The Change - Chapter 2
I heard it through the grapevine.
If you haven't read The Change - Chapter 1, you can catch up by clicking the link here ☝️
A Yawn and a Stretch.
It's early morning and the sun is just peaking over the horizon, Eric and Jane can see Atlanta. Even as it’s covered in a thick morning fog, they can tell that it is quite obviously just a remnant of its former glory. The urban housing buildings are covered in vines and other plant life, and many of them are already beginning to crumble. It has become a literal ghost town. There is so little left in this place to sustain human living after seven years, that even the scavengers have largely evacuated. Eric and Jane stand on the outskirts anticipating all of the undesirable scenarios that could happen here.
As they stand there contemplating their journey forward, they hear a commotion overhead. Just overhead they spotted the source of the noise, a rather large barn owl was standing on the light pole overhanging the street. The owl had a wild kitten clutched in one of its massive claws. Jane gasped when the bird squeezed, and the kitten began a series of frantic and panicked noises. She wanted to stop it, but also knew that the kitten was probably already injured beyond surviving. The owl was otherwise motionless while it was still squeezing and kneading its prey’s whole torso. The wailing kitten was not just being squeezed to death, the owl was also impaling it simultaneously with his inch long hooked talons as it squeezed. The pair stood there helpless just watching it happen, hypnotized in a state of horrified amazement. Almost like a slow drive past a car crash.
The owl seem equally as fascinated in them. The bird maintained eye contact with Jane through the entire process. It was almost like it was waiting for her to respond. As the kitten’s cries finally died down, the silence in the moments afterwards became strangely intense. Eric had turned towards Jane as if to say something, when the owl suddenly spread his massive wings. Both of the travellers attentions snapped up to the sound of its massive wings snapping open. The animal maintained eye contact with Jane, and it's grip on the kitten. Then it fell forward towards her off of the light pole, it's wings caught the wind and it swooped down right over Jane’s head before it finally flapped its wings right over her and took off into the night.
Jane stood motionless for a few seconds, when she turned towards Eric, the only thing she could say was “what the fuck?” Instantly Eric noticed why she was shocked, and it was not the awesome display of natural law that had just played out before them. The left side of Janes face, and a big patch on the left side of her T-shirt were splattered with the kittens blood. Jane flung her shirt off, and began wiping her face clean with the back of it. Eric stood motionless he knew he should be pulling out his canteen and soaking her shirt with the water and ringing it out, but the blood on her face… He noticed something about the way it hit her face. In the four little patches that blood ran from her forehead down towards her upper lip, it actually said something, and quite clearly at that.
The Runes were defined and exact, above her eyebrow was Tiwaz, on the bridge of her nose and on her eyelid was Ansuz, and under that next to the ridge of her nose, and her nostril was Nauthiz. The final rune was just below that, and it was Kenaz. He was frozen in confusion and disbelief. By the time that Eric had seen and then had processed this, Jane had already wiped it off, and was calling his name.
“Eric” Jane called his name but he was frozen in place, and his mouth was slightly agape. “Eric, hey Eric” Jane snapped her fingers right in front of his face. “Can I please get the water out of your bag?” Eric snapped out of it and blinked, he looked like he was about to say something to Jane as he slid the bag off. No words came out though, he just unzipped it and pulled out the canteen. “Oh my gods I'm so sorry Eric.” Janes face turned a glowing blushing pink color, and she covered her breasts. .
She began apologizing, “I can't believe I did it again, all you have done is help me, and I keep flashing you.” She turned her back to him with the canteen in one hand and her shirt in the other, and began soaking it with the fresh water. She was clearly embarrassed, and Eric still didn't know how to feel about seeing the whole knights tattoo on her face in runes of blood. He didn't know how to tell her that, or that her boobs weren't what shocked him.
Jane still standing with her back to Eric rinsed and wrung out her shirt twice, then she squeezed as much of the water out of it as she could. She set the canteen bottle down at her feet, and slid the half wet shirt back on. “Eric I'm so sorry” Jane said as she turned back around to face him. Eric looked down at his feet, as he tried to gather the right words. “Jane it wasn't your boobs, I like looking at them.. wait. . That's not what I'm.. it was your face not your boobs.” Jane just looked at him blankly, waiting for something else. What about my face, she wondered. Jane had those words stuck in her head now. She knew he still had something big to say by his facial expression and his body language. She was hoping that it wasn't Eric telling her that she was on her own again.
The Other Side Of The Sign.
Eric was still trying to figure out how to tell her about the runes, when he realized what he just said to Jane. She must be thinking something horrible, the way that came out sounded like he liked her boobs, but her face was a problem. Oh gods Eric, say something he thought to himself.. “Your face is fine, I swear it turns me on just as much as your boobs… there was just.. oh my.” He began pacing, back and forth on the sidewalk. “This is not coming out right.” He spent the next minute trying to plan how not to sound like an ass when he finally spoke again. Eric glanced up and he noticed the worried look was worsening on Janes face. She looked like she was about to cry.
Jane grabbed him by the shoulders and stopped him in place, then she looked up at him and kissed him. This wasn't a pop on the lips. This was seven years off sexual deprivation and pure frustration all coming out in one passionate moment. Eric fell into it instantly, and returned her kiss with just as much want, need, and raw desire. It lasted for several seconds, then just as unexpectedly as Jane started kissing him, she stopped. When she did, she backed up a step looked at him and said, “Now that bit of awkwardness is out of the way, did you have something you wanted to say Eric?”
He took a deep breath, “Thank you Jane, I have needed that to happen for years. What I was trying to to say, is that when the Owl swooped down and the blood hit your face, it said something.” Jane was totally shocked to hear that, and the look on her face showed it. Eric didn't know what it meant yet, so he was careful how to word this next part. “The tattoo on my face is four runes, as we discussed last night it stands for Teutonic American New Knight, and it was on your face in blood laid out exactly the same way.”
Jane didn't know how to feel, or what to think about what she just heard. So she asked the only obvious question, “What does that mean?”
Eric finished putting the canteen back in his bag, and said “I’m not sure, let's walk and talk.” He slipped the bag over his shoulder, grabbed Jane by the hand and they took their first steps into the remnants of Atlanta Georgia while he laid out for her what he knew. “Blessing was originally done with the blood of a sacrificed animal, the blessed be it a person, a weapon, or even a field, would be sprinkled with the blood. So.. there is a deeply intense message that is almost hidden in whatever just happened. The one thing that I know for sure, is that you and I are supposed to be travelling together. The rest of it is still foggy, but trust me when I say this, more signs will come. As of right now, it doesn't change any of our plans.”
Jane takes a deep breath, and tries to process what Eric just said. Rather than clarity or any type of relief, she had dozens of questions that began popping into her head. The one that stuck out and kept bugging her had to be asked, “Please just tell me if you plan on ditching me.” Eric stopped walking, and Jane turned to face him. The look on her face, told him that this was a deep concern that had been rolling around in her head, and idea that was torturing her.
Eric looked her in the eyes, and saw that she had tears welling up. “Jane I give you my word, you are not going to be abandoned, left behind, or discarded in any way.” She squeezed her eyes shut, and the tears that had been piling up ran down both of her cheeks. Eric wiped them away, and told her to believe him, that he truly meant what he said when he made his oath to her.
The pair continued on through the urban sprawl of cheap cookie cutter wooden homes, and dilapidated vehicles for at least another hour. Most of which they spent whispering back and forth about the possible meanings of the blood runes on her face.
The Down Town Traffic Sucks.
The city that once housed over half a million people is now nearly silent. They both know that there are still some human scavengers hiding among its ruins. These left over groups of scavengers in the cities aren't the Digital Disciples, they generally stayed out in the crumbling suburban areas. The vagrants and solicitors still here were likely cannibals, or even worse.
Eric has encountered them before, and is really hoping that they could sneak through the city this time without alerting them of their presence. Human scavengers that still lived in Atlanta, were probably there because of the caches of canned foods they rummaged for. As those food items became more and more rare with the passage of time, they began eating almost anything. But solo cannibals weren't really the people who were a big threat, solo scavengers of any nature will generally avoid other people as much as they can. The real threat was among the groups of cult fanatics, and the growing gangs of cannibals.
The residential areas surrounding the city were completely vacant. They passed through the suburbs and into the band of apartments and condos, and the only living creatures they had seen so far were birds and scavenging rodents. When they walked up onto the edge of one of the apartment complexes, they saw that the guard shack and gate that sat on the border of the complex were literally smashed to a pile of rubble. Just on the other side of that pile of rubble, was a cobblestone street, and across that street was a row of old red brick buildings. This was downtown Atlanta.
Eric whispered “Here we are,” and he held his arm out to stop Jane. As he did, he put his index finger over his mouth and indicated to her they should be totally silent. Jane knew the risks and nodded in agreement, her eyes began scanning the area ahead of them. The pair of travellers crept into the heart of the city, hugging the walls of the towering buildings. They were both watching the windows of the surrounding buildings for signs of life, but luckily there had not been any so far.
The footsteps of our travelers continue to gently echo off the towering buildings lining the streets as they walked. In the heart of the city, Eric comes to a stop in front of the old State Farm Arena. He stood there looking down at a toppled statue of Evander Holyfield. It laid there face up on the concrete where it had fallen. This probably happened years before during the riots in the first few months after the change. They had already been walking for a few hours, and it was time for them to take a quick break. He sits down on the abdomen of the statue, and takes off his backpack. Then Eric pulled out the bag of dried pineapple, and offered some to Jane. They were both in awe looking at the huge crumbling arena complex. Eric finishes chewing a bit of pineapple and asks Jane a question. “Did you ever see this city when it was still heavily populated?”
Jane shakes her head “No way, I liked my small town. Biggest city I ever saw was Thomasville, in Georgia.” She continues talking to Eric as she approaches the entrance to the arena. “This place must have been absolutely crazy though, I can see the number of cars still stuck in the street, and just know that I would have hated it.” She continued zig zagging and walking between the columns while Eric sat. Jane was just quietly looking around and observing the area, she scanned the buildings while quietly chewing her dried pineapple.
Eric watches her as she walks up to examine the entrance, she was just looking at the debris and garbage littering the ground. She picks up a pair of sunglasses and examines them. After cleaning the lenses she hangs them on the collar of her shirt. Then when she's about 10 feet from the broken glass wall that makes up the face of the building, she kicks an old red igloo cooler laying on the ground. When she does the cooler spins, and a black and grey striped cat leaps out of the opening. The kitten hits her leg and latched on with all four of its outstretched limbs. The scream that came out of Jane was a blend of a blood curdling yell, and the words “It”s Got Me, It's Got Me !” As Jane began kicking and flailing her leg, the cat started climbing up her leg claws first. The cat finally got past her knee and dug it's nails into her thigh for a split second, then the kitten springboarded off of her and ran off. An explosion of laughter erupted from Eric. The cat looked back at him, then took a beeline path into the entrance of the dark, massive, and creepy arena building.
Jane had fallen backwards when the cat launched off of her leg, leaving her laying on the ground in the random debris. She was staring up at the remnants of the building, analyzing what just happened and she was pissed. Not at Eric for laughing, but at herself for being so jumpy, panicked, and girly in front of him. She just freaked out and lost her cool in front of a knight, if he thinks she's too loud or a liability he's likely to send her off alone. She knew that he promised her that he wouldn't abandon her, but if she was a risk.. would he have a choice? Jane just doesn't want to wind up alone again.
Eric was laughing so hard that he fell off of the Statue. The image of her leaping backwards away from the kitten with both arms in the air, just set him off. He knew they should be quiet, but he was belly laughing to the point that tears were running down his cheeks. Just last night she was a fearless hunter, stalking through the woods and spearing a raccoon to eat. Today, she's spasming because a cat surprised her, and a small cat at that. Eric was trying to get back up, but was still laughing. That's when Jane stopped him from laughing, from about 40 feet away. She launched the piece of the dried pineapple in her hand straight at his face. It whipped through the air between them and made a smacking sound as its flat side slapped against his forehead and stuck there.
Eric went silent when the pineapple hit, his eyes both looked up like he could see it there. His hand shot up and plucked it from his head, he inspected it, and realized that it was a piece of Jane’s pineapple. Seeing the surprised look on his face, she breaks out laughing. Eric makes eye contact with her, and pops the little triangle piece of pineapple into his mouth. Instantly Janes laughter ramped up, Eric started laughing again, and they were both crying from hysterical laughter in just a few seconds. While they were laughing, Eric saw something moving inside of the building behind her, he went silent. Jane heard him stop laughing, and she looked over at him to see what stopped him so abruptly. He was looking past her into the building. She spun around to see why.
There was a person standing there holding the little tom cat. The raggedly dressed man in the window just stared back at them while the cat laid across one of his arms. He was gently petting it with his other hand, while blankly gazing at the outsiders. Eric didn't say a word, he threw on the backpack and sprinted the few steps between him and Jane. At the time, she never saw Eric jump up, her back was facing him and her eyes were half closed in a squint while staring at the stranger. She was trying to wipe away her tears. Suddenly Eric grabbed her wrist and in a calm voice said one word, “People!” That's when she heard the other footsteps. There had to be at least a dozen people inside the building, and from the sound of their footsteps they were all running towards the entrance. Their fight or flight instincts kicked in.
Instantly they were sprinting away from the Arena. Jane knew the dangers that other people could bring all to well, she didn't want to see who it was, or find out how many of them there were. She just ran, she passed Eric and headed for the next turn. She could hear Eric running right behind her, his boots were clacking against the asphalt and his bouncing backpack sounded like a giant maraca. It was loud, but it let her know that he wasn't very far behind her. There was an alleyway not to far ahead on her left, as she came parallel with it she made a hard turn. About 30 feet into the alley was an open sewer cap. When she got over the opening, Eric was just rounding the corner into the alley.
She made eye contact with him and sat down hard and fast at the edge. Her legs were in the hole one second, and the next she vanished as she rapidly slid down the ladder heading into the void under the street. As soon as her feet hit the dry bottom of the sewer pipe, she looked up, and Eric was dropping his bag down to her. She cought it, then Eric looked down at her calmly said “Back up.” He didn't use the ladder like Jane, he just tucked his arms in close to his body and dropped down through. His boots hit the ground and he pointed up the long dark pipe and said two words, “Keep Running.”
Jane didn't hesitate, she tossed Eric his bag and started sprinting again. After they had made it about 60 feet into the sewer pipe, it began getting dark. Jane slowed her pace a bit, and put her hands straight out in front of her. She heard a subtle cracking sound, and the whole pipe behind her lit up with a faint orange light. It was another one of the glow sticks that Eric had in the tent, and it was the perfect amount of light down here in the sewers. Eric was right behind her at this point. She heard him say “Take this” and felt his warm breath on the back of her neck, as his arm shot over her shoulder gripping a glow stick. She took it from him and held it out in front of her, she could see well enough to begin jogging again, heading deeper and deeper into the under city pipe system.
After a few more twists and turns, the pair made it to a big junction where several pipes met at a giant concrete cube. There was a ladder in one corner leading up to a sewer cap. Two small beams of daylight shone down from the holes in the round metal cap. They were cutting down through the darkness, leading to two bright spots on the slimy ground below their feet. They listened for the sound of footsteps behind them, but it seems like they may have finally lost whoever was chasing them. Eric was looking around and considering the idea of them staying underground for as far as they could. But he also knew from experience, that some rather violent groups had settled into the sewers and subways of other big cities. He has to protect the package for the community, and now Jane also. The blood runes appearing on her face couldn’t be ignored. He knew that somehow, her role in this mission was a significant one. Jane was in the corner, silently examining her cat scratches, in one of the beams of sunlight. Eric closed his eyes and listened carefully to the sounds coming from each pipe. They were all silent. He pulled out a compass and gauged which direction was North, then asked Jane, “What do you think of traveling underground for a while Jane?”
The Torture Chamber.
She considered Eric's question, and if she had to guess, traveling underground seemed less problematic than them heading back up and hiking above ground. “I'm fine with it, but I would like to clean and cover these scratches. I don't want to be a new patient zero for some cat poo virus.” Eric nodded in agreement, and pulled a first aid kit out his bag. The smell down in the sewers now, was more similar to freshly churned soil than sewage. It had been so long since the city had any running water, that the underground maze of pipes were mostly dry and dusty.
Jane stripped off her pants, and a few seconds later Eric was cleaning her wounds and dressing them. While he was tending her wounds, he said “We should cover our faces with something before we head off into these tunnels. We really don't want to breath in any of this old shit dust.” His warm breath ran across her inner thigh as he spoke, and set off a series of intense natural reactions in her. These were things that she had not felt in years. Eric had started with the lowest scratches down on her shin, and was working his way up her leg. By now, he was addressing the last scratch, and it was high up on her inner thigh. Her body was screaming at her. He tore open the final alcohol wipe, and very gently wiped the dried blood from the scratch. As strong, and stoic as he was, Eric had very gentle hands.
She looked down to watch him, and quickly realized that it was the worst thing she could have done. Eric had a glow stick sideways in his mouth, and his hands were wrapped all the way around her calf. All her wounds were wiped clean, and now he was applying bandages. At the moment he was using his thumbs to smooth the first band-aid down below her knee. When she noticed the pattern of scratches, and saw where the highest wounds on her thigh were, her imagination began going crazy. She knew he was a gentleman and would never make the first big move, but she couldn't help it. As he applied the next few, goosebumps began creeping. When he was half way up her thigh, they were everywhere. She shouldn't have looked. The next few bandaids were absolute torture.
As Jane pulled her pants back up, Eric pulled two plain black bandanas from the front pouch of his bag, and handed one to Jane. She felt her pants becoming very damp as she watched how he folded it and tied it on his face. He finished, and she imitated that. She tucked the bottom of her bandana into her T-shirt collar. Eric bowed gently and like some fancy door man gestures with his arm towards the pipe heading North. When his deep voice echoed off the walls of the concrete box “Ladies first,” she felt it vibrate all through her.
Their next hour of travel time through the sewers was rather uneventful, and within that hour, the pair made their way through them by the gentle orange glow of the glow stick. They kept on heading towards the North West most point of the pipe system that they could. Eric stopped in another junction box much like the first one, but unlike the first one, this junction only had two pipes heading into it. There was the one they had just came from, and one more heading off to the east. They were in the farthest North West corner of the sewers. The round metal sewer cap in this junction didn't have any sunlight beaming through it. This junction box also had a very different vibe, this one had a deafening silence. It reminded Eric of the feeling of being in a cave deep in the earth.
For the brief silent moments that their feet weren't shuffling, and they were staring up at the lid at the top of the ladder, the silence rapidly went from a mild ringing, to one that seemed to swallow them within a deep steady rumble. In that moment, they both had the feeling that something was watching them. Not something human though. This feeling was not frightening or creepy. In fact, it was almost like a loved grandparent or a close family member was with them. It was like they were standing beside them with a hand of support resting on their shoulders. Someone or something was trying to assure them that they were going to be okay. Neither one of them vocalized how they were feeling in that moment, they both just looked at each other and then climbed up at the ladder.
Eric carefully ascended the ladder first, and put his ear by one of the holes in the lid. He didn't hear anything coming from above it. No wind, no crickets, no sounds of any kind. It was almost more eerie than the junction box. He looked down at Jane, and gave her an okay hand signal. Jane stood below the ladder staring upwards, still waiting to see what Eric did next. He looked down at her from the top rungs of the steel ladder, and said “This is going to be a good day, I just know it.” Jane didn't know why, but right then in that moment, it was like her anxiety wasn't right on the edge of flaring up anymore. Not even a little bit, there was no heavy and hard heartbeat, no sweaty palms, and no feeling in her stomach like she was constantly falling.
She gave him the hand signal for “I trust you” that he taught her. She watched as he reached up as quietly as he possibly could with one hand he lifted one side of the metal lid. It didn't make a sound, Eric slid it off of the opening so quietly that Jane was truly impressed. Those things weighed about a hundred pounds, some of them more, and he just slid it across the hard floor of the next level without making a sound. She began to think to herself, why should I worry when Eric is a real knight, he is literally the epitome of survival and protection. The very definition of security.
Expect the Unexpected.
He lifted the glow stick through the opening, and stuck his head and shoulders through just enough to scan the area. For a moment Jane was surrounded in a darkness that was absolutely pitch black. She reached forward to find the rungs on the ladder, and just as her hands seemed to grasp one, Eric held the glow stick back down into the junction box. He had made it through, and turned around to light Jane’s path. His deep voice broke through the silence as she carefully climbed the rusty steel ladder. “Jane you are not going to believe this.”
When Jane came up through the opening, she saw exactly how right Eric was. She never would have guessed that they would have found their way into some kind of military storage vault. Especially one still fully loaded with military items. To their left Eric held the glow stick over next to a pallet stacked with crates that said MRE in bold black writing. He spun around with the glow stick and held it behind them. There was another whole pallet of boxes with “First Aid” painted on them in the same plain stenciled text. As Jane looked around, she realized they were surrounded by them. Rows of pallets stacked shoulder high with boxes going as far as the light from the glow stick stretched.
She couldn't see the ceiling, and the light from the glow stick went at least 40 - 50 feet in every direction. That meant the ceiling was over 50 feet above their heads. That wasn't the only surprising thing. The little sounds they were making just faded off into the room, there was no echo at all, and it was odd. When she stood up to look over one of the pallets of MRE’s, Eric was watching her reaction, he stepped over to her side, and looked over the same pallet. He held up the glow stick. The orange light only reached so far into the room, but as far as they could tell it was very large. Probably bigger than a football field.
To gauge the actual size Eric threw the glow stick, and as it arched up through the air spinning off into the distance, they saw it pass over crate after crate of gear and supplies. It flew through the air for what seemed like forever before it finally crashed into the side of a Humvee, and it fell out of sight. It left the hummer faintly glowing off in the distance, while they were in absolute darkness again. The effect it had was eerie, they couldn't see each other, or anything around them. The only thing they could see was the dimly lit vehicle that was over 100 feet away.
The Bright Side Of Pitch Black Darkness.
Jane felt great. No more claustrophobic feeling, no more anxiety, and for the first time in years she had slept well last night. She also had a belly full of meat and fruit. Even in the thick darkness Jane really was was feeling surprisingly good. They weren't in complete darkness again very long, Eric snapped another glow stick, this one was purple. He handed it to Jane, and cracked two more, both of them together lit up a bright green. He tossed one of the green ones in the opposite direction of the orange one, and just like the first one, it soared through the air for well over a hundred feet, this one didn't hit something and fall to the ground though. It hit a metal gridded box and stuck in one of the holes. An entire armory of weaponry sat behind the metal grid. It was a wall of weapon lockers.
Jane just whispered “Holy Shit Eric!” It was obvious from her energy and excited tone that something big had just occured to her. He waited in anticipation for her to finish her thought, and in the silent eternity the range of emotions that panned across her face told him nothing. Her biting her lower lip while she pieced together her idea was kind of hot, he really was beginning to wish she would just jump on him. She took a deep breath and finally continued to explain her surprised outburst. He snapped out of his daydream, and his eyes drifted back up from her chest to her eyes.
She was going to get her idea out. He could tell she was almost in disbelief. Then she said something that made his heart skip a beat. “This stuff may have been shielded from the pulses, or solar flares.” She pointed off towards the Humvee, just imagine what we could do if that thing started. Or if any of this stuff worked, she held her light out over the row of boxes behind them, Eric saw “Night Vision” stenciled in black text.
A smile crept across Eric's face while he pondered the idea of getting his package to the community in a half a day, rather than a week or two. “Okay Jane, I'll head for the Humvee you try to find a few crates of clothing and fatigues. If it does start, don't get too excited we still have to figure out if it's even possible to get it out of whatever this is.” He gestured around them at the vast expanse of a room. Eric continued, “They may have concreted over the doors, or barricaded them in a way that we can't get past.”
“Fair enough” Jane replied, and without another quippy comment or question she just headed up the rows of crates shining her purple glow stick on them. She was instantly looking for an indicator of clothing, fatigues, uniforms or something painted on the side of one of the crates. Honestly she has no idea how they would be labeled, she was just hoping it was going to be obvious. She looked back and saw Eric was headed for the Humvee with his bouncing green glow. He was heading exactly the opposite way across the room from her. Now Jane’s anxiety decided to surface again, but it was only barely noticable. Her heart rate was picking up more and more the further away Eric got. She stopped dead in her tracks, “What does that mean!” Jane whispered to herself. She almost went blank for a moment, but she knew there was time to psychoanalyze this right now. She turned her glow stick back to the boxes and started scanning. Freeze Dried Potatoes, Cans of corn, 9V Batteries, AA Batteries, Tarps 20 × 40, Tarps 40 × 60, Toilet Paper, She looked up the row and saw that it stretched on further than her glow stick could illuminate. She came to a break in the crates, one that allowed her to shift a row closer to Eric. She started scanning again, crate after crate of random things.
Jane had scanned two whole rows and seen everything from helmets, to fire extinguishers painted in the sides of them. She knew there had to be clothing in this vast expanse of stuff, but it was beginning to feel like it could take hours to find it. While she was scanning she was anticipating the sound of the Humvee starting up to suddenly break through the silence at any moment. She knew Eric had made it there, because she could see his green light off in the distance doing a circle around the area of the dimmer orange glow and the vehicle. She had stopped for a minute and watched him walk around it, and climbing in and out of it.
She went back to looking, until she had gone up and down five more rows. Finally, she came across a box that said Tactical Advance Fatigues, she liked the sound of that. She examined one of the boxes on top of the stack, to see how to get inside of it. Unlike the wooden crates, she noticed these boxes had hinges on the side facing her. She spun it around and found a latch on the front designed for a padlock, or combination lock. Luckily this one wasn't locked, and it had a large set of solid black fatigues, and a black helmet with a headlamp, and a night vision monocular fitted on it. There was also a black tactical vest with armor plates in it, and a spare set of plates for it.
Jane stripped her T-shirt off, and slid the vest on. It fit her lengthwise, but it was so big around, that she figured she could fit four of her slender frames inside of it. She definitely needed a smaller size, but it might fit Eric. She took it back off, and put it back in the box and latched it shut. She pulled another one off the stack, and popped it open. She grabbed the pants, and checked the tag inside, the word SMALL was printed in all caps on one of the tags. Cleaning instructions covered the other one from top to bottom. Jane rummaged through until she got to the vest, she pulled it out and slid it on. She tightened the series of Velcro straps, and it almost fit her. She dropped her pants, and slid the black fatigue pants on. They had adjustment straps on each side, that she pulled until they were maxed out. Her hip bones stuck out a bit, but not quite enough to keep them up, luckily there was also a belt in the box. It has a sidearm holster on it but it was still a belt.
While Jane was strapping on the belt, she heard Eric trying to start something. This wasn't a vehicle with an electric starter though, it sounded more like a lawnmower being pull started. She hurried up and got the box with her size latched shut, and grabbed the larger one for Eric and set them on the ground. They each had a handle on top that pulled out like a big rolling suitcase. She put the light stick halfway in one of the pockets on the vest, then she grabbed both handles, and started towing the clothes boxes towards Eric.
Let's Dance !
As Jane was approaching Eric, the engine in front of him roared to life. It ran for about 3 seconds, and he laughed out loud as he reached down and turned it off. Jane couldn't see that it was attached to anything once she got close enough. It was literally just a small motor sitting on a pallet. She dropped the crate, and Eric spun around. “This is awesome!” He was bouncing in place like a kid at Christmas.
He ran over to a nearby crate he had pried open earlier and grabbed a tube shaped metal object slightly bigger than a 2 litre soda bottle. He fitted it to the motor, and went back to the crate for a few more things. One of them was a small toolkit, and the other was a power inverter. He said “cross your fingers”, and he bolted the round thing to the motor. He hooked up a set of cords from the power inverter to the generator head. He pull started the small engine again and it roared back to life. “Hand me those lights Jane”, Eric said as he pointed right behind her. She grabbed the small handle between the two painting lights and carried it over to Eric. He plugged them in and the two rectangular box lights instantly kicked on. They were blindingly bright at first.
Eric spun the lights towards the far wall of the building, they shone beyond the Hummer and the travellers quickly realized they were in a cave. An enormous cave. Both of them climbed up onto a crate next to the generator. That's when they really saw everything. Eric looked at Jane and gave her some bad news. “We can't take the Humvee. The roads are beyond being congested, and off road we can only go so far.” Eric pointed the light over towards the far side of the cave, there was an elevator platform and right next to it was a big lumpy silver pile of something.
Jane was confused, “what am I looking at?”
Eric gave a hearty laugh, “It's a small blimp, and we are gonna fly. See the helium tanks next to it, all we have to do is fill it up, and charge those batteries.” He turned the light slightly and illuminated a pallet of car batteries. Then Eric set the light down and jumped down off the crate. He ran over and grabbed a battery, and hauled it over to the crate by the generator. He set it up on top of the crate, and pulled a battery charger out of the opened crate where he got the tools and stuff. He plugged it in, and the little gauge jumped. When he hooked up the battery the needle fell back to the 10% charged line. “This will take a while, so in the mean time what did you find Jane?”
Jane wheeled one of the rolling cases over to Eric, and popped it open. They each dressed in the tactical gear, and after that wandered around till they found a crate of boots. Once they had dressed and eaten some MRE’s, Eric walked over to the blimp and started filling it up part way. Just enough to get the balloon portion sagging over the cabin to lift over the door.
Once they got inside, they were both shocked. It was essentially a motor home hanging below a pointy balloon. This thing has a bathroom with a shower, and it has a bunk area with real beds. There's also a sitting area with a table, that has an L shaped bench seat wrapping two sides of it. Eric wandered into the cockpit and was stunned at how simple the controls and gauges were. According to the gauges this thing was capable of 100 hours of flight time. That's way more time than they needed to get to the community.
Jane came to the cockpit door, “Eric you have to come see this.” by the time he could get out of the pilots seat, she had vanished out the side door. Eric stepped down out of the cabin, and Jane was dragging an extension cord from the generator towards the small blimp. Eric was bewildered, until he saw her lift a small plastic door on the side of the cabin, and plug the cord in. Instantly, lights and electrical components all over the cabin began to fire up. Jane began jumping up and down, “we are both gonna be taking warm showers, but first we have to haul some water.” Jane pointed to a little sticker that said “Clean water” printed over another little plastic door that she pulled open. As it opened, a funnel began to automatically pop out.
Eric said “Give me one second, and I will help you haul the water to fill it with.” He ran back into the cabin, and stumbled into the cock pit. Eric screamed, “It's charging Jane. It's charging the whole set of batteries!” He jumped down out of the cabin and grabbed her in a big hug, lifting her feet clear off the ground. He kissed her face a dozen or more times. He dropped her back onto her feet, and ran off yelling “Come on, the waters this way!”
After filling the 50 gallon clean water tank, they hunted down a crate of toiletries. They found Shampoo, conditioner, men's and women's body wash, and shaving razors. Eric smiled at her as they set the supplies on the table. “We are going to stay here during the day. Once the sun goes down we will open the elevator hatch and launch this thing. By my calculation, we should have at least another 8 hours.” He heard Jane turn the shower on behind him, and he spun around. “Is it getting warm?”
Jane unfastened and dropped her vest, and unfastened the belt. She unbuttoned her pants with one hand, and reached into the shower with the other. She nodded yes, but she didn't even have to, he could see the steam rolling out behind her. She stepped sideways into the shower stall and within seconds he could hear her moaning in pleasure. “Eric, I seem to have forgotten the shampoo and stuff, can you please bring it to me?”
Eric looked down at the shampoo and body wash, “Yes ma'am, I’m on my way.”