Jacqueline Druga - Protocol One

It was something we didn’t want to do. The glow of it would send a smoke signal. But it had to be done.

And I was grateful I made that choice.

Clarisse never knew her son followed her. She had veered left and the child ran straight.

Without a coat he was a good thirty feet from his mother, in the dark he would had never seen her.

When the lights came on, Clarisse stopped.

I raced out despite Tony’s warning, and ran to the child.

The cold air caused a stabbing pain in my bronchial tube, I was afraid to breathe, but in the few seconds, the child, without a coat, was on the frozen ground.

When I arrived at the boy, he was already frosted over. Again, I panicked. I had to get him back in and fast. I saw Clarisse running our way and just as I shucked my coat in a rush from my shoulders, another coat landed over the child and Tony swept Luke into his arms, spun, didn’t say anything, and raced back to the bunker.

It was a freezing cold, like I had never felt. A ‘to the bone’ cold and I pulled my jacket back on, slipped a little on the ground as I stood and headed to the bunker.

In my route, I passed Clarisse and stopped.

Her goggles were off and she stared at me desperately. Her eyelashes were frozen over and I could feel mine doing the same.

She was a mother fearing for her son. And whether she was a good person or bad, I understood her worry. I really did.

The lights went back off as soon as I hit the open bunker doors. I could only assume, Peter was watching. I walked in and shut the door. I was still cold. A cold that had reached my bones and I was only outside for a few minutes. Survival, in my opinion, was not an option if left exposed. It was flat out impossible.

I headed down the long haul of stairs to the main fail safe door and Tony approached as soon as I emerged on the walkway that connected the two hives.

“Anna.” He spoke firmly yet calmly.“You are a good person, you really are, and I understand why you did that. But you lit us up like the Madison Square Garden Christmas tree. Anyone even remotely close saw that.”

“No one is out there, Tony. It’s too cold.”

“It was a crazy thing to do. I know the boy ran out. It crushed me when I saw it too. But he wanted his mother. It was insane Anna, you could have died. I wanted to kill you for that choice.”

“Yeah, well, if you wanted to kill me over that choice. I guess I’m a goner over this one.”

“What are you talking about?”

I stepped back and reached into the stairwell, waved my hand, and Clarisse emerged.

Tony looked at me and then walked away.

Because he was unprotected by the elements, and the temperature was severely low, Luke suffered immediately form hypothermia. He was being monitored and treated in the medical room. Of course, he had an IV.

I placed Ben as guard on the door, while Clarisse sat with her son. I was prepared for the backlash. Ben didn’t say much; just that it was my decision.

“Are you one of those bleeding hearts?” asked Nelly. She griped and complained but then, like Ben, said it was my choice.

Melissa understood. She even stated such. If there were more than one remaining, she would disagree, but it was just the one woman. How much damage could she do?

Tom wholeheartedly disagreed with that. We were merely guessing that there weren’t any more people at the fire hall. We didn’t know for sure. He wasn’t trusting her. Why would he?

Craig and Skyler pretty much mirrored each other in opinions. Stating ‘what’s done is done’, and ‘you can’t send her out there now’.

“You could,” said Duke. “But since you’re being humane, then you don’t. We place her under lock and watch. What else can we do?”

Peter said to give her a pair of gloves and a bucket and put her on clean up.

I agreed to that and I agreed to locking her up.

Anything to keep the peace because I knew the others weren’t happy with my decision.

Tony on the other hand, avoided me.

I hated that we were once again at odds.

Tony had taken over the little office next to Peter. He didn’t go there to work as much as he went there to hide out from everyone.

Since the Clarisse incident, he had been busy cleaning, despite Craig telling him to take it easy with his facial injuries.

When I knew he was in that office, I cornered him.

“This relationship won’t work,” I said as I entered. “If we keep fighting. It’ll be a long haul.”

“We aren’t fighting.” Tony kicked back at the desk chair. “And this relationship has no choice but to work. We have years to work on it.”

“You’re mad at me.”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “Just trying to understand your reasoning”

“Tony, if you would have seen her face. How desperate she looked.”

“She was cold.”

“It was her son that was injured.”

“If she was so worried about her son she wouldn’t have joined the others.” He leaned forward.

“She did what she did out of desperation. She wanted to make sure he survived.”

“Then she should have asked for our help.”

“Why are you countering everything I say?”

“Why are you defending her?”

I growled.

“Look, here’s the deal.” Tony walked round the desk. “We as a community all agreed to kick her out. You brought her back in. What does that say to us about how you feel about what we want?”

“You’re right.”

“I know.” He stepped to me. “But what’s done is done.”

“I keep hearing that.”

“What else do you want everyone to say? Just stick to your guns about kicking her out when the temperatures are tolerable.”

“I will. I promise.” I held up my hand.

“Now,” He pulled me closer. “How are you?”

“Me? I’m fine.”

“Are you? Because you dealt with a lot today. Things that you typically wouldn’t have to deal with.”

“I know. I’m fine for now. What about you?”

“Well my face hurts and my ego is bruised,” Tony said.

“You’re ego is bruised?”

“Uh, yeah. I did this shit for a living. Yet, part of my rescue team, was a five year old, an old woman, an aging sick cop and Peter. Peter?” He grunted. “Of all people.”

“Peter is a nice man.”

“Yes, everyone is well aware of how nice you think Peter is.”

“You didn’t mention me in your wild rescue crew list.”

“That’s because I’m not surprised. You rise to the occasion Anna.”

“Thank you.”

“Sometimes, you rise and miss the occasion,” he said with sarcasm.

“What do you mean?”

“You get your own agenda in your head. Like when we drove out here. No problem,” Tony waved out his hand. “Come on everybody, hop on in, we’re going to a survival shelter, plenty of room.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. I felt him dart a quick kiss to my lips.

“And on that note,” He squeezed my hand, and placed his lips to my cheek. “Back to work. And… thank you. Thank you for today.” He walked by me to the door.

“Tony.” I reached back and grabbed his hand. “I’ll get better with my choices.”

“Nah. If you did that, just think of how boring things would be.” He opened the door and left.

At first I smiled at his words, but then after a minute, I descended into a metal debate on whether or not he had just complimented my decisions or insulted them. Knowing Tony, I decided to wager on the latter.

Cleaning up took most of the day and into the evening. My room was still not done, and it was the worst. It had the most blood and it would need to be redone.

Tony offered for me to stay with him and Joie, but I declined. There were plenty of rooms available. Although no matter how much we tried, we couldn’t get it very warm in the shelter. It was going to be a long, cold, night. Plus, Tony needed that time alone with Joie. For as tough as she projected to be, Joie had a rough day.