by Greg Ramsay
Wake yourself before you’re put in the ground, girl... he said, as he slowly faded back into darkness.
Lia awoke within her mind to hear the Leader’s words. Her senses started to awaken with her soon after. The first thing she felt was excruciating pain in her body, then immense weakness, followed by the strange sensation of movement. She tried to move, but her body seemed to be held against something. Lia lay in John’s arms immobile, yet she could faintly hear murmuring. She focused harder on the sound and could hear John calling for her. She slowly opened her eyes. Light burned the corners of her vision, and was soon blotted out by darkness. She slowly blinked and her vision began to focus. When her sight was back, the first thing she saw was John’s face staring down at her smiling.
“John...” she said weakly, and John almost started crying as he exclaimed, “I knew you’d pull through, superwoman!”
Grant walked up beside John. Grant smiled and said, “Hey Lia, how are you?”
Lia turned her eyes to him and said. “Weak... Is everybody ok?”
Grant said, “Ya, we’re ok, don’t worry about us.”
John looked at Lia and said. “I’m gonna take you to the alpha we killed so you can get your strength back. Sorry for the bumping in advance.”
Lia smiled as John jogged her back to the dead shifted, not caring about the pain. She was alive, they were okay, and nothing else mattered to her. When he neared the area where the others waited, John called out to them, “Lia’s alive!” Steele and Black turned to him as Wanderer barked and ran over to him. He wagged his tail profusely as he walked with Grant and John. “Lia’s ok, buddy,” John said. Wanderer barked again, wandering around them in circles excitedly. John and Grant laughed at the overjoyed husky. They eventually met up with Black and Steele who stood waiting by the alpha’s carcass.
“How’re you holding up Lia?” Steele and Black both asked simultaneously when they saw her in John’s arms, looking up at them.
“I’m a little weak. How are you?” Steele laughed, looked at Black then turned back to Lia.
“We’re good, I was more worried for John to be honest; he had quite the conniption all of a sudden,” she said. John cringed despite himself which only drew a knowing look from the one he carried, though she wasn’t ready to say why. “Ok John, set her down already so she can eat this thing!” Steele said commandingly.
John smiled. “Yes ma’am,” he said.
John then set her down beside the alpha, backing away to give her room. Lia closed her eyes, and tried to enter the void world. All that remained of the familiar dark clouds were mere faint wisps. There was no trace of the Leader’s mask.
Leader, are you there? Are you ok? she asked.
A faint voice came from around her. Yes child... I am here... I am recuperating; it took everything right down to what little solar energy I had, to get you back to yourself. That horde whittled everything your short hunt gained you to nothing, the Leader replied.
There is a dead alpha here waiting for us; do you have the power to consume it? Lia asked.
Of course, he said.
Lia left the void world, focusing her energy into helping the Leader within her. Tendrils slowly formed from her broken armour extending toward the carcass beside her. The tendrils slowly stripped away the Leader’s armour, consuming them separately to build power for the rest of the job.
Lia said, “You guys might not want to watch this; it’s going to get nasty.”
The tendrils continued to take apart the carcass, ripping off appendages as the strength of the Leader within her quickly began to grow. The soldiers didn’t turn away even as the tendrils began to rip out the dead alpha’s innards. John actually found the grotesque scene pleasing because he knew it meant Lia was going to be okay. More tendrils – stronger than the first – emerged from Lia’s armour to drag the entire shell of the carcass toward her. As the larger tendrils pulled what remained of the carcass to pieces, smaller tendrils emerged from Lia’s wound. The large dirty gash was already in the process of being healed. Then more tendrils emerged from the armour to reinforce the stitching while rebuilding the damaged armour on top of the healed area. When the tendrils finished their work, Lia was fully healed; she lay there for a moment to recuperate.
“Are you ok now?” John asked when he’d noticed the consuming had stopped, and saw her lying there.
Lia smiled. “Yes, I’m ok now. Thank you all. If it wasn’t for you guys, I’d be dead right now.”
Steele laughed. “You’re welcome, and we owe you the same. Thanks for dealing with that horde,” she said.
Lia laughed quietly. “We’re even then,” she said jokingly.
“Yes we are. Now you go to your Hummer and rest up till your energy level is up to snuff, then we’ll head out of here,” Steele said. Lia nodded. John turned to leave, but was stopped by Lia’s hand on his arm after the others had already walked off.
“What’s u-?” he started to ask, but was caught off guard by her sudden kiss. A tear fell from her eye while, per her silent request, the Leader sent a tendril through her tongue speedily into his brain. Amidst the shock apparent in his eyes just before they closed was a moment of serene understanding just before they separated.
“Now I know,” John said quietly.
“As do I, dear husband,” Lia replied with a coy smirk. With that, she turned and left him there smiling while she walked back to her Hummer. Wanderer followed her. They both got in, and Lia went to sleep smiling. John, Steele, Black, and Grant sat in the other vehicles, looking at each other. Each one of them waiting for the other to speak.
Finally, John said. “We got seriously lucky there; we almost lost a teammate.” Steele nodded.
“That is true. Lia almost died, all because we decided to split up.”
Black looked at her and said, “We definitely can’t let that happen again. No matter what, we have to stay together. Dear Husband here might lose his suddenly minted wife.” John blushed slightly before he noticed Grant’s demeanor.
Grant looked down at his knees sadly. “You know, this is mostly my fault; I should’ve asked her to stay.”
John shook his head in disagreement. “It’s not really your fault; she would’ve done it anyways. She knew we were in trouble so she chose to do as she did.”
“You’re right...” Grant said.
“I know,” John said affirmatively. John jumped from the seat of his tanker stretching out his arms “Well, it’s been an hour. I’m gonna go see how Lia’s doing.”
Once he was gone, Black turned to Grant with a sly smile, and said. “A bag of beef jerky says he wakes her up!”
Grant smiled. “Two bags says they bang.”
“Ha, deal!” Black said as she firmly gripped his outstretched hand.
Chapter 21 – Internal Strife Rekindling
John walked over to Lia’s Hummer. He looked through the window to see her resting calmly in her seat. Small strands of her red hair were draped across the side of her face, running down past her lips. She looked so beautiful to John, her gentle facial features accentuated by her amazing crimson red hair. He never thought he would be happy just to know she was alive. He smiled at Wanderer resting his head in her lap. John thought about waking her to see if she was okay, but thought the better of it. Instead he turned and began to walk back to his truck. John arrived where they had parked their vehicles, bothered by his sudden rush of memories. How did that happen; why does being called ‘husband’ seem right out of nowhere? Emotional rush could be just adrenaline, but still... he wondered to himself silently.
Black turned to him with a smile on her face. “Did you wake her up?” John looked at her with a quizzical look.
“No, I didn’t, why?”
Grant laughed loudly and clapped his hands. “Thanks John, you just won me the bet!” he said.
“Dammit!” Black cursed. John smiled.
“What bet would you be referring to?” John asked Grant, bemused.
“I
had a bet with Black that said you wouldn’t wake her up, and you didn’t.”
John laughed and said, “Ok, so what was on the line?”
“A bag of jerky,” Grant replied.
“The last damn bag of jerky,” Black said agitatedly.
“Nice!” John said to Grant while laughing at Black’s pissed off expression.
Steele smirked at John. “You’d best go get her up, we need to get out of this damn city A.S.A.P after the chaos we caused.”
John wandered casually to the front of Lia’s Hummer. front of Lia’s Hummer. He looked through the window to see Lia was still asleep. He reached out and grasped the door handle. He quietly opened the door and had to stop Wanderer from jumping onto Lia’s lap. John bent over closer to Lia, watching her face as he gently nudged her shoulder.
“Lia,” he said quietly. “You have to get up now.” Lia’s eyes closed tightly; she groaned then slowly opened her eyes.
“Hey John, how’s it goin’?”
John smiled and said, “Good thanks, how about you, are you ok now?”
Lia smiled openly. “Yes, I’m fine now, thanks to you.”
John laughed nervously. “It wasn’t only me that saved you we all did...”
Lia’s smile changed to a gentle grin, and she said, “I hear you were the only one that argued I was still alive. You did all you could to save me, and you succeeded!”
John blushed at her last statement, looked at his hands, and said. “Sorry for... almost burying you...”
Lia bent toward him, put her hand on his cheek, gently caressing it as she said, “Don’t apologize, you didn’t know.”
He looked at her and smiled awkwardly. Lia smiled and spun her body in her seat. John looked at her curiously, she wiggled her finger at him and he bent in closer. She quickly slid her arm around his shoulders, bent toward him, and pressed her lips to his. John’s eyes widened in surprise, he closed them, and returned her kiss. As their tongues met, John bent in closer, and wrapped his arms around Lia. She put her other arm around his back. They remained in their embrace until John gently pulled away. They both smiled at each other.
John said, “What was that for?”
“Just me saying thank you,” Lia said, still smiling.
“Well, you’re very welcome,” John said. Lia laughed softly, then they kissed again. When their lips parted, John said, “I love you.”
Lia watched him reach out to brush her hair behind her ear. “I love you too.” As she exited her vehicle Lia turned to the business at hand, ignoring the memories suddenly burning through her mind, all while reeling with a familiar, powerful, nagging sense that something wasn’t right, triggered by his confession of love. “So what’s the plan?”
John looked confused for a minute. “I just came to get you up so you can get ready to go; Steele wants us gone A.S.A.P.”
Lia nodded. “Alright, well let’s go see the others so we can discuss just how we’re going to do that.”
“Sounds like a plan,” John said. Suddenly he chuckled.
Lia looked at him with a bemused expression then said, “What’s so funny?”
John looked at her. “Oh nothing, just laughing at the thought of what Steele’s going to say. She likes being dramatic about relationships.”
Lia laughed. “She’ll probably go on about how you were supposed to wake me up, not kiss me, and somehow that could’ve been enough time for another attack from shifted to happen.”
John smirked. “With how fast you move that could totally be true.”
Lia frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she said jokingly.
“They’re fast too...so it’s possible,” John replied awkwardly with a smile.
The team got back in their vehicles as quickly as they could. Without a warning, Steele hit the gas; the others immediately did the same to catch up with her.
Once they were out of the park area Steele radioed, “We’re gonna cut straight through Omaha City today; with luck we’ll cross right through Nebraska.”
Chapter 22 – Camp
The group drove for hours bearing north for South Dakota. They passed through Omaha without incident by midday. Then they crossed through Blair onto Interstate 29. Once they were on the interstate it was an almost incident-free run to South Sioux City, although they had to plough through some abandoned cars. The convoy stopped at an Interstate cut-off gas station so they could refuel. Black and Grant decided to quickly raid the snack bar attached to the station for any beef jerky. When their raid was unsuccessful, they returned to their vehicles disappointed. Once everyone’s vehicles had been fully refuelled they got back on the Interstate. After what seemed like an eternity, Lia noticed the throng of abandoned cars thinning in numbers. They accelerated to highway speeds and were soon making progress.
The convoy reached the South Dakota border within a half hour of breaking free from their previous roadblocks. John had to use his tanker to nudge some jammed vehicles from in between toll booths. Once their obstructions had been cleared they crossed into South Dakota, but continued to follow the Interstate. By dark the convoy had reached the cut-off for Brookings.
“We’ll have to go into Brookings and look for a place to set up for the night,” Steele radioed.
The others followed as Steele took the cut-off. Once they made their way into the city, Steele pulled into a commercial shopping district. The large parking lot that was attached to the huge shopping complex sufficed as a safe place to park. The convoy parked in their circular formation. Marks and Steele got out to set up the night cameras.
Lia got out of her Hummer and called out to Steele, “I’ll take first shift this time.”
Steele replied, “I’ll join you.”
Steele then turned to the others who were bustling about tending to their duties. “Alright everybody, Lia’s on first shift with me. Black and Grant take second. Marks, you take third with Wanderer.”
John smiled turning to his new partner. Wanderer sat with his tail wagging, looking up at him from a couple paces away. Lia climbed into the driver’s side of the Jeep; Steele got into the passenger side. Lia grabbed one of the laptops from the floor of the Jeep and waited until Steele had hers before she turned it on.
John walked up to the Jeep. “Cameras are online, you guys good?” Steele and Lia nodded as their laptops registered connection. John quickly checked the feeds on the laptops, then walked back to his tanker.
After they had been sitting for an hour without speaking, Steele turned to Lia, and said. “How are you?”
“Good, you?”
“You know –– same old apocalypse, different day,” Steele replied with a slight smile.
Lia smiled and said, “You know, John thought you’d be opposed to him and I being together.”
Steele’s face contorted in a look of confusion. “Why would he think that?” she asked.
“He seemed certain that you would mock it. Make things awkward for him.”
Steele shook her head. “No, I’m rarely that bored. Besides you’re being together will only strengthen your effectiveness as a two-person team. Now I have to ask though, do you think your union, as it is, will be an issue?”
Lia considered the question for a moment then she answered, “No, I wouldn’t think of it as an issue.”
“Then neither of you have anything to worry about, just go with it,” Steele said.
Lia smiled. “Good enough for me, thanks.”
“No problem, do you see anything out there?” Steele asked.
“Negative,” Lia replied.
Steele looked deep in thought for a second. “So how much do you remember exactly?”
Lia considered the question carefully then said, “While I was dying I remembered John and I got together at some point long before this, having a child, losing her somehow, maybe an explosion, and becoming a soldier to bury the grief that ultimately tore John and I apart.”
The depressed tone in Lia’s words caught Steele off-guard, even s
till she was intrigued. “Does he remember... all of that?”
Lia shrugged. “Maybe... This is probably his way of suggesting we start fresh. Besides, it’s not like I remembered till now either.”
Steele shrugged. “Fair enough,” she conceded before absentmindedly returning to her watch.
“Do you think there’s any cure to be found anywhere?”
“No,” Steele said matter-of-factly. “Think about it; is there ever a cure for the stupidity of this species? For all our bullshit justifications to become monsters in the end, whether it’s a virus, politics or a war, it’s all the same.”
Lia smirked. “I thought you’d be one of those gung-ho patriotic nut bags that’d rather shoot somebody than be self-aware.”
Steele scoffed, “What about you then?” she asked pointedly.
“There’s no doubt I’m a killing machine through and through. I don’t even need all my memories to know that. I’m just going day by day, cutting down my own kind to kill time.”
Steele laughed. “Classic heroics right there. Just the lady we need to save this hypocritical worthless species.”
Lia smiled. “You’re not half bad yourself, but in all seriousness, I doubt there’s a cure. Even if there is we’ll just end up at some horrible point like this again.”
