Aer

31

Daisy takes a deep breath, she looks at Charlie and Lily who are standing behind her with the rest of the runners. Lily gives her a reassuring smile, Charlie just simply nods, he's never affectionate in front of the others.

  She begins to walk towards the bunker hatch, memories flood her mind, it's as if she's coming across it for the first time again.

She remembers the heat of the sun that day, beating down on her wounds, she collapsed right at the entrance, and awoke suddenly on a bed to find Aaron standing over her.

A part of her wished she never woke up so she could've seen her brother again, but for some reason her body didn't give up on her.

There's two boys standing at the entrance, they turn to her, immediately recognising her. It's Seán and a boy she recognises but doesn't know his name.

'Daisy?' Seán frowns 'You've got a lot of nerve showing up here'.
'I want to speak with Aaron,' she says.
The boys look at each other then the other speaks up 'Why?'.

'It's about the horde,' she isn't sure what to say, she's never been in this position and she knows Lily would do a better job 'I mean no harm coming here'.
'I know,' Seán says 'let me radio it in'.

The other boy gives him a stern look but Seán ignores it. She has always liked Seán, he's young and immature, scared, he doesn't know any better, but he has a kind heart.

   'Okay, you can come with us,' he comes back after awhile 'Is that okay?'.
'Yeah, of course,' she's not sure if that's part of Lily's plan but she'd a feeling Aaron wouldn't come out into the open.

   It feels like a century ago since she went through the decontamination process. She can't imagine how dirty she is, compared to the days when she could have a cold shower whenever she wanted.

As they walk through the bunker, kids stop and stare, she recognises some faces, it's as if they don't recognise her, or more like who she's become.

They pass the shop and there's a new girl at the counter, chatting away to customers. A pang of sadness comes across her, she's not sure why, it's not as if she was happy in the bunker, but maybe she was happier than what she is now, she's not sure.

They bring her to Aaron's office where one of the usual boys stand guard, he's gotten a lot older, more hairy than usual, he completely blanks her as they walk past.

'Hi Daisy,' Aaron says as she walks into the room.
Seán and the other boy leave them alone.

  She takes a seat across from Aaron, a rage fills her as she remembers what he had done to Alex, the threats he gave them when they were at their weakest. But she puts that to one side, as Lily would do.

'Seán told me you're here to talk about the horde,' he says.
  'We need your help'.
'We?' He frowns.

'We found another group, far from here, closer to Clonhill. But with the horde we can't get supplies, the breakaway Freaks are taking over buildings, we need to get rid of it,' she says, her heart thumping against her chest.

'The horde starts in Ballyuaimh, I haven't sent my boys there in weeks, we've been having some trouble,' he says.
  'With the cult?'.
  'The cult?'.

'The kids controlling the horde, they start it in Ballyuaimh and bring it to Clonhill, we're not sure why,' she says 'I think they're trying to cut off supply runs for the groups around'.

  'There's more groups?'.
  'I assume so, we haven't ventured far'.

'And what about the group who shot at Lily and Charlie? Have you come across them?'.
  'We are them now'.

'So you have weapons?' He says.
'We wouldn't attack the horde if we didn't, but we don't have the numbers,' Daisy explains 'We were thinking if you decided to join us in defeating the horde and cult you could have Ballyuaimh for the bunker, and we'd focus on Clonhill, let you have supplies'.

'It's nice to see you again,' he suddenly says.
  'You wanted us dead Aaron'.
He grows quiet, almost reserved 'That was before I realised the dangers that were out there, I didn't need to make more enemies for myself'.

'So you're willing to help us?' She asks.
He nods slightly 'By us do you mean Lily or someone else?'.
'Lily, we're all there, there's a few more that were at the camp already,' she says 'Come back with me and we can discuss the plan'.

'I'll have to talk with the others first,' he says 'so I'll be there by tonight'.
  'Okay, I can wait with you, bring you back tonight'.

'Daisy there were multiple times I went back to the tower, to try and make amends. What I did still haunts me, and I don't understand how you're able to sit here and not want to kill me for what I did to him,' Aaron says.

'We're all scared, and worried,' Daisy says 'You want your people to be safe and fed, we want the same for ours. We all make mistakes and do things out of fear'.

He gets up from the table and takes out two glasses from a drawer, he puts a bottle of wine on the table and smiles 'Why don't we have a drink?'
'I can't,' she says 'but I appreciate it'.
'You can't?' He frowns 'I've never seen you turn down a drink'.
'A lot has changed Aaron,' she says.

He sits down on the table in front of her with a glass for himself 'I can see you've changed, I don't recognise that look in your eyes'.
'I've been through a lot, it's a whole other world up there,' she says 'I've lost a lot'.

  'I didn't help with that'.
  'No, but we have to move on, we've got bigger problems we need to work on together'.
'I never thought I'd see you again,' he takes a drink 'I missed you'.

Daisy grows uncomfortable as he begins to get too close to her 'Why don't you invite the others in now and we can get going before nightfall?'.
'It's only morning,' he brushes his hand along her face and into her hair.
Daisy gets up and steps away 'Aaron...'.
  'What? Just like the old times'.
'We're going now'.