DAY
I don't find June in Lake but she finds me. I'd every intention of doing a methodical sweep of the sector but my feet just carried me right to the street where I grew up and I've been standing here for almost an hour now. My childhood home is long gone. Torn down years ago when they began replacing the shantytown buildings with sturdy single-family homes. Where my house and those around it stood however, no new homes were built.
Instead a small neighborhood park occupies the space. Tess called me when they began construction in this neighborhood and told me what she wanted to do. I was grateful to her for thinking of me but at the time I couldn't understand how she had managed to convince city planners to spare this spot of land for a garden, no matter how famous I'd been. The Elector himself she'd hesitantly confessed intended to dedicate the park to my family and to all the citizens affected by the plagues. It didn't make much sense then, but I know now that June had a lot to do with it.
I've been here before with Eden and Tess even with June but never alone. Now I am standing in a shady corner, beyond the benches and trees back near the fence where fifteen minutes ago I discovered a patch of sea daisies surrounding a tiny bronze plaque that reads simply:
For Mom and John.
Only Tess could be responsible for placing it there and probably only I have ever noticed it, hidden like it is among these unassuming flowers, weeds to anyone else.
I'm lost in an ocean of memories of my mother and my childhood so I don't hear her at all when she walks up behind me and slips her hand into my own. She must have known I would go looking for her, she also knew I'd end up here. I grasp her hand tightly and for a moment I am afraid to look at her, afraid that I will see that haunted look in her eyes or that she will find it in mine.
When I finally do tear my eyes away from the plaque and meet hers I'm taken aback by what I see. She is radiant, her eyes are serious but burning with some intense emotion I don't understand. For a moment all I can do is stare at her and wonder what happened in the last twelve hours to put this expression on her face. Before I can say anything though June reaches up and touches my cheek with her free hand, brushing away the remnants of tears, it lingers there for a moment before it slips around my neck and pulls my mouth down to hers. Her lips soft and full press against mine with surprising intensity. I'm quickly swept away by it, grabbing her waist and pulling her closer, my hands run through her hair pulling out the band that holds it up as they go. I didn't realize how much I missed her all day, how being away from her for the last two weeks left me feeling shallowThe creaking of the swing-set on the other side of the small park pulls us back. June buries her head against my chest her breath uneven. Then she laughs softly and says "Sorry, I couldn't help it" she tilts her head up at me "I love you, you know" I do know and I brush my lips against her forehead and nod, I wish I knew what was going on behind those eyes "I love you too June" she smiles and her gaze falls on the sea daisies and the plaque "Tess put that there" she confirms "Had a whole argument with the gardener about how sea daisies aren't weeds. I was really impressed with the threats she used" I laugh picturing it "She can be pretty scrappy when she needs to be" I say "It's best not to cross her when she's on a mission" June rolls her eyes playfully "No kidding!" she scoffs in a way that makes me think she's had recent experience. Then it dawns on me; Tess works around here at some sort of clinic, I feel stupid for not remembering it before. Thinking back on June's drawn face and slender frame from this morning I'm suddenly sure that's where she was, "Are you gonna tell me where you were this afternoon?" I ask, concerned again now that I'm pretty sure she's keeping something about her health from me. June tilts her head and studies my face, for a moment I think she's going to confess to whatever it is she's hiding but then her lips press together and she kicks my boot with her own "No. I'm not. Not just yet anyway. We are running insanely late" Oh right. Dinner with the ex this is gonna be fun.
JUNE
RUBY SECTOR
1830 hours
Dinner, so far, is going reasonably well. On the way to the restaurant I gave Day the brief history of Anden and Alisha. I described my conversation with Anden from earlier and when I got to the part about Alisha being afraid of me he didn't laugh he just winked at me and said "Smart girl".
Alisha, it turns out is very smart. It took two glasses of wine and twenty-eight minutes for her to say anything at all but when she did start talking she had a lot of interesting things to say. The credit for loosening her tongue belongs to Day. He seemed to sense that my formal attempts at social niceties were doomed to fail so he summoned the full power of his flirtatious smile, refilled her wine glass and started chatting with her about anything and everything from Antarctica's game system to fashion in the colonies. Alisha proved as helpless against his innate charm as anyone else and succumbed quickly. Apparently she was president of a fan club dedicated to Day when she was a teenager. I glance at Anden when she admits this but his face remains perfectly pleasant, bemused even. I wonder if he already knew that fun fact when he decided to invite us both. Either way I can tell he's relieved she has started speaking at all.
By the time the main course arrives everyone is relatively relaxed. Anden and Day are politely discussing The Republic's recent induction into the United Nations and Alisha has managed to make eye contact with me long enough to describe her passion for reading old law texts books from the former United States. I study her while she speaks, her frame is delicate, huge hazel eyes compliment soft feminine features and reddish brown hair hangs in waves down her back and when Anden catches her eye she smiles easily. She is twenty-eight, a few months older than me but she looks younger, her face has none of the hardness I see in my own. The conversation we are having reminds me of the months I spent training as Princeps-Elect and I'm glad that Anden has found someone who truly enjoys political theory. I am about to tell her so when the lights in the restaurant flicker all at once. Silence falls across the table and I am about to signal my men to check things out when everything goes dark.
At first there is no sound only stillness. I reach for the gun at my hip just as I hear muffled footsteps moving towards us on my right, the sound is wrong, not heavy like the security team's boots on the oak floor. I stand and point my gun in that direction careful to cover the Elector. Next to me Day also rises and ignites the lighter he carries with him, for one precious second light penetrates the darkness and no one moves. I process the scene in an instant; my thoughts are clear, razor sharp, more collected than they've been for weeks. A thin, sallow faced, dark haired man stands less than four feet from us, his gun is raised but it does not point at the Elector as I had anticipated. My mistake is a costly one; my gun is angled slightly to the left of where it needs to be. I see the man's finger twitch and I don't think, I just act because there isn't time to do anything else. I can readjust my aim and shoot this man or I can save a life. I drop my own weapon and launch across the table at Alisha just as the shot rings out. Fire rips across my right side and out of the corner of my eye I see Day dive for the man straight into the path of his next shot.
Time seems to stand still. Not again! A voice screams in my head. Images of Day lying on pavement; pale, bleeding, his life fading beneath my hands swim through my mind. The lights come back on; I am pressed against Alisha who I have pinned to the ground. In my peripheral vision I see Anden, also on the ground, covered by the goddy useless security team. Day was shot. I know this with every fiber of my being. I saw the man aim straight at his head just before I crashed to the floor with Alisha. I heard the second shot. The thought that he is lost to me again makes me so weak I can't even move to make sure Alisha is able to breathe beneath me. "June!" someone shouts "June!" It's Day. Oh my god, It's Day. I roll off of Alisha and stand so quickly I almost crash right back down. A wave of dizziness sweeps over me and I have to clutch the upended table to stay upright, I can't feel my body but I don't care. Day is staring at me from across the room where the assailant is limp at his feet. He waits for two soldiers to reach him and take his place with the man before he sprints to me. "You're shot", he says reaching for my hip where a dark wet stain is barely visible against my black pants. His fingers come away red when he lifts them to look closer at the wound. "It's fine, I don't feel anything" I respond, my voice sounds hollow. The relief I felt is fading, in it's place a deep fury swells in my chest. My eyes sweep across the scene around us; Anden has risen to his feet, the security team still ringed around him, he meets my gaze for a second and his eyes are black with anger as he shoves the soldiers aside to get to Alisha who is still on the floor.
Alisha. I almost sacrificed my life for her. A woman I barely know. I cannot even describe the darkness that wells in me as I realize that I would have sacrificed my unborn child's life as well. I didn't even think to pause, to save myself or to protect Day. I dove for her and Day dove for the assailant. My deepest fear almost became reality. Day is watching me watch her and I suspect he knows some of what I am thinking because he reaches up and brushes my cheek taking my chin and guiding my eyes back to his "Hey" he whispers "We're all ok". He's right, it isn't fair to be angry with this girl, it wasn't her fault and I'm glad she isn't hurt.
I exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding trying to send the anger out with it but it doesn't fade it morphs. I stare into the ocean blue eyes of the man before me and I am consumed by the need to protect him. Daniel, our unborn child, they are my family now and I will never, ever let anyone hurt my family again.