Jacqueline Druga - Protocol One

Gil clapped his hands slowly and dramatically. “Nice try. But I didn’t cause the comet.”

“Nope you didn’t. Twelve million went to bunkers, forty three million went to underground food storage, water storage, fuel. You name it. You were always prepared and no less for this. Yep, the government is going to rise up and pass out MREs to the starving survivors, and you’ll be there with arms open wide welcoming them to all that you have.” Tony then excused himself, kissed me on the cheek and left.

There was a silence in the room thick with tension.

“Anna,” Gil’s voice cracked. “Listen, about what Tony said…”

I held up my hand stopping him. “I have known you most of my life. I don’t believe for a second you have evil intentions or that you are on some power trip. I also don’t believe for one second that Tony is anyone else and he’s not a good guy. Maybe I’m a fool.”

“No, that’s just who you are.”

“And all this. All that was said will mean something some day. But right now it only means a lot of mistrust and tension in a closed in space. That’s not the way I want us all to live.”

“It is a closed in space. But is it big enough for me and Tony?”

I bit my lip, stepped to Gil and laid my hand on his cheek. “It is. As long as we do the right thing.”

“And that is.”

“Don’t focus on the past. That’s gone,” I said. “We need to focus on the future.”

October 28

Even though Gil healed physically and was a hundred percent after a few days, things were not fine between him and Tony. They couldn’t be in the same room for very long. There was absolutely nothing they agreed on.

When either of them tried to bring up the other to me, I stopped them. I didn’t want to hear it. Gil hated the fact that I was with Tony and Tony hated the fact that I still, as he put it, idol worshiped Gil.

Tough. Deal with it.

Although with Joie increasingly warming up to Gil, that didn’t help,

Everyone warmed up to Gil.

He was suddenly the man with the stories. The man who saw what it was like out there.

I didn’t ask Tony any more about the past nor did I ask Gil anything. The only thing that surfaced was Gwen. Not psychically, but over the radio.

At first she was relieved he was alive, then she was angry that he was with us.

It also was time for another decision, I personally had been avoiding.

Clarisse.

Peter announced the weather was getting better and while it would be cold for a long time, and unpredictable, it was livable under sheltered conditions.

He knew I carried the burden of her leaving. I had hoped that the others had forgotten about it, but it had to be addressed, so I called a meeting.

Peter stayed back, stating he would be fine with whatever decision was made.

We gathered in the lower level of Hive Two, And I stood in the center.

“I know you guys are all wondering why I called you here,” I said. “I brought you here to make the final call on Clarisse. You probably weren’t even thinking about it…”

“I was,” Tony said.

“Me, too,” Tom added. “I was wondering what we were doing.”

“Me as well,” Craig said.

I looked at Melissa. “Were you wondering?”

“Yeah,” She crinkled her face. “I was. I mean we made a really big deal about kicking her out.”

I suggested we take a vote, and we did. It was evenly split.

“No vote…” Tony said. “We made a decision and we should stick to it. Give her what she needs and send her on her way.”

“I don’t know, Tony.” I rebutted. “It seems like too much time has passed.”

“There are no statutes of limitations here, Anna.”

“But I feel bad.”

“And you can’t,” Tony argued. “You can’t let emotions get in the way of this decision.”

Gil spoke up. “How about logic?”

“You,” Tony pointed. “Really have no say so in this matter. We lost a man. A man was killed.”

“Did she do it?”

“Her people did.”

“Did she do it?” Gil repeated.

“You aren’t standing before the jury, here counselor,” Tony said. “She knew of the plan. She was part of the plan. She didn’t cut off his head, but damn well knew they would kill us all.”

My hands went to my face. I thought, ‘Oh God, here we go again.’

“You’re right,” Gil said. “I don’t have a say so. But if I can speak from a new perspective. You failed in sending her on her way two months ago. Whatever the reason, she didn’t go. You suspended her sentence, so to speak. During this time, she has taken care of her child and worked as part of the community. She has lived as part of the community. Has she done anything to suggest she can’t be trusted anymore? Perhaps, she is trying to regain your trust. It is viably possible that she will be grateful and not ever do anything bad again? Plus, we need to remember, she’s a woman. A woman with a child. Women, will be needed in this world. If she makes a mistake again, then throw her out. But give her a second chance. You all have already done so. You just don’t realize it.”

I saw among the faces in the room, that everyone listened to what he said. Gil always spoke passionately and convincingly. This was no different. “We’ll take another vote.”

“Before you do,” Gil said.

Tony groaned.

Gil ignored him. “I’ll take her with me if she stays. The government bunker has offered to send transportation up here, and I’ll bring her there with me. Her and her child.”

Hearing him say that shocked me. “You’re leaving?”

“I think it’s for the best.”

As soon as he said that, everyone in the room erupted in disagreement.

“ You can’t go.”

“No, you have to stay.”

“Anna needs you.”

“Anna…” Tony said sternly. “Doesn’t need him. But I agree, he should stay. Take your vote, Anna.” He folded his arms and backed up.

It was overwhelming for Clarisse to stay, with Tony being the only vote to cast her out. Tony quickly left after the vote and Melissa was the one to tell Clarisse her fate.

I followed Tony. I expected him to be sulking somewhere. Instead, he was with Joie in their room. She was working on her long term project, her new collage.

“Can I speak to you?” I asked.

He told Joie he’d be right back and walked into my room with me.

“What’s up?”

“I need to ask you something,” I said.

“No, I expected the vote. I’m not mad. And I expected you to change your mind. That’s just who you are.”

“That’s not it. When Gil announced he was leaving, you said he should stay. That surprised me.”

“Even though I said you didn’t need him. You do. More than you realize, you need him in your life. Not in any romantic way, and honestly, I’m not threatened in that way by him.”

“So because of me, you think he should stay?”

“No, for all of us. Like I stayed close to you in the beginning, I think we need to stay close to Gil to see what he’s up to.”

“Makes sense. Who knows? Maybe you’ll start to like him.”

“Ha! Doubt it. But… stranger things have happened. Who knows, maybe I’ll fall in love with him, too.” Tony smiled, kissed me then went back into the room with Joie.

I know, deep down, he was disappointed we voted to allow Clarisse to stay. It had nothing to do with who she was, but rather with sticking to our decision.

Tony was over looking one thing.

The change of heart on Clarisse was a unanimously humane vote. To me, it was the first meaningful thing we did as a group. It showed me that together we could do little things that would positively impact a life. There had to be more to after-comet life than sitting in a bunker biding our time. There had to be.