Revolution (52 page)

             
Even though we hadn't made it to them last night, they'd fought and stood strong. And when the Lighters had been defeated they knew the war was over. Now in the morning light of glorious victory,
even though we still weren't together as one body,
we all celebrated together as one human race.

             
The war was over.

             
A new life was beginning.

             
A life without Lighters or Keepers or Markers or Takers. A life of humans who were hell bent on rebuilding a world worth living in.

             
The rebellion may have been over, but the revolution was ongoing.

             
This was our world,
our town
, and we refused to give up.

Happily Ever After

Lily

             
I giggled as I watched Mommy cwy. It always made me sad to see her cwy, but this time, she was laughing and cwying at the same time. Daddy kept kissing her neck. He was
her prince charming. Well, that's what Aunt Rissa had said.

             
Aunt Rissa was going to be a good mommy. She was a good teacher. And Uncle Jeff was
a good Daddy. He was
her
prince charming, too.

             
Calvin and Frankwin, those meany pants, were not prince charmings.

             
But I was glad the bad man was gone now. I wasn't scarwed. Mrs. Trudy said not to
be
. She said everything was going to be ok. And n
ow we could go outside and play!
Maybe Daddy could build me a swing, and tell Calvin he's not allowed to play on it 'cause he's too big!

             
Maybe Daddy would build
a doll house. A big one. We might need a big one one day, because Mommy didn'
t know it, but there was a surpw
ise in her belly. It was a girl and Mrs. Trudy said to tell Mommy to name her Hope.

             
Because all the world needed
right now…
wa
s a little Hope.  

Epilogue

One Week Later

Sherry

             
So, the little surprise that Chesser had been talking about was staring back at us as we all stood in the middle of town. It was beautiful. We'd packed all of our things, which wasn't much, and followed Chesser in our little convoy across town.

             
And
t
here we were.

             
It was an apartment complex that had been abandoned. It was right near the radio station and where the Enforcement facility used to be, so people had scrammed and moved on to somewhere not so close.

             
He said he'd scoped it out a long time ago, checked all the rooms
,
and that it was as empty as it could be. But the glorious thing was that when people fled, they left most of their furniture and 'stuff'. So we weren't sitting on the floor anymore, or sleeping on concrete anymore, or eating off our laps. And the very, very best part? We got to be separated, but still be technically together.

             
There were only about twenty apartments, but that was plenty for us. We'd divide it up by families and it would be perfect.

             
We walked into the first one we saw. It didn't matter what it looked like. It was a place to live and be alone. They were all two bedrooms so we had our room and Lily had hers.

             
I didn't even remember what privacy was like, but when I walked to the back and saw the washer and dryer, I almost cried right there. I heard Merrick call me into the kitchen. "Don't faint," he said.

             
"What? Why?"

             
He took my arm and pulled me around to see a dishwasher. I squealed like a little girl and jumped up and down and into his arms as he laughed. Lily hugged our legs and we lifted her up to squeeze between us.

             
Later as we sat on our couch -
our couch
- we thought about what we could do to start turning the town back around. Money was a thing of the past. No one had it and no one knew much about what was going on outside of the state except that all the Lighters were gone. We figured there was no point in waiting for the government to come and fix things.

             
There
was
no government.

             
So all of us met in the conference room and talked about it until we decided to invite the town, what was left of it, to speak with everybody all at once and come up with a trade system. We needed to start planting
crops
again and getting the stores back in order. We needed
have limits and rules and regulations that everybody agreed to and we needed to start living them.

             
It was exciting to think about a new society.

             
That night after we put Lily to bed in her new room, we lay in our own bed and looked at the ceiling. The sheets I had washed were soft and smelled heavenly. Merrick and I had taken a shower for a long time, like we couldn't get clean enough. Then without putting on clothes, he'd carried me to bed.

             
Lily had told me some news this morning while Jeff and Merrick were talking to the Enforcers in our group about setting up some kind of security, just in case. I was dusting and going through the books left in the apartment and she'd let the secret fall sweetly from her lips.

             
Now
, I was about to let it fall fro
m mine and I had barely been able to keep
in
my excitement
in
all day.

             
I twisted my necklace, rubbing the hearts that were made for me, and sighed.

             
"What's wrong, babe?" Merrick asked, so predictably.

             
"Nothing. I was just thinking
that this apartment is awfully small."

             
He frowned. "I thought you loved it."

             
"I do. It's just small."

             
"Well," he said slowly, "beggars can't be choosers, sweetheart."

             
I giggled. "I guess not. But the baby is going to be awfully cranky-"

             
"What…did you just say?"

             
I sat up and straddled his lap. "I said…" I smiled and cried for about the millionth time in the past week
and whispered,
"The baby will be cranky."

             
His mouth opened and he stared. "You… Really?"

             
"Really. Lily told me, and I don't think it's a good idea to doubt her when she says something. Plus," I shrugged, "a woman knows her body."

             
"Are you saying…" his eyes filled
and the joy was all over him, "w
e're going to have a baby?"

             
"That's what I'm saying, Keeper. Not only did you save me more times than I can count, and come for me, and love me, you gave me the one thing I thought I'd never have."

             
"But…how?"

             
"Do I need to give you an anatomy lesson, baby?" I licked his earlobe and kissed his chin. "I think you know how."

             
He rolled so quickly, it reminded me of the Keeper speed he no longer possessed. He grinned down at me. "Really?"

             
I smiled and burst. It hurt to have so much joy in my gut. He lay down on me and absorbed my sobs as he stroked and kissed me. It took a while before I realized that he was
crying, too.

             
We held onto each other and dreamed about things of the future. Soon he was tucking me under him in more intimate ways and I
arched, and sighed and gave
into him.

             
This was what I had to look forward to for the rest of my life.

             
And I was one happily content girl.

             
"How's the sign coming along?" I asked.

             
Merrick and Miguel grinned down at me. Miguel nodded. "It's bloody perfect! Everyone will see this thing from a mile away."

             
"They better," Billings groaned as he held it up from the bottom. "Are you done yet?"
No one answered him and he growled and yelled, "Hey!" at Bones who nipped at his pant
s
leg
s
.