The Radix
And one more for the day...
Jack sat watching the waves lap the shore as the tide slowly went out. It was hours after sunset and their camp was dead silent. Lex had gone back to the boat though there seemed little point in watching over Trader and Ram. He was mostly there to look after Ruby and to occupy himself. Salene had roasted Lex's turkey but no one felt much like eating. Slade was taking care of Ebony, using Trudy's advice by bringing her fever down with cold water. Most everyone was exhausted with worry but no one was wanting to go to bed. The majority sat around the fire lost in their own thoughts. Lottie, who was not only missing Ruby but also worried for the older girl's welfare, stayed close to Salene. She couldn't keep her eyes open as she dozed but she refused to go into one of the huts alone. Trudy sat near them while Brady slept in her arms. Just before her little eyes closed she'd complained that her tummy hurt. There would be no sleeping for Trudy as she refused to take her eyes off her daughter. Darryl was the only one who seemed able to sleep soundly having exhausted himself by hunting down wood and building with Jack. Though he tried to fight it he slipped off while watching the light of the fire reflect in May's depressed eyes. Sammy continued to feed the blaze as Gel watched, feeling comforted by his familiar presence. While she may have been somewhat clueless about what was happening around her, the mood of the usually optimistic tribe had her scared.
"Amber?"
Jay approached her quietly as she stood staring out at the sea. Her arms were wrapped around her body in attempt to keep from falling apart at the seams. He came from behind and enveloped her frame in his arms. She welcomed the warmth of his embrace as she caught a falling star out the corner of her eye. She closed her lids tightly and silently wished for the life of her son. Not for herself, not for the tribe. Just for her child. Neither of them spoke, for there were no words that would mean anything right now. Jay didn't know what would happen to them all. He did know that if certain death were to be their fate he wanted to savor this moment. Just he and the woman he loved together on the shore staring into nature's beautiful darkness.
Jack dug a stone out of the sand and shot it into the surf. The Mallrats had gone through so much together, surviving one tribe after another that threatened to wipe them out. They'd lost people along the way but they were still standing. And now at the end of all things they would die of the very thing that brought them together in the first place: a virus. The irony was enough to make him scream, though he was sure Dal would have gotten a small kick out of it.
"Hey,"
Jack looked up as Ellie sat beside him. The sea breeze was gently blowing strands of her honey wheat hair every which way. He marveled at just how beautiful she really was; the lovely woman she'd become in the time he'd known her. Jack knew he would never recall what she was wearing at the moment but he would never forget how amazing she looked. She happily welcomed the arm he offered and sighed contentedly as she rested against his chest. This was what made life worth living. Somehow despite all their bickering, cuddling was the one thing the couple did flawlessly. She thought about when they'd first discovered one another, still young and naïve when it came to love. They had stayed up all night chatting on walkie-talkies, neither wanting to say goodnight to the other, long before their young love was tested to it's very core. Somehow, even then, she knew that at the end it would always come down to Jack. She curled tighter into his embrace and swallowed back a sob.
"I'm scared" she whispered not even sure if he heard it or if her words were lost in the wind.
Jack smirked in spite of himself. "Remember my lucky whistle?"
Ellie frowned; "Yeah?" She couldn't remember exactly when she'd lost it. Perhaps it was when the Technos had erased her memory in the labor camp. "What about it?"
He handed her a small pebble of Formica rock. Even in the moonlight it glittered prettily. Ellie stared at the piece of earth as it reflected the faint light available. It was the sort of thing a child might collect for no other reason than its being pretty.
"That's my lucky pebble." Jack kissed her forehead. "It'll keep you safe."
Ellie couldn't help but smile at his silly attempt to comfort her. "I'll keep it forever."
She said it as a joke though deep within she knew that if they were to live through this, that rock would never leave her side. Jack went back to staring at the black horizon as Ellie pulled out a near empty, one gallon water jug.
"Thirsty?" she offered.
He shook his head without looking and she took a swig herself. In his peripheral vision he caught his initials on the jug. He stared at Ellie surprised.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Your bag" she answered simply, drinking again.
"My bag?" Jack sat up straighter. "Have you been drinking that the whole time?"
Ellie nodded slightly narrowing her eyes at him. "You didn't really think you could hide a water stash from me did you?"
"You've been drinking from that jug the whole time?" he asked again.
She frowned at his odd tone. "Since we got off the boat, yeah. What's the big deal? We engage in germ swapping activities a lot more risqué than sharing a jug of water!"
Jack stood up as a thought occurred to him. Ellie watched him as he began mumbling incoherently in his usual genius ramble. She stood and followed him as he went to the hut where he'd left his pack.
"Jack?"
"I need a torch." He murmured excitedly and smiled when he pulled out his flashlight. Then he turned and headed into the woods.
"Where are you going?" she called after him.
"I have to see something!" he called back over his shoulder.
"Jack!"
Those around the fire watched Ellie chase after the befuddled scientist with little interest.
"Where they going?" Sammy asked curiously.
"Into the woods I think." Salene yawned and looked back at the flames. Lottie stirred at her side.
"At night?" Sammy frowned. "Why?"
"Prob'ly to have a little fun before we all die" May answered sardonically.
Ram stood on the boat deck staring at the encampment on the beach. When Lex had arrived and told them the bad news he ranted for nearly an hour as he paced the deck. Neither Trader nor Lex had paid him any mind as they disappeared to other parts of the boat. Though Lex brought food and water with him, Ram was too angry to eat as he was sure he wouldn't keep it down anyway. He was still angry, though it had calmed to a strange sort of acceptance. They were going to die and there was nothing he nor anyone else could do about it. Death came for them all eventually and he'd eluded it long enough. He wondered what it would be like in the last moments. Would it be painful? Messy? He remembered how the virus had taken his parents and cringed.
From his angle he could see Jay and Amber standing at the shore, though they were nothing but shadowed silhouettes with little detail. He envied the fact that they each had someone whom they loved, to be there for them when the time came. Someone who would give a damn when they were gone. Now that Java was gone he had no one. He didn't even have a friend. What a lonely way to go. Ram sighed and turned his eyes away. It seemed as though loneliness was his permanent state of being.
Trader hadn't taken the news of the virus any more pleasantly than Ram. His first reaction was to get his boat out of there.
"You're not going anywhere" Lex had told him.
Trader insisted pointing out that he wasn't even sick. He cursed the so-called plague carriers for getting him into this mess. Lex curtly countered that if it wasn't for him and his fellow "plague carriers" Trader might not have even known to evacuate the city. If it wasn't for them he might already be dead.
"I don't care!" Trader yelled. "Get off my boat and take that sick girl with you!"
The two men got into quite a scuffle before Lex was able to get the upper hand. He held Trader down by his throat and threatened to stave in his skull with a mallet.
"Let me make myself clear" he hissed, "You try to leave this cove without us and I'll kill you!"
A strange threat considering that death was imminent for them all; but Trader got the point and skulked off on his own. Lex left Ram to his personal tirade and went below to check on Ruby. He wasn't any good at first aid but he tried to remember what Trudy said and placed cool cloths on Ruby's forehead. She took some water but no food. He stayed with her for hours as a distraction from his thoughts. Now he sat on the bow of the boat, his legs hanging out over the edge. All he could see was the darkness of the sea, and he wondered of places beyond his knowledge. How had the virus affected those other cities and towns? Had the children there faired better than his kin?
Unlike the others Lex wasn't upset about dying. It was hard to get upset about something that had become an accepted part of life. Certainly it was in his nature to fight and he knew when it came down to it, his body would not give up the ghost easily. Still, having faced death too many times to count, he couldn't find the energy to get riled up about it. He thought of others who'd gone on before him, and how fortunate they were not to have to see these times. Though it broke his heart to think of Zandra and his unborn child, there was a comfort in knowing that his son/daughter didn't have to live through the Guardian and the Chosen, or the Technos. Both of them were free and spared such atrocities. He imagined Tai-San, if she were really dead, now one with nature and happy in her element. Even Siva was better off and no longer in pain over the wedge between her sisters. Perhaps those he loved were simply too... pure to survive in such a world. He smiled painfully as their faces danced before him.
"I'll be with you soon..."
"Jack..." Ellie stumbled after him through the dark forest. "Where are we going?"
He mumbled something she didn't hear and kept going. They were following the stream uphill, making their way around the rocks and fallen branches. Ellie's skirt continually caught on sharp edges of rock and she was sure it would be shredded when and if they ever emerged. She managed to keep up with Jack's frenetic pace by clinging tenaciously to the hem of his jacket. She thought for a moment she'd seen glowing eyes in the dark and imagined wolves and other wild animals hunting for food.
"Jack?" she said again if only to hear his voice.
"Just ahead" he mumbled.
Fifteen minutes of walking and the ground was starting to level out, the stream widening until they were upon a large pond. Jack had to stop walking so as not to step right into the water. He swung the flashlight around, searching for something as Ellie panted at his side. Suddenly he stopped, the beam of light resting on what he was looking for. A small smile spread over his lips. A large dome of tree branches and foliage sat in the middle of the pond. As though someone had collected it for a bonfire and tossed it into the water instead.
"What is it?" Ellie whispered.
"It's a beaver dam." Jack almost laughed finding it impossible to suppress the happiness in his voice.
Ellie squinted, "We came here for this? What does this have to do with anything?"
Jack turned to her without taking the light off the dam. "Beaver fever!"
"Beaver what?" Jay held his hand up to block the light of the flashlight Jack accidentally shone into his eyes.
Nearly everyone was awake after Jack and Ellie's exuberant return from their adventure. They both had burst from the trees calling the names of their tribesmen and laughing near hysterically. Only Darryl, Gel, Bray and Ebony still slept. Even Brady was rubbing her eyes in her mother's arms.
"What in the world?" Salene asked.
May eyed the couple suspiciously; "I'm never that happy after I've done it!"
"Beaver fever" Ellie said with a big smile as Jack lowered the flashlight.
"What's that?" Sammy frowned.
"It's something that campers sometimes get when they drink from water in the woods" Jack explained in a rush. "When Ellie told me she hadn't drunk from the stream it made sense that she wasn't sick since I haven't drunk from the stream either. I still have my own water supply from the city; and as far as I know so does Trader..."
"You're saying it's the water?" Amber queried.
"Yes!" Ellie and Jack exclaimed together.
"Sometimes when animals use a water supply for..." Jack made an awkward face, "Their business... it flows down stream. It breaks up and turns invisible but the bacteria is still there. Somebody drinks it and gets extremely sick..."
"Like food poisoning?" Slade interjected.
"Exactly" Jack nodded.
"Oh my God" Salene slapped her forehead "We haven't been boiling the water!"
"Right" Jack nodded again.
"How could we forget something so important?" Amber asked still unsure how to take the news.
"We were so happy to find fresh water it just slipped our minds" Salene said, an embarrassed flush growing in her cheeks.
"Is this beaver thing fatal?" May narrowed her eyes.
"No" Jack almost laughed, "Though it's no wonder you're only getting worse without any clean water to drink."
"So we're not gonna die?" Lottie asked hopefully clinging to Salene.
"No" Ellie smiled down at her.
Trudy sighed relieved along with the rest of her friends as she gazed tearfully at her child. Amber near collapsed into Jay's arms, the relief flooding through her body and making her weak with happiness. She wanted to sob from all the pent-up anxiety but settled for squeezing him and feeling his arms squeeze back.
"Jack you're a star!" Salene grinned at him.
"You genius!" May exclaimed. She grabbed his face with both hands and planted a wet kiss on his flustered lips. "I love you!"
The group laughed as Jack turned a rare shade of red and stuttered an unsure 'Thank you'. Ellie took his hand and gazed at him, her eyes saying the same thing. Jack grinned back.
"Okay we have to start boiling water now." Amber spoke up assuming command. "The sooner we get clean water into our systems the better."
chap one chap two chap three chap four chap five chap six
Jack sat watching the waves lap the shore as the tide slowly went out. It was hours after sunset and their camp was dead silent. Lex had gone back to the boat though there seemed little point in watching over Trader and Ram. He was mostly there to look after Ruby and to occupy himself. Salene had roasted Lex's turkey but no one felt much like eating. Slade was taking care of Ebony, using Trudy's advice by bringing her fever down with cold water. Most everyone was exhausted with worry but no one was wanting to go to bed. The majority sat around the fire lost in their own thoughts. Lottie, who was not only missing Ruby but also worried for the older girl's welfare, stayed close to Salene. She couldn't keep her eyes open as she dozed but she refused to go into one of the huts alone. Trudy sat near them while Brady slept in her arms. Just before her little eyes closed she'd complained that her tummy hurt. There would be no sleeping for Trudy as she refused to take her eyes off her daughter. Darryl was the only one who seemed able to sleep soundly having exhausted himself by hunting down wood and building with Jack. Though he tried to fight it he slipped off while watching the light of the fire reflect in May's depressed eyes. Sammy continued to feed the blaze as Gel watched, feeling comforted by his familiar presence. While she may have been somewhat clueless about what was happening around her, the mood of the usually optimistic tribe had her scared.
"Amber?"
Jay approached her quietly as she stood staring out at the sea. Her arms were wrapped around her body in attempt to keep from falling apart at the seams. He came from behind and enveloped her frame in his arms. She welcomed the warmth of his embrace as she caught a falling star out the corner of her eye. She closed her lids tightly and silently wished for the life of her son. Not for herself, not for the tribe. Just for her child. Neither of them spoke, for there were no words that would mean anything right now. Jay didn't know what would happen to them all. He did know that if certain death were to be their fate he wanted to savor this moment. Just he and the woman he loved together on the shore staring into nature's beautiful darkness.
Jack dug a stone out of the sand and shot it into the surf. The Mallrats had gone through so much together, surviving one tribe after another that threatened to wipe them out. They'd lost people along the way but they were still standing. And now at the end of all things they would die of the very thing that brought them together in the first place: a virus. The irony was enough to make him scream, though he was sure Dal would have gotten a small kick out of it.
"Hey,"
Jack looked up as Ellie sat beside him. The sea breeze was gently blowing strands of her honey wheat hair every which way. He marveled at just how beautiful she really was; the lovely woman she'd become in the time he'd known her. Jack knew he would never recall what she was wearing at the moment but he would never forget how amazing she looked. She happily welcomed the arm he offered and sighed contentedly as she rested against his chest. This was what made life worth living. Somehow despite all their bickering, cuddling was the one thing the couple did flawlessly. She thought about when they'd first discovered one another, still young and naïve when it came to love. They had stayed up all night chatting on walkie-talkies, neither wanting to say goodnight to the other, long before their young love was tested to it's very core. Somehow, even then, she knew that at the end it would always come down to Jack. She curled tighter into his embrace and swallowed back a sob.
"I'm scared" she whispered not even sure if he heard it or if her words were lost in the wind.
Jack smirked in spite of himself. "Remember my lucky whistle?"
Ellie frowned; "Yeah?" She couldn't remember exactly when she'd lost it. Perhaps it was when the Technos had erased her memory in the labor camp. "What about it?"
He handed her a small pebble of Formica rock. Even in the moonlight it glittered prettily. Ellie stared at the piece of earth as it reflected the faint light available. It was the sort of thing a child might collect for no other reason than its being pretty.
"That's my lucky pebble." Jack kissed her forehead. "It'll keep you safe."
Ellie couldn't help but smile at his silly attempt to comfort her. "I'll keep it forever."
She said it as a joke though deep within she knew that if they were to live through this, that rock would never leave her side. Jack went back to staring at the black horizon as Ellie pulled out a near empty, one gallon water jug.
"Thirsty?" she offered.
He shook his head without looking and she took a swig herself. In his peripheral vision he caught his initials on the jug. He stared at Ellie surprised.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Your bag" she answered simply, drinking again.
"My bag?" Jack sat up straighter. "Have you been drinking that the whole time?"
Ellie nodded slightly narrowing her eyes at him. "You didn't really think you could hide a water stash from me did you?"
"You've been drinking from that jug the whole time?" he asked again.
She frowned at his odd tone. "Since we got off the boat, yeah. What's the big deal? We engage in germ swapping activities a lot more risqué than sharing a jug of water!"
Jack stood up as a thought occurred to him. Ellie watched him as he began mumbling incoherently in his usual genius ramble. She stood and followed him as he went to the hut where he'd left his pack.
"Jack?"
"I need a torch." He murmured excitedly and smiled when he pulled out his flashlight. Then he turned and headed into the woods.
"Where are you going?" she called after him.
"I have to see something!" he called back over his shoulder.
"Jack!"
Those around the fire watched Ellie chase after the befuddled scientist with little interest.
"Where they going?" Sammy asked curiously.
"Into the woods I think." Salene yawned and looked back at the flames. Lottie stirred at her side.
"At night?" Sammy frowned. "Why?"
"Prob'ly to have a little fun before we all die" May answered sardonically.
Ram stood on the boat deck staring at the encampment on the beach. When Lex had arrived and told them the bad news he ranted for nearly an hour as he paced the deck. Neither Trader nor Lex had paid him any mind as they disappeared to other parts of the boat. Though Lex brought food and water with him, Ram was too angry to eat as he was sure he wouldn't keep it down anyway. He was still angry, though it had calmed to a strange sort of acceptance. They were going to die and there was nothing he nor anyone else could do about it. Death came for them all eventually and he'd eluded it long enough. He wondered what it would be like in the last moments. Would it be painful? Messy? He remembered how the virus had taken his parents and cringed.
From his angle he could see Jay and Amber standing at the shore, though they were nothing but shadowed silhouettes with little detail. He envied the fact that they each had someone whom they loved, to be there for them when the time came. Someone who would give a damn when they were gone. Now that Java was gone he had no one. He didn't even have a friend. What a lonely way to go. Ram sighed and turned his eyes away. It seemed as though loneliness was his permanent state of being.
Trader hadn't taken the news of the virus any more pleasantly than Ram. His first reaction was to get his boat out of there.
"You're not going anywhere" Lex had told him.
Trader insisted pointing out that he wasn't even sick. He cursed the so-called plague carriers for getting him into this mess. Lex curtly countered that if it wasn't for him and his fellow "plague carriers" Trader might not have even known to evacuate the city. If it wasn't for them he might already be dead.
"I don't care!" Trader yelled. "Get off my boat and take that sick girl with you!"
The two men got into quite a scuffle before Lex was able to get the upper hand. He held Trader down by his throat and threatened to stave in his skull with a mallet.
"Let me make myself clear" he hissed, "You try to leave this cove without us and I'll kill you!"
A strange threat considering that death was imminent for them all; but Trader got the point and skulked off on his own. Lex left Ram to his personal tirade and went below to check on Ruby. He wasn't any good at first aid but he tried to remember what Trudy said and placed cool cloths on Ruby's forehead. She took some water but no food. He stayed with her for hours as a distraction from his thoughts. Now he sat on the bow of the boat, his legs hanging out over the edge. All he could see was the darkness of the sea, and he wondered of places beyond his knowledge. How had the virus affected those other cities and towns? Had the children there faired better than his kin?
Unlike the others Lex wasn't upset about dying. It was hard to get upset about something that had become an accepted part of life. Certainly it was in his nature to fight and he knew when it came down to it, his body would not give up the ghost easily. Still, having faced death too many times to count, he couldn't find the energy to get riled up about it. He thought of others who'd gone on before him, and how fortunate they were not to have to see these times. Though it broke his heart to think of Zandra and his unborn child, there was a comfort in knowing that his son/daughter didn't have to live through the Guardian and the Chosen, or the Technos. Both of them were free and spared such atrocities. He imagined Tai-San, if she were really dead, now one with nature and happy in her element. Even Siva was better off and no longer in pain over the wedge between her sisters. Perhaps those he loved were simply too... pure to survive in such a world. He smiled painfully as their faces danced before him.
"I'll be with you soon..."
"Jack..." Ellie stumbled after him through the dark forest. "Where are we going?"
He mumbled something she didn't hear and kept going. They were following the stream uphill, making their way around the rocks and fallen branches. Ellie's skirt continually caught on sharp edges of rock and she was sure it would be shredded when and if they ever emerged. She managed to keep up with Jack's frenetic pace by clinging tenaciously to the hem of his jacket. She thought for a moment she'd seen glowing eyes in the dark and imagined wolves and other wild animals hunting for food.
"Jack?" she said again if only to hear his voice.
"Just ahead" he mumbled.
Fifteen minutes of walking and the ground was starting to level out, the stream widening until they were upon a large pond. Jack had to stop walking so as not to step right into the water. He swung the flashlight around, searching for something as Ellie panted at his side. Suddenly he stopped, the beam of light resting on what he was looking for. A small smile spread over his lips. A large dome of tree branches and foliage sat in the middle of the pond. As though someone had collected it for a bonfire and tossed it into the water instead.
"What is it?" Ellie whispered.
"It's a beaver dam." Jack almost laughed finding it impossible to suppress the happiness in his voice.
Ellie squinted, "We came here for this? What does this have to do with anything?"
Jack turned to her without taking the light off the dam. "Beaver fever!"
"Beaver what?" Jay held his hand up to block the light of the flashlight Jack accidentally shone into his eyes.
Nearly everyone was awake after Jack and Ellie's exuberant return from their adventure. They both had burst from the trees calling the names of their tribesmen and laughing near hysterically. Only Darryl, Gel, Bray and Ebony still slept. Even Brady was rubbing her eyes in her mother's arms.
"What in the world?" Salene asked.
May eyed the couple suspiciously; "I'm never that happy after I've done it!"
"Beaver fever" Ellie said with a big smile as Jack lowered the flashlight.
"What's that?" Sammy frowned.
"It's something that campers sometimes get when they drink from water in the woods" Jack explained in a rush. "When Ellie told me she hadn't drunk from the stream it made sense that she wasn't sick since I haven't drunk from the stream either. I still have my own water supply from the city; and as far as I know so does Trader..."
"You're saying it's the water?" Amber queried.
"Yes!" Ellie and Jack exclaimed together.
"Sometimes when animals use a water supply for..." Jack made an awkward face, "Their business... it flows down stream. It breaks up and turns invisible but the bacteria is still there. Somebody drinks it and gets extremely sick..."
"Like food poisoning?" Slade interjected.
"Exactly" Jack nodded.
"Oh my God" Salene slapped her forehead "We haven't been boiling the water!"
"Right" Jack nodded again.
"How could we forget something so important?" Amber asked still unsure how to take the news.
"We were so happy to find fresh water it just slipped our minds" Salene said, an embarrassed flush growing in her cheeks.
"Is this beaver thing fatal?" May narrowed her eyes.
"No" Jack almost laughed, "Though it's no wonder you're only getting worse without any clean water to drink."
"So we're not gonna die?" Lottie asked hopefully clinging to Salene.
"No" Ellie smiled down at her.
Trudy sighed relieved along with the rest of her friends as she gazed tearfully at her child. Amber near collapsed into Jay's arms, the relief flooding through her body and making her weak with happiness. She wanted to sob from all the pent-up anxiety but settled for squeezing him and feeling his arms squeeze back.
"Jack you're a star!" Salene grinned at him.
"You genius!" May exclaimed. She grabbed his face with both hands and planted a wet kiss on his flustered lips. "I love you!"
The group laughed as Jack turned a rare shade of red and stuttered an unsure 'Thank you'. Ellie took his hand and gazed at him, her eyes saying the same thing. Jack grinned back.
"Okay we have to start boiling water now." Amber spoke up assuming command. "The sooner we get clean water into our systems the better."
chap one chap two chap three chap four chap five chap six