Torn (49 page)

Colin dreamt.

He dreamt of sunshine and popsicles.  Warm weather and his backyard. The
F
ourth of July was prominent on his mind, more so the last one and that’s what he dreamt.

Although
subconsciously
he knew he was
c
old,
because
someone in his dream kept saying, turn the air conditioning down.

But the dream was nice.

Darius. The kids. Grace.

The kids splashed in the pool while Colin grilled hot dogs.

Laughter.

Lots of it.

The whisper of his name in this dream caused him to awake and he sat up.
He
had fallen asleep at his desk chair.

So much time had passed
. Too much. He hadn’t reached
Darius
and the pilot said the weather was still too unpredictable to fly.

Colin was ready. On a whim to go to Pittsburgh with the pilot to see.

He had to visit the bunker.

He
had to know.

They went
through
phases
. First hopefulness, then
hopelessness
.

Twenty
-
some days
with
no word. No break in the
weather
to try to reach them. How much snow was
dumped
up
north?

He stretched
in his
chair
and
looked
at the clock. 5:00 a
.
m. Another day. Another day of drudging through, planning for a future and worrying
about
Darius and Bret. Another day of facing Bret’s kids and not having an answer.

Feeding the 44 people in the shelter and keeping spirits up.

He had become the leader against what
h
e wanted.

A knock.

A knock at the door started Colin.

He
assumed it was Casper. She had be
en suffering from nightmares la
tely, waking her and making her cry.

Colin did his best to
assure
her, but how well did he do when he himself was seeking assurance.

“
Colin
,” Virginia called out softly.

“Yes.” Colin, cracking voice
replied
.

The door opened.

At
first,
she was a mere shadow against the
hall light
. But then as she emerged, Colin saw she was smiling. H
e
stood
.

“What’s going on?”

She sighed out heavily
the
n
g
rinned. “The storm broke.”

They found an old movie and watched
it
, taking them into the late hours,
and then
Darius and Bret found a quiet corner and made love.

Being alone was difficult and they knew once they arrived down in Texas, they’d have a bit
more
privacy.

The tiny two
-
room quartered
-
off room
that
Darius deemed his and Bret’s was sounding like a castle after two weeks in the Bunker.

The temperature had risen to just above zero
,
and they were able to unblock windows.

The two spotlights on top of the bunker were the only light. No stars, no moon, total blackness.

Morning would break soon, another gray dismal day.

Cuddled under a down blanket together in a large comfy chair, Bret and Darius both stared out the tiny lab window at the reflection of the spotlights on the snow.
A small
lantern
added romantic lighting.

“One time,” Darius said in a whisper, his lips close to Bret’s ear as he
r
back snuggled against his chest. “Colin and I went hunting. A huge storm hit. Huge. We were stranded for four days. This reminds me of that only more severe.”

Bret chuckled. “Do you think animals survived?”

“Yeah. Many died. But, yeah, they found a way.
Trust
me they found a way.
I believe they
are
equipped with an instinct to prepare, like us.
They uh, stood more of a chance th
a
n people.”

“
How many died, Darius?”

Darius shrugged. “I know so many were
buried
trying
to make
it back north, and those who went south. God, Bret, I don’t want to think about it.”

“They’ll survive.”

“Yep. At any cost. But I can tell you, they’re on their own.”

“The
P
resident?”

“The
P
resident is running the new civilization at the GEP complex
,
wherever
that is
.”

Bret inhaled deeply. “We’ll be fine, though, right.”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Darius said.
“And we’ll make it south, eventually. We have enough food and water here for months.
Months. By then, things should
warm
up down south.”

“To forty.”

“Yeah,”
Darius
chuckled. “Maybe.”

His head cocked to the sounded of running footsteps. Both he and Bret
sat up,
bringing
the covers over them.

The
door opened.

“Mom!” Andi burst in
.

“What’s wrong
?
” Bret asked.

Darius
saw everyone in the hall. “Andi?”

Andi
extended
the satellite phone. “It’s Dr. Reye.”

T
he ringing of the phone woke everyone
,
a
n odd sound not heard in weeks. For as much
as
Colin
had
worried, those in the bunker did as well. Were their
counterparts
down s
outh alive? Was there really a
survival city
in Texas?

All
that was
answered with the ringing of the phone.

“My God, Darius, am I proud of you,” Colin spoke with
enthusiasm
over the speaker. “You did it. You got that little girl.
Did I tell you how excited I was to get a ring, and then when she answered
. . .
”

“Yes, yes, you did.”

Bret spoke up. “How are my
kids?
”

“Gre
at
,” Colin replied. “Doing well. Missing you. You folks are good
?
”

The group answered.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Colin said. “How much snow did you get?”

“More than we thought,”
Darius took the rei
ns of speaking. “We got worried a few days ago when we
moved the Humvee to this floor. But
the
snow
never
rose higher. We can actually walk right outside from
the
window
.”

“That’s amazing.”

“But we’re safe,
warm,
getting along. Not too bored.”

“Hmm. Yes. As I overheard you
are
still finding
time
to take
advantage of
Bret to
feign
off boredom.”

Off speaker
phone, Darius
,
with an embarrassed smile, grabbed the phone and lifted it. “Thank you for that.”

“
You’re
welcome for that. In all
seriousness
, I am
so
glad you're
fine.”

“Did you expect we wouldn’t
be?
”

“Not at all.
What’s
the
temperature
?”
Colin
asked
.

“Zero. There?”

“A
balmy
36.”

“
Above
freezing?”
Darius
questioned with enthusiasm. “That’s great.”

“And encouraging, yes.
Now tell me something encouraging. When do you think we’ll see you?”

Darius looked about the faces in the room, then to the window. He knew the journey was go
ing to be tough, long, and well
planned out. “Soon, Colin. Soon.”

Colin hung up the phone and admittedly wanted to dance a jig right there in his office
/
room.

But Virginia and the pilot were the only ones there.
Casper
and Luke went to spread the good news.

“I’m
very
happy for you, Colin,” Virginia said. “You have to
feel
relieved
.”

“I do. I do. I’ll be one hundred percent
relieved
once they arrive.”

“When will that be?”

“Who
knows?
He
has to wait
until
weather conditions permit. Where they won’t use too much fuel to stay warm.”

“Do they have enough?”

“They have the two tanks on top of the
H
umvees. They should have jus
t
enough.”

The pilot finally spoke. “How many folks are there?”

“Nine,” Colin replied.

“If they can get to Kentucky I can fly there. I looked at the map.”

“That’s excellent.”

“Yep.” He nodded. “But we got one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“The chopper is in the hanger. The hanger is buried, right along with us under twenty-five feet of snow.”

“Yes, that does present a problem.” Colin rubbed his chin
and smiled
. “Good
thing I thought a
head.”

Sun? Was that sun? The moment Martin received the ‘
p
ass it on’ chain message, he looked at the
monitor
,
and then
had to see for himself.

He
made his way from the interior of the mountain out into dome
city
.

Sure
enough,
people were cheering, wearing sunglasses, and dancing.

The sun was peeking through and the
cloud
-
spotted
sky was turning blue.

Martin smiled.

It was a new day and somewhat a new beginning. That was reiterated when he received a radio call from the President.

He led them to the GEP; he put it together, now Martin had another mission.
He had to come up wit
h
a plan that would lead them to the future.

No way
did Colin
expect over twenty feet of snow, but he didn’t
rule
it out.
That
was why he had that machinery in the west
t
unnel
,
a
B
obcat
and
a
tunnel digger. With a
blade
nine feet round, the
machine
would dig a circular hole eight feet in diameter, but it took a while. Through snow and
ice,
they made it a mere twenty feet a
day. The
barricade
wall they put up at the
tunnel
kept
the snow packed in.

It took five days to get outside, creating
a
tunnel of ice and snow all the way topside.

Then they had to dig out the hanger.

Colin knew or
rather
guessed
the odds of Darius and
the crew
arriving before
the
chopper
was dug out were
great
.
That was
until he kept getting
calls
that
they
got lost. Fearful that Darius
wouldn’t
find the
complex, they
unearthed
the flag pole
and secure
d
that on top of the hanger. The signal.

Two days
earlier,
he had a frustrating conversation with Darius.

“You’re not
Moses
, yes, I know,” Colin said. “And I understand there are no roads or streets signs.”

“It’s
fucking
frozen tundra out
here.
We’v
e nearly hit a building.”

They relied on navigation and compasses.

No visuals. N0
landmarks.

“We think we’re in
Louisiana
. We think,” Darius said the day before.
“What now?”

The best Colin could do was tell him go to the ocean and make a
right
.

That was the last time he heard from Darius. The check
-in calls were there
after made by a youthful sounding man named Gus.

Colin had just finished a cup of chicken soup when he got the radio call that they hit earth.

Which meant
they
’d
finally
dug out the hanger.

Sucking in tha
t last drop, he donned his coat
and made his way from the complex to the tunnel hall.

He heard it before he arrived.

That distinctive sound that
was
common over the last several days.

Laughter
.

Whoosh!

Children
’s
screams.

As he got to the snow
tunnel,
he stopped. He knew it was coming, he heard it and waited.

Sure enough,
full
speed
on a plastic
sled
came a
young
boy named
Marcus
, n
ine and fully padded
in a snow
suit.
He
screamed
with
delight
as he not only rode down the ice,
but also
slid onto the concrete floor another
fifteen
feet before he rolled
of
f another ten.

“You
okay
?” Colin asked.

“Oh
, yeah, I’m fine.” He stood up.

“Did you ice up my walking path?”

“Um
, , ,
no.”

“Um no.” Colin shook his
head
“I’m sure I’m
gonna
break a hip
,
thank you.”

Grabbing
the snow pole Colin embarked up the ice
tunnel
staying left on the gravel laid for traction.

Before reaching the top, Colin placed on his sunglasses to battle the bright sun.

It felt warmer, and it was. Pushing forty, he knew it would
n’t
be too long, maybe a month, before the snow was melted all together.

Then the snow
-
slide ride would turn into a water slide.

“Dr.
Reye
!” He heard the call of his name as he
emerged
.

The workers who were actually scientists and not men
who
dug ditches were standing above a hole.

They
’d
made
tons
of progress.

Colin smiled as he reached the
edge
. “You can reach it.”

“Yeah!” The pilot
shouted
from below. “Now I can scan the sky if she starts.”

Just about ready to embark down the ladder, Colin stopped. He heard the beeping. Continuously. A jolt hit his stomach and he
turned
.

Closing in were the two
H
umvees.

“Dare-Dare,” he
whispered
. It had been a month
,
and Colin ran.

Filled with glee and
enthusiasm
, Colin
didn't
stop
until
he
met up
with the Humvees and they stopped.

His h
eart raced when Bret and Darius
along with Andi stepped out.

“My God
.” Colin rushed them.

“Turn
right
at the ocean,” Darius shook his head and embraced Colin. “Good to see you.”

Colin didn’t want to let go. But he did, embracing Bret then
Andi
before meeting
the
others.

So few people. And he knew they ran across no one on their journey.

Colin grinn
ed e
ar to ear, a smile that was
frozen
by the emotions and the cold.

It didn’t matter that the world
fa
c
ed
extinction
, that it was frozen over, that very few were left.

What matter
ed
to Colin was the very few left.
He knew
they were safe and
that
they would survive and thrive.