Jacqueline Druga - Then Came War

She was blind when she met him, but she didn’t need to know what he looked like to know it was him.

She whispered his name with surprise and emotion. “Foster.” Her hand reached for his face and she whimpered.

“Jude. They… I was held prisoner in Jersey,” Foster spoke nervously. “I… told them I had to find you. I had to find Judith Freeman. She had a daughter names Linda in Vegas. They helped me. I….” he breathed out. “Please tell me the offer still stands.”

Judith sobbed and grabbed him. She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to answer. She hugged him to, pulling him inside and held on.

She held on for the longest time.

Twenty-Six Years Later

Gaithersburg, MD

“Drink your water.”

“Yes, Daddy.” The little boy was about eight and looked up to his father and accepted the canteen. He took a drink.

“More.”

The little boy took another drink.

“Good boy.” Tyler took the canteen and placed it in his pack. He looked around; He remembered the last time he was in this town not far from Washington DC. It was before is son Joshua was born. Tyler was fighting in the infantry. That was where he gained the nickname ‘Falcon’ for his keen ability to spot things. A name that stuck with him. Gaithersburg was suburbia then; now it was flat. There were remains of buildings long since fallen. No way to find direction, no landmarks.

The road wasn’t overgrown, because nothing really grew. It was dusty and grim.

On this day the sun was bright, but it still didn’t make things better.

Tyler swiped his hand over his forehead; the heat was almost too much to bear and no shade to be found.

“Are you hungry?” Tyler asked.

“No, I’m good.”

He ran his hand over the boy’s hair. His hair was longer and dirty. They hadn’t seen a bathing station in days and knew they probably wouldn’t for a while, at least not until they returned to Virginia. Even there, they were few and far between, but there were more water stations for transients in Virginia than anywhere else.

Eventually Tyler would return home with Joshua. They had a small home in Kentucky, and he had a daughter there. She was with a keeper. But they had a mission to complete first. This was stage two of the mission, and not Josh’s first time leaving the safety of his home.

Tyler’s wife died of the plague when Joshua was two. The plague brought an end to the long war. Everything just stopped.

The fighting ceased.

There was actually nothing left to fight about or over anymore.

Tyler did well that first year after the war, farming tobacco. But a wild fire took a good bit of that from him.

Wild fires took a lot from people the first few years. The wars raged for so long. So many bombs were exploded that the entire ozone layer was compromised.

It was dry everywhere with only small pockets green. People just had to find them and access was limited.

It was time to move on. Travel the roads, eat what they could barter. Stay in transient camps, as most of the United States did. Tyler gathered most of the world lived like that.

Gone were the days of television, computers, electronics, and cars.

There was no more gasoline, because there was no way to get it.

The only way to get news was word of mouth.

Tyler had another purpose and another plan and took his son along to implement it. It was a father son thing. On the first part he took his daughter, on this trip, it was just the men.

The horses ‘nay’ got Tyler’s attention and he poured some water from the water camel into a bucket. “Here you go, Sampson, drink up,” he said as he gave it to the horse. “We’re almost there.”

“Are you sure we can get in there?” Joshua asked. “You said people couldn’t go there for a long time.”

“Yep. I’m pretty sure. And what we’re looking for is still there. Mostly intact, too, I have heard.”

“Did you see it Daddy? Did you see it during the war?”

“I did. And I told you all this, Joshua.”

“I know. But tell me again; tell me about the city, Daddy.”

Tyler chuckled and lifted Joshua onto the horse. Tyler mounted the horse behind him.

“Once upon a time,” Tyler said. “There was a great big city and all the buildings were white.” He snapped the reigns and the horse began to walk slowly. “And in that city, many men, often great men, made decisions that built this country. They were called Senators, Congressman, and Presidents.”

“And you’re really gonna leave it here, Daddy?”

“Yep.” Tyler nodded.

“But you had it for so long. Since you were my age, you kept it.”

“And I said I was gonna pass it on,” Tyler told his son. “And I am. I’m passing it on to the future. Harry said it was important.”

“Then we should keep it,” Joshua said. “I mean we took that trip to get this box. It means so much to you.”

“Nah,” Tyler shook his head. “The trip with you and your sister meant much more. This box ceased being important now. Maybe, Josh, maybe in the future it will be. Maybe far in the future, maybe not, but maybe in the future, that box will mean something. Maybe it could even stop this from happening again. “

“Can I see the inside one more time before we leave it?”

“Yeah, yeah, you can.”

Joshua smiled and held on to his father as they rode on in their journey.

They’d drop off the box in what once was Washington DC, the box that Harry years before had given to Tyler.

And then father and son would move on.

They would just ride on together as they had done for years.

There wasn’t really anywhere to go but back home.

They would just keep going until they got there.

2575 AD

Marquis had just fallen asleep.

The brightness of the moon made sleep difficult as it reflected on his bedroom wall.

He lay in bed with his new wife staring up at the ceiling. A breeze cut through the curtains and he counted the flaps of the fabric as the wind as they softly struck the window sill.

He counted them in hopes that it would help him sleep.

He was an old soldier and had finally returned home from the war out west. He knew eventually he would have to return to fight. He had to fight to protect the fertile soil of his homeland. He had no problem with that.

His homeland fertility was the ultimate upper hand that they had over many nations.

The war had raged for thirteen years.

Some say it was a repeat of history. But it was a history of which no one had solid proof.

It had been said that the man who possessed the knowledge of the past would prevent the disaster of the future.

Many believed that no such knowledge existed. Marquis knew better. He had seen the evidence across the forbidden lands. The forbidden lands were labeled that by the elders as the property of the demons.

Marquis knew better.

He knew that the elders were only protecting the truth.

And within that truth was the wisdom of the past that Marquis so diligently sought.

He had been asked many times what he expected to find.

Marquis didn’t know, but he was certain he would know it when he found it

It was a four day journey by foot to reach the forbidden land that started just beyond the Otoma River.

When Marquis was seventeen he had left his father’s home, crossed the river and headed into the White rock field. He knew then that going any farther would require a horse.

A year later he rode a horse for six weeks. It was then than an earthquake had opened up the land and Marquis, by the fortune of the Gods, had discovered the existence of a previous civilization.