John James Searle (inneedofrepair) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-01-18 04:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 03, john james searle |
Week three - Tuesday.
Characters: Kathleen Forbes and John Searle.
Location: Marina in Boulder City, NV.
Summary: Searle wants to escape the city for the day, and Kathleen just happens to be at the marina when Searle arrives. They talk, and Kathleen decides to take a ride with Searle to Las Vegas to meet the group.
Rating: G
Searle kicked the door of his 'borrowed' silver Hyundai sedan closed. The air in Boulder was fresh and cool that morning, though the rising sun promised the same harsh heat as it always did during those unforgiving summer months. With his hands in the pockets of a green sweatshirt, he looked out at the water of Lake Mead, and the marina that kept boats and yachts tethered, wondering what it would be like to take one for a spin.
A minute later he was walking up the dock and approached an uncovered boat, reaching out to grab the side before he hopped into it. Once on the boat, Searle paused to look at his surroundings, marveling at how different the landscape of the west was from that of east, where he'd grown up.
In a houseboat at near the end of the first pier, Kathleen read the prescription label of a full vial of antibiotics which she found in the medicine cabinet of the bathroom. If she had been this patient's doctor she would have been upset that he did not follow instructions. There was a good reason that you are supposed to take every capsule, so that the bacterial infection would be completely cleared and not be left to build an immunity, but fortunately for her this patient left a full bottle. Medication was going to be harder and harder to find, and like so many things she was already collecting as much as she could. She threw the vial into her bag.
Kathleen walked outside on the deck of the houseboat, and gazed at the mountains on the opposite end of the lake. She twisted the cap of her bottle of water and took a sip, when she heard the sound of a car door closing. The sound had carried over the water from the parking lot. She quickly turned around, but the other boats obscured her sight of the lot, so she walked to the edge of the deck near the pier, and peered over to see what she could. There was man, she could not from a distance tell that he was only a teenager, but none the less she couched down to hid her form.
The doctor watched as the boy walked on the pier, and then hop into one of the boats. She ducked down behind the transom when he looked in her general direction. Her stance was uncomfortable in her current condition so she shifted her stance, and then knocked a folding chair over. The sound carried. "Oh shit," she mumbled, hoping that the young man did not hear it crash on the deck.
But he did hear it, and the sudden crashing sound startled him enough for him to jump. The scene was so tranquil it probably would have been easy to hear the slightest sound above the gentle sloshing of the boats in the water.
After looking around from his position in the boat, Searle carefully stepped back to the dock and walked along it, further toward the center of the marina. One he got past some of the larger boats and turned a corner, he saw movement on the houseboat. At first, Searle wondered if his eyes were just playing tricks on him, but the longer he looked, he realized he was seeing whisps of hair blowing over the top of the transom from time to time.
"Hello?" he called out, looking right at the houseboat. "Sorry if I scared you. I don't have a weapon on me or anything. I'm only here for the day."
She nearly panic when she saw that the young man had returned to the dock and was walking her way to investigate. Kathleen kept down with only her head peeking over the transom at eye level. As he came closer, she could see that he was alone, and did not carry a weapon out in the open, but he was searching with his eyes. It was only a matter of time before he reached her boat. He looked harmless enough.
Kathleen dipped her head down as she thought about how she would greet him, when all of sudden he called out to her.
She pulled herself up and then cover her belly with her carry-all bag which had the Hard Rock Casino logo on it. "You didn't scare me," she said, and then realized that the young man was teenage boy. "So you're just visiting then?" She smiled as she relaxed. He claimed not to be armed, but she was with a military issued 9 mm pistol strapped to her jean covered thigh, which did not cover with her bag. It was deliberate, so he did not get any ideas. Subtle but effective enough as a message to not mess with her.
"What's your name?" she asked.
As the woman smiled at him, Searle returned the favor. "Yeah, I live in Las Vegas, but I missed nature. When I saw there was a lake here I thought it'd be nice to take a ride." He saw the gun, and though the sight of a gun did make him feel a little on edge, the fact that she didn't seem to be ready to use it on him prevented him from getting scared. She wasn't like Leo, who had pointed his directly at him.
"Searle. What's yours?"
"Ah," she glanced over at the scenery of the lake for second, "It's a beautiful site, especially in the mornings." She had seen a few sunrises over the distant range beyond the lake that was part of the Grand Canyon since her stay in the area. She remembered when she was young on a family vacation, her Dad had rented a House Boat on Lake Mead for a few days.
"My name is Kathleen, its pleasure to meet you Searle." Meeting new people came natural to her and useful in her bedside manner when meeting a patient for the first time. She was sincerely pleasant. "Are there more people in Las Vegas? I see the lights every night, but had not ventured into the heart of the city yet. You never know the kind of people you might encounter." Which was true, but she would have taken the risk if she was not so pregnant. The bag she carried shifted to the side to show the bulge under her loose white shirt with black vertical strips, a man's long sleeve shirt.
"You too. I didn't think I'd meet anyone out here today." After glancing around at the scenery again, Searle focused on Kathleen. She was older than he was, but she looked like she was in good shape. And shortly after making that assessment, Searle noticed the roundness of the front of Kathleen's oversized shirt when the bag she was holding allowed him to get a glimpse. Considering she was overall thin, he realized she was pregnant.
"There...." he began to say, but his eyes lingered on what he could see of her belly, preoccupied thinking about the consequences of being pregnant in the world they lived in. Mostly, he hadn't thought about pregnancy ... about the continuation of humans. Not in the least. "There's people in Las Vegas," he finally said, his eyes snapping up to her face. "I know a few people. Actually, they're thinking about getting a group together, or at least finding out who's out there. Some bad things have happened," he admitted. "Not that much that I know of, but someone I know got hurt by some people. I haven't run into anyone bad, though."
Kathleen's eyes glanced down at her belly when his eyes did, the baggy shirt and bag did not work to hide the fact she was expecting, not at this point anymore. She listened to what he had to say about people in Vegas wanting to meet others. Something about that struck a cord with her. She had managed well by herself since leaving Strawberry, Arizona because she had been so focused on preparing for her child's birth. She wasn't really alone in her mind, but talking now with this boy reminded her how much she missed having people around.
"You said someone was hurt," she looked at him with concern. "Do they require medical attention? Maybe I can help, I'm a doctor."
"She's bruised up and sore, but she seems okay." After all, Jack had built a fort with him without too much trouble when they'd met up with each other again, so he didn't think the worst of her wounds.
"Hey, are you interested in taking a ride with me?" Searle's face brightened as he considered it, thinking it might be a good thing to have a doctor around. "I'm sure people would be happy to see you; and your baby ... you'll probably need some help, right?" Considering he'd heard stories of small children helping their mothers deliver in emergency situations, he figured it would be important for her to have someone around.
Part of her wished he had said that they had a doctor, nurse, or even an emergency medical technician who had treated this person, but from the sound of it this was not necessary. Maybe they did have someone else at least trained in the medical field, which would be a great relief to her. As a doctor, she recognized that there could be complications during delivery. If there was someone she could trust in such a case, it would take a lot of worry from her shoulders, and she can concentrate on being the mother rather than the doctor.
"Huh?" His offer to give her a ride snapped her out of her thoughts. "Yeah, you're right I could use some help when he comes," she rested her hand on her belly. Kathleen had already know the sex of her child after an ultrasound given by the late Dr. Washington who died in Arizona. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take my vehicle. I could follow you," she paused for a beat. "What are you driving?" She asked as she made her way to the plank that connected the houseboat to the dock.
"That silver Hyundai over there." Searle turned and pointed, only to realize a large yacht was blocking his line of sight. "It's right in front of the dock. When we turn the corner we should see it." He stepped aside on the dock to give Kathleen more room to get out of the houseboat, then started in the direction he'd come so he could walk back to his car. "I'm not sure exactly how long the drive took, but I think it was a little over an hour to get here from Las Vegas. Do you have enough gas?"
"I've got plenty," she replied following him a little further behind. Kathleen was trying to be careful with her balance as the floating dock bobbed slightly with the shift of weight from one section of dock to another. The motion of the dock was not really that bad and hardly noticeable, but she did not want to take the risk of falling in the water. It was more paranoia on her behalf than a real possibility. "Hey Searle," she said to get his attention before she continued. "How many people are in your group?"
Searle glanced back to Kathleen briefly, walking more carefully on the dock than he would have otherwise as he noticed her stride was more controlled. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I know five people who are either definitely in the group, or who have at least heard of it, but I don't go to every meeting." Now that Jack was back and wasn't allowed to go, he often chose to keep her company. "People have mentioned others who I don't know, so maybe there's more."
She nodded and continued to follow him off the dock, once on solid dry ground, she saw his Hyundai and smiled. The car reminded her of her first car when she was a student at Boise State University, it was a silver Hyundai coup. It was a used car, but she paid for it herself with the money she earned working at her Aunt's coffee shop. She was very proud of it. "It looks new," she commented. "I used to have one in college, a long time ago." It seem like a hundred years ago, what a difference an Apocalypse made.
Searle pulled the car's key out of his pocket and used it to unlock the car, but he didn't open the door yet. "I just found it. The key was in the glove compartment, so I thought it'd be fun to take a day trip or something." He looked around. "Where's your car? Do you want me to drive you to it?"
She pointed toward some boats left on their trailers on the lot, "I'd parked it back over there to keep it out of sight. You never know when someone might come along and steal your gas. So I at least try not to make it easy," she winked at him. Kathleen had learned to become very aware of her surroundings during her tour in Afghanistan, and it was a good habit to have these days.
"Yeah, sure I'll ride with you to my jeep," she walked around to the other side of his car.
It hadn't occurred to him anyone would want to steal gas, but it really should have figured it out because he used enough by riding his bike. So far it had been relatively easy to get gas by targeting unused vehicles around, but that availability would probably go downhill relatively quickly in a city like LV, which was likely to attract a lot of people.
He made sure the passenger's side door was unlocked before he got in and started up the car, shifting it into drive once Kathleen was inside and both their doors were closed. "Did you think of a name for your baby yet?" he asked, while heading toward the area she'd indicated her car was.
She laughed, but not at him. "It hadn't really occurred to me, you would think with all my spare time I would have come up with a few names. I know the baby is a boy. Hmm." She played with a lock of her golden hair. "I could name him after his father." She sighed. "I don't know." Kathleen abruptly turned to face Searle. "How old are you, by the way?"
At mention of the baby's father, Searle frowned. Since Kathleen was going to follow him to Las Vegas he figured the father wasn't around. It was likely he'd died, since so many people had. "Fifteen."
"Fifteen," she repeated. "You're going to learn to be an adult very soon." She had seen fifteen year olds in Afghanistan who had taken a lot of responsibilities in their families. The hardships of their situation in a war torn land gave them little options. "How long have you been on you're own? Are you originally from Las Vegas?" She was full of questions, and very direct.
Maybe if Jed had said he'd have to learn to be an adult (implying he wasn't adult) he would have bristled a bit, but Kathleen saying it made him feel a little depressed. When he really thought about it, he didn't want to grow up. Not in the way he might have to in that world.
"I'm not sure," he admitted, answering the first question. The months ran into each other at that point. "A long time, and I'm from Vermont. I went down to New York for a while but stuff went wrong, so when I read about the Hoover Dam I thought I'd come out here so I could have electricity." Searle glanced over at Kathleen, offering her a small smile. "How about you?"
"No I'm not from here either. I grew up in Montana, went to college in Idaho, went to medical school in Chicago, then joined the Army. They sent me to Washington D.C. to do my residency at Walter Reed, and then they sent me to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, home of the 82nd Airborne. From there I went to Bagram Airfield to serve a year in Afghanistan," she paused to take a breath. "I got sick - and pregnant - which got me back to the States, and then when I got well, I fled with a group of people to Arizona, and now I am here." She tilted her head looking at him. "My life story."
Though he didn't recognize some of the terms in Kathleen's story, he was impressed with her life. "You got sick? Is that when everyone was getting Swine Flu? Did you think you got it, too?"
"Oh I had it, H1N1 Alpha Twenty O'nine. It was the lesser form and they didn't give me the treatment that changed the virus, but since I survived the Alpha version my body became immune." At least that is what she thinks happened, unknown to her there was another possibility that she ignored. Her baby might have played a greater part in her survival. "You can call it a miracle if you want, I was just lucky."
She saw her Jeep Patriot, and pointed at the SUV. "Yeah, there it is, the olive jeep."
Searle turned the wheel when he saw the jeep, slowing down as they approached it until the car was stopped completely. His mind was still reeling from when she'd admitted to having the disease, even if it was a lesser form of the super virus that had killed most of the world. What had the immunity been in his case? He hadn't gotten sick at all during that time.
"Yeah, we're lucky." That was said at length, and Searle looked over at Kathleen fully since he wasn't driving anymore.
"I kinda speed when I drive...." he said next, wanting to change the subject. "Is that okay or should I go slower?"
"Well I'm not going to pull you over and give you a ticket," she smirked. Kathleen thought she might pull a trick on him along the way. Her Patriot, which she stole from the Deputy Sheriff whom she falsely promised to marry in Strawberry, was equipped with red and blue emergency flashers in the front grille and rear.
"Do you like Skittles? I hope so," she dug a large bag of Wild Berry Skittles out of her carry-all bag, and offered it to him.
Still smiling at Kathleen's joke about giving him a ticket, Searle brightened even more when she mentioned Skittles. "Yeah, who doesn't like Skittles?" Probably someone, but that was unimportant. After taking the bag, Searle immediately ripped it open and poured some into his hand. "Thanks." He popped the whole half-handful into his mouth and lifted the bag toward Kathleen. "Want some?"
"Hell yeah."
Searle poured some into her hand, grinning. "When we get there, do you want me to take you right to the meet-up or would you rather rest first? I stay in a hotel room, and there are plenty more in the building if you want one of your own."
She chewed on the sweets, enjoying each bit while she listened. She thought it was nice of him to offer a room in one of the hotels, and if she thought it was safe enough she might move into the city.
"You know, Searle, I would really like to meet other people before it gets too hot, unless there is air conditioning I could stay longer, because I already have a place with A/C." She placed her hand on the arm rest handle of the door. "Which of the casinos are you guys staying at?" She assumed they all stayed together.
"There is," he assured her. "It's the Hard Rock, and not all of us live there, but one of the people running the meetings is. They meet at a museum in the city for three hours every day, and we should be back with tons of time to get there."
"Okay," she smiled and opened the door. "I'll follow and if I think you are going too fast, I'll flash my lights." She got out and then closed the door, and walked a few steps toward her car before turning around to look at him. "I'd always wanted to go to the Hard Rock." She lifted her bag with the embroidered logo of that famous casino, and then waved before going to her vehicle.
Searle nodded, his hand moving for the stick to put his car into drive as soon as Kathleen got out, placing his foot on the brake. He smiled when she lifted her bag once she was out of the car, that little detail making him think this meeting could be fate, and it would definitely work out that Kathleen fit in with their group. She was a doctor, and seemed like a brave person; on top of that, she was very nice. Searle looked forward to spending more time with her.
Once Kathleen was heading to her jeep again, Searle backed his car up and turned it around, looking into his rear-view mirror to see when she was ready to go, and when she was, he set off for the highway.