I Will Love You Forever

Chapter 2, part 3: Hope

"... and assets from the FBI, CIA, and NSA are going to be working with us, along with the Park Service and the National Guard. The official story is that a private plane went down, and we are looking for survivors. If anyone wants to help us look, we keep them from getting too close by telling them that we think it was carrying something extremely toxic—better to be vague about what."

"Thank you, Major. So that's it, people. We are moving to what we are calling Sunshine Base, outside Idaho Falls. The rest of the project is heading out there as fast as we can move them. The watch center is manned?" The general directed the last question at Colonel Singh.

"Yes, sir, by soldiers, from now on."

"Good. I don't want a repeat, and I want to know the instant another one of those things shows up. We'll worry about what happened later. I want to see those kids the minute they get here."

"Yes, sir."

General Peters looked around the table at the rest of his staff. "I want to be very clear about something, people. We have what appears to be an alien craft, down on this planet. It may have crashed with no survivors, or it may have landed safely, but if it crashed, we may have shot it down. We need to find it, as quickly as we can. If there is a survivor, it may not be happy with us, and I can't say I blame it. It is small enough that we think it unlikely more than one being could be in it, if it is not automated.

"Under no circumstances is anyone to take aggressive action against whatever was in that craft, without direct orders from me. You can defend yourself if it starts killing people, but unless and until that happens, keep your cool. We took the first hostile action, and we need to make up for it, if we are not going to get into an interstellar war with something that is advanced far beyond our capabilities. Is that clear?"

There were unhappy nods around the table.

"Let's get moving, people. We have a lot of work ahead of us."

* * *

Ken started to spring to his feet, but collapsed back beside her with a cry of agony. Damn his leg, anyway. With the stick helping him, he managed to get over to the blanket, and get her clothes. He didn't want to move her any more than necessary, but he managed to get her panties on her, and her shorts. With just his peripheral vision, he couldn't tell whether he had gotten her panties on backwards or frontwards. Her top he couldn't manage, but he got the blanket laid out beside her, then crawled over to get the picnic basket, and the two beer bottles. He finished off the open bottle, and put the other back in the basket before crawling back over with the basket, a foot at a time. Every time his leg pushed against the ground, it screamed in protest, making him clench his teeth.

He was worried about letting her stay on the wet ground. She needed to get warm. He got his own clothes on, then reached over and rolled her onto the blanket with him. He prayed he wasn't aggravating whatever injuries she had, but she would die of hypothermia without him and that blanket. He laid her shirt across her back as best he could, and tucked her face against his shoulder. Then he buckled the top of the basket closed, but kept it within reach. He wished he could give her some food, or at least some water, but she was completely out. He flipped the sides of the blanket over them both, as well as he could.

He lived through the longest night of his life that night. It stopped raining shortly after dark, but it stayed overcast, reducing his vision to literally zero. Several times, something tried to get into the picnic basket. With Lu between him and the basket, he didn't dare get violent, as he couldn't protect her, but he poked and pushed with the stick, and made contact with what he thought might have been a fox one time, and a raccoon another. Each time, the animal jumped away and scurried off. The third time, he smelled a skunk, so he just lay still until the animal gave up and went away. It wasn't bright enough or large enough to get into the basket.

When he opened his eyes to light, Ken was astonished to discover that he had actually slept. He blinked and looked around him, sensing that something had awakened him, something moving. He still could not see across most of his vision, but something was there, at the edges. The something moved, and Ken looked into the eyes of a wolf, three feet away on the other side of Lu.  

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