SurvivorZ: Grave Harbor

24

MIKE

Mike awoke to sights and sensations that were growing more familiar by the day. A white sheet tacked to the ceiling separated his bunk from those of the girls. Through a crack in the boarded up window, the streetlights outside formed a lit dagger stretching across the curtain. He stared at it and listened to Barb and Katie respiring softly on the other side.

The living quarters he shared with the family of his old Boston PD partner, Frank Ellison, used to be a biology professor's office. A faint trace of cigarette smoke and stale coffee still lingered from its previous tenant.

Glancing at his watch, he saw it was time to get up. He had a meeting with Colonel Hayes in a couple of hours. The soldier who delivered the invitation late last night didn't say what it was about. Maybe Lloyd's little stunt with Doctor Mueller yesterday meant the army was cracking down on their civilian guests running amok and potentially disrupting camp security. Whatever Hayes wanted, it probably wasn't going to be something he'd enjoy. The colonel wasn't normally one for social calls.

Mike groaned and slapped his sock feet on the tiled floor. The chill froze his soles and climbed up his legs. He slipped on a pair of pants, grabbed his shirt, and padded across the room to check on the military-provided portable heater. Barb had switched it on full blast last night before heading off to bed. It was already losing the battle against Boston's chilly nights. At this rate, winter was going to leave them frozen solid in their bunks.

Her low voice caught him by surprise. "Mike?"

He looked over at the separate cots that mother and daughter pulled together so they could sleep side by side. Barbara peered at him, bleary-eyed, from her pillow.

"Hey, yeah. It's me," he whispered while fastening the buttons on his shirt. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

She shook her head, and then checked that their conversation hadn't disturbed Katie's slumber. The child was too busy sawing logs from her side of the bed to stir.

Barb sat up, yawned, and stretched. "What time is it?"

"About quarter to six. You should curl up and go back to sleep. I'm just going to check the commissary to see if they brought in a fresh supply of coffee from Hanscom."

"Bring me one too, please? I've been dying for a drink for days."

Mike smiled and resisted the urge to admit the same. "That's the plan. Anything else?"

"I wouldn't say no to a breakfast muffin, if you can find one. Also..." She glanced at Katie again. "I heard a few of the soldiers talking yesterday. They mentioned the air force is going to start bombing targets in the city tomorrow, is that right?"

"That's what I heard too."

"If that's the case, then by my reckoning, that makes today—"

"October 31," Mike nodded, catching her drift. "Halloween."

"Think maybe you could scrounge up a piece of chocolate somewhere for Katie? It's not as much fun as going out trick or treating, but it's better than nothing."

"Will do. I'll check with Lloyd. He always seems to have a few candy bars squirrelled away when we're on lookout."

"Thanks, Mike."

He nodded and gave her a smile. With all the bad blood between them following the death of her husband, he never expected to find acceptance from Barbara Ellison, much less renewed purpose. She spent months hating him for the death of her husband. Mike's fatal confrontation with Frank over his involvement with the DiMarco cartel had broken all of their lives for the longest while.