Authors: MJ Fredrick
He had to get his shit together here. He’d been so sure that she’d be here, waiting for him, or hell, maybe even had left by now. He hadn’t allowed himself to think she might not have made it.
He was going to have to go after her. But first—
“I need to speak to your commander.”
In a matter of minutes, Aaron stood in the camp commander’s office, reminiscent of some of the barracks he’d been in overseas, probably designed by the same people. It wasn’t as neat as the trailer in Tacoma, but the way it was organized made him think of the commander offices he’d been in when he was in the service.
He’d been left alone, which he thought was odd. Must not be anything confidential in here, or else they didn’t expect him to snoop. Hell, he had no desire to snoop. He wanted to collect Kelly, and go find Eden.
Talk about a needle in a haystack. He dragged his hand over his shorn head and looked up as the door opened and a big man about ten years older than him stepped in. His square-shouldered posture confirmed Aaron’s suspicion that the guy was military, and he squashed the instinct to salute. He couldn’t stop himself from straightening, though, and the big man recognized the effort.
“What branch?” he asked.
“Navy, sir.”
The man stepped forward, hand outstretched. “Air Force. Adam Sheridan. I understand you’re here to relieve us of a couple of our residents.”
Aaron frowned. Not a couple. “Aaron Jenkins. I’m looking for Kelly McKay, sir. Her mother is ill and wants her to come home.”
“How’d you know to find her here?”
Aaron huffed out a laugh. “It’s been a journey, sir.”
“Yeah, well, we gave up hope on you last week.”
Aaron’s stomach clenched. “She’s still here, isn’t she?”
Sheridan walked behind his desk and looked across at Aaron. “She has no place else to go. Have a seat, tell me your story. I’ll order some supper.”
He wanted to see Kelly, to get going on his quest to find Eden, but his stomach had other ideas, so he sat. For the second time in a week, he told the story, pausing only when Sheridan used a walkie talkie to call for someone to bring them food. The fare was simple—soup—but with fresh vegetables, and he presumed fresh meat. He devoured it and the coffee, which he hadn’t had since they left the camp in Tacoma. Clearly the government cornered the market on caffeine.
“What’s your plan?”
“To collect her, then go find Eden. Christ, this mission was supposed to take a week. We’re going on a month here.”
“Your girl Eden—pretty resourceful?”
“Smart and tough, but there are smarter and tougher out there.”
“She could be anywhere.”
Something Aaron knew all too well. “She could. But we thought the same about Kelly, and here she is.”
“I’ll see about getting you some men, but you won’t be able to leave until first light tomorrow. They’re not trained for hard fighting. They can defend, but not attack. But they’ll be extra eyes for you.”
Aaron nodded, though waiting only increased the anxiety floating in his chest. “Can I see Kelly?”
“You bet.” Sheridan pushed himself out of his chair. “Ex-girlfriend, you say? And now you’ve lost her sister?”
Aaron squeezed his eyes shut. Yeah, this was not going to be a fun reunion.
Sheridan made another call on the walkie, and after long silent minutes, the door opened and Kelly McKay stepped in, followed by a tall thin man with dark hair and glasses.
The years had not been kind to Kelly—or maybe just the past year had overwhelmed her. Her dark blonde hair was long and lank, she was thinner than he’d ever seen her—and she’d been a cheerleader. Because of that, her eyes were shadowed and her skin dull, her mouth bracketed by lines. She was in her early thirties but looked older.
She glanced around the room, then rushed forward to embrace him. He hesitated a fraction of a second, then folded his arms around her. He waited to feel the familiarity he expected, but nothing was there. Odd, since they’d dated for two years in high school. But so much had changed.
Everything had changed.
She drew back and looked up at him, her hands still on his arms. “Where’s Eden? I thought she was the one coming for me.”
“We got separated, but we’re going to go find her before we get you home.”
“You got separated? What does that even mean?”
He blew out a breath. “It’s a long story. We met up with some other people and I needed to get one of them some place safe. Eden knew you were waiting, so we split up.”
Kelly’s expression hardened. “You left my baby sister alone out there?”
He stepped back, out of her reach, and forced himself to meet her gaze. “I didn’t want to. She insisted.”
“And you couldn’t stop a little girl?”
He shook his head. “You haven’t seen her in four years. Your father—he made sure she knows how to take care of herself.”
She pressed her lips together. “Then why are you worried?”
“Because no one should be alone out there.”
She studied him a long moment before she turned to include the thin man. “This is Geoff, my fiancé.”
Fiancé. He wondered if Eden had known about that, about another person traveling back with them. As it was, they were bringing back two strangers and a baby. Now another mouth to feed. But...Kelly’s fiancé. At least she’d had someone to get her through the past year.
“Geoff.” He offered a hand, leaning forward. The other man hesitated, then stretched out to take it. “We’ll be leaving in the morning. Have your things together.” He hoped Bill didn’t mind if he kept the truck just a little longer.
“Aaron, wait. There’s so much we need to catch up on.”
He was weary to the bone, and worried about Eden, though less worried about telling Kelly about his relationship with Eden. “Tomorrow. I need to get some sleep.” He turned to Sheridan. “You have a place for me to stay?”
He was directed to a barracks much like he’d lived in during basic training, where the single men slept. Families, he was told, got their own tent or trailer, as did couples, but there wasn’t enough for everyone.
This camp was much busier than the one in Tacoma, or even the one in Oregon. He saw as many people walking on his trek from the commander’s office to the barracks as had been in the mess tent at the Tacoma camp. Was it because Sacramento was warmer, or was California more dangerous, and people wanted the security of a government camp?
Despite his concern for Eden and the discomfort of the cot, as well as uneasiness about being around strangers, he fell asleep right away. When he opened his eyes, the barracks was dark. He hadn’t waited around last night to hear the rules, so he didn’t know when the mess opened. Since he hadn’t unpacked, and was unlikely to fall back asleep, he gathered his pack and slipped out past the other sleeping men.
The evening air had a nip. It was fall, now, he was pretty sure, though he didn’t know the date. He couldn’t even remember how long since they’d left the island. Too long.
He considered walking around, but didn’t want to explain himself to any patrols, so he headed for the center of camp. As he suspected, the mess was closed, but he sat on the ground outside, his pack in front of him. One of Eden’s pieces of fleece was in his pack, and he wrapped it around his shoulders, not caring that he looked like an idiot with the superhero fabric around him like a cape.
As he waited, hoping for coffee, he worked out a plan in his head. He needed a map to get the lay of the land, but he had the basics in mind. He’d take the truck part of the way, but he knew Eden was too smart to be on the main road.Still, crossing the land was just as dangerous. No telling who she’d run across. He just needed to find out which route she’d most likely taken, and hope she was still making her way south.
He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something had happened to her.
He rubbed his hands over his face and froze when he heard someone approach.
A man approximately the size of Mt. Ranier stood in front of him. Adrenaline kicked in, and Aaron positioned himself to get to his feet quickly.
“Hungry?” the man asked, reaching past to unlock the door to the mess.
“Hoping for coffee,” Aaron replied, rising slowly, heart rate slowing.
The big man grinned. “That’s what keeps ‘em around. No coffee out there, I hear.”
“None that I’ve found,” Aaron said.
“Come on in. I’ll make you coffee but I’ll put you to work.”
“Sounds fair.”
Aaron couldn’t remember the last time he’d cooked—he may have barbecued with Bev a time or two, but otherwise, he was pretty clueless. The big man, Cooper, patiently showed him what he wanted—powdered eggs mixed with fresh, cheese added in, canned meat on the griddle, mixed with chopped onions so it had a better flavor. Aaron wiped at his tearing eyes with the back of his wrist and Cooper laughed.
“How many people are you feeding here?” Aaron asked.
“We’re right around eight thousand, I think.”
“Have you been here since the beginning?”
The other man was silent for a bit, and Aaron thought he might not answer.
“Pretty close to it. Took some hardships before I realized I couldn’t survive on my own out there.”
“Is your family here?”
“My sons. My wife died when we couldn’t get insulin. Both of us were just too stubborn for too long. Now I control my diabetes with diet, but there have been some bad days.”
“You think we’ll get things up and running again?”
Cooper stilled and looked at him. “You’ve been out there more than me. What do you think?”
Aaron shook his head. “It will take a lot of work at this point.”
“That’s what I think, too.”
Cooper’s regular helpers came in then, one of his sons, Dan, and a young woman, Brittney. Aaron thought they might have been a couple, but didn’t have a chance to ask as the first of the breakfast crowd came in. He was shown how to serve limited portions, and understood why Kelly was so thin.
When Sheridan came in and beckoned to him, Aaron removed his apron and joined the other man.
“Keeping busy?” Sheridan asked with a small smile.
“Not much good at staying idle. You get me some extra eyes?”
“About a dozen. They’re meeting up in front of my office at oh-eight-hundred. You have a plan?”
“Travel north, off the main road, until I find her.”
Sheridan nodded. “I want my men back by nightfall.”
Aaron’s stomach clenched. “Will they have their own vehicles? Because I’m going to look until I find her.”
“And what if you don’t?” Sheridan asked reasonably, just as Kelly and her fiancé walked into the mess and met his gaze. “What if something’s happened to her?”
“Then there’s hell to pay.” He rose as Kelly approached the table, shoulders back, chin up, looking more like the girl he’d once known.
“We’re coming with you to find Eden.”
He opened his mouth to protest. The two of them hadn’t been beyond the fences of the refugee camp in months. What did they know of the world out there? Of course, he didn’t know if the men Sheridan was giving him were any stronger, didn’t know if they’d been beyond the fences. And at least Kelly would be determined. The fiancé, he wasn’t so sure about.
“We’re packed, and we’ll do whatever you tell us,”she continued when he didn’t say anything. “She’s my sister, and I need to find her.”
If she felt like that, why hadn’t she tried to get home instead of coming to California? He meant to ask, but not in front of strangers. Instead, he nodded. “We’re leaving at eight. Meet in front of the commander’s office.”
She rolled her eyes. “We don’t have a clock. And stop trying to push me away. I have questions.”
He swallowed his impatience. “Fine.” He rose and motioned for her to precede him out of the mess.
He wasn’t looking forward to this. This woman, who he’d known so well, was a stranger, and she’d not be happy to know he’d fallen in love with her sister.
She headed toward a cabin, but he guided her away, near the fence. He was too accustomed to being outside these days, and being inside felt suffocating.
“What happened between you and my sister? Why did you come to California with her and then leave her?”
“I told you. I had other responsibilities, a woman with a baby. We agreed to split up, and rejoin when we could.”
“Where is this woman and baby?”
“Someplace safe. I thought Eden would be here by now. She should have been.”
Kelly’s spine snapped even straighter. “So you think something happened to her?”
“I don’t know. I’m going out there to make sure nothing has.”
“A little late, don’t you think?”
He turned on her. “And if you’d come home instead of coming to California when this all happened, none of us would be here right now.”
She tucked her chin in, and tears flooded her eyes. “I didn’t know how to get home. There’s no way we could have sailed on our own, and you don’t know what it was like then, Aaron. People were losing their minds. We couldn’t trust anyone. We had to wait days to get into the refugee camp and those were the most terrifying days of my life. People were dying just because of the possessions they had, just because they had food. Don’t judge me because I wanted to live.”