A Jake with hints of Heather story. Spoilers for Season 2
A Spark of Hope (1/1)One Week after the battle with New Bern
Jake's mood was worse than dismal.
Getting up each day was painful, knowing everything that had happened. He had quickly come to the conclusion that the future wasn't going to be much brighter. He had fallen into a rut of barely getting through each day, getting up, getting dressed and trying to make himself useful, putting on a positive face for Jericho and his friends. But underneath, his anger was barely simmering, watching and waiting, planning for the time that he could slip out and get revenge against Constantino for what he had done. He knew revenge was wrong, but there was no room in his heart for anything else. His father was dead as were many others. Women and children had been injured. People he had known all his life had suffered and died. Someone needed to pay. What happened after that, he didn't care, not anymore. His hope was fading after all that happened.
It had been a week since the battle with New Bern. A week since they had gone to war with a nearby town for their own lives and town. And a week since his father had been killed. They had intended for the funeral to be small and quiet, yet most of the town had turned out for the funeral for his father and the many others who had died. Yet now, they were trying to come to grips with their new reality, with a military that had taken over their town and a new government that was making promises and telling new tales about what had happened with the bombs that Jake wasn't entirely sure were true.
The military had ensconced itself in Jericho's City Hall's police office and all over Jericho now. They wanted Jake and Eric to help them, with Gray's support, to assist in whatever they were doing. Jake had been told that Major Beck had specifically asked for his attendance. Jake had a feeling that Beck just wanted to keep a closer eye on him, especially after the first time they had met out at the Richmond's farm. Today, he had come into the office to follow up on a complaint from one of the farmers that said the military had knocked down fences and destroyed crops when they passed through chasing down men from New Bern. He had been standing in the police office for ten minutes now, but so far, he was just getting the run-around trying to get someone to talk to him, though Major Beck was here. Jake hated feeling like a second-rate citizen, especially in his own town and City Hall. And the more he watched this military, the more he worried. They were too perfect, too orderly, too knowledgeable and too controlling.
Major Beck was the man in charge and spent most of his time coordinating the efforts, ordering soldiers and trying to make sure his men were keeping the peace. This company Jennings and Rall was supposed to be coming in to help bring things back to normal, but it was the military that was in charge for now. With tempers barely simmering under the surface about the battle, the major had his hands full.
The med center also had its hands full, dealing with the injured. So many had died and even more injured, including Jimmy Taylor. The losses were hitting the small town hard. People didn't understand why New Bern had attacked them, but many wanted to make them pay for what they had done, including Jake. He just didn't care anymore. He had been fighting to save Jericho for so long, and in one fell swoop, the military had come in and taken over. He couldn't save Jericho from overwhelming force. But he could try his best. His father would have wanted that. People still depended on him, and looked to him to lead them. But how could he when his heart was so dark and disheartened?
As he looked about the Jericho police office, Jake wondered why he kept trying. The military had taken over Jericho. But how had they known to come here to begin with?
It was the one question that had been bothering him for over a week now. He just hadn't had the opportunity to ask it. As Beck walked out of the sheriff's office, he was stopped by a soldier with a clipboard of papers. Jake saw his moment.
"So how did you hear about the fight here with New Bern?" Jake asked as he stepped closer to the major.
"Colonel Hoffman got a tip, from someone from Jericho." Beck glanced down at the clipboard, skimming it.
At first, Jake thought of Robert Hawkins, though Hawkins had seemed just as surprised at the rest of them that the military had shown up. Had someone else been able to make contact with the military? Curiosity made him ask. "Who?"
Beck replied, reading the papers on the clipboard and not even bothering to look up at Jake. "A girl, named Heather, I think."
"What? Lisinski?!" Jake asked, incredulous.
Beck did a double take, no doubt seeing Jake's reaction.
Jake felt like all time had stopped. His heart pounded in his chest, shock echoing through him. He had made a mistake in letting Heather go alone to New Bern, just one more mistake among the many in his life, like he had made a mistake in avoiding her. Maybe then she wouldn't have gone. She was dead, that was what Eric had told him, what Constantino had hinted at. It had hit him hard. He hadn't been sure if she was dead and had always wanted to go back and find out what happened to her, but there hadn't been the time and then the military was forbidding them to travel out of town due to the ongoing hostilities. But could it be? Could Heather really be alive?
"I think that was her name" Beck replied with a casual nod. He signed the paper on the clipboard, handed the pen back to the soldier then glanced back up at Jake. "Brave girl."
"Yeah, she turned the lights on." Jake replied, his heart suddenly a little lighter. Though the power grid was coming back online, the turbines had helped them make it through the long, cold winter. Heather had promised to turn the lights on for everyone in Jericho and she had. Heather must have escaped New Bern and gone for help. She had saved Jericho, in more ways than one.
"She's up at Camp Liberty." But Beck asked, suddenly giving Jake's his full attention, looking at him curiously. Beck had a way of looking at you like he was looking into your soul and judging you accordingly. "Friend of yours?"
"Yeah."
Heather was alive! Hope sparked inside him.
The End.