by P. S. Power
“Where to?”
“Oh, just outside I think. Here. Then… I honestly don’t know. We’ll figure it out.”
Or die.
Probably that one. He led them out into the snow, which had started falling, a pretty looking white curtain of lace and fluff being pulled over the world. He just stood and waited, knowing that trying to find everyone would be too much work. They were doing something, maneuvers or whatever warrior stuff they needed to practice.
A few minutes later Vickie walked up, covered in snow, all white and slightly glistening, a real life snow woman. She hugged him, which was cold because of her low body temperature, and then looked at Six, who was starting to collect snow too.
“So, adopted another stray?” The words held some humor at least.
Jake shook his head.
“No. She’s going to get her name and then “Matilde” is going to head security for Cam’s team. Transportation, not Cleaning. I get a body guard, isn’t that all official sounding? I’d like Tipper to get her up to speed on Cleaning protocol and strategy. I don’t really know the rules for that kind of thing, your naming ceremony stuff, but try not to get her killed. This is part of a larger plan, so if you could help too? Make sure the others don’t beat her up while she’s training, unless Tipper or you tell them too, or however that kind of thing works, naturally.” The words were listless, but got Vickie to hold up her right hand above her head, palm open. She held it and after five minutes three people came jogging over, all of them in white, but only one of them really covered in snow. That was Tip, Jake guessed.
Val’s were immune to cold, but they had really low body temperatures when exposed to it. That should mean the snow wouldn’t melt off of them as fast, Jake figured, hence the snowman routine. Plus, the other people were clearly men and both pretty muscular looking. They weren’t that tall, but all of them were taller than he was by a few inches. Not Vickie, but the others.
Jake looked around, not seeing anyone else as Vickie explained what Jake had asked for, which got Tipper to shake her head, hard, and got him glared at by the woman, only her eyes visible, since she had a white cloth pulled over her mouth and nose. He could see the use, it was cold out. He didn’t care for himself, but maybe she just didn’t like having a cold nose?
Tipper sighed at him, a long drawn out, and Jake knew, fake, sound of exasperation.
“What the hell Jake? I mean, sure, I didn’t sleep with you and was kind of cold about understanding where you were coming from, but dumping this kind of problem on me? Hardly fair.” She was clearly playing, but the men standing to her right both stared at her like she’d just cursed their mothers.
“You speak to the Maitreya so?” This came from the one on the far outside of the group. He bristled a bit, but his voice stayed soft. Almost polite. It was disconcerting.
Jake just shrugged at them.
“Don’t let it worry you. She’s just teasing. Six isn’t a burden, hardly even needs help, but Tipper is her older sister, so you know…” He didn’t, being an only child, but at least he’d had television to fall back on as an example.
The guy who spoke tilted his head in a funny way that Jake wasn’t sure was humanly possible, straight down, to the side and back at once. His facial expression, which was bland and slightly sneering didn’t shift at all.
“Oh? I was unaware it was a family issue. I withdraw my implied rebuke.”
Everyone else just nodded, so Jake did too, not getting the situation totally. The men were introduced, and they obviously knew who he was, but the names didn’t stick. He really wanted to care about things, but it was like he just couldn’t. The absence of it made him realize how much he really did most of the time. The men didn’t bow or offer their hands to shake, so he didn’t either, not wanting them to feel uneasy. His hands were getting cold anyway, not wearing any gloves. He started to shake a bit, probably from heat loss.
He couldn’t tell. It could have been something else. Fear, or rage even.
It was like his soul had gone numb. It would make things easier, he thought. If not better.
“So, I’m going in. Are you all headed…” Really he needed to know if he needed to try and get dinner around for them all, but Vickie grimaced a little, making the men go stiff again, and explained.
“Bit of a miscommunication, there was a loose agreement for training, with Nate and Yalla? Some of the other peoples got added in, and we kind of can’t host them all, but transportation wasn’t really arranged for anyone, except to get them here… So, we don’t know what to do. We can live off the land for a while and we have some supplies now at the House, so no one will starve, but we can’t cook for that many yet. Only an extra fifty bodies in all, but…” She shook her head slowly, getting to the real issue.
“No secure housing.”
Ah. Jake sighed and looked around. He wasn’t really thinking at all. Finally he realized everyone was looking at him. Waiting. Right, there was a problem. Why they wanted him to fix it, he had no clue. From everything he heard his job was supposed to be closer to mascot than anything else. Maybe more like a flag, sitting around eating chocolates and sipping wine while people catered to his every desire. That both sounded nice and not like what a good person would do at all at a time like this.
“Cam? You’re our transportation specialist, could you arrange for the people that need to get home to go? You might need help, just until you learn where they all need to go, I mean. After that you can go and get them all each day, while we build the new underground shelters?” They’d need them if people were coming.
A new greenhouse too. A much larger one that would be harder to destroy.
Argh.
When he saw the military again he was going to have to kick them in the nuts. They hadn’t even checked to see if the House was still standing first, before telling everyone to just show up. Of course, while it might have just been laziness, or a prank, it might also simply be that they had the best set-up to receive people anywhere that they knew about. That was scary. They were doing alright, and would get through the winter, they’d gotten a lot of help, but they were set before that even. For about seventy people.
He looked around again and shook himself, his head making a big enough motion people were staring, which got him to force a grin.
“Sorry, I’m… not doing well right now. I probably won’t be for a while, maybe never again. We need to get some things in order fast though. You all heard about the radio thing? I figure I’m the last one to know.” It kind of made sense, who would have told him?
Tipper filled him in again, basically repeating what he already knew, and adding that currently no one even knew if anyone in the country was going to try and come. Or if they could find it if they did, so the plan was to just kind of wait and see.
Rolling his eyes Jake grunted at her.
“Except if people do show up, then we won’t be ready that way. It’s a pain, but we need to work now, just in case.”
He had a strange feeling that was going to be his new catch phrase for a while. We need to work now. Yay. Yippee. It was hard to get motivated for it, but it had to be done. People were counting on them. They’d been promised hope, and safety. It wasn’t his promise and maybe he couldn’t back it up in practice, but he could try, right?
So, still kicking those guys in the collective groins though, when he met them again.
Cam teleported away, and came back with Morris, the leader of his entire people. It was a move that Jake hadn’t counted on. She’d needed help, so she went to one of the few people she knew by name among her own people anymore. Her family missing, or more likely, dead, she didn’t have anyone to count on, except Morris. Jake too of course and a lot of the people at the House, but in teleportation matters, not so much help there. It was a move that was about the same as a little kid needing directions storming the oval office to get the President out to help point the way.
Except Morris had actually come on her say so.
Thinking about the whole thing was making Jake’s head hurt, so he gestured for anyone that wanted to go to get inside, where it was at least warm. He didn’t have anti-freeze for blood himself, so it made sense. Cam and Morris went with him, and Vickie, but the rest all just stayed in place.
“Six, unless Tipper needs you, would you go with Cam places? Make sure you’re armed. Don’t take any risks though. Just protect her if she needs it, until she can teleport you both away.” With that he showed her in, figuring Tip would tell him if the girl was needed for anything else.
Inside he nearly collapsed into a chair at the table. Jill was still working, but started to put her things away and rise. Morris just waved at her a bit, gently, and smiled.
“I’ll stand. I’ve just come to show my young colleague here where a few places are and ingratiate myself with the Ba-Dehist. So, need anything Jake? Wine? Women? I heard you at the party, so song you can do for yourself. Though if you get time, my wife Theresa would love for you to come and play for us sometime. Maybe at her birthday party next month? I promised that I’d ask.” He looked around and shrugged.
“Throw pillows? Maybe some tarragon?” The last two were jokes, but Jake nodded seriously.
“Yes to any spices you have a bit extra of. I can trade some meat for it, or work. As for the rest, do you know any of your people that wouldn’t mind going to some new places? We need a transportation network and well, I don’t think we can manage planes just yet. I can trade playing some music for that, if you want? Not a fair trade really, it will probably be a lot of work, so, you know, only volunteers. I can’t pay them and it will probably be dangerous at times, but it’s important, if they want to do it.” He felt like laying his head on his boney arms and just not talking for a while, but this was pretty much needed.
He explained the first bit about the people coming, which probably also meant attacks, and got Vickie to finish the rest. Morris just smiled a lot and nodded. Jake kept waiting for the joke, or suggestion that they be paid for real, which was fair, but he didn’t have anything they’d need, most likely. Instead the man just rose after Jake ran out of things to say. It was a smooth movement, showing greater poise than the leader normally seemed to have.
“The only issue that will worry my people is that some others seem to think that we might, hmmm… Borrow? Things without asking a bit much. Not totally without reason, but it doesn’t make us popular with everyone.”
That had been mentioned already, so Jake was kind of prepared to handle it. Hurray. This way he’d only have to stumble through half the coming conversation.
“OK, so… If you think it will help, I’ll go around with Cam and meet with all the leaders, Morten to, not trying to ace him out of a job, but he should be the liaison with the others, and Cam can run this side of things, if that’s all right? I know, she’s just a kid, but she can handle it. Then we’ll send them with guards when needed. Vickie? Could you get with Yalla on that? We probably don’t need a lot of guards, unless, like Cam they’re going to be going all over the place. I don’t want them caught out, by zombies or cannibals or something like that.” He buried his head in his hands and kept talking, not watching anyone.
“Oh, also, someone get with Heather and work out what we need to do for all that? The cannibals? We kind of made up, but I don’t trust her really. Not that I think she’d betray us, but… I don’t know.” It was halfway to a wail, which he covered with a smile and a head shake.
“Wah… my life is too hard… sniffle, sniffle.” It got a mild laugh at least. He wasn’t trying to seem whiny, that would take too much energy. Instead he looked at everyone and sighed.
“So, really, if anyone is willing to help, please tell them I really appreciate it? Not that my appreciation should mean much here, but people seem to like to pretend it does, so, you know, I’ll use it while it lasts.”
Morris took Cam away then with a nod and gentle touch to the girls shoulder, and Jill went to her room, not saying why. It wasn’t his business. Maybe she just didn’t want to be around people for a while? He could see that one.
Vickie waited for everyone else to leave, then pulled him over to the bed and pushed him onto it. It would have seemed nice, playful even, but she didn’t join him on it, just standing next to it instead.
“Take a nap and get your mind back in gear Jake. You seem so exhausted I can’t believe you’re moving around. Haven’t you been sleeping?” She sounded concerned, but not surprised.
“Of course I have been. I… There’s some stuff. I’m not really ready to talk about it. Is that OK with you? I mean I will if you need me to, but right now, if we can wait, I’d rather. Oh, anyway, Yalla is in charge of finding out who poisoned the cider on Christmas. We’re having a big party for Six when she gets her name. It’s a ruse to get everyone from the Christmas party to come. The idea is that she kind of botched that one, and is getting a second chance to redeem herself. Yalla might want that to be at a specific time, so I figured I’d share that before you and Tipper throw your little sis into a zombie hoard naked, with only a pair of nose hair clippers to subdue them with.” Jake frowned and shook his head, lying back on the pillow, on top of the bed spread. It was actually the ugliest one in the house, a drab pattern that looked old and worn. He liked the way it smelled though. Like dust and earth, a thing he could barely notice most of the time.
He looked at the pretty blond, her skin white and smooth through the window, her eyes a light blue that made him want to get lost in them for a while. He smiled sadly and shook his head. Love wasn’t something he was going to get, was it? Not even sex. It didn’t seem likely at least. He’d pretty much given up on the idea, just shutting it off inside of himself.
Even if Vickie was willing, she probably wouldn’t do anything in the kitchen, in the middle of the day. That was made pretty clear when she sat down in one of the hard wooden chairs again and ran her fingers lightly on the table top.
“Oh? What, are you going to send her in with one of your new axes? Kind of hard to use against a moving zombie, especially standing, but it would be better than trying it empty handed. Maybe a sword?”
“Does it have to be that way? I was thinking we let her use a gun for it. Have some back-up shooters standing by to keep her from getting eaten, you know, like we’re an actual team? Is that against the rules?” It might be. What Jake didn’t know about Val culture… Well, he just didn’t know, did he? They had a large isolated compound and a strange naming convention. Ta-dah, that was all he knew.
Really, he knew more about them than any other group, which was kind of lame of him, if he was going to keep pretending to be their guru or whatever. More info was needed, but it was too hard to find out, involving things like standing up, or asking the woman in front of him.
“Hey, Vickie, we’re supposed to be going out, right?” That might have changed, so he didn’t want to push the issue, but maybe he could get some answers from her, if they were?
Her answer was a bit odd, because she leaned over him and gave him a deep kiss that felt meaningful. Then she did it again. He tried to kiss her back, hoping he wasn’t botching it all too badly. She spoke when she stood back up, sounding decently relaxed at least. Not happy maybe, but not sad either.
“Of course we’re going out. Why? Do you want me to spend the night? I think that can be arranged. We could do something now, except I have melted snow all over me and at any second people might be teleporting in. Or just walking through the door. But tonight?”
It sounded good. Jake didn’t trust it though. It wasn’t fair, but he expected her to find some reason not to be there later. That was…
Fine.
It wasn’t his point though.
“Yeah, that sounds good. We’ll just warn the others so they don’t come in for a late night snack. I was kind of wondering if we could make some time soon, so I can pick your brain about the other groups. I know nothing about them. I don’t even know the right questions
to ask, do I?”
The Val looked away and nodded, like she was considering things carefully.
“Normally I’d do just that, but you should really ask Sammi. She’s a Bawdri, and they make an effort to learn all that kind of thing. They aren’t perfect people or anything, true, but she’ll have more information than I do. I’ll sit in though, if that’s all right?” Blinking a bit she ducked her head and smiled, then leaned over and ran her hand down the front of his shirt.
Depressed or not, his body reacted, which she noticed. He couldn’t be positive, but she actually seemed to be reaching towards someplace lower than his stomach when everyone came back. Of course they’d pick just then, wouldn’t they?
Robin looked at the scene and nodded, turning to George and waving towards them.
“See, he’s here. Teleportation rocks. Hey Mort, you have a girlfriend? Maybe you and I can hook up, and then I can get you to take me around all the time?” The girl blushed when she said it, but the orange eyed guy just smiled, taking it as play it seemed.
“Very tempting. In fact, we might be able to work something like that out? I’ll need to get with my wife on that of course, but hey, if we don’t ask, we won’t know what she says about it. Of course if we do that she might want to suggest a guy for her too. Fair enough. She’ll probably pick Jake though, and really, how can I compete there?” His smile went even bigger then, and his hands spread a bit. He didn’t even glance at Jake though.
The dark haired girl just nodded.
“OK. Sounds like a plan, tell her that I’ll lend her Jake if she wants. Anyway,” she oriented on Jake, looked at his groin and stopped smiling, but didn’t comment or stare. Much.
“Nate wants you to come to dinner. If you’re willing? Chatting after. He thinks he’s figured out the poisoning thing. He wouldn’t say who it was, but I don’t think it’s me, so really, I don’t care. Where’s Cam?”
