by Lynn Lamb
“So we are not disturbed,” he said. His eyes sparkled in the candle light. “Breathe.”
All I could do was nod.
He took me in his arms and exhaled warm air on my neck, sending goose bumps all over my body. He let me go only long enough to turn on my pink iPod that was connected to two small speakers. How did he get my iPod? He played The Way You Look Tonight.
“Thief,” I said with a sly smile of my own. “How did you do all of this?”
“I wanted our first date to be something you would never forget.”
“I won’t ever forget, Jackson,” I promised.
It had been so long since I had romance in my life that it would be an easy promise to keep.
We danced to the music that was set on low so that it couldn’t be heard from the outside. Jackson had to hunch over so that his head didn’t bump the ceiling, but it was still romantic. That man could dance, too.
What was he not good at? Oh yeah, tact.
We drank some of the wine that he had the military team unload before they had covered their big trucks. The pinot noir was so smooth that I drank it a bit faster than I had meant to. He twirled his tipsy dance partner in the small space of the cave.
“Are you still commando?”
I backed away from him, and I shook my head as I slowly opened the Velcro and pulled down my zipper. I relished his facial expressions when he saw the beautiful pink bra I was wearing.
“That’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” he said.
I lay down and rested on my elbows on the comfortable mattress. He kneeled next to me. I undid his shirt in the same way and pulled off the undershirt beneath it. His dog tags swung back and forth slapping his chest. His warm torso rested against mine. His fingers dragged through my freshly washed hair.
His own salt and pepper hair, now longer than any of the other MT, hung sexily in front of his eyes. I reached up and brushed it back so that I could read those ocean baby blues. They had so much to say that my heart began to beat uncontrollably.
His tongue ran down my jaw and then my neck. He reached around and unhooked the bra’s clasp and freed my breasts which were standing at attention to his commands.
“Jackson,” yelled Bri’s voice from outside the cave.
Son of a bitch, I yelled in my head.
Jackson looked at me like he was ready to burst from disappointment.
“I guess this is what post-apocalyptic sex is like; dead guys, bombs, urgent nieces yelling,” I said.
“Fuck,” he said in my ear. “I’ll get rid of her.”
He pulled his undershirt back on, and I put on my uniform top.
After dismantling his “security system,” he disappeared out the hole.
He was outside for several minutes before he came back in.
“Levi went missing on patrol and she thinks that you are missing, too,” his voice was strained. “Honey, she’s your family, so it’s your call.”
“It’s my Village, so it’s my rodeo and it’s my family, so it’s my call,” I said in frustration.
“Yes, Ms. Commander-in-Chief. What should I do?”
“It’s Levi out there in the freezing night. You have to get her in here, and I will deal with the aftermath. Just know that she worships Mark. Oh, and she doesn’t worship you.”
“Excellent,” he said.
He went to get Bri and I thought about hiding some of the telltale signs of our “date,” but I knew that she would put the pieces together no matter what I did. I grabbed the beautiful pink bra and stuffed it under the covers.
As she was crawling inside, I was putting my socks on so my feet didn’t freeze.
A “W” shape formed on her mouth, but no words accompanied it at first.
“I think the words you are looking for are ‘What the fuck?’ ” I helped her along.
“What the fuck?” she said.
“I wasn’t going to let you think I was missing. Points for that?” I asked.
“No, no points for that. But you hate him,” she said.
“Turns out that I don’t. Who knew?” I stated. What else could I say?
“You love Uncle Mark and you are cheating on him. You’re a cheater,” she said with fire in her eyes.
“Patton,” Jackson said. “He knows.”
“So that’s why he has been beating you up? How long has this been going on?”
“I don’t know. What time is it?” said Jackson in his usual tactless manner.
“Since yesterday,” I said. “Mark was beating him before any of this happened. But that’s really not the point.”
“Patton, we have a man who is MIA. We are going to have to deal with how you feel about our relationship later.”
Even with all of the insanity of the last few minutes, the word “relationship” had not passed me by.
Jackson stood in front of her like a drill sergeant. “Report, Specialist.”
She straightened her stance. “Sir, at approximately twenty-three hundred hours Samuels was last seen on the south side of the trail. He has not been seen since. No one returned our walkies, so we have no way to call for him, SIR.”
Bri’s eyes sent death rays at Jackson.
“Round up the security team and the MT. Go from cave to cave and have them meet in front of RV one. GO,” he barked back at her.
This was going to get ugly.
“Bri, don’t tell anyone. We need to get everyone to the Valley safely, and that might not happen if they find out about this,” I begged.
“Whatever, Laura,” she said. I don’t think that I have ever seen her that angry. I knew she wouldn’t run around blabbing it to just anyone, but I also knew that she would tell her sister and Adam, and maybe Jake.
After she left us, Jackson turned to me. “She may be a soldier, but she is barely an adult. Give her some time. I will win her heart, like I did her aunt’s heart.” He went to leave, but he turned. “And by the way, this is happening. If not tonight, tomorrow night. Post-apocalyptic sex, heh. I just got that.”
Damn his “Jackson charm.” I grabbed my bra and stuffed it under my shirt and blew out the tea candles.
It really was a lovely plan for a first date. I guess he will just have to top himself next time.
∞
After I straightened myself out in my tent, I went back out to find a whirlwind of activity. The military were shouting orders and handing out walkies and lanterns. A few Villagers were wandering around. They looked confused.
I found Jake and asked him to gather the Villagers. “But not the children and elderly. I don’t want them out here. Talk to Holly, she knows.”
“Malcolm, Tabitha,” I said before they could get away. “What will you need if Levi has injuries?”
“All of our medical instruments are in one of the buried trucks,” said Tabitha.
“Okay, find Doctor Riley and start making plans,” I ordered.
“Security team two, go west,” I heard Jackson commanding from somewhere not far behind me.
“Are you going out?” I asked Jackson in concern.
“I’ll be okay,” he whispered to me.
I nodded. “Be careful.” I turned from him and continued to give direction. “Jake, find a desk I can stand on like last time.”
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Jackson said, running after a pack about to make their way towards the dense forest. My heart dropped a bit when he ran out of sight.
Jake and Mark dragged a table through the snow, and I saw Adam run over to help.
“Which truck was carrying the medical supplies?” I asked him.
“Number eleven,” he answered.
“Can you get a small group going, and start gathering shovels, and buckets, whatever can be used to dig with. Put them in front of truck eleven, and be prepared to pass them out as soon as this meeting breaks,” I said.
“Don’t worry, I got it,” he said.
“Mark, are you military or a Villager?” I asked him.
; “I don’t know anymore,” he said.
“Make up your mind. If you’re a Villager, I need you to help run the operation to get that truck unearthed,” I said. “It’s Levi, Mark.”
Jake helped me up on the table, and everyone gathered in front of me.
“Villagers, Levi Samuels has gone missing while on security duty. He has been missing around two, to two and a half hours. I don’t need to remind you that there are many dangers out there, including wild animals,” I told them.
“I want to go out and search,” someone yelled.
“I know that you all want to help. Between the MT and Village security there are enough trained searchers. But we have something here in this camp that needs to be done. Truck number eleven holds all of the medical equipment the doctors will need to treat Levi if he is hurt. Any one of the searchers could become injured, also.
“Physically, this is going to be harder than the work that we did today. The air is very cold, so if you don’t think that you can handle it, please don’t try. Everyone else, please bring your lanterns over to where Adam is standing, and you will be given instructions that you will need to follow precisely.”
I looked down at Mark, and he nodded.
“Mark is in charge of this one. Let’s get started.”
∞
The Villager count is now fifty. When you take away the youngest and the oldest people and then subtract the security team out searching for Levi and the medics, we were left twenty-eight people to volunteer for the arduous task of digging out the truck.
And twenty-eight freezing souls stood before Mark, awaiting his orders.
“Everyone pair up,” said Mark. “Now, pick who will be an A and who will be a B between you. All A’s need to form a group here to my right, and all B’s will group here to my left. We will be working in shifts so that no one will be in the cold for too long. A’s will go first for forty-five minutes while the B’s catch some shut eye. When the A’s are dismissed, they will wake their B counterparts, who will then take a shift. We will do this until we can get into the truck.”
“Come and get me from my cave over there when it’s my turn.” Katie, my partner, pointed to the cave.
“Will do,” I said, and we exchanged kisses on the cheek.
“I need three people on each door,” continued Mark. “The rest need to be on the roll-up door at the back. Let’s go.”
This was the first time Mark seemed so totally in his element in years. Since he was on the back door, I decided to take the passenger door so my proximity wouldn’t throw him off.
About thirty minutes in, we were still having trouble getting through the frozen ice, but we were chipping away at it. Matt and Adam worked diligently by my side until Adam looked up to find Bri walking towards us.
“Did you find him? Where’s everyone else?” he asked.
“Colonel Jackass sent me back for insubordination,” said Bri. “We haven’t found him.”
I really wanted to ask what happened out there, but not in public. I turned to Adam and handed him my shovel. “Will you get Katie when it’s her shift?”
“Of course. Where are you going?” he asked.
I didn’t answer. “Let’s go, Bri. You know what? Ammie needs to hear this, too.”
I fetched Ammie, and the three of us found ourselves in Colonel Jackass’s cave.
“What’s going on?” asked Ammie. “I was just getting into my shovelin’ groove.”
“Sorry, I am sure you will find more work like that in the next few days, but it’s time for an aunt to niece to niece chat,” I said.
“How come I think I am in trouble for something I didn’t even do?” Ammie asked. Astute observation.
“You aren’t, I am because I called her boyfriend a jackass,” Bri said. Her angry heat hadn’t been dampened by the cold while searching. She could have melted the cave with one fiery dragon breath right then.
“Wait, whose boyfriend? Could you two just back up some? And why does this place look like a love den? I’m so confused,” said Ammie.
“Bri found out something, and it has her freaked out. She doesn’t have all of the facts,” I explained. I turned to Ammie. “Your uncle and I have been having problems for a very long time, before the Last War had even begun. I thought things were getting better when he was helping me run the Village, but I knew deep down that things weren’t fixed. Bri, I knew that we weren’t going to be okay, but I let myself pretend that we were.
“The war changed so much. It changed me. And your Uncle Mark tried, he really did. He’s a good man. But it was no use. I am not the same person anymore.
“When I look in Mark’s eyes, I can see all of my mistakes. All of the burnt dinners, forgotten errands, botched filmmaking attempts, and every time I ever disappointed him. I don’t see reflections of my strengths.
“But it’s different with him, Bri. His eyes reflect who I am now; my determination, my success in keeping us alive, and something I never even knew I had; iron will. He loves me for who I am now.”
“Holy fuckin’ shit,” exclaimed Ammie. “You and Jackson?”
“Keep your voice down, drunken sailor,” I told Ammie. “Yes, and this isn’t a ‘love den.’ Never say those words again, it’s creepy. Your sister came to get Jackson to help find Levi and interrupted a date.”
“A date? Is that what they are calling it now-a-days?” said Bri under her breath.
“Stop, don’t you get it? I need someone who wants the warrior in me, not the damsel.”
Bri looked at me for a long time, I mean really looked at me. “I get it.”
“And you, Miss, do you have anything to share?” I put Amanda on the spot, and her face grew red. “I know.”
“Know what? This has to be the most exasperating talk ever,” said Bri.
“Thomas,” said Ammie.
“Holy fuckin’ shit,” said Bri. “Where have I been?”
“I have no idea, drunken sailor number two. Where the fuck did you two learn to swear like that?” I asked.
As if on cue, we all burst into laughter. After a while, we were finally able to catch our breath.
“So, all secrets are out now?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” said Bri.
“Oh, shit,” I said and laughed when I realized I had done it again. “Drunken sailor number three, reporting for duty.” I shot off a salute. “Okay, I’m ready. What is it Bri?”
“It’s not as big as both of yours. I want to study psychology again, under Katie maybe.”
I put my head in my hands and shook it back and forth.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Laurie,” said a sad faced Bri.
“No, it’s not that. How did I miss it? I did exactly what I hated others doing to me. I put you in a little box of what I thought you should be. I am such an idiot,” I said.
“Yeah, you are,” said Bri.
“Okay, smartass. I’ll talk to Katie when things get resolved with Levi. Ammie, you don’t have to continue your internships, really. You can quit one or both of them if you want. I am so sorry.”
“No, I like both of them,” she said. “So, am I off the hook with the Thomas thing?”
“Hell no,” said Bri. “I want details.”
“Sorry, but I think that we need to get back to digging,” I told them. “But I have one last thing. We can’t keep secrets from each other. We are Patton Women, and we will always know. Oh, crap. We are going to have to do this whole thing again with Annie.”
∞
Not one second after we had crawled out of the love den did I see a group of the security team and the MT running towards us.
I couldn’t see Levi or Jackson. My heart dropped, but as they got closer the group parted to reveal an unconscious Levi being carried by Aaron and Jackson.
I ran to them. “He has lesions and bites from where a pack of wolves were dining on him. Are the doctors ready?” asked Jackson.
Malcolm came up behind me. “We got our equipment dug out. It’s bei
ng set up in that RV over there,” he said. “Russell, what are his vitals?”
I looked Jackson up and down. He was alright.
They got Levi in the RV, and everyone came together in cheers of triumph. We finally had a real win this time.
“Okay, let’s get back to work,” Mark called out.
“I thought that the truck was dug out,” I said.
“It is, but the others aren’t. We can’t take any more chances. And Laura, they want to keep going,” he said.
“By all means,” I told him.
“We need to talk, soon,” Mark said.
“I know.”
Bri and Jackson were still standing outside of the RV where Malcolm was assessing his patient, waiting for news. Jackson didn’t look happy with Bri.
“Sorry I called you Colonel Jackass,” she said, not sounding the least bit contrite.
“What can I say, she’s a Patton,” I said.
“Yep, you two are definitely related,” he said.
“I’m going to help Uncle Mark,” she said. She let her anger go. She went over and grabbed Adam’s hand.
∞
“Colonel, may I speak to you?” I asked in front of a small group waiting to find out how Levi was doing.
“Certainly, Laura,” he said.
We walked casually to his cave entrance, and no one batted an eyelash.
That was easy, I thought.
When we got inside the cave, I shot toward him, lips first.
“You never cease to amaze me,” he said lifting me up and laying me down on the blow up mattress.
“I hope I never do,” I returned. “I was worried about you out there. What happened?”
“We found Levi deep in the forest. He got turned around and lost. He built a fire, and he used a tree branch like a torch to fight off a pack of wolves.”
“God, how did you get him out of that without a scratch on you?” I asked.
“Ahh, we shot them,” he said.
“Oh, poor wolves,” I said. “This is their land, you know?”
“We saved Levi,” he looked at me, amused. “You are something else, you know that?”
I started to unvelcro my shirt. “Yes, I am.”
I revealed the pink bra again. “Why did you put it back on?”
“Because you said that it was the prettiest thing you have ever seen.”
