Chapter 13: Holly
JESSE AND OLIVER were getting more and more irritable with Holly and Gunny every day. She still refused to relinquish her weapons so they could get into the tunnel. They both very much wanted to see the inside operations. This was their headquarters. While it was never mentioned, they all knew it to be true. There had been no sign of the AMAN unit that was supposed to be following them. They didn’t understand what happened to them. They had been holding camp at the entrance to the tunnel for three days already.
The first day, Holly told Gunny about her life. She told him about the Compound and growing up in an underground bunker. How she didn’t know about the war until they opened the bunker doors and she met Griffon Maynor. He wasn’t an AMAN then and had told her about them and how brutal and oppressive they were. She admitted how hard it was realizing he had become what he once hated most.
Jesse and Oliver really hadn’t known anything about Holly. Their briefing of her past was nothing like the stories they heard her tell the old General. It was like she came from a different time period, and they noticed the sparkle of nostalgia in the General’s eyes as he listened to her outrageous stories of things barely remembered.
By the second day, the General shared his past with her. There was nothing of value. He told her how he had fought in three wars. He discussed his family, and she pleased him asking questions of things that made absolutely no difference. She wanted to hear about life before the war. What the beaches were like on spring break. Or what it was like to eat fast food.
It was things Jesse had dismissed years ago. He remembered McDonald’s cheeseburgers and fries. If he let himself think about it, he was certain he could conjure up the taste and smell even, but what good was it? It was worthless nostalgia and his patience with the two of them was wearing thinner each day. As they sat there on their third day of rehashing the past, with no relevance to the mission, Jesse fought to keep his frustrations in check.
“I don’t remember ever eating fast food. Sure, I know I was old enough to by the war standards. I’ve talked to enough people to gauge the timeline of it all, but my dad feared the impending doom for a long time before then. I have little to no recollection before the Compound. I mean, I remember before they locked the doors, but those memories are running the mountainside with my friends and spending time making up stories and daydreaming in my secret hiding place. Until Griffon, I can’t truly recall a memory for certain, where anyone besides a Compounder existed.”
“Compounder?” Gunny asked, sitting up, giving his full attention at the name. “You? It can’t be.”
“What?” Oliver asked, suspicious of his sudden interest.
“You’re the Wildflower,” Gunny told her, seriously.
“You mean the Wildfire,” Jesse corrected and yes. “Jesus, you’ve heard of her all the way out here?”
“Not fire, flower, that blooms through darkness igniting hope throughout the west. Our radio contacts have been talking about her and the Compounders for months. They seem to be shaking things up and growing the first signs of a true community, spouting off American Pride and all sorts of things. The impact is growing as far south as Florida and as far north as at least Pennsylvania and all the way to the Mississippi River in all directions.”
“Are you certain?” Jesse asked with grave concern.
“Compounders isn’t a name you hear every day, Mr. Sullivan. Holly, you are an original Compounder?”
She nodded and smiled, trying not to let the fear of his words cripple her. “I am. I’ve told you the story already of how my father built the Compound.”
He chuckled, “A compound and THE Compound are two very different things, my dear.” He looked to Jesse and Oliver. “You once called her Princess, is she the Princess of the Compounders? The one they hail as Wildflower?”
Oliver shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought she was just Griffon’s bitch. None of us truly knew why he would send her on a mission such as this. The rumors about the Compounders that I’ve heard call her the Wildfire, not flower, because her mission of hope has been a devastation to AMAN territory, spreading like a wildfire. There are areas that we’ve completely lost control of, and it’s growing daily. Why would Griffon send the Wildfire on a mission like this? Does he even know who she is?”
Holly sighed, “Of course he knows who I am, Oliver. Griffon’s family was the first that I befriended. I personally don’t think I should be held accountable for all you guys are saying. Seriously, all I did was make a few friends.”
The guard closest to them laughed. “Sorry sir, but I believe this is definitely the Wildflower. Flower, not Fire. The rare beauty that brings life and springs up hope, kindness, and love in the darkest times. That’s what they say about you, ma’am. I’ve been standing guard every afternoon that you’ve stubbornly insisted on camping outside our doors, and I’ve seen it first hand, myself, General. It’s nothing monumental that she does, it’s every little thing. Like yesterday, my stomach was growling. I woke late and missed breakfast in the chow hall. She gave me food from her pack. I’ve heard the other two discuss low rations, yet she gave me hers anyway.”
Her boys looked at her like she was insane, and she cowered a little under their scrutiny. She hadn’t wanted them to know about that, as they had been portioning their rations as little as possible in hopes of sustaining themselves beyond the original week they were designed for. Of course, Holly’s insistence on eating off the trail instead for the first part of her journey was helping a lot, in hindsight, but they had no idea how long they would need what remained to survive.
“Why would you do that, Holly?” the General asked with true wonder.
“Why wouldn’t I? I get where the boys are coming from, but we can always eat off the trail. Oliver’s a great fisherman, and we’re surrounded by water. I know they aren’t fond of my rabbits, and I’m not the greatest cook, but we aren’t going to starve out here. Trust me, I’ve starved in the past. I know what that feels like and if there is anything I can do to help keep someone else from knowing that feeling, I will.”
“Wait, wait, wait. I’ve always heard the Compounders were the most plentiful and richest people in what remains of the world.” Oliver said.
“Exaggerating much?” Holly laughed. “Yeah, we do okay. We’ve always been self-sufficient. We grow our own foods, and everyone knows how to hunt and track and set snares.”
“But not fish?” Oliver teased.
She glared at him, then smiled sweetly. “Even I can’t be great at everything in life.” She blinked her lashes and they all laughed, because from everything that was rumored about the Wildflower, she was perfect in every way. “Seriously, though, I spent much of last year away from the Compound.”
“Spreading your mission of hope and love and helping others?” the guard inquired.
“Not exactly.” She looked at Jesse and Oliver and wasn’t sure how much to say. “A friend of mine was captured by the AMAN. I went after him. A rescue mission, or so I thought. Turned out, he didn’t want to be rescued.”
When her eyes met Jesse’s, she knew he understood she was talking about Griffon.
“So you what? Marched into AMAN headquarters and demanded they turn him over?” Oliver joked. “You and what army?”
“No, not quite. And I do not have some massive army. My squad is a whopping eight people. Not unlike your units. We brought back a few extras and,” she sucked in a deep breath letting the grief hit her before continuing, “lost a few along the way.”
“Your husband?” Oliver asked seriously this time as Jesse stared daggers at him.
“No,” she shook her head as a lone tear escaped and ran down her cheek leaving a streak amidst the dirt. “Jared made it back alive. On the way back home, we stumbled across a tent city.”
“A what?” the soldier asked.
Holly looked up at him. “Tent city. It’s these places where people from all over, who have very little, migrate in the winter to pull resources and live in tight quarters for added warmth and protection from the elements. They use anything and everything to set up shelters all around. The one we were at had been an old campground in the George Washington National Forest. They had some old bathrooms, cabins, and buildings they used, but it’s not the most sanitary place. A new family came in with the influenza. We had to leave in a hurry. Some men followed and stole much of our stuff. A bear came through camp one night and destroyed even more. We lost all of our food and the rains set in just as my squad started showing signs of the flu. We lost one to it. It was close for a few others, but they pulled through. I even had it myself. Food was so scarce that I went without.”
“So your team would have enough,” Gunny said with certainty.
Holly nodded sadly. “I know it was stupid, but I needed to get them home safely. It was my fault they were out there to begin with. They had followed me. I had to see them home. Ja-Jared,” she stuttered out his name, “caught on and made me take my portion. He’s really the one who saved us all.”
Emotions and memories flooded, and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Jumping up she ran up to the railing and vomited over the side until her stomach was emptied. She slumped down to the ground and cried. No one approached her, either.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but when she returned Gunny was gone and Jesse and Oliver had moved to the other side of the road to give her some space.
“We all got our scars, Wildflower,” the guard was still there. “Some you carry, you just can’t see.”
She gave him a watery smile and she nodded.
“Jared, that was your husband, right?”
“Yeah. Best man I ever met.”
“You’re pretty young to have been married, or even loved and lost.”
“What’s your name?”
“Michael.”
She smiled at that. “My dad’s name was Michael, too. Good name.”
He gave her a sheepish grin and nodded proudly.
“I may be young in years, Michael, but out there, life’s different. You’re forced to grow up quickly.”
He nodded, understanding what she meant. “So, what happened to him?”
“Same as always,” she spat. “AMAN.”
“Wait, you for real? The AMAN killed your husband, but you’re working for them?”
“It’s complicated.”
He looked up the road and seeing nothing, took a seat on the ground next to her. “Well Wildflower, I’m a good listener and I’ll see anyone coming a mile out even from here. Why don’t you tell me from the beginning?”
“It’s a lot.”
“Well, you have six hours, so start talking. Besides, talking it out is cleansing for the soul, and you look like your soul could use a good cleansing.”
For the next few hours, she sat and talked to her new friend about everything that had been weighing her down. She told him about Milo Weaver and her father’s expectations that they marry. She confessed how guilty she had felt over her instant infatuation with Griffon Maynor when she first met him, and how he was the first man outside the Compounders she’d ever even seen. She had fallen in love so quickly, but in hindsight she knew it hadn’t been real love. Not a forever love, it had just been new and exciting and forbidden.
She talked about Jared and even laughed in her descriptions of the awkward boy that had rescued her, healed her, put his life on the line for her, and ultimately won her heart forever.
“They’ll never be another for me, Michael.”
“Wildflower, you’re what? Sixteen, seventeen …”
“Nineteen,” she said with a huff of indignation that made him laugh.
“Girl, you got your entire life ahead of you. Don’t close your heart so quickly.”
“I hear you; I just don’t believe you. It hurts so much, Michael. I was so helpless just watching him fall and not get up. Seeing the snow stain red all around him. I’ll never get over that.”
“Never is a long time. But you didn’t tell me, what happened to him?”
She took a deep cleansing breath. “I’m getting there.” She picked up the tale of the day her father died and the AMAN took Griffon, or so they thought. She talked about her squad and picking up a couple kids in route. She told him about Little Endor.”
“Hold up now, you spent time with the Endorians?”
Holly nodded.
“Does the General know about this?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure it ever came up, why?”
“Keep going, but the General’s going to need to hear about your time with the Endorians, you hear?”
Holly didn’t know what to think of it, but she agreed. “Yeah, sure. Okay.” She continued with her tale, telling him about how Shorty was shot, unprovoked, by the AMAN and explaining more about how she broke into AMAN headquarters and found Griffon. It was more than she’d ever confessed to anyone. She grazed over the tent city parts as she’d already told him that, and fast forward to her final day in Wythel.
“Damn girl, you weren’t kidding when you said you’ve been forced to grow up quickly. You’ve seen and done more than most of us here.”
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