Chapter 7

The next morning, Dee went about her rounds at the hospital wrapped up in her own thoughts. Her future husband had disappeared some time earlier in the day with his best friend who would, she thought, most likely be his best man. She knew they were up to something, she just didn't know what and thought it better not to ask and force them to ruin whatever surprise they were working on.

Now she turned her thoughts back to planning her part of the wedding. Who was to give her away? She felt a pang of sorrow as she thought how much her father would have loved to have done so. Brushing away tears, she forced her thoughts back to the matter in hand. Of course, she thought, it was simple really. After having been her boss and colleague, and as she had, at one point, nearly killed him with her attempts at dentistry, surely Lex was the perfect choice.

That settled in her mind, Dee turned her thoughts back to her work just long enough to check one of Patch's patients, then moved on to her bridesmaids. Mouse, of course, would have to be one, but whom could she choose for the other? What about Salene, she thought. No, of course not, she would be doing the ceremony. Cloe then? No, there was no way she would agree to be in the same room as Patch's likely choice of best man, not even for this. Siva and Tai San were both out. If you asked one, these days, you had to ask both. May? No, she was still out with one of the search parties and they'd never been that close anyway. Ebony, then? Not a chance. Of course, she thought! Amber! That was it: she would ask Amber!

Just as Dee had made up her mind that she had picked the perfect entourage for her wedding day, Siva came storming into the ward.

"Have you seen Lex anywhere?" Siva demanded, "I went to relieve him from the night watch and he was nowhere to be found!"

--

Lex and Tai San stumbled through the forest, their eyes blurring with sleep. They had travelled all night, stopping only briefly for a scant breakfast, to put some distance between them and their friends in the city in case any, such as Siva and her militia, decided to follow them. Now they were tired and hungry. Their clothes were torn and their faces covered in scrapes and scratches delivered by unseen thorns and branches, hidden from the eyes of their victims by a cloak of darkness.

Now they were nearing another stream where they would stop, eat and rest a while once more. Lex could hear it bubbling over rocks not far from where they were. When he saw his wife stop in her tracks and drop low to the ground, he did the same. Crawling over to her as quietly as he could manage, he followed Tai San's gaze to a clearing on their side of the bank. There was a camp there already. A fire smouldered in its rocky hearth. An old, covered hammock was slung expertly between two trees. Numerous other old and battered camping items were piled in places around the site. Other than this, the camp itself was deserted.

"I'll go take a closer look," said Lex.

"No," his wife chided, "Whoever this belongs to cannot be far away. Look at all these things, Lex. They must have lived like this since the virus, possibly even before it. No one like that would leave that fire alone without putting it right out, not here in the middle of a forest."

"It looks pretty much out to me!"

Tai San rolled her eyes at her husband's flippancy.

"Trust me," she said, "it is not out."

"So where are they, then? Tai San, I am hungry, I am thirsty and I am tired and I am not going to let the invisible man stand between me and a drink of water!"

Before Tai San could stop him, Lex stood up and strode boldly out into the clearing towards the stream. No sooner had he passed one of the isolated trees to which the hammock was tied, than a foot connected with his jaw and then, having spun him round, slammed him against the tree. Lex looked along the booted foot resting flat on his chest to see the rest of his attacker.

The girl looked about his age, maybe older; no, he thought, definitely older. She wore a black body suit and black slacks along with black ankle boots, with a thick two inch high heel at least, and an olive green shirt that was open at the front like a jacket. She wore glasses but no make up or tribal markings and her hair, though dyed a dark purplish red and tied back sharply in a bun, flamed bright in the midday sunlight, setting off the green peridots studs that sparkled in her ears and matched the oval gem around her neck. The expression on her face reminded him of Ma'am on a bad day.

"Who are you?" she demanded, "Why are you here?"

"We are travellers," said Tai San from the edge of the clearing, stepping up to her husband's aid, "We merely wish to stop here to take a drink and some rest before travelling on."

"If that is the case," she said, without moving, "why must you walk through my camp?"

"Because we're very TIRED and very THIRSTY travellers," bawled Lex, "and if you would let me go we will get our drink, be on our way and rest somewhere else as it's such a problem!"

"Please," said Tai San, "we have travelled all night with little rest. We mean you no harm. Let us take our drink and rest a while and we will leave. We have a little food if you wish to eat with us."

"Tai San!" Lex did not approve of his lunch being shared out without warning.

"Where or what have you run from, to have travelled all night in this forest?"

"We have travelled from the city and we run only from friends who would wish us to stay where we cannot."

"The city?" the girl looked thoughtful and removed her boot from Lex's chest, "Very well, you may stay here a while and I shall eat with you, but I have my own food, you need not over stretch your supplies. I am Cat. While we eat, you can tell me all the news from the city. It has been many years since I was last there."

Very reluctantly on Lex's part, the three sat down to wash, eat and drink. As they ate, Cat asked Lex and Tai San the goings on of the city, who did what and how and many other things until, at last, the day grew old and it was decided that Tai San and her husband should remain at the camp that night and they would talk more that evening.

--

As he went about his work, collecting apples for making cider, pies and other such eatables, Ryan noticed the glum look on his companion's face. Yet another search party had returned last night and, yet again, Paul's sister had not been amongst those returning with them. It had been so long now, since anyone had returned with even any news of Patsy, that Ryan feared Paul was starting to give up hope. He had tried to cheer him up, even promised him first taste of the cider, after Alice of course, but nothing seemed to raise more than a brief conciliatory smile and shrug before Paul returned to his melancholy. Ryan wished there was something he could do to cheer him up, some way to distract him.

--

Amber sat with Trudy in what was now well and truly the nursery of the Mall. As she smiled for her son's sake, she felt like crying inside as she remembered, yet again, Jay's words of the night before. What had she done? She had only gone and let herself fall for a man who would not, could not, love her back. He had told her plainly, at least. That was something, she told herself. He loved Ebony, he had said, and he had sworn to her to be true and he would not break his vow. An honourable sentiment for an honourable man. At least, apart from herself, only Jay and Trudy knew what had gone on last night in that hospital ward. If Ebony ever found out there would be hell to pay!

As she emerged from her thoughts to the sound of the door opening, she saw Hawk wander in and pick up Brady who toddled over to greet him. As the child pulled at a feather braided into Hawk's hair, Amber glanced over at Trudy who watched her daughter lovingly and laughed at her antics. A plan was forming in Amber's mind.

"I'm going to take Zac out for some fresh air," she announced and, picking up her son, left the room and headed up to the roof.

--

Bray stood on the roof with his hands resting on the rail. Quietly he looked out over the city. Everything ran relatively smoothly, there was a democratically elected leader running it and the city was at peace. Every dream he and Amber had fought for seemed to be coming true. They had a working hospital, regular market, ordered police force and a school on its way. And why wasn't she here celebrating with him, he thought? All because he had been a fool; a proud, pigheaded, mistrusting idiot of a fool. He had to find some way to repair the damage. He had to.

Dragged from his thoughts by the sound of the door, Bray turned to see Amber and their son. She stopped, startled to see him there. He had to speak, he knew he had to, but nothing would come out. For a few minutes, the two stood staring at one another in silence in the warm sunlight until eventually Bray managed to find the words he was looking for and they all spilled out at once.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I was wrong to think that of you, I was wrong not to believe you and I was wrong to treat you like I did. I love you, Amber, and I want us to be together. Please say you'll still marry me!"

It was Amber's turn for silence as Bray's honest apology and return to his usual manner took her by surprise. She could feel her breath catch in her throat and the tears burn hotly on her face.

"Bray?" she gasped.

In seconds he was by her side and held her and his son in his arms. They were a family now. The past was past and all that mattered was the future: their future and their son's future.