The N Days: Iron skies (On long hiatus)

N Day 1.7

"I remember you, it feels like yesterday that I saw you walking past the Air Force Academy. God, you were so beautiful; long brown hair running down your back and ice blue eyes that stopped me dead in my track. I stared at you like an idiot, smitten from the moment I saw you. It cost me extra P.T but it was worth my drill sergeant shouting at me. I would have given what to know your name but you were always the girl, running to God knows where with a stack of books in hand. Maybe you saw me standing there but you kept your head down and just carried on. I even sneaked off base once; it was juvenile but I didn't care; I had to find out who you were, the girl that was always chewing on her pencil, too scared to look up at the world. Your friend Cathy from University ratted you out, please forgive her sweets, she just wanted you to be happy. I still wonder what you did with all those letters I wrote you, maybe you kept, who knows? But in the end, it didn't matter.

And then there you were, standing by the front gate in a white summer cotton dress, biting your lip as we made eye contact for the first time. I was on guard duty and man, you took my breath away in that moment. Maybe it was early but I knew right there and then that you were the one I was going to marry.

Caroline.

It took me years to win you over and break down your walls but it was worth every ounce of energy spent. Nearly went bankrupt buying you chocolates and flowers but I didn't care. The first time I held your trembling hand, touched your beautiful lips with mine, it was all worth it.

We were just kids back then in a world none of us really understood. There was no war, no N Day or Horde, nothing to chase us screaming through the night. It was just you and me and we had everything worked out so perfectly, buying out my father's farm in Kansas when he retired, setting up a home and starting a family. God, Caroline it sounds so good saying it over and over.

It was two weeks; I remember it so clearly; before I asked you to marry me. It was a cool spring evening and we were sitting on the porch. I think you were playing with a kitten, running a hand over your belly as I sat with a cold beer, looking out over the farm and the quietly swaying corn in the twilight. Remembering hearing ma's anguished screams and father calling us in. We stood in mute horror, watching the old television set. Our world changed in that day, a fire started that would consume everything in its path. Saw the Rips opening on CNN, people fleeing and the Horde streaming through. I didn't want to believe it at first, it was some sort of sick joke or publicity stunt, it had to be. But it was real, the world we had known and loved had come to an end. Demons ruled the night and we were the hunted now.

I remember fetching my rifle and kissing you goodbye, telling you that everything was going to be okay and that I would be there to see my son born. The memory of you lingering long after Ma and Pa took you away, heading to the storm bunker for safety. In the end, I was standing alone on the porch, a darkened cornfield and truck before me. And a sky on fire above. I never looked back at the dim lights of the farm house, just couldn't. Too afraid I would run back inside, gather you in my arms and flee into the night. Though I had made you a promise, I made one to protect my country as well. Sorry sweets, I had to break one of those promises, had to go to war to fight an enemy that nobody really understood or thought they could beat. We gave it our all, my brothers and I but we were outnumbered; so many of them. One by one, the cities fell, our grip loosening till we had to let go. I saw you a year later at a refugee camp holding a baby boy in your arms. Our eyes locked across the crowded room as we ran towards each other. I never wanted to let you go again, hearing the soft breathing of our boy breaking my heart into pieces all over again. But you had to run, the transport to sanctuary was waiting. You would be safe there and taken care of.