Ch 11
With the last 'stronghold' of the PSR gone, and now them being considered a terrorist organization, the leftovers quickly she their PSR ID's patches and anything else that identified them with the group and went back to their previous schemes.
Jackie and Duncan had their diner listening to the news on the radio urging people to report anyone displaying anything PSR related.
"Hopefully, that kills that problem," Jackie said between mouthfuls. "You're a pretty good cook, Duncan."
"Thanks. So what are you going to do now?" he asked.
Jackie pause to stare at nothing for a moment. "I really don't know," she said softly. "I mean, Daniel's gone. I really don't belong at the Collins house. I'm not that type of person they are up there. You know, rich and a little snooty. Daniel died in our house, right in the hallway. Not that I don't like my parents, but I really don't want to go back there right away. I guess I'm feeling kinda lost."
Duncan offered, "Well you did want to see my place here, It's neutral territory for you. Think you might want to stay with me for a while?"
"Can I?" she asked hopefully.
"It's up to you. I think you threw a bit of shock into Peyton, but I'm sure he'll get over it." Duncan said with a grin.
Jackie giggled. "I think I threw a shock into all of them. Did you see their faces when I said I killed people?"
"I did. You probably shouldn't go mentioning that any more. Most people have never experienced things like we have. They have never been in a kill or be killed situation," he explained. "If you noticed, for all the millions in the country, it was what, 50,000 or so who took up arms against the PSR? Their numbers where not that huge either, they used terror and authority mostly to get what they wanted. Most people will not risk their life for a cause. Look at that guy who wanted to spar with you tonight. He tried his learned moves, and the second time you tossed him away on his ass, he didn't come back to try again."
"No, for a Black Belt, he was kinda lame," she agreed.
"Because he knew you meant business and he didn't want to deal with that," Duncan stated.
"The Dojo has become just a fitness club." Jackie said.
"I'm getting that too."
A gleam appeared in Jackie's eye. "Shall we show them what defending yourself really means?"
Duncan chuckled. "You want to go back down and play some, don't you?"
"Yeah, if we can," she replied with a grin.
"Let's plan it a bit. We want to teach them something too. We'll start with a bit of old school."
.
After diner and cleanup, Duncan went down in the Do-Jo with a t-shirt and pants on. Jackie did the same. A couple guys riding exercise bikes there watched Jackie and the way her shirt curtained out over her flat belly. She followed him over to the wall where a pair of short cane length staffs still lay in their brackets. He tossed her one and grabbed the other.
"But, Duncan, these aren't swords," Jackie said.
"No. What they are is legal to carry, and can put a hurting on someone who wants to hurt you." He explained.
Duncan tapped his staff on parts of her body and said, "Shins, elbows, wrists and solar plexus," he said. "Non lethal shots and very effective for slowing someone down. Up here, are collar bones, it only take 25 pounds of pressure to break one and you will disable both arms."
Duncan showed Jackie how move and to use a staff to defend with as well as attack. While he was, the bike riders were now watching intently. So was Peyton. Once Duncan explained the moves, he walked Jackie through them, then went faster with her. He then had them square off.
"OK, he's got a club" Duncan announced and held his staff in the middle. He came down at Jackie, she lifted her staff up and smacked his wrist lightly. He did this a few times, then held it lower. "He's got a knife!" he announced.
Jackie did the motion to knock the knife to the side then planted the end of her staff in his groin, barely touching.
"Good! Now he'd coming and reaching for his gun!" he announced.
Jackie spun low and lightly tapped her staff across his shins.
They had the rapt attention of everyone watching.
"Now, full speed!" Duncan said as he stepped back. "Club! Knife! Gun!" Jackie went through the moves smoothly, making her staff whistle in the air.
Jackie then asked. "Duncan, why squat so low to hit him in the shins if he's got a gun?"
"Usually, when someone has a gun, they aim for center body mass. Pulling his gun, that's where his mind will be, hitting your center mass were he sees it. When you drop low, you mess up where he was planning to aim. That takes him an instant to re-aim. If you move fast and hit his shins, you'll disrupt his aim again. Then you can move and hit his wrist to knock the gun out of his hand."
"If he's out of your range?" she asked.
"Then duck and find cover."
That caused a few chuckles. Duncan then pretended to just now notice them watching him. "Muscle memory is important. The more you practice moves, the faster you will be performing them. You also don't need a staff like this. A common cane works very well, and you can also use the handle to trip your opponent up. In those old pictures of all those men walking down the street with canes, that wasn't just for show or to look cool at the time. That was their personal defense. Many of those canes also had swords inside them. Others had ornate metal knobs on the ends. A whack from one of those almost always put an aggressor on the ground."
"Always start your move from the walking position?" Jackie asked, holding the top of her staff beside her.
"That's right!" Duncan agreed. "If you're holding it like a weapon, they will be aware. They won't be if it looks like you're just walking. Coming up fast also increases the speed and effectiveness of your strike. Always strike with the end."
"We need practice dummies." Jackie said looking around.
"I got a couple in the back here!" Peyton announced.
Jackie found she liked helping to teach others. With the dummies set up, Duncan showed them the moves again and had them practice on the dummies. Jackie had to grin at the men's clumsiness. Then again, this was probably the first time they had ever used a personal defense weapon. Peyton took his turn as was just as clumsy as the rest.
Peyton ended up closing a little late, but he and the bike boys were happy they learned something new.
Going back up in the elevator after the last few guys left, Duncan said, "Thanks for taking it easy on me, especially with the groin shot."
Jackie threw the gate open into the loft and said, "Of course! That is one thing I hope to have other plans for!" She had announced her words way too loudly and realized what she just said after she said it. She stopped and turned three shades of red. Before Duncan followed her off the elevator, she clapped her hands to her face.
"I don't believe I said that!" Jackie cried through her hands.
Blushing himself, Duncan quietly asked, "Something you want to tell me?"
Jackie turned and planted her face into his chest, trying to hide as she rambled, "My mouth got ahead of my brain, I saw the bed back there and, Oh GOD, I didn't mean to say that out loud it just came out before I could stop myself!"
Duncan put his arms around her and stifled a laugh. "It's OK, Jackie. I take it you need some cuddle time?"
"That was so crude, I'm sorry!" she cried into his chest. "I know I'm really young, but, I really miss..."
Petting her hair, he again said, "It's fine, don't worry about it. Look, after you're an adult, age really doesn't matter any more. You miss intimacy."
Jackie nodded. "I do! I miss Daniel, it feels like I want to cheat on him but..."
Duncan made her look up and him and said, "Hey, I'm your friend. You don't need to explain to me, OK? What do you say we go grab a shower then go to bed. The night is yours, sweetie. Whatever you want or don't want is up to you."
She replied by wrapping her arms around his neck and stood on tip toe to kiss him.
.
The California & National Guard was now in charge of law enforcement in Washington State and Oregon as well as California until those states rebuilt their police forces. As many ex-police officers as they could find were recruited to assist. Delilah turned her position as 'commander' over to the ex-police chief of Orange County. Some places would be minor chaos until all was set back to normal.
With order being restored, Delilah was heading home. Knowing they had much work to do at home repairing and setting things straight, JJ and Kaede were going home also, as was Bob, Joan, Allison and Malinara. San Jose and San Francisco had no one to be the head police chief for the area, and as was started by George, Sonya was asked by many to come fill this role. Her imposing presence alone urged people to behave. Joan assured Sonya she'd get the furniture factory going again, and take care of the Gun store and Sonya's house.
.
JJ drove into the driveway of the farm and stopped halfway up where the graves had been put. He looked at the lines of stones. His family here, all their friends and their families. He stared at the graves long enough that Kaede put a hand on his shoulder.
"Johnny, are you sure you can handle living here now?" she asked.
He turned to her, tears were in his eyes. "It's not going to be easy at first," he admitted. "I do like farm work, we were all proud of this place. To give it up is like ... giving all of them up. Not just my wives, but everyone who lived and worked here. It's like I owe it to them to make sure the farm goes on. Yeah, I'm real sad they died, but if at least one person is here to tell others who come who those graves belong to, to let them know before that disaster, we lived worked and were happy here. Yeah, I want to stay."
Kaede nodded. "Then we should go up and unload the truck. I do want to go get some things from our house."
JJ nodded and drove up to the smaller house he and his family lived at. He and Kaede went inside. For a brief second, he thought he saw Peggy by the table. He just caught her smile and in a blink she was gone.
"What is it?" Kaede asked seeing him stare at nothing.
"I ah ... nothing." he said and took his and Kaede's bags to the bedroom and set them down. Of course All of Peggy and Lily's things were in here. Again, he swore he saw Peggy standing in the doorway to the bathroom briefly. He stared and swallowed.
"You OK?" Kaede asked as she approached him slowly, eyeing him.
He turned to look at her, then back to the bathroom doorway. " Swear I just saw Peggy," he whispered.
"What was she doing?" Kaede asked.
"Nothing just, looking at me. She was smiling." he said vacantly.
"I don't know much about mystic type stuff," Kaede said. "The dream I had about Kouta, it felt real. Maybe Peggy is glad you're home." She walked past him and announced, "Peggy, Lily, it's Kaede from town. I've been with Johnny for a few months after everyone died here. Those bad people that did this and killed everyone? We made sure they are gone and will not bother anyone else ever again. I really like Johnny. I too, lost everyone I love. I know what he's going through, because I am too. We have been supporting each other and I really want to live here with him. I'm asking you to accept me being here. I need to be with Johnny, and he needs to be with me." She then bowed to the doorway.
JJ watched, not sure what to expect next. Nothing else happened.
Kaede asked, "Can we go get my stuff?"
"Ahh, sure. Do you think Peggy is still... here?"
Kaede grinned and said, "I don't know for sure, but you said you saw her, so maybe her ghost stayed to welcome you home. If her ghost is here, it's only right I ask permission to live here with you."
He thought, 'whatever makes you feel at home.' On the outside chance Peggy was still here, he said, "If if it's briefly, I'm glad I did get to see you one more time. I'll never stop loving you, Peggy. Just, please, know right now, I need Kaede with me. We'll, ah, be back in a bit. We have to go get Kaede's things from her house."
.
Driving down though town felt a little strange. Besides Connor being in the sheriff's office, there was no one in town. Absolutely no one. Everything was left as it was after the burial parties were done. They had closed doors to houses. They had not picked up bicycles, put grills away or taken down hung up laundry. The creepy part was the town didn't look vacant, it looked vacated.
JJ got to Kaede's house and found it was badly burned. It wasn't collapsed into ash, more like it was scorched. The sides, even the windows were blackened. Bits here and there had fallen off, some eaves were hanging down from the roof line.
Getting out JJ and Kaede looked at it. JJ winced, "I'm not sure it's safe to go in there."
"We'll just be very careful," Kaede said. She gripped his hand. She looked at the entrance, the screen door fell off. The inside door opened to show a blackened interior.
Seeing the door moving by itself, JJ asked, "You're dong that, right?"
Kaede nodded. They stepped closer to the threshold. JJ halted her. "Look at the floor, it's not safe to walk on."
The walls were discolored and the floor was black with holes in it. Kaede suddenly looked up, down the hallway.
Putting his arm around her, JJ said, "Kaede, its really not safe to go in there. I don't think you want any clothes that are in there, either."
Kaede closer her eyes. "Just hold me," she said quietly.
JJ did. They stood still, looking into the burnt house. From inside came a thump. Something crashed down. Kaede frowned a bit then took on a relieved look as a music box tune began to play. She held a hand out. Then from inside, a half opened music box that had a burnt corner on it came drifting down the hallway, playing it's haunting tune. The music box drifted up into Kaede's hand.
Kaede sniffled as tears dripped from her eyes. She opened the music box. The inside was unburnt, the red cloth was untouched and the name of the song was still there in bright gold lettering on the inside top.
Lilium
Kaede glanced at JJ. "This is what I wanted." she said in a sniffle. "When we were little kids, Kouta played this for me. Through all the hell that I've gone through growing up, this song has stayed with me. When I finally got to see Kouta again, he still had this and we played it. This is a link to Kouta I've always had, and always will."
JJ listened to the tune. It was a haunting tune. "At least it survived," he said.
They started back for the truck. A noise came from inside the house, They looked back and the house came crashing down on itself. JJ hurried them farther away to avoid getting hit by falling debris. They didn't, the house seemed to fold in on itself as it came down.
Surprised by this, JJ offered, "Well you don't have to figure out what to do with the house now. Just give the land back to Dad, let him figure it out." He had to call Dad anyway. While he was going to retain ownership of the farm, he was going to need help, and there was an Atlantian family who wanted to come farm.
.
At the Atliantian town in area 51, Tobru had found a new 'scary' story that their kids liked to hear. Gathering them, he held up the thin book he had and said, "This is a true story from far away in a place called Japan!"
Eyes shone "It's true!" the girl holding her fuzzy rabbit asked in wonder.
"Yes! You see on an island they held a very, very, dangerous woman in this big thick steel vault. Not just keeping her inside, but she was in a special suit suspended up off the floor. She was so dangerous that even though she couldn't move and was inside this armored vault, there was still a thick steel cage around her! She was so dangerous that even getting close to her, she could kill you!"
The children gasped wide eyed at their father.
"She was held like this so no one could get close to her, or she to them," he said in an ominous tone. "She could stop bullets from hitting her, and even GRAB people from ten feet away and RIP them in HALF!" He paused as the kids again let out gasps of horror.
"This woman was known as a Diclonius! The people there knew they dared not ever let her go, for if she ever got out, there would be no stopping her," he said, then let out a huff. "But the unthinkable did happen," he said sadly. "The whole facility there went on alert. The man guarding her had gotten too close to her cage. She drew him closer, grabbed his keys and tore his head off! Another guard saw this and tried to shoot her, but the bullets just fell down in front of her. She unlocked her suit and dropped to the floor, she ripped through the tough steel cage and threw the other guard so hard against the wall, he splattered all over it!" Spreading his hand while he talked, all the kids winced, imagining someone hitting a wall so hard they just spread out to the sides.
"Did they stop her?" his youngest son asked, looking frantic.
"They tried. Many armed men came running with their strongest guns. They fired rivers of bullets at her, and those bullets bounced away, or came back at them. Then when she got close enough to those brave men, the ones in front were ripped apart by nothing! She walked into them and they were torn apart and killed. She walked on, slaughtering everyone who got in her way. 27 men and a woman she killed on her way out! She waded though the blood and pieces of their bodies. Getting outside, she got to the end of the island and dove in the water." he said.
After a pause, his oldest girl asked, "So what happened then? Did a ship come to capture her?"
"Did she drown in the water, or someone find a weapon that could stop her?" a boy asked.
He shook his head. "She swam away. No one has seen her since. Some claim she stays in the sea. Others think she swam to live on land someplace far away to search for victims. No one really knows what happened to her." He held up a finger and said, 'But there is a way to identify her. She has long pink hair and on her head above her ears, she had these horns on her head. It is said if you see her, run for your life and hope it's fast enough!"
The older girl, Sophie, then cried, "Father Tobru, that's not true! It can't be!"
"I swear, it is true!" he insisted.
Hanson came in. "Tobru! I got word we can move onto the farm in Driftwood! The man who owns it now, John Connor Junior, needs help running it."
Tobru smiled, "That's great news!" he agreed. "Is this soon?"
"Start packing! The sooner we go, the sooner we'll get there!" Hanson beamed.
.
JJ found since there was no one to pay the electric bill, the electric was shut off. That made the refrigerator and freezer smell horrid. Cleaning it out was nasty. The contents they just buried. Their first couple days on the farm was cleaning out and getting things organized. Someone died on one of the 4 wheel pedal bikes. The ones who buried the bodies left the pedal bike where it was. Everything was left where it had been. The only animals they found were some wild pigs that had come onto the farm, scrounging. So they had vegetables, ham and pork to eat.
Cleaning up both houses of stinking refrigerators and freezers, JJ and Kaede concentrated on getting their house in order. Some of Peggy and Lily's clothes, Kaede liked and they fit. The rest she packed up to give to the clothing store. Each time she decided to keep a clothing item, she thanked them. She had no idea if either one was around, but she did begin to feel good about living here with JJ. Like this was truly going to be home. She hoped in some way, Peggy and Lily had something to so with that.
On a shelf in the living room, they had knick knacks lined up. Nothing great or expensive, just things those women liked to make or buy. Kaede found space on the shelf for her music box. She left all of Peggy and Lily's things in place.
JJ was busy trying to get ready for the grape harvest. Kaede knew they had to de-cluttered the things they weren't keeping, and someone had to do a supply run anyway, so she took a day to run around, drop off things they weren't going to use and go get groceries and some other supplies JJ needed. JJ was glad she was willing to go by herself, he had a ton of work to do.
JJ was working on the grape presses, ensuring they were clean and operated smoothly when a bus drove up into the driveway. Seeing a bunch of white haired people, and some kids looking at him. he went out to meet them.
It was a gaggle. Seven adults, eight kids. He waved to them as they got off. The gaggle waved back.
"Hi, I'm John Junior, Just call me JJ is fine or Johnny. I'm not real particular," JJ announced.
The one man introduced his clan. "I'm Hanson, this it Tobru and Ken, our wives are," he said as he pointed, Marishia, Gwen, Darla, and Laura, the kids are, Ken, Dandy, Teddy, Benny, Sophie, Terry, Judy and Cassie."
"I'll try to remember all that," JJ offered. "I'm still cleaning up. We cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer there in the big house for you. If I remember right, there's only 7 bedrooms, but you guys will have to figure that out. The other houses around here are part of the farm too, so if you want to move into some of those too, that's OK. Be warned, I haven't been in any of them since I got back a few days ago."
"Don't you have a wife?" Darla asked.
"Had two, they are buried down there in the cemetery," JJ explained. "I'm the only one left alive after that bomb hit us."
All their mouths dropped. "That's Horrible!" the women and a couple men cried.
"Yeah, it was," JJ agreed. "I spend the last few months getting rid of the ones who did that so it won't ever happen again. But hey, I bet you want to go see the inside of your house. Please, feel free to go in, explore and figure out how you want to put what, where. We don't usually lock doors, rather, we didn't. Do or not is up to you."
"You can teach us how to farm, right?" the oldest boy asked.
"Ahh, Ken, right? Sure, I'll teach all of you. First things first though you should probably go check out your house. I'll be in the barn, or in our house over here." JJ told them.
Heading for the house, Laura said, "He lost both his wives, all his family at once! That is the saddest thing I've ever heard!"
Ken asked Hanson, "What do you think he meant when he said he got rid of the ones who did that to them?"
Laura handed her suitcase to Gwen, "He must be very lonely, his entire family died. Pick me a place, I want to go talk to him."
Sophie handed her suitcase to Darla. "Save me a place, I want to go too!"
JJ went back in the barn and finished up with the first grape press. Seeing it operated fine, he was going to go in and get a drink of water and saw one of the women and the oldest girl (he guess was around 12-13) come into the barn. "Hi, something I can do for you?" he asked.
Laura took on a meek look and said, "Maybe there's something I can do your you. It is so sad your entire family died."
"It was a tragedy I didn't see coming," He admitted. "The saddest day of my life. If it wasn't for Kaede ... I have no idea what I would have done. See, she lost her whole family too. We kinda helped each other survive these last months."
"So Kaede is like a girlfriend?" Laura asked.
"She's a good friend. We decided to fight those PSR together, helped each other cope with what happened," he explained. "I'm going for some water, want some?"
"Yes, please," Laura said. "You fought the ones who did this to you?" she asked.
JJ headed for the door and motioned for them to follow. "We were not going to let them get away with it. They killed the whole town here. Very few of us survived. After we got over the shock of what happened, we went hunting for them."
"You killed them?" Sophie asked, wide eyed.
"We did, as many as we could find, everywhere we thought to look. " JJ stated. "All my sisters helped, Moms and Dad organized us up so we were effective as possible. We went all over the country searching for them. They thought they were unstoppable and could do whatever they wanted to, we showed them differently."
JJ stopped and said, "If you are wondering if we were violent, yes, we were. They killed hundreds of innocent people here who never did anything to anyone, for no good reason at all. They had it coming."
Seeing Laura eye him, he added, "I really like being peaceful and being friendly. I do, but if someone attacks my family, the last thing I will be to them is peaceful or friendly."
"Did you kill a lot of them?" Sophie asked meekly.
"I was mostly leading troops but I got some. Kaede, I think got the most." JJ said, then waved an arm and said, "I know you're probably real curious but I really would like to stop talking about it. The grape harvest is that I'd like to focus on."
"I can see why," Laura said blankly.
JJ ushered them into the house and got some glasses out. Luckily, the water in the refrigerator was cold. he poured them each a glass them got his own. "Sorry that's all that's in the fridge right now."
"This is fine," Laura said. Sophie was looking at the shelf of Knick Knacks. Since Sophie was distracted, she took this time to asked, "JJ, would you like some companionship? I'm thinking you really need it."
At first, JJ was shock she'd come out and say that. Then again, these were Atlantians. "I ahhh, thanks for the offer but..."
"I know, your wives just died not long ago," she said in a soothing tone.
He heard Lilium begin to play. Sophie turned to them. "This song is pretty, but it looks like it was in a fire."
"It was," JJ said quickly, relieved to change the subject. "That music box belongs to Kaede. It was the only thing we could salvage from her house. It's really special to her."
"Do you and Kaede sleep together?" Laura asked. "I'm thinking you should for mutual comfort."
"We do, Kaede was having some bad nightmares. I found it helped her sleep. Actually it helped me too. If you're asking of we do anything, mostly it's just holding each other, you know, so we each don't feel quite so alone."
"JJ, you need real comfort," Laura told him.
"I don't think I'm ready for that yet," he offered.
"I case you are, I'll asked the family if they would be willing to accept you and Kaede into the family. We know what it is to lose people. I can't imagine the ... pain of losing your entire family, like what happened to you and Kaede. Let us know what we can do for you, please?" Laura asked.
"I ... I will, but I'm not ready for... anything like that. I doubt Kaede is either," he replied, "But, thank you for offering."
Laura cast him a gentle smile. "You're helping us just know we will help you too."
"It wound down, can I wind it back up?" Sophie asked.
"Sure," JJ said quickly, "But just a few turns, we don't know if it got damaged on the inside because of the fire."
Sophie nodded and wound it up so it would keep playing.
"Where is Kaede?" Laura asked.
"She went out to deliver some things we don't need, and do a grocery run. Since there is nothing in town, she probably went up to Dripping Springs to shop. It's not a long way, but it takes a while," JJ told her. He then quickly added, "She should be back soon. I also should get back to work on the other grape press."
"We should let you," Laura admitted. "Sophie, close up the music box, we should go help the others in the house."
"OK mom." Sophie bring her glass back to the table. They went outside. JJ saw Kaede coming up the driveway. "Hey, here comes Kaede now."
As Kaede came up and stopped the truck, Sophie noted her odd colored hair. When she got out, Sophie stared. Long pink hair, there were stubby horns on her head above her ears. Her mouth dropped open, the story father Toburu told. This was that maniac killer woman!
"What took you so long?" JJ asked with a grin.
Kaede let out a huff. "I had to go to Dripping springs for everything! We got company?"
"Yes, a new family came to..."
JJ's word were cut off by a piercing scream from Sophie. He turned to see her face, wide open in terror as Laura did. Sophie then peed herself and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She fell limp.
Kaede raised an eyebrow. "What's her problem?"