Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (58 page)

Alex wondered if Jessica suspected what he was
not saying. That being around Samantha might not be the best medicine for Abby.
Someone would need to talk to Sam. Or, maybe not. Maybe Sam already knew. Alex
determined right then that she would talk to Sam herself. That little girl
needed all the support she could get.

Power Station, Table Rock Lake Dam

Andy stood outside on top of the dam and stared
at the clouds. Definitely more rain this evening. The radar report on his
computer showed the outlines of the huge storm parked over the central portion
of the U.S. with the edges just brushing the Cape Fair area. Andy didn't know
what they would do once the internet and communications crashed across the
country. He was hopeful that the program he'd just installed would help him to
connect to the satellite, but who knew how much about the satellites was
controlled by the government...and what would happen when the government broke
down, as surely it would. He might end up doing weather forecasts for the
community by staring at the clouds and a barometer. The animals seemed aware of
what was coming in terms of weather. Andy wasn't sure if that was an innate
ability, or if they were somehow connected to the earth in a way that let them
know about the weather. He'd have to talk to Waldo about it.

"So, are you just gonna stand around here, or
did you come to help out?" he heard Sergeant Wachowski saying as the big man
walked up to him.

"As long as the water is flowing, I guess I can
be part of your electrical team," Andy replied. "Nathan and I figure we can
help out with other things and only spend time on the water situation when
there's a problem. He's going to keep a regular check on things at the pumping
station, but I'm pretty much ready to sign on with you."

"We could use you, and that's a fact. Mostly I'd
just have you watching some dials and gauges. Then if there's a problem, you'd
call me." Wachowski shifted his cigar to the other side of his mouth. "But I
wanna know right now if you and Lisanne can work together or not."

"Lisanne?" Andy asked, startled.

"It's plain as the nose on your face how you
feel about her. Do I need to put you two on separate shifts, or can you behave
yourself?" Wachowski said, looking at him shrewdly.

Andy blushed a deep red. Stammering, he replied,
"Uh...uh, we're not...that is, we haven't...I mean, we probably will...oh,
dadgummit!"

Sergeant Wachowski laughed loudly. "You got it
bad, boy. Okay, I figure you two will work things out between you and it's not
my business. But I don't want any shenanigans going on while you are on duty."

"Yes, sir!" Andy said, grinning.

"And you bring that dog of yours with you
because Lisanne says that dang cat of hers doesn't like the sound of the
turbines. That way, if anything happens and your cell phones don't work, you
can send the dog to get me."

"Do you expect any problems?"

"Not yet, but Black came up today and said he
doesn't have the people to patrol here on a regular basis. So they're relying
on some birds and animals, and that little girl, to tell them when trouble is
coming. The last thing we need is some idiot to try and wreck this place."

Andy nodded thoughtfully. There were always crazies
out there. And certainly if people got into a back-to-nature kind of
fanaticism, they might want to get rid of technology. The power plant could be
an attractive target to those types.

"Be thankful you don't have a nuclear power
plant here, Sarge." Andy pointed out to the forest that started near the banks
of the lake. "Plus, we're somewhat hidden here, and that may protect us."

"Can you shoot? Carry a gun?"

"No," Andy replied with a shudder. "I'm not very
good around guns."

"Well, that Lisanne of yours is gonna be
carrying a pistol with her on duty, so you'll have some protection." Wachowski
grinned widely. "That one's a fireball, for sure! But she's damned smart, more
than you'd think, looking at her black hair sticking out everywhere and those
crazy clothes she wears."

"The day Lisanne stops wearing purple and black
clothing is the day we all have to worry," Andy said. "That's the day the world
really is coming to an end!"

The Farm

Nathan turned the water off in the kitchen sink.
"All set, Gracie. No more water problem," he assured her with a satisfied tone
of voice. "We were very lucky we only had the one break to deal with. Otherwise
Andy and I might have had a serious problem fixing it."

"You guys did great," Gracie replied. "Did you
see your mother? She was out in the garden."

"Yes, I did," Nathan answered, his smile fading.
"Talked to the doctor and Jess too. They don't think I should move in here,
even though I wanted to be near her. They say she's not used to seeing much of
me, what with me being in school and then in Africa. They think it might be
disturbing for her to see me around all the time--make her think things are
stranger than they are. So I'll just be stopping by for visits."

"Try not to worry too much. We'll keep an eye on
her and take good care of her."

"Thanks, I know she'll do okay here. She loves
to cook. Let her help out with the meals and I'm sure that will help ground
her."

"That's what we plan to do. So, what are you
going to do now that you have the water fixed?"

Nathan laughed. "Are you looking for potential
farmers, Gracie?"

"Well, yes!"

"I'll be more than happy to help you out when I
can, but John has asked me to help with clearing out the grocery stores first.
Seems he forgot about the refrigeration going out, so we have some food
spoiling. Some of it, some of the produce is okay, although I think we're going
to have a few meals of grilled veggies over the next several days. But some of
it has got to be thrown out, and the canned goods need to be stored. Black
doesn't want to have to patrol every little grocery store in town."

"Where will they put all of it? Do they need
some room in one of the barns?" Gracie asked, thinking that almost all her
space was used up now by horses and guns, let alone farm equipment.

"No, there's a basement at the library. From
what Alex has figured out, they planned to move their children's section down
there, but hadn't gotten to it. So we'll use that area. It's pretty big. And the
bookshelves will work nicely as grocery shelves." Nathan paused and then looked
directly at Gracie. "So, what's the story with Rachel? How'd she end up being
good with guns?"

Gracie's eyes widened a bit at the question,
understanding now why Nathan seemed content to hang around the kitchen with her
when he had a job to do. "That's right, you never got to know Rachel before
now, did you? I remember seeing you at John and Jessica's wedding, but then you
were always off somewhere, at college, or later in Africa."

He nodded, "Yes, that's right. But what about
this thing she has for guns? When I saw Black today he was all excited about
how good a shot she is. What's the deal?"

Gracie explained, "While they were growing up,
John and Rachel's father favored John in everything. He took John out hunting,
camping, but never took Rachel with them. He didn't see how much she wanted to
go." She sighed, thinking about it. "He wasn't a bad father, but he was so
distant from Rachel. And she felt rejected by him. We had a neighbor who had a
girl Rachel's age and he used to take them both out camping. I'll bet that's
when she first learned to shoot. Of course, eventually, we moved to the city
and I never knew she was going to shooting ranges later on when she grew up.
But I can see why she would have done it. She was always trying to prove to her
father she was just as good as John at things. Then her father died suddenly of
a heart attack a few years ago and I think it hit her hard. She never did get
the approval she'd been looking for from him."

"Well, that explains it. It just seemed odd to
me that a New Yorker like Rachel, an ad exec of all things, would end up in the
new Gaian Army," Nathan said, grinning.

Gracie smiled back at him and said, "Living in
New York City could well be the best preparation! Rachel is tough--tougher than
she looks anyway, and now that I'm over the shock of it, I think she'll do
great."

Gracie stood up and pointed to a flat of pepper
plants. "Since you're here...and have time to ask about Rachel...I think you have
an hour or so to help me plant peppers."

Nathan sighed and laughed. "Lead on, oh, Queen
of the Farm. Just consider me your hired hand for the rest of the day."

They streamed down off the mountain, a few at
first, and then in larger clumps, heading north to Canada, and some to the east--but
none to the south or west. They knew better. Black bears lumbered along next to
scampering squirrels and raccoons. Cougars ignored, for the moment, the grouse
they would normally chase for food. Gray Jays, Mountain Chickadees, and even
the rarely seen Black-headed Grosbeak, filled the sky above. Field mice
scurried to avoid being trampled by herds of deer, while shrews, coyotes and the
elusive red fox made their way off the slopes. One amazed camper, hearing noise
from inside his tent, looked out to see a mass of wildlife trampling through
his camp site. So the news reports were right, he thought. There's going to be
an eruption. But didn't they say Mount Rainier on TV? Why were all the animals
leaving Mount Baker?

The Samuels' House

John woke to the sound of Samantha's screams. He
leaped out of bed and ran down the hall to her room, colliding with Black at
the doorway.

"
No!
No, no, no, please no," Sam
screamed. Her eyes were shut tight and her little face was as pale as the white
cotton blanket on her bed. John flicked on the light and went to her side,
grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.

"Wake up! Wake up, Sam, come on, wake up!" he
commanded.

She shuddered and opened her eyes. "Oh, Daddy!"
she wailed. "It's gonna be so--so--" She burst into tears.

John sat on her bed and gathered his sobbing
daughter into his lap, hugging her and talking to her quietly. "It'll be okay,
honey, it'll be okay. Shhh...."

Black stood in the doorway as Jessica pushed
past him into the room.

"A dream," she asked, walking to the bed and
kneeling down in front of her husband and Sam.

John nodded. "Think so, she was asleep."

"Did you have it? The dream?" she asked John.

He shook his head. "Not that I remember. But
when I fell asleep tonight, my head was so full of lists and plans that I may
not have been open to it."

Jessica turned to Black. "What about you?"

"Just vague images, not really anything that I
could describe. More a feeling, a sense of horror," Black responded, speaking
slowly. "Yeah, that's it, a feeling of shock and of horror. Then I heard Sam's
screams and I woke up."

"Come on," John said, standing up and handing
Sam over to her mother. "Let's go check on Rachel and Max." Black nodded and
they headed down the hall to the stairs.

"Sam? Sam, honey, can you hear me?" Jessica
asked, smoothing the damp hair back from the shaking little girl's forehead. "Mommy's
here, I've got you. You're safe now."

"Ohhhh, Mommy, I don't wanna dream no more."

"Oh, Samantha, sweetie," Jessica whispered,
hugging her. "I wish I could make it stop, make it all go away. But I don't
know how!"

Jessica thought she'd never felt so helpless in
all her life. Wiping tears from Sam's face, she felt angry too. Angry at
whatever was doing this to her child.

"Honey, do you think you'd like a drink? We
could go downstairs and turn on all the lights and maybe that way you could
start to forget."

Sam shook her head. Standing up on her own, she
sighed deeply. "No, Mommy. I gotta tell you and Daddy what I saw in the dream.
I can't forget about it." She looked at her mother's concerned face and smiled
briefly. A very small smile. "But maybe I could have some milk and cookies."

Jessica's eyes had tears in them as she took
hold of Sam's hand and walked with her out of the room.

"Of course, you can have milk and cookies. See
how smart we were to make cookies earlier--and not eat them all up? Now we can
pig out on snickerdoodles and milk and--" She stopped abruptly and leaned down
to hug Sam fiercely, saying, "I am so sorry, Sam, so sorry this is happening. I
really would stop it if I could."

"I know, Mommy," Sam said, patting her mother on
her back. "I know."

*****

Black and John walked to the other end of the
house, toward the left side where two guest bedrooms had been set up for Rachel
and Max. As they neared Max's door they could hear whimpering from the Irish
Setter pup, Ruby. Black opened the door and motioned John on down the short
hall to Rachel's room.

"I'll take care of Max. You go see about Rachel,"
Black said.

"Right."

John opened the door to Rachel's room just as
she sat up in bed. He stopped short when he saw she had a gun in her hand. A
really big gun.

"Who's there?" she barked.

"John. Your brother. Who doesn't want to get
shot by that thing."

"Oh. John," Rachel said, lowering the gun. "You
shouldn't burst in here like that. I thought we were being attacked or
something."

"Attacked?"

"Weird dream," Rachel replied. "What's up?" She
threw back the covers and yanked on a pair of jeans over the boxer-style pajama
bottoms she was wearing. Grabbing a sweat shirt to wear over her tank top, she
headed out the door. "So? Why did you come down here? What's wrong?"

"You had a weird dream, Rachel?" John asked
intently.

"Yeah, I've been having a bunch of whacko dreams
the past few weeks."

"Rachel! You've been having dreams? And you didn't
tell any of us?"