Adrian's Undead Diary (Book 6): In the Arms of Family (37 page)

“Look Luis. This isn’t our home. We have spent a long time here, caring for your people, fixing things, protecting you from the living and the dead, and that has to count for something. We need to get home to try and find our families too. Take care of our own children and families. If you are that worried about your own safety, we have some room on the plane. We can easily take you to America with us,” Jaden said quietly. He didn’t think anyone was there with them, but it still wasn’t worth risking.

Luis rubbed his hands together nervously. Jaden could hear the sweaty palms slide over one another in the darkness of the building. In between the ticks of the clock he could hear a pin drop. Poor conflicted Luis thought long and hard about the offer Jaden put forth before answering him. He looked to the doorway a tenth time to ensure no one was standing there listening. “I need time to think about this Mr. Jaden. I cannot just move my wife and son. My mother and my sister would have to go as well, and then there is the issue of my brother in law as well. It is not a small thing.” Luis had a thick Portuguese accent and Jaden struggled to decipher it.

“That’s a problem Luis. We can’t take that many people. That’s too much weight. What if we left some supplies? There are medical books in the clinic in town I’m sure, and the nurse Rosa you introduced me to has to know how to do the most common things. You think it is selfish of us to want to leave to be with our families, but it is equally selfish of you to keep us here like this for your families. You can’t keep us hostage here much longer. Eventually my people will run out of patience. You don’t want my people to run out of patience Luis. We are not the kind of people who deal well with being held hostage,” Jaden offered quietly. Immediately he felt like he’d said too much. He hoped Luis didn’t feel threatened.

Luis thought once again, contemplating what Jaden meant, and seemed to like this plan. “That should work. We have been very unfair to you and your people. You are right. We would need a fair amount of supplies. I can bring this part you need tomorrow when you open the clinic, and if you give me the medicine then, we can trade. We should do this after. When everyone is leaving. Everyone knows you and your people want to leave, and if they see me give you the part, they will know it means you are leaving soon.”

Jaden nodded in agreement. “That’ll be fine. We can wait until everyone has left, and you can get the part from your car. We’ll keep the medicine out of sight, and once everyone is clear, we can do the swap. We’ll leave at night. No one will be the wiser.”

And with that, Luis left. Jaden had the refreshed hope that maybe, just maybe they would be able to get off this damn island, and head home. The paranoia here was awful.

*****

“Tomorrow the part is coming,” Jaden said to the gathered group of men and women just outside the hangar they’d turned into a home. "Luis assures me." Every night after finishing up their work at the clinic in the terminal everyone gathered around a fire pit they had made. It was their way of communicating everything. Their way to be a family.

Kate, Kevin and Michelle, the leaders of this band of pilgrims took the words in with a smile. It was bittersweet on many levels. The last time they were this close to leaving it turned sour, and here they sat again. Never mind the simple human aspect that this was the safest and happiest they had been in a year.
Granted,
Kevin thought,
it wasn’t all that safe, or that happy.

“Bad news is, Luis will get strung the fuck up if we leave after getting this part, and we can’t take him with us either. I feel bad for the little man. I mean he’s already going bald, and now we’re gonna get him killed,” Jaden smirked, tipping up a bottle of the now rare local beer. His face soured when he tasted the bitter, overly hoppy swill.

Roger, one of Jaden’s men snorted hard, “Fuck that beaner. He’s been slow rolling the parts we need to keep us here this long. How is it that he randomly finds the part we’ve been asking for now, after all the time we’ve been pushing to get it? This island ain’t that fucking big. He needs to shit or get off the pot, otherwise we’re all gonna lose patience, and go into that fucking town and FIND that part. Sick of waiting for these assholes.”
 

The response to Roger’s outburst was mixed. Some immediately agreed with him, chomping at the bit to get the hell off the island. Others winced at the thought of wading into the town armed to the teeth, regardless of the potential benefit.

“Roger and Jaden do raise an interesting point,” Michelle said quietly, silencing the group gathered around the fire. “What if the locals decide to stop us from leaving? Do we kill them to leave? Are we prepared to murder these people to go home?”

More silence.

“Absolutely," Kate said, looking Michelle in the face. Michelle looked at her for a long moment, gauging the seriousness of her statement. Michelle looked away, unable to hold the other woman’s stern gaze.

“Michelle, none of us ever want to hurt anyone," Kevin said. "We may be warriors, soldiers, Marines, whatever, but the bottom line is we visit violence only when necessary to protect ourselves, protect our friends and family, and to achieve the mission that’s put in front of us. We need to get home, and we need to do it while we know the runways are clear of snow. We aren’t going to assemble The Trinity here, are we?” Kevin said softly, holding Becky’s hand.

“We don’t know we won’t find the Soul here Kevin. It seems silly to kill people just to leave. Our life here isn’t that bad. We can do good here. We can start fresh here. Build things back again. This isn’t the worst place we can stay,” Michelle pleaded to the group, looking intently back and forth from Kate to Kevin.

“Then stay here. If you want to make a run at life in the Azores, losing your weight would help our fuel consumption when we head to America,” Kate said flatly. She was open and hostile.

Michelle looked back to Kate, her feelings stung. It was the first time anyone had ever seen her emotionally hurt in the least. Michelle was a stalwart.

“Michelle, you know we need to meet this Soul person together right? To unite this Trinity or whatever, correct?” Kevin asked her.

“Right. All three of us,” Michelle added.

“I’m going to America when that plane behind us can get in the air. So unless you want to be the one that goes against the word of whatever the fuck is running this freak show of a world, then plan on doing whatever is necessary to be on that plane with me when it starts moving.” Kevin looked at Michelle, daring her to argue, knowing fully she couldn’t spar the point with him. Michelle’s dedication to the idea of uniting this mythical Trinity that she and Kevin were a part of was complete. Kevin watched as she nodded slowly, her heart heavy.

Hal, the British Royal Marine who had joined their group in England, stood up to stretch. “Look mates. This is all raw, and total shite. We sit here every night , angry and scared that these bloody people are going to come at us. Simple fact is, they can’t. If they come at us, they know they’ll get shot, or we’ll get hurt, and that is something they can’t hack. Their best bet is to come after the plane and fuck it up so no one gets hurt, and no one can leave. I say we post guard on the bird 24/7, fix it, test it late at night, and take off as soon as possible. This won’t be the first time, or the last time we leave people behind. Remember my unit in London?”

Everyone agreed quietly with the Brit. He made a lot of sense as usual, showing wisdom beyond his age. Kevin wasn’t even sure how old he was, but he couldn’t be more than 23 or 24. Kevin smiled as he remembered how fast war and death can mature a person.
 

Jaden took over from there. “I like it. We get the part tomorrow after I shut the clinic down, assuming Luis comes through for us. Dale tests the part, installs the part tomorrow night or the day after, and the next time we have darkness, we try the plane out and fly immediately off this rock. Between now and then, if anything that looks even a little bit like a living person comes anywhere near this fucking hangar, we put a tiny hole in its forehead, and a big hole in the back of their head. Sound good?”

No one could argue the logic. Not even Michelle.

*****

[TRANSLATED FROM PORTUGUESE]

“They’re leaving.” Luis said to his wife Mila as she stirred the watercress soup. It was a local delicacy, her specialty, and luckily, it was still readily made.

Mila shook her head slowly in disappointment. “They need to go home too. They aren’t from here. The fact that they have been here as long as they have is a blessing we should not forget. Had you given them what they asked for months ago like you should’ve, we would not be so afraid of them leaving now. We have become dependent on them,” Mila said as she spooned out a ladle of her homemade soup for her husband.

Luis nodded, knowing and accepting his guilt in the whole matter. “I know. I will give them the part tomorrow, and they will leave within a day or two of that. We will find a way to live without them I suppose.”
 

Mila and Luis’ ten year old son sat down at the table in the dark kitchen and Mila spooned him a large bowl of the soup. The bowl was far larger than both her and her husband’s. The children would eat hearty here, even if it meant the parents would starve. “Luisinho eat it all. Please don’t waste a drop of it. It was very difficult to make.” Mila pinched the boy’s cheek playfully and the dark haired boy recoiled.
 

“Mom! Don’t pinch me like that. I’m not a little boy anymore. I have killed the dead, I am a man now,” Luisinho said proudly as he scooped up a large spoon of the soup.

Mila and Luis smiled painfully. That was not a statement either parent wanted their child to ever say.

*****

That night as Michelle dreamt she was visited by strangers in a place that was very familiar to her. The simple glory of The White Room had not faded in the least in the time she had been away from it. The ambient light and golden warmth surrounded her from all sides as she realized she was sitting once more at the comforting round table. In the dream she felt her heart race, excited that the presence of the dead or the divine was near. She blinked the dream out of her eyes and saw the two other people at the table with her. She didn’t recognize them.

“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find people halfway around the world like this, young lady?” An old balding man asked her. He had thin white hair and a face that reminded her of long Sundays fishing at a lake, and difficult talks about growing up. Michelle instantly liked him.

“No, I’m sorry. I have no idea how hard it is,” Michelle answered him softly with a slightly confused smile on her face.

“It’s damn hard. Really damn hard,” the old man said as he rested his hands on the table and Michelle saw the age written on them. He had thin skin, and his veins weaved their way to and fro down the length of bony fingers. She wondered what his hands did in life.

“I’m Gilbert. You’re the Savior aren’t you? Tell me you’re the Savior. What’s your name? I don’t have a lot of time to talk here,” the man named Gilbert asked her, pressing her for the info he seemed to desperately need.

“Yeah. I was told I was called the Savior by some. My name is Michelle. Why are you here?” Michelle was surprised to hear that word, Savior, again.

“Holy shit we found her Gavin," Gilbert said to the man Michelle suddenly saw sitting next to the old figure. She turned her attention to him and took the new man in. He was young, perhaps 20 or 24 at most, and was tall, and fairly handsome. He looked tired, but very relieved. A man who had just finished a marathon. Gavin nodded happily, relieved at their discovery of her.

“Is there something I can help you with?” Michelle asked, very much lost.

“Sort of. You’re on a boat? Or maybe on an island right? It’s hard for us to tell," Gilbert asked her.

“I’m in the Azores. I’m with the Warden too. We’re planning on leaving to go to America soon, but our plane needs a part. We are supposed to get the part tomorrow,” Michelle told the two men.

“Wow. I can’t believe all this shit is real Gilbert. I mean wow," the young man named Gavin said to the old man next to him. Michelle smiled at his epiphany. She’d had a moment similar to his herself.

Gilbert nodded knowingly. “You two need to get moving. The Soul has rough times ahead. We can’t quite make what it is out yet, but he’s going to be in great danger, and it might take the Warden to save him.”

“It’s a he? The Soul is definitely a man? What is his name?” Michelle’s heart started throbbing in her breast. This was the person she might fall in love with, restore hope with, and maybe, just maybe, save humanity with.

“Tsk-tsk Michelle. It’s far too early in the dance to cop a feel. Too many rules, too many chaperones watching. Leave room for Jesus. I’ll just say he is a man, and one hell of a man too. A little rough around the edges, but boy, you’re gonna like him after you figure him out,” Gilbert said with a sly grin.

“What’s he like?” Michelle asked softly, secretly wishing the old man would share at least that one little secret.

“He’s kind of an asshole,” Gavin interjected.

Gilbert gave the young soldier a dirty look before answering her, “He’s tall, strong, smart, and funny. He carries the biggest burdens, and it weighs him down mightily. But it won’t sink him. He has too much love, and too much support from everyone around him. People are starting to see him for what he is now. It’s something special.” By the time Gilbert finished, he had a warm, glowing smile almost as magical as the room they were sitting in. Michelle clutched both of her hands to her chest, warmed by the idea of meeting this person.

“I maintain he can still be an asshole. But Gilbert’s right, he is pretty special. I died for him after all. You’ll see when you meet him,” Gavin said. This time Gilbert just nodded begrudgingly in agreement.
 

Michelle snickered. “Where is he?” She asked.