Ten Days. John Sheppard

the flowers are so beautiful, thought Sam. I don’t remember them. Why so many? Flowers filled the nightstand and wall behind her headboard. There were also flower arrangements in almost every possible spot in her hospital room. Sam tried to read some of the notes attached to the flowers, but couldn’t make out what they said. The same thing happened when she tried to read some of the cards on her nightstand.

      Hospital room. Why am I in a hospital room? Could it be for the birth of my baby? Oh yes, the baby! No sooner had Sam thought of her baby than a nurse appeared at her bedside. Hm, I didn’t even hear her come in. With that thought, the nurse was presenting the baby to her. The baby was wrapped in a pink blanket. Sam kept trying to uncover the baby’s face, but couldn’t get the blanket off. Funny, I don’t remember the delivery. Where was Chad? Had he seen the baby? Why can’t I get the blanket off the baby’s face? Where did the nurse go? Could she help? Who can help me with the blanket?

      “We’re here, honey!” Sam looked up to see her parents. How she had missed them. They looked great, but why was her mom in her wedding dress, and her dad in a tux? For a moment, they looked so much like the picture that had always hung over the fireplace mantel in the living room.

      “Mom, can you help me get the blanket off the baby’s face?” inquired Sam. Her mother reached for the blanket, but also was unsuccessful. When her mom pulled her hand away, spots of blood appeared on the blanket. Sam also saw blood on her mom’s dress and her dad’s tux.

      Before Sam could say anything, Chad was in the room. She couldn’t clearly see his face because he was in full military dress, including hat. Strange, thought Sam. Chad always removed his hat inside a building.

      “Chad, what have we named the baby?” Sam couldn’t remember what name they had chosen. Chad picked up the baby, but didn’t reply. At that point, Sam noticed the newspaper on her bed. Something within her told her the paper contained very bad news. Again, as with the cards and notes on the flowers, she couldn’t tell what the newspaper said. It had something to do with Kirkmont. Sam knew that whatever the paper said, it would make her cry.

      The room seemed to be getting dark. It scared Sam. Chad was heading out of the room with the baby in his arms; her parents were leaving with him.

      “Where are you all going?” cried Sam.

      Chad turned slightly to face her. “Sweetheart,” he replied, “you know we’re all dead.”

      Sam knew it! She awoke, sitting straight up in bed, weeping deep, heart-wrenching sobs. Yes, Chad died defending Kirkmont. The Enemy surrounded the city and entered into what were supposed to be peace talks. After two or three weeks, they said they would let the civilians leave under a flag of truce. As the remaining civilians tried to leave Kirkmont, they were mercilessly slaughtered. Sam’s parents were among those killed. The small percentage who escaped alive reported what happened in horrific detail. Within days of hearing the news, Sam miscarried.

      When Sam felt like she could cry no more, she walked out to the living room, sat on the couch, and curled into the fetal position.

      2:45AM

      It didn’t take Jackie nudging him or whispering in his ear to make Carl aware of the sounds coming from downstairs. He had heard the sounds too. Since the Enemy had surrounded the capital, sleeping lightly had also become part of the new normal.

      Carl whispered back to Jackie that she should give him only a couple of minutes, then run and try to gather the kids. He kept a handgun in the top drawer of his dresser and the lock in another drawer, well out of reach for Kelly. A gun was something he had always said he would never have in his house, but the last year or so had changed lots of things.

      It was all Carl could do to get out of bed, and retrieve the gun, without making a sound that couldn’t be heard downstairs. The floors in the old house creaked with almost every movement. With his heart feeling like it would beat out of his chest, Carl reached the top of the stairs, eyes straining to make out any unusual shape. There it was, moving in the living room.

      As Carl started to raise his gun, “Dad, it’s me!” called out Andy. “What are you doing?”

      “Shhhhh, Andy, you’ll wake up the girls!” Carl signaled for Andy to lower his voice as he also called back to Jackie, “It’s okay, hon. Just Andy. He and I are going to talk for a bit.”

      With his free hand, Carl motioned Andy to the kitchen as he lowered the weapon and locked his gun. At the bottom of the stairs, he followed Andy into the kitchen. Andy had turned on a few lights, just enough to illuminate the area around the breakfast nook.

      As they both sat down, Carl tried to remain calm. “What in the world were you doing, son? I’ve asked that no one be downstairs after the family has gone to bed, unless they turn on some lights.”

      “I’m sorry, Dad. I just couldn’t sleep and was afraid I’d wake the girls.”

       “So, what’s going on, Andy?”

      “I’m scared!” was Andy’s reply.

      “Of what?”

      “Of dying, the Enemy, of the Option?”

      Carl thought for a long moment before trying to reply. “What do you know of the Option?” he inquired. As far as Carl knew, neither he nor Jackie had ever discussed the Option with Andy.

      “You’ve got to be kidding, Dad.” There was a real edge to Andy’s reply. “Do you and the other adults really think just because we’re teenagers we haven’t figured it out?”

      More silence. Who did Carl think he was kidding? Of course the older kids would have connected the dots. “You’re right. I should have given you more credit. It bothers me that I can’t protect you, your mom, and your sisters.”

      Carl thought he could see Andy’s eyes begin to fill with tears. “What’s it like to die?”

      As an oncologist, Carl had seen death more times than he cared to think about, yet he really didn’t have an answer. “It’s hard to say. I guess everything just goes dark. I’ve seen some just appear to fall asleep, while others seem to fight it.”

      “You and Mom have chosen the Option for us?”

       What a question, thought Carl. “Yes, son, we’ve chosen the Option, because it seems to be peaceful. Everything I know about it says that it’s like falling asleep. Originally, it was developed as a method to put large animals down humanely, in the US. Later, as euthanasia became more acceptable worldwide, it was refined for use on humans. I was against it at first, but after Kirkmont I changed my mind.”

      Carl couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with his son. How do you discuss methods of dying with your child? Yet, it was what the current situation seemed to demand.

      Andy appeared to be processing everything. What a task for a young man who had only been seventeen for a few months. Finally he said, in a voice filled with raw emotion, “Dad, my friends and I…my friends…we...we...we, we’ve got to try something else.” Andy was now visibly shaking.

      It felt like time stood still while Carl waited for him to calm down. He wanted to just say “No!” to whatever Andy was going to propose, but thought better of it, for now.

      Finally, Andy tried to talk. “The guys want to make a run for the port city.”

      Carl knew Andy meant Cody and Jimmy. “Huh?” was all he could manage to say at the moment. Cody was Ross and Elaine Holt’s son. He had just turned eighteen, was tall and in excellent shape. Carl also knew the Holts were really experienced in wilderness camping. Jimmy was Glenn and Mandy Moore’s son, and only a couple of months older than Andy. Carl wondered how they were responding to this news. Jimmy was intelligent, thin, and anything but an outdoorsman type.

      “We plan to follow the old bike path, traveling mostly at night, Dad. Our thought is to leave sometime