"More like girls' night in," I said, passing Bee over. "Make sure she gets a bath – and check her for ticks." I dug in my backpack for the only bar of soap we had.
"We'll do the usual pampering session," Susan promised, taking the bar.
"Bye, Bee," I said.
Bee waved, and I watched them walk away as she fiddled with the soap.
"She'll be fine, Mama," Alex said, slinging his arm over my shoulder.
"I know. I just wish…" I trailed off. Alex didn't need to hear all about how Micah was missing out on Bee, again.
"You wish what?" he asked.
I leaned into him, nose first, and sniffed. "I wish we had another bar of soap."
Chapter 2
Wondrous Qualities
After scouting out each entrance, Alex and I picked the two that looked the most used. Parting ways, I traded the last of the honeysuckle for one of his apples, and headed back to the north entrance. It was uphill, but I told myself it would be a few degrees cooler than the south entrance, which was where Alex was headed.
I made my way to the top of a ridge that had just enough shrubbery to conceal me. After inspecting the area for thorns and poison ivy, I chose a bush and rolled out a blanket underneath. I laid on the ground, belly down, with the binoculars glued to my eyes for the next half hour. Absolutely no movement as far as I could see.
When my stomach started to grumble, I pulled out the apple and bit into it. turned on my back as I chewed. The stars were bright and numerous, especially with no more light pollution. Directly after the electro-magnetic pulse, or Daybreak, as the general population had named it, power for most of the United States had gone out. A few months later, we heard rumors of large cities back on the grid, only to be attacked and shut down again by roaming militias claiming to work for One Less. The National Guard wasn't very effective in thwarting the attacks. In fact, as time went on, there seemed to be fewer and fewer military personnel. Hell, some of them were probably joining One Less.
Eventually, power was deemed a dangerous magnet for One Less, so people stopped pursuing it. It wasn't until we hit Washington, D.C. that we learned of EMPs going off in other major countries around the world. Before that, I had half expected to see Chinese troops marching through the country, but it appeared most countries gotten hit even worse than ours. We had Akasha to somewhat contain our blast. Others had no such luck.
I turned the half-eaten apple over in my hand. Moonlight glinted off the dull red skin, reminding me of shiny apples in a supermarket. There were no more shiny apples. I looked at my watch; ten p.m. There had been plenty of watch batteries left over in abandoned stores, though no double A's for our handheld radios.
I sighed. Lots of time before I would be reunited with Susan, Alex, and Bee. I took another bite, hitting the core. I dug out the seeds and placed them in my pocket. Seeds made the 'rattle' in a few of Bee's homemade toys. Micah was right. Wondrous qualities was how he had described apples.
Or was that me, being sarcastic?
It felt like so long ago, memories were beginning to blend together. I half-considered reaching out for Micah through our telepathic connection. It was something I had practiced consistently right after Daybreak, until it led a platoon of One Less directly to us. Somehow, they’d figured out how to tap in.
The resulting skirmish separated me from Bee for a week. It was the absolute worst week of my life. Alex had her the whole time, but I had all her cloth diapers and prepared food. When we finally reunited, Bee was practically potty-trained, and covered head to toe in berry juice.
It took another two days to clean her. Every time I griped about it, Alex would tell me how that berry bush saved their lives. Every time Bee announced she had to use the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of a prideful smile on Alex's face. It was easy to potty train in the middle of the woods where there were no actual potties around to use.
Even still, the three of us always took care to divide Bee's supplies evenly among us. I reached inside my backpack, rummaging around for food. Nothing. I laid back down with a huff. Susan would probably be able to stock up. Bee's dimples led to a lot of much-needed acquisitions, even in today's world, where it was every man, woman, and child for themselves.
My thoughts drifted back to Micah, wondering if he was underground, possibly right beneath me. I thought back to all the clues that had led us here, most of them gathered while we were in D.C. Our former senate contact told us this was where the president and his entourage had retreated just before the EMP. Since Micah's trail led directly to the White House, hunting down the president was the next step.
So there I lay, underneath a bush by myself, setting my sights on the President of the United States inside a nuclear-protected facility, all because of Micah. I rolled back over, looking through the binoculars again. I was going to have rings around my eyes come morning, not to mention a dozen ticks.