2089: Love in the Time of War (Part 2 of 3)

A short while later they came to a collapsed highway overpass that served as a giant slanted roof over several tents and makeshift tee-pees that were homes for several families. Small fires burned in front of most in old oil drums or barbeque grill basins. Sonya led him to a modest tent hidden in the back behind some cement rubble and lit an oil lamp. For the first time in 4 years they could see each othersʼ face. For a moment they just looked, each taking in how the other had changed. Sonyaʼs face had lengthened and thinned out some. Codyʼs was worn by the elements and now carried a thin scar over his left eyebrow that extended down to his cheekbone. Sonya traced the line of the scar from top to bottom with her finger. Her touch nearly brought him to his knees. She was so beautiful and her hands so warm and soft. In the infantry he had been constantly surrounded by men— commanding officers. He had almost forgotten what women looked liked and when he looked at her womanly silhouette out in the rain, he fell in love with her all over again. Cody reached out his hand to touch her face but recoiled. His hands were rough and callused. He turned his hand over and brushed the back of his fingers on her pristine cheek but she grabbed his hand and forced his palm to her face. The warm emotion he felt next was more powerful than any hit heʼd taken in combat training. Though Cody didnʼt notice, Sonya saw a tear drop out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly he pulled her close, maybe a little too hard and wrapped his arms around her.

“Iʼll never leave you again. Stay with me forever. Stay with me, stay with me...” He sobbed with glee on her shoulder.

“Iʼll never leave you,” she said simply in his ear and kissed him on the cheek. She reached her arms up around his and held him close to her for a while.

Finally she said, “We need to change out of these wet clothes. Thereʼs things in that basket over there. Iʼll be right back.” She smiled and disappeared around a curtain into another small room of the tent. There she turned on a battery powered lantern to see with. Like a good soldier Cody did as he was told and stripped off his shirt and pants and found an undershirt, jeans, and a mismatched pair of socks in the basket. After putting his old clothes in a pile near his bag he heard a clatter on the other side of the curtain. When he looked up he saw Sonyaʼs silhouette perfectly portrayed on the curtain. She slipped off her loose fitting shirt completely exposing herself in the projection. She had a well toned body, shaped to perfection by the hard work of survival. Cody looked away for a moment considering his options and then looked back at the curtain. She put on a t-shirt and pajama pants before turning off the light and coming back through the curtain. Cody simply stood there for a moment stripped bare except for his briefs. Sonya was surprised but Cody only seemed moderately embarrassed.

“Are these okay?” Cody asked holding up the clothes. She took a moment to admire his figure before answering.

“Those are fine,” she managed to say. Cody quickly pulled on the pants and socks and put on the shirt last. Sonya made eye contact with Cody and was puzzled by his expression. She wondered what would make him suddenly so tense and uncomfortable. Then she thought for a second and realized that Cody was staring at her.

“Did you watch me change out of my clothes?” she asked with good-humored awe.

“Yes. It was an accident,” Cody said and started to explain but Sonya shushed him and paused.

“So, what did you think?” she replied breaking the silence. He looked up at her into her warm eyes and said: “Nice... beautiful!” Cody unintentionally put on a puppy- dog look that Sonya could not refuse. She grinned satisfied with his answer and climbed under the sheet of the twin mattress on the floor. Cody started to unpack his sleeping bag and some things on the floor when Sonya asked: “What are you doing?”

“Going to bed.” He looked up, afraid that he had done something wrong.

“But itʼs cold. Wonʼt you come and keep me warm?” Cody finally understood what she was saying and a big knot formed in his stomach at the thought. Sonya pulled the covers aside and patted the the mattress. In the infantry Cody had slept outside in much colder weather than this but he was open to new ways of fighting the cold.

Cody crawled over to the bed and laid down next to her. In one movement she pulled the covers over both of them and slid her arm around his middle, cuddling up close to Cody. Cody was tense at first, unsure what was expected of him. Sonya was patient; it didnʼt take long for Cody to relax and accept the feeling of contentment that was welling up inside of him. For the first time in recent memory he was home.

Sonya fell asleep quickly, lulled to slumber by the sound of the rain on the tent, but Cody couldnʼt, not with what was happening about him. He was still mourning the loss of his platoon. And Daniel. Sure, he loathed the infantry, but the bonds you form with those who you risk your life with are very strong— and he hardly ever slept. In the infantry you are trained to be on your guard at all times. Cody then realized, he wasnʼt with his platoon, he wouldnʼt be targeted as a threat to anyone. That thought wasnʼt taking the local gangs into consideration but he wasnʼt worried about them. They usually fled the area when military conflicts happened close by.

When the sun started to rise and the rain began to lighten Cody finally dozed off. When Sonya woke that morning she let Cody sleep as long as he wanted. He didnʼt wake up for three straight days. On the fourth day he ate a few of his ration-meals to fill his stomach. The next day Sonya cooked for him and while eating the meal she had prepared for him a word came to Codyʼs mind that he didnʼt know that he knew: ambrosia. When he finished Sonya insisted on taking care of the clean-up but set the pans off to one side and curled up in Codyʼs lap.

Cody remembered playing with Sonya when they were little. She had wanted to play ʻweddingʼ often, and he was supposed to be the groom, but he rarely submitted to such humiliation. Now he felt a strong connection to those memories and felt that they were important beyond words now. He valued every moment heʼd ever spent with her and ever would spend. He was happy to do anything with her that she desired. Was it possible for anyone to be happy in a world like this? Cody began to think that they could.

Cody wrapped his arms around her, felt her breathing against his body, and began to have the first inklings of a new fear. What was next? What kind of life would they have? Did they have any choice? Cody had been to the European battlefields; they would find no serenity there. South America was more likely but a very far distance. They would have to travel by boat to get there and enemy Navies were anchored sporadically all up and down the coast. To stay where they were meant constant migration away from danger to the nearest safety for as long as possible until it came time to flee again. Cody had never considered beyond this ultimate goal, this moment he was now in, when he was with Sonya and could stay with her. These thoughts gave him the most novel uneasy feeling.

Sonya pulled her head back and searched his face for what was troubling him— he couldnʼt hide anything from her it seemed. Her question was written in her eyes and needed not be spoken. He looked away from her and around the room as though he might find the right words on the canvas somewhere. She slid her hand up his arm and under his sleeve for reassurance.

“I was thinking about the future,” Cody said, “I want to make a life with you, you deserve a good life.”

Sonya whispered: “And you.” She squeezed his arm.

“We canʼt stay here.”

“Then weʼll go.”

“I donʼt know where to go.”

“Then letʼs go on a journey and where the journey ends weʼll make that place our home.” She smiled and the brilliant white glow of her teeth seemed to banish any darkness in him.

“You know what,” Cody said, “thatʼs the best damn idea Iʼve ever heard.” Cody found the antidote for his anxiety, and it was in his lap. He looked thoughtful for a moment, making a rough plan of where they would head for and what theyʼd need. We can do it, he thought, it canʼt be impossible. Maybe if we stick to rural areas and keep a low profile, go slow and watch our backs we just might be able to make the border. He thought of the potential life that waited for them there. His spirits rose with unprecedented speed. He was almost giddy with optimism. His thoughts swung back to the present. He looked down at her.

“I want to marry you.”

“I donʼt think my parents will approve!” Sonya stuck out her bottom lip.

“Then there are only two options, my love, first we run away to Mexico and get married in secret, or, second, we commit ritual suicide and reunite in heaven.”

“The second is too messy. And too Shakespearean.” She sat up to faced him.

“Iʼll admit it, I have no original ideas.”

“But the first option has more potential for sex on the beach.”

Cody was quiet, his eyes full of affection, he felt his heart trying to escape the confines of his chest so that it could be close to her. Cody leaned forward and kissed Sonya slowly deeply trying to convey in this one act all the things that he felt for her. Their lips parted but their foreheads remained touching.

“I want to marry you,” Cody repeated.

“Iʼm gonna marry you,” Sonya answered.

What followed was too beautiful to exist in reality; not in a reality as grotesque and grim as this. Cody removed her shirt exposing her perfection. He pulled off her bottoms next and felt the whole time as though he was unwrapping the best present in all of history. Sonya removed his pants and he was naked for the first time in her presence—there was no shame at all. He touched her and she touched him in places known as forbidden but for this to be forbidden would have violated the feelings that had to be expressed.

They fell onto each other, into each other. He went inside her and they were one, coalesced; united in their celebration for the precious gift they, and possibly, they alone possessed. They made love over and over until the last possible straining ecstasy was reached.

For the next few months they lived together and got to know one another all over again. Sonya taught Cody a little about sewing and crafts such as basket weaving which were now important skills to have. Cody taught Sonya how to hunt and cook meat properly. They gathered supplies in preparation for their journey. Non-perishable food was golden and scarce. Tools were going to be important also; Cody hoped to find a motor-vehicle of some kind.

One day, while searching through a trash heap, Cody found a gold ring and gave it to Sonya. It was unnecessary but the small gem was intact and, by chance, it fit. It felt right. Another month passed and their lives just seemed to get better and better with the prospect of a prosperous future.

Until, one day, an enormous brigade of hostile forces invaded the area. They swept the abandoned suburbs for any civilians. Cody and Sonya grabbed their food and supplies and ran for the horizon. People were screaming in the distance and there was sporadic gun-fire. Cody and Sonya just made it out of the city and into a rural area when they came upon a group of scouts combing the fields.

Cody pulled out a camo blanket and draped it over Sonya. It instantly adjusted the pixel-fibers to blend with the surrounding foliage. “Iʼll be right back,” Cody said and grabbed up his gun. He placed a knife between his teeth and crept silently off in to the brush. He disappeared; for a moment all Sonya heard was the footsteps of the scouts moving through the field and getting closer. She heard a brief moment of struggle and then a soft thud on the ground. Some of the men shouted and listened for a reply that didnʼt come. They all went on their guard.

A man came out of the brush and walked unknowingly toward Sonya. He was alert and searching for the down man. He was getting closer to her, she knew it, but she could not see him without moving. She desperately wanted to scream for help but thought better of it. There was another thud on the ground, this time farther away. One of the men shouted and started firing his weapon; it sounded like a lightning-strike in contrast to the eerie silence that surrounded them. Another kind of gun fire answered and silenced the first. Then the rest of the men joined in the fear fueled fracas.

She could now see two soldiers in front of her, both facing away at an angle as they moved to a new formation. She watched the chest of the nearer man get riddled with bullets. The farther man raised his weapon and began advancing into the field and firing. The unseen man to Sonyaʼs right moved even closer, searching for a better firing angle. She was watching the farther man in front of her, now deeper in the field, when Cody sprang from the ground and gruesomely rendered him dead. Cody quickly dove to the ground completely out of sight in the tall grass.

The man to Sonyaʼs right stopped shooting and waited for Cody to reveal himself again. He stepped even closer to her brushing his boot against her elbow though he didnʼt notice. Another man screamed in the distance and Cody got to him too. The final soldier fired a few shots and stepped backward. This time his boot completely jabbed Sonyaʼs ribs and she was knocked out from under her camouflage. She looked up at him and he looked down in surprise. The man was tall and unkempt and appeared full of rage. He raised his weapon when Sonya jumped away. The ground exploded by her thigh and she crawled backward as fast as she could. She could tell the man was enjoying the horror in her face. He raised his rifle again aiming for her chest.

Suddenly, Cody wrapped a wire around his neck and jerked him off his feet. The soldierʼs rifle clattered to the ground and he began to gag and struggle. Sonya closed her eyes and began to sob. The man went quiet and Cody ran to her and held her. “Iʼm so sorry you had to see that.” He said and rocked her back and forth sitting on the ground. She wept and her tears soaked into Codyʼs shirt. “I would never let anyone hurt you.” He whispered in her ear with a conviction that made her believe it. She squeezed Cody even harder. “Come on. We need to keep moving.” Cody helped her up and they took off. He told her not to look around the field, only straight ahead. But in her peripheral she caught a glimpse of what he was trying to shield her from. She had seen death before and it always turned her pale.