Despite the victory, their casualties had been many. So many dead, many more wounded. Yet, they would recover. Trevor knew that. In the meantime, he would need to bide his time, restock ammunition, find more refugees, birth more Grenadiers, and focus on basics.
Eventually, the war would start anew. More battles. More death. More killing.
All part of his role to play, his path to walk…alone.
– Lori Brewer-carrying seven and a half months worth of baby-wobbled toward the barn. According to Dr. Maple’s ultrasounds, she carried a girl. The first child of the new world.
Nevertheless, not even pregnancy could keep Lori from doing her work, so she wobbled toward the barn carrying a knapsack stuffed with bandages and medicine.
The animals surrounded her, jumping and fidgeting excitedly.
'Have we been good little doggies?'
Lori patted heads until she came to Seth, a German Shepherd, with shrapnel in his haunch. His bandages needed to be changed. Lori spent several minutes cleaning the wound and re-dressing it. Seth flinched a little but he flinched less with each day.
Her task complete, Lori struggled to stand. A strong arm reached in and helped her up. That armed belonged to Nina Forest.
'Oh, hey. Thanks. I don’t get around like I used to.'
'Yeah,' Nina gently tapped Lori’s belly. 'With that big bowling ball you're carryin’.'
Lori smiled but said nothing. An awkward silence persisted for several seconds until Nina broke it with the bad news: 'Tomorrow.'
Lori tried to find something to say. 'Oh, well, I, um, well…'
'I guess there are some words you’re not good with, huh?' Nina lightened her words with a tiny smile as she finished, 'Like ‘goodbye’.'
Lori shook her head, saying, 'No, no, it’s not goodbye. You’ll be back. You just got to get that thing out of your head.'
'It’s goodbye.'
Lori wanted to walk away from the conversation. It turned out there were a few things she did not like to tackle head on.
'Why are you saying that? You’ll be back by tomorrow evening.'
'The person I am now won’t exist anymore.'
'Allriiighty then, so what, you’ll be a six foot red head? Will your name change? You gunna have green eyes? No. You’ll be back.'
Nina tried to explain as much to herself as to Lori.
'My memories of everything…everything since the crash will be gone. All those experiences. I won’t remember any of it. Not meeting you or Trevor or everyone else. Not all we’ve gone through since then. Things that have…have changed me.'
'But you’ll still be you!'
'I can’t be. I won’t be. I’ll lose everything that made me…that changed me…since then. All the times you were a nosey pain in my ass,' she smiled. 'Shep…Shep being, being disappointed in me that day…feeling guilty about what I did to Trevor. I mean, who would you be if you had never met Jon? Or if you had never known Richard the car salesman.'
Lori cast her eyes to the ground.
Nina went on: 'I just wanted to say…I just want to tell you thanks for being my friend. I know what that means now. Just that, well, I’m going to forget it tomorrow.'
Lori reached over and gave Nina a hug.
'This sucks. You know that? It sucks.'
'I know. Listen to me; Trevor is going to need you. He’s going to need his friends.'
'But-'
'No, listen. It’s going to be tough for him. Not just tomorrow or the day after that. The months and years after that. You know he’s a good man. You also know he’s in a tough spot. I’m just saying, don’t let him be too alone.'
Lori did not understand what Nina meant. Certainly Trevor would try and win Nina again. How could he not?
Nina changed the subject: 'So you’re thinking a girl, huh?'
Lori wiped a tear away, 'Yeah. I mean, yes.'
'Pick any names yet?'
'Catherine.'
'Catherine. Catherine Brewer. Has a nice ring.'
'Yes,' Lori agreed. 'Yes it does.'
Nina smiled, put a hand on Lori’s shoulder, and then walked away.
Lori thought to herself, Catherine Nina Brewer.
That has an even better ring.
– 'Do you understand?' Trevor asked Jon Brewer.
He did not understand. He did not get it.
'I thought you loved her. Was I wrong?'
'I do, damn it. Don’t make this any harder.'
'I don’t get it, Trevor. Why?'
They stood together in the empty living room in the estate.
'Listen to me. You’re not dumb, Jon. You know there’s a lot of crazy shit at work in…in ‘all this’. Right? Things aren’t all straight up and forward, right?'
Jon nodded.
It had been tough enough to deal with the idea of alien monsters and armies invading the Earth, let alone Trevor Stone’s strange ability to command dogs and summon knowledge he should not have. Accepting Trevor’s post-Armageddon abilities without giving them much consideration always seemed the easiest route. Yet there could be no denying that Jon’s friend-the one-time car salesman-had a direct line to forces of some greater magnitude.
'This is killing me, do you understand?' Trev closed his eyes and clenched his fists. 'But this is how it has to be. If not, then everything could unravel. That’s not my choice. Do you hear me? But this is how it has to be.'
Jon repeated Trevor's strangest directive to date: 'No one is ever to tell Nina about the relationship you two had. It is never to be spoken of. It never happened.'
'And if they do?'
'Treason,' Jon spoke the ugly tasting word.
'Your wife is going to be a hard sell on this.'
'Shep may be harder. He said he never saw Nina as happy as she was with you.'
Trevor raised a hand.
'Stop. Just stop. I can’t hear that now. It’s done. It’s over. Tomorrow is a new day.'
Jon saw the anguish in his friend. He did not know why things had to be like this; he could not understand it. What grand plan did this serve?
He put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
'I’m sorry.'
'We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?' Trevor said.
'Wow, yeah we have.'
'We have much farther to go. Much, much farther.'
– The last night arrived. Trevor and Nina had the mansion to themselves
Shep had left for an all night poker game and the Brewers found a new home on the far side of the lake. Dante, in the meantime, did not say where he went but Trevor suspected he stayed with Kristy Kaufman for the night.
Trevor had secured a couple of prime cuts of beef, fresh vegetables, and a bottle of wine.
After dinner, they sat in the living room and dreamt of a normal world for themselves. A world without
