Chapter 325
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That night Eve and the others were given food and water. They were promised they'd have regular rations, but not much. Eve actually slept fairly well this night, despite the excitement of the last few days. Clearly she could adapt to sleeping in almost any circumstances. Perhaps she preferred sleep, at least she wouln't have to think about all that she'd lost recently. When they woke Eve up early Saturday morning she quickly ate her breakfast and they put her on guard duty. They gave her a rifle, possibly the one they'd confiscated when they first arrived. No intruders were spotted, but in early afternoon it began raining. Eve's first instinct was to run for shelter, but they had none. Some tried to take cover under trees, but Eve's superior said their job was now to get the buckets, make sure the rain filled them. This was wet, cold, but neccessary. After all the buckets were filled, Eve was allowed to find a tree, and wait out the rain as best she could.
Adapting to this territory wasn't hard, Eve had adapted to worse. She observed Elliot's leadership. He seemed like a dictator, but a benevolent one. He was the leader, judge, lawmaker all rolled into a one. People asked Elliot to settle their disputes, he wasn't above hitting them or yelling at people in front of everyone. He appeared to also be the chaplain, leading muslim services on Fridays, jewish services on Saturdays, and christian services on Sundayss. Elliot made sure everyone ate, took his own rations last, only ate after everyone else did. It felt weird to be standing in line for water with armed guards watching. But without order the strong would trample the weak. Or worse, they might destroy the food and water in the fight, leaving nothing for anyone. Most did double duty, including guard duty. Even the children like Lily were taught how to handle fire-arms. People respected Elliot's leadership because he protected them. Rumor was he'd been born a farmer, as a teenager he was big on animal rights and environmental protection. Before Febuary 4th Elliot was a federal agent, fish and wildlife. His job would've included stopping those who'd hurt endangered animals and plants. Eve would've been suprised if he'd even been armed back then. This job had taught Elliot about plants, animals, not to mention how to hunt and grow food. The last three years, particularly the war, hardened Elliot, but also brought out his leadership skills. On Friday April 11th it was exactly 100 days until impact. On April 12th the camp knew the countdown was now in double digits. But they had faith in Elliot. If anyone could protect them from ELE with pure stubborness, it would be him.
On the night of April 12th Eve was sitting around the campfire with Nadia and others. They were eating the wild dogs that they'd recently killed. Even muslims and jews didn't care what was kosher or halal anymore. Everyone was scared, the realiation that they had less than 100 days until the end really hit them hard. Elliot joined this group, began telling them a story about not giving up.
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Elliot: My uncle Tim, he lost his right arm in the war in Afghanistan, had to learn how to do things with his left arm. Then he lost his left arm in a tractor accident, had to learn how to do things with his teeth. Then uncle Tim said something to aunt Martha that he shouldn't have, and she knocked out all of his teeth. Then he learned how to dance, and uncle Tim actually got rich because it was amusing to see an old man with no arms or teeth dancing across the stage.
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The group actually laughed at this. In trying to lift their spirits, and keep them alive, Elliot was also proving himself to be a comedian.