Macy
"The boats got separated, we heard people screaming. They turned the boat around to check what was going on. By the time we found your boat, it was too late. There was blood and guts all over the boat and some in the water. The soldiers driving the boat were gone, and we didn't find your body."
Dom's face drained of color and he slid down the wall onto the floor. How could he not know what happened?
"I fell overboard! I was drowning! This man, The Doctor, he saved me! I woke up in his ship and he told me I was only asleep for six hours! I wasn't gone for six years!" Dom ran his hands through his hair and started to whimper. Poor guy.
"Dominic, we need to take you in for testing," I always hated doing this
"What do you mean? What testing?"
"Just stay there." I backed out the room and called for two of my strongest guys to grab Dom. They went into my room and I heard Dom protesting.
"Take him to the testing room," I said with as much authority I could manage
"Aye ma'am!"
"Hey, wait a minute! Macy what's going on? Macy! MACY!"
I followed the men outside high command and down the street to the testing room, which is an old sweet shop. Our town's civilians looked out their wood covered windows to see who was the newbie being taken to testing. When they saw me, they backed away from the windows and into the darkness of their homes.
Chris was standing outside, already knowing the drill of what we do when we get someone new. Even if this is Dom, we have to be safe. Being in charge of what we call home, I have to keep everyone safe.
"Chris! Chris! What are you doing? What's going on? Why won't anyone tell me anything?"
"I would advise you to keep quiet and let us do our jobs," Chris said. I can tell this hurt him to do this to someone he's been friends with for over twenty years.
"Strap him down!" I commanded. The two men strapped Dom to our table and stayed close by for extra security.
"Chris, the tools." I held out my hand to Chris
"Tools? What tools? What are you doing Macy? What's that blade for?"
I rolled my sleeve up and showed the scars of what we've been doing to test newbies. It hurts, but if that means keeping my people safe, I'll suck it up. I took a deep breath and dragged the blade into my skin, not too deep but just enough to draw blood.
"MACY! STOP RIGHT NOW!" He didn't react, thank goodness
"Bandage," I requested and Chris handed it over. I wiped my skin and put the bandage on to stop the blood, "Untie him, he's clean."
The men undid Dom's strains and he jumped off the table to check my arm.
"Why would you do that? What's wrong with you?"
"I had to test you. It's what we do, we know those things react to human blood."
"Can you please just explain what's going on here?"
"Yeah. Let's get food and turn in for the night."
Chris dismissed the two soldiers and walked with us back to the command building. We didn't talk, I don't think any of us had anything to say. We went to the food hall first and grabbed dried fish and filled our canteens with water. I let Dom drink from mine since he wasn't set up with everything yet.
"Macy I gotta get going. The sun is setting and I gotta take care of the family," Chris informed me
"You're dismissed."
"You found Kelly and the kids?" Dom asked excitedly
"Yeah," Chris said sadly, "But not all of the kids made it."
"I'm sorry." Dom looked away and Chris saluted me before leaving.
Matt came into the hall not long after,"Macy, I'm taking over night shift. Sophie is with Private Garcia at the moment."
"Did Sophie get her night meal?"
"Not yet."
"I'll get it for her, you're dismissed." Matt saluted me as well and nodded to Dom, he obviously hasn't wrapped his mind around that his best friend is back.
I told Dom that he'll be staying with me until I sort out what I'm going to do with him. When I got to the room, I dismissed Private Garcia.
"Sophie, I know you're hiding in here!" I called in a cheerful voice and heard a little girl giggle, "Ooh, I can hear you! Now where can you be?" I walked behind a curtain I put up and se a chubby two year old sitting in the corner.
"There you are! Get over here!" I scooped her up in my arms and carried her to the multiple mattresses I have set up for myself and others. "I missed you little worm."
"Who's he?" Sophie pointed to Dom who was staring at us
"That's Dominic. Remember daddy and I told stories about him and Chris and the drummer? There he is."
Sophie looked at him with sparkling eyes, "Ooooohhh.."
"Play with your doll while he and I have a talk, okay?" I handed her the dirty raggedy doll and she was more than happy to sit still.
Dom kept staring at her and swallowed, "You had a child."
"Oh no," I shook my head, "She's Matt and Elle's daughter."
"Where is Elle?"
"We found Elle on another ship after the water went down a few months later. They were together for a good three and a half years before Sophie came along, Elle died during child birth. We don't have proper medical equipment or medical experience and she died."
"Oh my God.."
"Oh my God is right. After we boarded our ship, Chris found Kelly and the kids. Alfie and Buster didn't make it. They got trapped during the earthquake and medics pulled Kelly and the rest of the kids away."
"What about Tom?"
"Tom had it worse. He didn't find any of his family. We haven't found Kate and Bing either."
Dom wiped away tears that managed to fall and took a deep breath. He was silent for a minute before he spoke again.
"Why did you choose Teignmouth of all places?"
"It's where the ships were. We took food out of the ship kitchens, blankets, pillows, and tools, everything we thought would be useful. We were going to choose another location because it reminded us of you and the family the guys lost, but I pointed out we're by the ocean and ocean has fish and fish are food. Soldiers from the ship came with us, that's where we got these clothes from. We all scavenged the town for scraps we could use to build our wall. There were so many bodies Dom, so many. A lot of them children and teenagers with their lives in front of them."
I felt tears swell in my eyes and looked at Sophie, unable to imagine her having to go through that all.
"We divided ourselves up into groups: the soldiers, hunters, night guards, and our high command," I gestured to myself when I said high command, "Tom is the head of our hunting being he's the best at fishing, Matt is in charge of the night shifts, Chris looks after the soldiers. After we built our little town up, people began coming to us for help. For safety from those things killing us. We took them in and soon enough we had a real proper community. We learned we need to test everyone who comes in and those things react to blood. That's why I had to draw blood from myself on you."
"I have a question,"Dom said
"Ask away."
"Do you still have that little screwdriver you got at the concert?"
"Yeah," I pulled it out of my pocket and held it up
"Never lose it, okay?"
I gave him a questioning look but nodded.
"One more question."
"Mhm."
"Do I get a cool suit too?"
