Jacqueline Druga - What Tomorrow Brings

“Please do not switch lanyards with someone else…” the male said.

Harland pointed upwards as if to a voice in the sky. “Lanyards. That’s it. That’s what they’re called. He’s right. We have people switching.”

“Okay, I’ll get on…” Kit paused and spun around as if searching.

“If you believe you are marked in error…”

“What’s wrong?” Harland asked.

“We will know upon examination .”

“Oh my God, the voice. How did I not recognize it?” she pushed through the crowd.

“Kit!” Harland called out.

She couldn’t see, she looked left and right around people. Call out again, please call out again so I can find you, she thought.

“Kit.” Harland stopped her. “What is going on?”

“The voice. The guy calling out. That’s my son.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“This way,” Harland led her away from the crowd and outside. “We’ll circle around. He’s making the announcements as the trucks drop off.”

“Did you see him?” Kit asked as she walked hurriedly with Harland.

“No. I didn’t pay attention to what he looked like,” Harland said. He hurried her around the building to the front. “Why would your son be making announcements?”

“Maybe he was at Schriever and they recruited him.” Kit saw a military truck dropping off a few people.

“There.” Harland pointed. “Is that him?”

Kit inched forward and her heart sunk. The man holding the bullhorn wasn’t her son. How could she be so mistaken? How could she not know he own kid’s voice. Then again, she didn’t recognize it at first.

“No,” Kit said. “I would have sworn….”

“Mom!”

Kit’s eyes widened and she turned to her left.

“Mom!” Zeke raced to her

Breaking away from Harland, Kit ran to her son. Immediately they embraced and Kit shrieked with emotional glee. She grabbed hold of her son and wouldn’t let him go.

“I knew I heard you. I knew it.” Kit pulled away. “Then I looked and it wasn’t you.”

“Oh. My announcer shift was done. I was just on my way to look for you here.” Zeke grinned. “Oh my God, mom, I am so glad you’re okay.”

Harland approached. “This is the boy, I assume?”

“Yes. Yes he is. Zeke this is Dr. Harland Cooper, he really kept me safe and got me back in shape.”

“Thank you, sir. Thank you so much,” Zeke shook his hand.

“Aw, well, you’re mom is pretty tough. She didn’t really need me. What are you doing here working?” Harland asked.

“Schriever needed help, I volunteered. I figured it was a good way to look for mom,” Zeke said. “My Uncle said she was alive, but didn’t know where they took her.”

Kit gasped. “You know where your uncle is? Regis?”

“Both. We’re all together.”

“Both? Mark is alive? His part of the plane broke off, Abe said. Mark’s alive. They both are.” Kit whimpered, overwhelmed by the good news and she placed her hand to her chest. “I am so blessed.”

“Mom,” Zeke suddenly took on a serious tone. “They’re… they’re sick mom. They’re pretty sick. It hit them bad yesterday and…”

“What do you mean sick?” Kit asked.

“Radiation. They’re vomiting and in pain, they aren’t healing, they have these marks. We thought they beat the exposure, because they got sick right away. Then when they got better, we were relieved.”

“The latent stage,” Harland said to Kit. “I told you about that. I don’t understand, they had the area cleared before the radiation arrived. You were on a base with a bunker. How did they get exposed?”

“Uncle Mark was thrown from the tail end. Uncle Regis refused to leave until he found him.”

Harland closed his mouth tightly, nodded and placed his hand on Kit’s shoulder. “Maybe you should find a way to Schriever and not worry about all this.”

Kit could barely speak. Overrun with emotions she just nodded. “I’m going to head to the school and get the truck from Abe. Is that okay?”

“Absolutely,” Harland said then looked to Zeke. “Can you take your mom there?”

“I’m sure I can.”

“Let me write down directions for you,” Harland said. “I’ll be right back.”

Near breathless, Kit faced Zeke. “How bad are they?”

“Getting worse, but their spirits are good.”

Kit closed her eyes in pain. “Are they as bad as some of these people?”

“I would label them a two.”

“Two,” Kit whispered. Thinking a ‘two’ was their blue and that meant there was hope.

Harland returned with a slip of paper and handed it to her. “Very basic. If you can’t find the truck, let me know, I’ll get you one.”

“Thank you,” Kit kissed Harland on the cheek. “Thank you for everything.” She faced Zeke. “You ready?” Kit started to walk.

“Mom.”

Kit stopped.

“Before we go…” Zeke reached out and grabbed her arm. “There’s something else you need to know. I won’t tell you what it is. Just be prepared for a shock.”

Regis took a shower and felt a lot better. He applied the ointment to his facial wound, but forewent the bandage. Maybe some air hitting it would heal it.

He was able to keep some ginger ale down along with the pain medication. The crisp clean new clothes gave him a slight rejuvenation. He hoped it wasn’t going to be short lived, he was going to enjoy feeling semi normal for as long as it lasted.

He made his way back to the room he shared with his brother and found Mark in the bathroom. The door was opened, Mark, too, had cleaned up. He wasn’t leaning over the commode, instead he was in front of the mirror, a finger in his mouth.

Regis stood in the doorway, leaning against the arch. “Everything okay?”

“No.” Mark spoke muffled with his fingers moving in his mouth. “Thirty-one thousand, three hundred and two dollars. That’s including interest, on my teeth and…” he grunted and withdrew his fingers from his mouth. When he did, blood seeped over his lip. “They’re still coming out.”

He showed Regis the tooth

Regis cringed. “Aw, gees, Mark stop that.”

Mark spit in the sink then rinsed his mouth. “Third one today. They wiggle more and more when I touch them.”

“Quit touching them.”

“Aren’t yours?”

“My teeth?”

“Yeah, aren’t they loose?”

Regis chuckled. “No, I don’t think so. Then again, I’m not touching mine.”

Mark grabbed a towel and wiped off his mouth. “I guess we won’t be seeing dentures anytime soon.”

“Who cares?”

“Did you see this?” Mark pulled on the back of his hair and a small clump came out.

“Mark! Stop that. Seriously.”

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t have that problem.” Mark said about Regis’ bald head. “You always said you wish you had my hair.” He extended the clump to Regis.

Regis pushed his hand away. “I’m glad you’re in a better mood.”

“I’m still sick as a dog, but not gonna mope anymore. We have a plan, right?”

Regis nodded. “Yes, we do.”

There was a single knock on the door before it opened.

Regis leaned back to look. “Oh my God, Kit.”

“Kit?” Mark asked.

Kit’s emotional gasp was the only sound she made when she barreled into the room, she immediately embraced Regis, then grabbed onto Mark.

After the initial reunion, she stepped back, looked at each of her brothers and started to cry. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“No.” Regis reached out to her. “It’s okay. We may be sick, but we resolved a lot of things.”

“Did Zeke find you?” Mark asked. “He volunteered hoping he’d find you.”