Chapter 299

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After their shift Jamal and Eve picked up Hope and returned to her apartment. They'd been a couple less than two weeks, during which time their government collapsed and was replaced with a new government. It seemed important to savor these little moments while they lasted.

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Jamal: Happy Valentine's day.

Eve: Thanks, forgot it was today.

Jamal: Febuary 14th, yeah.

Eve: Sorry, these dates sometimes slip by. I'm sorry I didn't get you anything.

Jamal: It's cool, I know what you mean about forgetting little holidays. I actually tried getting you something, but there's no jewelry left in the sector. Probably all stolen or traded by now. And I would never hurt you, like some men do to their girlfriends.

Eve: It's fine. What do I need jewelry for at this point anyway? Besides I'm hoping that the new government puts a stop to that abuse.

Jamal: Me too. I wanted to get you a particular ring, but I quess I'll have to do this without one. Eve, will you marry me?

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Jamal's question caught Eve off balance. After a minute she told him she'd need a little time to think about it. The entire world wanted more time in general. Eve wondered why people were drawn to her like this. She was nothing special, and she'd done some bad things, pathetic things. Most of the time, Eve she didn't even deserve what she had. Jamal deserved salvation more than Eve. But she'd accepted Christ's forgiveness, he hadn't. Maybe there was still time to convince him. He knew about Hope, was willing to be her father. Eve knew Hope needed a strong male influence, someone to protect her. But would she be marrying Jamal for these reasons, or ecause she loved him? On Friday Febuary 15th Eve and Jamal made their first arrest as police. It was a couple engaged in adultery. Noone was denying that their affair was consensual, not even his wife or her husband. It seemed odd to arrest someone for consensual sex, but adultery was now illegal. Over the next week they arrested more people for sex crimes. Adultery, prostitution, homosexual conduct. Eve felt particularly awkward about this one, given her past reltionship with Amy. The people at her church knew she had a past, but figured God had forgiven her. Noone was punished for what they'd done before the uprising, almost everyone was given a clean slate. The only exception was mayor Ford, he was branded a war criminal. Eve remembered after the war, almost 1,000 collective soldiers and officials were tried, usually on trumped up charges. In many cases, those who collaborated with Mason were allowed to settle old internal scores. More than 700 of these "war criminals" escaped and were hidden by collective veterans, who viewed them as heroes. Freddy Douglas himself was actually aquitted. Ford's trial was harsher. He was tried, and convicted, on Febuary 18th, executed on Febuary 19th. Some believed he'd been targeted partly because he was homosexual. The other, minor criminals were put in the old jail cells, which were soon becoming overcrowded. Some confessed to these crimes to be locked up, and get free rations without having to work for them. With so little time until impact they figured, what was the point in working? This caused some discontent for those who were still working for their food. Thus far, noone was executed except for the man who'd ordered the bombing of churches, mosques, and alowed the kidnapping of refugees. Eve feared what could happen, she wanted to sieze what happiness she could. On Febuary 19th, she accepted Jamal's proposal and agreed to marry him.