Storiesonline.net ------- The Letter by carioca Copyright© 2011 by carioca ------- Description: Eight year old Vanessa writes a letter to Santa. Not a 'Zombie Christmas Story', but a Christmas story with zombies. Codes: rom PostApoc horror tears zom Mil ------- ------- Chapter 1 "Matt, what do you want Santa to bring you?" Matt ignored Vanessa's question and fed more twisted strips of paper into the stove he'd made from a couple of number ten cans they'd found in one of the stores. His thirteenth birthday had come and gone, right here in a strip mall surrounded by walking dead people who wanted to eat him. He didn't have any illusions left. Unless they were very, very, lucky they'd all be dead before another month went by. They only had enough food left for three or four weeks, and once they were down to only the food they could carry, they'd have to make a break for it. He was pretty sure they could get away from the stores, and even little Ryan could outrun the monsters, but they didn't have anywhere to go. That was why he hadn't told the others yet, he had to have a plan first, some hope to offer them before he said anything. Valerie already knew. She had to know, because she'd helped him inventory everything only a few days ago. She was twelve. He remembered her birthday in the evacuation center outside of St. Louis. His mom and dad were both still alive then, and so was the girls' mom. His little brother Mark had died in the back of an army truck on the way there. He'd changed into one of those things before they got to Bloomington, and they'd had to throw him out the back, without even a chance to bury him. The girls' story was a lot the same. Their dad had never come home from work, but he'd sent a text message saying he'd been bitten, that was before anyone had realized what being bitten meant. Valerie's birthday party had been one of the few bright moments in the center. Somehow his mom and hers had gotten together and managed to arrange a little cake, and they'd sung to her and played a few games. Singing happy birthday was the first time Ryan had said anything since they'd picked him up on the way through what was left of Springfield. Bobby had come in later, with one of the last groups to arrive. Like Ryan he didn't have a family anymore, but unlike him, he was willing to talk about them. Matt shut the door of the stove, and took the lid off the pot. Most of the snow had melted, so he added enough to nearly fill the aluminum camp pot and put the lid back on. A small hand grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "Matt ... What are you going to ask Santa for?" He turned around, still crouching, letting the warmth from the stove warm his back. They'd covered one of the aisles over with plastic duct taped to the top shelves to make a sort of tent. The middle shelves made part of the barricade up at the front of the dollar store. The bottom shelves and the sides were covered with more plastic for insulation. The stove and candles kept it warmer than the rest of the store, and lots warmer than the subzero temperatures outside, but he was still cold despite the layers of clothes he wore. He looked at the eight year old kneeling beside him. She held a notepad in one sock covered hand and a pen in the other. "What are you talking about Nessa?" "I'm writing a Letter to Santa so he knows what we want for Christmas." She held up the pad of paper for him to look at, turning it around with difficulty. Socks made clumsy mittens. They'd found plenty of socks here in the store, but no gloves. The dead had started walking in the spring, so the only warm clothes they'd found were as pile of sweatshirts that had been on clearance. The one Vanessa wore came down past her knees. "See, I told him where we are and I'm gonna write down what we want here." She really thought Santa would still come. "Nessa, don't you know that..." He broke off when Valerie waved franticly at him. She saw she had his attention, then shook her head and mimed writing with one hand. She waited until he nodded to her, before picking up the book she had been reading by the light of the two candles on the shelf behind her and burrowing further under the blankets they'd made out of t-shits. Looking back at the eight year old, he started again. "Nessa, if you write a letter, how is he going to get it?" She smiled proudly. "I got it all figured out. We still have balloons in the party store, right? We can put the letter in a plastic bag and tie it to the balloons. The wind blows it to Santa and then he'll know where we are." She looked at him hopefully. "That will work right? I know no-one came when we sent the other balloons, but this will be for Santa, He'll have to come." When Matt hesitated, she went on. "I mean he's just gotta, nobody else will, and we aren't asking to be taken away, just something for Christmas. He has to come doesn't he? We've been good all year, he has to ... he just..." Tears formed in her eyes and when she blinked, they ran down her cheeks. Matt reached out and brushed them away. "Okay, we'll send it." He turned back around so she wouldn't see the tears in his own eyes, and fed the fire some more to cover himself until he could speak. "How about if you start with Ryan, go youngest to oldest. By the time you have everything written down, I'll have breakfast ready." "Okay." She sniffed once more then went over to the two younger boys. Matt stirred in some more snow, then stood up and pulled a plastic bag of rice off the top shelf. Weighing it in his hand, he stared at it a long time before reaching farther back and pulling a tiny box of raisins from a white shopping bag, then a nearly empty bag of sugar. If they were going to leave, they'd need to be able to run. Christmas was less than two weeks away. If they planned just right, they could eat up everything in two weeks instead of three or four. It would be nice not to be so hungry all the time, and they could build up some strength for when they needed it. He kept the sugar and raisins out of sight while he worked. They would be a nice surprise for the others. ------- Chapter 2 Valarie tried to concentrate on her book, but it was just too cold. Her fingers hurt, her toes hurt, and she couldn't stop shivering. Finally, she put the book down and pulled herself into a ball under the blankets. Eventually she warmed up enough that the shivering stopped. She lay there, listening to the kids talk. "I wanna han'gaber." "For Christmas?" Bobby sounded surprised. Valarie wasn't, not really. Ryan had asked for one constantly at the center, and even after didn't quite seem to understand that all the burger places they passed were closed for good. "Yeah, a han'gaber and French fries." He repeated, "I want that." "Oh, I like that," Vanessa cut in, "I'm changing mine, I want some milk, an' not the powder stuff they gave us at the center. If we ask for stuff like that, he'll give us enough to share, right? Write it down for him, Bobby." They chattered on for a while, and their voices faded to a distant murmur as she drifted off to sleep. Valarie woke to her little sister shaking her. "Val, wake up, it's time to eat." She crept out of the blankets and moved over to the stove. Matt had built up the fire, so it wasn't as cold as before, but it still wasn't warm. The bowl Matt handed her felt good in her hands. Warmed up by the hot food inside, it smelled better than anything they'd eaten in a while. Valarie tried to eat it slowly, so she could enjoy the unexpected, but even though it was fuller than normal, her bowl of rice and raisins disappeared way too fast. As she scraped the last of the sticky rice from the bowl and licked it off her spoon, Matt uncovered the pot and served out more. He gave everyone three whole spoonfuls. It wasn't until after she'd eaten it all that she realized how full she felt. She hadn't eaten so much since the first few days at the shelter, before the strict rationing started. The little kids had already finished their food, and were busy ripping up paperback books and twisting the pages up to use in the stove. Valarie inched closer to Matt and whispered in his ear. "Why did you make so much food? We don't have much left." He looked over at the others, then back to her, acting casual, but she could tell he was worrying again. He spoke in a normal voice, easily loud enough for the others to hear. "Can you help me collect snow today? Bobby will take a turn cleaning up so you can have a break from it." Valarie tried to match his tone, he obviously wanted to talk to her about something and she was afraid she knew what it was. "Okay, but you have to take care of the bucket, I'm not going to touch it." He grimaced, but it was mostly for show. "Fine, I'll do it, but only because you asked so nice. I'll wait for you on the roof, I promised Nessa you could help her finish the letter first." He patted her on the shoulder, checked his pockets, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and slipped out of the plastic tent. Valarie moved a little closer to the fire, enjoying the heat. It didn't really work well, because no matter how close she got, one side of her was still cold, even if she got so close it hurt. Vanessa looked up from the book she was working on, and noticed she was done eating. She dropped it on the pile they'd brought over from the bookstore a couple of days ago and came over clutching the letter. She handed it over, looking up expectantly. It was written on card stock and folded in quarters. Valarie unfolded it and read the front quickly, there was a map showing where they were, with the address of the building, and the letter her little sister had only needed a little help with. On the back side there were the Christmas lists in four different handwritings. Vanessa pointed at each section, then at a blank space. "We decided to only ask for one thing, just one thing we really want. We want to make it easy for Santa. This space is for you, just write down what you want most and we'll send the letter right away." She nodded. "Okay." She took the pen her sister offered, then paused with it over the blank space. They'd left her a quarter of a page, and it seemed to stare up at her mockingly. Even though she knew it wouldn't do any good, she would give almost anything to be able to believe like her sister still did. If only she could have some hope even if it was just for a little while. She stared down at the page, not really seeing it the words until she noticed the scribbled out part. Where Vanessa had originally written a small list starting with 'a baby doll' she'd changed it to read 'Milk, real milk enough for everyone to have a whole cup'. Scrawled out in Ryan's shaky hand was 'Hamburgers and french fries for everybody!' Bobby had written 'Eggs and toast for breakfast'. Even Matt had asked for something, printed out because he hated longhand, 'Enough ammo to get us somewhere safe.' She read the letter again, saying each word out loud. If only it would work, if only it could work. She remembered believing and wished she could forget learning the truth. Her thoughts were interrupted by her sister saying "What do you want? What do you want most Val?" Valarie thought but didn't say I want mom and dad back. She knew they were dead without seeing their bodies. Mom would have come back for them if she were alive, and dad got bit that first day. Besides she'd never believed that Santa gave anything but things, not even when she was little had she thought he could do something like that. She looked at her sister warming her hands over the fire and thought I just want to be warm. She remembered the last night before it started, They'd had a family movie night and watched one of the musicals her mom loved so much, singing along with the actors. "All I want..." she sang quietly "All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air..." She stopped singing and started writing. That was what she wanted, what she needed. She kept writing, hearing the lyrics in her head, hearing their mom's voice singing. When she got to 'warm face, warm hands, warm feet' she noticed the tears dripping onto the paper. She kept writing until it was done, until she'd written it all out even the last part when she couldn't see the paper any more. ------- Chapter 3 Matt dumped the bucket over the edge, grateful for the cold that had frozen everything on the ground below. Usually the smell was really bad, they'd been dumping for nearly two months, ever since the water had stopped running. The contents hit one of the zombies, and it looked up, moaning. That got the attention of the others, and they clustered around it, trampling the crusty snow. He ran back to the hatch that lend to the dollar store and lowered the bucket down for Bobby to put back in the bathroom, then went round the building, counting the dead outside. One hundred and eighty-seven. Last time he'd counted, there'd been only a hundred and fifty-six. It seemed that more showed up nearly every day. They were so stupid and slow that they wouldn't be a problem, except that he only had nine bullets left. He went back to what he thought of as the dirty side of the building, they'd chosen the east side because the wind usually came from the west, and yelled at the dead, waving his arms over his head. They obliged him by moving closer, reaching for him and trying to climb the wall. He pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, then pulled on the rope around the cinder block. It was still tight, and still tied off to a pipe sticking out of the roof. He raised it over his head and threw it down as hard as he could. One of the dead fell down, but he'd missed its skull, so before he'd pulled the block back up, it was back on its feet, snarling louder than before. By the time he heard Valarie climb up onto the roof, he'd repeated the process more than a dozen times, he'd managed eight kills too, but his arms were tired from the work. Usually he only did a couple at a time, but since they were leaving he figured he should get rid of as many of the walking dead as he could. Matt hauled the cinder block back up, then stripped off the rubber gloves and tossed them over the edge. The wind caught one of them and blew it out past the trampled area, where it sat like a squashed spider on the pristine snow. He turned his back on the dead, and joined Valarie on the clean side of the building. He didn't mention the count, or what he'd been doing, she didn't want to know how many there were, and he knew she didn't like hearing about how many he'd gotten rid of. They worked together filling bags with snow, while he tried to think of the best way to bring up the subject. She kept looking at him while he used a spatula to break up the crusty snow so they could get it into the plastic bags, giving him time to think. She seemed content to let him take his time, but he knew he had to say something, and stopped working. He stood and looked at the snow covered landscape. The mountains rose up sharply to the west, tops invisible in the clouds that threatened more snow. He could see the van, just a few hundred yards to the north, but it wouldn't do them any good, it had brought them all the way from St. Louis, but wasn't going anywhere now. Matt looked farther down the road, the drifted snow looked like ocean waves frozen in time. The top layer had melted and refrozen, forming a hard crust. Down the road, a dark spot moved, crawling towards them. It stayed on top, not heavy enough to break through to the powder beneath. Valarie pointed at it. "There's another one of those things, why do they keep coming? How do they know we're here?" Matt shrugged. "Don't know, but we have to leave. We don't have enough food for the winter." He scooped up more snow and dumped it into the bag she held. "If it warms up too much, we won't have any water either." She carried the bag over to the roof hatch and shook out another one. She shivered as the wind picked up, blowing her hair across her face, then knelt, holding the bag open for him. "Where are we gonna go? Huh? tell me that. We can't walk to Wyoming, not when it's so cold and with all this snow, and we don't even know if it's still safe there." What she said was true, they'd left the radio in the wrecked van. They had no idea if anyone was still alive in Cheyenne. Matt thought about what to say while he filled the next bag. He picked it up and hooked it to the rope, calling for Bobby as he lowered it down. Once the younger boy unhooked it, he pulled up the rope and lowered another. "We have to go somewhere, if we don't, we'll starve." Valarie didn't say anything. "You know it Val, you saw how much food is left." Valarie didn't say anything until they had all the bags lowered, then she closed the hatch and looked up at him. "I know, but there are so many of those things. Vanessa and Ryan aren't much faster than they are. We'll have to start running as soon as we get down the ladder, and where are we gonna run to Matt? Where are we gonna go?" He saw the fear in her eyes and knew she was just about ready to break down. Matt took her hands to help her up then wrapped his arms around her shivering body. She started to cry, shivers interrupted by soft sobs. He didn't have any plan, no idea at all where to go. He just knew they had no other choice. Her hair smelled like burnt paper, and had turned nearly gray from ashes. Over the top of her head, he looked at the snow covered landscape. "We've got to go somewhere." he said. "I could ... I could sneak out and find someplace." "No!" she screamed. The sound stirred up the dead below and they started pounding on the doors and walls again. She clung tight to him when the moans started and she continued in a quiet voice. "No," she repeated, "That's what my mom tried, and she never came back." She held him so tight it hurt, murmuring fiercely. "No, you can't, you won't come back, you'd wind up just like her. Involuntarily, he looked at the last place he'd seen her mother. The body was covered with snow now, a drift about six feet deep between a cinder block wall and a light post. He'd never told her about it, and he didn't try to tell her now, but sometimes he still dreamed about it. She'd come back, clearly dead, her throat ripped out, just a few hours after they'd heard the last shots. He hadn't told anyone, hadn't woken anyone up or asked what he should do. He'd just rested the rifle on the edge of the roof, aimed right between her eyes, and squeezed the trigger. The other kids hadn't even woken up, but Val had. She had popped up like she was on springs, staring at him with his smoking rifle still leveled at the thing that had been her mother. She'd just looked at him, not saying anything, but something in her eyes had frozen him into silence for at least a minute. She'd come over and sat next to him, never once looking out over the back parking lot. He had stammered and started to explain what he'd done. She'd cut him off ruthlessly, and while she talked he'd realized she'd never even looked to see what he'd shot at. He could almost hear the echo of her words; 'If my mom ever comes back, if she's turned into one of those things, I don't want to see her.' Her eyes had bored into his and her fingers had held him nearly as tight as they did now. 'If someone cared enough... ' she'd said, 'If someone cared enough to shoot her, to stop her from being one of them, I wouldn't ever want to know. I wouldn't want to ever find out, never.' Matt hadn't said anything to her then, and he didn't say anything now, he just held her until she stopped crying, ignoring the snow that drifted down on the frozen breeze. ------- Chapter 4 Valerie shivered, and not just from the cold. She hated not knowing if one of them was waiting in the dark. Her fingers fumbled with the lighter, but finally, she got a spark. The flame wavered, but there wasn't quite enough wind coming through the roof hatch to blow it out. She lit three of the candles, setting two of them on a shelf across from the door. The other she held in her left hand while she pulled the little pistol from her pocket. She took a deep breath and pointed the weapon at the door. "Okay, I'm ready." Matt pulled on the handle. The click of the latch of the walk in freezer door echoed loud in her ears. He swung the door open with a creak. A foul stench wafted out, but it didn't smell like them, and she didn't see anything move in the flickering candlelight. The barrel of Matt's rifle swung back and forth as he scanned the dark room. "Looks okay." he said. Despite his words, he moved cautiously, poking the barrel of his rifle under the shelves and behind a stack of boxes before he waved her in. The smell was far stronger inside, but not nearly as bad as standing on the roof above those things. She held the light so that Matt could check the food. There were boxes and boxes full of moldy cheese, bowls and pizza pans full of hardened mold covered dough. There was even mold on the walls. They checked everything anyway. Some of the pepperoni looked like it might be ok, but when he asked her she shook her head, it wasn't worth taking a chance. On the top shelf in back, they found a box half filled with cans of anchovies. By the door, there were two partially full ten pound bags of flour, and an unopened number ten can of olives. Valerie waited at the bottom of the ladder while Matt carried everything up to the roof, then they went to the front of the pizza shop. They hadn't gone up front before, because unlike the dollar store, the entire front of the pizza shop was just glass. Someone must have robbed the store during those first days, because the cash register was open and empty. Valerie found a huge bag of Parmesan cheese in little plastic packets under the counter, but nothing else edible. None of those things were visible on the other side of the glass, so Matt hopped the counter to check the refrigerator in the lobby. He stacked what he found on the counter, four bottles at a time. "All the pop is gone, but they still have these." Valerie picked up one of the bottles. It was cold, too cold for her to hold for long, the sports drink had frozen completely, so had the smaller bottles of water. She was glad to have them though, she hated drinking melted snow. She was always afraid that it would be contaminated somehow, even though Matt made sure it boiled every time. They brought their finds to the back, and Matt climbed up to the roof. She stayed at the bottom of the ladder, out of the wind, filling plastic bags for him to haul up with a rope. The icy wind bit right through the t-shirt and two sweatshirts she wore, and the falling snow stung her face. She tramped over to the next roof hatch. Snow worked its way up her pants legs, wetting her socks. By the time they were down the ladder, she couldn't stop her shivering, and she worked her hands inside the pocket on the front of her sweatshirt. The Chinese restaurant didn't have a walk-in, and the refrigerators didn't have anything edible, but Valerie did find some stale fortune cookies behind the counter. She held the clear plastic bags up triumphantly, calling out to Matt. She'd forgotten about the frost covered windows that formed the wall behind her. Valerie jumped at the sound when one of them smacked into the window behind her. She suppressed a scream and backed away, one hand clutching the big bags of cookies while the other scrabbled in her pocket for the pistol. The dead woman slid down the glass until she was on her knees. She stared at Valerie through the window, then moaned excitedly and pounded against the barrier with her open hands. Out in the dining area, Matt whirled and ducked behind a divider topped with dead potted ferns. He had the rifle pointed at the dead thing before Valerie managed to get her pistol out. He went back to what he was doing when he saw that the glass would hold. The snow outside was drifted three feet up the wall, so even on her knees, the thing outside had a good vantage point and could see the entire dining area. Val shuddered, and not from the cold this time but from the knowledge that one of them was watching. She forced herself to look away, to ignore the dead thing watching her, and continued her search. She found another unopened bag of cookies and a bag filled with little packets of soy sauce. She pulled a plastic garbage bag from her pocket, shook it out, then knelt down behind the counter to fill it with the food she'd found. Once she had it all in, she wrapped the top of the bag around her hand and started for the back of the store. A metallic 'snick' echoed through the dark room, followed by a rush of cold wind. Valerie froze, afraid to look as snow whirled around her. From behind came a series of muffled thumps, then the dreaded moan. Fear was a physical thing wrapped around her. She had to push through it to turn around. That thing was on its feet again, coming for her. She pointed the little pistol at its face with one shaking hand. The other clutched the bag of food convulsively, she had to get the food to her sister, she had to, or her little sister would die. Valerie held her breath and in spite of her pounding heart, forced herself to squeeze the trigger instead of yanking it. The first shot hit just to the side of the thing's eye. The eye exploded in a spray of fluid, and the thing twitched, but the bullet just creased its skull, leaving a furrow on the side of its head. Her second shot took it just under the nose and it dropped on its face, finally still in death. Valerie looked past it, through the gusting snow, to the open door swinging in the wind. A ring of keys dangled from the lock, tinkling with the motion of the door. On the other side of the frost coated windows, a half dozen or more of those things staggered towards the commotion. Valerie had only three bullets left. ------- Chapter 5 Matt shoved the garbage bag into Val's hand. "Get up on the roof." She hesitated, staring at the open door and the walking dead beyond it. "Matt, that thing, it opened the door. It turned the keys and opened the door. They don't know how to open doors, but it opened the door..." Matt turned her around and pushed her towards the back of the restaurant. "Go!" He stepped over the body on the floor and twisted the keys out of the lock before shoving the door closed. Partway closed anyway, the snowdrift had collapsed and stopped him from shutting the door all the way. The dead were almost to the door now, moving more surely than they had in the summertime, despite the slippery footing outside. He dropped the keys and ran, grabbing Valerie by the arm and dragging her along, shutting the utility closet door behind them. He heard their moans echo inside the restaurant as he shoved her up the ladder ahead of him. Once on the roof he handed the rifle to Valerie, then slammed the hatch shut and sat on it while fishing in his pockets. Working quickly he cut off an arms length of clothesline and tied the hatch closed. They still didn't seem to be able to climb ladders, but better safe than sorry. Valerie just stood there watching him. "Take that stuff downstairs." he told her, "I'll be right behind you." Her hands shook as she grabbed the bags and dragged them through the falling snow to the other end of the roof. She was staring off into the distance again, but if he gave her something to do she'd do it, and she would still fight if she needed to. She'd be alright; she was always like that after, sometimes for hours. She'd be okay, she had to ... they needed her ... he needed her. Matt paused at the top for the ladder, and hauled the hatch closed. Snow fell on him, and past him, joining a scattering of flakes on the floor of the storeroom. Valerie waited for him at the bottom. He took the bags, put an arm around her and led her into the tent. "Come on Val, let's get you warmed up." Up front, the dead rattled the shopping carts blocking the entrance. They'd managed to break the glass on the outside doors the month before, but with the shopping carts tied together, there was no way they could get in that way. The kids looked worried, they must have heard the shots that had stirred up the dead, but they'd done what he'd told them and stayed there waiting. He knew just how hard that could be. "It's okay, they didn't get close enough to touch us." He saw their relief at the news. He took off his hat and shucked out of the sweatshirt, shaking the snow off before hanging it up to dry. Matt had boots on, they didn't fit as well as they had six months ago, but at least they kept his feet dry, Val only had tennis shoes, like the others. She sat by the stove, staring at the flames, shivering. She had taken off the outermost of her sweatshirts before she sat down though. Matt put the bags of food on the shelf, and knelt by her. "Give me your feet," he said, taking one of them and pulling the shoe off. It was soaking wet, he had to peel off the sock. The legs of her pants, the spare pants that had been in her mother's pack, dripped water onto the tile floor. "Nessa, get her a blanket." Her little sister wrapped the sewn together t-shirts around the girl, while he pulled her other sock and shoe off. Her feet were ice cold. He pulled up his t-shirt and put them on his stomach, hoping his flinch didn't show. "Val," he said softly. She didn't look up from the fire. He put his hands over the top of her feet, rubbing them gently until she looked at him. "Val, how about if you stay here and I take Bobby with me to send the letter." Bobby perked up. "Can I go Val? Please? I want to help too." Valerie looked from him to the younger boy and then back. "Okay." She said with just a ghost of a smile. Vanessa clapped her hands. "Can you read the one where they fly again?" Valerie didn't say anything, but she nodded. That was good, she was already getting over it. Matt put a dry pair of socks on Valerie's feet, then stood, grabbed another sweatshirt off the pile, and pulled it on. He grabbed his hat and rifle, then waited for Bobby to get his shoes on. It took a little while, as he'd nearly outgrown them. As they left the smoky tent, he heard Valerie start reading. "'My name is Holly Jones and I'm fifteen... '" ------- Chapter 6 The boys came back before she finished the story. "I didn't know that I had been. Then I remembered why. 'Oh, Jeff—I busted my pretty wings!' " She read, as she heard the hatch open in the roof. Unconsciously, she picked up the pistol from her lap, just in case. There hadn't been any shots, and the 'thud, thud' of plastic bags filled with books hitting the floor was reassuring. She finished the story, and then handed the book to her sister. Two weeks, in a way it was a relief, and knowing helped somehow. "Help me clean up guys." She had them help her clear the central area, then she stripped plastic off some of the 'walls' and arranged it on the floor before moving the mattresses they'd made out of garbage bags stuffed with crumpled plastic wrapping and empty bottles on top of it. Matt came in while they were doing it, and started to object like she'd known he would. "Not now," she told him, "we'll talk about it later." He shut his mouth, and helped Bobby get the snow off before they brought the bags of books from the used bookstore into the tent. When they had it all inside, eight bags full, enough for two days or more, he changed the subject. "It's snowing hard again, we should have plenty of water." "Good." She grunted, heaving another bag onto the pile. If she did it right the combined bed would be nearly twice as high as they'd been separately. She pulled out her pistol, checked the safety and handed it to him. "Make yourself useful and clean this willya? You were right about a lot of stuff, but we need to talk, just you and me." She lay another bag on the pile and smacked it into shape. "I don't want us to make any mistakes and we need to have a plan before we do anything." "What are we doing?" asked Ryan. "Didn't your mom and dad talk about things before Christmas?" Ryan looked down, tears in his eyes, and Valerie felt bad for bringing them up, but after a moment's hesitation he looked over at Matt, who had her pistol nearly apart, then stared back at her, eyes wide. "You mean you need some alone time?" "Ye..." She started to say, then felt her cheeks turn red as she realized what he meant. "No, not like that. I just need to talk to Matt alone." "Is it a surprise for Christmas?" he turned to Matt. "Did you send the letter to Santa?" Matt looked at the fire through the barrel of her pistol. "We used the last of the helium, tied the balloons to the bag you guys put the letter in and let it go. It went up pretty fast, and disappeared into the snow. The wind blew it north, but I don't know if he'll get it." He ran another patch down the barrel and looked at it again, then put the pistol back together. When he was done, he pulled the slide back and dry fired it, then put her three bullets in the magazine, and slid it home. "Here Val, you're all set." She took the pistol from him and put it in her pocket, then had him help her tie the bags in place. They worked together to move things around so they could make the tent a little smaller, being very careful with the stove. She sat the three kids down in front of the stove and dragged a bag of books over. "Rip out the pages, and twist them up for the fire, we'll be right back." "'Kay, Val," her sister said, picking up a couple of books. The boys scooted a little closer to the fire before they started work. Valerie grabbed Matt's hand and led him to the storeroom. The tile floor was cold on her stocking feet, she hated being away from the fire, especially without her shoes. "You were right," she said, closing the door behind them. "Up off the ground is warmer, the blankets were warmer after we stuffed them, if we put everything together, we might be warm enough not to freeze." "Look," Matt objected, though she could tell he didn't really want to. "I promised your mom..." "You think she'd want us to freeze to death? She didn't think we'd be here this long. She thought we'd get to Cheyenne a long time ago. Even when she left us here, she said someone would come in a month or so. That kind of thing doesn't matter anymore anyway. If we don't move the beds together, we'll freeze to death before Christmas even gets here." "That's not what I meant..." She talked right over him, the words coming out in a whisper, because she didn't want the little kids to hear her. "Santa isn't coming, nobody is coming. There's nobody left but us. We haven't heard a gunshot or a car for three months." She gestured to the front of the store where the others were. "They still think someone will come for us. Ryan and Nessa still think Santa will come. Bobby doesn't, not really, but he can still hope for it. He doesn't think Santa will come, but he thinks somebody will find those balloons and come get us." "It's gonna be Okay Val..." "No it won't. We're going to die in a couple of weeks." He grabbed her shoulders and she realized she'd started to raise her voice. "We'll make it, I promise." She leaned against him and let him wrap his arms around her, wishing she could believe his promise, wishing she had any hope at all. "No," she said, shaking her head and looking up into his eyes. "No, we won't. We have a choice. We can stay here and stretch our food as long as we can. If we do that, we'll either starve when we run out of food or freeze when we run out of books to burn. Our other choice is to eat real sized meals until we run out, then run for it. If we run fast enough, we'll freeze out there in the snow. If we don't, those things will catch us and eat us. Either way we're dead, but if we do it your way, we don't have to be cold and hungry for the last two weeks of our lives. We can let them have hope, and make their last days on earth happy ones. I wish I were like them, and that I didn't know what's going to happen, but at least I can keep them from finding out. At least we can give them one last Christmas before they die." ------- Chapter 7 Christmas Eve. Matt was pretty sure it was Christmas Eve, that was what day they had on their calendar anyway. It wasn't going to compare to the other Christmases he'd known, but they'd done okay, considering. They'd found a little fake tree in the back of the party store, and hung socks from it. There wasn't anything under it, but Valerie had made gloves to put in the stockings. Well they were kind of like gloves, they were made out of socks, and had a thumb and one finger, and there was a pair for everyone. Matt had found a whole box of foil covered chocolate coins under some pirate costumes. He'd also found a fleece lined leather jacket near the tree. He guessed it was accidentally packed, he'd found it in a box, under a bunch of holiday decorations. He looked at the other kids, listening to Val read from the bible. They were stronger than they'd been two weeks ago, more ready to make a break for it. For the last week, they'd been exercising, running laps around the back of the store where the dead couldn't see them. He'd gotten more exercise too, He'd run as many laps as they had, and hauled the cinder block back up to the roof hundreds of times. Last time he'd counted there were only nineteen of the dead waiting for them outside. Before they left tomorrow, he'd go up and get rid of as many as he could. Their packs were lined up at the foot of the bed, all ready to go, except for the water. The bottles of water and the sports drinks were next to the stove to keep them from freezing. The packs didn't hold much, just a few days of food that didn't need cooking, extra socks, a some candles and a few lightweight odds and ends. There was room for a tarp and their blankets, but that was all they were taking. He worried that they didn't have enough to get somewhere safe, but he also worried that they would be carrying too much. Even little Ryan had a bag, just two pair of socks, a bottle of water and some fortune cookies in a shoulder bag. Valerie nudged him with her foot and pointed to the pizza cooking on top of the stove. He checked, the cheese on top was melty, and the olives and fish steamed in the cold air. He pulled it off the tin can and slipped the next one on. They had six of them for tonight, a real feast. The crust was flat bread, just flour, water and a little bit of oil. They'd saved one can of tomato paste for this, topped it with the last of the olives and the rest of the anchovies. He'd always heard they were terrible, but they hadn't had any meat at all for a long time and it tasted really good. They used the packets of cheese with some garlic salt to top them off, and the warm smell made his stomach growl. The pizzas vanished as fast as he took them off the stove and cut them. After, full and warmed on the inside, it was all he could do to make himself stay awake. Valerie's voice was soft and sweet as she read, and he nearly dropped off himself before the last of the younger kids fell asleep. Valerie pulled a bag out of the mattress, and passed him the gloves one pair at a time. He put the chocolate coins in the stockings on top of the gloves, then covered the stove. He managed to slip the jacket under the tree while Valerie blew out some of the candles. She'd been right, the extra two bodies under a doubled layer of blankets made the night a lot warmer, and nobody had to stay up to feed the fire. In the warm dark under the covers, Valerie's hand reached out and grabbed his. "Thanks, I know it won't matter in the end, but you almost make me believe." "We can do it Val." He told her. She didn't answer, just squeezed his hand a little harder. After a while, her breathing changed and her grip on his hand relaxed. He fell asleep not long after. ------- Chapter 8 It was still dark when Matt woke up, Val had moved in her sleep, and was snuggled up to him, her head on his shoulder and her body half on top of his. Somebody else's feet, probably Bobby's, were jammed into his other side. It wasn't the first time he'd woken up with her wrapped around him, but there was something different. Had they broken in? He held his breath, listening. No, there were no sounds other than the steady breathing of the others. Wait ... there was something else, a deep growl, very faint, like ... almost like a truck. Then it was gone, and there was only the sound of the wind blowing the snow around outside. Had he imagined it? He probably had, he wanted so badly for someone to come, but Valerie was right, they had to take care of themselves. He listened for a long time, enjoying the warmth of the bed and the way that Val held him in her sleep. He was almost asleep himself when the wind shifted and he heard the sound again. This time it was accompanied by a faint bang. It might have been a gunshot, or it might have been the wind blowing something over. Whatever it was, it wouldn't hurt to check it out. He fumbled in the dark until he found a lighter, lit a few candles, then eased out of bed. Valerie complained in her sleep, but she didn't wake up, she just moved over until she ran into Bobby's feet then started to snore softly. Matt didn't hear anything but the wind while he kindled a fire in the stove. He double checked to make sure it was secure, that the fire wouldn't get out, then pulled on his boots, dug the last two glow sticks from his pack, slung his rifle, and slipped out of the tent. It was still dark outside, but there was a faint glow to the east. A cold wind blew down from the mountains, swirling up a little bit of fresh snow. He looked out over the dark, snow covered landscape. Who was he kidding? There was no way they could make it all the way to Cheyenne, It was like Valerie had said, but she was also right that they had to try. The wind blew a little harder, then changed direction. From the northeast, he heard the sound again, louder this time, and accompanied by sharp flat cracks. Matt ran to the north side of the building, from there he could just see the freeway. At first he couldn't believe what he saw. Not just one truck, or even a couple of cars, but a long line of headlights headed south. he couldn't tell exactly what kind of vehicles they were, but the first few in front had flashing yellow lights on top. He wished he had one of those flare guns or even a big flashlight, something that would really attract their attention. Matt grabbed one of the glowsticks, twisted it until the glass tube inside broke, then shook it so it would glow brighter. The glowstick already had a loop of string attached to it, and he held onto that while he swung the green light in a circle above his head. It wasn't until Valerie came up behind him that he realized he was jumping and yelling. The convoy drove out of sight behind some buildings, When it reemerged, it looked like there were fewer vehicles than before. By then, both of them were waving lights and yelling, but the sun was coming up fast, and no one seemed to notice them. The two vehicles in front were snowplows, about half the rest were army trucks and armored vehicles with wheels, while the others were a mix of different kinds of civilian trucks. There were two tanker trucks, some semis with box trailers, and a flatbed with a bulldozer and a backhoe. The lead snowplow left a rooster tail of snow in its wake, blending in with another from the second. They weren't moving very fast, and they were close enough that Matt could see people in some of the vehicles. None of the people seemed to see them, none of the trucks slowed down. Out on the freeway one of the dead staggered as the convoy passed, then started to follow it. A soldier in the tail vehicle swung his weapon around and fired once. The body hit the ground before the sound reached them, a low flat crack muffled a little by the snow on the ground. They kept waving until the convoy drove out of sight. Once it was gone, Valerie sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands. She was wearing the jacket he'd put under the tree. "I thought they'd stop, I really thought they'd stop." He knelt down and took her in his arms. "Hey, it's going to be ok. Those trucks are going somewhere, all we have to do is follow them..." The impossibility of it hit him, there was no way they could follow the trucks on foot. He could still hear them driving away. In fact, the sound seemed to be getting a little louder. Pop, pop, pop. A rapid flurry of shots came from behind him. Valerie stood, then pointed. "Look! They saw us, somebody came, somebody finally came." She ran back to the roof hatch and yelled down. "Come up, come up." She ran back to the north end of the building, and waved franticly. Matt ran over and joined her. It was light enough now to see them clearly. A pair of snowplows led the convoy. They were followed by five Strykers, big armored things that had eight wheels. There'd been some in their convoy on the way to the center. Behind those came some army trucks, some with the canvas tops and some bigger ones with eight wheels and cranes on them. Some semis came next, a tanker, a flatbed with a front end loader and some pallets of plastic wrapped metal boxes, and two of the more normal boxy trailers. It looked like there were more behind those, and all of them were headed straight for Matt and Valerie. Vanessa popped up out of the hole. "Is it Santa?" She looked over the edge and saw the convoy coming towards them. It moved slowly, not much faster than a run. Every once in a while, one of the soldiers fired at one of the walking dead they rumbled past. "It's the Army? Santa sent the army to rescue us, and we didn't even ask for that." She waved to the convoy, and ran back to the roof hatch. "Let's get our bags. Oh, Matt, did you know? Is that why you had us get ready last night?" She didn't wait for an answer, and disappeared down into the store. The snowplows pulled into the parking lot, drove around the building, then made another pass, clearing the area near the ladder. The walking dead that he hadn't been able to get rid of were mostly crushed under the blades and wheels, the rest were dispatched by the soldiers in the strikers. The armored vehicles all had 'Death Dealers' painted on the thick metal over the front wheels. That made him a little nervous, because he remembered stories told in the center about raiders, but they didn't act like the raiders from the stories. One of the strikers pulled up to the building, its pointed nose directly under the ladder. Another one pulled up crosswise behind it. The soldier in the hatch on top spoke into a microphone, his voice amplified by speakers welded to the outside of the vehicle. "Good morning, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Johnson, First of the Sixty-Seventh Armor, United States Army. I understand you could use a ride." ------- Chapter 9 Valerie hardly dared to believe it, after all this time someone had come. They'd sent out balloon messages and built signal fires, but no one had answered, no one had ever come. She was terribly afraid that it was all a dream, but her dreams were never this cold. She shivered as she stripped out of her clothes under the eyes of the two women. They checked her and Vanessa for bites, but didn't take her gun away, just told her to be careful. One of the women was blonde and the tag on her chest read 'Air Force' instead of 'Army'. She pointed to the tree with the stockings hung from it. "Looks like you kids are all ready for Christmas tomorrow." She said with a hint of a drawl in her voice. "Tomorrow? We thought it was today..." "Tomorrow?" Vanessa echoed. "But Santa left us presents last night, why did he... ?" Valerie cut her off. "He probably knew we wouldn't be here, we sent him the letter, so he knew we were leaving." She pulled on the jacket she'd found under the tree, Matt had to have put it there, didn't he? She turned back to the Air Force woman. She was younger than their mom, but pretty old, probably twenty-five or even older. "How did you find us? It was like you knew right where to go." "We did honey, we got your letter." The blonde woman wrapped one arm around Vanessa and gestured with an open hand to the smaller woman. "Leilia found it, and we followed your map." Leilia had black hair in a long braid that she wore wrapped around her head. Her ice blue eyes looked strange with her dark skin. She looked like she belonged in high school. She spoke with a thick accent Valerie couldn't identify. "No, I don't find it, it was give to me. The old man give to me, and I give to Benjamin." She pronounced it 'Ben-Ya-Min'. "She means the colonel," the blonde woman said. "What old man, Leilia?" "The old man, in the place we stop two day ago." "Cheyenne?" "Yes, that place. When you and Benjamin talk to head man there, Old man in red truck he come. He give me paper, say him find on road, he not have time to come, to see. Ask if we go. I give paper to Benjamin, he say we stop here on way." Leilia shrugged expressively. "Man say him name it be Nick." Matt came into the tent, followed by Colonel Johnson. "Look Val," he said, holding open a green cloth bag slung over his shoulder. "They gave me ammo, lots of ammo, five whole boxes." "Are they clean?" The colonel asked Leilia. "Very dirty," she said. "Need bath, yes?" She waited until he started to speak, then laughed. "Not worry, they not bit. They not near dead make two weeks. We check good, like SOP." "Okay, good." He gave Leilia a quick kiss on the cheek, then looked at Matt and Valerie. "There is a storm coming in, so we have to move fast. You get all your stuff and follow Leilia. She'll find a place for you." He left the tent and gave orders to some of the soldiers, then climbed up to the roof. They grabbed their packs and Leilia led them down the ladder. They walked the metal hull the length of one of the eight wheeled army tank things, and then stepped across a gap to another. She went through a hatch in the top and they followed. It was surprisingly warm inside, but noisy with the engine running and fans blowing hot air around. She motioned them to a bench on one side of the compartment, then stood on a seat with her body half way out the hatch, and talked on the radio. About ten minutes later, she moved to the bench across from them, where she was joined by the blonde woman, and a boy not much older than Matt, wearing an army uniform. He had ice blue eyes just like Leilia. In fact he looked so much like her that Valerie thought he must be her brother, Their name tags didn't match though. Hers read Johnson while his was something she couldn't pronounce. Booted feet walked back and forth on the thick metal hull for a few minutes, before someone dropped in through the drivers hatch up front. The colonel dropped down into the vehicle and pulled on a headset before standing up on the seat. Moments later they started to move. It had been kinda loud while they were sitting still, but once they got moving, the roar of the engine made it hard to hear unless she listened carefully. Colonel Johnson asked them about how they'd gotten to the strip mall, keeping them talking for thirty or forty minutes before he turned around in his seat and woke up the blonde woman. "Sergeant, get me the XO." She spoke into the headset she wore, not quite loud enough to be heard from where Valerie sat. She waited, spoke again, then flipped a switch and tapped the colonel on his shoulder. "Delta Delta Five, this is Delta Delta Six Actual. Be advised that the sat-link confirms the storm. Don't take any chances, but you are authorized to push through to Carson if you feel you can make it. Over." He paused for a moment, listening. "Negative, that is the primary objective. Carson is secure, The college is not. Detach at least one platoon from Bravo and insure they have radio contact before you proceed to Carson. Report every hour. You probably won't manage radio contact much south of Denver so relay through Bravo if you need to." While he talked, he turned and smiled at Leilia. "Merry Christmas. Out." He talked a bit more on the radio, with some other people, but she didn't try to listen. Instead, she leaned up against Matt, and listened to him talk with the boy in uniform. The heat, and the gentle motion of the armored vehicle over the snow, lulled her to sleep. ------- Chapter 10 Matt hadn't had a shower, a real shower, since before the dead started walking. At the shelter there'd been lukewarm rinses from a bag, with a time limit of just one minute, after that he'd washed himself with a rag when he couldn't stand it anymore. The soldiers here gave them a bar of soap to share, along with a little bottle of shampoo, and there was a stack of big fluffy towels waiting for them. They'd been checked again for bites, then they'd all gotten haircuts, just like the soldiers had. The boy soldiers anyway, and they were boys, most of them. Some of them weren't any older than Bobby. One of the kids had a rifle nearly as tall as he was. There were some teenagers with the convoy, but most of the soldiers in the convoy were grownups. Most of the soldiers he'd seen here weren't any older than he was. He rinsed off the soap, enjoying the feel of the hot water against his skin. He felt clean, really clean, for the first time since it all started. He left the other boys splashing water at each other, and went back to the room where they'd been checked again for bites. His clothes were gone. His pack had been emptied, and the spare socks and the blanket were missing. His rifle and the green cloth bag of .22 ammunition were still there, and so was his knife, lighter and all his other stuff. He grabbed one of the big towels and dried off. One of the boy soldiers came in with a rifle slung over one shoulder and carrying a stack of clothes. He was about ten or eleven, and wore a Boy Scout uniform with US Army sewn on over the Boy Scout tab. On his left arm was a green armband with 'MP' stenciled in black. "We put all your stuff in the washers. It should be ready in an hour or two. If there is anything you want to keep, you can have it, but you can keep this stuff instead if you want." He sat the stack of clothes on the bench, and adjusted his rifle sling. "After you get dressed, I'm supposed to take you to see the doctor." Matt pulled on the clean underwear and picked up a t-shirt that looked like it would fit him. It wasn't new, but it was soft and clean and smelled good. He held it to his face and sniffed, remembering. The smell reminded him of his clothes at home, the way they used to smell after his mom washed them. The clothes felt good, clean and warm. Everything looked a little odd in the steady glow of the light bulb, after months of nothing but firelight. Over the sound of the running water, he heard faint girlish giggles from the other side of the wall. He hurried the boys out of the shower. "Come on guys, they have a doctor who wants to see us." The kid led them uphill, along a snow-walled path. In some places the snow on either side was higher than their heads. Several times they had to squeeze past groups of soldiers headed the other way. It was already dark, and getting cold, and he offered a prayer of thanks that they weren't on the run, huddled in some long deserted building with a horde of dead people pounding outside, trying to get in. The kid led them to a big house overlooking the valley, and around to a side door. Inside was a large room with cots lining both walls and a screened off area in one corner. The doctor was a woman, with long black hair tucked through the back of her baseball cap. She wore a leather jacket, a pistol on her hip, and a leather collar around her neck. She checked their throats and ears, listened to their hearts beat, and then had them cough while she listened to their backs. A young girl in a Boy Scout uniform carrying a pink .22 came in from outside followed by Valerie and Vanessa. At first he didn't recognize the older of the two. He still remembered her as a girl, and the loose clothes she'd worn in the shopping center had never shown him otherwise, but she'd changed since he'd first met her. It wasn't just that she was skinnier, the first time he'd seen her she'd been kind of fat, but she'd grown up and out. Her hair was long and clean and brushed out. She looked like she could be one of the cheerleaders at his school. The doctor checked them too. "Nothing wrong with you that a few solid meals won't cure. You kids have any guns besides that rifle?" Valerie hesitated, but pulled her pistol out of her jacket pocket. The doctor held her hand out, and Valerie handed it over. The woman dropped the magazine, then racked the slide with a practiced hand, catching the bullet in the air as it flew out of the action. She looked at it for a moment, then wrote in a notebook, ripped the page out and handed it to the girl. "Becky, go to the armory and have them send over some .25 cal pistol ammo, then take this to the kitchen. After that you guys can go back to your platoon, Merry Christmas." The girl picked up her rifle and motioned to the boy. "Goodnight doctor. Merry Christmas to you too." The boy waved as they went out the door. "'Night, doctor Marla, see you tomorrow." The doctor waved to them, then turned back to Matt and the others. She put the bullet in the magazine, slid the magazine into the pistol, and handed it back to Valerie. "You guys can stay here for tonight, we'll find you someplace more permanent tomorrow. The bathroom's down the hall on the right, but unless you are there, you stay in this room. We're going to trust you not to wander around. Couple of basic rules. Nobody goes anywhere alone, not even to the bathroom. If you get bit by a ghoul, you report it right away. Nobody's going to shoot you, but we do need to know so we can make sure you don't hurt anyone else when you turn." She looked at her watch, then checked the pistol on her hip. "Someone will come here after dinner to talk to you, you have any questions, you can ask them." She left them alone in the clinic. A few minutes later a couple of boys came in with ziplock bag of bullets. "Hey, these are for you, we'd invite you guys to our party, but you're stuck here tonight. Don't worry about it though, everyone who comes in has to stay here for a night, sometimes two." Ryan tugged at his sleeve. "I have'ta go to the bathroom" Valerie had the bag open on the cot next to her and loaded bullets into the magazine of her pistol looking at each one carefully. "You better take him, she said not to go anywhere alone." One of the boys interrupted. "Take your rifle too, no unarmed groups. It's okay inside, but you want to stay in practice." The boys were gone when they got back from the bathroom, the others were alone in the clinic, using one of the cots for a table, eating with their hands. His mouth watered at the familiar smell and Ryan ran ahead. "Hangabers!" "An' French fries too." Vanessa said around a mouthful of food. She took a big swallow from her cup, then put it down. "An' milk, the doctor told them to give us milk every day for a whole week." She took another big bite from her burger, chewed, swallowed, then wiped the juice from the meat off her chin with a finger and licked it off. Ryan didn't say anything else once Valerie handed him his food, just sat on the floor and stared at the burger in his hands, tears running down his cheeks. Matt sat down next to him, and put a hand on the little boy's shoulder. "Go ahead Ryan, you can eat it, it's okay." The six year old closed his eyes and took a tiny bite. He chewed it carefully, and swallowed before he spoke in a tiny voice. "My dad used to cook hangabers in the back yard, they tasted kinda like this. Mom said it was the wood he made the fire with." He took another bite. "I miss them..." He kept on like that, alternating between small bites and fragmented sentences about his life before they'd found him. The others let him talk, he hadn't ever said so much at one time before. The hamburgers tasted a little strange to Matt. The meat tasted a little funny, and the buns were brown with little bits of seeds baked into them. The French fries were just cut up potatoes, and were greasy enough he could have used them to lubricate his rifle but they were still warm, and they tasted great. Matt actually felt safe, not safe like in the store, or even in the center, but really safe. A place like this was what they had been looking for ever since the evacuation center fell. He scooted over next to Valerie, leaning back against the cot. A shout of laughter echoed down the hallway, and one hand moved involuntarily to the cloth bag full of ammo the soldiers had given him. It made him feel secure, now he could protect the others. Ryan lay on the floor, fast asleep, the remains of his hamburger clutched to his chest. The other two kids giggled at each other, while eating the rest of the fries. Outside, the wind picked up, snow driving against the windows. Valerie pointed at the lights on the ceiling. 'I thought I'd never see those again," She said quietly, "How did you know we were going to get away?" Matt shrugged, "I just knew." He hadn't though, he'd thought she was right, but knew he had to try. "What do you think about this place?" "I don't know, there are so many people..." Her voice trailed off and she turned to face him, leaning on the cot, her legs curled underneath her. "Matt, you said you promised my mom..." She stopped, tensing, when some soldiers came into the room, but relaxed when they saw one of them was the Air Force woman who'd been in the convoy that picked them up. "Hey kids," the sergeant said, "this is Lieutenant Rivers, he'll tell you about this place," The two of them sat down on the cots next to theirs, and the sergeant gestured to the younger kids. "Why don't you all sit down." She waited until they were settled before speaking again. "We're heading south as soon as the storm passes. The regular army has lowered the age limit to thirteen, so Matt, if you want to come with us you can enlist, but the others will have to stay here." Valerie grabbed his hand, and from the corner of her eye, he saw her shake her head. Vanessa started to cry. Matt gave Valerie's hand a squeeze, trying to reassure her. "No. Thanks, but no. We want to stay together." The woman smiled, nodding. "I told the colonel you'd say that." She took a plastic baggie out of the cargo pocket of her uniform and held it out. "You might want to hang on to this, we never would have found you without it." He took the letter they'd sent out and handed it to Valerie, who put it in her pocket. "We'd like to take you all with us," she continued, "we really would, but after we make a stop at Carson, we've got a lot of places to go, and probably a lot of shooting to do. We can't take kids with us, not even kids like you." She said goodbye then, hugged the kids and left with one of the soldiers. Lieutenant Rivers stayed and talked with them for a while, He wasn't a kid like a lot of the other soldiers, he was old, probably twenty. There were a lot of rules, but they all seemed to make sense, things like not leaving fires unattended, going places in groups, and having someone awake in each building all the time. He checked their weapons, and made sure they knew how to use them, and asked them a lot of questions. Valerie kept one arm around her sister, and held Matt's hand tight with her other hand. She didn't say much until the lieutenant told them there were separate rooms for the boys and girls. Vanessa started crying again, and Valerie held on so tight he didn't think he could have pried her loose if he tried. "Can't we stay together?" Valerie asked. "Isn't there any way at all?" The man answered calmly, like he'd expected the question. "There is, but you may not want to do it. You can stay here and see each other every day, you'll have work to do, enough to eat, and even some free time." "But we won't be together." Valerie said. It wasn't a question. "No, we don't have the space. Private rooms are only available for members of the battalion and their families." "So if I join," Matt interrupted, "We can stay together?" "We'd make a room if we had to, we have before. But there are a couple small rooms empty already." "I'll do it." The lieutenant smiled just a bit, then his look turned serious. "We don't just stay here, we usually have one or two companies out looking for survivors, you'll have to go out every time we do, and you can't change your mind." Beside him Valerie gasped. "No, don't do it, you don't have to, we'll see each other every day." Matt looked at her, saw her tears and knew he did have to. He turned back to the lieutenant. "I'll do it, I'm a pretty good shot, and there might be others trapped like we were." Lieutenant Rivers snapped his fingers and held out a hand to the soldiers behind him. One of them looked up from his book and handed over a clipboard. "Print your full name and date of birth here, then sign here." Matt did. The lieutenant looked at the form and passed it back to the soldiers who stood up. So did the lieutenant. "Stand up, raise your right hand and repeat after me." Matt did as he was told, feeling a little funny inside as he repeated the words the lieutenant said so solemnly. "I, Matthew Collins, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of Colorado against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith..." ------- Chapter 11 Two days later they moved into a one room 'apartment'. It was really a bedroom on the second floor of what was once a general store. Christmas day had been one long party, with sledding in the morning, hot chocolate and presents from the army to everyone in the afternoon, and old movies in the main room of the newly built barracks that night. It had snowed on and off all Christmas day for a total of sixteen inches when added to the Christmas Eve snowfall. Today only about four more fell, but everyone was back to work. Matt was out shoveling snow from the pathways between the buildings, and ten year old Bobby was in the army now too, he was off learning how to use the miniature rifle the soldiers had given him. Vanessa and Ryan were with her, in their new room, helping sort socks. The army was going to pay her for each pair she salvaged. Some of them were almost new, while others had only small holes, but some of them were beyond her. She could fix a small hole, that was easy enough, but the ones with huge threadbare patches would go into the scrap pile and get used as rags. The kids were on the bed, while she sat in the overstuffed chair. The pay wasn't much, just few pennies a pair, but they could eat free because Matt had joined up, and both he and Bobby were getting paid too. There wasn't much to spend it on, but they could buy gum and candy if they wanted. Despite the recent meals they'd had, she'd learned that desserts usually weren't provided. Most of the camp wasn't eating as well as they were either, breakfast had been oatmeal, cornbread muffins, eggs and toast with butter. Most people had only gotten oatmeal and muffins, unless they felt like paying for 'extras'. In a way it made sense, no one was going to starve, but there was a lot of work to do and the 'extras' gave people a reason to do it instead of sitting around like most of the people in the center had done before it fell. She finished darning another sock and looked up at the string of Christmas lights strung near the ceiling. There wasn't a light switch, instead they plugged into an extension cord that ran through a hole in the wall halfway between the cast iron stove and the door, right by a metal bucket filled with coal. She hadn't thought she'd ever see electric lights again, but they had some in their room. A layer of sandbags ran along one wall, under the window. They covered a couple of holes cut into the wall, and if the camp was ever attacked, it would be her job to shoot any of those things she could see through the holes. She was supposed to keep the window closed. Valerie nearly filled a basket with pairs of socks before Matt came in. He looked tired, but happy, and not worried like he used to either. "You'll never guess what happened," he said. He didn't wait for her to guess, just kept talking, excitedly. "The Army loaded up all the books and medicine from the stores, and dropped most of it off here. We got half the salvage fee, split five ways between us." He slowly brought a cardboard box from behind his back. "I got this for you, I know how much you've missed it." The box was brown cardboard, and unlabeled except for 'Merry Christmas' scrawled on it in Matt's sloppy handwriting. It rattled a little when she took it. Inside were six half pound bars of chocolate, labeled 'Kailua – Made in Hawaii'. According to the date stamped on each of them, they were only six weeks old. Valerie looked up at his smiling face. "So these are for us to share?" Matt's grin just got bigger. "No, these are all for you. I got some for the kids, but these are yours." Valerie stood, clutching the box to her chest. "I ... I don't know what to say." She felt tears form in her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. "You don't have to say anything. It's a Christmas present." "But I didn't get you anything." "I woke up this morning with you next to me; there's nothing I'd rather have. I kept my promise to your mother." She moved back so she could look up at him. He was taller than he used to be, their eyes had been level when they had first met. "What do you mean? What promise?" He looked so serious. "I promised her I wouldn't tell you I like you until we got someplace safe. She made me promise when we were getting ready to leave the evacuation center, her and my mom both." "What? Why not? I like you too." "No, I mean I 'like you' like you." That made her feel strange inside. It was scary and comforting at the same time. Matt looked at her, as if waiting for her to say something. "Really?" He nodded and she felt herself blush. "I ... I think I like you too." He very gently touched his lips to hers, just for an instant, before they both jumped back, blushing when Bobby opened the door and stomped inside. He had on a new camouflage coat and his small rifle was slung over one shoulder. "Ewww gross, not you guys too ... This whole place is mushy, there's even girls trying to kiss me, yuck." He shook the little kids awake. "Come on, it's time to eat, an' I'm hungry." They had their dinner with the doctor again, then went to the barracks, a big barn-like building only a few months old, to watch a movie. There was something going on almost every night, generally a movie shown on several big screen TVs, but they also played volleyball or dodgeball and sometimes there was music and dancing. Tonight was just a movie though, an old western about a bunch of boys herding cattle. They managed to get a place near one of the screens, but the older boys had to sit on the floor. Before the movie was over, Matt and Bobby were both asleep. She wasn't too surprised, they'd had a long day, working harder than they were used to. Matt's head leaned against her leg, and she ran her fingers over his short hair, enjoying the feel of it under her fingertips. A fragment of song ran through her head. 'Someone's head resting on my knee... ' She froze, and slowly reached into her jacket pocket. The letter was still there. She unfolded the paper and tilted it to catch the light from the screen. It was there, all of it, in their own handwriting. Milk, real fresh milk from actual cows and not powder from a can. Hamburgers and french fries, with the fries still hot, right from the fryer. Eggs and toast, not just once either, but every day so far. Ammo, Matt had the ammo he asked for, and the safe place he'd wanted for all of them. She looked again at what she'd asked for. A room. A warm room. A big comfy chair. A stove with lots of coal, enough to keep the room warm all the time. Warm face, hands and feet. Chocolate. Someone to take care of her ... Valerie wiped the tears from her eyes and for the first time in a long time, she believed. ------- Chapter 11 Two days later they moved into a one room 'apartment'. It was really a bedroom on the second floor of what was once a general store. Christmas day had been one long party, with sledding in the morning, hot chocolate and presents from the army to everyone in the afternoon, and old movies in the main room of the newly built barracks that night. It had snowed on and off all Christmas day for a total of sixteen inches when added to the Christmas Eve snowfall. Today only about four more fell, but everyone was back to work. Matt was out shoveling snow from the pathways between the buildings, and ten year old Bobby was in the army now too, he was off learning how to use the miniature rifle the soldiers had given him. Vanessa and Ryan were with her, in their new room, helping sort socks. The army was going to pay her for each pair she salvaged. Some of them were almost new, while others had only small holes, but some of them were beyond her. She could fix a small hole, that was easy enough, but the ones with huge threadbare patches would go into the scrap pile and get used as rags. The kids were on the bed, while she sat in the overstuffed chair. The pay wasn't much, just few pennies a pair, but they could eat free because Matt had joined up, and both he and Bobby were getting paid too. There wasn't much to spend it on, but they could buy gum and candy if they wanted. Despite the recent meals they'd had, she'd learned that desserts usually weren't provided. Most of the camp wasn't eating as well as they were either, breakfast had been oatmeal, cornbread muffins, eggs and toast with butter. Most people had only gotten oatmeal and muffins, unless they felt like paying for 'extras'. In a way it made sense, no one was going to starve, but there was a lot of work to do and the 'extras' gave people a reason to do it instead of sitting around like most of the people in the center had done before it fell. She finished darning another sock and looked up at the string of Christmas lights strung near the ceiling. There wasn't a light switch, instead they plugged into an extension cord that ran through a hole in the wall halfway between the cast iron stove and the door, right by a metal bucket filled with coal. She hadn't thought she'd ever see electric lights again, but they had some in their room. A layer of sandbags ran along one wall, under the window. They covered a couple of holes cut into the wall, and if the camp was ever attacked, it would be her job to shoot any of those things she could see through the holes. She was supposed to keep the window closed. Valerie nearly filled a basket with pairs of socks before Matt came in. He looked tired, but happy, and not worried like he used to either. "You'll never guess what happened," he said. He didn't wait for her to guess, just kept talking, excitedly. "The Army loaded up all the books and medicine from the stores, and dropped most of it off here. We got half the salvage fee, split five ways between us." He slowly brought a cardboard box from behind his back. "I got this for you, I know how much you've missed it." The box was brown cardboard, and unlabeled except for 'Merry Christmas' scrawled on it in Matt's sloppy handwriting. It rattled a little when she took it. Inside were six half pound bars of chocolate, labeled 'Kailua – Made in Hawaii'. According to the date stamped on each of them, they were only six weeks old. Valerie looked up at his smiling face. "So these are for us to share?" Matt's grin just got bigger. "No, these are all for you. I got some for the kids, but these are yours." Valerie stood, clutching the box to her chest. "I ... I don't know what to say." She felt tears form in her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. "You don't have to say anything. It's a Christmas present." "But I didn't get you anything." "I woke up this morning with you next to me; there's nothing I'd rather have. I kept my promise to your mother." She moved back so she could look up at him. He was taller than he used to be, their eyes had been level when they had first met. "What do you mean? What promise?" He looked so serious. "I promised her I wouldn't tell you I like you until we got someplace safe. She made me promise when we were getting ready to leave the evacuation center, her and my mom both." "What? Why not? I like you too." "No, I mean I 'like you' like you." That made her feel strange inside. It was scary and comforting at the same time. Matt looked at her, as if waiting for her to say something. "Really?" He nodded and she felt herself blush. "I ... I think I like you too." He very gently touched his lips to hers, just for an instant, before they both jumped back, blushing when Bobby opened the door and stomped inside. He had on a new camouflage coat and his small rifle was slung over one shoulder. "Ewww gross, not you guys too ... This whole place is mushy, there's even girls trying to kiss me, yuck." He shook the little kids awake. "Come on, it's time to eat, an' I'm hungry." They had their dinner with the doctor again, then went to the barracks, a big barn-like building only a few months old, to watch a movie. There was something going on almost every night, generally a movie shown on several big screen TVs, but they also played volleyball or dodgeball and sometimes there was music and dancing. Tonight was just a movie though, an old western about a bunch of boys herding cattle. They managed to get a place near one of the screens, but the older boys had to sit on the floor. Before the movie was over, Matt and Bobby were both asleep. She wasn't too surprised, they'd had a long day, working harder than they were used to. Matt's head leaned against her leg, and she ran her fingers over his short hair, enjoying the feel of it under her fingertips. A fragment of song ran through her head. 'Someone's head resting on my knee... ' She froze, and slowly reached into her jacket pocket. The letter was still there. She unfolded the paper and tilted it to catch the light from the screen. It was there, all of it, in their own handwriting. Milk, real fresh milk from actual cows and not powder from a can. Hamburgers and french fries, with the fries still hot, right from the fryer. Eggs and toast, not just once either, but every day so far. Ammo, Matt had the ammo he asked for, and the safe place he'd wanted for all of them. She looked again at what she'd asked for. A room. A warm room. A big comfy chair. A stove with lots of coal, enough to keep the room warm all the time. Warm face, hands and feet. Chocolate. Someone to take care of her ... Valerie wiped the tears from her eyes and for the first time in a long time, she believed. ------- The End ------- Posted: 2011-11-13 Last Modified: 2011-12-17 / 09:10:16 pm ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------