Protocol One

by Jacqueline Druga

  “So construction began.”

  “Immediately. We were to operate on the assumption it was happening. And the sweet end of the deal was, if it didn’t, Tony Garrison got one of the bunkers.”

  “This one.”

  “It’s the one I picked.” Tony smiled. “I didn’t think it was happening. I thought he was whacked, but if he wanted to dump eighty million dollars into it, who was I to judge? I made good money off of it. Now, jump ahead to the failed attempt to divert it. Things got amped up. The original plan was, when it came close to impact time, Tony Garrison would be the messenger and the go between. But then, Gwen diverted reporters to you and you said a flag word.”

  “So the boyfriend cover up began.”

  Tony winced. “Well, it wasn’t supposed to be that. It was supposed to be one informational date, with a series of pizza deliveries and so forth. I thought that was risky, but in my opinion, one date wasn’t going to blow the cover and I wanted to keep tabs on the situation. It was a big one. Plus, the Senator or 'Gil' believed it was Gavin who took you out.”

  “So the sleep overs, all that was your call?”

  Tony nodded. “I needed to be where you were. That’s why I took over. I’m gonna be honest with you. When it was a reality that the comet would hit, my first thought was my daughter. I did not want to lose another child and I was going to do everything, even break protocol, to make sure she had the best chance of survival. And that survival was being where you were. I figured if I stayed close, I would be aware of any last minute change of plans.”

  “Why would he change things at the last minute and not tell you?”

  “I don’t know. In my opinion he was a guy suffering from horrible unrequited love with a big enough bank roll to ensure that after you were done sitting pretty and lonely in your queen room at the bunker, you’d be more than willing to welcome him back into your life.”

  I burst out laughing. “Oh my God, Tony, that’s over the top.”

  “I think he had plans to come here all along. Whether from the get go or at the end. Why else would he make sure the specialists were not viable choices for you? A woman, a gay man, old man …”

  “Tom’s not old.”

  “Peter. I showed Gil that photo in the Inquisitor.”

  “What about Tom?” I asked.

  “I lied. I told Gil he was gay. I had known Tom forever. The security guys and the armory were my call. This place needed protection.”

  “Why didn’t you keep tabs on me through Gavin?”

  “Come on, Anna.” He spoke softly. “You know me. My level of trust only goes so far. I mean, I trusted Gavin, but who was to say when push came to shove and the comet was closer, he wouldn’t just take a hike with his family. Which he did, by the way. I don’t’ blame him. When push comes to shove, what it boils down to is ourselves and the ones we love. I did the same thing.”

  “Tom was right then.” I sighed out.

  “About what?”

  “He said it didn’t matter. I … asked him if he knew Tony Garrison from GSS.”

  “Ah, he probably didn’t have a clue about me using a ‘face’. Tom’s a good guy.”

  “So this whole plan to latch on to me was for your daughter?”

  “At first, and I was wondering. Man, what does this chick have that this guy wants her so badly, that he’s all but ensuring her survival with every dime he has. And I’ll tell you by the end of the third date, I knew what you had. I knew that I wanted my daughter to live and I wanted to be there with you. I bought that van, drove to Chicago to get Joie, and was coming here. Then I got the call from you that the van wouldn’t start and I drove right down.”

  “I’m glad you did.”

  “Anna, it may have started out as a mission, but please know, everything I said I feel is genuine. When I kiss you or touch you, it’s not an act.”

  I locked my fingers in his. “I know. I’m glad it wasn’t anything major. I was thinking you were a computer hack and got a jump on things. Although, I’m still waiting to hear why Gil is not good enough to be on that pedestal.”

  “That …” Gil’s voice entered the kitchen startling me. “Is something I would be interested in hearing as well?”

  Tony slipped his hands from mine, leaned back slowly, then stood.

  It was time for everyone to talk.

  <><><><>

  Tony told Gil everything he had told me. Gil was mad. He was so angry. I’m not sure he was convinced that Tony wasn’t an imposter, but even if he believed he wasn’t, it made him pissed that he trusted Tony with a huge secret and Tony didn’t respect him enough to show his true identity.

  They argued. It grew louder and I closed the door.

  “Stop it please, both of you.”

  “I bet everything he said to me,” Gil blasted. “Was word for word what he said to you. A story he rehearsed for the day he had to come clean.”

  “Yes, true,” Tony said with typical sarcasm. “Except in your version, I left out the part about kissing and touching you.”

  Gil cocked back. “And I'm the dick? You make a comment like that and I’m the one she should see as the bad guy?”

  “What’s wrong with that comment?” Tony asked.

  “Because it’s pretty damned obvious, Tony.” Gil stated. “How I feel. Everything I did was because of how I feel. And you said it to get a dig in because you knew it would bother me.”

  Tony laughed. “Why is that, Gil? Why does it bother you? It shouldn’t. After all, you’re a married man.”

  Like an idiot and I’m sure I looked like one, totally missing the point of his comment, as I did with the hemp, I inched to Tony. As if I were trying to save him the embarrassment, I whispered, “Tony, Gwen cheated on him. They broke up.”

  I saw the strain on Tony’s face as he slowly turned his head to me with wide eyes. “Did you … did you just say that?” Then he laughed. “This is unreal. I’ll just drop it. Because despite what you think, I am a man of integrity. Air your own dirty laundry, Gil.”

  “What?” I asked. “What did I miss?” Then I gasped. “Gil, were you the one that cheated? Did you blame it on Gwen?

  “No!” Gil blasted. “Tony, or whatever his name is, wants to make me look bad.”

  “No, I don’t.” Tony said gently. “You know what? You aren’t bad. You’re a nice guy with some serious ambition.”

  “There is nothing wrong with being ambitious,” Gil defended.

  “You’re right. Nothing wrong with it unless the end of civilization works perfectly for your ambitions.”

  “Okay,” I intervened. “I give up. What does any of this have to do with Gwen and Gil?”

  Tony faced me. “They’re still married. It was all a ploy to get sympathy and pull the voters away from the Vice President. But I kept thinking, why bother if he knew damn well the comet was coming? Because he needed the last memory the public had of him to be the good guy. This works out perfectly for him.”

  Gil clapped his hands slowly and dramatically. “Nice try. But I didn’t cause the comet.”

  “Nope you didn’t. Twelve million went to bunkers, forty three million went to underground food storage, water storage, fuel. You name it. You were always prepared and no less for this. Yep, the government is going to rise up and pass out MREs to the starving survivors, and you’ll be there with arms open wide welcoming them to all that you have.” Tony then excused himself, kissed me on the cheek and left.

  There was a silence in the room thick with tension.

  “Anna,” Gil’s voice cracked. “Listen, about what Tony said …”

  I held up my hand stopping him. “I have known you most of my life. I don’t believe for a second you have evil intentions or that you are on some power trip. I also don’t believe for one second that Tony is anyone else and he’s not a good guy. Maybe I’m a fool.”

  “No, that’s just who you are.”

  “And all this. All that was said will mean something some day. But right now it onl
y means a lot of mistrust and tension in a closed in space. That’s not the way I want us all to live.”

  “It is a closed in space. But is it big enough for me and Tony?”

  I bit my lip, stepped to Gil and laid my hand on his cheek. “It is. As long as we do the right thing.”

  “And that is.”

  “Don’t focus on the past. That’s gone,” I said. “We need to focus on the future.”

  45 – Decisions

  October 28

  Even though Gil healed physically and was a hundred percent after a few days, things were not fine between him and Tony. They couldn’t be in the same room for very long. There was absolutely nothing they agreed on.

  When either of them tried to bring up the other to me, I stopped them. I didn’t want to hear it. Gil hated the fact that I was with Tony and Tony hated the fact that I still, as he put it, idol worshiped Gil.

  Tough. Deal with it.

  Although with Joie increasingly warming up to Gil, that didn’t help,

  Everyone warmed up to Gil.

  He was suddenly the man with the stories. The man who saw what it was like out there.

  I didn’t ask Tony any more about the past nor did I ask Gil anything. The only thing that surfaced was Gwen. Not psychically, but over the radio.

  At first she was relieved he was alive, then she was angry that he was with us.

  It also was time for another decision, I personally had been avoiding.

  Clarisse.

  Peter announced the weather was getting better and while it would be cold for a long time, and unpredictable, it was livable under sheltered conditions.

  He knew I carried the burden of her leaving. I had hoped that the others had forgotten about it, but it had to be addressed, so I called a meeting.

  Peter stayed back, stating he would be fine with whatever decision was made.

  We gathered in the lower level of Hive Two, And I stood in the center.

  “I know you guys are all wondering why I called you here,” I said. “I brought you here to make the final call on Clarisse. You probably weren’t even thinking about it…”

  “I was,” Tony said.

  “Me, too,” Tom added. “I was wondering what we were doing.”

  “Me as well,” Craig said.

  I looked at Melissa. “Were you wondering?”

  “Yeah,” She crinkled her face. “I was. I mean we made a really big deal about kicking her out.”

  I suggested we take a vote, and we did. It was evenly split.

  “No vote …” Tony said. “We made a decision and we should stick to it. Give her what she needs and send her on her way.”

  “I don’t know, Tony.” I rebutted. “It seems like too much time has passed.”

  “There are no statutes of limitations here, Anna.”

  “But I feel bad.”

  “And you can’t,” Tony argued. “You can’t let emotions get in the way of this decision.”

  Gil spoke up. “How about logic?”

  “You,” Tony pointed. “Really have no say so in this matter. We lost a man. A man was killed.”

  “Did she do it?”

  “Her people did.”

  “Did she do it?” Gil repeated.

  “You aren’t standing before the jury, here counselor,” Tony said. “She knew of the plan. She was part of the plan. She didn’t cut off his head, but damn well knew they would kill us all.”

  My hands went to my face. I thought, ‘Oh God, here we go again.’

  “You’re right,” Gil said. “I don’t have a say so. But if I can speak from a new perspective. You failed in sending her on her way two months ago. Whatever the reason, she didn’t go. You suspended her sentence, so to speak. During this time, she has taken care of her child and worked as part of the community. She has lived as part of the community. Has she done anything to suggest she can’t be trusted anymore? Perhaps, she is trying to regain your trust. It is viably possible that she will be grateful and not ever do anything bad again? Plus, we need to remember, she’s a woman. A woman with a child. Women, will be needed in this world. If she makes a mistake again, then throw her out. But give her a second chance. You all have already done so. You just don’t realize it.”

  I saw among the faces in the room, that everyone listened to what he said. Gil always spoke passionately and convincingly. This was no different. “We’ll take another vote.”

  “Before you do,” Gil said.

  Tony groaned.

  Gil ignored him. “I’ll take her with me if she stays. The government bunker has offered to send transportation up here, and I’ll bring her there with me. Her and her child.”

  Hearing him say that shocked me. “You’re leaving?”

  “I think it’s for the best.”

  As soon as he said that, everyone in the room erupted in disagreement.

  “You can’t go.”

  “No, you have to stay.”

  “Anna needs you.”

  “Anna …” Tony said sternly. “Doesn’t need him. But I agree, he should stay. Take your vote, Anna.” He folded his arms and backed up.

  It was overwhelming for Clarisse to stay, with Tony being the only vote to cast her out. Tony quickly left after the vote and Melissa was the one to tell Clarisse her fate.

  I followed Tony. I expected him to be sulking somewhere. Instead, he was with Joie in their room. She was working on her long term project, her new collage.

  “Can I speak to you?” I asked.

  He told Joie he’d be right back and walked into my room with me.

  “What’s up?”

  “I need to ask you something,” I said.

  “No, I expected the vote. I’m not mad. And I expected you to change your mind. That’s just who you are.”

  “That’s not it. When Gil announced he was leaving, you said he should stay. That surprised me.”

  “Even though I said you didn’t need him. You do. More than you realize, you need him in your life. Not in any romantic way, and honestly, I’m not threatened in that way by him.”

  “So because of me, you think he should stay?”

  “No, for all of us. Like I stayed close to you in the beginning, I think we need to stay close to Gil to see what he’s up to.”

  “Makes sense. Who knows? Maybe you’ll start to like him.”

  “Ha! Doubt it. But … stranger things have happened. Who knows, maybe I’ll fall in love with him, too.” Tony smiled, kissed me then went back into the room with Joie.

  I know, deep down, he was disappointed we voted to allow Clarisse to stay. It had nothing to do with who she was, but rather with sticking to our decision.

  Tony was over looking one thing.

  The change of heart on Clarisse was a unanimously humane vote. To me, it was the first meaningful thing we did as a group. It showed me that together we could do little things that would positively impact a life. There had to be more to after-comet life than sitting in a bunker biding our time. There had to be.

  46 – Easter egg

  November 2

  Peter announced, “Eighteen degrees. Wind chill temperature, minus five. Doable. And I think it’s a good time, because winter is setting in.”

  “Seriously?” Tony asked. “Winter is coming? What is this now?”

  “Um … autumn?” Peter said.

  “Funny. Funny. Fifteen minutes.” Tony told me, “I already waited a week.”

  And he did. I really wanted to go into town with him. I needed to step out of the bunker to see what was around. To have a purpose. Peter kept advising against it, especially without transportation. We had passed the ten degree mark and it took a week to get there.

  Our original mission was to go to town, find transportation and take supplies, in case we ran into anyone who was in need.

  Everyone wanted to go. Everyone except Nelly. She was content to stay inside. Tony and I went by default and a draw of straws gave the honors to Duke and Spencer.

  It surpri
sed me with all the things Gil prepared and planned for that he didn’t think of transportation.

  That wasn’t so. He did plan on us arriving in a vehicle. Plus he had his people stash a vehicle.

  That was one of the Easter Eggs at the bunker.

  There were many.

  We found two. A game system and movie player. Both would work when plugged into the picture window. But they were useless because any movies or games were still hidden in the bunker. It was Gil’s idea to give Jackson something to pass the time.

  Nelly and the kids were on a mission to find those Easter Eggs.

  The keys, along with a battery charger, were located in the boiler room. Duke found them earlier, but didn’t think anything of them. And even if he did know what they were for, we didn’t know where the car was hidden.

  Apparently, it wasn’t in the bunker.

  It was a mile away.

  Down the road, right before the drug store, was a concrete garage. We’d find it, Gil said. In a slightly underground bunker of its own, was the old Jeep. It was possible it wouldn’t run.

  Duke was confident he was a good enough mechanic that if it could be fixed, he’d get it running.

  I hoped that he was right. We needed transportation to get to Elwood City. We could make it on foot, but getting back would be a difficult task, considering the weather.

  It was time to go and I was filled with excitement and nervousness.

  I went to the radio room to say goodbye, and was surprised that Gil was there.