"A New Dawn" (A "Silo" Story)

[Alice2015]

"A New Dawn"

A Silo 1x1
between
Delal and Tom
(November 2050)​

(OOC: This post was also posted in "Silo". Here, it begins a 1x1 between Delal and Tom will (Alice2015 and Elvenoff1). It's easier to read and write both if we do it in a 1x1.)

Delal studied Tom through watering eyes, and she could see that this was affecting him as deeply as it was her. When he reached into his pocket and withdrew an envelope -- wrinkled by time but none the less that one -- Delal sobbed once before getting as much of a grip on her emotions as she could.

“I loved you so much..." Tom began. "...would have done anything for you! Why Delal why did you do this?”

She opened her mouth to explain, but ... nothing came out. She imagined a thousand times how she would explain her sudden disappearance that night so long if she were ever to come face to face with Tom again. And yet, here she was, standing before him, unable to put two words together.

Tom looked to her daughter -- their daughter, and asked, "How do you know she is mine?”

Delal wasn't hurt by the question. She doubted that he truly questioned her parentage. But if the little girl hadn't burst forth from her own body, Delal would have asked the question, too. She cleared her throat and said in a soft sincere tone, "There's never ever been anyone else, Tom." She hesitated for a moment, then emphasized, "Ever!"

It was true. Tom hadn't only been Delal's first, he'd been her only. For three years, she'd been as celibate as she had been her first twenty. It had been a combination of choice and circumstances. Delal hadn't met a man with whom she would have wanted to have sex; and some men who had been physically insistent about having sex with her had paid for their actions with their lives.

She watched her former lover approach the llama and open a plastic baggy. The girl showed no fear, only smiling down to the man, even more so when she saw that he was offering food.

“Hi, My name is Tom," he began. "Now I have this candy bar here so what do you have to trade for it?"

She looked to her mother for guidance, but instead got an offer from the stranger.

"If you tell me your name you can have this whole candy bar.”

Again the girl looked to Delal, and after getting an approving nod answered proudly, "Dawn."

Delal smiled at the name. She so often referred to her daughter as honey or baby doll or other pet names. It was nice to hear the little girl's actual name spoken. Tom had looked over his shoulder at Delal as she'd clarified, and suddenly Dawn snatched the candy out of his hand. By the time the man turned to the action, the girl was chewing on the end, her eyes wide with obvious appreciation.

“My God, Delal," he said, kneeling down to the ground, "we have a little girl!”

As Tom's tears ran down his cheek, Delal's did the same. She looked over to find the other Perimeter Guard relaxing at what was becoming a family reunion and smiled to him. She walked over close to the man, hesitating for a moment before reaching out to entwine her fingers in his hair, causing his hat to fall off to the ground behind him. She'd loved playing with his hair back then. Playing with his hair ... kissing his lips ... touching his body... The memories flooded, as did her eyes.

She reached up to the little girl, clutching her and lowering her to the ground, where she, too, took a knee near the crying man. She may not have been able to recall any of the thousands of explanations she'd practiced, but she was beginning to think that maybe she didn't need one after all. Maybe, just maybe, the two of them might be able to pick up where they'd left off ... plus one, of course.

There simply was no way of knowing whether Commander Tom Nightland of the Fighting Falcons would be able to forgive the desertion of one of his soldiers ... particularly when her disappearance had taken with it the possibility of a wholly different existence. What she did know, however, was that it was time for her to take a chance.

"Dawn, honey," she said, moving the little girl closer to the man. "This is mommy's friend, Tom. Mommy's good friend."

She looked to Tom and asked quietly, "Do you want to tell her what you are ... or me ... or, should we wait ... and talk?"

Her expression and tone was meant for him to understand that she was giving him permission to announce his relationship to the girl. She couldn't just blurt it out, although he had already made the comment that Dawn was theirs.

 

[Elvenoff1]

Tom closed his eyes when the thin familiar fingers laced through his hair as they did three years ago. With the physical touching his mind went back to that time when he first saw her naked. She managed to be a real life Rambo in what was a large ruffian cell ambush in which she saved Tom’s and the two missing recon teams lives by killing more that twenty men that night, but one managed to get to her and knocked her down a small ravine where he ended up dead weight on top of her. When rescued from this dead weight the blood covered her, so with the aid of a friend she began washing at the river when Tom walked up upon them and her upper half-naked beauty was mesmerizing to him, and so he gawked at her until she managed to cover herself.

That was the first night when their path was one for their love for each other that only grew as the days went by until that night when the group ran into another large cell of ruffians who complemented with regular army troops. The battle of the Boulders lasted for hours but as the night fell upon the battlefield, the Fighting Falcons stood victorious but the cost was severe for only five members walked away from the battlefield. Delal, Tom and three others were all that remained. The fighting Falcons came to an end and so did Tom and Delal for when they returned the tribe had packed up and departed. They too were tired of the constant battles and loss of life. Nevertheless, that night was when life ended for the Commander of the Fight Falcons when the woman he loved packed up and left in the middle of the night only leaving him a note telling him that she had to find her parents and for him to move on with his life.

The anger that he though was gone after three years flared back up as he stood up and backed away from the girl and her. “No, I’m not going to fall for this again.” He shook his head, “So really who’s her daddy, some guy who had a famous band of outlaws or resistant fighters that you just had to be in and so you bedded the leader? I mean was not that why you wanted in the Fighting Falcons so bad is because you was in love with it. Not me, which is why when the Falcons ended that night at boulders valley you left in the middle of the night looking for your tribe because your love was massacred that night. That is why you did not bother asking me to go with you; for you did not love me, you loved the unit.

Tom walked toward his partner but stopped and turned around. “You’re here because you heard of the Silo and figured that there must be another resistance unit here to take on all the ruffians. You are unbelievable! But hey I got bad news for you, see the leader of this group she will kick your ass if you try to bed her.” Tom fought back the pain for he did love her once but now it all made sense to him now. He grabbed his gear and weapon. “I’m going to check the perimeter.” He turns to Delal, “We can’t turn people away only Aurora can so he is going to take you to the farm house.” Tom nodded to the guy and walked away to check the lanes. He almost let his love for her dupe him once again, but not this time.

 

[Alice2015]

The love that was again blooming deep inside Delal suddenly exploded as Tom moved away from her, proclaiming, "No, I’m not going to fall for this again.”

He began ranting about Delal's true motivation those three long years ago, and ... she found herself just staring at him, unable to honestly tell him he was wrong! She had fallen in love with the Fighting Falcons, then the militia's leader. Hadn't she? Or ... had it been the other way around? She'd never contemplated this before. The two -- the militia and its leader -- had been so equal in importance to Delal that it had never occurred to her to ask Did I join the Falcons to be with Tom or be with Tom to join the Falcons?

When he questioned her motivation for having sought out Silo, her heart break began to shift toward anger. She was looking for a safe, secure home for Dawn. That was it! She was tired of fighting, tired of just surviving, tired of not knowing whether today would be their last day on Earth. How many times had she almost lost Dawn to this danger or that threat? She only wanted what every good mother wanted for her child: life!

The face of the other outpost guard was filled with sympathy as Tom stormed away. Delal couldn't be certain whether that emotion was for his partner or the woman with the little child, but at this point that didn't seem important. What was important was the last thing Tom had said: Delal and Dawn were going into Silo. They'd made it.

The guard lifted a radio to his mouth, spoke, grimaced, shook the unit, heard a crackle, then began again, identifying his post and its distance out from Silo as his explained his situation. "Flintview Three to Command, come in..."

"Go Flintview," a female voice responded.

"Visitors, one woman, one child," the man continued. As he continued, he moved toward the llama to retrieve the AR-15 and sling it over his shoulder. "Negative threat."

He lowered the radio and, being not a stupid man, gestured it toward Delal's waist and asked, "Handgun, please. Slow and cautious."

Delal stood, removed the pistol, and handed it out in an unthreatening manner. He continued, "Please send a relief unit. I will escort."

"Copy, Flintview," the woman responded. "Bring'em to I-n-I. Out."

"Flintview Three out," the man finished, gesturing Delal to take hold of her llama again and prepare to accompany him. He explained, "I-n-I ... Ingress and Inspection. They're gonna give you a medical check ... look at your things. It's just a formality. We all live in pretty close quarters, so cold's and flus and such can be killers ... literally!"

He looked up at the little girl, whose smiling face was now covered artificial chocolate and mashed raisin. He smiled broadly, then added, "She's cute."

"Thank you," Delal said. She looked off toward the foot path and the about-to-disappear Tom and wanted to say something snide. But nothing came to her. She was typically quick witted, so ... why the silence now? That was a simple question to answer: Tom hadn't begun his day knowing he would meet his former lover and the child about whom he'd had no clue, so ... what could Delal possibly say about his quick refusal to play daddy? Instead, she just took the llama's leash in her hand and said, "Let's go."



I-n-I turned out to be a little more ... invasive than Delal had expected. It took place in what had once been a Red Cross bloodmobile, parked just inside the first perimeter fence on the farm. A woman who identified herself as a Medic made Delal strip to her underwear for a medical check up, then made Delal strip a crying Dawn in the same way for a more child-appropriate inspection. The Medic took blood samples from both, though she did nothing with them but put them in a small but working fridge.

(Delal couldn't know that Silo had accumulated some pretty advanced medical testing equipment over the years but that very little of it worked properly, if at all. Fortunately, the community was about to visited by genius in electronics, mechanics, and just about anything with parts, bringing in a new era of modernization in this world that had been set back a century or two by the Greeve attacks 30 years earlier.)

Through the window of the bus, Delal could see two men going through the pack they'd taken off the llama, pocket by pocket, bag by bag. One of the men had tried to search under the pack saddle for hidden things, only to first get spit at, then -- as he stumbled blindly and cursed -- get kicked in the ass. He tumbled to the ground and Dawn, who had been standing on a window-side table watching, laughed hysterically at the show.

Near the end of the inspection, another woman entered the bus, carrying a stack of clothes. She set them on a chair near Delal, offered out her hand, and announced, "Hi, I'm Aurora. I'm the Mayor. Welcome to Silo."

Delal was hesitant at first. She was standing in a 50 year old, inoperable bus, nearly naked, enduring a procedure she'd never imagined let alone suffered, being offered the hand of the woman who was apparently in charge. But she took the hand, countering, "Delal."

"Delal," Aurora repeated. She looked to the little girl, who was listening to her own heart beat with through a stethoscope. She said in that tone reserved for little children, "And who are you?"

Dawn only stuck the listening device's bell outward, as if she wanted the woman to speak into it. Delal answered, "Her name is Dawn."

Aurora quickly laughed, then -- a bit embarrassed about the possible misunderstanding for her sudden humor -- began to explain, "I'm sorry, it's just that ... well, my name means--"

"Goddess of the Dawn," Delal interrupted politely. She saw the surprise in the other woman's face and smiled. "My people ... well, they were, call it close to the Earth. They knew a lot of stuff that most people would have thought ... unimportant. Meaning of names, for one. You have a beautiful name, Aurora."

"Thank you," the Mayor responded. She asked with an obvious expression of concern about what the answer might be, "And ... your people...? Where are they now? If you don't mind, I mean."

Delal looked away for a moment, then looked to Dawn, who was now listening to the Medic's heart beat with wide eyes. "She is my people now."

Aurora's expression told of her sympathy for the woman. She lifted the clothes and offered them to Delal, saying, "Get dressed. Once you're cleared to come up, someone will bring you and your daughter to the house. We can talk trade, if you have something to offer--"

"Can we stay here?" Delal cut in, the desperation evident in just those four words. When Aurora looked to her, studying her for a moment, Delal went on, "We've been on our own for ... a long time ... alone."

She could have continued, but that might have led to a discussion about why they'd been alone, and why she herself had been alone for so long before Dawn. And that would have led to a conversation about the little girl's father, which would have led to the mentioning of Tom, which would have led to ... God knows what else. Instead, Delal just let the thought die.

"We can discuss it," Aurora said, falling into her role as Mayor. "Every resident of Silo has something to offer the community ... in labor, in goods, in services--"

"I can fight," Delal said before she even realized she was saying it. Her immediate thought was Tom was right! I'm only here to keep fighting ... to join a militia ... not for him. She feared that he eyes would tear, and she turned away to begin donning the clothes as she explained, "I used to be in a militia. We protected small communities such as yours from--"

"Yes, I know," Aurora cut in. When Delal turned and looked back to the woman with wide eyes -- wondering just how much she knew -- Aurora relieved a bit of her panic with, "I can tell from the way you carry yourself ... and what the guards outside told me about your gear ... your weapons. You ... have that appearance."

As Aurora patted Dawn's cheek, then headed out, she instructed, "Finish up here, and we'll talk about your future over dinner. My place, up at the house, say ... five o'clock. In the meantime, someone will set you up in a tent in the trees for now. It's more comfortable than it sounds."

"Thank you, Aurora," Delal said with sincerity.

"Tank you!" Dawn called suddenly, again offering out the bell of the stethoscope.

Aurora took the end and whispered before departing, "You're welcome, Dawn."

Delal finished dressing, then went outside to find all of her things spread out upon a tarp under the canopy, one Security Officer gesturing her to feel free to pack it back up again. She looked for missing items as she went but didn't find anything gone. Shocking. Once she was ready to go, an SO escorted her to one of a dozen small but sturdy looking army style tents hidden in the woods southeast of the farmstead. They were outside the security of Silo's two perimeter fences, which concerned Delal about security from raiders; but here under the trees they couldn't be seen by Greeve surveillance drones, which she figured was the reason for their placement.

After she'd gotten comfortable and laid Dawn down for another nap, a women showed up with some food, water, and more clothes, this time for Dawn. They chatted about some of the rules of Silo before the woman reminded her of her dinner with Aurora in a few hours. The woman asked, "Is there anything else you need, miss?"

Delal hesitated before asking, fearful of what the answer might be. "There was a man at the outpost ... a guard ... I think his name was Tom--"

"Fuck-elicious!" the woman cut in, giggling. "What I wouldn't give to ... wow!"

Delal wasn't sure whether to be offended by the woman's yearning for her former lover -- the father of her own child -- or delighted that the man still had the ability to attract women, as he had her. "So ... why don't you?" She was probing now with, "Is he ... taken?"

The woman shrugged. "I'm new, too, like you. Don't really know." She jerked a thumb to an unseen place behind her, saying, "I have to get back. Come up for dinner at five. Aurora's expecting you. She'll introduce you to a couple of people."

The woman left, and Delal laid back into her bedroll, contemplating the wholly unexpected but not entirely undesirable development in her life...

 

[Elvenoff1]

Tom walked the perimeter something that did not need done for the area he was walking was observed from the bunker. He just needed to get away from her for he could not think straight. Think straight, yeah as if he could do that right now after insulting his former lover, questioning her word when she told him that he was the only one that ever touched her and he believed her. He believed everything she said to him, so why did he bark and bite. Why did he throw the factitious statement at her about coming here to the silo?

He stopped his quizzical walking and took a moment to look out over the horizon. To fight that tear that wanted to fall for he was hurting. All the pain that he though was gone over the three years still weighted heavy on his heart. He should be up there holding her to him, holding their child and praising that she had the strength to make it, to protect their daughter from all harm. So why, why did he do this to her? The same question he asked of her about that night so many moons ago.

The jerk came and the tear fell, but it wasn’t the only one that fell this moment of time. He told her that he loved her. How do you bark, bite, and maliciously attack the one you bequeath your love too. How could someone be so cold, so detached over a memory that didn’t matter to guide a decision three years later? She didn’t love the Fighting Falcons she loved the idea of them, that idea was him. He put himself in every decision that the Falcons acted upon. So.. When they died a part of him died and that was the truth, so when Delal left it wasn’t because the Falcons were gone, she was doing what a Falcon would do, they would go find the tribe and protect them. He knew now why she didn’t ask him to come all these years later of hating her and he was blind to this fact until now!

He wept from the shame and pain of all these years, He wept for how he treated the woman that he loved so much. She went to confront them on why they didn’t help at the battlefield with the wounded or even provide rights to the fallen. She wanted to face her father with the courage and strength that she had gained from the Falcons, from him. She knew that she would travel the world to find him, but she didn’t want him to wait for her that is why she told him to move on with his life. She was sacrificing her life to find and confront the ones that abandoned the Falcons whom died protecting them all those years against the Greeve and why her father abandoned her. Something that even Tom would have done if the situation were reversed.

“Tom, the past is over. You have a daughter; you have your wife go to them. Tell her how you feel and how you now understand what she did and why she did it. Love her like you said you do.” His inner voice barked and bit him. He stood up and took a deep breath. “I have all the answers I need now. The past is the past, but I will not forget you guys I won’t forget any of you. I just need to take care of my family like a Falcon does!” He saluted the horizon and all three hundred and eighty five members whom died as a falcon.

He grabbed his weapon and walked back to the bunker, his gaze went to his partner who smiled and nodded. “It’s about time you got your head out of your ass Tom.” He called for a replacement.


“Yeah, I know. Thanks.” He gave his partner the thumbs up and headed to the farmhouse. His mind set on making things right with the woman he loved and a small one that he needed to get to know. He smiled at the thought of having them both with him. Why he didn’t just see that instead of then he didn’t know, but now he does and the past is the past.

He entered the gate and was informed where they set Delal up he didn’t waste any time getting there. Once there he saw her laying down on her bedroll staring off into space. He walked up to her and looked down at her. “I love you! I want to come home.”

 

[Alice2015]

“I love you!"

Tom's statement pulled Delal from her mindless staring up into the dirty, ancient roof of the tent. She sat up quickly, realizing what he'd said and feeling the tears immediately beginning to well.

"I want to come home.”

She stood and moved toward him, remembering what his Father had always said about home being where the heart is. And Tom had never left hers.

"You're home," she said, bursting in sobs as she flung her arms around him, clutching to him as if she were afraid that he would be the one to disappear this time around. She held him so tightly that she thought she felt him struggling for breath and relaxed her bear hug. She pulled her face back and planted a passionate kiss upon his lips for a long moment as they held one another so tightly it would have been hard to tell which of them was which. When she pulled her face from his, she said with passion, "I love you Tom Nightland."

Delal clutched him again for a long minute, until her sobs were under control. He felt so good against her. It had been so long since she'd felt the warmth of a man against her. She had often thought of giving herself to a man, to satisfy those urges. But while she'd gotten close, she'd never been able to go through with it. Delal had always told herself Not this man. Maybe the next one. But now, holding Tom, she understood that it hadn't been about the next one, it had been about this one.

She pulled back and glanced down to her -- their -- child for a moment, then looked to him and said softly, "I should probably explain this ... her, Dawn."

(OOC: Sending you a PM)

 

[Alice2015]

OOC: Because the topics of this thread and "She Hits Like A Girl" are beginning to mirror one another so closely, we are ending this thread. If you have been following the latter, continue to do so. If you have not, pick it up from the beginning.