Carlos wasn’t sure of the water’s purity, so he drank first. When after two days, Carlos remained in good health, the rest of the group took to using his filtration system. Although the water was cold, everyone was excited about being able to wash dishes, faces, bodies and brush teeth without having to go outside or worry about water rationing.
The evening Barry powered the house up, they all sat around enjoying not having to strain their eyes to read a book or see across the room. The mood in the ranch was light as everyone talked about the trip to San Jose, the helicopter, and having a little electricity. Things were getting better, and this served to lift everyone’s spirits. For the first time, the little ranch house felt cozy instead of cramped.
Before the sun was fully down, Jared stared at one of the lights, marveling at the amount of work and sacrifice it took to achieve this small luxury. The sacrifice of human life in the process had been great, and they all owed a great deal to Dwight. Jared knew Barry couldn’t have figured it all out without having spent the time talking with Dwight. As Jared sat staring, lost in his thoughts, his eyes swept across the window next to the front door, spotting the VW parked outside, causing his chest to tighten.
Jared and the rest of the group should consider themselves lucky not to have been contacted during their drive through San Jose. People wanted what others had, and a car was one of those things.
Jared got to his feet. “We have to cover all the windows. Someone can see light from a long way out. It will attract people if they see light,” he urged.
John shook his head. Here he’d been thinking about fresh water and being able to see where he was going when it was bedtime, and all the while Jared was sitting five feet away thinking about real-world issues. This kid would have been great in the unit. He was the type of guy who would have been a good operator, and after his time was up when his body began to fail him, Jared would have become a great leader, John was sure of this.
Jared would have been one of those guys in the operation command who would listen to all the ideas on how to solve a problem, then think on it for a second before shitcanning them all. Then he would have laid out a detailed plan twice as operational worthy as any they’d heard in the past, and the men of the Special Missions Unit would have respected him for this talent. John got to his feet and went to look for the materials they would need to seal their precious light inside the house.
Blotting the windows was something they had to do for the safety of the community. Why have the light if it was too dangerous to use? The only reasonable thing to do was what Jared had proposed, and John kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. John returned from what was left of the shed with two rolls of duct tape. Shannon meanwhile located a roll of butcher’s paper in the pantry, and together the group set to stopping anyone outside from knowing about their delightful little secret.
Once the work was finished, Jared and John went outside, at which time, Shannon turned every light in the house on. Jared and John walked around outside for thirty minutes, trying to find an angle they could see light from. In the end, there were no leaks, Jared and John came back inside, and everyone settled onto couches and chairs inside the ranch house. Jared was about to take a seat when a thought came to him. He walked to the pantry and grabbed a bottle of whiskey, turned, and held it up to the group. No one waved him off, so Jared grabbed a stack of plastic cups and placed it all on the kitchen table.
He poured one after another, handing them to the next person while asking the group to wait before drinking the brown fluid. When everyone had a cup in hand, Jared held his own cup up toward the single light they had on.
“Here’s to Dwight. Many of you never met the man, and none of us except Barry really knew him, but he is the reason we have this small luxury tonight. We owe him at least a toast for that,” Jared finished and pushed his cup into John’s as a way of starting everyone off.
The group murmured their respects, toasted one another, then sipped at the whiskey. Jared felt the liquor hit his stomach, immediately warming his insides. He could feel the tension from the last couple of weeks melt away as he looked at the faces of all the people in the little house. It was times like these that Jared was most happy, times when his friends’ faces weren’t contorted in fear or drawn from the stresses a normal day could bring.
Jared was about to bring the cup back to his lips when he stopped and did a mental head count. Ten people sat around the living room and kitchen, one less than they should have had. Jared wasn’t overly concerned as he began searching faces, trying to figure out who was missing. The kids were sitting on the couch in between Shannon and Stephani and—of the kids, there should have been three. Devon was gone.
“Where’s Devon?” Jared asked curiously.
Everyone in the group looked at each other, then around the room
