Chapter 17

About three weeks went by. Life at Delmarva slowly swung back in the direction of a new normal. By now, it was early November. The cooler weather was here in earnest, with more than a few signs that winter was approaching. The leaves on the trees had turned brown, and more than half of them had already fallen to the ground.

Abby continued to work her way through the grieving process. It was not just the loss of Jason that weighed on her. It was Lars, Elena, Sara ... all of them. It was the way every single surviving member of the community had suffered similar losses of their own. It was the utter foolishness of Laird, and the orphaned Jimmy. It was the horrible vision that still haunted her – the swollen, deformed corpses. It was too much for her to process all at once.

Essence, who was becoming wrapped up in her new project, was there for her as much as she was able. A routine became established at bedtime. Before they went to sleep, Abby would take Essence’s nipple into her mouth and suckle her for a prolonged period – sometimes more than a half hour. This was therapeutic for Abby, and Essence very much enjoyed it as well. In those early days following the Fourth Incident, it was the only form of lovemaking they engaged in.

With Essence out for most of the day, and many times much of the evening as well, Hannah often dropped by to keep her company. Mercy and Amelia were frequent visitors as well. Both of them were in the process of entering Abby’s tight circle of close friends. Sometimes Jimmy – and even Lavender as well – would show up. The way that both children had handled their own personal tragedies did serve to inspire Abby somewhat.

And then, very early one morning, Abby broke with the routine. After waking up, she at once attached her mouth to the breast of the still-sleeping Essence. After the usual period of suckling, Abby surprised Essence. She tossed aside their blanket, and for the first time, went down on her. Without hesitation, she parted Essence’s black bush with her tongue and ate her out, bringing her to no less than three orgasms. With Essence on the verge of asking her what brought that on, Abby came forth with an explanation.

“I’m back,” she declared. “It’s time for me to start living again.”

“I’m happy for you,” said Essence. “And it’s about time.” They exchanged a wet, sloppy kiss, with Essence not caring one bit that Abby’s mouth was dripping with her own vaginal secretions.

They got cleaned up, and each of them moved to get on with their day. As Essence was heading out, she told Abby, “You should get out of the house today. The weather’s nice.”

“I intend to. I plan to go and hang out with someone else who’s recently rejoined the land of the living.”

“Who’s that?”

“Kara.”

Essence was pleased to hear this. “I think that’s a great idea. It will be good for you. Good for you both.” A quick kiss, and she was out the door.

“Abby!” exclaimed Kara as she greeted her at the front door, a genuinely surprised smile spreading across her face. “It’s so nice to see you. Come in, come in.” They embraced in the doorway, a spontaneous gesture resulting from the recognition of shared losses.

They settled in on the sofa. “How are you doing, Abby?” Kara asked right away.

“I woke up this morning and decided ... it was time to get on with life. Life goes on, I have my life to live, or whatever other cliche applies. But just like everyone else, I have to pick up the pieces and keep going.” Abby paused, encouraging Kara to speak, for she knew that her own losses paled in comparison to what Kara had experienced. Kara leaned back and began to talk about what she’d gone through.

“After all of you left for Virginia that morning,” related Kara, “I had to speak to several groups of our people, saying the same thing over and over. They just kept coming. About a half hour before the cloud arrived, everyone had gone. It was dark and quiet, and it was just Lars and I. We had time to talk for about thirty minutes – just the two of us.”

“At least you had that,” said Abby. “Most didn’t get that chance.”

“I’m so thankful that we did. We talked at length about what each of us would do if the other did not survive.”

“What did Lars say to you?”

“He told me to pick up the pieces, take a few days for myself, and to get right back to work as community leader. And I took his words to heart. That’s exactly what I ended up doing.” Kara paused before adding in a low voice, “We were just sitting there talking when the cloud came. In a few seconds, it was all over.”

Abby nodded. The two of them had remained stoic during this discussion so far. It was as if neither had any tears left to cry.

“How many in this community ... didn’t make it?” asked Abby after a solemn pause.

“Before the cloud, we had a head count of three hundred and twenty-three. You know that a survey was taken a couple of days later. It showed two hundred and one people remaining. That number does not include Lavender, Jimmy, and a few other people we’ve taken in since.”

They were silent for a moment before Kara went on. “We’ve learned through experience that in the aftermath of these Incidents, it’s best to look for silver linings. And there are a few. I’m so grateful that both Mercy and Amelia survived. That made that whole lottery mess a moot point. It might have been hard for me to forgive myself if something had happened to either of them.”

“You were doing as you thought best, Kara. Oh, and by the way ... Essence ran another blood test to see if I’d been sensitized to the allergen. Just in case.”

“And the result?”

“Negative,” said Abby with a smile. “No sign of exposure.”

Kara smiled as well. “The submarine did what we hoped it would. Like I said, you being negative might come in handy at some point.”

Abby began to ask about the fate of a few of her more distant acquaintances in the community. She threw one name out there.

“Isabella Genovese. What happened to her? Hannah’s asked about her a couple of times.”

“Isabella survived,” said Kara. “A couple of days after the Incident, I stepped out on the porch and saw her passing by, although I didn’t talk to her. Her name was on the post-Incident survey, in her own handwriting. But there’s one thing I should mention. Did you know that Isabella was originally supposed to be part of Orval’s group ... the one that tried to take your place on the submarine?”

“No, I haven’t heard anything about that,” said a surprised Abby.

“I spoke with someone in Philadelphia with some inside information. No one seems to know the details, but it seems like there was some sort of conflict between Orval and Isabella, and he just left her stranded here on the runway while the rest of the group continued on to Virginia.”

“That sounds like Orval,” Abby scoffed. “But he ended up indirectly saving Isabella’s life.”

“Everyone knew Isabella was in cahoots with Orval somehow, but a number of people have told me that Isabella never seemed one hundred percent on board. She was conflicted about it. Anyway, the security guards at the northwest gate told me they saw her leaving in her car, a couple of days after the Incident, probably for Philadelphia. To my knowledge, she hasn’t been seen since at Delmarva. Her house seems abandoned. I’d be surprised if we see her again. There’s really nothing left for her here. She’ll probably end up in Philadelphia, or more likely Washington.”