Cannibal Reign (30 page)

“I think the worst is behind her. The antibiotics seem to be doing their job.”

“Could she relapse?”

“Of course,” West said. “But she shouldn’t, Jack. That’s all I can tell you.”

To West’s surprise, Forrest gave him a hug then slipped back into the room.

Forty-Five

I
t had taken a couple of days, but after Sullivan improved to the point where he could sit up and coax Marty and Emory out of Launch Control, the two slowly began to adjust to life in the silo. Sullivan had served overseas, and he understood the impact of post-traumatic stress, realizing that his friends needed to socialize themselves. Michael spoke with them briefly, but they hadn’t been in the mood to open up.

Emory took a liking to Veronica and so tagged around with her for a day before venturing about on her own.

Marty borrowed a laptop from Ulrich and downloaded the photos and videos of the crater for everyone in the complex to view. No one could believe the size of the crater, which looked far larger than a city in the panoramic shots, stretching well beyond the horizon. He had done the geometry and estimated the crater at fifty miles across, as wide as Lake Erie, and his tale of their fight with the cannibals living in a missile complex similar to their own had chilled all of the women to the bone.

This morning Emory was having breakfast in the cafeteria at a table with Erin and Tonya.

“When are you due?” Erin asked, hoping to engage the dour-looking soldier in a conversation about something feminine.

“Probably April sometime,” Emory replied. “I’m not sure.”

“It’s kind of exciting knowing there’s a baby on the way.”

“I guess it’s nice somebody’s excited about it. I’d like to abort the little bastard.”

Tonya politely excused herself a moment or two later and moved to another table.

“Doesn’t it get on your nerves living on top of each other down here?” Emory said quietly.

“It took a little getting used to,” Erin said. “But you learn to block things out.”

“Are any of these kids yours?”

“No, Wayne and I . . . well, we never got around to it, and now . . .” She shrugged.

“Want mine?”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you want mine? Like I told you, I don’t want it. I was hoping I’d start to feel something for it but I haven’t, and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to.”

“It’s too soon for you to know how you’re going to feel,” Erin said, deciding quickly she’d better not let her maternal feelings loose.

“No, it’s not. I’ve been watching these mothers down here, trying to picture myself doing what they’re doing. It’s not me. I’m a soldier and sooner or later I’m going to have to fight again.”

“Well, we can talk about it later. There’s plenty of time to—”

“I’m going to talk about it with every woman down here. So if you want it, you might want to speak up pretty quick. Some of these girls seem to
love
being mothers.”

“Okay,” Erin said, casting caution to the wind. “But I want to know the very second you change your mind. The very second, Shannon.”

Emory looked up from her bowl of oatmeal with raisins. “I won’t change my mind. So congratulations, you’re a mom.”

Erin sat looking at her. “Excuse me for a minute?” she said at length.

“Sure.”

Erin went to find her husband, locating him in silo number two where he was taking inventory.

“What’s wrong?” Ulrich asked, never having seen such an odd look in her eyes.

She covered her face with both hands, looking at him over the tips of her fingers.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

“Shannon just gave us her baby,” she blurted, scared to death that he was going be angry with her for not consulting with him. “I’m sorry, honey, but she was going to ask the others and I—”

“Come here,” he said, setting the clipboard aside and putting his arms out for her to walk into them.

“You’re not pissed?”

“No,” he said, stroking her. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m a little overwhelmed, Wayne. I didn’t even give it any thought. I was so afraid she’d give it to one of the others if I waited.”

“Are you sorry you accepted?”

“No, I’m ecstatic, but I’m scared. I even feel guilty, almost like I’m stealing her baby. I don’t know how to explain it. She asked me point-blank, honey. She said she doesn’t feel anything for it and doesn’t want it.”

“Then you’ve done something good. You’ve got nothing to feel bad about.”

Later, Ulrich found Forrest in the cargo bay talking with Danzig and Vasquez about their rat breeding project. “Can we have a minute, gentlemen?”

Danzig and Vasquez were quick to quit the cargo bay, plainly seeing that Ulrich had a very definite something on his mind.

Forrest started to grin.

“Apparently you’ve already heard?”

Forrest shook his head. “But I know that look.”

“Well, thanks to you, asshole, Erin’s adopting a goddamn baby.”

Forrest burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny!”

“The hell it’s not! Serves you right, you prick. You goddamn near killed Melissa.”

“Oh, I knew sooner or later I’d have to hear about that!” Ulrich rejoined.

“Bullshit, Wayne. The only reason I’m saying anything now is because you’re in here giving me shit about Erin wanting Shannon’s baby.”

“My vote on that fucked-up mission was the
right
vote! You got lucky, Jack!”

“You’re goddamn right I did! And because of it she’s alive! You think I’m gonna apologize for that? Fuck you, Stumpy. Erin deserves a baby. You’re the selfish motherfucker who told her no all those years. You think I was itching to have a kid before Daniel was born? Fuck, no. But at least I tried to give Monica what she wanted.”

“Oh, so now I’m a selfish husband.”

“You’re a selfish prick, Wayne! You always have been. It’s why I’m the only friend you’ve got.”

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck you,” Forrest said. “I wouldn’t have you any other way myself, but Erin deserves a little bundle of joy for the time she’s put in.”

“Shit,” Ulrich said, turning away. He walked over and took a long look at the burn marks on the hood of the Humvee. “You two fuckers had the time of your lives out there, didn’t you?”

“Jealous?”

Ulrich turned back around. “A little.”

“Well, now your mission is to make sure Shannon eats right.”

“That girl doesn’t know who she’s gotten herself involved with,” Ulrich said. “Erin’s going to be the bane of her existence for the next six months.”

By that night Melissa was sitting up in bed and drinking chicken broth through a straw. Dr. West had also given in to her pleading and allowed Laddie to lay in bed with her. Forrest came in to sit with her so Michael could take a break.

“Where have you been all day?” she asked him as he sat down on the edge of the bed and started petting his dog.

“Well, I’ve been doing my thing, you know. Checking on everybody and seeing to our new members. Cleaning up dog crap. All the usual stuff.”

She chuckled. “Wayne cleans up all the dog crap.”

“To hear him tell it, yeah.”

“What are you guys doing in the cargo bay?”

“Nothing, why?”

“Whatever,” she said. “You guys always lie to me and think I don’t know.”

“Okay, smarty pants. If I tell you, it stays between us.
Nobody
else
. Not even Veronica. Agreed?”

She nodded, thrilled to be privy to something so secret that not even Veronica knew about it, thinking it had to do with Christmas, which everyone was looking forward to with great anticipation.

“We’re breeding rats.”

“Ew!” she said in disgust.

“You wanted to know.”

“What for?”

“For in case the food runs out before we think of something else.”

“I guess it kinda makes sense,” she said after thinking it over. “Can you get me my papers? They’re in the room under my bedroll.”

“Not until you’re well again. You work yourself too hard and you need sleep.”

“You and Veronica are ganging up on me with Uncle Michael. Can’t I just have one page?”

“Not until you’re well. Doctor’s orders.”

“Then tell me about your trip.”

“Can’t.”

“Oh, God. Why not?”

“Because it was gory and I’m not telling you about gory stuff.”

“Did you have to kick some caveman ass?” she asked with a titter.

“That’s a good way to put it,” he said, smiling.

“Dr. West says you saved my life.”

“Dr. West saved your life. All Kane and I did was make a run to the pharmacy.”

“I knew you’d make a good dad. See? That’s why I picked you.”

“Hey,” he said softly. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t say stuff like that.”

“I didn’t agree to anything.” She yawned and hunkered down into the bedding, turning over onto her side to face the wall. “Dad, will you scratch my back till I fall asleep?”

He covered his eyes with one hand and began gently scratching her back with the other.

“I love you,” she said quietly.

Forrest’s face contorted as the memories of Daniel and Monica came flooding back to him in a vivid wave, and the tears ran down his cheeks from beneath his fingers. “Please,” he whispered. “Stop.”

She turned back over. “Is this why you won’t sit with me?”

He nodded, his eyes still covered by his fingers.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I won’t ever say it again. I promise.”

He opened his eyes, gathered her into his arms and wept openly. “I just miss them.”

“I miss my family too,” she said, beginning to cry too. “Can’t we be a family now?”

“Yes,” he whispered. “Of course.”

When Michael looked in on them an hour later, Forrest was asleep against the wall and Melissa lay nestled in the crook of his arm with Laddie stretched across the foot of the bed. He smiled, turned out the light and closed the door.

Forty-Six

T
hanksgiving came and went without a great deal of excitement, but it was an okay day for everyone, and by that time the three newcomers had begun to assimilate fairly well. Emory and Sullivan even began sharing a shift in Launch Control, and this allowed Forrest and his men to enjoy shorter shifts of their own. Marty enjoyed talking physics with Melissa, who knew a surprising amount about quantum field theory for a person her age, and though Marty was no physicist, he was able to enhance her understanding of fermions and the latest theories at the time of the impact.

Now it was Christmas Eve, and the look on the children’s faces when two different Santas came Ho-ho-hoing into the main room—one black and one white, each wearing a pair of Blues Brothers sunglasses and carrying a red bag over his shoulder—was one of utter astonishment. Most of the children had been worried that Santa Claus was dead, but suddenly here he was, and he had brought a friend with him. A couple of the kids looked suspiciously back and forth at their mothers, wondering if it was a trick, but they only smiled.

Karen squeezed Michael’s hand, whispering, “Look, Terri thinks they’re real.”

Michael grinned, pointing discreetly at Joann’s daughter. “Look at the discernment on Beyonce’s face. She’s not buying it for a second.”

The Santas began to call the children’s names in deep voices, handing out packages wrapped in Christmas paper. The kids tore excitedly into their gifts, delighted to learn after only a few moments that both of the Santas had something for each one of them.

After the children’s names were called, the Santas began to call the mothers’ names one at a time, and each mother had to sit in Santa’s lap before she was given her gift.

Melissa’s name was the last to be called, and she was given a brand new laptop computer that had never even been taken out of the box. Her eyes lit up when she opened the box, and even Ulrich was stunned by what he saw.

“Did you know she was getting that?” he asked, leaning into Michael’s ear.

“No,” Michael said, impressed. “Didn’t you?”

The laptop was no run-of-the-mill civilian model. It was mounted in an army green, titanium, rubberized casing just over two inches thick when closed. There was the subdued image of an apple in the lower left-hand corner of the lid.

“No,” Ulrich said dryly. “That’s a Delta-OSS . . . a military prototype worth a couple of hundred grand. It was designed to interface with any U.S. military satellite system.”

“Where the hell did it come from?”

“Jack must have asked Jerry to send it along with that shipment of MREs. There were only a dozen or so of the damn things ever made.”

“Will it decipher that code Melissa’s been working on?”

Ulrich shook his head. “That kind of software wouldn’t have been standard. Ninety-eight percent of what that thing can do, we haven’t any use for. Not so long as the satellite signals are smothered by the atmosphere. I’m sure Jack’s got the sat receiver down here somewhere.”

“That’s why he’s giving it to her,” Michael said. “For the future.”

After the presents were given out and the kids had coerced the Santas into eating six or seven Christmas cookies apiece and drinking two big glasses of lukewarm reconstituted milk, it was time for the St. Nicks to be off. They Ho-ho-hoed their way into the hall heading for the cargo bay, where presumably they would find their reindeer patiently waiting to fly them back to the North Pole.

The children were put to bed a few hours later, and the adults were treated to a few bottles of wine. They played Christmas music and sat around happily talking in the light of the tree. The married couples cuddled together about the room, and though the single mothers found themselves feeling more than a little envious, everyone very much enjoyed the spirit of the evening, wishing that every day could be Christmas.

They all fell asleep in turn, but six
A.M.
came around quickly and the cooks got themselves up to start preparing Christmas dinner. The children didn’t sleep long beyond that, and soon there were some cranky disagreements over who was and wasn’t allowed to touch someone else’s toys. Those entanglements were cut short, however, by a rare break in protocol when Forrest personally made it clear to the kids that the Santas had not given them their new toys to fight over and that they were expected to share.

After that there was harmony in Toyland.

“You should lay down the law more often,” Taylor said, kidding him in the kitchen.

“Oh, no,” he said, cocking an eyebrow as Lynette shooed Laddie from the kitchen with an apron. “The Grinch only comes out at Christmas.”

Marty sat talking quietly with Emory at the back of the cafeteria. “Did you talk to John about my idea?” he asked.

She ran her finger around the inside of a foil tuna packet, being sure to get every last morsel. “He doesn’t want to go,” she said, licking the finger. “He says he likes taking a hot shower every day.”

“But there’s no future down here, Shannon. They’re postponing the inevitable.”

“Have you seen how much food they’ve got down here? We’re set for another year at least, and in case you haven’t noticed . . . I’m getting fat.”

“I’m not saying we should leave before the baby’s born, I’m—” He looked up as Sullivan stepped into the room.

The soldier stood behind Emory and began to massage her shoulders. This was an unspoken arrangement between them; he massaged her neck and shoulders at least once a day, and she made sure she found the opportunity to help him with his needs a couple of times a week. Emory knew that he had fallen in love with her, but he didn’t gush, and when he did say something romantic it was always during one of their intimate moments under the main stairwell between the blast doors.

To her profound surprise, he bent down and kissed the nape of her neck.

“What was that for?” she said, feeling her face flush.

He shrugged and continued to massage her shoulders as though nothing had happened, winking at Marty. “So you want to split, huh?”

Marty took a Christmas cookie from the plate in the center of the table. “Eventually, I think we should, yeah.”

“For what?”

“To find those geologists at Altus Air Force Base. Keep things moving forward.”

“What things forward to where?” Sullivan said, irritated. “We don’t even know if there’s anybody alive up there, and even if there is, it’s snowing like a bastard now.”

“They’ve got two Army trucks in the cargo bay. We can ask them to give us one.”

Sullivan let that pass, shifting his attention to Emory. With the progression of her pregnancy, he was finding her ever more attractive. Unable to help himself, he kissed the nape of her neck a second time, and she whipped her head around, hissing through a mouthful of cookie, “Quit it!”

He chuckled as he sat down beside her. “No one was looking.”

She glared the way only a woman can. “You’re gonna piss me off.”

He rolled his eyes and took a cookie for himself. “I can’t help it. It’s Christmas . . . and you’re gorgeous.”

She looked at Marty. “Will you please remind him that I’m gay? He seems to have forgotten.”

Marty grinned. “It
is
Christmas. ”

“So fucking what? That’s doesn’t mean I’m—” Ulrich walked up and she stopped talking.

“See you a minute, Marty? I’ve got another question about those crater photos.”

“Sure.” Marty got up and followed him into the other room.

Emory made sure no one was paying attention to them, then said to Sullivan, “What’s with you lately? You’re getting all . . . sappy.”

“I’m in love with you.”

She gaped at him, unable to believe he had actually said the words.

“Or didn’t you know that?”

She took another bite of cookie and turned around. “John, you’re gonna ruin this.”

“I don’t want to ruin anything,” he said. “I just want you to know how I feel . . . that’s all.”

She looked at him. “Then tell me so we can get it behind us.”

“I love you and I want you to keep the baby so we can raise it together.”

Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away again. “You know that’s impossible.”

“Yes, I do,” he said quietly, touching her hair with affection. “But I wanted you to know my mind.”

She put her hand on his leg, said, “Thank you,” then got up and left the room.