Aer

9

'Hey,' Alex sits on his bed, gripping the radio, waiting for a response 'Hey Daisy'.

'Alex,' her voice comes through after awhile 'Hey'.
'I'm going to meet with Aaron now then I'll be straight up, I don't know how far away you are but this is the only time I'll be alone to make this call,' he explains 'I'll wait for you but maybe leave now so our time together isn't rushed'.

'I'm just heading out now,' she says 'Please don't get yourself in trouble, and remember you can always come home with me'.
'One day'.
She doesn't answer.

'Daisy,' he says 'you know you mean the world to me but right now I can't, I've Conor, and what if he's done this before? What if Aaron's told us kids were dead when they really weren't? I can't let him get away with that'.
He hears her sigh before she speaks 'Just don't end up like one of those kids'.
  'Look just meet me at the garage'.
'Okay'.

That's it, their conversation is over. Alex isn't sure how to show a girl he loves her and he doesn't want to be too over the top either, but Daisy is perfect and way out of his league, he can't leave her down.

There's a knock on his door 'Come in'.
Conor waltzes in, and slumps down on a chair 'What's the story?'.
'Heading out with Lily,' Alex says 'you know to fix the car'.
'Something's off about that Lily girl, think she's a lesbian'.
'And why would you think that?'.
'She's not interested in me'.
'Okay, and why would that make a difference?' Alex frowns.
'I haven't really given my time to think on that,' Conor shrugs.

Alex laughs, although he wishes he had his brother's confidence 'She's a tough girl to break I'd say'.
'Well you'd know her better than me,' Conor says 'Anyway I'm just popping in to check in on you'.
Alex smiles 'I'm fine'.

'Look I liked Daisy too, she was a good girl, and I swear if I'd my way with her,' he grins cheekily 'but she's gone and there's nothing we can do'.
Alex considers telling his brother but he can't take that risk 'I'm starting to come to terms with that'.
'That's good,' Conor smiles 'alright baby brother I'll see you when you get back'.

Alex leaves shortly after Conor's visit, and as much as he appreciates it, it sets him back a bit. It makes him angrier at Aaron for what he did, making all these kids grieve Daisy and Charlie, making them all have to 'come to terms' with them not returning and getting on with their lives.

He hurries to Aaron's office, quickly saluting the other kids, ignoring half of them as they try to have a conversation.

'Hi Alex, how are you?' Alex's blood boils as Cathal opens the door to Aaron's office, who's sitting at his desk.
'Good,' Alex shoves down his anger 'I reckon the car will be fixed up in a week'.

'A week's a long time,' Aaron says as Cathal closes out the door.
'Well I can't make it any quicker,' Alex shrugs 'It might be shorter than a week, it may be longer, I'm not sure yet. I could turn it on and the whole thing could fall apart'.

'Look I don't understand any of that stuff just do what needs to be done,' Aaron rubs a hand down his face.
'Everything alright?'.
'Fine'.

Alex doesn't say anything for a minute, he's good to collect his thoughts and say the right thing 'I'll get the car done, don't worry, and look I know things have been tough on you with Daisy and Charlie being gone but try and focus on something good, like you'll have a car in no time'.

Something comes over Aaron when Alex mentions the names, he fidgets with pages and pens 'Yeah, yeah it's tough. We're getting there'.
'We are,' Alex says and just as he's about to leave he stops at the door and turns to Aaron 'Daisy and Charlie are watching over us, we'll be okay'.
Aaron's face goes bright red 'Of course'.

    'Don't take all day at the garage,' Lily puts on her coat 'You saw that horde yesterday, I'm not sticking around to get stuck in that again'.
'We were well away from it,' they make their way down the tunnel 'Plus we were right above the bunker, we'd easily escape'.
'Alright,' she rolls her eyes.
'All I'm saying is we could've been a lot worse off,' Alex climbs the ladder, he puts on his mask when he reaches the top 'Look I'll be back in no time, I promise'.
'You know what I do to people who break promises,' she laughs, Alex can't help thinking of Daisy and Charlie, maybe that's what happened but what promise would they've made to Lily?

     Alex makes his way towards the garage, deep in thought. Perhaps it's best if he does leave, but he couldn't do that to Conor. Maybe if he tells Conor what happened he might go with him but Conor's a selfish person, he wouldn't risk his life for anyone.

'Daisy?' Alex calls out as he reaches the garage.
She appears in the doorway, her hair is washed and she's got clean clothes on 'Well did you find out anything?'.

'No,' Alex says 'I...I don't know what to do'.
'I've told you to come with me, we can think about this and have a smarter approach,' Daisy says.
   'And what about Conor?'.
'And what about him?' Daisy frowns 'he's never done anything for you, never once. When you were sick he visited you once because he thought it might be contagious, I spent every minute of every day in that room with you'.

Alex sighs and rubs a hand down his face 'And where even are you?'.
'We stopped at the watch tower, Charlie was hurt. Then the next day I met a boy named Dars, he took us to his camp. It's different Alex, it's not like the bunker,' Daisy says 'People can do what they want and be who they want'.
'I don't know'.

'Oh come on, for fuck sake, make a decision for yourself and stop thinking of other people!' Daisy snaps 'I love you but you need to man up, this is your life, and do you really want to spend it fixing cars or fixing leaks? Constantly having to look over your shoulder? Do you?'.

Alex shakes his head 'How far away is this camp?'.
'Not far, I rode the bike from the watchtower,' she says 'You can ride it if you want?'.

Alex takes the keys from her and gets onto the bike, Daisy gets on the back and wraps her arms around his waist 'I'll give you directions'.