Chapter 6

I was practically walking on air as I entered my apartment, and extraordinarily happy that there was nobody around to see it. I would never have heard the end of it otherwise.

In order to wind down emotionally and physically, I spent the next couple of hours packing up some of my belongings into cardboard boxes. I was actually a bit surprised at how little I actually had here. Besides my clothes, sheets and towels, there was my laptop and other miscellaneous computer accessories, electronic toys, numerous books (I'm a serious reader), a couple dozen DVDs and some CDs (movies and music, respectively), and a box or two of personal items. Only a handful of the apartment's furnishings were actually ours, including the living-room flat-screen TV, our X-Box, my faithful easy chair and the bean bag chairs.

Oh ... there was also my large traveling trunk filled with my SCA equipment – medieval weapons (both those made of real high-quality steel and wooden practice weapons), armor, clothing (both simple sturdy field and fancy court garb) and numerous other accessories.

It is an admittedly expensive hobby, but one of the only ways I truly splurged on myself.

Most of my stuff was in storage back home, I realized. Not only that, but also a lot of important family keepsakes, photo albums, furniture left over from the sale of my parent's home, and hundreds of other miscellaneous pieces ... things that I hadn't bothered or wanted to bring with me back to Seattle, or simply didn't have any room for. I felt more than a bit of nervous tension spread throughout my body just at the thought of having to go and get it.

Clearly, I was still not completely over my family's death.

"Maybe I can simply make a couple of calls and have the storage place deliver it all?" I mused to myself.

Yes, I was evading ... so what? I had more important concerns at the moment.

After spending a couple of hours packing up some of my things, I next set about preparing dinner. Everybody had been eating a lot of takeout lately, so a home cooked meal would most likely come as an appreciated change. I settled on chili, seeing as it was pretty easy to make, especially for large groups, and considering that I was going to make a lot, there would be plenty of leftovers.

With the meal well on its way, I then sat down in my easy chair, in the living room and finally checked out the property listings that I had received this morning by bike messenger.

There were some pretty interesting properties for sale, all around the country.

First, I noticed a four-star mountaintop ski resort. Nope, way too remote and damn large, easily able to house a few hundred people at once. Cleaning and maintaining it would be a stone cold bitch. The really expensive and ostentatious furnishings just jacked the already high price up even further.

Next, there was a long abandoned lakeside summer camp. Though it came with a lot of land in a beautiful forested valley, the buildings themselves were pretty rundown, many not really worth repairing. Also, the property had no electricity or waste disposal.

There was a beautiful desert hacienda, with thick exterior walls, two floors, eight bedrooms, and a nice sized interior courtyard. I liked the look of it – the architect had clearly tried to imitate the style and feel of a Mexican fort. Again though, it was way too remote and the harsh environment was far from ideal. Getting a steady supply of clean drinking water would be a major chore and maintaining even a small vegetable garden would be difficult.

An offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that some enterprising individual had tried to convert into a high class yacht club caught my attention for a while. There were definite possibilities there. I could install a small desalinization system for fresh water; it might be possible to set up some sort of generator, powered by the ebb and flow of the tides; fresh fish would be an ample source of food; being offshore would be a huge security asset.

Very interesting indeed.

Despite all that, I nixed the option seeing as I didn't have even the faintest idea of how to pilot a boat, making getting to and from shore really difficult. I didn't think that the others did either, but I'd ask later on to be sure. There was also the added hitch of how rough and dangerous life in the middle of the ocean could be.

I eventually passed on all of the properties. For one reason or another, there were serious flaws in each one; a flaw that would make survival impractical or at least more difficult than strictly necessary.

Of course, if I couldn't find a suitable retreat in the next couple of days, I was going to have to settle for second or even third best.

Maybe I should plan on visiting some of these places in person, in order to have a first-hand view of what they were like? Chartering a plane might be a bit expensive, but given the distances involved and the time constraints, it was most likely the only way.

For now, I simply sent an e-mail to my bank manager with my notes and opinions on the properties. Hopefully, tomorrow would bring some better choices.

I checked my inbox, but failed to find any messages from my uncle. I know that it was probably a bit too soon for a response, but I was still worried about him. He had taken one hell of a chance, giving me a head's up. If he was caught, he could hope to be discharged, most likely dishonorably, at best. If the shit really hit the fan, he could be looking at some serious criminal charges. Given the current situation and oncoming global emergency, who knew what could happen to him.

There wasn't much I could do though, but wait and hope.

Dave came home as I was putting away the property listings and my block of accompanying notes. I greeted him, but he just kept right on walking toward his room, head down and mumbling to himself. Far from insulted - he had a lot on his mind, after all - I simply shrugged and went to check on how the chili was coming around.

He ended up joining me in the kitchen after a few minutes.

"Ahh ... sorry for that. I'm ... a bit distracted." Even as he said it, I could tell that he was still focused on something else.

"No problem, I could tell." I answered, amused. "Want to tell me about it?"

"I bought a decent ring that I'd had my eye on for a while. They didn't even ask for the shirt off my back. Next, I'm taking Missy out to dinner."

"Ahh ... some privacy and romantic ambiance for when you pop the question." Even knowing that he was head over heels in love with her, and she with him, getting the proposal just right had to be a nerve-wracking concern.

"I know a guy who owes me a favor at La Belle Fleur. It won't be the best table, but considering the short notice..." he shrugged as he trailed off.

"Not bad. You have a jacket and tie, right? And not that tie with the near naked pinup girls on it." He looked at me like I was an idiot, but I just smiled and pulled out my wallet. I picked out a couple hundred dollars and handed it to him. "Here, splurge a little. Make sure to get her one- no two, of those cheesecakes that she loves. And don't let her give you any of that "they're too fattening" spiel."

"No mate-" he had his hands up and was backing away, but I didn't let him finish protesting.

"Hey, if all of this bullshit hadn't started, I most likely would have paid for you guys to have your honeymoon in Hawaii, or something. As things are, I don't know if I'm going to be able to buy you two the wedding gift that you deserve. I have the cash, so don't let it go to waste." I grabbed his hand, and stuffed the bills into his palm. "Take it and treat your girl like a queen. And don't you fucking dare bring back change."

"Thanks." He eventually said quietly after a few moments of silence. "I owe you one brother."

I opened my mouth to say something, but then slammed it shut.

Curious at my suddenly embarrassed expression, he asked, "What?"

"Well ... I was going to say something along the lines, "You can loan me your wife for a night"." He laughed out loud and punched my shoulder. Hard.

We joked like this on occasion, so I knew that he wouldn't be offended.

Crys on the other hand...

"But of course, I never said anything like that, seeing as other people we know might not find it quite as amusing." I said gravely, while giving him a pointed glare.

"No problem. I get it." He said, still chuckling slightly.

Then, completely at odds with his everyday character, he suddenly hugged me. After a flustered moment, I hugged him right back. It was a very manly hug of course, with much backslapping involved. I assure you, it last only a few moments and there were no misty eyes whatsoever.

Honest.

Just as suddenly, we parted without saying a word. Dave left, I guessed to get cleaned up and dressed for his proposal dinner and I started boiling some white rice to go along with the chili.

After returning to the living room, just as I sat back down on my recliner, the doorbell rang. Getting up and walking to the door, I looked through the peephole and spotted Maggie, so I of course opened it. She was standing there, dressed in a plain white buttoned shirt, a grey pleated skirt and a light sweater wrapped around her waist. The outfit wasn't that particularly tight or revealing, but still incredibly sexy.

What is it with girls and the schoolgirl look? Could it be just because of how they know guys react to it?

"I'm sorry little girl, but we've already bought several boxes of chocolate bars from one of your classmates." I said with a serious expression.

"Funny." She said as she pushed by me. She had tried to keep as straight-faced as I had, but I had caught sight of the corners of her mouth twitching upwards.

"Well, don't you look handsome." I heard her say as I closed the door.

Looking past her, I saw that Dave had left his room and, yes, he had cleaned up quite nicely. Dressed in black slacks, a dark blue shirt and with a black suit jacket in the crook of an arm, he looked quite stylish. For that reason alone, I deduced that he hadn't bought the expensive clothes himself. A gift from Missy most likely, and one I had never seen him wear before.

He'd also clearly trimmed his normally shaggy hair, shaved his seemingly perpetual stubble and there was a noticeable whiff of expensive cologne in the air. Mine, if I wasn't mistaken.

Boy was he pulling out all the stops.

"I'd appreciate some help." He said uncomfortable and embarrassed, holding out a plain black tie in his hand, looking between Maggie and me.

I just shrugged helplessly at him. Maggie though, sniffed derisively.

"Men. You can't even dress yourselves properly without supervision." She said walking over, taking the tie from him, and started tying a Windsor around his neck. "You must be taking Missy out someplace really special."

"I got reservations at La Belle Fleur." Dave nervously blurted out. "I'm gonna propose."

That made Maggie freeze in surprise, her mouth and eyes left wide open quite comically. It only lasted a few seconds though. In a flash, there was a feminine squeal of happiness and she had thrown her arms around his neck and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

"I'm so happy for you." She gushed, starting over on tying his tie. "Now, don't you worry about a thing ... you already know that Missy loves you. She just might have a few reservations about the timing."

At his confused expression, Maggie continued, "She might wonder if the only reason you're proposing is that we might not survive for very long."

I'd actually already thought of that, but I hadn't said anything. I didn't want to bring Dave down.

"But ... I've been thinking of asking her to marry me for some time now. I just thought that sooner is better than later. And if we're going to be facing the end of the world, I want her by my side."

"You just make sure that you tell her that." She said softly as she finished tying his tie, pulling up his jacket over his shoulders and picking at some miniscule pieces of lint. "There. Very handsome, my good sir."