Tent City

Chapter 24 - Andy

My heart dropped as I heard the message echo around the gym. My anxiety grew with every breath I took as I rushed towards the sick bay, which was about 10 minutes from the gym. 

I arrived at the sick bay with my heart pounding and my breathing shallow. I was greeted by Dr Su, even before she could speak, between shortened breaths and fighting back tears. I managed to ask,

"Is Commander Lee okay?" 

Dr Su smiled. I hardly saw her smile, so I took that as a good sign.

"Yep, our commander Lee is a fighter! and guess who he asked to see after he woke up. Not me, of course, but you Andy. So go ahead, he's waiting... quite impatiently, mind you." 

I felt relief rush through my body as  I made my way to Commander Lee's bed. He greeted me with as much of a smile as he could manage, considering how swollen his face was. But with the only uninjured hand, he had a tablet to write words on, he wrote,

"How's things going, Andy?"

"Not good, sir! Marcie has relieved me of my position as temporary leader of the freedom troop. She said I was negligent and was no longer fit to lead, and your soldiers all agreed with her. So Marcie is the leader until you get better, it seems. I will know of my fate this afternoon." I answered with a defeated sigh. 

Commander Lee paused, begore hastily writing on the electronic tablet. 

"As soon as I get better, I can fix this and reinstate you to your position." 

"But until then, Marcie makes the decisions. I don't know what to expect. She could have me exiled, killed, or demoted to the lowest rank." I whispered

"This is very unlike Marcie. You and her get along really well. You even dated for a few years, didn't you? What happened?"  He wrote. I looked at his swollen face to try and interpret what he was thinking, I couldn't.

" Yes, we did date. However, I found somebody else recently, and I love this person more than I ever loved her. Marcie made this decision out of jealousy and spite, not because I couldn't do my job. I've wronged her, so now I have to face the consequence of my actions. I just hope that the ones I love aren't affected by my actions as well." I answered, a newfound anxiety built up inside me. 

Before I could read Commander Lee's reply, the sick bay filled with the echo of the monotonic computerized voice again.

" Andrea, you are required in the comms room as soon as possible. Please make your way there now."  

On hearing my name called, my heart sank, and I felt an overwhelming sadness overtake me. I said goodbye to Commander Lee, and he answered it with a squeeze of my hand and a slight nod of reassurance. 

I arrived to find Marcie waiting for me at the door. Her perfume that once provided me comfort and euphoria now made me feel nauseous. Her face was blank, and her lips tight, she was still pissed and now I was scared. I feared what would be given to me as punishment. 

She entered the room first and directed me to sit. There was a growing tension in the room that reminded me of the thick poisonous gas that would sometimes appear in the wastelands. 

She shuffled the papers in her hands, then looked at me. Yep, she was pissed, I could tell because her eyes burnt like a furnace. I could almost smell and taste the smoke. 

"Andrea, a decision has been made regarding your future in this bunker and your future with the freedom troop. We've come to an agreement which gives you two options. The first option is that you will be imprisoned for 6 months. Once you've served your sentence, you will be demoted to private and lose all the privileges of a senior officer, including your room. You will bunk with the other privates and be given labour duties until you've proven your worth and ability to go up in the ranks once again.

The second option is exile. You have until midnight to leave the bunker. You will be given a weeks worth of rations per person and left to fend for yourself on the surface. This was the preferred option by many of those who voted. They've doubted your ability to lead for a long time." 

I interrupted her,

"What do you mean 'per person'? I'm the only one who should be punished here, not anybody else."

"The other soldiers believe that Kelsie and Ben are a drain on resources and should not have been saved from their fate at Lake Illusion. So, they have voted to send them to the surface as well." 

I became quite distressed at learning this,

"What if I choose to take the prison sentence? Will they still be exiled?"

"Yes, whether you choose exile or the prison sentence, Kelsie and Ben will be removed from the bunker." 

I was left shocked and speechless by Marcie's heartlessness. After a slight pause, I found my voice again

"You're not doing this as punishment. You're doing this out of jealousy, spite, and bitterness. This is why I could never see a future with you. You're hot, but beyond that, you're toxic and ugly. I can't believe you'd do this to a child! You're disgusting!" I yelled in anger. 

To my surprise, Marcie remained calm.

"This was not wholly my decision, Andrea. There was a vote, and the others agreed with this decision. So what punishment have you chosen?" Marcie asked coolly. 

" I intend to take this to Commander Lee, your superior officer. He has the authority to stop you. If that fails, then I will take the second option. I choose exile. Yes, Marcie, I chose Exile. I would rather be on the surface with Kelsie, the one I truly love and her brother, than spend another night in this bunker with you!  I will never love you, Marcie, not after tonight, not ever again."  I stated, the anger growing with every passing second, now a furnace was burning behind my eyes. I stood up to leave,

"Take it to Commander Lee, but he is unfit to lead currently. So my decision will stand until Commander Lee improves and is able to lead again, which will be a long time by the sounds of it. I hope by that time you'd be a rotting corpse in the wastelands or a dried out skeleton, your bones go brittle and crack under the hottest rays of the burning sun.

 I could feel the bitterness and hatred in Marcie's voice. Her words were sharp like knives, and those knives had just stabbed me in the back and ripped through my heart. 

I ran towards the sick bay. I was a breathless and teary mess when I arrived at Commander Lee's side. Through stuttered sentences and numerous pauses, I somehow managed to tell Commander Lee what had happened. He became quite worried about the possible exile from the bunker. He looked through the rules and asked Dr. Su to bring Marcie to sick bay. 

While he did that, I went straight to my room, washed the tears from my eyes, changed clothes, sprayed on some of my favourite cologne, and grabbed Ben's present. I headed to the dining hall, Ben's birthday party had already started as I wandered through the doors. I spotted Kelsie straight away. Her fiery red hair was not hard to miss. She was the only red head in the whole bunker. As soon as I spotted her, it seemed she sensed my presence and saw me at the same time, our eyes locked. She smiled, and her eyes were welcoming and sparkling with happiness. She ran over to me, excited, and planted a kiss right on my lips. I wasn't expecting it, but it was a welcomed surprise. 

"I have Ben's present." I said, offering it to her, while trying my best to appear happy and carefree, while my mind raced, my heart beat like a drum, and my stomach gurgled, not a hungry gurgle but one of fear.

I hoped that Commander Lee had persuaded Marcie to rescind her decision to exile Kelsie, Ben, and I. 

I managed to control my emotions throughout Ben's party, I think I hid my anxiety pretty well behind forced smiles and fake laughs... well, with mostly everyone. Kelsie shot me some concerned looks throughout the night; she knew something was wrong, but I couldn't tell her and potentially ruin Ben's birthday. 

I had been at the party for a couple of hours before the computerized voice interrupted the happy chatter

"Andrea, you are required in Sick bay, urgently."  

"On my way!" I answered, a lump formed in my throat, and my legs felt like jelly as I left the party with a quick wave to a concerned Kelsie and walked to the sick bay, which wasn't that far from the dining hall. I dreaded what answers awaited me beside Commander Lee's bed.