“Yep, yep I’ll make... make sure they know their way to their… rooms.” Emmett muttered stepping out of the room with Rocco’s support.
“Are you sure he’s alright Colton? He seems pretty out of it to me.” Rocco stated as he dragged the man out of the room.
“Hit’s him hard, lasts for half an hour in the morning then he’s fine. Trust me, this is not him at his worst.” Colton responded.
“I don’t need no help here man, I am an independent guy who need no help from you people!” Emmett pushed away Rocco and began stumbling and tripping down the hall.
“He also becomes more stubborn than a bull, just follow him and he’ll show you to your rooms.”
“Alright, thank you for the evening Colton, it was quite interesting to say the least.” Rocco stated before heading down the hall after the slowed man.
“This base of yours is an odd piece Commander, but it works. You certainly know how to show your guests a good time as well. I’ll see you in the morning,” Evelynn stated before leaving.
Colton then turned to Ashley who still sat, “Do you mind if I stay a little longer. I’ll find my way when I need to leave.” She asked.
Colton looked at her, and nodded shutting the door slowly, he then walked over to his desk and began doing some paperwork. Supplies they had, starting an incident report for the space carrier, reviewing plans, etc. After doing a bit of work he decided that it was enough for tonight and got up and removed the wooden dishes from his table and placed them on his kitchens counter. He would have to wash them tomorrow, no point in going downstairs now. Finally he took note of his company and sat down beside her.
“It’s hard to wrap around my head still, how a planet can just, restart.” She said.
“I tend not to think about it, that way I can just carry on.”
“Yet you established an entire stronghold in this mess.”
“After finding a half broken one and gathering enough people who want to rebuild their natural society. It’s all about collecting what you need at any cost.”
“Has there ever been, any other groups out here?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “a group of raiders, trying to build up a militia to take control of the world. A colony of Cannibals, who simply wanted meat and, another town, a few kilometers in the other direction from you.”
“What happened to them all?”
“The town couldn’t sustain itself with all the other factions and the monsters attacking them. It burned to the ground, believed to be by a Drakin, Tyson thinks that might be where he’s from but we’re not sure. The raiders were prepared but not enough to handle the Stalkers and of course a fire breathing lizard. The cannibals had problems with leadership, it’s believed they started eating each other and of course history repeated itself as the other two, and the Drakin brought them down.”
“Is that why you were so worried about that Drakin?”
“Yeah, it’s the most destructive thing we’ve had to deal with. We can stand tall and fight hard but even if we manage to stop one there’s bound to be another one out there.”
Ashley looked at him quietly for a moment, and then decided to change subjects. “So, why do you want our ship exactly?”
“Since the beginning of this town, the one thing we’ve been constantly trying to figure out how to generate electricity. We can’t take the time like our ancestors did because we need to protect ourselves and continue surviving. Your ship is fitted with such advanced hardware and on top of that, your science officers said it can sustain itself for 70 years before being replaced, making it the most important thing for this colony. It also has everything else that might be needed like working computers, a science lab, a med bay, guns even. We need that ship in whole so we can move on from simply surviving and begin thriving.”
“You really think that you can get our ship out of the thick of the woods and back here though.”
“Mateo is pulling an all-nighter just so we can, and I have the utmost faith in him. He’ll do it even if he goes mad, then we slap him back to sanity so he can tell us how it will be accomplished!”
They laughed quietly, and then Colton continued. “We can do it, we can bring that ship back. If we can’t, then we build a road to it and build a second camp over there.”
“You would have to stay in this camp though if you did that… right?”
“Hard to say, this would be the largest stronghold, but the second camp would have the ship.”
She nodded, then stood up from the couch and walked over to the window and looked up at the night sky. Colton stood and followed her.
“It’s rather funny, when we’re kids we dream of spending time up in the stars. Astronaut is on everyone’s list of ‘want to be when I’m older,’ I personally never saw the appeal.”
“Space is beautiful Colt, you’d love it up there.”
“I don’t think so, too far from solid ground. Earth is my home and everything I love is right here… or has been here.”
“When we were kids, we always wanted to see earth for ourselves. We always had the chance to see what space was like but never the thing that we orbited.”
“What’s it like, in your opinion, being down here?”
Ashley pondered for a moment then said, “Better than I had expected, even with all these strange things. The people are wonderful and the land is just breath taking at points.”
The two once more stood in silence looking upon the wild from their base, it was a beautiful night, he had never once thought of the situation he was in to have perks, yet he rarely looked upon the landscapes without thought of beauty but of danger instead. Night painted it’s grace over the land while day allowed safe travel through it. Beauty was still here, just needed to be seen through another lens.
“It’s getting late you know.” Colton stated looking towards his companion.
“Yeah, so?” She responded not wanting to look away.
“You should probably be heading off to your room, I can show you to it.”
The girl bit her lip, then looked to Colton. “Can I stay here tonight?”
Colton looked surprise at her request, “Stay here? What?”
“Please, I don’t want to be alone tonight.”
“I understand you might not want to, but everything you need is-“
“Right here.” She responded grabbing his hands and holding them tightly.
“You don’t know who I am Ashley,” He responded, baffled, “ we’ve only been together for a total of sixteen hours.”
“I know enough. You’re a strong person, you’ve been through hell and back. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders. You didn’t even know who we were last night and you nearly died for us, and don’t say it was just for the ship because even if it is the most valuable thing right now. I get that the more people the better but last night so many things could have happened. You could have wiped us from history and just have your scientists take run and figure it out.” She paused stepping closer to him, the world remaining silent as it too was captivated by this girl's speech.
“I know… you lost something that you don’t think can be replaced when everything reset. Evelynn knew it, we all knew it when you were talking. I understand that this stronghold is depending on you to keep it alive. I’m not several people, I am one, who believes that you are thing that I need.” She then began to lean closer to his face and to her surprise he closed the gap between their lips. The world spoke not a word as they stayed still and remained for a moment before he pulled back and looked at her.
“It’s late… we’ll be needed early tomorrow.” Colton started, looking at her, “Go get what you need, your room if 4C, then if you want come back and you may stay.”
They smiled at one another, before she pulled down his collar and kissed him on the neck where the mark still remained. She then rushed to her room and back with her kit for the morning and dressed for sleep.
Meanwhile Colton sat in the silence reflecting on his choice here, it wasn’t a mistake, it could be rash yet in his heart he knew it wasn’t. She reminded him of her a lot, yet she was different. More determined and Colton had the feeling that this was a good choice. He then changed quickly while she was gone and laid in his bed.
Ashley returned quickly and slid into bed beside him, she wrapped herself around her and clung to him softly planting a kiss against his lips once more.
“Thank you Colton, good night.” She spoke softly.
Colton wrapped his arms around her and smiled, “good night, Ashley.” He responded holding her close.
The two let sleep take over them, they would be there together through the night until the sun would rise. Not a word would be spoken, not an action would be taken. They simply remained with the music of silence to hold the moment
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