“Son, we have to get you on the chopper. Now!”
“No, I can’t leave him.” Tyler shook his head and then looked to the soldier who reached for him.
“I’m sorry, you have to go.” The soldier reached for Tyler, but the moment he tried to lift him, Tyler started fighting.
“No!” Tyler screamed. He grabbed hold of Harry and held on for dear life.
“Let go. We have to go!” With a hard jerk, the soldier yanked Tyler into his arms. He held his arm around Tyler’s waist.
Tyler kicked, his hands reached out, the entire time. “Harry! Harry!” he cried, lacing the name with deep sobs.
He was placed in a seat in the helicopter.
“This yours?” the soldier asked and handed him the box.
“It was Harry’s.” Tyler sobbed.
“I’m sorry,” the soldier said solemnly and strapped Tyler in and closed the door.
Tyler could still see out the window. He held onto the box, his vision blurry form the tears, his hand reaching for the window. As the helicopter lifted, he kept watching Harry
Judith may not have been able to see very well, but she could hear. It wasn’t long after Foster and Manny left to get the medication, maybe a half an hour, before the young woman died. Her infant son was crying in the arms of a stranger instead of in the arms of a mother he would never know.
The explosions went from constant to occasional, the gunfire from rapid to slow.
Then soon there was only a pop of a gun here and there until suddenly it was silent.
After hours upon hours of gun fire, there was silence at last.
The silence was broken when a lone voice began singing The Star Spangled Banner. Then everyone joined in. Judith couldn’t sing. More so than ever before, the song made her cry. She sat alone in the corner of the room, her head down, her arms folded close to her body and cried.
Foster never returned.
Manny never returned.
She heard someone say it was well after three AM, and she was sick to her stomach.
She kept asking, “Has anyone seen Foster? Did he return?”
No one had seen him. Foster would have found her if he had returned.
She allowed herself to feel hopeful when she heard the eruption of cheers in the shelter. But the hope was short lived. It was US soldiers and allied forces saying that the battle above them was over and they had pushed the enemy back.
They were evacuating the bomb shelter.
Angeline took hold of Judith’s arm and told her she was helping her out. As she started to go, Judith stopped. “I need the notebook. Can you go see if Foster left his notebook in our room please? He wrote in it all the time.”
“Sure,” Angeline said. “I’ll be right back.”
Judith rubbed her arms. Her entire being ached for a boy she had met not long ago but ended up loving as if she had known him a lifetime. They had shared quite a bit.
“Here,” Angeline said. “It’s right here.” She placed the notebook in Judith’s hand.
Judith embraced it as if it were Foster and placed her lips to the edge of the pages.
“Let’s go.” Angeline guided her.
Judith only nodded. She was guided by Angeline out of the shelter. The entire way out, instead of cheering like the others, Judith wept.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THREE MONTHS LATER
Las Vegas, NV
‘And this whole place smells like hand sanitizer.’ Foster had written in the notebook. ‘I wonder if she’s drinking it to get a buzz.’
Judith laughed at that line. She adjusted her glass. They were thick as coke bottles but at least she was able to see. Every day she read a little of his journal and prayed for Foster.
Her daughter Linda was unbelievably thankful that Judith was alive and grateful to a boy she didn’t get a chance to thank.
Linda used her connections to try to locate Foster’s body.
But a lot of civilians were burned in the air raids that day and a lot of bodies had been placed in mass graves.
It was just after two and Judith had finished her late lunch. She shut off the television. She was tired of hearing about the war. Russia said this, United States said that. Iran did this. England did that.
It was nonstop fighting.
Nothing was new, at least not in the last week or so.
Taking the last state back seemed to be the most difficult task as one country against the US became three, then four. In fact, there was a time when the enemy forces actually regained a piece of New York.
Judith felt safe on the west side of the country. Excluded from the war, it gained momentum and size every day. Ground forces were in every state.
How long would it be, Judith wondered, before the west was pulled in and hit?
The doorbell rang. That was nothing out of the ordinary, since Linda was always getting packages, things for the bunker she was building.
Grabbing a couple of dollars for a tip, Judith opened the front door.
His back was to her and he wore a baseball cap.
“Hello?” Judith said.
When he turned around, she knew who it was.
She was blind when she met him, but she didn’t need to know what he looked like to know it was him.
She whispered his name with surprise and emotion. “Foster.” Her hand reached for his face and she whimpered.
“Jude. They… I was held prisoner in Jersey,” Foster spoke nervously. “I… told them I had to find you. I had to find Judith Freeman. She had a daughter names Linda in Vegas. They helped me. I….” he breathed out. “Please tell me the offer still stands.”
Judith sobbed and grabbed him. She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to answer. She hugged him to, pulling him inside and held on.
She held on for the longest time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Twenty-Six Years Later
Gaithersburg, MD
“Drink your water.”
“Yes, Daddy.” The little boy was about eight and looked up to his father and accepted the canteen. He took a drink.
“More.”
The little boy took another drink.
“Good boy.” Tyler took the canteen and placed it in his pack. He looked around; He remembered the last time he was in this town not far from Washington DC. It was before is son Joshua was born. Tyler was fighting in the infantry. That was where he gained the nickname ‘Falcon’ for his keen ability to spot things. A name that stuck with him. Gaithersburg was suburbia then; now it was flat. There were remains of buildings long since fallen. No way to find direction, no landmarks.
The road wasn’t overgrown, because nothing really grew. It was dusty and grim.
On this day the sun was bright, but it still didn’t make things better.
Tyler swiped his hand over his forehead; the heat was almost too much to bear and no shade to be found.
“Are you hungry?” Tyler asked.
“No, I’m good.”
He ran his hand over the boy’s hair. His hair was longer and dirty. They hadn’t seen a bathing station in days and knew they probably wouldn’t for a while, at least not until they returned to Virginia. Even there, they were few and far between, but there were more water stations for transients in Virginia than anywhere else.
Eventually Tyler would return home with Joshua. They had a small home in Kentucky, and he had a daughter there. She was with a keeper. But they had a mission to complete first. This was stage two of the mission, and not Josh’s first time leaving the safety of his home.
Tyler’s wife died of the plague when Joshua was two. The plague brought an end to the long war. Everything just stopped.