Rush Above Sea Level

Chapter 17: Changing tides

If living according to a schedule is considered a normal life then my life is definitely normal. Scavenging was fun until Jerry announced that everyone would be farming again, much to the farming group's delight. Harvest time was a great day, we all worked hard to collect everything and readied the soil for planting again. The lumber group soon transferred into the ship building group, the whole thing was built on land first. It gradually started to look more like a boat. About three months later, the livestock was back to health and winter started to come near. Work days were cut short, Bradley and I hung out with Kayla more. He learned more about my family and I learned more about his. He had two sisters, probably taken away by the rush. He had the average family quarrels and never spoke about his friends to his parents much, so they didn't know about getting picked on. He was actually a decent guy.

"When I first knew you, you sucked." I stroked Kayla as I sat on a hay bale.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I just wanted to start a new life as someone bolder." He apologized.

"I understand, I didn't know what I expected coming here. I guess I lost more than I lost in the rush."

Cameron was still a sensitive subject after all this time, the both of us still couldn't believe she was gone. I'm better now, but if I hadn't been injured then perhaps I could have saved her. Sue me for neglecting the life of a baby, but Cameron had so much more ahead of her than a small child. It would have been so much better if the both of them survived, but my stupid injury didn't let me. All of this was SON's fault and I was going to make them pay dearly for it. The anger in me was bubbling in a special place, reserved for Drake Jones for everything he did. I was going to march up to him and let him slowly bleed to death, he didn't deserve mercy, not after everything he did.

The food got better over the months, as the abundance of food started to grow, the kitchen had more liberty to cook up what they wanted. The mood of the base became more and more happy. Survivors joined once a while, still none that were even close to my age. Jerry and Twinkle actually worked in (close) harmony, which made Jesse's days easier. I still had the knife Jerry gave me in my boot, I wanted a weapon just in case anything happened. To feel better, I asked Jerry if he could teach me a trick or two about knife tricks, which he agreed to. There wasn't much free time for the both of us but we managed to squeeze enough lessons for me to feel confident about my knife tricks. I gave each one good names, such as backstabber, charge, pain, wrath, and the Atlantis Special. All the names explained themselves.

The ship was looking better and better each day, Jerry started working on the interior and ordered some to start working out some facilities. The ship's name was soon decided, Bessie. Winter went by like a breeze and the livestock started having little babies, our plants also flourished and the base was at it's full potential. Six months went by so quickly. Bradley finally decided to come with us to stop SON, for Cameron's sake. Jerry ordered a meeting in Baron's office to discuss the trip.

"So where are we going exactly?" One of Jerry's supporters inquired.

"The nearest base, we want to see if they're doing fine and possibly get some supplies if they're friendly." Jerry explained.

"What if it's demolished...by SON?" Another supporter suggested.

Jerry cut short there

"We will have small farms there, we have a solid filter system for water on the beauty, so it should be able to provide enough resources for us all. Anymore questions?"

Nobody said anything else.

Jerry grinned "The sails are ready then, pack your bags, we're going next week."