“You weren’t judging. And I promise, I will not let it get out of control.”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm?” Jason asked. “Did you just do a hmm at me?”
“I did. You said that line all alcoholics say.”
“I’m not an alcoholic.”
“You just said you were.”
Jason shook his head and took a drink. “You said you weren’t judging.”
“I’m not. I’m not.” Nora raised her hands. “I kind of do like this imperfect Jason better.”
“Gee thanks.” Jason put down the flask and fluffed the tiny homemade pillow given to him by one of the town’s people.
Nora laughed.
“What’s so funny, now?”
“I just thought of a joke.”
“Oh God. Don’t tell me, I want to lay down.” Jason lounged back, placing his head on the pillow.
“You’ll like it.”
“I doubt it.”
“You inspired it.”
Jason closed his eyes.
“What did the one alcoholic say to the other alcoholic during a nuclear war?” Nora asked. “Let’s get toasted.”
Jason opened his eyes.
“You like?”
Jason didn’t verbally respond, he merely sat up some and tossed his pillow at her. Nora once again laughed. She actually felt a breakthrough with Jason, a wall she didn’t know was there had come down.
She couldn’t believe he was going to sleep so early. Nora wasn’t even tired. Since Jason was, she found her journal and once he was fast asleep, she claimed that flask. The popcorn flavored moonshine wasn’t half bad.
It was an odd location where they had set up camp. Just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The skyline of sin city was nothing but a mere shadow of darkness across the well lit star filled sky. Colonel Norris said it was one of his favorite places to stop and camp for the night. It was safe. Vegas had long since been empty. For many years it was a sort of a mini Salvation. Pockets of people went there with hopes of survival. Power was supplied by the Hoover Damn. But as the virus swept in every year, the population dwindled.
People moved on.
It was a dark, dismal ghost town. At least at night.
Norris assured Malcolm that when day broke, he’d get to see it in its full glory. There was a lot of sand. Without people and automobiles to keep the city clean, storms blew sand in by the foot. Most parts of the Las Vegas Strip were buried.
It was surreal for Malcolm. In his mind and time frame he had been to Vegas not six months earlier for a security convention. A part of him wanted to see, but a part of him didn’t.
Malcolm was shocked how warm it was.
Norris had erected a two man blow up style tent and they had, as he referred to it, atmospheric conditioning. Malcolm could have turned in for the night, but it was still early. He had hoped to have a chance to talk to the historian, Clark and the scientist, Nelson, but they retreated to their tents the moment they settled.
It was a pretty impressive camp, one that was erected pretty quickly. The two igloo air tents and a tent that pulled out from the transit van plus two fire pits.
Norris had done it before, it was obvious.
Trey turned in for the night, claiming he couldn’t take the heat.
To Malcolm it was hot but tolerable. He and Trey had their own tent, Maggie, Clark, and Nelson shared one, while Norris and the private took turns on watch, and slept in the transit van tent.
Malcolm was using the light from the fire to read the scrapbook that Trey had brought. Newspaper clippings, stories about Malcolm at the end. The smell of coffee moved through the slight breeze and Malcolm looked up to see Maggie. She brewed a pot over her own fire in front of her tent.
The gurgles of percolating carried to him and he walked over.
“Join me?” Maggie asked. “It’s like heaven in a cup.”
Malcolm laughed. “Your coffee?’
“Yes.”
“It’s good, but not heaven in a cup.” Malcolm pulled up a folding chair and sat next to her. He accepted the cup of coffee. “Thank you.”
“Can’t sleep?” she asked.
“I haven’t tried. You?”
“Too excited.” She brought her shoulders up.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Because when we left you were quiet.”
“I was nervous,” Maggie said. “This is the first time I have been outside Salvation since I entered.”
“You’re joking.”
Maggie shook her head. “Not at all.”
“Are you not allowed to leave?”
“Unless you are authorized for a mission you can leave, but you can’t come back. Or if you are like Trey and distribute to Salvation. Really, there’s no need to leave.”
“Yeah, the world. Aren’t you curious? I mean there’s a whole world out here.”
“It’s a deadly world,” Maggie said. “Aside from there being the chance of getting sick. There are bad people out here.”
“Those walls will have to come down at some point,” Malcolm said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s very Logan’s Run like.”
“Logan’s Run?”
“It’s a science fiction movie. People live in a perfect world.”
“That’s us.”
“But they euthanize everyone the day they turn thirty.”
The smile dropped from Maggie’s face. “Oh, that’s horrible.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“We wait until they are seventy.”
The corner of Malcolm’s mouth raised in a smile. She had to be joking, because she followed her statement with a laugh.
“So,” Malcolm clapped his hands together. “What do you think? I mean, of what you have seen so far.”
“It’s empty and sad.”
“Yeah, it is. Tell me, what made you decide to be a doctor, or virologist.”
“Decide?” Maggie asked.
“Yeah, was it the virus that made you want to find a cure?”
“I didn’t decide,” Maggie said. “This is what I was told to do. When I was twelve, they said I was exceptionally smart and I was assigned the career.”
“You’re joking.”
“That’s the second time you claimed I was joking. Why would I joke?”
“It’s absurd. You can’t pick your own job.”
Maggie shook her head. “No, we learn from a young age what we are capable of doing and train from there. It works. Things run smoothly in Salvation. Not like we learned of the world before the virus. Wars, sickness, fighting, who needs that.”
“You have no sickness.”
“Only injuries and treatable illnesses like your infection.”
“What about cancer?” Malcolm asked. “Millions of people, I find it hard to believe there isn’t a case of cancer.”
“Oh, there is. We fix it right away.”
“Wow.” Malcolm leaned back and enjoyed a sip of his coffee. “Sounds like they created a Utopia pretty quickly.”
“We did. You’ll really love it there, Malcolm. It’s a great place. You won’t want to leave. I never did.”
“Well, I’m not so sure if my friends are gonna wanna stay there or try to make it on our own. I’ll do what they decide. I mean, we are bonded in a way.”
“That makes sense.”
“ Although, I’ll have to tell Nora that her former husband is there.”
Maggie cradled her cup of coffee. “Richard. Very nice. He’s sixty-nine now. She’ll probably be very shocked when she sees him.”
“I’d say and the fact that he’s remarried.”
“Are you worried?” Maggie asked. “About your friends?”
“I am. I gave my word I’d meet up with them.”
“Can you tell me where?”
Malcolm exhaled. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because if I can get you there, I will.”
After a moment of thought, Malcolm said. “A little town called Champaign, Illinois. It was center point. The meeting place.”