all god's orphans

The exterior door of the shelter stood open and they all stood just inside, straining to hear what Sarah might be doing all alone in the RV. The sky was clearly blue and decidedly not burning in nuclear fire. A soft breeze bent the grass on the hills all around them. It reminded Millie of the old desktop Windows background.

“Should we bother her?” Brian asked.

“Of course.” Kite reprimanded him. “I’ll go and see to her.” Grey put a hand on Kite’s shoulder.

“I’ll go.” He told her. “I promised her father.” Kite considered this and then nodded. As grey approached the RV, he could hear soft sobs trembling inside. He opened the door and entered as quietly as he could. Sarah lay on the sofa in the living room, her face buried in the cushion. She had wailed for so long that exhaustion was now taking over and it became easier to not cry. Grey sat at the table and merely watched for a long time. Finally, Sarah rolled over. Her eyes were red and stinging. She looked so small and pitiful that Grey desperately wanted to hug her, but he stayed put. It didn’t feel like he had those kinds of privileges with her.

“What?” She finally growled. Grey kept his tone low.

“I just wanted to be here in case you needed anything.”

“Well I don’t!” Her tiny voice barking. “So go away!”

“Your father told me to tell you that he loves you and he’s sorry for everything.”

“Fuck him!” She screamed. “Who gives a fuck what he wanted to say! He could have told me that himself!” Sobs erupted once more. “Fuck him! He’s such a coward!”

“He was just trying to protect his family.” Grey said.

“He killed my sister!” She yelled. “Did you know that?” She could see from Grey’s face that he didn’t. “He killed her because her memory was gone and he thought she had become a demon or something. Now I’m alone!” Grey didn’t know how to process this information, but he did know that she wasn’t alone.

“You’re not alone, Sarah.” He assured her. “We have to stick together. We have to help each other. Nobody else is going to help us. We’re all alone. Together.” As he said this, Kite opened the door and was followed in by the rest minus Wallace who was still in the bunker. She took one look at Sarah’s face and immediately wrapped her arms around her. Millie sat on the other side and embraced them both.

“We will never leave you.” Said Kite. “I promise I will always be here for you.” Sarah buried her face in Kite’s chest and sobbed in relief. She didn’t even care at that moment if it was true. She just wanted to hear the words.

A while later, Grey, Brian, and Wes sat around the table as the ladies sat on the sofa. Nobody had spoken in a while until Wes chimed in.

“We’ve got to find a military base and drop their pilot off.” Wes didn’t seem too convinced of his own idea. “Maybe they’ll let us stay.”

“They won’t.” Said Brian flatly. “I’ve tried it already. They’re not interested in helping.” Grey flipped through the general’s papers that were still strewn on the table.

“At least we know where NOT to go.” He observed. Turning over one of the sheets, he recognized the shape of it as the letter he had found when he woke for the first time. He held it up, but it made no more sense now than it ever did. “If only we knew what this was. We could find shelter there.”

“What makes you think that?” Wes asked.

“It was pretty important to the general.” Brian mused. “Might be something real. Who knows?” Grey began absent-mindedly fidgeting with the papers.

“So what should we do, then?” Asked Millie’s robot voice.

“Let’s go to Florida.” Wes said only half joking. “Find a boat. Sail to a deserted island and live there.” Everyone chuckled.

“We could go to Disney World.” Sarah twittered.

“It would be closed, sweetheart.” Wes said.

“I know.” Her face fell. “I just want to see it.” Grey held up something in his hand.

“Look what I just did.” He announced. In his fingers, he lightly held a delicately folded origami lily.

“How did you do that?” Brian was stunned.

“I don’t know.” Grey seemed confused himself. “I was just folding the paper and when I was done, I was holding this thing.” Something hit Millie like cold water down her back. She jumped to the table and dug through the various papers until she found the one she needed. She thrust it under Grey’s chin.

“Do that again.” She ordered. Grey took the paper and saw the ring of numbers and letters on the back. He laid the paper on the table and stared at it. For a long time, nothing happened.

“What’s going on?” Brian asked.

“I don’t know.” Admitted Grey. “I don’t know how to do it I just did it. I wasn’t thinking about it.” Kite moved to his side.

“Close your eyes.” She told him. He did as she ordered and felt the edges of the paper with his finger. He could feel the soft fibers where it had been torn across to form a square, unlike all the other sheets. “Think of something else.” Kite’s voice was hot in his ear and it made him picture her naked. The curve of her hips as they became succulent thighs. Her dark hair falling across her face as she straddled him. He could almost smell her.

“Holy shit.” Said Wes and Brian in unison causing Millie to hastily type.

“Holy shit.” She typed. “Was going to say that.” She was frustrated once more but too surprised to stay that way for long. Grey had folded another lily, only this one had two letters and two numbers on each petal. It seemed to say “CHYENMTN” along the outer edges of the petals with the number 32951675 just beneath it. They all stood puzzling at it.

“What does this mean?” Wes asked. Nobody knew what to tell him.

“It says Cheyenne Mountain.” Announced the pilot who had finally emerged from the bunker.

“What’s that?” Asked Grey.

“It’s a military facility in Colorado buried inside Cheyenne Mountain.” Said Wallace. “It was designed to operate after an apocalyptic event. It’s where all the cool cats want to be. In other words…” He leaned over the table and stuck his finger straight down onto one of the general’s maps. “Right there.” His finger stood smack dab in the middle of the point on the map that seemed to be where all the red arrows were converging with a big, red circle drawn around a city. Colorado Springs, Colorado.