Lands of Ash and Dust

Jake felt like he'd stepped on a live wire when he got back to New Eden. He had fiddled with the odometer to fudge the mileage; he didn't want anyone to notice just how far he'd driven and start asking questions. Chris spotted him as he was leaving the storage hangar where they kept the Jeep.

"I'm surprised to see you still here," he said.

"I just got back in," Jake replied. "I took the Jeep out for a patrol."

"So...you haven't heard? No one radioed you?"

"No." Jake frowned. "Haven't heard what?"

"Your girlfriend. Claire? She was hurt, some kind of accident at work. She's in the medical center now being treated-"

"What kind of accident?" Jake's heart stuttered and missed a few beats, his voice coming out strained.

"I don't know the details," Chris said, looking apologetic. "I just heard the news. I assumed someone would have contacted you."

"Thanks for telling me," Jake said, already jogging away with Taz at his heels. He fairly sprinted to the medical center, nearly knocking several people to the ground in his haste.

"Sorry," he called half-heartedly as they grumbled behind him. He skidded around a corner and into the medical center so fast he nearly brained himself on the door. A nurse jumped nearly three feet in the air and stared at him like he was insane.

"Claire Padley," Jake said, out of breath. "Where is she?"

"Up on the next floor in the in-patient rooms. But you can't-"

"Thanks." Jake raced to the stairs while the nurse irately called that he couldn't take a dog up there. Neither Jake nor Taz listened. They tore up the stairs and down the long hall. Taz barked and slowed, rapping his paw against one of the doors. It opened and an older nurse glared out at them.

"You can't have a dog in here," she said angrily.

"Yeah, sorry. Is Claire in this room?"

The nurse immediately looked suspicious, taking in his disheveled appearance and his security jacket. "She's not allowed visitors," she replied tersely.

"I have to see her," Jake protested. "She came here with me. I need to make sure she's all right. What happened? Is she in stable condition? What-"

"Young man, I told you she's not allowed-"

"Hi, Jake!" Marley appeared behind the nurse and waved.

"You said she wasn't allowed visitors," Jake said accusingly. The nurse just crossed her arms and kept glaring at him.

"He's cool," Marley told her. "That's my brother."

It still took nearly a full minute for the nurse to step aside and let Jake into the room. It took a lot of self control for him to not push her out of his way. He and Taz entered the room and Taz trotted over to stand next to Marley, resting his head on Claire's bed. She looked very still, her face too pale.

"She just started to come to before you came barging in," the nurse informed him. "It'll likely be a few more minutes before she's fully coherent."

"What happened?" Jake demanded. The older woman met his gaze.

"Officially? She was trying to help an irate patient and in the struggle she was stabbed with a syringe. The security officer who arrived to help her hit his head while restraining the patient. He's being treated up the hall for his head injury."

It was clear from the woman's expression that the story was a lie.

"Unofficially?" he asked. She closed the door and lowered her voice.

"She was attacked. She was found outside, along with the security officer. It seems they had a struggle and he stabbed her."

"You think Shriner ordered it?"

"Nothing happens in this city that Shriner doesn't know about."

Jake nodded. "I should have anticipated something like this."

"I think she's awake!" Marley said, jumping up from her seat. Claire stirred on the bed, her eyes fluttering open. The nurse bustled over to check her vitals and Jake stood beside Marley, watching Claire worriedly. It took a couple of minutes for her to come fully awake.

"Jake?" she croaked.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Wow, you look awful," Marley remarked and Jake nudged her sharply with his elbow.

"How are you feeling?" Jake asked.

"Not great," Claire mumbled as the nurse handed her a cup of water. Jake finally noticed a small, pretty bouquet of blue and white flowers sitting on the table beside Claire's bed and frowned.

"Where did these come from?" he asked.

"Another young man came by earlier to try and visit. I sent him away but he left these. I believe he said his name was Dylan."

"That was nice," Claire said, eyeing the flowers. Jake couldn't stop himself from scowling. The nurse gently patted Claire's hand and promised to be back soon to check on her.

"Claire did someone really try to kill you?" Marley's eyebrows were crinkled in a concerned frown. "Why would they do that? They let you come back to work; they have to know you didn't push that man down the stairs."

"I think Shriner doesn't really want me here," Claire said, gulping down the last of her water. "Why didn't she just kick me out, then?"

"Because she didn't want us to leave too," Jake said, gesturing to Marley. "And she knows if she sent you away, we'd go with you."

Jake pulled up a chair and sat next to Marley. He took a deep breath, preparing the words for what he had to say next.

"Listen, what I'm about to tell you two you can never repeat to anyone else. I took the Jeep out today, and I found something. It looks like someone was starting construction on another biodome but it was never inhabited. It's nowhere near the size of this place, but it's livable."

"Another dome?" Marley's eyes lit with excitement.

"I'm also pretty sure some other people found it before, and Shriner had them killed to keep them from spreading the word. So we can't so much as hint to anyone that we found it." Jake looked at Claire, his expression solemn and serious. "We could go there, if you want. But if you don't want to take the risk of striking out on our own again and being just the three of us, then I understand that. If you opt to stay, then we all stay."

Claire blinked several times. "Staying here is a risk too," she said slowly. "Someone else might try to kill me."

"Maybe. Shriner isn't likely to want to call too much attention to you. She may very well admit defeat. You've proven you're not as flimsy as she thought, surviving her assassination attempt. And there are people here. You wouldn't be alone anymore."

"I wasn't alone," Claire protested. "I had you two."

Jake leaned back slightly in his chair, gaze moving involuntarily to the flowers on the nightstand. "And if you choose to stay in New Eden, you'll still have us," he replied. "But you'd have other people too."

Claire looked from him to the flowers and back again. "Marley, can you give us a minute please?"

"What?" Marley yelped. "I thought this was a family meeting!"

"Just for a few minutes," Claire promised. "I need to talk to your brother."

Marley huffed. "Fine. I'll stand guard in the hallway."

"Jake. Do you think that I have some kind of interest in Dylan?"

"I thought that maybe you'd have interest in meeting and being around other people again." Jake leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. "We never would have met if the world hadn't gone to shit. And even if we had, it's highly unlikely that we'd be...whatever we are."

"You think that I developed feelings for you because we were all dependent on each other for survival?"

"I don't know what to think."

"Well. I think you're a giant doofus, Jake Campbell." She mustered the best scowl she could, though it lacked a bit of punch. "It doesn't matter how we met. You and Marley are my family now. And that's not just because I wanted some human contact. It's because you're you." She paused and looked at him warily. "Do you...only like me because we were stuck together?"

"Absolutely not," Jake said before the question had fully left her mouth. "I can't imagine not having you around. And not just for Marley's sake, because she adores you. For my sake, too." He wrung his hands nervously. "That's why we'll do whatever you choose. Staying or going is your call. Because I...I love you. And I'm sorry that I didn't bring flowers or anything, but when I found out you were hurt I just ran over here and I didn't think about-"

Claire burst into tears and Jake jumped up in alarm. "What's wrong? Do you need the nurse?"

"No," Claire sniffled. "You big dumb idiot, I don't care about the flowers or about Dylan. I love you too, and I love Marley and of course I don't want to stay in this horrible place."

"Oh." Jake's shoulders sagged with relief. "Okay. Just wait here; there's something I have to do first. Don't try getting up till I get back."

Jake burst into the hall, startling Marley.

"Stay here and keep an eye on Claire," he instructed. "I'll be right back."

He jogged up the hall till he found the room his fellow security officer was in. He had a bandage around his head and Jake figured he shouldn't have been surprised to see that it was Pritchard.

"Hey there buddy, heard you had a little scuffle," Jake said jovially, closing the door behind him. Pritchard looked uncertain as Jake made his way across the room.

"Just a little bump," he said. "No big deal."

"No big deal," Jake repeated. "Still, I thought I'd check on you."

"There's really no need," Pritchard muttered. Jake clapped him on the shoulder, hard. Pritchard winced.

"You should really learn to be more careful," Jake said, slowly, leaning down so he was eye level with Pritchard. "It's easy for accidents to happen around here."

He grabbed Pritchard's arm and yanked him half off the bed, twisting until he heard the snapping of bone. Pritchard let out a short scream of pain as Jake let him tumble to the floor.

"Get well soon, Pritchard." Jake turned and casually walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He found that the elderly nurse had returned to check on Claire.

"We're going to leave," he said and the nurse looked up at him in surprise.

"You're what?"

"I can't stay here if Claire's life is in danger. We're better off taking our chances out there than we are taking chances in here. So we're leaving New Eden."

The nurse looked at him for a long time. Claire touched her sleeve.

"It's okay, Jane," she said. "It was my decision."

"I'll give you fresh bandages and some medicine to take with you," Jane said finally. "Make sure you change the bandage regularly to keep the wound clean."

"Thank you," Jake said. They helped Claire from the hospital bed and Jane and Marley helped her into some regular clothes. Jane walked them to the front doors. The few people they passed eyed them curiously but Jane ordered them all back to work.

"Good luck," Jane said as she handed over a bag of medicine and bandages. She gave Claire a gentle hug before they walked away. They stopped briefly at their apartment to gather a few meager supplies, then they made their way back to the storage hangar where the Jeep was kept.

"They won't let us just take it," Claire whispered, leaning heavily on Jake's arm.

"One way or another, we're taking it," Jake replied. He still had the spare key for the Jeep and knew the code to unlock the doors to the hangar. He also knew just where they had stored the weapons he, Marley and Claire had had when they arrived, and he loaded those into the back of the Jeep too. It didn't surprise him to drive out and find the evening patrolmen standing guard at the front entrance, along with Shriner.

"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Campbell?" Shriner called.

"Stay inside," Jake said, climbing out of the Jeep. He kept his hands slightly raised as he faced Shriner. "We're going to leave," he said. "We're not taking more than we came here with."

"Why would you want to leave? You traveled so far to get here."

"We just think we'll be better off just the four of us. I don't want trouble; we just want to leave quietly."

"How do you think it's going to look if you all just stroll right out of here in plain sight?"

"How's it going to look if you refuse to let us leave?" Jake replied calmly. "I think that would look a lot worse for you. This is a sanctuary, not a prison, right? Shouldn't people be allowed to leave if they want to?"

A thick silence stretched between them, security officers looking from Jake to Shriner.

"Why do you want to leave?" she asked finally. "You have shelter here; food and doctors. You won't live half as long out there."

"With all due respect, Ms. Shriner, that's a risk we're willing to take. We know exactly what to expect out there."

Something flickered in Shriner's eyes. She knew that Jake knew about the attempt on Claire's life. Her lips tightened and her eyes darkened, but she nodded to the guards and Chris opened the gate. Jake met his gaze and gave a small nod of thanks. Chris looked baffled but curious as Jake got back into the Jeep. He hit the gas and roared past Shriner before the doors had even fully opened. He kept his foot pressed firmly against the pedal as they sped away from New Eden. None of them looked back.