PART TWELVE

 

--AVIAN--

I tried not to bump Creed as I lifted the bags containing her things into the back of the truck.  She wouldn’t let me put her down ever since Leah handed her back to me so I’d been packing her around everywhere on my chest in a baby carrier someone had scrounged up for me.

In the later morning, I’d gone on a major shopping—or rather looting—spree at a baby store.  Thankfully Victoria had come along and instructed me in all the things I was going to need.

A crib.  Clothes.  Blankets.  Diapers.  Bottles.  So many things.

I didn’t mind the chaotic nature of it all.  It was something that gave me focus.  That kept my hands and my mind busy.  I needed something to work towards, and everything that was before me would provide for an occupied mind.

I finished loading the last of our things into the truck.  Creed and I would be fully stocked for at least two weeks before we would have to return for more supplies.

“Are you about ready?” I asked.  I turned to where Lin and Tristan were loading up their own car.  Tristan managed to slam the trunk closed.  The back seat was fully loaded as well.

“I think so,” Lin said.  She pulled a list from her back pocket and ran over it one more time.

“Think carefully,” I said.  “We’re going to be lucky if we get all the way there before the vehicles die on us.  All fuel is pretty corroded by now.  We may even want to look for some horses until Dr. Beeson’s team gets more solar vehicles up and going.”

Tristan laughed and shook his head.  “Back to the day of the horse and buggy, huh?”

This managed to make me smile as well.

Bill stepped into the garage and tossed a bag in the back of his truck.  He looked over at us, his hands braced on the side of it.  “We ready to head out?”

“Let’s go.”

I led the way.  Creed slept in her car seat in the back, wrapped up in a soft, green blanket.  I rolled past towering buildings, past shops, and megastores.  Past abandoned homes and apartment buildings.

Then there was desert and open skies.  We pointed ourselves towards the mountains and the trees that weren’t quite as majestic as I would have liked them to be.

The canyon was comforting as we drove through it.  I could feel something still inside of me.  This felt like the fresh start, today.  The day that I felt like somehow, life was going to move on.  We would not be smothered out.  We would build a future.

And in that future, I would make sure that everyone knew Eve’s name and what she had done for the human race.

I turned off the narrow highway and onto the small winding road.  The trees grew a little thicker and a bit taller.  The sun flashed in and out of view from behind them.  I looked down at the dash, at the temperature reading.  Sixty-one degrees.  It was then that I realized it was the first day of March.

Things like temperature and months and days were going to start mattering again.

I wondered what day of the week this might be.

A Saturday, I decided.  Today seemed like it should be a Saturday.  We’d work hard at moving into our homes today, and tomorrow we would kick back and relax and try to enjoy each other’s company.

The sun gleamed blindingly on the lake up ahead of us.  I held my hand up to block out the light.  I felt the anticipation of coming home.

Home.

The light grew more intense the closer we came to the lake.  We drove past the gas station and the diner and by this point I could hardly see anything, the reflection off the water was so intense.

So I was only twenty feet away when the figure in the middle of the road came into view.  I slammed on my brakes.  Instantly, I could smell rubber burning the pavement.

The figure took a few steps toward the truck.  I could see dirt falling to the ground, but the light behind them was still too bright to make out a face. 

I opened the door and stepped out.

My heart expanded to the size of my body and my emotions exploded.

“Think you could have buried me any deeper?”