living_history (living_history) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-07-07 21:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 10, bridget mackenzie, jed bailey, | bridget and jed |
Week Ten - Thursday Night
Character: Bridget Mackenzie and Jed Bailey
Location: Sienna Suites
Summary: Unable to sleep, Bridget goes outside and encounters Jed on patrol.
Rating: G
It was the last night for the Colony in Las Vegas. The trucks were packed, trailers hitched, everything was ready for them to get started on the road as soon as they rolled up the sleeping bags and had a bite to eat the next morning. Earlier that day Bridget had written a note for Jake, in the slim hope he was still alive and would make it to the Suites in search of her. She’d left it on the front desk, and had made a quick trip to the State Museum to leave a copy there as well, just in case. It was intentionally vauge on where they were going, both because nobody really knew and she didn’t want to give bad guys too many clues on where to find them. She just hoped he would understand what she meant and follow, if he was alive.
Sleep proved elusive that night, lying on the floor along with all the others and listening to the various noises everyone made. There had just been too much on her mind, so Bridget took a candle and went outside into the relatively cool night air.
She wasn’t ten steps from the door before a shadow moved toward her, the glint of a gun in his outstretched hand. “What are you doing?” Jed said, his voice clipped.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d come outside,” Bridget said, a bit startled to see Jed loom out of the darkness like that. She still wasn’t used to the darkness now, after so many weeks with electricity again before the storm had knocked the power out to the area Monday. Jed’s appearance didn’t help any. The arm in the sling was innocuous enough, but the broken nose and the dark purple crescents under his eyes where the blood had pooled made him look practically demonic. She twirled around slightly, then lifted the shirt up from her stretchy shorts enough to show she was unarmed. “It’s just me Jed.”
Jed stared at her a couple seconds longer before lowering his gun. He let out a long breath. “Sorry about that, Bridget. Juss a bit jumpy.”
“I am too, a little,” Bridget admitted quietly. His appearance had only gotten worse since yesterday, now the bruises were in full bloom. Another reminder of how they’d been betrayed, though she still couldn’t bring herself to agree that what Alice had done in response had been right.
“How are you feeling?” She stepped a little closer so they could keep their voices down.
“Fine.” Alright, even he knew none of them could possibly be fine. “Good enough, at least. Gonna be a long day tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” she sat down on a nearby lounge chair and looked up at him. “At least we’ll be headed for greener parts, a chance for a fresh start, you know?” She sighed and brought her knees up to her chin, arms circling round her legs. “I wanted to move and get settled someplace before I got too big for comfort, but I didn’t imagine it would be like this.”
Jed’s jaw tightened. It wasn’t supposed to have been like this. They were supposed to have had time to prepare and plan. But now they were running, and it was thanks to him. He’d been in charge of security, he’d been on guard when it happened. He should have dealt with Jared right from the beginning. But he hadn’t, and the last thing he wanted to do now was talk about it.
“It’ll work out,” he said, not sitting, his eyes always scanning the area and avoiding Bridget.
Bridget realized after the fact that Jed might have been blaming himself, but was helpless to come up with words to try and soothe the man’s guilt. He’d been in charge of security, and it had gone down on his watch, even if no one could have predicted Jared turning out to be a mole. “So what sort of place would you like to find?” She figured it was a safe enough subject.
He shrugged. “Some place green, like you said. Good for growin’ and herding. Some place it don’t get too hot or cold. And flat. Only good thing ‘bout this desert is the horizon.” There were a couple seconds of silence before he remembered this was supposed to be a conversation. “You?”
“I wouldn’t mind rolling hills,” Bridget responded after a moment. “Someplace with a few curves to the land that would remind me of back home.” She was quiet for a few heartbeats, “I’m almost jealous of Kathleen, she got to go back home again. I’ve missed Pennsylvania more the longer I’ve stayed in the desert.”
Kathleen was lucky in a lot of ways. “Never called a place home really, so I don’t got somewhere to miss. I’m juss sick of the goddamn desert,” Jed said, twisting his mouth in an attempt at a smile.
“That makes two of us.” Bridget grinned despite herself. “Once we leave here, if I never see a desert again in my life it’ll be too soon. I’m meant to be around trees, grass, and other growing things.”
“Hm,” Jed grunted, shifting in place. He really should be walking around, keeping an eye out. But leaving Bridget out here alone didn’t feel right either. He let out another long breath before finally looking at her. “You alright? Kid alright?”
“As far as I know,” Bridget put her hands on the ever growing bulge in her midsection and gave it a little rub. “I was scared out of my wits when everything happened, but we all seem to have come through ok. The morning sickness seems to be about gone too, thank god. I’m hungry enough most of the time as it is without having to replace what comes back up.” She would be lying if she said she wasn’t still scared now that their doctor was dead, but Jed had enough to worry about.
“Good,” he said with a nod. “Easier things go, the better. Gonna try to make it even easier for you.” Bridget and the kid had been through enough stress. He’d try to see to it she took things easy wherever they ended up.
“I’m not an invalid Jed,” Bridget glanced up at him fondly. “There’ll be things I won’t be able to do the further along I get, but I’ll still be able to help out.” Up until the last month or so maybe, or a bit sooner if her suspicions were right, but time would tell. “We’re not so many that I’ll be able to sit around eating bonbons all day.”
“Well we ain’t so few that you can’t. If you need to,” he amended. Some of the pressure that had been building in his chest for days eased. He could imagine a time when Bridget would be as big as a house and needing to rest. He could imagine a future.
She reached up and patted his good arm. “Thanks Jed, you’re a good man.” The young woman was touched at the concern even if she intended to try and do her share as long as she was able.
That got a small but genuine smile. Then he straightened, looking around before looking back at her. “You gonna try bed again tonight or you wanna patrol with me?”
Bridget considered her options, then checked her wristwatch by the light of her candle. “I figure I’ll patrol with you for a bit, then try and see if I can get a little more sleep.” She told him, getting to her feet. “Long day ahead.”
“Yeah.” Long night, too. “You mind blowin’ out the candle?” The last thing they wanted was to be an easy target.
“Oh!” Bridget glanced down at the candle, then back up at Jed. “Hope you’re better at seeing in the dark than me,” she muttered, and blew out the candle. Everything went black, and if Jed hadn’t been standing right next to her she never would have seen him.
“My eyes get used to it pretty easy. Used to always be out campin’.” After a pause he said, “You can hold my arm to stay steady if you want.”
“I’ll be all right in a few minutes,” she assured him quietly, slipping one arm around his and holding on gently. “We always took flashlights and had campfires when we camped out as kids, not used to no lights at all.”
Leading the way slowly, Jed kept an eye out for any moving shadows. “Never camped as a kid, but trailin’ cattle, you wanted to keep a watch out at nights. Any fire or flashlight would juss ruin your night vision, so soon as folks went to bed, those were off.”
“So you were a modern day cowboy?” Bridget smiled at the image. She could see Jed fitting right into an old western, it didn’t take much to update it to modern times. “Did you ride horses on the trail or did you drive?”
“Depended on the run. If there was road involved, someone would always be in a truck, but horses are good for anything. Always hated trailin’, though,” he said with a shrug. “Horses and trucks hated it; cattle move too slow. I was more odd jobs man than cowboy.”
“I can see where it would be a thankless job,” Bridget mused, then shrugged. “I guess we’ll all get familiar with horses and cattle before long. That time you spent dealing with them will come in handy.”
Jed gave a snort. “Go figure. Folks were always real surprised when I told ‘em ‘bout my cattle days. Everyone seemed to think cowboys and Indians were history.”
“Less than two percent of the population was responsible for farming and ranching in this country, before everything went to hell, out of more than three hundred million people. It’s no shock that people would be surprised, really.” She tried not to think about how long it would take for the world’s population to come close to that many people again. Generations at a minimum, more likely several centuries.
“Well I bet less’n that were rocket scientists, but I knew about them,” he pointed out, more defensive than was warranted. “And all they did was put things into space. Cowboys put meat on your table.”
“I knew. Farmgirl, remember?” Bridget reminded him. “Calliegh and I did the whole 4H thing growing up. But most people? If the meat always showed up in the supermarket every day they didn’t think hard about where it came from. Rocket scientists were sexy,” she thought about that, then amended: “well, the astronauts were anyway. They got a lot of coverage in the news. Cowboys hardly ever got attention, and then the movies or tv shows were set in the old west.”
“Hm. Yeah. You an’ me were a dyin’ breed.” He looked out across the parking lot. “Guess we’re showin’ em now.”
“Yeah,” Bridget glanced down at her feet. “Guess so. We’re all farmers now.”