Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

11) The Truth About Leia

Leia Spinelli Bogdanovich was single and working at her aunt's Italian restaurant in a small town in northern Virginia, just outside Washington DC the day the EMP hit. She was making meatballs - rolling them with both hands into spheres the size of a bocce ball. The specialty of the day was spaghetti and meatball, only one meatball because it was so damn big. After her aunt and the rest of the staff figured out the lunch crowd wasn't showing up and the power wasn't coming back on, Leia put her bowl of extra large meatballs in the fridge that was not working and walked ten blocks home.

Leia never saw her aunt or her friends or cousins again.

It was a beautiful, quiet day and her first day off in six weeks. Leia wasn't curious about the power outage, but she was annoyed her phone wasn't working. She couldn't call her ex to see what was going on and ask when the power would be back up. She didn't really want to know, but it gave her an excuse to call him.

Dominic Bogdanovich worked for the fire department. He was one of the first firemen killed when the tallest building in town collapsed three days later. Leia didn't know it until weeks after when she saw his chief, Joshua Lawson, in another small town fifty miles south from their own. Leia helped line the chief up in front of a wall advertising the local Farmer's market. Before he was executed, Joshua Lawson told Leia that Dominic died quickly and bravely. He was proud of him.

Joshua forgave Leia. Said he understood.

Chief Lawson did not die quickly that day, but he did die bravely.

That was the worst, she said. The forgiveness, the understanding. It made her ashamed for the first time since it began. The shame took away the fear. She knew she could not do this anymore, so instead of staying numb, she woke up. She started paying attention. She watched the others for signs there were some there like her - more captive than active participants (though that didn't change what she had done). Her mama said she was always a good judge of character, so she found some people she could trust. Adam and Sarah and two others. They waited until the chaos of battle and escaped.

They joined a resistance group hiding in the hills and picked up a few strays along the way.

Leia loved children. She couldn't resist them. She wanted a houseful. That was what hurt her marriage. She lost two babies. One she carried all the way until she delivered it stillborn into the waiting arms of Dominic. She couldn't quite forgive him for that, though it was nobody's fault. Her grief killed the marriage, but she still loved Dominic.

But Dominic is gone now.

The children on the bus were Leia's last hope to undo some of what she had done. They were her second chance.

"You never hear anyone talking about third chances," Leia says, "because you don't get those."