Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

ahead.
    She raised her gun and pointed it at me.
    I didn’t have my shield anymore.
    I was closing the distance, but not fast enough. My feet flew over the wet pavement, throwing water up to my back and neck. My helmet fell off and I just let it go.
    I heard someone shout my name from off to the side.
    Maybe it was Paci. The rain muffled his voice too much for me to know for sure.
    Gail smiled.
    I felt the bullet slam into me before I heard the shot fire out of her gun.
    As I fell to the pavement, my chest going numb, I thought how strange it was to personally experience the speed of sound traveling slower than a bullet.
    The last thing I remembered seeing as I fell to my side and my head hit the ground, was Gail’s body flying backwards and landing against the lobby door.
    My eyes slid shut and I smiled before losing consciousness. At least that bad penny won’t be turning up anymore.
    ***
    Rain washes the earth. It rinses away all the oil and grime left by a careless civilization until there’s no more trace of it.
    The blood that was left by the canners and their victims was long gone.
    The bodies had been taken away and burned.
    Any trace of their invasion into our haven had disappeared, making me wonder as I gazed over all of it from up on high if it had ever even happened.
    But then I looked down on my friends and saw all their sad faces, and I knew. I knew it had really happened, and that they’d lost people they really cared for. Looked up to. Respected.
    I wept for them. Just as they wept for themselves.
    “Dearly beloved,” said Ronald, his voice booming out over the crowd. “We are gathered here today to say goodbye to some friends. Some very special people who gave their lives so that we might carry on…”
    His healing words, his poem about our lives, washed over me, their individual syllables meaningless, but their goal still met. Today was a new day for all of them. For me. Today we would start again and try to rebuild what was lost. We’d make it better and stronger and safer.
    With the gifts of cattle and horses from the Triple Bar D, we would build our herd. With the birds being sent from Jimmy and Sissy at the Cracker Barrel, we would increase our messenger system and rebuild the contacts poisoned by Gail. With the contact that Bodo was making for us in the Keys, we would reach more people and spread more news and make more connections. Have more friends. Grow our family.
    Paci reached over and took my hand and squeezed it.
    I looked at him and smiled weakly. It was the best I could do.
    Together we would carry on and do whatever it took to build Haven into the safe place its name implied.
    “Bryn, would you like to say a few words?” Ronald asked.
    I moved over to the pulpit, looking down off the stage that had hurriedly been built to manage our memorial service.
    “I’m proud of all of you,” I said, looking at each of their faces. “Proud of how you worked together before they came and during the fight. I’m proud of how you made hard decisions and took risks that showed how much you value human life. That’s the difference between us and the canners. We value the gift of our humanity. We must never lose that.”
    I took Ronald’s hand and pulled it above my head. I would have done the same with Paci’s, but the bruise from my flak jacket taking that bullet still didn’t allow for it. “Lift your hands with me as we say goodbye to our friends.”
    I waited until all the hands were up. I spoke loud and clear, making sure my voice spread out across Haven and beyond.
    “Goodbye, Robson.”
    “Sarah.”
    “Rick.”
    “Kenny.”
    “Gretchen.”
    “Bianca.”
    “James.”
    “Yokci.”
    “Zach.”
    I had to stop a moment before I could finish. I needed to collect myself so I didn’t have a breakdown.
    “And Winky.”
    I dropped my head and waited a full two minutes before continuing. I wanted to remember how my friend Winky had single-handedly fought off three very enterprising canners who’d cut in through an unguarded part of the fence and then found their way into our home through a service entrance, surprising Winky in the lobby. She was bleeding to death from a bullet wound to her leg, but she took them out all the same. She gave her life for Peter’s and for everyone else’s who ran into that lobby after her.
    I raised my head, letting my tears fall freely. “May you all who have died … our friends … our family … rest in peace and be there to guide us