Safe

“Someone smart might worry about where their gloves are not a useless bit of jewelry.” Leigh said holding mine up as I crawled along the floor of the tiny room we called home looking for my locket. I tossed her a smile over my shoulder but didn’t stop my search. I wasn’t leaving without it, I needed it for later. I found it wedged in the corner, obviously having fallen behind the table when I’d removed it last night. Smiling I fished it out and held it up for her to see.

“It fell, looks like someone knocked it off the table when I was making her scream last night.” I smirked as I said this, fastening the locket around my neck so it hung between my breasts and pulled on my shirt. Leigh walked over and wrapped her arms around my waist for a quick hug, then moved to the other side of the room – four whole steps - to let me finish dressing. I rubbed down my face as I’d rubbed the rest of my skin with odor neutralizing cream then slathered the peach fuzz on my head with the thick sweat blocking gel I kept in the large container on the sink before sliding my balaclava over my head with the mask part bunched under my chin until I needed it and tucked everything in. Then I took the gloves from her outstretched hand.

“You set hon?” I said running my eyes over her quickly and smiling with relief. Leigh wasn’t always careful.

“Absolutely. Do you know what sector they have us in today?”

“D-16. Over by the library.” I smiled as I told her, knowing she loved the crumbling old building despite the fact that it no longer held books. She took my hand as we locked up and made our way through the winding corridors to the exit. The rumble of the building’s mechanics a quiet backdrop to the sounds of the hi-rise city. It was the sound of safety. It no longer felt odd, living life largely indoors.

I gave Leigh’s hand a squeeze before releasing it to slide on my gloves and pull up my balaclava as our unit commander handed out the lightweight Scent Suits, we wore over our clothing. Fifty years ago, they’d called them Haz-Mat suits. But humans tend to distill things down to their most basic functions. The suits didn’t just block the pathogens in the air they sealed in our scents, which is more important now. So now they’re called Scent Suits. I turned and allowed Leigh to check the seals on the back of my neck and ankles while I checked my front then did the same for her, affixing the Velcro edges to our gloves and giving her the thumbs-up signal as I pressed my chin to my neck to activate the com so we could talk.

“Ready?” I asked and she nodded, half-listening to our commander give his normal safety speech, the one he’d sent as part of the email I read this morning detailing our assignments, so I wasn’t missing anything by not listening. It only deviated in minor ways from the speech he’d given every day this week. It’s a wonder we didn’t recite it with him, but our listening to his recital was part of the ritual. Humans love rituals, I should know since I had been waiting for him to reassign us to D-16 for weeks so I could do my own. Rituals let us know something important is about to happen. In the case of our commander, it was to let us know we were going outside. As he spoke the hum started, first a pulse then a revolving tone that built and would have drowned out his voice had it not piped directly to our ears. I barely noticed the hum, impatient to start the day.

The decon cycle began with a whoosh of sanitizing gas that filled the bay and wound me tighter than a spring. Going outside was always complicated. I can remember when we didn’t need all of this. I’d been six when the first ones escaped, and we’d learned to fear. Fear the scratching that preceded the attack, fear the horrid gasping death. I’d watched the whole world change. Things were better now. Thirty years later we’d regrouped and rebuilt.

The whirring hum jumped to a high-pitched screech, and we turned up the volumes on our comms to compensate. Once it reached operating levels it would barely be audible to human ears, but not theirs. Those tiny pointy-eared bastards hated the sound enough to give us a wide berth when it was at daytime levels. Keeping them far enough away to protect the wiring from their teeth and tiny agile fingers was crucial to our survival. Hence the need to go out daily to lay traps and keep them back away from our settlements. Away from the hi-rise cities that housed the remnants of humanity.

I hopped into the driver’s seat of our cart and waited as Leigh and the other two members of our squad settled and strapped in. The antechamber that housed the carts had large glass doors that folded open accordion-style to allow the electric vehicles to roll in and out as needed. I was glad they’d added the Squeal to our carts too, another layer of safety for my crew. Everything worked together. The Squeal, the Pits, the Scent Suits, the Burns. It kept us safe from the Swarms although nothing could really keep them away. But this allowed us to have lives again. Living in the new norm. And that’s just what I planned to do.

We cleared two buildings before we got to the library. I assigned the other two members of the team to take the upstairs and had Leigh join me in clearing the downstairs. There were only four buildings standing in this sector and it was almost ready for demo. I know I will feel more secure when they’re down. I breathe easier when I can see. See the land around me unimpeded. No holes and bushes for things to hide. No walls and rubble for them to climb. No tall grass or unpaved ground. Just clear pristine panels as far as the eye can see.

“I want to show you what I found last time,” I said gesturing for Leigh to follow me. When we reached the back of the building, beyond the endless rows of empty shelves I gestured for her to wait, then reached into the niche of one of the long tables to pull out the small painting I’d found hidden in the rubble.

“Is that what I think it is?” Leigh said surprise evident in her voice.

“It is. An actual oil painting. I wanted you to see it before they destroy this place. I wanted you to hold it while I asked you.”

“Asked me what?” Leigh said tilting her head. I wished I could see her face, but the masks made it impossible.

“To make it formal, you and me. There’s too little beauty in the world. But that right there, it’s almost as beautiful as the way you make me feel.”

She nodded and I saw the flaw in my plan, with our Scent Suits on I couldn’t kiss her. Couldn’t even hold her but I could make up for it later. My comm beeped and we moved to the cart, giving the ‘all clear’ and riding back to the city while the Squeal ramped up to clear the areas around the Pits before the Burns started. When we’d checked in and decontaminated, I pulled her up to the glass domed rooftop garden and we moved among the trees watching the Burn and hearing the inevitable screeching of the rats that had made it far enough into the pit to fall victim to the flames. The smell and sight of it was ugly, but up here, the air was clear, and Leigh was beautiful. She wore my locket around her throat and her clean-shaven head sported just a bit of my lipstick, the part I missed wiping away after I’d kissed her while fastening the chain around her neck. I could see for miles. The swiftly growing forest, the Barrier Plain, the smoking ring of black from the Pit, all ringed around the high walls of our Haven. Sure, tomorrow they might send me to a building that held a nest of the Swarm. Or maybe I would tear my suit and get a choice between slow or quick. But today, right now everything was beautiful. And I felt safe.