Perfect World Somewhere

Chapter 8

They sheltered in an emergency bunker, on the opposite side of Lookout Point. It supplied them with rations, ammunition, fuel, and a warm place to wait out the snow.

Captain Rutherford and Delia huddled over their radio and wristcom, trying to make sense of things that didn't. They discussed where they should go, and the latest news from space.

Lily didn't fully understand the politics involved with the off-world colonies. Most of the adults, including Delia, believed they were abandoned to the enemy.

Daddy was sullen, staring into the distance. He refused the meager rations that Delia offered.

Absorbed in her own thoughts, Lily cried herself to sleep. She was nestled under Daddy's left arm, and Clarence under the right, crowded together for warmth and comfort.

She dreamed, at the darkest moment before dawn.

She was in the kitchen with Mama, trying desperately to stir a large pot on the stove.

Aimee and Grace stood nearby, laughing behind their hands at her pathetic cooking efforts.

"You have to keep stirring," Mama said. "If you stop, you'll die."

Nana was suddenly beside her, with an arm over her shoulders. "Just keep singin', and smilin', baby girl. Nobody can take that from you."

She never seemed to stir fast enough.

A bitter cloud of black smoke poured out.

She coughed, and tried to cover her mouth and nose, but it was no use. She couldn't see, couldn't breathe, ran to the nearest door and pushed it open.

This wasn't the pantry, but somewhere else. She stepped through.

A pallid glow fell through the windows, into the cold, desolate room, and she recognized the robotics station.

The rifle was heavy in her hands, its barrel unnaturally long in the fractured shadows.

Scuffling noises came from the darkness, just out of view.

A trooper dragged himself across the floor, into a shaft of light. It was the young Pruessian man she'd shot. His blue eyes condemned her with seething rage. Blood spilled from the gunshot wound on his face, trailing across the floor in spidery tendrils.

She raised the gun.

His blood moved as if it were alive, crawling toward her like fingers along the ground.

She tried to run, but it trickled upwards, along her legs, her face. Terrified, she cried for Mama, Nana, anyone. But no help came.

A light cut into her eyes, through the tiny window set in the opposite wall. The frosted glass sparkled with the painful ray angling into the room. Everything else was dark.

She was still dazed after the dream. Recalling the lights the troopers had shone through the station windows, she assumed the enemy must be right outside.

"Daddy," she cried. "We have to go. We have to run away."

"I'm here, Sunshine. You had a nightmare." His voice was ragged, but he tightened his arm around her.

"The light, they're coming."

"It's just the morning. We're okay." He kissed her forehead. "The light always shines through the dark. We just have to believe that it'll return."

She shuddered, clinging to the rough wool of his overcoat. "The man I killed...he was trying to get me."

Daddy sighed. "You've had to endure more than any child should, but I'm proud of you. You saved your brother, and yourself, when I couldn't be there."