January 20, 2138 (Evening)
The events that took place earlier were strange, and they continued to go on being strange this evening. The adults are all in another meeting right now, except for Mom. She's looking after Alan right now while Karl sets in on this one. I kind if wish I was there too. I want to know what's going on.
Earlier we were all eating in the lounge and the conversation seemed to be dominated by this Cane guy, Dad, and Kim. Karl sat pretty much in silence during the whole thing and so did Mom, except for her trying to say things to make this new person feel welcome. Which didn't seem to make Kimberly lighten up any. It just seemed to make her roll her eyes more. She really doesn't like this Cane guy and I wanted to know why. He sat there acting respectful to all of us. Saying, "Thank you" lots of times and such. His story about why he was here didn't have much substance to it, though. The longer the conversation went on the thicker the tention between Kim and him got. During the meal I kept trying to take things in, and I noticed him glancing over at Kim once in a while as someone else was talking. She was glaring back at him most of the time we spent eating in the lounge.
After a long time of their fencing over the story he had to tell, I noticed something that I thought was rather odd. I caught him staring at Sarah for a few seconds while Dad was speaking to Kim about trying to get her some form of communication with the resistance. It seemed kind of intense as though he was going to say something to her. Then he didn't say anything and looked away quickly when Dad stopped speaking to Kim. I looked around the table to see if anyone else might have noticed, but I didn't see anyone that appeared to be looking. Sarah hadn't noticed either apparently, but got finished eating before the rest of us and wanted to leave. She said that she wasn't feeling that great earlier and didn't eat very much. Hopefully she isn't feeling sick. Then again, it might still be that Tad and her haven't worked things out and gotten back to normal. Anyway, I noticed Cane looking back in her direction again as she was leaving the room.
After Sarah's departure Kim started speaking at Cane again saying, "Your quarters will be the North garage." He relied, "All right." Then Kim cracked a slight grin and said, "We'll try to round up a space heater for you. Until then, stay warm." At this point Dad was looking at both of them like an explanation was going to be required later about what this was about. I was finished eating myself and so was Tommy, who had been sitting next to me and had been poking me in the hip with his finger, trying to get my attention. I looked at him and he glanced at me, then said, "Please excuse us. We need to take over for Tad so he can eat." Karl said, "Sure son. Be careful." On that note we both left.
Outside of the lounge, Tommy and I went to the tree stand to give Tad a break to eat. Tad was like, "Thanks guys. It's freaking cold up there." It wasn't much but it was nice to hear him volunteer a few words on his own. Without any prompting at all. Then he left to get some food while we took over for him. He was right about the cold. Especially in the tree. The wind was cutting us in half.
Alone for a while, Tommy started the conversation he had wanted to start in the lounge and couldn't. He said, "What the hell was that about?" I said, "I have no idea but she obviously has a problem with this Cane person." Tommy went on saying, "Do you think we should try to get Kimberly alone and ask her?" I wasn't sure about that one and replied, "Maybe we should give it a little time so that Dad can question her about it, and then go to him and see what she told him." Tommy said, "Maybe. Your Dad picked up on it and seemed to be wanting to say something right there at the table, but let it go. Surely he wants to know though." I replied, "Wouldn't you? I do?" Tommy paused for a few seconds, then said, "You don't think they have some kind of a past, do you?" I told Tommy that I wasn't sure what he meant by that, and he said, "You know? Maybe he's an ex or something." I shrugged, not knowing what to say with such little information to go on. Then Tommy spoke again and said, "I don't know, but she doesn't seem to like his story about how he got here. She keeps questioning him about it as though she doesn't believe what he's saying." At this I replied, "That doesn't sound like a problem with an ex to me. Unless he's a cheating, lying ex." Tommy spoke again saying, "I guess we'll find out something soon enough. Let's keep our ears open and maybe we'll find out sooner." I couldn't resist mentioning it to him by now, and said, "Ears open? They're freezing off. I won't have any by tomorrow at this rate." Tommy reached behind his back and pulled a stocking cap out of his back pocket. Handing it to me he said, "Oh yeah. I forgot this, didn't I?" I smacked his arm for being so dense and we cuddled up to each other to keep warm, watching towards the city and hoping the machines wouldn't make life any colder for us.
January 21, 2138 (Morning)
The weirdness still lives. This morning I awoke and got dressed a little early. I wanted to give Tommy a break because he had been up most of the night keeping watch. We're all trying to stay on alert since the hospital incident because we don't know what to expect. They might start looking for us more if they think that we are a different group than the resistance within the city. Before I could get to Tommy I noticed Cane was awake already and was outside. I could hear him sharpening a knife of some sort as he scraped it on a block, and it got my attention. I looked in his direction to see what the noise was that he was making and I found him leaning against the wall of the garage he had stayed in, staring at Sarah as she was patrolling the perimeter. He would look down once in a while, but seemed focused on her. I kept standing there looking at him until he finally noticed me and grinned, and said, "Hey? How are you?" I replied, "Fine," and turned and started walking away when I could hear Kimberly's voice yelling, "Corporal." He glanced back and I could hear her say, "There are apples to peel. Get to it."
January 21, 2138 (Afternoon)
After the episode this morning I felt it necessary to go out of my way to talk to Kimberly. I went to her building and knocked on her door. She said to come in and said, "Hi honey. What's up?" I told her that I needed to ask her something personal because I wasn't sure what I was going to get as a reply. She said, "That's ok. What do you want to know?" I said, "What's going on with you? Since this Cane guy has arrived you haven't been yourself. You seem angry at him for some reason." Kim interrupted me at this point saying, "Amber, you have enough to worry about than to be bothering with what I have going on. Trust me. I've got it under control." She seemed sincere to me, with her strong attitude and booming self-assurance. Still, I said, "Is there anything that I can do." She looked at me and said, "No honey. It's all right. I've got it. Go look after that little boy of yours. He's a cute one." Whatever it was between the two of them, I wasn't going to get anything out of her today.
January 21, 2138 (Early evening)
Dad and Kim have been talking about our situation. She can't communicate with the resistance base because our communicators don't have the range for what she needs. She had a better one but it's busted and Cane claims that his is gone too. Because of this in part, and not knowing what the dreads might be thinking, Kim thinks that we should do something to throw them off of us. Well, in case they're looking for more than just the resistance. And looking in places that they haven't been yet. Like here. Mentioning the power plant that could be seen from the bridge to her she seemed to have a revelation. She feels that it might be in our best interest to feign an attack on the power plant, but from the far side of it rather than from our side. She figures that if we fake an attack from a side farthest away from where we are the dreads will think that we came from that direction and not here. The problem with this is that we will have to run and get back to here anyway, yet make them think we ran in the other direction. In other words, making a long path home and exposing ourselves more to ensure that they think we came from inside of the city. Karl is working on a path for this, but nothing is solid as far as a plan yet. So we go on waiting on alert for now.
January 21, 2138 (Late evening)
Tommy came to my room a while ago. He seemed concerned about something. Before I let him talk I told him that I talked to Kimberly, but I couldn't get her to really say anything about Cane. Then Tommy told me that he asked Dad about it too, and he told Tommy that he didn't know anything but he was very aware that there's a problem with the two of them. "So we're back to square one then," I said to Tommy. That's when he spoke up and said, "There's something else to worry about." I asked Tommy what was wrong and he said that he just came from his father's room. Karl asked him about the medications. Not understanding this I asked what Tommy meant. Tommy said, "Dad asked me if I might have taken any of the medications or if I knew if Tad might have. I told him I hadn't and as far as I knew Tad hadn't either." Tommy went on saying that he asked his father why he was asking something like that and Karl told him that some of the medications are missing.
Just then Karl came here to my room and asked to come in. I let him in and Tommy stayed with me. Karl asked with a smile as he glared at his son, "Well, I can guess that you know why I'm here?" I said, "Yes. And no, I didn't take anything from your room." He said back quickly, "I didn't really think so, but I needed to ask. Besides, I didn't want to think that you might believe that taking a bunch of stimulants might help you heal the way that you should." I said back to Karl, "Stims? That's what's missing from your room?" Karl said, "Yes. A lot of what you brought back here were stimulants and all of them are gone." Tommy chimed in saying, "Dad? Why would anyone want those?" Karl replied, "They're addictive son. I can't think of any other reason." I asked Karl what they do for a person that makes someone want them so much. He looked at me and said, "The ones that are missing elevate everything for a person. Their ability to stay awake. Their strength. Their mood and feelings. Everything. But it can burn a person out too." Then it hit us. Tommy looked at me as if he was thinking the same thing as me. Kimberly's mood was so different than before. Could it be her? Karl spoke up again and said, "Are you sure that neither of you know anything about this?" We both told him that we didn't, and he walked towards the door and stopped. He turned and looked back at us and smiled. Tommy and I just sat there and waited for it because we knew he was up to something. Finally he spoke up again and said, "Please don't talk to anyone else about this until I tell you that you can. Good night Amber. And son? Don't do anything improper that I'm going to have to be ashamed of you for later." Still grinning he walked out the door and left us both totally red faced and embarrassed. Still, Tommy crawled along side of me a while later and we both fell asleep.
January 22, 2138 (Morning)
Tommy and I woke up this morning to the sound of Mom screaming Sarah's name at the top of her lungs. It scared the hell out of us and we both went running to her room. We ran in and Sarah was already with her. Mom seemed to be having a hard time breathing and Tommy yelled for his father to come while Sarah tried to comfort her. I asked her what was wrong, but she kept looking at Sarah as though I hadn't said anything at all to her. Her eyes were open really wide, focused only on Sarah as she struggled to breath again. Sarah was already crying and trying to calm Mom down as I began to cry in fear of what was going on in front of me. Karl and Dad finally ran in and and Dad and Karl started talking to Mom, telling her that everything was all right and to just be calm. Then Dad looked at us and said, "Go on. It's all right." But Mom shook her head and both Karl and Dad stopped to listen to her as she tried to speak. She finally looked at Sarah and said, "Stay here." I stood there not wanting to leave, but Tommy said, "Come on. It's all right. Let's go."