living_history (living_history) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-04-18 00:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 07, alice munroe, bridget mackenzie, | alice and bridget, ~ series: nv meetups |
Week Seven - Sunday
Character: Bridget Mackenzie & Alice Munroe
Location: Siena Suites & then Nevada State Museum
Summary: Bridget rides along to her first meetup with Alice and the two women pass the time talking.
Rating: PG
Whenever Bridget wasn't feeling queasy these days she seemed to have an insatiable appetite. That was certainly the case after her return from scouting UNLV earlier that morning with Jared and Searle, and once all the books were stowed away she proceeded to cook herself a large plate of spaghetti to try and fill her stomach for a while. After cleaning up, she settled down on the couch with a half hour to kill before leaving with Alice ahead of the meetup that day, a copy of Holzer's Lincoln at Cooper Union in her hands. The book had been one of a treasure trove of works on the Civil War found in the office of one of the history department faculty, and Bridget hadn't been able to resist sticking it in her backpack. The next thing she knew she was startled out of a sound sleep by someone knocking on her door, the book having fallen out of her hands at some point when she'd dozed off.
"Coming!" she called out, pushing her feet off the couch and onto the floor. Not even ten weeks along and the baby was already causing her to fall asleep at the drop of a hat it seemed. Bridget opened the door to find Alice there and waiting, a bag over her shoulder and a helmet hanging from either hand. Since she had no intention of heading off to scout around after the meetup, she thought a ride on her bike would be a nice change of pace. It was a gas preserver, at any rate.
"Ready to go?" Alice asked, catching the slightly bed-rumpled hair and arching her brows just a little.
She had been a little hesitant to let Jared go with Bridget so early in the morning, especially given the fact that Bridget would be going to the meetup with her that day, so she'd allowed the teenager to sleep. Slowly but surely she'd been letting him do more and more, with the intention of letting him have his own suite by Wednesday or Thursday. It still made her a little nervous; maybe she'd ask him how he felt about bunking up with Searle or Holly. At least that way he wouldn't be completely alone.
"Sorry, I fell asleep on the couch. Let me grab my gear and I'll be ready to go. C'mon in." Bridget stepped back from the door and walked back to the couch to grab the book. She had no idea what the day would be like, so having a book handy couldn't hurt. She slipped into into her backpack along with a water bottle, then reached for her pistol and holster sitting on the coffee table. "Should I bring my rifle, or is short range good enough?"
"Short range would probably be better. Save the rifle shot for bigger game," Alice replied with a nod. She shifted on her feet just inside the door, taking a glance around. Bridget had obviously started stretching out a bit; the place was looking less like the typical suite and more like she'd made some subtle adjustments. "Do you need any help?"
"With?" Bridget glanced at her quizzically, not sure what the offer was about. "I think I've got everything for the trip." She slipped the loop of the holster through her belt and re-buckled it, then slung the backpack over one shoulder. "Unless you think I need something more? If not, I'm ready."
"Just makin' sure," the shorter brunette replied, holding out a helmet for her. "We'll be taking my bike, but I promise not to pull off any crazy stunts or anything."
"Please don't," Bridget responded as she took the offered helmet with a wry smile, and closed the door behind them as they exited the suite. "My stomach is uncertain enough as it is these days, it doesn't need any help." She put both arms through the straps of her backpack and made certain it was cinched up a little tighter than she normally left it, then tucked the helmet underneath one arm. "I've never ridden on a motorcycle before, so this will be new."
She glanced at the other brunette as they started down the stairs. "What's the normal routine you and Jed do at these things?"
"Nothing super interesting," Alice replied, falling in step with her easily before leading her off toward where she parked. "Sweeping up a bit if needed, filling the cooler with ice from the mini freezer and adding in a couple filled water bottles in case people show up. Then a whole lot of waiting. Sometimes we play cards, sometimes we do our own thing. My iPod plays video, so I've got a few things on it to watch for a change of pace."
Bridget nodded in understanding as they reached Alice's bike, and put her helmet on her head. "Well, I guess me going along is a change of pace. Hopefully things won't get too dull."
Alice laughed, slipping her helmet on as well and straddling the motorcycle before sliding her keys into the ignition. "Can't promise anything," came her muffled reply. "Hold on tight, okay?" Any other potential conversation was drowned out by the sound of the bike's engine roaring to life.
Bridget didn't need to be told twice, as she wrapped her arms around the lower part of the other woman's waist and held on for dear life as the two wheeled vehicle started moving. The engine made the entire bike vibrate a little, and she was very glad of the seat back and foot rests for the passenger. She'd never really understood the allure of a motorcycle and why her brothers had been so crazy about them, and that mystery was only deepening now that she was a passenger on board one. Trucks were much safer, thanks.
*****
Once the museum was all ready and set up, it was time to tuck in for the long wait. Set up took less time than it did in the beginning, when she and Jed had been naive enough to put out twenty chairs, expecting some huge drove of people. Now she kept three out at the most, pulling out more if necessary. Alice settled back in her chair easily, legs stretched out in front of her with her ankles crossed. She'd brought a notebook full of her thoughts and plans, but decided against alienating Bridget straight off the back with it. No doubt the woman would have questions or wanted to talk, and she was more than prepared to answer them.
Bridget wasn't quite sure what to do once they'd gotten everything set up, and settled for plopping down in the seat next to Alice. Part of her wanted nothing more than to stick her nose back in her book, one that she'd always meant to get around to reading since it came out but never had, but that would be impolite and defeat the purpose of volunteering to come to these things.
The three chairs sitting out in front didn't seem all that encouraging, but really how many people could they expect? They were lucky if half a million people survived the virus in the entire country, let alone survived the winter and the chaos of civilization breaking down. "How many people have you met at these meetings anyway?" She wanted to try to help the other survivors, to feel like she was useful. The meetups had sounded like a way to do that, now she wasn't so sure.
"As many as whose livin' with us," Alice replied with a nod. She started to smile but stopped. "There was a man who died, before we got together. Cody. I found him. He was deaf, and I moved him in next to me at my old house. Apparently my mugger got him first, though. There was a girl that Jed ran into once who got killed, too. I never met her, but Holly was a friend of hers." Alice paused thoughtfully. "Most of the people who've come through have joined us. A couple haven't."
Bridget nodded, her expression mixed as she listened to Alice tell about the death of her friend and that of Holly's. She'd had first-hand experience of a group she'd been a part of being killed or captured, and she only hoped that the other two women that had been part of her group had managed to get away as well. If not, she hoped they'd died quickly. "It's hard being out there on your own, scary as hell. I can't see knowing a group like ours exists and not wanting to join it if you've been out on your own."
"Fear," Alice said seriously. "Trust. Something that sounds too good to be true usually never is, y'know? I used to walk into houses sometimes that'd be loaded up with food and goods. That usually meant there was someone dead in the next room. Everything has it's checks and balances."
"It does," Bridget couldn't argue with the logic. "But you've got to have hope as well, or we might as well..." she didn't finish the thought, but it was obvious where it had been heading. It was hard to have hope sometimes, especially in the middle of the night when she woke up crying from a nightmare or bad dream. "There's safety in numbers though, more than just hiding on your own. At least with us we have someone to watch our backs."
"I care more about the people who can't help themselves," Alice admitted quietly, hands moving down to cover her knees. "Resources are limited. If we keep growing as a group without setting up some form of sustaining crops, it's going to become harder to survive. Eventually we're going to have to stop having meetups altogether. We'll keep going for now, and we'll help the ones who need it, but there's no need to force the unwilling."
"No, there isn't, but, we're going to have to move eventually," Bridget's tone was a little wary, knowing this was something of a sensitive topic with Alice. "Jake always thought this would be a place survivors might gather because of the dam," it hurt talking about her husband, even in passing, but she couldn't not talk about him when discussing how she wound up in Vegas, "but there's just no way we'll be able to grow enough food here long term to feed everyone. Cassidy suggested northern California as a possible location when we talked yesterday, but that's something the group will have to figure out when the time comes."
Alice nodded in understanding and agreement. She and Cass had also talked about the long term goals, and Cass had said as much to her about it. Right now there was a lot going for Nevada, things that they could take advantage of while there was still power and running water, but the group meeting the prior week and the little discussions she was hearing about made it clear. Deep down, part of her hated the thought of leaving Vegas. She'd been here for almost 10 years, and it was home, but by the end of fall they were definitely going to have to leave.
"We'll sort it out. For now, let's be thankful for the few creature comforts we still have. We'll start planning for a caravan or something down the line. Just packing up and driving would be a bad idea; stuff like this needs a lot of forethought."
"I agree," Bridget nodded in turn. "Just going without putting any preparation in place would probably get us all killed. If we're going to go this year before the passes are snowed in we'll need to start planning soon though, there aren't snowploughs cutting paths through the drifts anymore." She paused and glanced up at the artificial lighting of the museum as they sat there in air conditioned comfort. "Speaking as someone who didn't have electricity or running water for most of the year before last week? I'm very thankful for these little creature comforts, if we can find a way to take most of them with us I'm all for it."
Her expression turned a little wistful as she thought about what would be involved in figuring out where to go next. "I'd offer to be part of any scouting expedition to wherever we thinking of settling, but I'll probably be getting a little unwieldy by the time they'd be coming back."
Alice offered a wry smile at the latter part of her reply. She remembered that last part of her pregnancy very well; How restless she felt being unable to go anywhere and do the things she loved, but knowing how uncomfortable it was to do any sort of moving outside of the comfort of her bed and sofa once she found herself in a good position. She could only imagine it, Bridget in the cab of Cassidy's truck, her belly brushing up against the dash and her ankles swollen.
"I'll keep that in mind," Alice replied, giving a brief, breathless laugh.
"What are you snickering about?" Bridget looked at her friend through narrowed eyes. She knew it was all in good fun, but whatever mental image the other woman had just had, it was clearly at her expense.
"Nothing," the shorter woman replied, grinning. "Just remembering my own pregnancy and drawing some parallels."
"Uh huh, don't tell me I probably don't want to know." Bridget shifted in her seat. "I need to get some larger bras, pants too. Everything seems to be getting tight these days."
"It gets worse, trust me. You'll swell up at the feet and hands. I went up a whole shoe size when I was pregnant with Kay." It was the most she'd talked about her pregnancy to anyone; she hadn't even shared as much information with Kathleen, but then Kathleen was nearing the end of her last trimester when they first met. "I'll try'n organize a small raid this week to one of the clothing stores nearby."
"That would be great," Her brand new wardrobe was already quickly becoming unwearable, much longer and she'd only be able to run around in t-shirts and sweatpants. "I probably ought to get some maternity clothes while we're at it, have them ready." Bridget wasn't really looking forward to the later part of her pregnancy. Both she and Jake had been on the large side as newborns, or rather Jake had been on the large side and she and Calleigh had been a little big for twins, so their child probably would be as well. "Not that I'm paranoid, much, but the fewer times we have to go out into unknown territory the safer we'll be."
"I know Vegas pretty well," Alice told her, changing which ankle was crossing the other. "Granted, I haven't gone into the nearby maternity specialty store in about seven years, but I'm pretty sure nobody's gonna be waiting in there with a knife waiting to mug me."
"Probably a safe bet." Bridget agreed with a smile. "When would you be free to go?" Not that they were booked solid, but the other woman was like her in that she liked to stay busy.
"You and I could probably hit up a place after the next meetup," Alice offered thoughtfully. "Not today; I'd wanna tell Jed 'n Leo that we were planning to go off after, so they wouldn't wonder what was taking so long. I don't suspect we'd really need to scout around much. Most of the outlet stores are still pretty full. 'Least the ones I've gone through have been."
"That's fine. I can wait that long I think." Bridget knew her waist was starting to thicken just a bit, but it probably wasn't visible to anyone else yet. There was time, even if she was resorting to sweats rather than trying to button her jeans by then.
She paused, thinking of the events in the library that morning and what she'd learned about Jack and Jed. "I know this is a bit of a random subject change, but what's going on with Jed and Jack? Has she really moved out of his suite?"
Alice frowned, her whole face going a bit sour for a moment. Like everything involving Jack, the entire day had spiraled out of control. It didn't surprise her at all that it took less than a day for the information to get out.
"It was her choice," she said after a long pause, her voice even but firm. "I gave her two options: to do what Jed told her to do and stay with him, or two have her own suite and follow the very few rules I've given her. If she didn't want to do either, then I told her she had to leave. Her and Jed have been nothing but a big ball of teenage drama since the very beginning, and I've put up with it for months, but I couldn't anymore. She needs structure. Just because she doesn't have parents doesn't mean she's a grown-up and can do whatever the hell she wants. For chrissakes, she snuck into the back of Jed's truck and came here after he told her to stay home. What was I supposed to do?"
"I don't know," Bridget replied honestly, her own expression turning into a frown. She'd never been a parent, and the only child-rearing experience she had was babysitting her older brothers kids. Dealing with undergrads was a much different situation than this. "The subject came up in the library this morning, we had a run-in with Searle's friend Molly. I guess I was a little too vocal in showing concern that she was running around alone, and things kind of went downhill from there."
Alice's face scrunched up a little in thought. Just as she wasn't keen on Searle running around on his own, Alice wasn't pleased to hear Molly was either. "Like I told Jed last week," she replied. "Molly is not our responsibility, until she decides to come live with us. Hell, even then, all I can say to anyone is 'be safe, be responsible, and work together or get out.' I'm not here to be anybody's mom; I'm just here to make sure everyone shares the load and make sure nothing bad comes of it." Alice sighed, staring at her knees again, still frowning. I'm beginning to wonder if any of this is even worth it, she though to herself. It would be much, much easier to be alone.
"I know she isn't, and I didn't think I did more than just offer some advice based on personal experience but..." She shrugged and spread her hands out a bit. "You try explaining that to a trio of moody teenagers. Next time I do one of these raids I want another person older than nineteen with me just for my own sanity." That pulled a small snort from Alice. Bridget reached over and put a hand on the other woman's shoulder. "I think you and Jed have been doing a great job with what you've had to work with. I know I'd be going crazy in your shoes."
Alice offered her a faint, wry smile, covering the paler hand on her shoulder with her slightly darker one. "Thank you for that," she said sincerely. More and more she had started to really doubt herself, especially when it came to her interactions at the group meeting last week.
"None of us were exactly prepared for this, Alice," Bridget smiled back. "I certainly wasn't. You're a natural leader though, people look up to you." She shook her head, almost amused. "I look up to you and I've only known you a week. We're practically the same age but it feels like you're the voice of experience."
Alice felt her face heat up a little at the compliment. "Guess it's just the way I grew up. My parents didn't really speak English very well when I was a kid. I had to grow up faster than I wanted to."
"I guess so," Bridget nodded. "I'm just glad you and Jed started the group and at least one of you has a good head on their shoulders." It wasn't that she was trying to be cruel to Jed, but Alice clearly was the one who was keeping things organized. "If all I'd found when I made it to Vegas was more of the same, I probably would have given up and walked out into the desert."
"You're welcome," Alice replied, still a little embarrassed.