All felt right in the world again, morning after morning. The birds once annoying chirps sounded like a chorus to my ears. Most of what annoyed me to the point of just shutting down and going through a glass bounced off of me. I was no super woman, but with Cedric back in my picture everything seemed to have a silver lining.
We talked about why he was back with the war going on and all and he told me information not available to the public. The war in Alaska was just about over and it would be an American victory. He was sent home because his unit had been pivotal in securing safety for the infantry down below. Clear skies above meant American ground troops could push up easier on the enemy.
Though he had been sent home command gave him another promotion in the military, now putting him at the pentagon. I felt divided at the thought, the idea he was going to be pulled away again. Him getting another move up in the ranks was great, I was so proud, but at the same time he was going to be put in their intelligence division, which meant long hours studying photos and whatever else.
Really I wanted him home where we could get reacquainted and often. We could definitely have a strong conversation on the sofa, and maybe a firm discussion in the kitchen, and then a conclusive talk on the bedroom to end the day. All the possibilities dashed by men in uniform, caught up in a war that looked like it would never end.
Still, life went as so it would with or without my man. The exception was my work with the studio. Ever since my duet with the love of my life, album sales exceeded the last release. People attributed it to the lyrics of the songs I wrote, touching base with the feeling of the general public, the other half of the uptick was something bizarre.
Apparently the American public thought my husband was a superstar previously. Never would I have thought Cedric to be taken for the likes of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, or Frank Sinatra, but that's what people thought. To me his voice carried a certain weight to it, but I guess all those years of calling out orders changed up his vocal chords.
Maybe I just didn't see what everyone else saw since the two of us were featured on the cover, happy, in love, seemingly at peace unlike the rest of the world. People needed the peace they got from the imagery I guessed. News of ongoing war with China, destruction in Europe, collapse in so many countries because of a lack of fuel and whatnot. A happy couple smiling at each other and singing in harmony may have been just what the public ordered and needed.
As the year went on by I could not be happier, but the same could not be said about Cedric, the poor man. The months following after his promotion he seemed to be occupied, always occupied and more importantly always on edge. I had heard tales about troops coming home with syndromes and disorders and from what I could tell Cedric's was nothing like what they told in circles. As a matter of the fact his seemed more out of knowledge than experience coming back to haunt him.
Married we were equally yoked, we shared our feelings, our thoughts, and apparently knots in our stomachs. One night Cedric came back he barely spoke a word to me, suitcase full of documents. I brought him dinner and he thanked me, but never looked me in the eyes. Normally he would answer me straight like he typically did, but he was focused more on the paperwork.
I could tell it wasn't out of obsession. If he was obsessed about something he had this habit of shuffling his shoulders. Now he was just busy with whatever the pentagon put him up to. Whatever it was had better be important because it was cutting into our home life.
"Cedric." I said as I sat on the desk, the shifting against the surface, causing my gown to slide, unbeknownst to me. "Why don't you come to bed? You've been working all day and night for some time now."
He took in a deep breath and laid down the paper he had been staring at in his hand for the past few minutes. "I'm sorry lissie, I..." he paused as he stared at the exposed skin of mine sitting in front of him. "...I've been looking over a report sent in from an outpost off the coast of South America. It's important I figure out what I'm supposed to be looking for."
"Well that's very specific." I said with a sigh.
"No lissie, it's Atlantic." Cedric replied, not even giving a second thought to what he just said. I snickered a bit which caused him to pause with what he was looking at.
"Baby you're clearly tired. The world can wait, please come to bed." I said this time putting my hand on the paperwork. That caught his attention.
"Lissie..." Cedric started as he sat the papers down, off to the side. "I'm not really supposed to be bringing this up outside the war room but we've been tracking a sizable Chinese submarine fleet. Intelligence lost track of them off the southern coast of Argentina where they were refueling and I've been making destination charts for them since noon."
"Cedric dear, they're probably just probing our Navy to see if they will swim down that far." I said simply shrugging it off.
The look on Cedric's face changed from one of being so matter-of-fact-like to straight fear. "Melissa, these subs are all armed with nuclear tipped warheads...if they ever made it even close enough to our waters, God help us. They could wipe out the eastern seaboard, maybe even half the country."
My heart skipped a beat at the revelation. All my questions, my whole demeanor changed as I looked down at the documents and charts before him. Eyes focusing on the path of the subs all seeming to split up and spread out the closer they moved to the Caribbean.
Thoughts ran wild just thinking of the beaches of Florida, a place I visited a time or two as a kid. Atlanta, a place once called home, appeared in my head as well as the image of a mushroom cloud emerging from the city center. A tear rolled down my face as I clutched the loosely tightened strap of my gown. All the videos, the government ads out on tv, the vault-tec representative calling over at their house started connecting in my head.
"I'm sorry Cedric...I'll leave you to work." I said, sounding defeated, sniffling.
Before my rear left the edge of his desk his strong hand held onto my own pulling me back, gently. Using the other he put his papers in the suitcase he used for work, gesturing me to come around the desk. With my other hand I slid on over and right into his lap where he wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace.
"I'm not trying to save the world honey. I don't have the power to do that, only God does. What I can do is try and save our way of life, yours, mine, every American I can. We just have to figure out where this fleet is going and try to wipe them out before it's too late to put a defense."
"I understand now." I replied wrapping my arms around his neck and planting a light kiss.
"I'll meet you in the bedroom. Once I'm done charting the courses of these subs I'll be right there with you." He said with a wink.
I got the memo and winked right back at him. One glance over at the the clock on the wall read midnight, the calendar next to it showed today as the 23rd of October. A new day and hopefully a better one than the last.
I remember the morning just like yesterday. It was early, the sun was coming up and the best part was seeing those broad shoulders right next to me and not having to put on a uniform. Sunlight caressed his back like a bright, warm sheet of love. A scene it was and there I had no canvas or paint otherwise I would have made a work of art to capture the sight.
Cedric did not have to come in so he just laid there in peaceful slumber. Part of me wished I could just lay there for hours and watch him more peaceful than he had been as soon as he got home. The slow rises and the falls almost made me swoon, which sounds crazy but when you love someone enough they make you take in every detail and they do the same about you.
"How long have you been up?" I asked, laying my head back down on the pillow.
"Not long baby. I just felt you moving and thought it was time for another round." He said with a half-awake grin.
"That sounds good. Tell you what, why don't we go try some in the kitchen. I remembered to get the black out curtains like you always wanted put in the kitchen." I replied with a wink.
Even through his exhaustion, he put on a smile. Work, play, Cedric was not a dull man, just a busy one as of late. There was some semblance of normalcy for me, but not for him. He never expected me to get up out of bed just as I was.
Eyes bugging out of his head he stayed on target, following my every movement. Just before I left the room I saw him biting his lip, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself. That was new to me, then again I liked new.
Maybe it was the absence, being far apart from the one you love. I heard some similar stories from other wives when their husbands came home, but not the same as Cedric. Others got to see their wives and had some time to go back home after getting switched out, but not him. The commanders even with their ranks could not even persuade command to send them home. China pushed us in Alaska and the war was no joke.
Even now our boys were bringing the fight to the reds overseas. The landings were rough, but with robots and power armor they made short work of the shoreline defenses. Cedric would mention about working with Mr. Gutsies and whatnot, and even thought about bringing one home.
Of course he was joking, or at least I thought he was. Maybe he was referring to a Mr. Handy or trying to reprogram the one they had on base? Who knows, all I knew was the house was warm enough to walk across and not freeze to death.
The only other time I felt "at liberty" to do so was before Cedric even came back. With the blackout curtains installed I could care less. Outside the house, the world, was exactly what it was, outside. Inside the house was my domain, I was the queen of the castle and made the rules. Until the king returned of course, then I did not mind whatever decree he made. I was just glad he made it back.
Apparently he shared the same feelings. Strong arms wrapped themselves around my stomach and the feeling of his warm breath on the back of my neck sent a slight shiver down my spine. A sweet and subtle kiss found it's home on my shoulder.
"You know, I haven't even gotten a single piece of cookware out?" I asked turning my head slightly to meet his gaze.
"I know." He said kissing my neck.
I almost got to enjoy our time together, but the world had another thing coming.
BRRRRRRRRRING BRRRRRING!
BRRRRRING BRRRING!
We both sighed as Cedric walked over to the phone and picked it up. I'm just glad he didn't take the tone he was about to give to the man on the other side of the line. After the first few words he straightened up.
"Yes general...Yes sir, judging by their trajectory, the bulk of the fleet should be off the coast of Puerto Rico by..."
He was cut off by fast paced and loud rambling. His eyes grew big, quickly looking at me and then the phone. There was a feeling deep in my gut and I didn't want to follow it. In a flash, his whole demeanor changed.
"Yes sir. I'll make sure to get there ASAP. Understood."
Cedric lightly hung up the phone, a slight tremble in his hand.
"What's wrong bab..."
"Honey there's no time to explain. Just grab what you'd like to wear more than once, nothing regal." He said as he scrambled back to the bedroom, grabbing something in the meantime to make him look decent. I followed close behind, copying him.
"Was it the subs?" I asked.
Cedric paused for just a second.
"Yes. We need to get to the closest Vault-Tec shelter now before we become like New York."
My heart skipped a beat and I began packing faster. By the time I got to the under dressings getting packed, he was already dressed and ready to go. He slung his military bag over his shoulder, reached into the drawer I was pulling things out of and stuffed them in the luggage.
"Lissie we've got not time for anything else. Close it and let's go. I'll start the car."
RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA!
"Cedric!"
"Run to the car Lissie! We're out of time!"
I scrambled as fast as one could, just finding out the world was about to end. Luckily I found my jogging pants and running shoes, which made the run easier, but not the carry on. Cedric got the car cranked and backed out of the driveway, passenger door open just so I could leap in.
Jumping in I never looked off to the sides to see if anyone else was going to make it and all I saw were people packing everything they think they needed. Cedric just shook his head, gunning the gas as we went down the street. His head was on a swivel, watching for any stray movement at all as he then hit pedal to the medal.
Houses flew by off to the sides and I never questioned Cedric's judgement. We passed by the end of the neighborhood, blowing through a stop sign or two to make it out towards Raven Rock. On the way we spotted others on the side of the road, a collision.
No police
No ambulance
The last thing I saw of the crash in the rear view was a man holding his little girl, the little one unmoving. I wanted to ask Cedric to stop, I knew he would too, but right now he was on a mission. Never saw him bat an eye at anything on the side of the road.
Up ahead I could see men in uniform and what looked like a giant in a suit of armor. Of course I knew what power armor was, most Americans had heard of our soldiers using them overseas. They had immense strength, and the massive machine gun he was holding by himself proved it.
Cedric let off the pedal long enough to brake before the blockade, flashing the ID badge on his uniform. The soldier standing there never even questioned his ID.
"Sir you will need to park your car in the parking lot off to the side here. Vehicles are not being allowed in past checkpoint Bravo."
"That's insane soldier, but I'll tolerate it since stuff's about to hit the fan."
Gently moving past the checkpoint he perfectly parked the car in the first available spot. His precision shocked me with everything going on, then again he was there in Alaska when all hell let loose. He knew what he was doing.
THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A loud snap then explosion went off in the distance behind us. The bright of day got ten times brighter all of sudden, and I turned to see what just happened behind me when Cedric sprang into action.
"Don't look Lissie! Remember what happened to Lot's wife?" He said as grabbed my hand, pulling me along with him in a mad rush.
Oh I remembered. Only thing was, they were running from judgement, we were running from evil itself.
We sprinted towards the entrance and watched as the hatch began to close. Soldiers were yelling in front of us to run as fast as we could, meanwhile others were yelling for them to hold the door. Their screaming went on and on right behind us up until it didn't.
My heart was beating so fast, I swore it might fly right out of my chest and beat me inside. Cedric's hand left my side for a moment, and then came to my back. He shoved forward with all his might throwing me into the arms of the soldiers inside, just before the door was violently shut behind me by the shockwave.
A furious wave of destruction and power of sound came and went.
...
America was gone.
And so was my Cedric.
