Against the Fall of Night - by Reparata
Chapter 30
The house was clean and hadn't been disturbed in any way and she knew Sheldon wouldn't have any area uninvestigated so she knew they were alone. She pulled Sheldon into the living room and pushed him down on a couch and then turned and grinned.
Whoever lived here had laid in a ton of wood and had prepped the fireplace for a quick lighting. She felt a moment of sadness for the people who had lived here. Chances were that they were dead and would never return to this comfortable home.
Penny dug out her Bic lighter and set the crumpled newspaper on fire and the waited as there kindling caught fire and then added some very small pieces of wood from an antique milk jug that served to store them. It wasn't long before she had a roaring fire going.
Sheldon just sat back and watched her quick and precise movements. He smiled sadly to himself when he thought back to his thoughts in Pasadena. Yes, Penny had survival skills outside the norm and she'd used them effortlessly when others would be trying to light a log with the required Bic lighter he'd distributed to his team members.
Of all the members of their group, only Penny was equipped by nurture and experience to cope with these times. If all the modern conveniences were suddenly rendered useless, no doubt most of the Choker survivors would succumb because they couldn't do something as simple as lighting a fire.
Penny turned and glanced quickly around the room and then said quietly, "Get out of those clothes and come sit by the fire, honey, while I go find us some blankets."
He started to object but she was gone before he could form a sentence and was back with several folded blankets before his mind processed her simple instructions.
"These are clean, Moon Pie. I found them in a closet of linens in plastic vacuum bags. Help me pull the couch over here and we'll be warm in no time."
Penny quickly made up a bed on the repositioned couch, laid a large log on the fire and then began undressing. "Shel, lose the clothes."
He stared at her dumbly and she sighed and helped him undress. "Okay, lie down on the couch and don't hog the covers."
Naked now, she lay down beside him and pulled the blankets over them and found her favorite position and pulled his arms around her.
"Talk to me. What happened out there that rattled you so badly? I won't judge you, Shel. I just want to know, okay?"
Sheldon pulled her as close to him as possible, and whispered into her hair. "I killed you. I shot you in the head and the blood was everywhere. The street was knee deep in it."
"I'm alive, Sheldon Lee Cooper. Don't slip away, Shel. Hold on to me, baby. I'm alive and I'm wrapped up in your arms and the world can go to Hell and I won't care."
He sighed into her hair and she wiggled up until they were facing each other, a hair's breadth apart.
"This is the first time in ages that we've had any real privacy." She closed the distance and kissed him, a gentle caress of her lips against his.
Winkle decided then and there that Howard was fast becoming a pain in the ass. When Penny's father dragooned several men into returning to the interstate and bringing up the remaining vehicles, Howard was whining about being cold and hungry.
"Howard, we didn't come prepared to open a soup kitchen. We came to take out the raiders and finding you guys was just serendipity. Adding this many souls to our group is going to be a real challenge so put a frikkin' sock in it and ask how you can help!"
Leslie stormed away from the couple before she rearranged the Howard's facial features. If this group all figured they were 'entitled' to a share in what they'd managed to scrounge, they were sadly mistaken.
'I can't believe I actually slept with him! How can Bernadette stand that constant whining? He and Leonard together would drive me frikkin' nuts!'
"Feeling better, baby?" She certainly did. There was a frantic quality to their initial coupling but the second time had been slow and gentle and so full of love that she had tears in her eyes.
"Yeah. Much. I just – I just got overwhelmed by it all. I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Other than moans and whispered entreaties, the couple really hadn't spoken about what happened in the street.
"Well, Moon Pie, you certainly overwhelmed me," she giggled but then turned serious.
"When we get where we're going, promise me you won't let all this drive us apart? Promise me that you'll always tell me when it gets bad and promise me that you'll never walk away from us."
"Why would you ever entertain such a thought, Penelope?"
"Because when you've ended your damned quest to find me someplace safe to live the rest of my life, it's always been your intention to leave, Sheldon. If you think back to Pasadena, you were going to send Leslie and me out alone, remember?" She sighed and then continued.
"Of course you do. You have eidetic memory as you've always reminded anyone who may have doubted something you've quoted," she mumbled in exasperation.
She waited an instant to gauge the meaning of the sudden look of despair in his eyes and then the CB radio crackled and it was her father's voice asking where she was and if Sheldon was with her.
Sheldon reacted as if they'd been caught red handed and naked doing the 'nasty' by her father. He jumped up, almost dumping Penny on the hardwood floor, and started looking for his clothes.
Penny laughed and shook her head. Sometimes he was so human and vulnerable and at other times, so aloof and distant. This time her whack-a-doodle was behaving like a horny teenager who'd been caught with his hands in his girlfriend's pants.
"I hardly find anything humorous in your father's inquiry as to your whereabouts and my incidental presence, Penny."
"Oh, Moon Pie, you're such a guy sometimes." She laughed at the look on his face and then cupped his face in her hands and kissed him sweetly and gently, just as she had more than 2 hours ago.
"As soon as we run across one, baby, you can make an honest woman of me." She chuckled but then stopped when she saw the consternation on his face.
"Penny, you are the most honest woman – "
Her laughter cut him off and he glared at her. He hated being interrupted for any reason other than the appearance of Leonard Nimoy or the Apocalypse.
"I meant get married, Sheldon. It's just a phrase, baby, nothing more."
"Considering that it was always my intent to do so, I think this satisfies your demand for a promissory statement of my intent to be with you always."
They banked the fire, refolded the blankets and walked out into the cold morning, content and as happy as they could be given the circumstances.
Despite Winkle's words, Howard continued whining, gathering up the survivors from the bus and haranguing them about their situation. The twenty of so survivors were worried about their futures and no on could blame them.
Many of the women had been assaulted and the men had had to stand by, starving and locked in the storage unit, unable to help their loved ones. They were worried now that they'd jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
Sheldon and Penny drove their snowmobiles out of town and into the storage compound. Wyatt was waiting for them, holding a shotgun loosely in his arms and glaring at Sheldon as only a father can.
"It's about damned time. I don't know what you two have been up to but we have a situation brewing here and we need to address it fast."
Sheldon turned beet red and Penny laughed and just wrapped her arms around his arm. "Daddy, we're getting married as soon as we find someone who can so put the shotgun away. You're scaring your future son-in-law."
"Oh, I meant – never mind. You'll see for your selves. The 'bus people' seem to think we owe them something more than their freedom. Leslie, bless her heart, flat out told them that we didn't come here to do more than clean the rats out of the sewer but they're hungry and scared and getting a mite surly."
Howard was loudly demanding that they 'organize a committee' to discuss things and decide their future actions when Sheldon walked up behind him, grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around and wrapped him in a very uncharacteristic 'bro hug'.
"I thought you were dead, Wolowitz. I'm so glad to discover that even I, Homo novus, can be wrong from time to time. Your engineering skills will be much needed in the future. Where's Bernadette?"
He followed the sound of girly squeals and saw Penny and Bernadette in some sort of female ritual that involved hugging and crying and squealing followed by more hugging.
"Are your in-laws here, Howard? You were going to seek refuge in the Dells with them."
"The Choker…" Nothing more needed to be said.
"I'm sorry for your loss. Why did you leave the Dells, Howard? Were you driven out by others? There are hordes of lawless brigands perpetrating unimaginable horrors on survivors."
"We were on our way to Omaha. There's a group of survivors who have established themselves at an air force base and they've been broadcasting an invitation for other survivors to join them. We were on our way there when we stopped here for fuel. You know the rest."
Wyatt had been standing beside Penny and snorted in derision. "That bunch makes this place look like Club Med. They're slavers and follow a feudal system. They're lords. You're serfs. Lord knows how many have fallen for their line of crap!"
"How were we to know? We talked a long time with them and then held a vote and those who wanted to try for Omaha and a new life boarded buses and drove down here. We broke down and were a few hours behind them."
Sheldon looked at Wyatt and shook his head. In his opinion, those people were already lost and they had enough on their plates without risking everything for people that traded liberty for security.
"Wyatt, I'd like to integrate Howard and Bernadette into our unit. Could you make room for Penny Blossom and Tasha? The rest of these people can either push on to Omaha or accompany us. Since they seem to do things by committee, let them decide among themselves but tell them what's waiting for them in Omaha. They have until tomorrow at dawn to decide."
Howard drew himself up to his full height and asked, "And just where are you and your group of nomads headed, Sheldon? Some secret base established by the Illuminati?"
"North. The Choker mutates in warm weather and we want to be as far north as possible before the spring outbreaks. We're taking our time, scavenging for food, medicine, fuel, tools and weapons as we go. We're also collecting books and maintenance manuals on farming, medicine, dentistry, construction and equipment repair. We have a semi-trailer just waiting to store them until we find our new home."
"That actually makes sense, Sheldon. I need to talk to Bernie and some friends but I'm sure she'll agree. I can't speak for the others."
"We've only just begun collecting the books. Lord knows how much critical information we've just driven by."
"There's a respectable library in the Dells but there's a huge library in Madison," said Howard.
"Howard, what have you heard about Chicago? There is a dairy farmer in Grayling and we were thinking about asking him to join us or trade us some of his cows. If we are to survive as a people, we'll need children and they'll need milk and dairy products."
"We heard something about a dirty bomb and another fire like the one in the early days but nothing concrete. 'Dirty' could mean radioactive materials or chemical or even biological bombs."
The 'bus people' voted and it was unanimous: they'd join with their rescuers and try and establish themselves someplace safe.