Campfire in a Backyard

Posted on Thu Sep 28th, 2023 @ 9:29pm by Hale Stratton [Major, United States Army] & Alonzo Blazevic & Calista Sutton & Vienna Quinn & Killian Sutton & René Rouen & Victoire Olaffson [Lieutenant, United States Navy]

1,977 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Bangor or Bust
Location: Someone's Back Yard
Timeline: 28 August 2010 - 07:00 p.m.

The house had been vacated and in a rush from the looks of it. The front door stood open as were most of the drawers upstairs. The family car was gone and the cause for the exodus lay unmoving in an upstairs bedroom. She was eighty if she was a day, still dressed in her pajamas, and Hale dispatched her in a move that could almost be called tender.

Dinner was outside. Having found the supplies in the garage, they could use the barbeque. Hale's part was nearly always cleanup but he got the grill going because that was something he'd been doing practically since he was a kid anyways and then excused himself to make a circuit of the area.

The house was set off by itself, with no near neighbors, but he ranged out far enough to make sure that the next nearest houses were emptied (they were) and no surprises left behind (there were but they were easily dispatched).

Fall back those words from earlier sat with Alonzo the whole day and would likely linger for several more then find some sort of enclave within his mind to become dormant until triggered once again. It was militant, it was combat, and that call made by Hale just went to really emphasize to Alonzo that this was indeed a warzone. There were risks and people would be lost, especially if anything was ever done in haste.

He came upon seeing Hale standing there near the grill and so much fire had been built up underneath Alonzo. It was the correct call to make to fall back, but it was also a call made after Ethan was already put into danger. He cleared his throat before approaching Hale. "We're going to have to be more careful," he said with a weight in his tone. "We have teenagers - rebellious and sometimes stupid."

He'd come back from his self-imposed patrol to check on the grill but really, he'd been waiting. Hale nodded in agreement and gestured for Alonzo to walk with him, away from the others a bit. "Agreed," he said softly. "That mess at the truck should never have happened."

"I don't even know who to blame for it," admitted Alonzo. He looked at Hale apologetically. "Part of me blames you, another part of me blames the French boy. Ultimately though? I just blame myself. I brought Ethan into all of this."

"Rene shows an unwillingness to be led," Hale said, "witness his actions at the truck. Rather than return to us, he chose to investigate the truck instead." He shrugged lightly. "Or at least that's what Ethan said when I asked him and, for the record, he doesn't want to work with Rene again any time soon." His lip quirked upward slightly. "Strong survival instinct that one."

"I cannot blame him," Alonzo replied. "With everything that he's seen and all that is happening right now, to have someone put your life in jeopardy at Walmart? There are better places to die" quipped Alonzo.

"Yeah," Hale asked. "Like where exactly?"

Alonzo was not prepared for that to be a question. "I don't really know. I suppose anywhere when you are trying to save someone that you care about, but that? Not like that. Not now. I can't let that happen."

Hale nodded because he understood, because that's how he had lived his life. Not letting the worst happen to someone else. Tomorrow, he thought. They're back with their families tomorrow and officially not my problem any longer.

[Meanwhile ... on the Porch]

René sat on the porch cleaning and sharpening the machete. Though he seemed perfectly focused on the task, it was something he could do on autopilot so to speak. His mind was elsewhere. Numerous thoughts ran through his head as he slid the whetstone across the blade on both sides. They would reach Bangor tomorrow and he wondered what would happen then. He also thought about Vienna and the kiss they had shared the day before. His feelings for her were growing at what could only be called an exponential rate, but he wanted to find out about his own family. He was lost in his musings when someone stepped on to the porch and sat down next to him.

Vic slid down to a seat on the edge of the porch, silent but there in support. She could sense there were some things on René’s mind whether he had come to terms with that fact yet or not and since she had been the one that begun to foster some form of connection she figured it best be her that offered him her ear if he felt ready. While he sharpened his knife she pulled her firearm out and field stripped it, cleaning it carefully as she had had to use it at the truck to draw away some of the undead.

René glanced at Victoire a minute after she sat down. She was one of the few adults in the group that didn't act condescending to him or the other teenagers. She was, perhaps, the only adult he actually felt comfortable around. He gave a long sigh. "Doctor would you mind answering a question?"

She turned her gaze to René her face impassive. “I’ll answer any question you have, but it seems the world has become a war zone and the answers may not be to your liking”

René took a deep breath and let it out in an audible sigh. "What do we do if we get to Bangor tomorrow and we find the situation is worse than when we were at Millinocket?"

"To be honest.... you and I may be the only ones to have truly thought about that possibility René. Hale is doing the best he can and wants to get everyone back to their families but...." she trailed off and looked out toward where they both knew it was likely the dead were roaming out of sight and shook her head.

René looked out in the same direction Victoire did. He breathed in deeply before glancing at Vienna and released a heavy sigh. He felt a sudden wave of melancholy wash over him. "I hope we can get the others home safely." Five thousand kilometers and a large ocean separated René from his family. He wondered if he would ever see his parents and sister ever again.

[At the Katahdin]

Calista was resting in the darkness that was taking over their room in the hotel. They had a couple of candles that Killian had managed to get earlier. They had gotten enough supplies to last a couple more days because by the time that Killian had gotten to the stores, most things that they could have utilized were already gone. Between that and the snacks they have in the car, they figured to rest a day or two more and then get on the road to try to make it home.

Before the power went out though, they had seen that a lot of the major roads were closed into and out of the major cities where the outbreaks were getting really bad. They knew that they were going to need to stick to the back roads.

She just hoped that they would have enough gas at the gas stations to get all the way home to Tennessee. She knew that while there was a chance that they weren't going to be able to, she had to hold onto that glimmer of hope, especially since she had experienced the worst in the past couple of days.

"Sugar, you okay over there?" Killian whispered quietly.

"Yeah, just worried about the logistics of all this," she said motioning to her belly, and then pointed out to the mattress that blocked their window overlooking the pool, "and all that out there."

"You know we'll make our way through this, like we have everything else," Killian said as he moved from the window that he had been peeking out of to the bed that she was lying on. He gently kissed her on her forehead.

"I'm sorry, hon. I don't know how any of this all happened and how our nice exciting trip has turned so morbid."

"Cal, you know that I will stick with you through thick and thin. We'll survive. We're Suttons after all."

She stifled a small laugh into his collarbone as she pulled him close to her. "I hope so."

[Back at the Campfire]

Bao was taking on the sights and the scent of the grill which caused the man to see if he could help. Cooking even if it was grilling was something he enjoyed and could do well.

Vienna was sitting lost in thought, not having been able to raise her family was weighing heavily on her mind. Right now all she had was René and she’d let him know how she felt about him. She just hoped she wasn’t putting too much pressure on René at a time when all hell was breaking loose.

Jordan made his way over to Vienna and sat down on the bench next to her. He had been doing a lot of thinking about things the last few days himself, things he knew he couldn't give voice to before. Now he wasn't so sure.

Vienna offered a polite smile as Jordan sat down. There was a moments silence before she offered up conversation. “So how are you doing with everything that’s going on?”

Jordan looked at Vienna and sighed. "I need to apologize to you. Not just for the other day...but for last year too."

Vienna shook her head. “No, you don’t. It’s behind us now, what’s important is going forward. We all need each other now, we have to look out for each other.”

"Then let me explain." Jordan took a deep breath and looked around to ensure nobody else was within ear shot. He turned back to Vienna. "I wanted to go to homecoming with you because it was what my family expected of me. High school football player takes a cheerleader to the dance, but in all honesty...I would have rather taken someone else. I just couldn't gather up the courage to do so."

Vienna gave Jordan a curious look. “Okay, so I’m guessing this person is pretty special. May I ask who?”

Having left Hale to stew with what he had to say regarding risk and Ethan, Alonzo was walking towards the campfire when his journalistic ears twitched. He had only heard part of the conversation Vienna and Jordan were having. It if course did not stop him from staying out of it.

"Whoever it is, you might want to make your move sooner rather than later" Alonzo said coming to a stop and taking a seat at the campfire site. "Courage might be difficult to find under normal conditions, but we aren't exactly in those anymore."

Vienna gave Jordan a look that said he didn’t have to tell her now, in front of Alonzo, if he didn’t want to.

Jordan glanced at Alonzo and shrugged. "Not sure if there's going to be a dance. So...what's the point?" He glanced about. "What if these are the End Times? What if God is punishing us for our sins?"

“I doubt that” Vienna shook her head. “Why punish those who are innocent? This thing... whatever it is, seems to choose anyone.”

"What other explanation is there?" Jordan wasn't sure of anything else at the moment. He had kept a closely guarded secret for months now.

Vienna shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know Jordan, I really don’t! All I know is that my parents and my brother could be in trouble, or worse...” she stopped talking.

 

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