Chapter 38: I Am The Fire
May 30th, 2014 - 1400 (2:00 pm)
"We are planning three more stops on the way back to Baltimore," Rachel said, smiling as she leaned back and placed a hand over her ever-growing stomach. She was now 28 weeks along, and Noah was two and a half pounds and almost a foot and a half long. She was growing bigger every day, and loving every moment of it (except for the back pain; that she could live without). "We're in the home stretch. Three weeks from being finished with our mission, and these next three stops will help us determine how successful the distribution of the cure has been."
"As we've approached the United States, we're beginning to hear more reports over the radio about those who have received or who are distributing the cure. We overheard a a message today inviting people to Miami to receive the cure at Hard Rock Stadium."
Mike paused, waiting to see how the team would respond to his statement. When he didn't get the reaction he was hoping for, he laughed and added, "Over three hundred miles away from Jacksonville. Three hundred miles! The cure has traveled over three hundred Goddamn miles since we left five months ago! This is amazing!"
Rachel smiled.
With every report, every radio signal, and every overheard transmission, her hope grew. Her hope that there would be a more stable world to bring her baby into. Her hope that their country was healing. Her hope that everything was going to be OK, eventually.
"That is amazing," she whispered, and Tom reached over, grasping her hand under the table. "We really did it."
"Yes, we did," Mike agreed, smiling at the scientist. "We started a chain reaction that's going to save the whole world. Who knows if the cure physically traveled, or if Martin from Jacksonville was able to share it with them, but we know it's on the move. Hard Rock Stadium is huge, I'm dying to see what the progress there looks like."
"Well, Miami is on our list of stops," Rachel said, turning back to her notes. "Our first stop is Montevideo, Uruguay. One of the very first places we ever stopped was Buenos Aires over four and a half months ago, which is about one hundred and seventy miles away from Montevideo. Our primary objective is to see if the cure has spread that far. Next we will stop in Sau Paulo, which is about two hundred and seventy miles from Rio de Janeiro. Finally, we'll stop in Miami, which, as we've already heard, the cure has reached. We can gauge how effective the efforts to spread cure have been, help those we can, and then wrap up our mission and report back to Baltimore."
Danny nodded from his spot at the table. "Have we heard from Thorwald and his men? What's the situation in Baltimore?"
Tom shook his head. "Unfortunately we have not. However, as we learned from our first experience with Baltimore, we have to be much closer before we'll get a clear signal. We had to be within a few hours of docking to get a clear signal the first time due to the equipment they're working with there. I'm not concerned that we haven't been able to reach them."
"When we stop in Montevideo," Rachel continued. "I was hoping to be able to accompany the team on land. I understand," she said quickly, cutting Tom off before he could interrupt her. "That obviously cannot happen, not after the last time I was on land. So instead I would like to have a direct link to the team, to be able to see and hear everything going on on the ground. I want to be able to talk to anyone you find, to help gauge how far the cure has spread."
"We can do that," Tom said, relaxing back in his chair. He was glad that Rachel wasn't going to push to be able to leave the boat. They had been in agreement the past several weeks that the safest place for her was on the ship, in the lab. She hadn't been off the boat at all since she was shot, save for the crew trip to the beach, and it was a huge weight off of his shoulders every time the team disembarked.
"Good. We're scheduled to dock within the next two hours."
Mike nodded to Danny, who had taken back over the land team once he had felt comfortable leaving Kara and Frankie alone. "Prep your team."
"Aye, Commander," he said, and stood to go find his team, leaving Mike, Rachel, and Tom around the table.
"Who knew," Mike reflected, leaning back in his chair. "Next week it'll be a year since we set sail from Norfolk to the Arctic. I could not have ... even begun to imagine how the world would change."
"So much has changed," Tom agreed, smiling wistfully. "Good and bad."
"A lot of good, though," Rachel said softly, looking over her notes from their mission. "We've been able to set up a working lab with a far reaching signal to the surrounding areas in every single major continent. We left all of the information about the cure necessary to replicate and distribute it, and as we've heard, it's making its way around. This is how it begins. Our work is almost done, but the work of curing the world will continue."
"I'm excited to go home," Mike said. "Christine and the girls and I are excited to be back on land, even if it's in Baltimore rather than Norfolk. In fact, I think it'll be good for us, a bit of a change."
"Yeah," Tom agreed. "Sam and Ashley are already arguing about what they think their room should be decorated like."
"We didn't even tell them that they'll have to share a room," Rachel said, chuckling. "They just assumed, since they've shared for so long now."
"We don't even know where we're going to live," Tom said. "But we'll figure it out. I'm excited to see what Thorwald has done in the past six months."
"Yeah," Mike said, nodding. "Three weeks. I can't believe we're almost done."
With a shake of his head, he stood up and walked to the door.
"I've got the bridge, since you're going with the team. We'll make sure video and radio are set up for Dr. Scott by the time we dock."
"Thank you," Rachel said, and Mike nodded to her before walking out, leaving them alone.
There was silence for several moments, before Rachel began to speak softly.
"A year ago," she began, taking Tom's hand in her own and squeezing it tightly. "I was preparing to come aboard the Nathan James, knowing that I couldn't tell you, or anyone, the truth about the world. It was the hardest, most heartbreaking thing I have ever had to do, lying to your face about the fact that the world and everyone in it was dying. I know the crew, and you, did not like me at first. Probably despised me a little, actually. But that was OK. It was easier for me, not having to be close to anyone. To hide in my lab and try and find the cure. The more I hid, the less I had to lie. But with each radio transmission from the CDC with worse and worse news, it grew harder and harder to hope."
Tom squeezed her hand, hating that she'd had to go through that alone. That she'd had to carry the weight of the entire world, literally, alone for so long, with no one to lean on or talk to or confide in.
"Finally telling you the truth, though it was hard and you were so angry at me, was a relief. A huge relief, because I was no longer alone. And you believed in me, from almost the very beginning. You defended me and fought for me, and saved my life more than once. I... couldn't have made it through this year without you."
Tom smiled at her, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles.
"Yes, you would have," he said. "Because you're strong and you're brilliant. You saved the world, and you would have done it with or without us, but I am so glad I was able to be there for you."
"I'm glad, too. I'm so glad we found each other."
"Love you," Tom whispered.
"Love you, too. Now, let's go get ready for the mission. Three more stops, and we're home."
May 30th, 2014 - 1700 (5:00 pm)
"Well, this is a good sign!" Tex hollered, throwing his hands in the air and whooping happily as they stepped off the R.H.I.B.
Over the shared intercom, Rachel laughed.
"What do you see, Tex?" she asked, and he pointed the camera on his helmet to show her what they were seeing. "Oh, my God..."
In the distance, still unaware of the visitors to their town, there were people in the streets, and they were going about their lives like normal, smiling and laughing as they traded and bartered at what looked like a small sea-side market. Some stalls had fish, freshly caught, while others had homemade soaps, baked goods, hand-sewn clothing, and what looked like the first harvest from early planted gardens. Children were laughing, running in between the stalls, playing a game of tag while their parents traded for whatever goods they needed. Even from a distance, she could tell that they were living their lives as if they didn't have to worry about the Red Flu.
"Tom, I need to come on land," Rachel said urgently from over his earpiece, and he drew in a breath but knew that she was right. "I speak Spanish. I need to come talk to these people. I... I have to, I need to know what's going on."
Taking a deep breath in, Tom nodded, motioning toward the team to re-board the R.H.I.B. "All right. We're coming to get you."
Less than thirty minutes later they returned, Dr. Scott in tow.
She was practically vibrating with excitement as she stepped off of the boat with Tom's help. She pressed a hand to her belly, grinning as she regained her balance.
"Tom, this is... " she was unable to finish her sentence as she gestured to the market in the distance, which was bustling and alive.
"Amazing," he finished for her, and she nodded. "I'm approaching with you. The rest of the team will stay back until we explain to the locals who we are."
Rachel nodded again and began walking forward, too excited to wait any longer. The first person she approached was a young mother, a boy of about two or three on her hip, who seemed to be running a stall with homemade bread and butter.
Rachel held up both hands to show she wasn't dangerous, smiling as she greeted the woman.
"No queremos hacer daño. Venimos de Nathan James, buscando información sobre la cura," she said quickly, reassuring the woman that they meant no harm and that they just wanted to know about the cure.
The woman's face lit up, and she nodded quickly, pointing to her elbow where she would have received the cure.
"¡Sí! ¡Sí! ¡Todos estamos curados!"
Tom looked at Rachel quizzically, and she smiled brightly, tears in her eyes.
"They're all cured," Rachel translated in wonder, and turned back to the woman, unable to stop the tears from spilling over. "Creamos la cura. Lo trajimos a Buenos Aires en el invierno. Queríamos ver si ya te ha llegado."
"Si. Estamos curados desde el segundo mes. Gracias. ¡Gracias! Me salvaste la vida. Salvaste la vida de mi hijo."
"She says we saved her life and her son's life. They've been cured since February."
Tom shook his head in amazement, unable to believe what he was seeing and hearing.
They had hoped, sure, but they had never imagined that the cure would spread this fast.
To have made it almost two hundred miles in the first two months was staggering. Who know how far beyond Montevideo it had spread since then!
These people were thriving.
The woman they were talking to was smiling, shouting out to those around her, "¡Venir! ¡Venir! ¡Estas personas crearon la cura!" and immediately they were surrounded by people thanking them, hugging them, cheering with them. Tom was swept up in the crowd, and quickly lost track of Rachel. He wasn't worried, however, as the crowd seemed intent on thanking them profusely, and didn't seem to mean them any harm.
He noticed, as the crowd continued to surround them, that the others on the team were walking forward, beaming and cheering along with the market goers.
"¡gracias!"
"¡nos salvaste!"
"¡Gracias, Nathan James!"
Tom laughed joyously as a young child climbed up his back, settling on his shoulders and cheering loudly. A young man shook his hand, grinning, and Tom couldn't help but share in their excitement. He was hugged and thanked by person after person, accepting hand shakes from older men and even receiving a kiss or two from overexcited young women.
Rachel, who was watching him from afar, was laughing at the shock on his face after one particularly enthusiastic young lady pulled back. Tom was trying to explain to the woman that he was happily engaged to be married but the lady was just laughing at him, not understanding, so he gave up and hugged her, joining in her jubilation.
"Te amo, Nathan James!" she exclaimed, and Tom laughed; he understood that one just fine!
"I apologize, but I am hopelessly and irrevocably in love with someone else," he said, pulling back and meeting Rachel's eyes across the crowd. He smiled at her, his eyes soft, and she grinned back. The full face, dimpled grin that he loved so much. "I'm going to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her."
He knew that the woman who was excitedly hugging him had no idea what he was saying, but he felt the need to say it anyway, to declare his love for Rachel in front of all of these people that she had saved.
She had saved all of their lives.
Suddenly unable to help himself, Tom pulled away from the crowd of well-wishers and walked quickly up to Rachel, wrapping his arms around her and swinging her into the air.
She squealed in surprise, laughing as he spun her in several circles before claiming her mouth with his own, kissing her enthusiastically and deeply. Once her feet were firmly on the ground she reached both hands up to cup his jaw, kissing him back with just as much passion, her heart beating fast and hard as she reveled in the exhilaration and elation surrounding them.
"I fucking love you," he declared when he pulled back, and then leaned in to kiss her again.
The second kiss was ruined a little by the fact that neither of them could stop smiling.
She had done it.
They had done it.