SurvivorZ: Grave Harbor

86

LAURIE

Since the world ended, Laurie's good days with Lupus had become fewer and farther between. Between the stress of the last few days and sleeping out in the cold the other night, it was getting hard to remember the last time she spent pain-free and energetic.

She plodded out into the daylight of the fort's opened interior with a head that felt three times too heavy. The sky was the sharp white that pierced your eyeballs and drove a knife into your brain. She groaned and cupped a palm over her eyes until they adjusted to the light.

The sight that greeted her almost made her think she stepped back in time. The pentagonal walls of Fort Independence framed an open courtyard filled with a colonial view that wouldn't have seemed too out of place to the original soldiers garrisoned here. People toiled on different projects at every corner of the yard. In one, a metalsmith crafted bladed and pointed weapons. A butcher prepared meat that was presumably safe to eat in another. The early beginnings of a vegetable garden occupied much of the eastern court, near a partially erected windmill that would soon bolster their power reserves. There was an armorer, water purification, and a fishmonger. Everything the tiny community needed to make a go of it.

The sight was impressive. Despite their relatively short time here, the folks from Mystic already seemed better prepared to survive the apocalypse than the military in Hanscom were.

Laurie searched the crowd for the telltale waft of smoke that signaled her workplace in this low tech community. It didn't take much effort to find the cooking stations arranged by the northwest wall. Numerous people toiled to prepare meals of meat, greens, and fish for the hungry bellies of their hard-working citizenry. She wasn't the greatest cook the world had ever known, but she knew her way around a kitchen well enough to help out. With her worsening condition, it was probably the only job around here she could handle relatively pain-free.

She approached a familiar face. The tall brunette who revealed the secret behind Castle's location peeled potatoes at one of the tables. Laurie searched for her name, remembering it the instant she stood before her.

"Hi. It's Amy, right?"

Amy stared at her, recognizing her by face but not name. Laurie helped her out with that. "I'm Laurie. Laurie Cook."

Amy sniggered at this. "Cook."

It took Laurie a second to realize why. Once it dawned on her that they were surrounded by food, she also started to chuckle. "I know, right? Guess that's why they assigned me here. Are you the one in charge?"

With a smile, Amy motioned to the gray-haired woman stirring a pot suspended over an open fire. "That would be her."

"Amy, there's something I have to tell you," an excited voice called out. Laurie turned to find it was the woman's bespectacled friend from Harvard.

"I'm a little busy at the moment, Janice."

"It can't wait. I need to talk to you." Janice eyed Laurie suspiciously and added, "Alone."

"Uh, all right." Laurie backed away, feeling a flush in her cheeks that had little to do with her medical condition for once. "I need to go check in anyway."

As she headed off to speak to the woman in charge, bits of their conversation reached her ears from behind.

"That was rude," Amy scolded her.

"It doesn't matter. I have news about that thing we talked about. Come with me."

Laurie checked over her shoulder. Both women were walking off together, speaking privately. She found their behavior curious, but not intriguing enough to hold her interest. She had her own business to deal with.