The Salvation

Chapter 38

|Felicia|

Most days were dark as it was. But this day was darker than it should've been. Big Rick had been mauled by a deaddrop and Johnny, the five year old who insisted on playing with Shale every chance he got, had fallen from a tree. Felicia was tired of playing the inexperienced doctor, but people needed her. The crops had been harvested the day before and she originally planned on spending the day inspecting the mutated vegetables and wheat, but Glade had other ideas. Three new people arrived as well, two of them women. Felicia set them up and set them to work immediately in the farm so she wouldn't have to worry about it that much. The two women were of no interest, but the old man with them erked Felicia. His name was Whyllys, a skinny old man with former navy experience and barely any hair.

Kersti sat on the kitchen floor scribbling messily in a blank paper book and Joshua was ramming a plastic trolley into all the walls in the lounge room. Felicia slumped on the couch, her shoulders aching from her busy day. It was days like this that made Felicia wish for Andrew's lips on hers, his rough hands massaging her back as he asked about her day. When she last seen him a day ago, his beard was a scruffy mess. But Felicia had grown to like it more than she did before the bombs had dropped. She craved his touch and his comfort.

"Mum mum mum mum mum mum," Joshua repeated as he ran circles around the couch Felicia lay on, "mum mum mum mum mum..." Joshua laughed as he tripped and toppled over. He always did that, laughed when he fell. Felicia thought it was a coping mechanism for embarrassment but Andrew just said he's a boy, and boys were like that.

Kersti also rambled on impatiently, but Felicia was out of her earshot. Kersti would get so angry when she was ignored, she would grow as boisterous and annoying as Candice Houda used to be. Felicia never told anyone that her kids were annoying, that wasn't okay. For once Mike was calmly sleeping on the armchair next to her. Felicia offered to take care of Mike whilst they went to get Jane back, and he'd been a pain in the arse every hour. It taxed Felicia's body and mind to care for the three children and at one point in the bath she found herself wanting Shale of all beings, he could entertain the children more often than not.

"Dad dad dad dad dad dad..." Joshua repeated as he made another round. I want him too buddy... I want him too...

Felicia sat up as she heard a light tap on the roof. Then another. Then more, faster and faster and louder and louder. It was... Something familiar... Yet she hadn't heard it in what felt like a lifetime. Felicia jumped to her feet as the sound began to slowly pick up, pulling her handgun from her pants and hurrying to the door. Felicia opened the door and aimed her gun outside... But the enemy she would've shot was an impossible target. Felicia felt the first drops lightly hit her face and she smiled like a child on Christmas.

"It's raining..." Felicia stated the obvious in disbelief as more people came out to inspect the noise. Everyone excitedly ran around in the rain, enjoying it's cold splashes on their bodies. Felicia left the door open by mistake and her two children ran past her legs and into the light rain. The sky went even darker than before. "It's actually raining..." Felicia repeated in her astonishment.

Felicia couldn't stop herself, she opened her mouth let a drop land inside. She had to taste it. It tasted so clean and pure, like the water she remembered from the old world. It was a simple and bland taste, but at the same time it was so damn good that Felicia had to grab any bottle she could find and leave them outside in the rain. Felicia opened Malcolm's old rainwater tank and let it fill up as much as it could. Then she played with her kids in the rain for the first time ever. She hated the rain before the wasteland, but now she rejoiced at the very sight. Her red hair became heavy and wet, as the rain grew slightly stronger, it stuck her hair to the back of her neck and her face.

Felicia stood and just enjoyed the rain. Joshua was running about almost psychotically, the rain had some kind of godly effect on him as he excitedly ran in circles as the rain fell. Even Kersti was happily playing on the hard ground as the rain spat from the sky.

The sound of two vehicles approaching spurred Felicia from her excitement. But both of them were friends. Venelope drove the APC and Andrew drove a large, tank like vehicle. It was only solemn seriousness when they stepped into the rain. Venelope smiled for a second, but it disappeared almost instantly. The moment Shale was released from one of the vehicles he ran around enthusiastically in the rain. Craig didn't even stop, just hurrying off into his house without even looking. Andrew looked up and sighed, but no more. Something's wrong...

Felicia knew she wouldn't get an answer out of Andrew yet, so she went up to Venelope, who leaned on the fence in the rain with a sad face. "It's pretty awesome isn't it... I never though rain would be so... Beautiful..." Venelope said Felicia approached.

"What's wrong Venelope? What happened in Colorado City?" Felicia asked without anything else.

Venelope pulled her platinum blonde hair out of its ponytail and let the rain wet it. Venelope sighed and met Felicia's eyes with her own. "We brought two bodies back with us..." Venelope said sadly.

Felicia gasped. "Who?"

"Jane and another man, one of Andrew's friends..." Venelope informed. "The rain is so pretty... I wish Nikolai saw it..."

Felicia dropped her head and stood silently with Venelope for awhile. She couldn't go inside, Mike was in there. Felicia couldn't look at Mike. Her eyes were watery, but she battled the tears to keep them in her eyes. That poor man... Felicia thought of Craig. That poor boy... Felicia thought of Mike.