by Shelly Crane
Sherry still looked stricken at actually having put down Miguel. If she would just look up to my face and stop freaking out, she’d see how proud I was of her.
“This is training, I wanted to see what you could do. I want you to hit me, kick me, push me, whatever. Make me look like a fabulous teacher. And you, trying to look all innocent walking in here. You’re a real conch at this, aren’t ya?”
“Did you just insult me, Miguel?” Sherry asked, putting her hands on her hips but she looked on the verge of laughing.
“No, love. It means smart.” He grinned at her. “Ok, now let’s go do some more holds. You can practice on Danny next. We all know he could use a good kick in the rear.”
I see Lily chasing Celeste around the punching pillows and when I look back, I see Sherry being thrown over Danny’s shoulder in a blatant show of machismo. She’s squirming and doing that little girly scream. You know, half scream half giggle. Miguel, Ryan and Celeste, holding Lily, are laughing. Even Lily is giggling at the show.
I walk over and decide to help the once again in distress Sherry.
“Hey! Put her down boy or there might be trouble,” I yell playfully.
“Make me, grandpa!” Danny stopped still and yelled back.
“Don’t take that, Merrick! Make him pay,” Calvin yelled and ran over like he was about to join into the fray.
“Yeah,” Franklin joined in. “Rip his arms off!”
“Ouch. That’s harsh. I give,” Danny said laughing and put Sherry’s feet back on the floor.
“My heroes!” she yelled in a southern belle accent and chased to kiss Calvin and Frank.
They bolted, running circles in the room.
“No! Toxic kisses! Run for your lives!” Calvin yelled and they ran from the room.
We laughed. Calvin and Frank were pretty funny. And Sherry had the ability to put anyone in any age group at ease.
“Eleven year olds,” she scoffed. “Most guys don’t run from my kisses,” Sherry teased and sidled up to me in the corner.
“I know I don’t,” I whispered in her ear and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. “You’re doing so well with the training. I’m really proud of you.”
“Really?”
“Really,” I said firmly and her mouth quirked, fighting a smile. “Now. Kiss me, wife.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, letting the smile come.
She kissed me. She always did. It surprised me actually. I’ve seen in histories of my watching women and the strange things they do. I’ve heard all kinds of excuses that girls give to spurn men’s advances. They’re tired, they just ate, not in the mood, not now, not yet, I’m watching my show, I have a headache.
But not Sherry. I think back to our short life together so far and Sherry has never, not once given me an excuse. Not once. If I want her to kiss me, she does so willingly and smiles about it. If I want her, she practically runs ahead of me to make it happen. Man, I love her so much. She’s the anti-girl girl.
We finish up our training and start to smell rice, onions and pork. We make our way out to the kitchen and form our usual line to proceed through and fill our plate. Sherry and I take ours to the wall beside the record player with Lily.
We ate our supper and laughed at Lily telling us about how she beat Calvin and Marissa in tic-tac-toe after her school lessons.
Then Jeff turned on the news and we all sat in stunned silence. Malachi was there. Right there on the screen for all to see. As pompous and dangerously cunning as ever. He was young and handsome making him all the more treacherous.
Jeff shh’ed everyone and turned it up as the new Taker stepped up to the wood podium and began his speech with flashbulbs clicking and lighting in ecstatic fashion.
“Hello and welcome, friends. At least, I hope all who are present are friends today. We have among us, in our cities and streets and homes, traitors. Not just traitors to me, but traitors to us all. Traitors to our beliefs, our families, our needs and lives. Our freedom.
“I want you all to take a walk with me. A walk in our minds and think about where we are, where our lives are headed. I see independence from the government. I see freedom from persecution from Keepers and other factions that come against us to destroy us. I see a way to live our lives to the fullest.
“Here me when I say, that the Keepers day will come. I make it my vow and solemn oath that as long as I am a member of the human race, I will not stand by and watch you suffer. These Keepers, if you can even call them that. I call them terrorists, because that’s what they are. The definition of terrorists is simply this - the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce. They want to terrorize you into believing them and giving them your lands, your homes, your jobs, your lives. But we won’t stand by any longer. We have a new way to protect ourselves. The enforcers.
“Who is capable enough to be an enforcer you ask? All people. Anyone who wants to shield others from injustice. We won’t let them take the only thing that is completely free in the world to us. Our lives. We won’t have it. Who’s with me? Who else is willing to stand with me against the injustice of our people. Our mothers. Fathers. Brothers. Sisters. Our children.
“Come! Join us in the fight. Join us in the battle. Join us in this melee of sabotage! Together we can beat this enemy! And to make sure that it gets done with haste and due diligence, I am offering a reward. $1000.00 for anyone who brings me a Keeper or someone who is associated with one. $1000.00 for each one you bring me. Now go, and make me proud.”
And the crowd goes wild. Great.
“Not good, Merrick,” Jeff bellowed and had already started pacing. “Not good.”
“Jeff. Calm down. We knew it could come to this eventually. The need warehouses are starting, we won’t be going out that often anymore anyway and we’ve got the garden. It’ll be alright.”
“I know that but this will only create a different set of problems. People will start hunting us instead of just being cautious of us. There will be people snooping around now. Here. Going through every abandoned place and home. They will find the others who are hiding. And they will find them quickly and there’s not a thing we can do about it.”
“We can find another way to reach the others,” I answered but had no idea how.
I knew he was right. We were lucky to have the set up we did. Most of the others probably didn’t have TVs or something to even know what was going on.
“Well,” Miguel cut in, “we could always do our own hunting. There are a few of us I’m sure who would be willing to track down the others hiding and bring them here. I’m not sure how many we’d find in this town but we could look. We ain’t got a Buckley’s chance if we don’t at least try. I’d go.”
“I’d go. And I know Cain would go, too,” Ryan chimed.
Simon stiffened.
“Ryan, now that’s not fair. Don’t volunteer my charge when your’s isn’t even capable of going,” Simon said but wasn’t angry, he was just worried.
“I’m sorry, Simon. But you know Cain. He won’t sit her while we go. You know that,” Ryan urged.
“I know,” Simon conceded unhappily.
“Ok. Ok, hold it. Just hold it. I’m not so keen on sending people out anymore. I’m thinking no more people out at all and you’ll are trying to send people out more often?” Jeff said and sank back down into the sofa, Marissa rubbing his leg to soothe him.
“We’ve got to do what has to be done. Right? We can’t just not alert the others who may not even know that the hunters are coming for them,” Miguel stood up and resumed Jeff’s pacing path.
“I agree,” I said and heard Sherry’s little gasp beside me. “It wouldn’t be fair to let them sit out there like ducks on a pond.”
“Merrick,” Sherry breathed my name and I know I’m the only one who heard her.
I took her hand in mine and squeezed it.
“It wouldn’t be feasible to do it often,” Jeff conceded looking less than happy. �
�We’d definitely get caught that way. Maybe once a month or so? Do a sweep of the town and maybe the outskirt homes, as much as we could do in one night. It’ll do no one any good for us to get caught.”
“Yeah. We can’t do it all but...it’s our responsibility to do something,” I answered and Ryan and Miguel nodded emphatically.
“I’ll go too. And don’t look at me, Merrick. You could use my gift for this and you all know it,” Danny said, never looking at me, only at Jeff.
I felt the ping in my gut and my conscience buzzed in my head. My fingers twitched with wanting to shove him back down to the sofa and tell him to keep quiet. But no more. Danny is an adult. A Special but we no longer can keep them holed up and secure. We need them. We need their gifts.
He looked to Sherry then me, to see if we’d contradict him. He knows I’m still fiercely protective of him, though I’m trying to break the habit. It’s almost as bad as if Sherry had stood up and said she was going. Well, not quite. Danny’s determined brown eyes locked with mine. I felt my grimace but I nodded to him. He relaxed and nodded gratefully back. It doesn’t really matter anyway. I’ll be going with him and I won’t let him out of my sight.
“Count me in, too,” Max said.
“Ok,” Jeff started. “We’ll call a meeting and discuss it all. See who wants to help, make a plan. This isn’t something to do half-way. Simon, if we’re gonna do this, I’m afraid we’ll need Cain in on this one. He’s got the most strategic planning experience.”
“Yes,” Simon chimed sadly but proudly. “He was a Sergeant in the Marines. You’ll need him, which means I’m coming too.”
“That’s good. We’ll need his help and expertise on how to do this. That’s saying he’ll even really want to help. We might all just be speculating on his want to go with us.”
“Oh, he’ll want to. He served his country before all this started. He’s won’t stop now,” Simon said confidently.
“Ok. It’s settled. His last day of work is in two days, Friday. We’ll have a meeting Saturday evening, once everyone gets done with everything. Lillian, when he comes in tonight can you tell him? So he doesn’t plan anything with his work, just in case they ask him to help clean or move things.”
She flushed a thick pink that was bright against her paleness.
“Uh, I don’t think I’ll see him tonight. I can tell him in the morning for you, though,” she answered softly.
“Ok, great,” Jeff said, moving on, not even realizing he’d embarrassed her by implying that Cain would sleep in her room.
Everyone knows Cain gets in past 1:00 a.m.
Not everyone knows what’s going on with her and Cain.
I understood that but didn’t know that Cain had been sleeping in her room. Hmmm. Jeff knew because he bunks across from her room. Interesting.
The others started to disperse as well. Lana stood up and started walking out. I understand she’s starting to learn to read lips. She never learned because her mother home schooled her and wrote everything down. In fact, I was told by Sherry, who found out from Calvin, her mother forced her to wear a sign and pen around her neck at all times in the house so she could write her questions and her mother could write her answers because she didn’t want to learn sign language.
Lana glanced at Sherry, the only person she can talk to, and signed what I could only assume was good night. Sherry returned the sign and smiled but then looked back to me and the smile vanished. She took a deep shuddering breath and I waited. Prepared for the pleading for me not to go, the tears, the worrying.
Instead she shocked me.
“Ok. Um, I know you need to do this. And I know Danny is gonna go to and you’re going to let him, not like you can really stop Danny anyway. And I know you’re going to make me stay. But please, just promise me one thing. Please stay together. Watch out for each other. Don’t let them split you up. I know you’ll both work to keep the other alive and that’s what I want. If you’ll do that, then I promise not to nag or cry and freak out about this whole thing. Ya’ll are right. It’s selfish to sit here, safe, while the others are out there, struggling and in danger. I know that. Please, just promise me,” she choked out the last words.
Trying so hard not to cry, her bottom lip quivering. Trying to be brave. Almost everything she just said was a lie. Well, the part about her not crying and worrying anyway. She will cry and freak out and worry and pace the entire time we’re gone, but it can’t be helped. And it’ll be doubly bad with Danny gone too, not just me. Not to mention Ryan, Cain and Jeff. All who she’s grown fiercely fond of. But she’s trying. What more can I ask for?
I reached for her and drew her into my lap. She discreetly wiped her eye with the side of her hand and sniffed, not looking at me.
“Honey. Everything is gonna be ok. You’ll see. We’ll bring a pile of people in here and then you’ll be happy as ever with all the new recruits for kitchen duty.” I rubbed circles into her back as she laid against me. “I know you’re trying. I also know you’re a rotten liar. It’s ok to worry, honey, though I hate it when you do, it’s part of who you are. I accept that. What I don’t like is your lack of faith. I told you before. I will always come back to you. And with Danny out with me, I’ll be doubly cautious. Too cautious. Won’t even be that much help at all in fact, cause I’ll be so careful.”
She elbowed me playfully and I felt her small chuckle.
“I know. I believe you. I’m sorry if I drive you crazy with my worrying and nag-”
“You don’t apologize to me. When are you gonna learn that, sweetheart? And I told you, it’s ok to worry a little, just don’t worry so much that you think I won’t be coming back through that door.”
“Ok. I got it.”
She nuzzled her face into my neck and wiggled her body closer then took a long soothing deep breath. I smiled and pulled my arms around her.
“That’s my girl.” I could smell her hair and rubbed my chin on it, stirring the scents and inhaled. Vanilla. “Ready for bed?”
“Always.”
A Blaze Of Glory
Chapter 29 - Cain
This won’t get me fired, I know. My boss has always liked me but with only two working days left, he’ll probably not be too thrilled with me being late.
The oscillating yellow and green lights in my rear view mirror are definitely getting my attention. That’s what I get for kissing Lillian. Once I started it was so hard to stop. I was already running late, now because I sped, I’m gonna get a ticket.
But it was so freaking worth it.
I wasn’t lying to her. I really and truly do believe that I’m so close to being over Sherry. I can’t stop thinking about Lillian. All this week, the distance I’ve put between Sherry and me has helped. I hadn’t realized how much worse I was making things by following her around. By letting her consume my thoughts. But now, all day and night, Lillian is in my thoughts instead. I only really think about Sherry when I see her. So, I’ve been continuing to steer clear.
Of course I can’t completely avoid her, especially with her sweet self bringing me drinks and checking on me all the time. It’s getting a little easier though.
Like I was a drug addict and am weaning myself off.
Even though I knew he was coming, I still jump when the officer taps the window with his flashlight. Lost in my thoughts. I roll it down and squint as he points the light directly in my eyes.
“License. Registration. Reason for speeding. Reason for being way our here away from town.”
“In that order?” I ask and immediately regret it. Stupid. “Sorry, just joking. Um, here you go.” I hand him my documents fished from the glove compartment. “And, uh, I’m heading to work at the coffee shop in town, The Moody Brew. And I live out here, sir. With my grandparents.”
“Uhuh.”
He stayed busy, going over and over the two papers I gave him and still refused to let me see his face. He was wearing a uniform but the glare didn’t let me see the color or detail. Then he place
d the flashlight under his arm to steady it while he examined the documents again and I got to see him. I hadn’t realized that this wasn’t a cop. The lights on his car should have tipped me off. Yellow and green means enforcer.
Crap.
“So, son, what ya gonna do when they close up shop? Got another job lined up?”
“No, sir.”
Dang it. I should have said yes. I know what’s coming next.
“Well, you should apply for the enforcers.” He pulled the flashlight back and looked me and the truck over. Why was an enforcer pulling me over for speeding? He wasn’t. He wanted to know why I was out here. Dang. “We’ve got plenty of positions, because there’s lots of work to do. You can even get transferred to another city if you like.”
“Well, I’ll think about it. Sounds like a good opportunity. Make my grandpa proud, that’s for sure.”
“You do that. It’ll be good for you, son. Now, procedure calls. Step out of the vehicle.”
“I’m sorry? Is there a problem? I’m already late for work,” I asked, even as I stepped out of the truck.
“Nope, no problem. Just protocol. We have to search every vehicle and passenger that we pull over out past the city limits. This’ll be good training for you kid. You’re gonna have to do this too, ya know. The key is to be friendly but firm.”
I stood to the side while he searched the truck and then he snorted when he found Lillian’s lip gloss under the seat. He held it up for me to see.
“Not really your color is it, son?”
I laughed and tried to make it sound casual.
“Not really. My girl must’ve dropped it last night.”
“That right? Where does she work?”
“She doesn’t. She’s,...” think idiot, “...been kinda sick lately. Got some kinda flu. She quit her job early since she was gonna have to stop working anyway. I hope it’s not swine flu,” I said dripping with concern.
He stepped back with haste.
“You know how contagious that stuff is?” he asked the rhetorical question and his voice jumped an octave.
