Chapter 167: Moon’s wasted efforts.
On Jon’s base, the Gadriel’s opened their eyes at around 8:00 a.m.
They were all disoriented. They were all in a single room, with bunker beds. Two people were sharing a bed. It was not spacious like Fortress Four where it was two people per bedroom. Or adults in single rooms and children in one bedroom.
There was no window in the room where they found themselves.
"Son, where are we?" Scott Gadriel asked Frank.
Frank slowly pulled his body up and observed the room. He hurried to the door and opened it. Everything outside was different!!
Many unfinished houses. A scarce population of men and women outside with hostile eyes. No familiar neighbors. No clean cemented or paved paths like those of Fortress Four.
No music. No cheer.
He grabbed a child that was running by by the hood of her green jacket. "Hey kid, where is this?"
"Home." The kid replied. She wrenched herself free and continued running.
More Gadriel’s came out of the small two room house and looked around like aliens that had been dropped on a brand-new world.
Yes, there was a pink bubble.
Yes, there was a familiar scent of nasty smelling gel.
But this was not home!!
"Hey, new guys, better go find Jed and get jobs or you won’t eat unless you have money to buy food from the inner wall." A man shouted to them. "Also, we pay rent around here, so you better figure out how to earn a real wage."
A group of people walked by men, women and children. All of them were holding weapons. One of them was Helena Drew!!
"Helena!!" Molly gasped.
Realization came slowly to the Gadriel’s. They were no longer in Fortress Four. Like Helena, they had been moved to another base!!
Frank was coming to a more horrifying realization. On this base, children walked around with weapons. Whether it was in their hands, one their waists or in their bags. They were all armed.
"No." he whispered.
Scott Gadriel turned to Frank and Molly, glaring at them. "You fool, what have you done to us? How are we going to live now? It was just teaching children to shoot, yours are not even 10 and above so they didn’t qualify. Why did you have to make such a ruckus?"
Molly was quick with the tears.
Their children were confused.
*****
On Fortress Four meanwhile, Sunshine was just waking up. It was thirty minutes past eight and her head was throbbing.
The last clear memory she had was drinking with Dwayne while they sung along to old songs on a karaoke machine. She did not have any memory of her ice adventures. She blinked and looked around.
Hades cleared his throat by the door. When she looked at him, he approached her with a cup of ginger tea and said, "If it isn’t the ice queen."
Sunshine groaned. Some memories flashed through her mind. "Oh God!!!"
Hades laughed. "I don’t think God had anything to do with it. Perhaps try, Oh Dwayne."
Sunshine groaned again. "What did I do?"
Again, Hades laughed. "You called our children icicles."
"Oh." She groaned.
"You bit Castiel’s cheek, called it a dumpling and said it was not sweet."
She buried her face in her hands. "Oh no! how bad is the bite? Did I break skin? Did he cry?" What am I going to do?"
"It was a gentle bite, thankfully." He smiled. "You did say my eyes reminded you of stars."
She peeked through her fingers. That sounded positive.
"And you said you would love to dig them out with spoons."
"Oh!!" She groaned loudly and covered her eyes again.
Hades touched his lips. "You said my lips looked like a heart and you wanted to taste them."
She dropped her hands, "Please tell me that the boys did not hear that"
He winced.
Sunshine groaned again. The answer wrote itself. "What else did I do?"
He pulled her hand and placed the cup of tea in her hands. "Let’s see. You danced, coughed snowflakes like confetti, tried to make me wear an ice crown."
"Stop." She said and sighed. "That is the last time I let Dwayne challenge me in karaoke. He is way too good at remembering song lyrics."
Hades learned something about Dwayne that he never knew. Two things actually. Dwayne could sing. He could also recall song lyrics perfectly.
"I didn’t know that the two of you were close." He said slowly.
"I was a servant and occasional babysitter on your estate. It is not surprising that you had no idea what I was up to." She replied. "Is he okay? How many teeth has Frank lost?"
"He was booted out in the night." Hades told her. "Moved to Jon’s base. In other news, Lisha recorded footage of you in your drunken state. Earl refuses to call you a superhuman and he insists that you are a witch. Ariel left you a letter in which he specifies all the ways in which he is not an icicle. Castiel said that he wants you to blow snowflake confetti every day.
Sunshine sighed. "It could be worse. I am good with the result."
Hades suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the chin. He looked into her eyes and said seriously. "Next time you go drinking, I want you to call me when you are on your third glass of wine or third bottle of beer."
She pinched her lips.
****
Moon Raine was doing her best to pass off as someone important at Camp Zenith. She carried herself with the pride of someone who believed the apocalypse itself had unfolded on her stage.
She claimed often that she was the mastermind behind the apocalypse guideline brochures. She walked around like an angel, teaching or sharing knowledge on things that mattered in the apocalypse.
Moon even drew pictures of useful mutated animals whose flesh could be eaten. Those whose wool or fur had some use. The ones which produced milk that was best for growth of children.
In every circle of women that were doing a communal task, she was there.
In training, she was active and when she wasn’t training, she was cheering on others and encouraging them.
She even volunteered to work in the day care section and won the love and admiration of many children and parents.
Her presence was growing, her name was mentioned with smiles. But the two people whose recognition she craved the most remained untouched.
Dominic was consumed with endless demands for survival. Leading hunts, gathering supplies, keeping order. He had no time for her. That was understandable.
Leah, however, was another matter. She was a wall that Moon could not climb, one whose silence stung sharper than rejection.
No matter how hard Moon worked, all she received from Leah was warm nods and perfunctory words of thanks. Mostly, she received cold indifference from the woman. No acknowledgement. No praise. Not even a glance that lingered long enough to mean something.
The indifference gnawed at Moon.
Even now, some of the women were sewing gloves and winter hats for children by hand. Moon was not talented at it, but she was still doing her best, laughing the clumsiness away while glancing at Leah.
Leah was sitting with her three friends, Hazel, Edith and Tabitha. They were doing a thread count.
"She is doing a little too much, that Moon. And she is looking over here again." Tabitha said with a faint laugh.
Hazel smiled. "She is a hard worker, maybe we should bring her into our little group."
Leah lifted her eyes, her expression calm but edged with steel. "No."
The three women exchanged looks. "Why not?" Edith asked softly.