Felicity stirred in the early, frosty morning as Tati woke Zephyr for his shift in steering. They spoke for a moment, and then Zephyr begrudgingly stood, wrapped in the blanket still, and went to sit in front of the steering wheel. Tati took his place, and Felicity genuinely considered leaning against her in the same manner that she had leaned against Zephyr. Though, the air between Felicity and Tati was tense and awkward; Felicity was indecisive on whether or not their conflict had been settled enough to be friendly. His consideration on the idea was cut short by Tati's voice, which was stiff with stubbornness but softer than usual.
"Zephyr would like it if you sat by him."
"Oh, I would too, trust me. It's just too cold to walk over there." She chuckled gently, and Tati nodded in delicate agreement. The air was progressively tender between them, but still tense with a fake politeness, both walking on eggshells. But Felicity was cold and exhausted still, her breath visible in the muted morning light, and so she leaned against Tati. Tati stiffened beneath her, but did not move nor push Felicity away, and eventually softened, taking to Felicity's tired warmth the way an owner does to a cat on their lap. Tatiana did have maternal instincts, as much as she tried to run from them with her fury, and in her haze of sleepiness they took over her tired body, and she lifted a hand to run through Felicity's messy blonde hair, unthinking. Felicity was overcome with the exhaustion herself; her thoughts were quick and numerous, but jumbled and difficult to sort out.
Felicity finally mumbled, "Did you mean what you said about Zephyr? Earlier?"
"No, of course not," she said it with a familiar harshness rather than understanding, although the aggression of her tone did not hide the fact that she did, in fact, understand. "I was just pissed."
"Seem to get that way a lot."
"I know." It was uncharacteristic of Tati to be so forgiving and admitful; both her and Felicity held massive egos, especially when Zephyr was the competition; and yet, unlike Zephyr, Felicity and Tati both hated themselves as equally as they hated one another. They were the worst of both sides of the spectrum, and Zephyr was the best. They both knew that Zephyr was precious, and despite Tati's harsh words the day before, like Felicity, she would undoubtedly and willingly die for Zephyr if given the opportunity to do so. In their love for Zephyr, the two found a peace, a middle ground, an understanding and familiarity in one another. They despised one another, their personalities clashing in an unformidable way, and yet, their deep ties to Zephyr held Tatiana and Felicity close. It was an era inevitable of change, and for Tatiana, this meant to hopefully finally heal. So, despite her jealousy and insistent rage, she calmed and breathed and held Felicity beside her peacefully, in control at long last, though we all know it would not last long. Felicity drifted back into sleep.
Despite the lazy morning, Felicity did wake up fairly early, before the sun was too high. It was chilly, the wind whipping and biting like a dog at its prey. She stood and yawned though did not stretch, the wind making her muscles and joints too stiff to hardly move. With no foreseeable problems to arise, the journey became more relaxing and peaceful. Felicity felt less on the verge of death, and she was sure the rest of the group felt the same way. Kiui, Marina, and Mareno still slept; Huan sat drowsily, watching over the herd protectively. Tati was awake, though still sitting where Felicity had left her, and Felicity felt something like guilt for standing and leaving her without a word. She walked to the front of the boat to greet Zephyr, who was more awake and upbeat now as he sat in front of the wheel.
"Is it like a car?" Felicity asked.
"This model, yes. I think its been modified to some extent. The seats are way too nice, and controls way too simple."
"Interesting."
"Someone who needed simple travel and often, I'd assume. Fisherman with money."
She chuckled, "That's the life, huh?"
He shook his head, "After all this water I'd be okay never seeing any ever again."
"That's fair. But really," she sat down in the passenger seat, holding a blanket around her, "What did you want to do?"
"I wanted to be a fisherman, right on the water, just like my grandfather. But the older I got, the more I realised that as much as I love being on the water, it was always preparing the seafood dishes we caught that was my favourite part."
"Oh, you cook?"
He grinned, "Do I? It's the best thing in the world! I want to open up a seafood restaurant, everything caught by me and Tatiana." He lifted his hands and widened the space between them slowly, as if introducing a physical sign, and breathed, "Alvarez's!"
"Alvarez's? It needs a better name than that." He thought deeply, nodding.
Then, he smiled again, and said, "Atlas and Alvarez's."
Felicity laughed, "That's so stupid... I love it. Except I'm no cook."
"You can be the... uh... Janitor."
"You named a restaraunt after the janitor?" They both began to laugh. When the laughter ceased, a calm, relaxed silence followed. Felicity eyed the water, the white foam spewing against the sides of the boat as it bounced over short waves. The water reflected the bright, white sun at the edges, deep sea green and blues making for a spectacular backdrop to the shimmer. It was beautiful, and white fluffy clouds floating slowly overhead. The only con to the whole scene was the insanely cold wind. The water sprayed up and over the front of the boat ever so gently, and small, glimmering droplets showered both Zephyr and Felicity, who laughed and shook in response. Felicity watched the distance. Houses and stores were much farther apart now as the town turned intro country side, but each building they passed was higher and higher above the water than the next. Hours of the boat's running were to pass. They all spoke as they woke up, playing word games or admiring the views, watching the fish beneath the rippling water just as they all watched and observed one another. It was simple, general socialisation during the ride, the air filled with a sense of relief and calm. Mareno spoke frequently and for long periods of time about himself and animals that he liked. He seemed to enjoy nature greatly, admiring the water and pointing out fish by their scientific names in a way none other on the boat, not even Zephyr nor Tati, could. Lillian quipped short but funny and relatable responses to the conversation, telling short and sweet stories of her grandchildren. Marina related heavily to their talk as mothers, and the two held a solid conversation about motherhood that nobody else on the boat could quite understand. Lillian was aged, though she certainly fit in well with the younger generation, reminding Felicity of the 'cool' teachers at school. She spoke in depth with Huan about gardening and herbs and vegetables, all things that Felicity herself was a bit unfamiliar with, although she found it interesting and listened intently about the soil's nutrition and best seasons to plant and how to work a greenhouse without electricity. She could tell that Mareno was also interested in this subject matter. Kiui piped in to the conversation frequently about entirely unrelated things, her children's brain unable to keep up with the subjects that the adults brought up. Felicity suddenly felt very young and immature, being the second youngest in the entire group. An insecurity about this arose, and she made an effort to appear more mature than she necessarily truly wanted to be.
The time passed quickly, it being the most enjoyable time anyone in the group had experienced since the floods had began. There was an actual sense of normal despite the lack of an actual routine. The group talked movies, animals, foods and places, hopes, goals, and dreams.
It actually took several days worth of travel still, and Felicity could only imagine how long it would have taken in their rowboat. Felicity watched in awe as the scarce scenery shifted. Houses were a story above the water, but the land changed again as they travelled farther and with speed. Houses began to grow uncommon, and deeper into the water until most were completely submerged entirely. Deep beneath the water, the terrain grew from flat and paved to rocky and unruly, the silhouette of a canyon and mountains surrounding suddenly becoming close and surrounding the boat. Steering was more difficult and important, though it was exhilarating to see dry land protruding from the water in the form of tall hills and rocky mountains. Mist overlaid the mountains in the mornings, and with each day, the air grew colder and thinner as the group travelled up in elevation. Soon, the horizon could not be seen at all, blocked entirely by towering hills. Each tower of rock and dirt was not dry; rivers ran from them in waterfalls, and suddenly, the water the boat travelled on was no longer an ocean, but a very wide, very deep, unruly river. The current grew stronger, pushing the motorboat with force, the water black and choppy and cold. Their boat's engine was running on empty, and so they decided to turn the motor off completely as the current pushed them forward. The water declined slightly and slowed a bit as the vehicle was swept into a flooded valley, tall sandstone hills on either side. And then, Felicity knew that they had made it to the collective haven in the valley. The boat drifted slowly now with the current, the river in the valley deep from the floods, and the neighboring walls of sandstone, rock, clay and dirt towering overhead. It was the canyon, worn by centuries of wind and water, but it had never seen waters as high as this before, guaranteed. Felicity could see now lining the naturally-formed walls was less natural structures. The building and mining of makeshift houses, built into the surface and sides of the walls. People walked along them, working and building, stopping and eyeing the boat. It was exciting and terrifying both. People! There were real, moving, living people here! Oh, Felicity was overjoyed and yet scared, trembling at the prospect of social interactions, of politics, of anarchy and government alike.
Some persons shouted, and In a mine on the plateau's side, out stepped what appeared to be several military officials, dressed in uniform and armed. Their dark, sheen guns made Felicity and her group uneasy. It felt as though an awkward silence had flooded the valley, and Felicity was certain that her group had broken some unspoken rule or social norm. Suddenly, she was thankful to be back in her clothes, although with the cold weather they had taken days to dry. Her excitement was drowned out by nervousness and anxiety that made her physically shake. One of the armed men stepped into a sort of platform held up by an iron pole; at the top, a man cranked a wheel, releasing a hose and allowing the platform to slowly drop to the water like a vintage elevator, where a short dock waited for him. He stepped out onto it and forward. The man was closer to Felicity's boat now, though could not close the distance over the water.
He spoke loudly and with authority, "Your business here?" The group hesitated, and despite her paralysing fears, it was actually Felicity who spoke up; although she was arguably the least charismatic and most introverted of the group, her senses were quicker than the group's majority (with the exceptions being Tatiana and Lillian) and she was well-versed in pretending to be perfect and unassuming after such a history with her family. Her pessimism, although generally leading to disdain and dread, also helped in such social situations. Preparation for the worst allowed better outcomes when things turned south, and her eyes and ears were fine-tuned to determine when a situation would slowly turn cold or dangerous. Her protectiveness and love for the group drove her, pushing away the anxiety on the simple basis of, this is what I must do.
"We came here for help, protection, and community. We heard the broadcasts telling survivors to come here. One of us is injured and needs more medical help."
"We don't give out supplies for free," he said. The man was stern and loud with his voice, a sense of tight strictness and authority, although he was not unkind nor not understanding; he was simply hardened from a harsh past experience.
"Those of us capable can work," Felicity said. Their boat had slowly drifted with the current upstream and farther from the officer.
He eyed them, arms crossed, and then relaxed finally and spoke gruffly, "Tie your boat up here. We'll talk." Zephyr roared up the engine, and pulled the boat over to the dock before the engine sputtered and died. They used rope to tie the thing to the dock in place. The military official helped all of them out of the boat with a strong and polite hand, inspecting them with thinking, knowing eyes. Lillian stepped out first, taking the lead and unafraid. Tatiana followed, and then Zephyr, then Felicity, Marina, Kiui (the poor dog held up in her arms), Huan, and Mareno. The man paid special attention to Marina, eyeing the bullet wound which was wrapped with dull cloth on her shoulder. It pained her to move, and despite the painkillers and anti-biotics, it was clear that she was unwell, pale and thin. The tan man stepped back, watching them on the dock as they stood, boards creaking under the group's weight. Most of them admired the civilisation in awe, others did not take their eyes off of the stranger so close to them. Finally, he said, "Alright. I'll take you to the communal mine where we can look you over. We have some residential areas down there, rooms you might like. I'll help you with decisions." It took two trips for the group to go up the elevator. Once all off at the top, they followed the man into the mine by the light of a burning candle. The mine was busy with people, and furnished similar to a house on the inside, carpets and walls being built up, torches lining the walls for brilliant light, resembling more like an unfinished basement than an actual mine.
Lillian spoke, "What's your name?"
The man replied, "Official Davis."
"This place started by the government?"
"Yes, right after the floods. We had military from all over the world, but primary local. We are not the only group taking residence in high altitude locations. A hundred or more, worldwide. Can't be certain, we only have limited communications."
"What's it like? I mean, what's happened... The president, the military, other countries?"
"President is alive and well, taking up residence in another, hidden location that none of us know. Military is uniformed although dwindling." He stopped in front of a door, turning to face the group as he welcomed them in, "That's where survivors like you come in. We need all hands on deck, as many as we can find, old and young. There's a job for everybody here, and together, we rebuild, we collect food and resources, and then we distribute them back to the people based on their work and how much they collect. You are the prosaics, and with the world itself so prose right now, you are exactly what we need."
Felicity felt uneasy. Her gut said something was wrong.
Davis led them into the room, "This is a spare room, one of many, that we keep for newcomers like you to settle in and be examined. This is the room I'm assigned to- one of my primary focuses is managing our radio stations and welcoming new people." The room was large and finished, lit with fiery torches, cobblestone floors and wooden walls, a few chairs (including some plush chairs made out of pillows, hides, and blankets), two tables, and carpets in a rather failing attempt to make it more familiar and comfortable. "It isn't the prettiest, but we have to resort to our older methods of building things with so little access to materials."
"I like it!" Kiui said, "It's like a castle room."
"That's a good way of looking at it," Davis said. "I'll have some of my men bring up your supplies, too. This is just a temporary place to stay while we sort things out, maybe a day or two, but feel free to get comfortable. We want you to feel welcome here, even if it is a bit..." he chuckled, "Primitive."
Marina muttered, "Reminds me of when Air B&B's describe a home as being cute and rustic. Really just means dated." Davis laughed genuinely in response, his eyes crinkling at the corners in a way that reminded Felicity of Huan. He sat down in a chair comfortably, leaning back, and gesturing at the group to also make themselves comfortable. A few seated in chairs, a few on the floor. Felicity and Zephyr sat together on the edge of the long, sturdy wooden table.
Davis leaned forward now, saying, "I'm going to send some of you to different places today to be evaluated on health, conditions, nourishment, and what kind of contribution you're able to make to the group without being overworked. We'll determine what it takes to get you healthy again, and once you're there, you can figure out a work or profession to help us. Simple enough?" The group nodded in polite though sceptical agreement. A few shared looks between Felicity and a few others asked the silent question, is this really it? Are we saved? Are things going back to normal now? Davis pulled a notepad and pen from a pocket on his chest, then said, "I want first and last names, one at a time." They all did so accordingly, and he complimented most of their names. Davis' first name was Carson, but the group still referred to him as just Davis. Then, he eyed each of them over carefully, though no judgement was in his eyes for their unconventional appearences; rather, he seemed concerned about health and injuries and did so with gentle care. He took notes for each person that he inspected and did so with a calming smile. Finally, after a while of thinking and looking and puzzling, he split the group up.
"Felicity, Kiui, Zephyr, Mareno, and Tatiana. I want you five to visit one of our nutritionists for youth, and a dentist, too. Huan and Lillian, I want you to visit a different doctor that can give you a basic checkup and look over your dental care. Marina, I want you to visit our emergency room first, and then you will follow Huan and Lillian to their doctor. Let's go there now, and then get you guys some food based on their conclusions, okay?" He sounded kind, intelligent, and reasonable, so the group did not hesitate to agree.
He led them out of the room, assuring that their belongings would be there upon their return, and then walked down a less-finished hallway lined with doors. He dropped the youth off first, then walked away to lead the others to their designated locations. Felicity only watched with aching, sickening worry. She was concerned about the group being split up. Although, being with someone 24/7 for months may be able to give a person separation anxiety when they finally separate. The office they stepped into resembled the room that they would be staying in, except the chairs and table were metal, and shelves lined the walls.
A woman in a military nurse uniform greeted them, saying, "Good timing, my last patient left no more than 10 minutes ago." Then, she gestured them into the room, and closed the door for privacy. "How old are you all?" They gave her their ages: 18, 18, 17, 14, 8. Then, their names. Zephyr went first. She asked for his shirt off, inspecting his bare back, ribs, tucked tummy and thin face. She examined how malnourished he was simply based on his appearance, then asked him to open his mouth to inspect his teeth. She did the same for all of them, determining that they were lacking several vitamins and minerals as well as being severely malnourished. She gave them each a small bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a few bottles of pills for their iron and vitamin intakes. She kindly though strictly instructed them to try and gain weight, giving them tips on how to do so, and to eat a varied diet. She recommended each opening a different type of canned good or MRE and all sharing them amongst each other to get variation. Then, she sent them on their way back to the room, where Huan and Lillian were already waiting. They sat in unusually disturbed, uneasy silence as they waited on Davis to return with Marina.
It took some time.
Zephyr broke the silence with his usual positivity, "They seem like genuinely good people here." Mareno heavily agreed, though his frightened eyes told a different story.
Felicity spoke with weight, "I have a bad feeling."
"You always have a bad feeling," Tatiana said. The two glared at each other in the low firelight.
"I'm usually right," Felicity said.
Huan spoke, then, "That's true. You had a bad feeling about the crocs. Then again about Mareno's group. You're intuitive and your instincts are good." Then, addressing the group, "I think we should trust Felicity's judgement here. We got glares when we arrived, but Davis says they welcome us with open arms."
"What reason do they have to hate us?" Zephyr pointed out.
"More mouths to feed," Tati said, eyeing Felicity again with a lingering distaste, although it was more humorous than in the past, a slight hint of play-mocking.
"Resources are slim," Huan said.
"But they wouldn't have announced themselves on the radio if they didn't want visitors," Zephyr said.
Felicity spoke, "That's true. But what about the old, the weak-" Then, thinking of Marina's absence, "The injured? The ones that have no use to them, that truly are just another mouth to feed and with no benefit nor gain to the whole?"
"Bad feeling," Mareno said with emphasis, and Felicity nodded agreement.
"Shouldn't we at least give them a chance?" Zephyr asked, almost pleading.
"I'm uneasy," Huan huffed, clearly uncomfortable with Marina being gone for so long, "I say, we pick Marina up and get out of here. Find someplace else."
"But where else?" Felicity said. "I don't like this place, but where else is there to go? Where else can we find resources and food?"
"Could board up in a house like Lillian did," he suggested.
"That's no life," she said plainly. "Boring, no improvement, no change, no escape. Lonely, and no future for the little ones. We need a community, a population in order to survive. We found one, even if it is sketchy. But maybe it's all we have right now."
Felicity pursed her lips, thinking, then finally said, "Lillian is right. I have a bad feeling, but it might just be anxiety from the big change. We try this place out, either it works out or it doesn't and we leave, but no matter what happens, we stick together. That's the most important thing. Each other." The group nodded in universal and appreciated agreement, and then the topic shifted back to Marina.