Page 12 of His to Take

Ann noticed that there was a building just ahead, as she pulled her thoughts back to the present. She needed to be vigilant, she reminded herself, and not moon over some stupid boy. Man. Whatever he was.

Sometimes it was hard to remember they weren’t the teenagers that had gone down to that bunker. They were adults now, and her dreams reminded her of that in ways she didn’t really want to think about right now. She stuck her thumbs into the straps of her backpack and glared out ahead. Was that building an old general store or a paint shop? She wasn’t sure and slowed to look through the windowless frame.

She heard a sudden noise from her father, and he rushed back to them, hunched down. Fear pulsed through Ann’s body, and she quickly followed behind her family.

“What did you see?” Mary hissed as the Wolfsons quietly sat down beside her.

“I don’t know.” John shook his head, his face creased with confusion. “I think they were soldiers, but not like any soldiers I’ve ever seen before.”

They all sat there, as still as they could be, as the sounds of footsteps at the front of the building passed them by. Ann was on the edge of the building and turned her head just enough to get a look at the men.

They were all dressed in some kind of blue armor, even their heads were covered in the stuff. Dark shields of glass covered their eyes, and masks over their mouths must have filtered the air or something. For all she knew, it was to make the soldiers look even more badass than they already did, and the masks didn’t have a function at all.

She didn’t see any weapons but noticed odd bumps on their wrists. She’d seen enough sci-fi movies to know those could be some kind of photon weapon. Or something like that, anyway. But would anyone on the planet have that technology?

Five years after the cataclysm wasn’t enough time to develop armor and weapons like that, was it? She pulled back as the men went back down the street and stared over at her family. They’d hoped to stay the night here, to maybe make camp for a while, but those men looked dangerous.

She wasn’t sure why her father had ducked away when he’d seen them, but she had to guess it was the same instinct that told her those very tall, very powerful-looking men were dangerous.

“We can’t trust anyone, not until we know what’s going on,” her father whispered to the group, and they all nodded their heads. “I’ll have a look, see if they’re gone.”

Ann tried not to stop him. She knew he had to look, but she didn’t want him to. Fear made her a coward, and she hated it, but survival had always been the name of the game, right? Being a coward right now meant living another day, even if those men could save them and take them to a city that was still alive and well. Until they knew for sure who the soldiers were, and what had happened in the rest of the world, it was best to just avoid them.

“Let’s go in the door here, get off the street,” her father said when he came back, and both families followed him inside.

The building was an old, rectangular building made of brick with a painted advertisement for Coke on the side that was probably as old as the drink was. The family made their way up to the second floor where Stephan found an office, and the family hunkered down in there. A lack of windows and a door that locked made them all feel safe, even if that safety might only be an illusion.

“What do you think?” Stephan asked as he removed his pack and sank down to the floor.

“Some kind of super-soldiers,” Rex said. He’d always been an avid video game fan, and she knew he’d liked war games the best. “I’ve never seen armor like that.”

“I didn’t see any weapons,” her father said, his voice confused.

“I saw some odd shapes on their wrists. I’d bet those are some kind of weapon.”

“Nobody in the world has the technology for that. Especially not now, when resources would be so scarce,” Amanda butted in and Ann sank back against the wall she’d slid down. Time to let the ‘grown-ups’ discuss and fade into the background then.

“No, I think Ann’s right. I saw those bumps too,” John cut in, a note of admonition in his voice. Amanda didn’t have any right to talk to his daughter in such a condescending tone, his voice said.

“Well, maybe they were beacons or locators of some kind. I think we should talk to them instead of hiding in here like scared little rabbits. I’m not sure where those soldiers came from, I can’t believe any society has been able to maintain any level of technological development since the event, but maybe they have. And I want to go there.”

Ann had started to notice that everyone started to change since they’d left the bunker. Rex was an even bigger jerk than normal, and then he kissed her. Her father had taken on the leadership mantle he’d cast off for so long. Stephan became more verbal, more assertive when the sunlight hit his face, as if he had a new purpose in life. And her mother? Well, her mother just seemed unsettled, unable to relax, and she kept checking on Ann, as if afraid she’d lose her.

Even now, her mother’s hand reached out to clasp hers and she glanced at Ann. Ann smiled and squeezed her mother’s hand to let her know she was alright. Mary gave a slight nod and turned back to let her head rest against the wall.

“This is great, we’re stuck in a damn office, wondering if we’re about to die, when we should be out there taking whatever’s left. It’s our right.” Rex snarled the words quietly, but everyone in the room heard him.

“It looks to me as if the soldiers have done all the claiming there is to be done, son,” Stephan said, a new tone in his voice. Ann thought it might be authority. “You’re just fine sitting right there. Don’t go getting any stupid ideas.”

“Fine. But I want it noted I voted to go back outside.” Rex scowled and crossed his arms over his powerful chest.

It reminded Ann that his chest wasn’t nearly as large as the man in her dreams. His was powerful, broad, and like a wall of strength. Rex was more like a little boy that wanted to emulate his dad compared to that man. She blinked quickly to dispel the memory and reached for her pack. Food would distract her.

Well, the making of it would, the stuff tasted like what it was, dried out meat and vegetables long past their first spring burst of tastiness. Eating had stopped being a pleasure when they went to the bunker and became nothing more than a function. Even the powdered drink mixes, full of vitamins and nutrients, offered little in the way of flavor now. Sometimes she’d catch the faint taste of grape or orange from the drink mixes, but not often anymore.

Rex shifted to sit beside her, and she leaned into him, despite her new reservations. He was real, solid, unlike her dream man. He leaned down and pecked her on the top of her head, and she felt a warm sensation flow down to her stomach. She wrapped her arms around him and thought that the only thing she really wanted to do was go back to the bunker.

It was safe there. They could take up their own wing, start a family, live as husband and wife, even if there wasn’t anyone around to marry them now. She’d wanted to be his wife for so long and now, with those scary men out front, she was afraid she might not get that chance. What if the soldiers killed them all? She hid her quiet tears from him and swiped at them with her fist. She just wanted to go home, but she knew there was no going back now. Not yet, anyway.