“Oh my gosh! Your shower is AMAZING!” Lilli ran her hair through her clean hair as she came down the stairs.
Aurora was sleeping in the rocker which Heather had found in the attic. It had been up there for years and much to her surprise when they plugged it in the rocker started up.
“She loves the rocker.” Heather looked up from her book. She had assigned herself baby duty so that Andor and Lilli could clean up.
Lilli tiptoed towards the cradle and peered in at Aurora sleeping soundly wrapped in blankets and stuffed animals.
Andor came inside a moment later “How do I look?”
Lilli turned around and her hand went to her mouth, “Andor! Is that you? I hardly recognize you.”
Ed came in behind Andor carrying his clippers. “His hair was so thick it stalled out my clippers more than once… but we got it done.”
“Now I don’t look like a hippy anymore.” Andor held up the mirror to look at himself again.
“I almost forgot what you looked like without a beard and a high and tight. It’s been SO long.” Lilli walked over to Andor and stroked his cheeks softly with her hands.
“I’m gonna go hop in the shower now, and get cleaned up.” Andor kissed Lilli on the forehead.
Ten minutes later he came downstairs wearing a pair of Ed’s trousers and a real tree camouflage t-shirt. “I think I used up all the hot water.”
“That’s alright.” Ed held out a cold beer. “The hot water works pretty good here. It’ll recharge soon enough.”
“Oh my god. Beer! Thank you!” Andor downed a long swig of the ice cold beer. “I can’t remember the last time I had a cold beer…” his voice trailed off as he gazed at the bottle in his hand.
“Lilli and Heather are sitting outside. Want to join them?” Ed motioned towards the porch.
The two men walked out onto the porch – Ijape looked up at them as they came out then laid her head back down on her paws and closed her eyes.
“Looks like a storm is coming.” Andor took a seat next to Lilli.
“Yeah, the summer storms up here can pack quite the punch.” Heather replied as a peal of distant thunder echoed across the alpine meadow around the cabin.
“So, what have we missed being up in the mountains for the last year?” Lilli the trepidation in her voice was palpable.
“Oh my god… where to start?” Ed stroked his mustache and looked at his beer. After a few moments of introspection he started.
“Well you know about the alien monster. It disappeared around November last year. The military says they killed it but no one believes them since they’re still daily patrols of aircraft over this region. Everyone believes they’re still looking for it…”
“Where did it come from?” Lilli interjected.
“The consensus is that it was on the asteroid, which is being called Wormwood by the way. NORAD detected a piece of it breaking off just before impact. The smaller piece crashed into the hills near San Jose. The first attacks happened in that region. So, it kind of makes sense I guess.” Ed took a long swig from his beer.
“Wormwood?” Lilli’s eyebrows cocked to the side in confusion.
“Yeah, apparently an ancient end times prophecy posited that a falling star named Wormwood would wipe out most of humanity.”
“Most of humanity?” Andor interjected. “What do you mean?”
“Tell them about the nuclear disaster Ed.” Heather patted him on the hand.
“Right, last we heard the fallout cloud was drifting south east and they were advising people who were in the path to evacuate.” Lillis shifted in her seat.
“Yeah, they did advise folks to evacuate. A lot of people got out but many didn’t in time. Over the last year several million people have died of radiation poisoning. It poisoned Lake Mead and as a result Las Vegas, Phoenix, and most of the Colorado River Basin is a ghost town now.”
“Oh my god!” Andor set his beer down and stared at Lilli, his mouth hanging open.
“Oh it gets worse.” A look of sadness spread across Ed’s face.
“Worse?” Lilli's voice trembled.
“Much worse.” Ed took a long swig of his beer, “Millions upon millions of people were displaced. Then a sort of nuclear winter settled in. From all the smoke and ash the planet cooled off significantly. Crops around the world were wiped out and starvation set in. Even rich nations weren’t immune. Conservative estimates put the death toll this past year to about 25% of the earth’s population.”
“Twenty five percent? That’s like 2.5 billion.” Lilli gasped as she clung to Andor’s hand.
“Actually, it's probably more than that. Another 15-20 million died in the wars which have broken out all over the planet. Russia escaped the brunt of the carnage caused by the asteroid and so they launched an attack against NATO satellites. It was considered an act of war and as a result NATO flattened every one of their major cities. What our missiles and bombs didn’t destroy winter and starvation took care of the rest. China crumbled. They relied on too much imported food and they couldn’t pivot fast enough. Not to mention the tidal waves destroyed most of their coast line.”
“What about America? Any wars here?” Andor asked without really wanting to know the answer.
“There are two main factions warring for control. Currently the US Military is backing the Freedom Caucus but in the beginning there were a lot of defectors going to the Heaven’s Army of the Elect.”
“Who are those two groups?” Andor polished off his beer and set it down on the table next to his chair.
“The H.A.E believes god unleashed this disaster on the planet as punishment for mankind’s embracing of sin. They want society to go back to the days of slavery, white supremacy, nuclear families, and heterosexual normativity. You know the dark ages like back in the 2020’s with christian nationalism and Trump… ”
“Oh god, are you serious?” Lilli set down her drink.
“I wish I was joking.” Ed continued “The Freedom Caucus is winning but it’s been a hard fight. A lot of Americans have died in this senseless war. It definitely isn’t what we need after we’ve already been through so much.”
Ed’s voice trailed off.
“I’m sorry.” Andor looked at Ed. “I know it can’t be easy having to tell us all this.”
“Telling you, is the easy part. Living with the insanity and horrors everyday, that’s the worst.” Ed polished off his beer and stood up. “Hey, let’s focus on the good things. We thought you two were dead but now we’re sitting here having a beer together. We have to focus on the positive things - even if the world is absolutely bat shit crazy right now.”
“I guess.” Lilli’s voice trailed off. “It’s so much worse than I was expecting.”
Andor took Lilli’s hand, “We had no idea it was that bad. We came down to get supplies and head back into the mountains. We’ve had a good life up there.”
“I’d say.” Heather smiled. “You two look healthy and happy. I’ve forgotten what healthy and happy people look like. The whole world is a hellscape.”
The four sat in silence staring out at the mountains and the meadow.
Ed broke the silence, and stood with a long sigh, “Who wants a refill?”
“I’ll take another.” Lilli and Andor replied in unison.
“I’ll take another one too, please dear.” Heather didn’t look up – the last year had been too hard on her. She was tired, worn out, burnt out.
A minute later Ed returned with four cold beers.
“So, do you think it would be possible to talk to our families and find out how they are doing?” Andor asked as he unscrewed the cap on his beer and took a sip.
“Frankly, I doubt it. Too many people have been displaced. Satellites are going back up slowly but it’ll be decades before we have any sort of infrastructure built up like we used to have. But if there was even a way to call, where did they go? So many families have been fractured and separated…” Ed’s voice cracked, “It’s heart breaking.”
“We were really hoping to talk to our families…” Andor stared at his beer then at Lilli.
“I’m sorry to not have better news for you… “ Ed began but was cut off by his radio crackling to life.
“Sheriff. This is HQ. Come in over.” The dispatcher's voice sounded frantic.
“This is Ed. Go ahead HQ.”
“A resident from Pinedale just came in. Said they’ve spotted the monster in their valley. Apparently it tried to eat two kids.”
“Roger that HQ. I’m headed there now.” Ed set down his beer.
“I’m coming too.” Andor stood. “Maybe I can help.”
“What are you going to do?” Lilli demanded grabbing Andor’s hand as he stood to follow the Sheriff.
“I’m a Marine babe. I’m not just going to sit here and do nothing…” Andor took Lilli’s hand and kissed it. “I’ll be fine.”
Aurora woke at the commotion and cried. “Babe!” Lilli pleaded. “We just got here. Do you really have to go now?”
“I’ve seen this thing in action. I’ve been up against impossible odds before and I came out on top.”
“Barely!” Lilli wrapped her arms around Andor and squeezed him tight.
“I’ll be fine, sweetheart.” Andor kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be back before the hot water recharges.”
“You coming?” Ed called from the driveway as he opened the truck door.
Andor smiled at Lilli and kissed her on the lips and ran down the stairs and hopped into the passenger seat.
![[asi-ii-pinedale.jpg]]
It wasn’t too far to Pinedale. They covered the short distance quickly as the sirens wailed and the lights flashed.
“This Rivian sure can haul ass.” Andor was gripping the oh-shit handle above the door with his good hand.
“She’s an old girl but she packs a punch.” Ed mashed the accelerator to the floor.
“HQ come in” Ed keyed the radio from the steering wheel. “Have you notified the military yet?”
“Affirmative I called it in. They said the cloud cover is too low to send in jets. So, they’ve dispatched a Force Recon Team. They should be inserting via helicopter shortly.”
“Where are they inserting?” Ed asked.
“Town center in Pinedale.” The dispatcher reported.
“Tell them we’ll meet ‘em there.”
“I’ll pass it on.”
---
The scene at Pinedale was absolute chaos. Men were bustling about carrying guns and women and children were piling into every available vehicle trying to get out of the city.
“Thank god you’re here Sheriff.” a man said breathlessly before Ed could even open his door. “My name’s John. I’m the town’s de-facto Mayor.”
“What happened?” Ed reached for his M-4 in the backseat.
“Two kids were up in the forest. School got out early today and they were swimming up the canyon. One of the kids, a boy, was torn up pretty badly. Doc is stitching him up now. He lost a lot of blood. The girl is hysterical, but she says the monster attacked them…” his voice trailed off.
“Is that all?” Ed asked incredulously.
“No… The girl said two men fought the monster. They had a sword and a shield.” John stammered “I don’t know what to think about that. I know the girl. She’s a good kid. Straight A student too. It’s not like her to lie or embellish a story…”
“Okay.” Ed grabbed his radio. Then the sound of helicopters coming up the valley interrupted him.
“Looks like backup’s here.” Ed turned towards Andor.
A few moments later the helicopter was hovering over the park in the middle of town. Three ropes were tossed out of the open doors and eight Marines fast roped to the ground forming a large circle as they alighted into the brown grass and spread out. A captain walked over to the Sheriff.
“Good evening Sheriff. My name’s Captain Simmsbury. You can call me Simms. Where is this monster?”
“Hello Simms. Name’s Ed. This is my deputy Andor.” The sheriff shook the captain’s hand.
Andor had a surprised look on his face “Didn’t know I’d been promoted.”
“Well now you know. Congratulations.” Ed gave Andor a smile.
“How’d you lose the arm?” Simms asked, eyeing Andor suspiciously.
“Syria. Our C.O.P. was overrun. Took three shots to the chest and a mortar round took my arm.”
“I see.” Simms replied with empathy creeping into her voice. “What unit were you with?”
“2/5” Andor replied.
“Fucking A! Semper Fi sir.” Simms replied as she straightened up a bit out of respect.
“Thank you Captain, but I was medically retired as a 1st Lieutenant. So, no need to call me sir.” Andor replied smartly.
“Roger that Lieutenant.” Simms replied with a nod. “So, where’s this monster?”
“Up there.” Ed pointed up the valley.
“Well then let's move out.” Simms turned to bark an order to her platoon sergeant.
### Next Chapter: [[26 - Santo-Bi-Lance 🐉]]
### Previous Chapter: [[24 - The Beginning of the End 🧷]]