. “What’s going to happen to us? This place?”
“Whatever we want,” he said, and he believed it. “Our lives are our own now.” Maybe they would be prisoners in the colony for the rest of their lives, hiding behind the barrier from a world that would forever seek to destroy them. Or maybe the Fonseca WasteAway ED REV 3 Transports were all gone, having simultaneously released their unprecedented destructive power and paid for it with extinction. It didn’t matter. Whatever their circumstances, they would make the most of them, and they would do so in a manner of their choosing. Gone was the old world, gone were its rules and its limitations. This was their world now.
The early morning sunlight lay a warm hand on his forehead as he squinted against its brightness. A flock of small green birds took to the air at their approach, their flight shaking the branches of a nearby tree. He watched them disappear into the forest canopy.
He turned to Yael, who smiled up at him. He was home, with the woman he loved and the best friends he’d ever had. He wondered once again if he would give them up to get it all back. The world, the people.
He looked into her eyes, and she into his. He didn’t want to answer, not when he thought of his parents or the small infant jumpsuits, blue ducks on yellow, drifting amongst the wreckage of Honolulu. But he was glad he didn’t have to.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads and/or your various social media accounts. Independent authors need reviews and word of mouth in order to succeed. If you have any questions or want to leave a comment, look for Michael Edelson on facebook, or find the link to my facebook page on my website:
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If you want more but are disappointed that there isn’t a sequel, check out one of my other books. Though varied in plot and genre, they will feel very familiar. If you liked this book, I’m confident that you’ll like the rest as well.
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About the Author
Michael lives in upstate New York with his wife, two kids and too many pets. He is a firefighter with the Andes Fire Department, teaches historical fencing and, when he has the time, writes books.
www.michaeledelson.net