Her eyes fluttered slowly open. It took her a second to remember exactly where she was. Luckily there was still enough light for her to see, but just barely. In the dim light, she could just make out that she was still in Margaret’s tent. Her pack and case were sitting on the ground nearby. Just beside her case were her very own custom-modified cassette decks.
The power source was even connected properly and that was something that only she knew how to do. Upon closer examination, she realized that her latest acquisition was still locked into its place in the player. Her homemade direct box was still attached as well. She picked it up and turned it over to the “fat cassette” side. There was a cartridge sticking out of the rectangular hole. This cartridge was an extremely rare find of hers because the label was still somewhat legible. She could not see it in this light, but she knew beyond doubt that this cartridge bore two words: “Jerry Reed”. She wasn’t sure who those words were referring to, but she knew they were there and that if she pressed the play button, she would hear a tune about a man and the shaft to a goldmine he used to own.
There was a small coughing sound from the opening in the tent. It was Easy. She smiled at how appropriate his name seemed at this very moment.
“I hope I didn’t startle you. I knew that there was something you needed, so I got it.”
“Yeah, but how the hell did you know what it was, much less where to look for it? And, how the hell did you get it, I had it locked away!”
He looked at her and then at the ground just in front of his feet. “That’s going to take some time.”
Ginger sat at the table and listened while Easy told his story and the story of his people.
It seems that his people had made their exodus from the city about the same time as the Serious Shit Went Down. They managed to get out just in time. They retreated to the tunnel with every intention of going straight through and emerging on the other side just like she had intended, but they found the other side blocked by rubble. So, they made their way back to the lowest point in the tunnel and began to settle in for their time to emerge from the tunnel back into the city. Perhaps a dozen generations had past since that time.
They had made the tunnel their home, but without being able to get out for supplies, they knew that their days were incredibly numbered, so a group of the men made their way to the far opening in the tunnel and began to work on clearing the opening. Several of them died in the process. Part of the rubble collapsed with such a force that some of the smaller pieces were shot almost as far back as their camp.
They succeeded in getting the opening cleared, so an expedition was organized to go and find food and supplies on the other side.
They never returned.
They had headed west and never returned.
Time passed, and their people had been living in total darkness living on whatever they could catch in the depths of the darkness. Until one day, one young boy discovered that he could simply “Leap” over great distances. Legend has it that he took one step and was at the eastern mouth of the tunnel. He was in such a panic about this that he tried to step back and stepped all the way to the western side. No one ever saw him pass through the camp.
Their community had begun to adapt to their surroundings and, somehow, evolve into those adaptations.
Another person learned that they could create an artificial light. Ironically enough, when he discovered he could do this, he created a light so bright that he instantly blinded himself and his wife. However, his children and his children’s children could do the same thing. It simply became a dominant trait in his line. And when created, this light appeared outside of the body.
Easy explained that he was the first of his people who could emit light from his eyes and still see through it. He also had the ability to Leap. (”That’s how I got your belongings.”)
Over the generations, they had also changed their primary mode of communication. Among themselves, they used a kind of telepathy to communicate, but they still hung on to the old verbal ways for use when bartering for supplies on the outside.
Easy stopped for a moment. He took a deep breath before continuing.
“In all of our generations, not one person has ever Leapt or set foot back in the city until today. Outsiders come here, but we have never gone back outside. When I went back for your belongings, I became the first of our line to do so since time out of mind.”
There was a very heavy silence between them. She could tell that even with all of their evolution down here, they had still not gotten over their fear of the city; even though not one of them could remember exactly what happened that led them down here in the first place.
“Why did you do it?”
“I did it for you.”
“But you don’t even know me. You could have gotten yourself killed or caught. How did you avoid the Eye?”
“I simply Leapt into your locked storage room, took your things and Leapt back. As far as I know, no one has ever Leapt that far, either.”
“How could you have known where that was?”
“I read your mind.”
For the first time in her life, she felt as though someone genuinely cared for her and wanted her to be safe. She could see the look of absolute love in his eyes and it scared her to death.
This was too much for her. Ginger leapt to her feet. She wasn’t sure what she felt for Easy and her lack of understanding of those emotions was more than she could handle. She was thankful that he managed to retrieve her most prized possession in the world, but she was pissed off at him for how he went about getting it. She knew he was becoming obsessed with her, but she didn’t want him to get hurt. After all, she had to be leaving now, thank you very much.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he said.
“You didn’t hurt me, but you can’t just go around reading people’s minds and…” she struggled for the word “…’Leap’ off and go get stuff for them.”
“But you needed…”
“I would have gone back on my own.”
He stood up and turned his back to her. In the same amount of time it took for her to blink her eyes, he was facing her again.
“You would have been caught.”
She was still dealing with the whole instantaneous about face trick. She reeled as she spoke. “What?”
He helped sit her back down at the table. “You would have been caught. There are armed sentries standing outside your storage facility, waiting for you. I could sense them when I Leapt back there.”
She felt a chill run down her spine. Not only had he returned her most prized possession, he had no doubt saved her life in the process. She simply sat with her mouth dropped open.
Then she blinked.
Words would not fill this moment. She stood up, turned to face him and put her arms around him. She could feel the tears finding their way down her cheeks, but she was powerless to stop them.
Had she ever had someone love her in her life? She couldn’t remember. Sure, she had had plenty of relationships with men in her life, most of them physical in nature, and she had had her share of friends that seemed to enter and exit her life through a revolving door, but had any of them really loved her? The more she thought about it, she wasn’t sure of the definition of the word love until this very moment being held in the arms of a stranger.
She let go.
A flood of emotion came forward with a force she had never felt. It caught her by surprise so that she had not had time to take a breath to prepare.
She wept. Ginger wept.
And Easy held her and let her do so.
