World Ashen

Chapter 20 - Jensen

Sarah stood marveling at the jets and tanks for a couple of minutes, then looked upset, remembering that the ash had ruined the engines. Others were scouting out weapons, ammo, and other useful things. Luckily, there was gas lying around, but we still needed to get it from cars. Sarah took the caps off the gas tanks of the car, stuck a hose inside, then stuck another hose in, then blew. The gas flowed through the first hose and filled the one-gallon milk jugs. After a while, we had about two-hundred seventy gallons of gas. "It feels weird being in April and having snow for three years in a row," Wyatt said.

"Yeah. Hopefully, it'll be over soon," I said.

"Oi, Sarah. That's a good idea, grabbing the gas, I mean," Shaun said.

Sarah smiled. "Thanks. At least we have a couple more soldiers coming this way."

I looked up from the M16 I was holding. "Come again?"

Shaun smiled, "yeah. We have a couple of friends who were in the air force from Indiana. They'll be here soon."

"Soon? How soon is that?"

"Two and a half hours. They're halfway here."

That piqued Cayler's interest. "Really? Are they flying in their jets?" He was being sarcastic.

Shaun glared at him. "Cayler, this is a serious matter, so please act like it."

"Fine, are you saying they can fix up everything?"

"What do you mean by everything? The jets? No. The ash destroyed the engines," Shaun answered. "Fighting this war should be easier, though."

"Hey, Shaun. Maybe we could go pick them up, so they won't be so exhausted," I suggested.

My cousin nodded. "That's great. Thanks. Oh, here comes Sarah-April," he said, pointing toward a young woman who came running in. Her red braids bounced. "Where's Gavriel and Gavin?"

Sarah-April held up a finger as she caught her breath. "They're with the others."

Shaun nodded, "Lynn too?"

"Nah, she left seven years ago."

"After Gavin was born?"

"Yep."

I held up my hand. "Shaun. Were you in Indiana before Yellowstone?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Thomas said he thought you might have been."

"Makes sense. Anyway, our plane crashed, and somehow, the radio was fine, so we contacted Gavriel. and Thomas."

"Where are the other passengers?"

"About half of them died either during the crash or while walking here. The survivors are with Gavriel."

I placed my head in my hands. "Shaun. I don't think New Haven can feed them all."

"Use your head, Jensen. Most of them will have their last meal here in a month when the Psychos attack."

"And if we go back down to two-hundred and fifteen people and they all had three meals a day, then we'd almost make it two more years. Almost!"

"We'll need our strength. Give us three meals daily, then cut back to two after the war if necessary. Okay?"

"Sure, now that's sorted out, let's continue working."

About two hours later, Sarah-April shrieked, "Daddy!" and ran into a man's arms. She took a young boy into hers. The boy was around the age of seven.

I stood up and walked over to the older man wearing his air force uniform. His name tag read Pierce, and he was Colonel, so this must be Gavriel. "Colonel," I said as I saluted.

"How is a Private like yourself going to lead an army?"

"Sir, I'm basically a Commanding Officer now. After Yellowstone, I—"

The Colonel laughed, "well, you're still Private to me."

Sarah-April hugged Gavriel's arm. "Be nice." She turned to me. "You must be Colonel Jensen Michaels."

Gavriel coughed, and I smiled, although it was awkward. "We need to get back to work."

"Quick question. How are you going to fight with one arm?" Gavriel asked.

"Simple answer, knives." Gavriel scoffed and walked off, with Sarah-April still hugging his arm. They both wore rings on their left-hand ring finger. Quickly, about fifty-two others were helping, meaning we had the military base cleared out in no time.

Once we were back in New Haven, and inside my office, I pulled Gavriel aside. "How did you know I was a private?" I asked because Angel had made me a new uniform, saying I was a colonel. Jace wore one saying he was a lieutenant.

"Simple answer, too young," Gavriel said.

"Fine. Since you're the smartest person in the world, you should definitely lead our army. Be honest, would you send someone who has two daughters into a war?"

After a second, the man shook his head. "In the old world, men didn't have a choice, and son, everyone has a family."

"But your kids are older and have a family of their own!" I yelled, making the other's glance in my direction.

Gavriel's voice dropped, "most of mine are older."

I kept my voice down, even though the information shocked me. "What? Who?"

"Think, Jensen."

Then it hit me, "Gavin. Didn't Lynn leave when he was born?"

"Too many questions asked. Shouldn't we get planning?"

"Of course," I said, as if the previous conversation had never happened.

Gavriel and I walked over to the desk where Jace, Thomas, Wyatt, Cayler, Sarah, Shaun, and Peter stood. "Wouldn't it be useful to have Dawson in here?" Jace asked.

"Yeah, it would. What about the others? Do we really want to retell New Haven our plans or just say them once?"

Gavriel cleared his throat. "We should probably tell them the final version."

Shaun nodded. "Great idea. I'll go get Dawson."

My cousin left, and I sighed. "Cayler, can I see you for a moment?"

"What's up?"

"They could be here as soon as four weeks. I'm not sure if we can do this. Any word on their progress?"

Cayler didn't answer right away. "They... seem to take their time, so I don't know."

After a couple of deep breaths, we walked back to the others, and I told them what Cayler told me. Then we all get cracking on making plans. We settled on calling Gavriel's pilot friends Flight 0116 since most of the passengers on Shaun's flight were pilots. Almost three months later, on June 20th, we were ready. Two hundred and sixty of us stood inside the warehouse as I stood on a box. "People of New Haven, as you all know, we're on the brink of war with the Psychos. You also know war never changes even one hundred years later. Some will die, some will live, but we will never forget the once we lose." I said, voice quivering. My eyes caught in Parker's, Paige's, Carissa's, Shiloh's, and Gavin's gazes. This reminded me of how different today's world was. "Places now," I said with a salute. Gavriel was commanding Flight 0116, Wyatt had the east side, Thomas had the west, Cayler had the south, and I had the north.

Thirty minutes later, a male voice said something sounding like, "Aufladen!" Angel began screaming, and through the walkie-talkies, we said, "charge!"

Then everything came rushing forward all at once. On top of the Psychos coming to "play", Angel was having her baby. Maybe we'd have a chance since Lux, Peter, came to help us. Now, we had an army.