Region: Unknown
Nathaniel Alistair
Retrospect
(Retrospect was a 5 part series centered around one of Nathaniel "Nathan" Alistair's adventures.
The story is combined in its entirety here so that readers do not need to jump from one part to another)
The story is combined in its entirety here so that readers do not need to jump from one part to another)
It was dark and Nathan was getting tired of waiting. He had been squatting down behind a row of trash cans for nearly an hour now, patiently, his legs were getting very sore. He could feel a tingly and burning sensation crawling up his thighs as his muscles begged for a reprieve. As an added insult he happened to be standing in a small puddle and could finally feel the moisture creeping up through his boots and into his socks. The gang of girls just a few yards away from him had been loitering and doing nothing of any importance for nearly an hour now and Nathan had just about had enough. He shifted his body just a bit to find a more comfortable position and as he did so he accidentally bumped into the can closest to him, causing it to make a small bit of noise. “Shit” he thought to himself as he held his breath.
The girls in the alley, five of them in total, all roughly around the age of 16, were smoking and telling stories about the good old days had gone quiet the moment they heard an unexpected sound. “What was that?” one asked the others looking in the direction of the trashcans. “I don’t know” replied another. They all turned together to face the row of cans on the right side of the alley with their inquisitive eyes squinting into the darkness. Nathan began to panic, he looked left and right, trying to figure a way out of this mess. As he studied the area he stayed motionless, breathing ever so lightly. “Should I go check it out?” Another girl piped up. “We can all go together” responded one of them. Nathan decided it was now or never. He had to make a run for it. He squatted down further prepared to spring up and run for his life as the girls drew closer. But luckily for him, it was at that moment, when all hell broke loose. Across the alley from him another row of empty cans banged and fell as a loud caterwaul pierced the night followed by a symphony of cats and girls all screaming at the same time.
Nathan didn’t move an inch and it may have been that inaction that saved him right then and there.
He watched from the shadows as a soldier, rifle in hand, came sprinting around the corner while at the same instant the two fighting cats from earlier that started all the commotion ran past her. The soldier slowed to a walk lowering her weapon as she eyed the girls who had all gone quiet at this point. “Do you realize that it is past curfew right now?” the woman asked none of the girls in particular as she approached them. “I could hall you all of to the labor office and you’d get two weeks each. Do you really want that?” “No sir” the girls all responded in unison. “Do I look like a sir to you?” the woman asked. Nathan shook his head when he heard this. “Some things never change” he thought to himself and at that very moment he mouthed silently what the soldier said next. “I work for a living”. The air hung with silent tension yet again. Nathan sat in the shadows with his muscles screaming. The soldier stared down the girls and the girls stared at the ground. It seemed like an eternity passed but eventually the torture ended for the girls and Nathan. “I am gonna let you go this time with a warning since I know most of your mothers. Next time you won’t get off so easy. Now get your asses home before I change my mind.” With those last words the five girls darted in five different directions leaving the soldier standing there by herself.
Nathan watched the soldier as she gave a cursory glance down the alley and turned her back on him. She spotted a still smoking cigarette and crushed it purposefully with her boot. Then with a soft sigh she slowly walked back down the alley the way she had come. He could hear her mumbling something about how kids had it easy now a days and some other rambling not worth repeating. When she rounded the corner and disappeared out of site he stood finally giving his body a chance to relax. He stretched his hands toward the clouds loosening up his tense muscles as he eyed one of the unkept houses across the alley. The door was hanging half off and all the windows were shattered skeletons of a time long gone by. He shook his head and sighed as he cautiously walked toward the dark dilapidated home.
Looking up and down the alley one last time for good measure he watched as one of the cats from the fight earlier came jogging down the alley. It stopped in front of him and stared inquisitively. “You must be the winner huh?” Nathan asked as he squatted down once more, taking the time to pet the stray. “I guess I owe you one buddy. You kind of saved my life.” It was actions like this, a simple moment to pet a stray cat that helped him keep his sanity. When the cat was satisfied by his attention it gave a soft meow and sauntered off purring, leaving Nathan alone yet again. He stood up and took a few more steps forward reaching for the half dangling door, opening it as carefully as he could. He looked around once more to determine he was safe and quietly stepped into the darkness inside.
Retrospect
(Part Two)
Nathan stood in a narrow hallway allowing time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Over the past few years he had grown very accustomed to moving around in the shadows and this was not going to be any different. He used to have a pretty nice set of NVGs (Night Vision Goggles) which would have made tonight a whole lot easier but a short while back he was caught in another dangerous situation where he was forced to flee without them. “Better the goggles than me.” He thought to himself as he squinted his eyes trying to make out what was ahead of him. Always on the run, hiding from those who hunted him, hoping to remain a free man for at least one more day; this is what Nathan’s life had become. Each day it was the same routine and Nathan was determined to find somewhere better. Someplace he didn’t have to look over his shoulder every single second of the day wondering if it was his last. But before he could find the freedom he so desperately desired he had to stop here, at this house, one last time.
Now that he could make out all the objects in the room he began to slowly move about the house making sure not to knock anything over or make any noise. It wasn’t too hard for him to move around. He had been there before; he knew the layout like the back of his hand. The dirt and crumbled remnants of the house cracked beneath his feet as he navigated his way stealthily into what was the kitchen. He slowly opened a pantry door and noticed a few cans of food and other various items sitting untouched on the shelves. He slid his backpack off his shoulders and without taking a moment to see what he was grabbing, stuffed as much as he could into his bag. When he was satisfied with what he had, he shut the pantry door and put the backpack back on his back and moved on.
He had made his way through the abandoned, house sifting through this and that, taking what he found useful and what he could easily carry. He was a skilled survivalist now and knew not to waste his time with heavy objects or useless trinkets. Anything he took had to be easy to move around with and easy to leave behind. The world was no longer a place for sentimental stupidity. At least that is what he had convinced himself. As he slowly walked down a long hallway to another section of the house he paused and stared at the odd pieces of art that clung to the wall covered in dust. He laughed quietly to himself lost in thought and then moved on to the end of the hallway. He opened up one of the three doors that were there and stepped inside.
Nathan was standing in what was obviously a child’s room, a little girl’s room to be more precise. On this side of the house the moon shone in and he was able to see the pink fading and flaking paint on the walls. There were a few posters still hanging throughout the room that displayed unicorns, rainbows and a once beloved hello kitty, again he laughed in spite of himself. Nathan had moved to the center of the room and was turning in a slow circle looking at all that surrounded him. His breathing had quickened a bit and he walked toward a bed in the room. He sat down on it and a giant puff of dirt and dust escaped into the air around him. Nathan pawed at few of the pillows on the bed and what once was a stuffed teddy bear, he turned placing his elbows on his knees and buried his head in his hands. He didn’t move for a while and eventually a small controlled sob escaped him as he thought to himself how much harder this was than he could have ever imagined it would be. When he looked up he caught his reflection in the mirror and watched as tear, glinting from the moonlight, ran down his cheek and fell into his clothes. As he continued staring at himself in the mirror he noticed something out of the corner of his eye sitting on the dresser beside him. He turned and reached out for a photo frame. He found it odd that in all this mess and destruction it was clean and untouched by the dust and dirt that surrounded him. Upon further inspection his breath caught. A picture of a man, woman and a little girl no more than eight or nine years old stared back at him. The man was him.
As he stared at the photo of himself and his family the anger and emotions that had been trapped inside him for the last ten plus years came roaring out in one big wave. He screamed and threw the frame across the room, breaking it against the wall. It took a second for him to realize what he had just done. Lights in a few of the houses across the way came on and he scrambled quickly across the room and crouched beneath the window sill. “Shit, Shit, Shit. You dumbass” Nathan thought to himself. He sat in silence hoping he had not drawn unwanted attention to himself or where he was. He was soon proved wrong when he heard footsteps and voices in the street outside. He slowly sat with his back against the wall hoping his foolish mistake would not reveal him. Beams of light bounced up and down the street and along the houses outside, some even pierced the broken window that led into the room and peppered the wall across from where he was now hiding. “Was that a man’s scream?” he heard a woman say. “I don’t know said another.” There were at least another half dozen different conversations going on outside some of which he could easily recognize as soldiers or some sort of security. “You have made mess of it now haven’t you?” Nathan asked himself with a whisper. He put head against the wall and slid down quietly into a sitting position while trying to think. He paused when his hand brushed against the photo frame he had tossed this way earlier. Nathan picked it up again and slowly, ever so quietly brushed the remaining bits of glass away from it. Very carefully he managed to pull the photo of his family out of the frame. He then folded it and slid it into his front pocket and then sat waiting in silence for whatever was going to happen next.
Retrospect
(Part Three)
As Nathan sat there hoping for the bustle outside to die down a discussion was going on not too far from where was. He recognized the voice he had heard earlier that evening. “It’s probably those darn girls I ran off earlier.” The soldier from the alley said. “Who” asked another voice? “I don’t know, Erica and Julia’s kid and few others. They were smoking out back after curfew and between them and huge cat fight it made my patrol not so boring so I sent them home with a warning.” There was a slight pause and third female voice entered the conversation. “Well we are supposed to clear the area and check all the empty houses or HQ will pitch a fit. Why don’t you two check the houses over there and I will look at these few.” The conversation didn’t last very much longer and the soldiers were off to search the houses including the one Nathan was now hiding in.
Nathan’s heart sunk and his stomach knotted up. He was unable to see which houses or areas they were indicating but if they were as thorough as they sounded they would eventually be searching the one he was hiding in right now. He eyed the room he was in and knew he had to move, at least from here, because there was way too much light coming from outside and into the room. He stood as quietly as he could manage, making sure to stay away from the open window, and as he was slowly walking out of the room he bent over and grabbed the stuffed teddy bear that he had found earlier on the bed. “So much for not being sentimental” Nathan said with whisper as he slipped into the shadows of the hallway.
Nathan began walking down a familiar practiced path; one he had taken hundreds, no, possibly thousands of times before the world changed because of Hepatitis X. Before today he would have been walking up and down this hallway for many other reasons, either he’d have been on his way to work, getting his wife or daughter something from the kitchen or even tip toeing down it on Christmas eve, being ever so quiet just so he could stuff presents under the tree from Santa and enjoy the eventual smiles from his families faces on Christmas morning. Now he tip toed for a different reason. His very life and freedom depended on it.
As he neared the end of the hall he heard a noise. It was the unmistakable creek of a door. Nathan assumed it was the very door he himself had come through earlier. Again the familiar race of panic set in and he begin retreating backwards down the hall where he had just come from. This time though he chose the door on the right opposite the room he was in earlier. As he stepped in he noticed right away it was much darker and that gave him a glimmer of hope. Squinting against the darkness trying to see what was there he noticed there was a large dresser tipped over resting against a large bed and bunch of stuff scattered around the room. What he once knew as the closet was exposed and open, the doors having been removed long ago. “This isn’t gonna work” he thought to himself. The window in the room was way too small for him to attempt climbing out of. He turned to head back out into the hall when he heard noises just outside the door. He did the only thing he could possibly do at that time, he moved quickly over the bed and lay on the floor on the opposite side, holding his breath and praying he was not discovered.
As Nathan lay there on his stomach he heard some more noises and what he could only assume were footfalls. He now knew there was more than one soldier in the house because the sounds were coming from two different areas. As he lay behind the bed he watched a flashlight beam bounce down the hallway and soon enough saw a pair of boots in the hallway. His heart raced, his mind raced, he did not know what to do now. After all these years he would be finally caught he thought to himself. He watched as the boots moved off into the room he was before. He turned and eyed the window above him reevaluating the size, wondering if he maybe he could fit in there but he knew better. Soon, the black boots where in the hall outside of the door to the room where Nathan and watched, helpless, as they eventually entered the room.
There was nothing Nathan could do at this point and he knew it. A sort of calm passed over him as he resigned himself to his fate. As the owner of the boots came around the bed and a beam of light shone down on him he raised himself up from the ground and slowly stood facing the soldier with his hands up. The soldier was just a bit above five foot with long blonde hair but that’s all he could make out. He could not really see her face because she was shining a light directly in his eyes, but he could see what really mattered, she wore all black and had a rifle pointed right at him.
There was an awkward pause as the Nathan and the soldier eyed one another. They were both assessing the situation; both wondering what would happen next. Soon a voice floated down the hall breaking their silent stare off. “All clear over here, how about you?” the voice asked. The soldier in front of Nathan hesitated for a second eventually responding back. “Nothing here either. All the back rooms are empty.” A look of confusion washed over Nathan’s face. “What in the hell is going on?” Nathan thought to himself as the soldier raised her other hand in a shushing motion. She slowly lowered her weapon and took the light off of Nathan and backed out of the room. She looked down the hallway and then back at him one last time and whispered two words “Stay here” and then she was gone.
Nathan stood quietly in the darkness confused by what had just happened. A billion different thoughts ran through his head at the same time, most of them bad and handful good. As he listened to the soldiers moving throughout the rest of the house he kneeled on the floor, once again hiding behind the bed just to be safe. While he waited there in silence, he narrowed his scrambled thoughts down to the two most obvious possibilities about his run in with the blonde soldier; she was either one of those 8th Day sympathizers he had heard stories about or she had plans of her own for him. It no longer surprised Nathan how women reacted these days when men were involved, not to mention how tempting the black market male slave trade was. Someone one like him could make a woman wealthy for life. Either way Nathan decided he was not sticking around to find out what the soldier’s motives were. At the first chance he got he was getting out of the house and getting as far away from here as he possibly could.“
Ok this one is all clear.” One of the soldiers said rousing Nathan form his thoughts. Soon after, Nathan heard a loud clattering and bang that startled him to his feet. The loud noise was then followed by laughter and cursing. “Shit that scared me.” someone said. “I am surprised that stupid door has not fallen off a long time ago” responded one of the other soldiers. Nathan listened to their conversation as it continued and faded off into the distance then he stepped from behind the bed and made his way out of the room. “Now’s my chance” he thought to himself as he left the room and headed back down the hallway. When he got to the back door he paused looking back into the house one last time and shook his head as memories swam through it. “I’m sorry” he whispered and then stepped out into shadows and disappeared down the alley.
Nathan moved here and there slinking from one location to the next in the alley, tracing his path back toward where he had first entered the town earlier in the day. Now he was able to move a bit faster due to the fact that it was nearly 4 a.m. in the morning and most of the people around town where asleep in their beds. After the chaos that occurred across the world due to the huge vacuum of power (the absence of men) little fortified towns and cities had popped up all over the North America. What lay between those towns now were miles of abandoned buildings, roads and unknown troubles.
Women, children and the remaining men at first tried to continue on with their lives acting as if nothing had really changed but that didn’t last long. Soon electricity, water and many other things the world took for granted began to vanish or fail and people began to fight for what was left. They fought for their lives, they fought for their families and some just fought because that’s all they could do. Shortly after all this uncertainty, leaders sprung up in different parts of the world and they began to realize that the very survival of humanity depended on one very valuable thing, men. Numerous different theories on how to protect, save, use or abuse the few remaining men in the world came about and along with those theories came the women who stood behind those ideas and opinions. Wars started, countries and order fell and the world was changed forever with most men were left to hide and fear for their family’s lives and their very freedom. Nathan was one of those very men and his memories about those times tortured him daily.
When Nathan managed to find his way safely back to the side of the wall he had snuck in through earlier he breathed a sigh of relief. “It was foolish to even come back” he thought to himself as moved the few pieces of junk and tree branches he had used earlier to cover the drainage pipe he had come up through to get into the town in the first place. Somewhere deep down inside he had been hoping for something that he now knew would never be. Looking back at the place he had called home for many years before the plague of man, Hepatitis X, had hit he sighed knowing he would never return again. He crawled into the pipe while pulling branches back over the opening and then began his long crawl toward freedom.
An hour into his trek Nathan paused to rest from his crawling and laughed in spite of himself. He tended to do that a lot lately. “I never thought I’d be acting out a scene from Shawshank redemption” he said out loud, his voice softly echoing down the pipe. After a few more minutes of rest he continued his slow methodic crawl to the other end of the pipe knowing he didn’t have that much further to go. When he finally reached the opening on the other side his entire body was aching. Nathan carefully poked his head out and looked around. Between the waning moonlight and the fact that his eyes were well adjusted to the darkness now it was practically like staring into daylight for Nathan. When he was sure no one was around he pulled himself out of the pipe and stood, wiping some of the muck from the pipe off his hands while he surveyed his surroundings. Nathan finally had made his escape.
Although Nathan had hoped it would go differently in some way he was glad to be on the move again. Noticing that it was getting lighter out he looked at his watch and saw it was almost six in the morning; soon it would be complete daylight, he knew he had to get to a good hiding spot to hunker down for the day. Night time was the only time to really move long distances safely now. Leaning against the wall for just a moments rest he pulled the photo he took earlier from his pocket and stared at it for a bit. A few moments later Nathan was startled back to the present by a voice. “You do realize they leave that hole open on purpose right?” His heart raced. Having stepped out from behind a large pile of debris Nathan figured safe earlier stood the blonde soldier from earlier that night. She had her weapon pointed straight at him for the second time that day. Nathan held his breath cursing his damn sentiment again especially when he was this close to being gone. “And why would they do that?” he asked the soldier attempting to by time. “Why to sucker people into false senses of security” she said with a wicked smile stepping toward him. What happened next is hard for Nathan to talk about even to this day.
Please stay tuned for the future adventures of Dorry and Nathan.
Region: Unknown
Nathaniel "Nathan" Alistair
Delores "Dorry" Alistair
Retrospect
(Part Four)
Nathan stood quietly in the darkness confused by what had just happened. A billion different thoughts ran through his head at the same time, most of them bad and handful good. As he listened to the soldiers moving throughout the rest of the house he kneeled on the floor, once again hiding behind the bed just to be safe. While he waited there in silence, he narrowed his scrambled thoughts down to the two most obvious possibilities about his run in with the blonde soldier; she was either one of those 8th Day sympathizers he had heard stories about or she had plans of her own for him. It no longer surprised Nathan how women reacted these days when men were involved, not to mention how tempting the black market male slave trade was. Someone one like him could make a woman wealthy for life. Either way Nathan decided he was not sticking around to find out what the soldier’s motives were. At the first chance he got he was getting out of the house and getting as far away from here as he possibly could.“
Ok this one is all clear.” One of the soldiers said rousing Nathan form his thoughts. Soon after, Nathan heard a loud clattering and bang that startled him to his feet. The loud noise was then followed by laughter and cursing. “Shit that scared me.” someone said. “I am surprised that stupid door has not fallen off a long time ago” responded one of the other soldiers. Nathan listened to their conversation as it continued and faded off into the distance then he stepped from behind the bed and made his way out of the room. “Now’s my chance” he thought to himself as he left the room and headed back down the hallway. When he got to the back door he paused looking back into the house one last time and shook his head as memories swam through it. “I’m sorry” he whispered and then stepped out into shadows and disappeared down the alley.
Nathan moved here and there slinking from one location to the next in the alley, tracing his path back toward where he had first entered the town earlier in the day. Now he was able to move a bit faster due to the fact that it was nearly 4 a.m. in the morning and most of the people around town where asleep in their beds. After the chaos that occurred across the world due to the huge vacuum of power (the absence of men) little fortified towns and cities had popped up all over the North America. What lay between those towns now were miles of abandoned buildings, roads and unknown troubles.
Women, children and the remaining men at first tried to continue on with their lives acting as if nothing had really changed but that didn’t last long. Soon electricity, water and many other things the world took for granted began to vanish or fail and people began to fight for what was left. They fought for their lives, they fought for their families and some just fought because that’s all they could do. Shortly after all this uncertainty, leaders sprung up in different parts of the world and they began to realize that the very survival of humanity depended on one very valuable thing, men. Numerous different theories on how to protect, save, use or abuse the few remaining men in the world came about and along with those theories came the women who stood behind those ideas and opinions. Wars started, countries and order fell and the world was changed forever with most men were left to hide and fear for their family’s lives and their very freedom. Nathan was one of those very men and his memories about those times tortured him daily.
When Nathan managed to find his way safely back to the side of the wall he had snuck in through earlier he breathed a sigh of relief. “It was foolish to even come back” he thought to himself as moved the few pieces of junk and tree branches he had used earlier to cover the drainage pipe he had come up through to get into the town in the first place. Somewhere deep down inside he had been hoping for something that he now knew would never be. Looking back at the place he had called home for many years before the plague of man, Hepatitis X, had hit he sighed knowing he would never return again. He crawled into the pipe while pulling branches back over the opening and then began his long crawl toward freedom.
An hour into his trek Nathan paused to rest from his crawling and laughed in spite of himself. He tended to do that a lot lately. “I never thought I’d be acting out a scene from Shawshank redemption” he said out loud, his voice softly echoing down the pipe. After a few more minutes of rest he continued his slow methodic crawl to the other end of the pipe knowing he didn’t have that much further to go. When he finally reached the opening on the other side his entire body was aching. Nathan carefully poked his head out and looked around. Between the waning moonlight and the fact that his eyes were well adjusted to the darkness now it was practically like staring into daylight for Nathan. When he was sure no one was around he pulled himself out of the pipe and stood, wiping some of the muck from the pipe off his hands while he surveyed his surroundings. Nathan finally had made his escape.
Although Nathan had hoped it would go differently in some way he was glad to be on the move again. Noticing that it was getting lighter out he looked at his watch and saw it was almost six in the morning; soon it would be complete daylight, he knew he had to get to a good hiding spot to hunker down for the day. Night time was the only time to really move long distances safely now. Leaning against the wall for just a moments rest he pulled the photo he took earlier from his pocket and stared at it for a bit. A few moments later Nathan was startled back to the present by a voice. “You do realize they leave that hole open on purpose right?” His heart raced. Having stepped out from behind a large pile of debris Nathan figured safe earlier stood the blonde soldier from earlier that night. She had her weapon pointed straight at him for the second time that day. Nathan held his breath cursing his damn sentiment again especially when he was this close to being gone. “And why would they do that?” he asked the soldier attempting to by time. “Why to sucker people into false senses of security” she said with a wicked smile stepping toward him. What happened next is hard for Nathan to talk about even to this day.
Retrospect
(The Conclusion)
Nathan stared at the soldier and then glanced at the weapon she had trained on him and then he just shook his head smiling. “What’s so funny she asked him?” He looked down at the picture in his hand and folded it while bringing it up to his pocket. “What are you doing?” the woman asked as he slid the picture into his pocket. “Keep your hands where I can see them” she demanded. Nathan looked her in the eyes as he took his hand out of his pocket. “I was just laughing at the irony of my situation” he said showing her both his empty hands. “A guy knows when he is beat.” He put his hands down by his sides and asked “So what now? Is this part where you turn me in or is this part where you drag me off to some slave market and get paid beyond your wildest dreams.”
The soldier just stared at him. She seemed to be confused by his actions. Her weapon lowered just a bit. Nathan, for a brief moment, contemplated rushing her and attempting to take the rifle but he just wasn’t sure if he could pull it off. The two stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity. The morning sun was finally breaking and the grey haze of night was lifting. The soldier sighed and lowered her weapon completely. “You are crazy bastard aren’t you?” She shook her head and turned away from him. As she started to walk away Nathan was thoroughly confused. “What the fuck is going on?” he thought to himself. The blonde turned back toward him and simply said “Well let’s go or someone will come along who will want to actually turn you in. We need to get you somewhere safely hidden before the whole damn town knows you are here.”
As she walked across a field heading to a bombed out section outside of town Nathan followed her. It was better than being shot or something and it was not like he had much of a choice. They both walked in silence for a while. As Nathan looked down at the weeds and dying grass he noted the faded marks, numbers and words that appeared every so often in the grass as they walked. 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 and when they got to the next faded line Nathan broke the silence by loudly saying “Touchdown!” The soldier turned toward him trying her best to hide her smile.
“You seem to have a deathwish don’t you?” She asked. Nathan responded but not to her question. “I figured out who you are and what you do.” The soldier kept on walking “Have you now?’ she asked as they neared the end of the field and what used to be the entrance to an old football stadium's locker room. “Yes” Nathan said. “You’re one of those 8th Day people, the ones who work to help get guys to the Arcadia or someplace like that.” The blonde soldier stopped at the doorway and again turned toward Nathan staring at him. “No I am not one of those people. I never had the time for that. I have spent way too much time waiting. I could never risk the things they do.” Nathan looked at the blonde, yet again standing confused, as the sun lit up her face. As her words bounced around in his head and clicked into place his heart dropped nearly two feet and the air left his lungs in one complete breath while he looked into her eyes. This was the first time he had really got a good look at her. The blonde soldier noticed his reaction as smiled softly. “Mrs. Ireland said you would come back. She always would say mom would not marry a fool or a coward.” she said quietly. When Nathan found his words he simply whispered “Dorry?” She continued to smile as a tear ran down her face and whispered back, “Yeah dad it’s me.”
Nathan was flooded with years of regret and emotion. He stumbled a bit and Dorry rushed to steady him. “You know for a tough guy you really seem to have some emotional issues.” She laughed a bit swallowing her need to cry. “I never… I… I am so sorry” is all Nathan could manage as they held onto one another. “I know dad. Trust me I know. I am not a dumb little girl and you came back for me just like you promised.” After a few minutes of silence and hugging they both found the strength to let go and assess their situation. “I’d swear we are in some bad god damned movie” Nathan said with a chuckle. “Well if that’s the case we need to make sure this isn’t the end of the movie ok?” Dorry replied in turn. “I have to get back or else people are going to wonder where I am.” Nathan’s heart sank. He finally had his daughter with him and now she had to leave. “Don’t go back.” He said. “We can leave now, together and find someplace else.” Dorry shook her head yes but said no at the same time. “We will, trust me dad, but for now I need you to stay here and wait for me. Don’t pull any stupid shit like last night.” Nathan shook his head no. “Look if I go back now I can make it so they won’t think to search for me. I can make it where it’s safer for us to leave ok?” Sense finally crept back into Nathan’s clouded head and he agreed. They chatted a bit more for just a few minutes and then he stood in the shadows of the door and watched her walk away, back toward the place they had both called home for most of their lives.
A few hours later Dorry returned much to Nathan’s relief and they made plans and preparations for their new adventures. “Well that was easier than I thought.” She told Nathan. They sat for a while in the cool shadows of the locker room and talked. “How did you know it was me? Nathan asked. “How did you know I would be coming out that pipe?” Dorry laughed a bit. “You know I am your daughter so I can’t be all that dumb.” “No, no, no I didn’t mean it to be that way” Nathan quickly retorted. “Relax dad I am just messing with you. Once I saw you last night I switched the guard shift with another soldier. No one wants those crappy hours so they give it up easy. I was just lucky they offered it up so I didn’t have to ask and draw more suspicion.” Nathan looked at his daughter for a moment and slid the photo once again from his pocket. “So this explains why that frame was so clean.” Dorry shook her head yes. “I went to that house every day to see if you’d had come. I knew you would come back and so did Mrs. Ireland.” Nathan laughed “That crazy old lady is still getting in everybody’s business huh?” “That crazy old lady kept us all sane once the fighting started.” Dorry replied. “I am sure she did.” Nathan said as they hugged for the thousandth time that day. Soon after they both took time to sleep because they needed their energy for the night.
At about midnight Nathan stepped out into the darkness of the field. He turned back as his daughter came out after him. He smiled to her and then looked around surveying the area. “Are you ready for this Dorry” He said with a bit of happiness in his voice. “I couldn’t be more ready” Dorry responded smiling back at him. They began walking away from the stadium in the opposite direction of their home. “So where are we headed?” Dorry asked. “The Badlands are our best chance to find help." replied Nathan as he looked skyward. Dorry laughed out loud as she walked with Nathan matching his stride step for step. “I was right you are one crazy bastard dad.” They both laughed and talked as they headed into the night, heading into life with one another once more.
Please stay tuned for the future adventures of Dorry and Nathan.
Region: Unknown
Nathaniel "Nathan" Alistair
Delores "Dorry" Alistair
No comments:
Post a Comment