G Hopf - The End

“Men, take him to the brig, I’ll be down shortly,” Gunny ordered. Just as they were walking him away Gunny stopped them, “Corporal Van Zandt, I knew your brother and you’re not him.”

Sebastian didn’t have the physical or emotional strength to even respond.

“Take him below,” Gunny commanded.

Both men escorted Sebastian from the deck and into an unknown fate.

San Diego, CA

Gordon’s eyes hurt when he opened them. Finding it hard to focus, he rubbed his eyes. Trying to focus again, he could make out the ceiling in his bedroom. The sharp pain on his left side prohibited his movement initially, but he forced himself to roll over on his right side. The sun was coming through the slits in the plantation shutters. He wasn’t sure what time or what day it was. Managing the pain, he pushed himself up into a sitting position on the bed. Glancing down he looked at the bandages.

“Damn, I look like a mummy.” He grunted.

His left shoulder, arm and side were bandaged, and by the looks of them they were fresh. Everything looked normal around the room. He knew he had been out, but wasn’t sure for how long. The memories he had after the fire fight were cloudy and gave no timeframe. Anxious to find Samantha he slid off the bed and stood on his feet. He felt the pain but it was manageable. Taking a few steps, he felt how stiff and sore his body was. He paused and began to walk toward the door when it opened. Samantha stood there with folded clothes and a joyful expression on her face at seeing Gordon awake.

“Gordon! You’re awake!” she said happily, walking over to him. She put her arms around him and hugged him.

“Hi, sweetie,” Gordon responded. He hugged her with only his right arm.

“Honey, you need to keep resting, please get back into bed. Where were you going?” Samantha asked looking at him with concern. She gently pushed him back toward the bed.

“I’m hungry,” he said resting back against the pillows.

“How do you feel?” she said, touching his forehead.

“Sore and my wounds are painful,” he said reaching over and grabbing her arm. “What happened? What day is it?”

Samantha sat on the bed next to him and took his hand. “Gordon, there’s a lot to tell. You were rescued by a couple of Marines who were on patrol.”

“Really? What happened?”

“They heard the gunfire and were close by so they came and helped out. They found you lying on the road and brought you home along with Jimmy.”

“Jimmy’s okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine. He’s been quite busy since you’ve been out.”

“What day is it?” Gordon asked curiously.

“It’s January 3rd.”

“What? Are you serious? I’ve been out for over two weeks?”

“Honey, don’t get excited you still need to rest. You lost a lot of blood. But it was the infection and high fever that had us concerned. You have been in and out of consciousness since the incident. Today is the first day you’re awake and talking coherently.”

Gordon calmed himself down and asked, “How are the kids?”

“They’re great, they’ve been praying for you several times a day. Every day they come in and hold your hand. They’ve been so sweet and I have to say supportive.”

“We have great kids, don’t we?” Gordon stated smiling at Samantha.

“Yes, we do. That’s because they take after me,” Samantha said winking.

Gordon held her hand tighter and said, “I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too, I’m so happy you’re okay. I was scared there for a bit. Nelson did a great job and took such good care of you.”

“So, what happened with everyone else, that day is foggy for me.”

Samantha looked down for a second before she responded. “Jerrod was killed and Eric is missing still.”

“Shit, really? How’s Melissa?”

“She’s not doing well at all. I’ve been trying to help out as much as I can but she’s a wreck.”

“Has Jimmy sent out search parties for him?”

The look on Samantha’s face changed dramatically with Gordon’s last question.

“What is it?” Gordon asked concerned.

Samantha would not respond, she kept looking down.

“Sam, what’s wrong?”

“No search parties have been sent out,” she said still looking down.

“Why? What’s going on?” Gordon asked, he was beginning to get frustrated. “Sam, talk to me, tell me?”

“Right after the incident Jimmy attempted to get a party to go out for Eric, but he was stopped by Dan.”

“What?”

“Mindy and the board appointed Dan as the head of the security forces. Jimmy objected and he was removed from the teams all together.”

“God damn it!” Gordon said loudly.

“Gordon, it’s gotten really bad. It didn’t take them a day to take over and change everything you had started. The food shipments are nothing now, they mostly come back empty. There has been fighting between neighbors over food. Mindy and the board are now saying they want everyone to open their homes for inspection to see if anyone is hoarding food. If they are, they want to take it and redistribute it.”

Gordon sighed deeply and shook his head.

“I need to get up.”

“Wait, there’s more,” Samantha said stopping Gordon from getting out of the bed. “Quite a few families have left. A couple came back and told of a sickness that has hit people to the north.”

“A sickness, like what?”

“The way they described it was that everyone they had encountered from south Orange County had burns on their arms and were losing their hair.”

“Where did they encounter these people?”

“They came across them in Oceanside; they were heading south to get away from the sickness. As soon as they heard about a sickness to the north they turned around and came back.”

Gordon sat quietly, thinking.

“What do you think it is?”

“Sounds like radiation sickness,” Gordon responded flatly.

Hearing Gordon’s response, Samantha gasped.

“Sam, we need to get out of here. I need to speak to Jimmy now,” Gordon sucked up the pain and pivoted out of the bed and onto his feet.

“Gordon, you do need to rest, though.”

“Samantha, we don’t have time. Go find me some heavy duty pain meds and go get Jimmy.”

Samantha knew that when Gordon was serious there was no saying no. She left the room promptly.

Gordon walked over to the window and looked out. He could see smoke coming from over the hillside about two miles south. He knew who that was. Their time attempting to survive in San Diego had finally come to an end. Knowing the road to Idaho would be challenging, it provided hope and a chance to continue. If they stayed in San Diego, they would perish.

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado

Conner’s day had been full of good and bad news. He had become accustomed to bad news, so when he received good news it made his day special. With a smile from ear to ear he could not wait to see Julia. His daily briefings always left him feeling helpless, but the news that Julia had shared with him earlier kept his spirits high. Knowing it was early for any accurate testing, Julia’s belief that she was pregnant filled him with joy. One very positive thing that had happened out of the loss of their son and the catastrophe that had befallen the country was that he had grown closer to his wife. With his hectic schedule and time away as a career politician they had drifted apart and at times he wondered if their marriage would survive. Now he felt that his best friend, his wife had become his closest confidant and soul mate. Trying times can work in two ways: they can drive people apart or they can bring them together. The love he was feeling for her resembled the love they shared in their first few years of marriage. He wasn’t positive she was pregnant, but the hope buoyed him.