Jacqueline Druga - Protocol One

When I opened the kitchen door, I jumped back. Spencer was walking out and we nearly collided. I grabbed my chest. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry.” He cleared his throat, then coughed.

“You all right?” I asked, walking to the food cupboard.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just brought up that other box of magazines from the storage. Don’t know why they were there, but they were. Nelly is making use of them. Kids are doing… well, interesting collages. Good thing whoever stocked this place, thought of arts and crafts.”

“You shouldn’t be making the trip from the lower level. Get one of the others to do it.”

“Nah, I’m good. How are you? I heard you and Tony got into a pretty nasty spat.”

I cocked my head back in surprise, it had only been a few minutes. “Did you hear us?”

“No, Peter told me when he came to grab a juice box.”

“We’re fine. We were just disagreeing on something.”

“That happens,” Spencer said. “Well speaking of Tony, I better get going. I’m sitting with birthmark guy and talking about the area.”

I muttered out an ‘okay’ and thought that was odd, even more so that he said, ‘speaking of Tony’.

Spencer left and after grabbing a granola, I headed down stairs.

I saw Nelly immediately when I entered the second floor. Not only was she seated at the card table, she was with one of the fire hall women. The kids were at the very far end of the room, sitting on the floor. Magazines were spread around them, along with markers, scissors and glue. They were engrossed. I worried some about the scissors , while they weren’t huge, they weren’t ‘safety’ ones.

Nelly must have heard me come in because she spoke up as soon as I did. “Hey there, kiddo. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

“Good. I heard you and Tony got into quite a fight.”

I cringed. “It was a disagreement. Did Peter tell you?”

“He did. When he came up for a juice box. You need to ration him. Those are for the kids. He sucking them down for the sugar like a dope fiend.”

“I will ration him. I’m gonna check on the kids, since you’re busy.

“Did you need something?” she asked.

“Maybe later.” I flashed a quick smile to her and walked quietly to the children. Joie sat with two other kids. They were all around the same age. They didn’t see me or hear me approach.

Finally Joie looked up. “Are you done fighting with my dad?”

“I wasn’t fighting with your dad. We were talking loud. What are you guys doing?”

“Oh, fire hall girl and fire hall boy were just telling me about where they were when the comet hit. They were in a basement.”

“I heard,” I said.

“They were scared, especially because the grownups were fighting. I told them our grownups don’t fight. But then you fought with Daddy.”

“I didn’t fight with Daddy. You’re being careful, with those scissors, right.”

“Yes,” Joie held them up. “They aren’t too sharp.”

“What are you working on?”

“We’re playing dress up ladies and then we’re cutting out pictures for the future kids so they can see what our world was like before the comet came.”

“That’s a really good idea.”

“It’s a really big project.”

As I wondered what she meant by ‘dress up ladies’, I glanced down and nearly choked. “Joie… what… what…” I stopped, I didn’t want to bring attention to anything nor make the kids feel like they were doing anything wrong. “ That’s dress up?”

“Yes. They didn’t have any clothes on.”

“I see that.”

“Look how pretty I made her.” Joie held up a picture of a woman. She was previously nude, and Joie took it upon herself to draw clothes on her. “She really needed clothes and it wasn’t easy putting them on her when she was posing like this.”

“Good… good job.” With widened eyes, I stepped back with the intent of going back to Nelly.

As I approached, I heard her conversation.

“It was scary,” The woman with her said. “Maybe fifty of us all going to that fire hall. They said they had supplies. But I asked… how long would they last? No one…” She stopped talking when I approached.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Nelly, did you know those magazines were pornography?”

“Not all,” She replied. “And they aren’t porno. They’re Playboy. Tasteful poses of nudity. They’re fine.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Are you going down to the farm?” Nelly asked. “My granddaughter says she has a batch of eggs that need to be brought up. I was going to make breakfast for dinner. Any chance I can get you to grab them?”

“I can go down.”

“Thank you.”

It was something to do, so I made my way down to agriculture. I couldn’t wait to tell the others about the kids drawing clothes on the naked models.

I heard the chickens as soon as I hit the floor. They were loud and I could smell them. I stepped into the pen, to get some of the ultra violet light. It was cooling down in the bunker and I didn’t want to think about how cold it would get. I hated the chickens. I knew they sensed it. They were brazen and always seemed to go after my ankles.

I spotted Melissa though the window of her office. She was talking to someone and when I drew closer, I not only saw it was Breast Feeding woman, but I heard them.

“I was following the conspiracy sites for a while,” said the woman. “So I was fearful.”

“That was just really good thinking to bring the breast pump. I appreciate it,” Melissa said. “I kind of took Baby John as my own. I couldn’t have kids, so this was a gift. And now knowing he is getting nutrients, I can’t thank you enough.”

“No, I can’t thank you enough. I know my own child will get what she needs because I am getting fed here. They didn’t share the food equally.”

I knocked on the door frame to alert them of my presence.

“Oh, hey Anna,” Melissa said. “You know Meagan, right?”

“I do.” I smiled and was glad to finally know her name.

“What brings you down here?” Melissa asked.

“You grandmother said you have eggs for her?”

“Oh, I do.” Melissa stood, said excuse me to Meagan, and walked from the office. “This way.”

I followed her.

“So, Anna, are you okay? Did you need to talk?”

I stopped walking. “Why do you ask?”

“I just heard you and Tony got into it.”

I sighed out. “Peter has the biggest mouth.”

“It wasn’t Peter. Tom radioed me. Said I should make time to just have girl chat with you and that you were edgy and picking on Tony. I told him you are still dealing with a lot.”

“I appreciate it, Melissa. But I’m fine now. And for the record I wasn’t picking on Tony.”

“I figured you weren’t.’ She handed me a basket of eggs. “Tell my grandmother to either put them in the fridge or prepare them. They were down here for an hour waiting on Skyler. But I think he’s sleeping.”

“I’ll take them.”

“And I better get back.” She pointed to Meagan. “I have to report to Tony in an hour.”

I nodded as if I understood. But I didn’t until that second. I watched Melissa return to her office, smile and re-engage in a talk with Meagan.

I wanted Tony to find out what he could about the new people. He said he was on it, and I didn’t believe it. But he was. Melissa, Spencer, Nelly and even Joie were doing their part.

To get information you have to act like you aren’t getting information.

Tony was doing just that, but not being obvious. Even I learned a lot by pulling a ‘Peter’ and eavesdropping.

When Tony said he was working on it, he really was. I underestimated him. He actually was considering my theories a lot more than I was considering his negative possibilities.