Chapter 2
TIME LOG: TWO YEARS EARLIER
The sun was unusually harsh that long summer's day. The men working in the fields covered in their hot and heavy work clothes, prayed for just a small cloud. However, there was no cloud in sight, and it looked like there would be no cloud in sight for days.
The town seemed dead inside too from the heat exhaustion. The old folks sat outside on their porches, rocking back and forth in a fluid motion. Each was comfortably sitting back, with a glass of their favorite beverage, close to their face.
One of the workers looked up at the sky to see if there was any change in the appearance. As he stared a small bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead into his eye. He pushed on his eye with both hands and he fidgeted around, letting out a curse or two under his breath.
After the salty sting had come down a little, the man stepped over his tender crops and grabbed his bottle of water. He leaned his head back and let the water come down. However, all he tasted was hot steam. In rage he threw the bottle on the ground and walked away.
Slowly he walked to a house, mumbling under his breath, till he reached the porch. An old man sat there relaxed in his rocking chair.
"Hey pop," he said as he walked inside.
The old man just nodded and let him in. After a few seconds the man came back out with a big bottle of water, and chugged down with fury. After he had has his fill he let out an enormous sigh of relief, followed with a loud belch.
The old man just ignored his rude son as he looked at the street. An old lady passed by their house. She was followed by a young a beautiful girl.
"You see that old hag and her child there?" the old man spoke.
The son took a sip and then responded, "Yeah? So?"
"That's Danny's grandma and sister. Things have been quiet around here since Danny and his father left."
"Yeah, I remember Danny. The little hooligan was always causing trouble and his father would always back him up."
"You know Danny went to war right?" the old man stopped rocking.
"Yeah. I know. Darn shame, we could have used Danny to do some work around here," the man took another long drink.
"To think, they let a seventeen year old join the fight. This war must be something else; probably because of his father."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
There was a short silence.
"Whatever happened to that girl that Danny was in love with?" the man asked.
"I don't know, right after he left, she just seemed to up and disappear without a trace."
"I hope she comes back before Danny. You know he has always been weak when it comes to that love stuff."
"Yes, poor Danny," the old man sat back in his chair, and slowly got it rocking again.
Both men took a drink at the same time and the man walked back to the fields while the old man continued to watch the streets.
"Seems like all us old folks are good for, is bringing up the past," he muttered to himself.
Mrs. Georgia Blaker was a peaceful old woman. Like anyone who lives long enough on this earth, her skin drooped and sagged. Her clothes became smaller, and her hair turned white. However, one thing you could always count on was her smile. The one tool she had to brighten any face.
She walked quickly for an old woman. Taking care of her body when she was young was paying off in these tough years. Her white hair was bunched up in a bun behind her head, in order to keep it out of her blue eyes. She wore a blue with white poke dot dress that stretched down to her knees. On her feet were semi-high heels that were comfortable to look at, and not to bad to walk in.
Behind her was Danny's Sister Alison Blaker, Ally to her friends. Ally was a perfect specimen of beauty. Her long smooth brown hair flowed down her back to about the middle and curled off. She too had blue eyes and a smile that could brighten any face. She was pure of heart, and every man in the town respected that. If they didn't they answered to Danny.
She was wearing a light blue dress that went all the way down to her ankles. Unlike her grandmother, Ally wore high heels and was starting to feel the pains of beauty. She put her silky smooth hands on her hips and tried to keep herself from falling.
"Slow down grandma. I can't keep up with you," she pleaded.
"I told you not to wear those stupid heels. Anyway, we are almost home, so tough it out girl. What would Danny say?" Georgia refused to slow down.
Danny had always made fun of Ally in the past. For little things, to the brink that Ally would cry and run off. However, Danny would always chase her down and say he was sorry. Danny and Ally had the "typical" sibling relationship.
When grandma said his name, Ally had flashbacks of around five years ago. A boy had taken advantage of her kindness and caused her great humiliation. The next day the boy turned up in the hospital with a mild concussion but when he awoke he would not say who caused it.
Before she had returned from her memories, they were there. A cozy beat up home, just a little outside of the town, completely made of wood, and amazingly termite free. An old dog on the porch slowly got up and wagged its tail.
"Come here Jack," Ally said as the dog greeted them.
The old woman ignored the dog and walked inside.
When Ally was done giving attention to the dog she walked up the small set of stairs in front of her house. She looked to her right and stared at one of the support pillars for the roof over the porch. It had her name and Danny's written all over it. With marks to show how tall they have gotten.
She looked up at Danny's last mark; "I wonder how tall you are now?"
There wasn't much to the inside of the house. Just an average two-story house: four rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a family room.
Georgia was already in the kitchen making dinner when Ally walked in. Ally took off her heels and walked barefoot on the nice cold hard wood floor.
"Do you need help grandma?" she asked.
"No dear, I'm quite all right. Just go take a small nap. I'll wake you up when it's ready," she said with a smile.
"Okay grandma. See you in a bit," she ran upstairs and fell asleep quickly.
A good amount of time passed, and Ally was woken up by the sound of knocking. She got up on her bed and looked out the window, but couldn't see any cars or anybody. Quickly brushing the sleep from her eyes she ran downstairs to see what was going on.
When she reached the bottom she saw her grandmother talking to a man in uniform. He was as tall as Danny and spoke very clearly and loud.
"Mrs. Blaker?" he asked.
"Yes. I am her," Georgia replied.
"I am Private Christopher Johnson. I had the pleasure of meeting your grandson during combat," he let a peaceful grin.
She smiled, "That's wonderful, and how is Danny doing?"
The smile left his lips, "Could I please have a word with you in private?"
She looked back at Ally and said, "Why of course."
"Follow me," he ordered as he walked outside.
"What's wrong? Is my Danny hurt?" she asked as she followed.
Ally walked up to the screen door and watched both of them go out a good distance from the house. The private spoke to her without ever letting off a smile. Georgia's smile had left as well, and her hands slowly closed in fists.
Georgia began to sway back and forward and lost her balance. The private helped her regain balance on her knees, but Georgia just looked up at the sky. There was only one word that Ally could hear from the entire conversation.
"Danny!" Georgia screamed and yelled to the top of her lungs.
Just as she screamed a loud crash of thunder met with her pain. Clouds began to form out of no where and lightening spewed from inside them. Powerful raindrops fell down and submerged the two figures. Ally slowly saw them fade into the darkness of the storm.
"What the fuck?" Scott awoke with a powerful thud as his chair fell over.
Beer splashed onto his face, causing the dream to end abruptly. Lying there, he slowly rubbed his eyes and temples, causing himself to wake up.
He let out a powerful yawn and muttered to himself, "What a fucked up dream. I can't even remember anyone's names. Well, guess I should check on Charlie and Lu."
He got up and put the chair back under the table. Then he walked over to the back room. Lu was staring over Charlie.
"How's he doin?" Scott asked.
"He'll be fine. Just needs some rest," Lu responded.
She got up from her knees and looked at Scott. Tears began to fill her eyes, confusing Scott.
"What's the matter?" he tried to understand.
"Do you even care about my feelings?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" he wasn't following very well.
"You and Charlie are the only family I have left. Yet you come in here whenever you please, with whatever damage you have. You expect me to fix it, like everything's all perfect."
Tears began to roll down her cheeks.
He walked up and put his arms around her body, "Listen, me and Charlie care about you. Don't worry about that stuff. We really appreciate you," it was taking all of Scott's thought to try to make this sound good without messing it up.
She sat there for a second the hugged him with a powerful squeeze.
She began to cry, "You and Charlie are all I have left. I don't know what to do if you two ever left. No one is here anymore. I would be completely alone."
Scott let a small smile come out, "Don't worry about it. It would take a whole lot of amazing people to stop us. Plus, we would never die; cause if we did you would kill us."
Lu seemed relieved from this and let him go. He let go over her too and they looked at each other.
"Come on, you should get some sleep. Use the other couch. I'll sleep on the floor," Scott walked over to an open spot on the ground.
"Yeah, okay. Thanks," she turned off the light and fell asleep on the couch. It took a while for Scott to go back to sleep. Images from his dream kept playing themselves over and over.