by Scott, Lona
“Do you remember when you said I would never have to be alone again?” She asked softly. He nodded silently.
“You aren’t alone either, Mykel. I’m here. You don’t have to be alone, or keep things bottled in. I know he was your friend. Like a brother to you.” She said. “And it’s okay to cry, and rage and feel however you feel, now that he’s not here anymore.” She stroked his hair and his back as she spoke. “I’m here.”
Tears pooled in his eyes. “It’s my fault.” He whispered finally. “If I had stayed on mission he wouldn’t have died.”
“But I probably would have.” She said softly. “You saved me. I doubt he blames you. The sniper is the one responsible. No one else.”
“Yeah, but I…”
“Mykel, it’s not your fault. No one blames you, so stop blaming yourself.” She whispered.
“How?” He asked. “Why do I live when everyone around me keeps dying? What’s so special about me?”
“You are a great man, Mykel, and you are special to me.” She said, kissing him.
He pulled away, stunned. “Really?”
“Yes, you goof, really.” She laughed. "Look. I could feed you a line about how you are the first person I've ever been able to really talk to. The only one I can be honest with. But we both know that's not true. You're not the first person to see this side of me, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the first to see the demons running around inside your head.”
She took his face in her hands and brought him right up to her mouth. “I’ll chase away all your demons, if you’ll let me.”
He lifted his head and kissed her, losing himself in her taste, her essence. They made love slowly, passionately and then again, frantically, until he was utterly spent and exhausted. Finally they slept, his hand on her breast and his other wrapped around her waist. She held him to her and wouldn’t let go.
Over the next weeks they spent every moment they could together, in bed and out. He gave her a tour of the base. They set into an easy rhythm of daily life. She taught him how to cook, and he taught her to play chess. They spent a lot of time reading books out loud to each other. Over time, she learned more about his life, and life in the future, yet she always felt like there was something he was keeping from her. He was holding something back and she didn’t know what it was. She didn’t press though. She figured he would tell her when he was ready.
One morning she got up before he did, restless and wanting to run.
“Baby, do you want to go running with me?” She asked.
“On purpose?” He grumbled.
“Yes.” She laughed, tossing a pillow at him.
“Nope.”
“Seize the day with me Mykel.” She tried to pull the blanket away.
“You go ahead and start seizing the day without me. I haven’t had any coffee yet.” He yanked the blanket back over his head and rolled over.
She left the room laughing.
She found her way to the exercise field and was on her third lap when one of the other men jogged up from behind her. She did her best to ignore him, but he was right on her heels. She moved over into the next lane so that he could pass her if he wanted. He moved over with her. She turned her head and glared at him.
Something about the way he grinned back at her made a cold shiver run down her spine. She decided to cut her run short and slowed down to a walk. She headed across the field, when the strange man ran up and grabbed her butt.
“Hey!” She swatted at his hand.
“Who do you belong to baby?” He sneered. “I bet I could take care of you a lot better than he could.”
“Belong to?” She frowned.
“You unclaimed then?” The man’s sinister grin spread across his face in a way that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
“I’m not available to you.” She said stiffly, and kept walking.
“I don’t see no ring on that finger!” He shouted. “I’ll marry you…you can give me little babies like a good little breeder woman.”
“EXCUSE ME?” She spun around and kicked him as hard as she could in the balls. He dropped to the ground soundlessly, his mouth open in a silent scream, slumped over on his side. She ran back to the house as fast as she could, her heart thudding and her legs and lungs burning.
“Mykel!” She shouted. She hit the key pad with her thumb and barged into the living room. “Where are you?” She ran back to the bedroom they shared and poked her head in. He was gone. She sat on the edge of the bed and shook. Rage and fear taking turns battling in her mind, finally giving way to tears. More than anything, she wanted Mykel to be there, to hold her.
There was a knock on the door and she wiped her face quickly, drying her tears. She blinked a few times, hoping her eyes didn’t look too awfully bloodshot and went to answer the door.
“Ma’am. I’m here to administer your daily vitamin drink.” A young woman came in. She was the nurse who normally gave her the weekly blood draws. “You missed breakfast.”
“I wasn’t hungry.” She said.
“Have you felt sick?” The woman asked.
“No.” She frowned.
“Well, you should take your vitamin drink anyway.” The young blonde woman handed her a small sealed container.
“What’s in this anyway?” She took the drink and pulled back the sealed tab. The stuff still smelled vile. It was thick and chalky, and even when she plugged her nose, she could still taste the awful flavour.
“Oh…it’s just trace minerals, vitamins, protein and other things to keep you healthy, since the food supply can be a bit limited at times. All the women get this drink.”
“What about the men?”
The woman laughed. “They don’t need it.”
“Why not?” Isabelle frowned.
“They aren’t sick.” The woman said. Then she paused as if she knew she shouldn’t have said that.
“Sick?” Isabelle put the drink down. “Am I sick or something? Is that why you all keep poking me and taking blood?”
“Oh no,” The woman shook her head. “You are one of the healthiest women I’ve ever seen here. The General is very happy about that.”
“Why would he care?” Isabelle asked. “Just give me a straight answer.”
“You’re genetic code is different than ours, with less mutations than ours.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” Isabelle demanded. “Why is that so important?”
“Hasn’t anyone told you, dear?” The woman said, flustered.
“Told. Me. What?” She growled.
“An announcement was made public months ago. Almost none of the women of our time can have children.” The woman said quietly. “Our government has been authorized to bring women from the past here. Healthy women, who aren’t sick like we are, to help restore the human population after so many have died.” She said.
In an instant, everything slid into place. What Mykel was doing when he saw her in her time. He was hunting for a woman. He just wanted someone to give him children. That’s why he insisted she come here, and why he insisted she go to the doctors every week, to run those damn tests, even when she felt fine. How he had been demanding in bed, taking her nearly every day, sometimes twice a day. The son of a bitch was deliberately trying to get her pregnant. Then today, the creep on the field talking about breeding her. She felt like vomiting.
“Get out!” Isabelle shouted. “Get out of here, right now!” She threw the cup of green vitamin crap in the woman’s face. “Don’t you dare come back here with this junk!” She shoved the woman out the door and slammed it. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes and she sank to the ground in front of the door and sobbed.
Chapter Eight
She found him in the mess hall, laughing at some joke one of the guys were telling. There was a hushed silence through the entire room as, one by one, they all saw her stalk over to the table in the back of the room, fury in every step.
“Uh oh.” Bryant grinned. “Your woman is on the warpath.”
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“Dude, what did you do to piss her off?” Johnny asked.
“I don’t know.” Mykel said, putting down his drink. “What’s the matter baby?” He asked.
“When, exactly, were you planning on telling me about this little breeding program I’m a part of?” She growled. There was utter silence in the room.
“Oh that.” He cringed. “Who told you?”
“So not the point!” She hissed. “I can’t believe you would lie to me like that!” She screamed, “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out you were just using me?”
“Now, wait a minute. I was nev…”
“No! No more lies.” She cried. “I can’t believe I actually fell for this. Fell for you, and all this time, your pretty words were just a trick!” She slapped him, hard.
“Isabelle. Stop. I love you.” He said standing, trying to grab her by the arms.
She yanked her hand away, pulled back and slugged him as hard as she could. She connected with his jaw and his head snapped back. She hit him again before he had time to regain his balance from the first blow, and he fell flat on his back. His head bounced off the concrete of the floor, leaving him totally stunned. Cheers erupted through the room.
“Whoa.” Someone in the back hooted in laughter.
“She cleaned your clock man!” Another man yelled out.
“Give em’ hell lady!” Someone else cheered.
She stood over him, glaring. “Stay away from me.” She hissed, a deathly quiet tone to her voice. “I hate you.” She spat, venomously.
“I love how your eye twitches when you lie to me.” He said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. She had a hell of a right hook. Her eyes glittered with unshed tears, blazing angry, like fire, her face scowling down at him. She kicked him hard, right in the balls. Several men made sympathetic pain noises when he yelped and curled up in pain.
Without a word, she turned and ran from the room.
“You better go after her, man. Chicks like that.” One of the men called out.
“Clearly, you didn’t take my advice. I told you that you should have told her about that before she found out on her own.” Graham said, shaking his head. “Man you are so lucky she doesn’t know how to shoot yet.”
When he could breathe normally again, he picked himself up off the floor and sat back in his chair, ignoring the stares of the other guys. He rubbed the back of his head. His hand came away bloody.
“Well, shit.” He stared at his hand.
“Dammit, can’t somebody go one day without springing a leak around here?” Johnny said. “Really guys…I just want one day, one, without having to patch someone up at chow. I haven’t finished a meal in weeks.”
He got up and grabbed the med kit he kept slung over the back of his chair. He walked over and set it down next to Mykel’s plate. “Let me take a look at that, bend your head forward.” He ordered. Mykel obeyed and gritted his teeth against the burning sting of Johnny poking at his head wound.
“You got quite a knot back here, and a small cut. Bleeds like a mofo though.” Johnny said. “You’re gonna need a few stitches.” He said, applying a gauze pad. He sighed. “Let’s get you to the infirmary and get this taken care of.”
“I’m fine, stop fussing!” Mykel said, scowling, shoving his hands away.
“Are you dizzy?” Johnny asked. “Don’t lie about it either.”
“No. I’m fine. Just a headache. Let me go. I have to go after her.” He said.
“Infirmary first. We at least have to make sure she didn’t permanently damage your baby making bits.” Johnny said.
***************
Isabelle ran back to their home, crying the whole way, shaking with sobs, and fury. She couldn’t believe him. This whole time, after everything they had been through, all she was to him was a means to an end. The betrayal cut deep into her heart. She stumbled into the small house and immediately went to the back, where their bedroom was and threw herself onto the bed and cried until there were no tears left. It felt like that’s all she did today was cry. Eventually, she got up, and washed her face in cold water. She needed a plan.
Somehow she had to get back to her own time. Obviously it had been a mistake coming here, trusting him. But how? She still had the wrist device. She knew she needed that, and some of those glasses. But how did it work exactly? She sighed, frustrated at herself for being so stupid as to follow him. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she knew, she could never really love someone that had been so deceptive. If their entire relationship was built on a lie, then the person she thought she was in love with, wasn’t real. He was just a mirage of the man she thought he had been. Now she was stuck here. With him. All the girls were stuck here, trapped animals in a cage. She wondered how long this had been going on? Months? Years? How many women were forced to bear children for these men? Where were the babies at? Her hand slowly moved down to her tummy. What if she was pregnant right now? It could be possible. That first night, they hadn’t had any form of protection with them. The thought made her blood run cold. She would not raise a child under this kind of bondage, with a man that she now despised. She had to find a way out, for herself and, if she was pregnant, her baby. An idea formed in her mind, and, it was almost crazy enough to work. She left the house and didn’t look back. She was on a mission of her own, and she wasn’t sure if she had enough time.
Isabelle stepped past the guard who had been on duty, and almost felt sorry for what she had done to him. He would wake up with a wicked headache, and probably thoroughly embarrassed for being bested by an unarmed woman. She used his pass card to unlock the gate and pushed the button to open it. Her heart thudded in her chest and she held her breath, fully expecting someone to see her, and stop her. No one did. She walked out of the military base and out into new world she knew nothing about.
The rage she felt at Mykel carried her the first several miles. At least this time she chose sensible shoes. She thought bitterly, recalling how he had yelled at her for trying to wear heels at that old farmhouse. Those first few days together seemed like so long ago. She started crying again, and angrily brushed the tears away with the back of her hand. Isabelle just wanted to get as far away from him as she could, and if she couldn’t go back to her time, well then, she would find a place for herself in this new future world. She was determined to show him that she didn’t need him, that she could make it on her own. She walked until just before dark, and remembering what he had taught her, built herself a shelter, stopping occasionally for a drink of water from the filtration unit. She was just on the outskirts of the city, whatever its name was, and nearly to the edge of the wooded area. It took until past dark to build her little shelter, the work slower, and by the time she was ready to crawl into it, she was utterly exhausted. In the morning, she planned to hike into the city and find herself a job to do and a place to live. Without Mykel.
**************
The lights in his house were dark when he finally made it home. He assumed she was asleep, but when he made his way to the back bedroom he found that her things were gone. All the clothes he had purchased for her, gone. So was his jump bag, although she left all the contents strewn all over their bed. He wasn’t exactly surprised she had tried to leave him, but he knew she would be back eventually. She had nowhere to go, after all. She had to come back. Still, the emptiness he felt ate at him. He had spent most of his life living alone. Being alone. It never really bothered him until he had met her. She filled his world with light and laughter. On some level, he had always wanted that, and when he had it, he didn’t realize how precious something like that could be to a man’s soul, until he didn’t have it anymore. She really had chased away all his demons, and without her, without her light, he knew it wouldn’t be long before they came back with a vengeance. He couldn’t face being home, or sleeping in his bed. Not without her warm body next to his. He turned and shut the door. He wanted a drink or twenty.
Alarms sounded throughout the bas
e. Mykel got up from the bar and staggered toward the door to see what the commotion was. “Did someone attack?” He hollered to a soldier running by.
“Someone knocked out the guard!”
“Huh.” Bryant came to stand next to him. “Do you think it was her?”
Mykel snorted. “Hardly.”
“Well, we did look everywhere.” Bryant pointed out. “Maybe she decided to go into the city. She was pretty pissed at you bro.”
“She knows better than that. I told her how dangerous it was.” Mykel said.
“Does she?” Bryant asked. “In her time, women have freedom to do whatever pops into their pretty little heads. It’s safer in her time. I doubt she really understands what the city is like.”
