Revolution (33 page)

             
I smiled and bit my lip as I agreed.

             
I found her o
n her pallet
with Bones laying on her stomach
, her head under the pillow and her covers t
hrow
n
over her. I patted her arm
and she must've known I'd be the one to follow her in because she said, "Sherry. Please make him be ok."

             
"Daniel's had centuries of training-"

             
She sat up. "I'm talking about Cain. And now I have to worry about Daniel, too." She sniffled. "Why would he…" She covered her mouth. "Oh, my gosh. That's why he…kissed me earlier. He was leaving and he knew it."

             
"He kissed you?" I asked.

             
She gave me a wry smile. "This is a little déjà vu, huh?"

             
"A little."

             
"He kissed me…and I thought he was letting me go, that he was going to stop tr
ying to be with me, b
ut he was saying goodbye."
She looked at me, her lip quivering. "Why do I feel so guilty that I couldn't love him back? Cain was
here
first and I love him.
I do, I love him
so
much.
I wouldn
't change anything about that. So why do I feel guilty?
"

             
I lay
down beside her and link
ed
my arm with hers. "Oh, Lillian. Trying to make order of the chaos that is love is like trying to figure out why chocolate ice cream makes your toes curl."

             
She chuckled and lay down beside me. "Ok, point taken."

             
We lay in companionable silence for a while. I wondered if she'd fallen asleep. Then she said, "I know Marissa said that Daniel would find Cain…and he'll be ok.
You believe her, don't you? Cain wi
ll be ok and he'll come home
to me
?"

             
"I know it's true. You can't lie to me.
It's just a matter of
when
he'll be here.
"
             
"Ok." She let a breath go
and paused as if thinking
. "
It's hard to just believe that and not worry. Not…think the worst." She started to choke up.

             
"Think of something else."

             
She sniffed. "
You know
…I really miss brownies.
"

             
I
burs
t out la
ughing
,
Lillian eventually joining me reluctantly. Even
the dog
barked
along with
us as if he were just as happy.

             
I felt myself being lifted. My head hung over a very warm arm and the rest of me was pressed to a warm chest that shook with laughter when I lifted my hand to his face. "Hey," he whispered to me as
he moved our sheet to the side.  "S
orry. I couldn't let Lillian keep you all night."

             
He laid me down and then lay beside me. "That's ok. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

             
"That's ok," he echoed. "You've had quite an ordeal," he joked. I'd been poking fun of people for saying that to me all day.

             
"Yes. Quite
." I laughed.

             
"So, was she all right?"

             
"Oh, you know. Love lost, love scorned, love come back again. We should start a soap opera.
The
Bunker Diaries
of the Apocalypse!
"

             
He laughed. "Too bad there's no one to watch it."

             
"Yeah, too bad. So," I started, "are you leaving in the morning to search for Cain?"
             
"Actually…no. Daniel'
s already gone after him and Marissa
assured me that in her vision, he finds Cain and Cain makes it home safely. So we thought it would
better suit our time to try and figure out this broadcasting deal. Maybe go and take a look at the station, see what we can find."

             
I nodded and yawned. "Yeah."

             
He pulled me to spoon with his front to my back. "Go back to sleep. We'll talk in the morning."
             

             
"You don't wanna…" I asked and wiggled against him
with a grin
.

             
He chuckled. "That’s not all my brain thinks about. Sometimes, I just want to hold you and know
that
you're safe," he squeezed me to him, "right here."

             
"Ok," I agreed. It was sad how tired I was and willing to give up.

             
He kissed
t
he back of my neck and spoke into my ear in a soft growl, "But in the morning, all bets are off
, sweetheart
."

             
I smiled and let his warmth carry me to sleep.

             
A
fter waking up to being deliciously wrapped a
round my husband as he promised, I had left
him there, exhausted, naked and asleep
in our blankets. I couldn't help but grin as I went to find Lily and get her some breakfast.

             
But she was already there with Calvin and Frank, munching down on some kind of granola bar that must've been in the boxes I brought.

             
Marissa and Jeff were reading a book
and feeding each other peach slices. Danny and Celeste were playing the slap-hands game and laughing. Ryan and Elli
e
were studiously avoiding each other
,
and Miguel and Rylee were watching each other openly over a crate marked 'Guns'.

             
I was slightly alarmed by that, but got my breakfast and made Merrick a bowl. Just in time, too, it seemed. I felt his hands on my waist from behind me.
I turned into him to thank him for…this morning, when we all stopped.

             
The squeal from the elevator was loud above all the other noise. Merrick shoved me behind him and motioned for Jeff to toss him a stake. Everyone got ready for a fight and waited.

             
The doors stopped with a thud that sounded wrong. It never made that noise when we rode it. I squeezed Merrick's arm as the doors creaked open to reveal Chesser. Chesser and a whole butt-load of people.

             
"Chesser?" I said and moved around Merrick. I looked at the posse gathered beh
ind him. There were at least twenty
. They looked scared, dirty and hungry.

             
"Hey," he smiled easily, "I assumed you took strays, otherwise…this will be awkward."
             

             
"Of course
, we just
…" I looked around. "I mean, it's nothing fancy."

             
Merrick and Jeff came to flank me. "Brother," Jeff said a man stepped forward. He was scraggily to say the last, but still managed to hug Jeff.

             
"Brother,
"
the man said and then looked at Merrick. They repeated the process and the
n
a woman came forward. Then another. At the end of introductions, there were five Keepers and only one Special. The rest were just rebels.

             
I pulled Chesser to the side a little to let them talk Keeper talk.

             
"What do you want us to do with them?"

             
"Just add them to the cause. Are you working on how to help us with the broadcast?"

             
"Yeah," I replied and smiled small. "Everybody's a little revved up about it."

             
"Good!" he shouted and laugh
ed. "We'll need all hands on dec
k for this thing."

             
"I know." I nodded my head t
o
the kitchen. "You hungry?"

             
"And steal the precious food you worked so hard to steal?" He grinned. "Nah, I'm good. But thanks."

             
"So
,
where did you find them?"

             
"They got stopped crossing the river. I was supposed to transport them to the nearest facility, but…" He shrugged. "I know things are tight here, but I didn't know where else to take them. And I'm hoping that we can get everything organized soon for the broadcast."

             
I nodded. "We're fine. They can stay. We'll wait to hear word from you."

             
"Alrighty."
He touched my arm and nodded before walking to the elevator. He explained to the newbies that he was leav
ing them there with us, but he would
see them soon. And then he was gone and the newbies and us were just staring at each other.

             
"Who wants some breakfast?" I ventured.

             
They all jumped at the chance for that and I proceeded to make a huge pot of oatmeal and even had sugar and cinnamon to add to it this time. It reminded me so much of how we used to be at the store. It reminded me of Trudy.

             
M
ore
rebels
added to the cause. Now we just had to figure out how to get word out. We had to figure out a way to make this work.