Families First: A Post-Apocalyptic Next-World Series Volume 6 Battle Grounds by Lance Ewing (ereader for comics .txt) 📕

could happen if things went badly, this was never one of them. It was supposed to be me that dies first, always me, he thought, holding Javi tightly and feeling comfortable doing so.

Was she run over? he thought, not wanting to ask in front of Javi. Did someone do it on purpose?—feeling his face flush.

“I’m sorry,” I said, seeing his reaction and looking into his eyes. “She had an accident at the machine shop, working on a school bus. It was a tragic accident and nothing more,” I added, handing him the wallet he entrusted me with only a week ago. I had it in my pocket every day without fail until he returned.

“Okay,” he said, letting out a long breath he held like a smoker taking their last drag before quitting the habit for good.

“The leader here, John, is giving the service. Would you like to say something?”

“Only to Javi, but I’ll listen to the rest,” Mike replied.

Sergio spoke quietly with Samuel, nodding Mike’s way a few times over the next ten minutes.

* * * *

Sergio, Max and Dr. Baker were given apartments temporarily until the Council could meet the following day. Mike asked if he could crash on the couch in our apartment, maybe not wanting to be alone tonight. “Of course!” we told him. He and I would stay up well past midnight, sipping scotch and reminiscing about Sheila and the trip so far.

The next morning Vlad pulled Mike aside, giving sincere condolences and the basics of what he knew. He was sure Mike would be upset that he left her alone in the shop, but his response was that she liked to work alone, she had always told him.

“I talked with Sheila when she was still alive,” said Vlad, telling him the code. “She said to tell you ‘A Boy named Sue’” and continued to recite the rest of her message, nearly word for word.

“I’ll need to think on it,” he said, asking Vlad if we could keep Javi for the night.

Joy and I brought breakfast back the next morning for the four new recruits. I didn’t want them getting a hundred questions from other diners before they had even spoken to John, Bill or the Council. The meeting was set for 10 a.m. in the Pavilion basement, as was becoming the customary location nowadays. Bill asked a few from our group who knew Mike best to attend as well, including Joy and me, Lonnie and Vlad.

It started with condolences for his girlfriend and concern that Mike had grabbed a security man of Samuel’s by the throat, according to him and one other guard, with all others saying it was just his shirt collar.

“I understand your concern at that moment, Mike,” said John, “but here we do not lay hands on each other—with only a few exceptions in a matter of life or death. I understand you left your group for a week, only to return now. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Where were you?” he asked, already having a good idea from myself and Lonnie in previous conversations.

“I was a spy in Baker’s camp,” he said, getting gasps out of some Council members hearing this for the first time.

“You mean like a James Bond 007?” asked a woman on the Council.

“Or the former British spy who lived right up the mountain here?” asked another.

“Something like that, but I got shot before I even got there. Sneaking around is not really my strong suit,” he replied. “I guess I’m more of a get-things-handled guy.”

“And you?” John asked Sergio. “You work for the Colonel, I hear.”

“Yes, sir, in a roundabout way.”

“And you two?” he asked, pointing at the only two left.

“I’m Max, and this is Dr. Ba… I mean, her name is Sally, and she’s a Dr., so maybe Dr. Sally.”

It sounded dumb coming out of his mouth, and he was sure the jig was up before it had even started, but she introduced herself as Dr. Sally, and everyone else just thought she had a hard-to-pronounce last name, seeming to be the case with first-name doctors, in Max’s experience.

“Well, Dr. Sally and Max, we can always use more medical personnel here,” said John, welcoming them officially.

“And how about you two?” asked John, looking at Mike and Sergio. “Were you hoping to stick around?”

“Excuse us just for a minute,” said Mike, without asking. He took Sergio by the shoulder and led him out of the conference room and into the hall.

“Is that an offer—what you said before to me?”

“The one where you come work with me?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“Sure. Technically, you would work for Ronna unless he didn’t want you, or maybe the Colonel would place you on his team. You have a good resume that both men have seen up close and personal. What about your boy? What you would be doing is no life to be dragging kids around with you.”

“I’m already doing it, and you’re right. Sheila told one of the group members, the Russian guy, Vlad, that she wanted him and his girlfriend to take Javi. She said she was worried I would take him into the mountains with me, and he would miss his childhood around other kids. I’ve only been here a day and already got in trouble in the first few minutes. I thought about it last night, and again today. She is right; he needs a mom and dad, as well as friends and safety. I’ll fight hard for The Great Battle, but when it’s done, if I am still standing, then I will leave—one way or the other.”

“I’m staying too,” said Sergio. “But only until the Battle is won. As I said before, this isn’t the end for Baker and groups like him. It’s the beginning, and they are coming soon by boatloads from China and India. Wait