The funeral for Mary was a somber event. Daryl had wanted Hudson to attend so he’d have closure, but his son wouldn’t leave his room, and when he was forced, he’d scream and hit. So without Hudson, Daryl presided over Mary’s funeral with Devin and Tess in attendance. Brianna stayed with Hudson and comforted him.
Daryl kept his eulogy pithy not because he was a man of few words but because it was already tough enough for him to speak about her without breaking down into tears.
Devin had offered to help Daryl dig the grave but was rebuffed. So with guilt and sorrow, Devin watched him sweat, curse and grunt with each shovelful of dirt he took from the ground. Inch by inch, foot by foot he went till he reached the desired depth of six feet.
Even when Devin insisted on helping him carry her draped body out to the gravesite, he refused. For whatever personal reason, Daryl needed to do this all by himself. Devin wondered if this was therapeutic for him, that he needed to go through this exercise as a way to deal with the loss.
Devin wanted desperately to help and understand him. He hadn’t known him that long, but he felt a strange kinship with Daryl. He assumed much of it came from them jointly experiencing a harrowing situation together, but something else was there. The two couldn’t be more polar opposite as he had found out during his short stay so far. They had discussed their past lives just the other night, and even though it was considered taboo, politics and religion came up. They both laughed off the divisions that would have one time separated them. Daryl was conservative and religious while he was liberal and secular. How strange it was that he would have dismissed Daryl before The Death, even gone as far as to refer to him in negative terms just because of his political views. For all the pain and suffering The Death had given the world, it had also brought some people together and created odd bedfellows.
After Daryl had tossed on the last shovel load of dirt and smoothed out the soil, he gathered the tools he had used and rushed off to his sanctuary in the barn without saying a word to anyone.
“What should we do?” Devin asked Tess, who was sitting next to him on the back deck.
“Nothing, let him be,” she answered as she touched her side.
“How are you holding up?”
“Better, I’ll be fine.”
“Good.”
“I didn’t get a chance before, but I want to thank you.”
Devin craned his head towards her and smiled. He liked hearing those words, especially from her, someone who he looked up to and respected. Similar to how he felt about Daryl in such a small amount of time, he had a great fondness and connection to Tess. He marveled at how little people needed to grow attached to someone in the post-Death world.
“We’ve never talked about this, but before all of this, where did you stand politically?” Devin asked.
She looked at him, smirked, and looked away.
“What was that look?” he asked.
“Is that a serious question?”
“Yeah, it is. I’m trying to know who you are.”
“Does that shit really matter anymore?”
“It does in a way. It lets me know some of who you are and your core beliefs if you tell me that you’re left or right.”
“It tells you nothing. I refused then and I refuse now to place myself in a box and label myself.”
“Oh, so you’re one of those types,” Devin quipped.
“Types? I don’t know what that means, but I could care less about politics. I hated it before, and now it just seems silly.”
“Types in that you think you’re above it all. It’s kind of a righteous point of view.”
“Where is this mood or attitude coming from today?”
“I’d like to get to know you better. If I’m going to be traveling with you all the way to North Carolina and beyond, I’d like to know just a bit more about my companion.”
“You know something, I don’t know if I want someone like you as my companion.”
“Whoa, wait a minute, serious?”
“No, I’m joking, but on a serious note. I don’t care one bit about politics.”
“Let’s play a game. How about I guess?” Devin queried.
“Now we’re playing games?”
“Oh, come on, don’t be so serious all the time.”
She shot him a look, then reluctantly gave in. “Go ahead, but we should be doing more productive things, like preparing for those thugs to come back.”
“This won’t take that long, I promise.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’m going to say you’re a conservative, Christian, and a wave-the-flag patriotic type, but weren’t active in voting, but had no problem voicing your conservative beliefs when confronted with a more liberal view.”
She raised her eyebrows and looked at him. “Oh my God, you’re amazing…NOT!”
“I’m wrong? Where?”
“You’re just wrong, period.”
“Tell me how, it makes sense.”
“I’ll tell you how, but I want you to explain how you came to your conclusions.”
“First, you’re from the Dakotas; most people there are conservative. You’re engaged to a Marine, equals conservative. You know how to use guns, equals conservative, which means you are a second amendment person, which equals conservative and flag-waving person.”
“Let me see how wrong you can be. First, I’m not conservative in the true meaning of it. I’m more libertarian. I don’t like people telling me who I am and what to do, so I’m not a big believer in someone liberal like you telling me how to live my life because YOU think it’s the way it should be. I also don’t want someone on the right telling me that either. I have always and still do want to be left alone to live my life. I’m engaged to a Marine because he’s a good man, and I don’t judge someone for what they do, I judge them for who they are. As far as guns go, I don’t love them or hate them. I respect them and understand they’re a tool, a valuable one now, wouldn’t you say? Am I glad that we had a second amendment before? Yes, because if people like you had their way, we wouldn’t have been able to defend ourselves in this world. The government that the left promised would be there to protect us really hasn’t been, so in the end, and, my friend, this is the end, we have to take care of ourselves. So does that help you any in discovering who I am?”
Devin was flabbergasted. He wanted to debate her on some of the things she said, specifically the more pointed jabs at him, but now it was impossible to win that argument because things weren’t theoretical, they were real. So to avoid the conversational minefield, he just kept quiet.
“Nothing from the peanut gallery?” Tess teased him.
“Let me go and see how the kids are doing,” he said, standing up.
“And stop calling Brianna a kid, she doesn’t like it much. I think after yesterday she earned the title of adult.”
Devin felt humbled by her response. He sheepishly walked inside and approached the stairs.
Laughter was bouncing off the walls and hall upstairs, giving the depressed mood in the house a lift it needed.
Not wanting to disturb them, because the laughter told him all he needed to know, he walked to the front screen door and looked out.
They had spent the greater part of last night cleaning up, moving the dead bodies and stashing the Humvee. The front was almost back to normal, but the one thing that was the great reminder of the fierce fight that had occurred not twenty-four hours ago was the large bloodstain on the deck.
He stared at it, and odd emotions and thoughts ran through him. He had spent some quality time with Mary, and now she was gone, the stain in the wood was some of her, but it wasn’t who she really was. That part of her was gone the minute her heart stopped beating. Before it all he never had faith in a higher being. If he had any faith, it was in science, and his devoutness to secularism went as far as being something as close to a religion as one could get without having one. Now, though, his feelings were conflicted after seeing so much death. He cursed what God there mig
ht be for allowing such a thing to happen, but then found himself wanting there to be one. As close as he had come to losing his life over the past months, it made him think he didn’t want it to end. The thought of a life after gave him comfort and strength. He didn’t want to think that Mary, this lovely woman, mother and wife, was just snuffed out, but was living somewhere else on another plane of existence. These conflicting views frustrated him because it agitated his old core belief that someone who is a devoted believer in God is such and such. Similar to how he presumed who Tess was, he thought that if he began to believe, he would suddenly become another person, a person whom he use to judge harshly, a person that must believe in x,y, and z. The questions and thoughts kept banging around in his head like atoms in a molecule, but nothing was coalescing into a linear thought.
There was such uncertainty in this world that Tess was right in a way, thinking in old political ways and holding belief systems from a time now extinct was, in her words, ‘silly’. Since The Death had begun, he had taken stock of his old values and tossed out the ones that hadn’t worked for him and had shifted in how he viewed all people. Did asking her questions give him some insight into who she was? Maybe, but he now knew that people were greater than the simple box or labels given. People were dynamic and had an innate ability to adapt, like he had. Right there he pledged to himself to be a different man, one that didn’t look to the past for answers but one who lived in the now and looked to the future with promise and optimism. He hadn’t yet found faith in God, but he would have faith in those around him and in humankind finding a way to survive the horrors of this world. He would keep one foot grounded but another planted with hope that one day they’d create a better place to call home.
Denver International Airport
Lori stood in front of the mirror with her shirt off, rubbing her stomach and speaking out loud, “Momma’s going to take care of you. You hear me in there? Oh, I wish I knew what sex you were so I could give you a name.”
This morning she hadn’t gone to the cafeteria for her breakfast, and it appeared she wouldn’t have to for lunch either. Horton had instructed staff to deliver food directly to her room. She thought it was nice, but she wouldn’t keep doing that. It was as if he thought being pregnant meant she was handicapped or ill. For now, she’d accept his gesture, but soon she’d be venturing back out again. One thing that having her food delivered did was give her more time to focus on the plans for the capital building.
She chuckled when she thought about her life before and how she use to think it was a roller coaster. Never would she have imagined any of this happening, only in the darkest corners of some sinister person’s mind could they have concocted a world such as the one she was now living in. From the moment she had first heard about The Death on television, to its rampant and deadly spread, to her losing Madeleine, to Camp 13, to here working for the government, and now this, a new baby on the way. If there was a roller coaster ride, her life over the past six months was the most intense ride she’d ever been on.
She couldn't stop touching her belly. She was one of those women who actually enjoyed being pregnant. She found that about half the mothers she knew loved the pregnancy phase. The ones who didn’t had good reason, their pregnancies were difficult and had complications. She never held judgment on any mother, having a baby altered your body and your emotional state. She warned David twice that she could never be held accountable for her behavior while pregnant because she was nothing more than a skin bag of hormones. She took pregnancy in stride with Eric and Madeleine, and even though certain times were uncomfortable, she loved the experience. After losing Madeleine, she had thought about having another, but the idea seemed absurd. Having a child at her age added a layer of complications, then add The Death lurking around every corner, and it struck fear in her to have a baby only to have it die horribly.
When Horton mentioned they could save the baby, she was all-in. Going to the DIA had given her and her family a new chance, but now it would give them another member of the family.
A loud knock at the door brought her thoughts to the present. She put on her shirt and floated to the door, happily humming.
Another loud knock.
“Hold on, hold on!” she said as she grasped the handle and opened the metal door.
“I see it still takes you a while to answer the door,” David joked.
“David? David! Oh my God, it’s you! Where’s Eric? Is he with you?” Lori exclaimed and jumped into his arms.
“Right here, Mom,” Eric said, popping his head around the door jamb.
“Come here, now!” she said joyfully, grabbing him by the neck and pulling him into her embrace with David.
“You’re about to squeeze my head off,” Eric said, his voice muffled because his face was buried in her shoulder.
“Sorry, but I don’t care. I’ve missed you two.”
“Mom, it’s only been a week, I think,” Eric said in a snarky teenager tone.
“I don’t care. It’s been too long for me,” she said in between the dozens of kisses she was planting on their faces and heads.
“We missed you too, Lori. Don’t listen to grumpy pants here,” David quipped.
“Get in here, you two,” she said as she dragged them across the threshold.
They spent the next half hour discussing the circumstances of their sudden and surprise relocation to the DIA.
“It was just that quick. We’re doing the morning assembly, our names get called, and voilà, here we are, and let me say I’m glad, I was getting a bit concerned.”
“Oh really, why?”
“Nothing too crazy, just that they reduced the staff at the camp shortly after you left, which in turn has made for longer lines for medicine and food.”
“Hmm, well, I know there’s a lot going on, and their focus is on Arcadia now,” Lori interjected.
“I heard about Arcadia,” David said to Lori’s surprise.
“Who told you about it?”
“I spoke with Chancellor Horton before coming here. He met us upon our arrival.”
“He did?”
“Yes, is that a problem?” David asked when he saw some concern on her face.
Her worries quickly melted away when she realized that David and Eric wouldn’t even be there if it weren’t for Horton.
“Anyway, enough about trips, I have something to tell you,” Lori said, excitement in her voice. She reached out and grabbed David’s hands.
“I have something to tell you too. Can we sit down first?”
“Yes, of course. You must be tired from the trip. Right here,” she said, motioning to a small cushioned chair next to her bed.
David sat in the chair, and she sat on a cushioned ottoman, both were holding hands.
Eric wasn’t paying much attention to them as he surveyed the room and had found some interest in her drawings and sketches of the new capital building.
“Who goes first?” she asked.
“You go,” he offered.
“No, you go. Mine is so amazing that we’ll forget to talk about yours once you hear mine,” she said, her excitement rising.
“Hey, Mom, have you been to Camp Sierra yet?” Eric asked, interrupting his parents.
“No, but I’ve seen it from the air.”
“What’s it look like?” Eric asked.
“Kind of like 13, but much bigger. Eric, sweetie, let me and your dad talk, okay?”
She turned her attention back to David, who now looked nervous.
“That look, I know that look. What exactly are you about to tell me?” she asked, his apprehensive appearance taking away some of her glow.
“Eric and I aren’t staying here for long. This is a pit stop on our way to Camp Sierra.”
“What? I don’t understand. I specifically asked for you to stay here with me,” Lori snapped, confusion etched across her face.
“We weren’t called to come here. I was called to go provide assistance to the main school in Ca
mp Sierra, and Eric is coming to be my classroom aide,” David said.
Hearing his name, Eric waved and said, “That’s me, teacher’s pet.”
“No, no, this is not what I agreed to. You and Eric were supposed to come and be with me; that was my deal with Chancellor Horton!” Lori exclaimed.
“Lori, calm down. This is a good opportunity for me and Eric. We’ve been given responsibility, having that gives us value.”
“I’m upset, David, because I’m pregnant. I need my family here with me as I go through this pregnancy!”
David’s eyes widened at hearing the news.
Eric snapped his head in Lori’s direction, his mouth wide open in shock.
“You’re pregnant?” David asked.
“Yes, we’re going to have a baby.”
“Honey, that’s great news, that’s amazing, but…”
“But what?” she asked.
“Aren’t you concerned that the baby won’t be immune? You know the infant mortality rate.”
“Obviously that crossed my mind, but Chancellor Horton and his team have a vaccine. It’s only in trials, but it seems to be working. He’s promised to administer it to the baby in the third trimester. You see, we’re getting a second chance at not just rebuilding our lives, but our family.”
Tears filled David’s eyes. He leaned over and embraced Lori and hugged her tightly.
She returned his embrace, and they both began to cry together, not tears of pain or sorrow, but tears of happiness.
“I love you, baby. How are you feeling? When did you find out? Tell me everything,” David rattled off.
She explained everything in excruciating detail, minus certain specifics like the private dinner with Chancellor Horton, replacing it with her team being there. The last thing she wanted to do was give him a reason to be concerned about her faithfulness, especially since there was the one incident years ago that he had forgiven but not forgotten. She went on to explain that she had made a bargain with Horton for them coming to be with her or she would leave her post.
“You see, this is all a misunderstanding. I’ll sort it out with the Chancellor later and get him to find us larger accommodations,” Lori said.
The Death: The Complete Trilogy Page 14
