“You feel like you got yourself into something you have no idea how to handle, or how it will work out?”
“Pretty much,” I say with a nod.
“Every day I was deployed—that is how I felt, I didn’t know what my purpose was. I didn’t even know why I was there half the time. I knew I made a mistake in joining up—but I stuck in there. That’s what you do; you stick in there until it makes sense.”
“Did it eventually make sense to you?”
“Fuck no,” the man says with another hearty laugh. “But I survived, I was a mess when I got back—but… A lot of friends man… they didn’t get to come back. So was there a point? I don’t know… I feel like I would have been better off dead then live to see days like this.”
“That’s just about my plan these days… to survive, keep her safe…”
“I’m his caretaker…” Claire whispers. She has been silent the whole time.
“Well, she keeps me safe. Probably more than I have kept her safe.”
“You are definitely welcome to stay,” the man says as he rocks back and forth in his chair. “There is a shower on the loft up there—you guys can have the bed. I’ll take the couch down here.”
“Thank you,” I say as I begin to head up the stairs. “Do you need anything? We have some stuff—I don’t know if any of it will be helpful.”
“You have any meds?” He asks. “I get terrible headaches.”
“I dig into my backpack and toss the man a bottle of Ibuprofen. “I got an extra bottle you can keep that one.”
“Thank you, both of you—I’m glad you came around… sorry if I scared you.”
“These are scary times…”
“Scary times,” Claire repeats as she follows me up the staircase.
I toss the backpack onto the bed and follow her into the shower. We undress each other and toss our dirty clothes onto the floor. We spend a long time in the warmth. She begins to kiss me as the warm water falls against our naked skin—I want her so badly, however, the situation isn’t exactly ideal. Especially when the warm water runs out and turns cold…
“I really wanted you,” I whisper as I unpack some fresh clothes from the bag.
“I know,” Claire says as she laughs. “I could tell.”
As we finish dressing we leave the bathroom. I look down from the loft and see Robert sitting in his rocking chair. He is holding a small television set and is listening intently.
“Any good news…?” I ask.
“Might be a good idea to only stay one night,” Robert says as he gestures for me to come down. I descend the staircase and stand beside him looking into the small monitor. I see the same woman from earlier, she is reporting from the ruins of the White House.”
“Who are these people?”
“Just normal people who have picked up cameras and decided to be reporters I guess,” Robert says as he shrugs his shoulders. “People have to know what’s going on. I don’t think I could do it.”
“What’s going on?”
“The President is warning that action will be taken tomorrow at noon on major cities if the riots do not end by morning…”
“That’s just… empty threats though right?”
“Never know… we don’t know what his mental state is—the people in charge, they could all be going nuts, I mean the government is basically declaring war on its own people. It might not have much of a military left after the fight with the Aggros, but they still have jets—bombs… I don’t think they’d ever bomb one of our own cities… but then again I don’t know much these days.”
“We’ll head west in the morning,” I say as I nod. I walk out to the car and grab a few meals for me and Claire. I grab an extra bagged meal for Robert—he seems to rather enjoy them, perhaps a little too much.
As I walk in I toss the meal to Robert who smiles happily as he tears into the bag. “Do you mind if I use the stove.”
“It ain’t even mine,” Robert says with a laugh.
“I warm up two giant bowls of soup and head upstairs and hand one to Claire. We eat in silence. I am still trying to figure things out in my head. There is so much going on—I still can’t quite get a grasp of things. I am so terrible at this.
As it gets later Robert turns off the downstairs light.
“No fucking up there now!” He shouts as he crawls into the couch, laughing hysterically.
“Goodnight Robert,” Claire shouts down.
“Goodnight, both of you…” Robert quietly answers back.
We wrap the warm covers around us as we cuddle close together.
“You looked troubled at dinner…”
“I don’t know what to do with the information Noah gave me,” I admit. Although I’m sure she already well knows at this point.
“Well…” Claire says watch her close her eyes and attempt to concentrate.
“Don’t strain yourself…” I say as I place my hand and run it gently through her hair and rest it upon her shoulder. “It even gives me a headache.”
“Why did you… trust Noah in the first place?” Claire finally asks. “Why didn’t… didn’t you just—think that he was not right?”
“I guess, a lot of the stuff he was saying was making sense—a lot of it came true.”
“But… at the time… time… I was in the hall so I don’t… you didn’t have to believe him, none of this had happened yet?”
“He said something that really hit home… he said that he got me into the C-Shapes program, and that he knew that I had lied on my application. That I was never going to get in because even C-Shapes knew that I had lied.”
“What did you lie about?”
“I told them I never had any mental issues in the past.”
“And… and you did?”
“Yeah,” I whisper as I remember that terrible time. “I told you about how I wrecked my parents’ car—well put it in a lake.”
“I almost lost you then,” Claire whispers as she squeezes me tightly. “Even if we didn’t know each other I’d be sad? I guess I wouldn’t know any better… but… I remember the story.”
“Well when I got back, my parents were sitting at the kitchen table. Just… doing nothing at all, they had both gone Catatonic. The spent years like that, just sitting in one place and doing absolutely nothing at all. I took care of them, cleaned them up—fed them. Finally the Sitter program came around and I got help. I stayed in the house, always waiting for them to just snap out of it one day. I heard rumors that it was permanent—that there was violence going on, and that terrible things were happening all over the world, my mind just shut it all out. I was just waiting… I’ve spent my whole life waiting, I guess you could say. Anyway, when giving my parents their dose one day, the Sitter notices a change. My parents both get up and start throwing furniture—they become so… different that they don’t even look like my parents, but some kind of monsters.”
“They got really angry and couldn’t calm down.”
“Yeah,” I say as I continue. “They both went at the same time. I remember having to run and dodge things flying all around me—chairs, dishes… anything they can get a hold of. Hunters arrive after what seems like forever… The Sitter has pulled me out of the house and into the yard. My parents, finished basically destroying the inside of the house, come charging out. I try and run to them… I don’t want to lose them. One of the hunters grabs my by the back of my shirt. I watch as both of my parents are gunned down. There is so much blood.
“I’m so sorry, Ethan,” Claire whispers as she wipes away a tear from my eye and softly kisses my cheek.
“I move to the city and start working… I don’t do well. I’m always sick—I always feel like I’m going to die.”