🕑 Added 2018-05-12 07:15:27 +0000 UTC
Chapter Fifty-Seven
I jerk awake, almost falling out of the bog chair I'm reclining in. Despite being essentially two pieces of flat lumber, one of which is sticking out of and through the other, it's far from uncomfortable. Looking around, I blink the sleep from my eyes with a barely suppressed yawn.
Around me, with literally no input from me, people are using things they know to make life easier on everyone else. One hobby camper is teaching people how to use tinder, punk, and bird's nest to make a camp fire. A duct worker is setting up a Benjamin Franklin style wood stove with an extra barbecue, aluminum stove pipe, and metal shears. A teacher is animatedly telling stories to kids. A fry cook is turning bags of potatoes, carrots, and onions from a local store into a filling meal. Bottles of water salvaged from a Sparkletts truck is carefully rationed along with all the other water that people have managed to scrounge up.
Two reporters and a cameraman are with us; they came in by news helicopter this afternoon and have been filming, interviewing, and discussing presentation with each other over food. The helicopter is gone, but the news crew insist they will stay with us until FEMA's or Emergency Management's people get to us.
"It's not going to last."
I look up from my chair. Jess. "Don't you have something else to give up on right now?" I grind out between my teeth. I REALLY don't want to deal with this right now.
"You Catholic? Maybe trying for sainthood? I think the position of 'patron saint of lost causes' is still available. I'm sure you can make a good showing." Jess takes a bite of a sandwich that I know for a fact wasn't made here. Around the note, Jess adds, "S'not like you don't practice."
I sigh, leaning back in the chair and throwing an arm over my eyes. "Stockpiling food?" I say snidely. I immediately regret it; it feels a little hypocritical.
"... Your Recovery ability is complete and total bullshit,"Jess says quietly, instead of calling me on my poor choice in commentary.
I snort. My reply is no louder. "Like Houdini isn't. No wonder you were so calm in the shelter. Literally no danger at all to you."
"... You think there's others?" Jess asks.
I shrug. "Could be. Doesn't change anything if there are or there aren't."
Jess is quiet for a few seconds, but I can practically feel him/her hovering over me. After a second, I pull my arm away from my face and give Jess a flat look. "Something I can do for you?"
Jess looks thoughtful. After a second, he/she shakes his/her head. "Forget it. Not important. I'll see you around... Brandon."
Jess turns and walks off. I'm not sure what that all about but I don't much like it.
---
May 11, 2011
It's early in the AM when I feel a hand shaking my shoulder urgently. I open my mouth, but a hand goes across it. "Brandon!" hisses a familiar voice. Maddie.
I look at her, or where she should be. It's pitch black in the tent, the sort of dark that comes when there's no working electricity within two miles. It's easy to forget just how dark night is without out technology. I reach up, gently tugging her hand away from my mouth, and whisper, "Maddie?"
"Don't talk loud," she says softly. "I think there's gang members out there."
I can't see her expression. Are they people she knows? I look in the direction of her voice. Observe.
[Quote] Voice: Maddy Hall
Direction: 0°/+15°
Distance: 41 cm
Condition: Healthy, Anxious[/Quote]
Okay, that's... different. Is it because I can't see her but I can hear her? I didn't even realize I could do that. "Gimme a sec, I'll-"
"No. Mister Brandon Gammer, you are not going anywhere," she said softly, pushing me down against the sleeping pad. "I came here to make sure you don't do a fool thing like go out there and get yourself shot."
"... Let me get this straight," I whisper. "You came in here and woke me up, to tell me NOT to go out there. When you could have just let me sleep."
"No. I came in here because I know you enough to know you have no concept of when it's time to stop."
Outside, a muffled yell. "-care who did. It belongs to us now. Be grateful we don't-" then something to garbled for me to understand.
"Maddie, we can't just-"
"Hush!" she hisses, hand over my mouth. "If that just happened and you been sleeping you'd be already out the tent, drew attention to yourself, and then got shot. That's why I came in here. Now just hush up and wait."
I shake my head. I'm not THAT reckless. "No. Maddie-"
"Please!" she begs softly. "They're just here to steal food. Maybe some of the barbecues. But if they start shooting..."
"I'm more worried about the water," I mutter, but I envision briefly a few shots fired off in the encampment and shudder; this time of night there couldn't be more than a handful awake. I don't think anyone's armed. Maddie's got a point, even if not the one she thinks; either I'd get shot and out myself, or they'd miss me, and possibly hit people who can't just shrug it off.
I force myself to relax against the cot, while I listen to the sound of things being taken. After a few minutes, things go quiet. "I think they're gone," I say. I start to get up.
She pushes me back down. "You're not going after them, either."
Okay, THAT'S not cool. "Maddie, what are people supposed to eat?"
"When the Emergency Management's people get through to us, it'll be fine." She sounds a lot more certain than I feel on the matter.
"We have no guarantees that will happen anytime soon. And anyhow, I want to know what they took. So can I get up now?"
She lets me up slowly. I don't push. I'll get my chance to go after them soon enough. "Anyhow, what's this thing about not knowing when to stop?"
Her tone becomes half amused, half incredulous. "Brandon, do you even know what time it is?"
"Uh... four?" I guess.
"Try one. Do you know what you were doing sixteen hours ago?"
At nine, I was... "Shopping?"
"Shopping. For four people besides you. Do you remember what you were doing twelve hours ago?"
"Uh..." I feel like this is going uncomfortable places.
"You were organizing everyone to plug up that leak in the shelter. So you remember what you were doing eleven hours ago?"
I think I see where she's going. "Uh... taking a break?"
Her voice, if anything, gets lower. "You didn't take many breaks while people were digging out of the shelter. I kept track; you stayed in longest and went in the most often. Remember what you were-- oh, forget this. After digging everyone out of the shelter, you escorted the kids to the surface. Then as more adults came out, you went to get help. And organized people to start clearing the streets. Then went for supplies. Then got the camp set up. Then cooked." There's a pause.
"You make me sound like a..." I stop before saying 'cape,' then continue, "... a single mother."
That gets a snort of laughter out of her. "So that's your secret, I should have guessed by those wide, child-bearing hips," Maddie says sarcastically.
She can't see me roll my eyes but I do it anyhow. "Yeah, it's a miracle I fit into any of my dresses. Seriously, though," I add, getting to my feet. "I'm just high energy. It keeps me skinny."
Maddie's hand lingers on my shoulder, and for a moment I wonder why. Then, a tiny flashlight turns on in her free hand, illuminating the floor, and she lets go. I don't know if she does it to keep an eye on me, or just to keep from waking any of the people around us. Then, we go to check on the supplies.
![[RV]-Nobunaga from patreon](https://patrefans.com/kistorage/27726.jpg)
