Northern Exposure: Episode Three, Page 5

pin. I was amazed to see the dynamics which had formed between the families, Smith obviously taking role as leader, yet never relaying an order without first consulting Sharif, who had become the adviser of the group. Sky that was far from the motherly type had left her strong feminist outlook and had become nothing less than a mother to the two little girls.

  I spent most of my time with Smith; he would talk for hours about the event which had led us to our current existence. He explained the pandemonium which ensued when the rocks fell. He depicted different scenarios of that dreadful day and all I could do was use my imagination to picture the chaos. He explained how in front of his very own eyes he watched as people where flattened by the rocks, how they ran in a panic, how buildings crumbled killing hundreds, and how fleeing drivers drove their cars over anybody in their way. It was chaos personified, fires engulfed the city, and death welcomed itself into New York.

  The old man was slowly becoming my mentor and I loved listening to his stories. I was close to everyone in the group but the bond he and I shared reminded me so much of mine and my fathers. My dad and I were not only father and Son, but we were friends. I strived so hard to make my dad proud, and I could see I was falling into the same pattern with Smith. My dad was not the only one I missed though, I remembered my home, my mom, my family they were all in South Africa safe. But how their hearts must have been broken when they got the news about North America, how shattered their existence would be without their only son .My poor mother must still be grieving to this day and my dad oh how his heart must be aching for his boy, his best friend. If only there was a way to let them know I was okay, to let them know I was alive.

  That’s why I needed Smith so badly, not as a replacement of my father but someone who brought me assurance that everything would be okay and could help guide me through the tough world we live in, the same way my dad did while I was growing up. Even though Smith’s stories enthralled me he was not the only one I spent time with. Sharif and I also spent many hours together he taught me dozens of tricks and little survival tactics which he had acquired over the years. He was the one who showed me how to make a fire in the passageways of the sewer. I sat for days rubbing dry sticks together until eventually my fingers blistered and bled, every time asking him why I’m wasting my time when clearly there where better sources to create fire like matches and lighters, but I always got the same response from Sharif, ”What if you top side in the dark of the night and you have no matches or lighters, what then?”

  He also showed me how to set traps and catch rats down in the passageways. He took his time to explain the anatomy of the reapers, were they where most vulnerable. How to kill them and most importantly he showed me the greatest tool of all, improvisation. He could fashion about anything into a lethal weapon and even though I never dared to ask I knew he had experience in killing before this all happened.

  Sky and myself barely conversed she was too occupied with the children and when we did get the time to talk it always seemed to be about gathering water or cleaning pots, some trivial task which needed to be done. We hardly had a conversation just for the sake of speaking, she believed the privilege to relax and chat away had been lost when our world fell to pieces, now the young women only focused on surviving and more importantly making sure those two little girls survived.

  I knew Sharif, his girls and Smith from the building but who was this new stranger I now shared a roof with? Where did this girl come from and what was her past life like? I would constantly wonder about this. One day while sitting with Smith I asked the old man about this peculiar strange woman who was so quiet yet so confident. He explained her origins, well the bit that he had gathered at least. If there was one person who would be more than happy to sit down and tell me the story of our mysterious female companion, it would be Smith.

  “As you know Sky was a paramedic on the Upper East Side, her job was in Manhattan but her passion was in Brooklyn.””Sky was quite a busy young lady and from what I know she had no one special in her life other than her .45 special, if you know what I mean.” Smith nudged me with his elbow and winked. “When she was not saving lives she was kicking ass as a police reserve in Crown heights, trust me if her gun did not jam that day up top that reaper would be lead drenched right now.”” Cairo, that girl can shoot!” “Look I was the best shot in my entire platoon, but not even I hold a feather to what Sky can do with a gun, saving lives may have been her job, but shooting is truly her talent.”

  None of us knew where Sky’s family was, who they were or if any of them had made it out alive, nobody asked and neither did I. All I knew is how she joined our little family, once again thanks to the unfailing stories from Smith.

  Apparently when the rocks fell, Sky was in the little grocer across the street buying a cup of coffee before pulling another double shift. Before she could even pay for her beverage the rocks started falling. She told us how the few people in the grocer ran outside to see what the commotion was, she too was on her way out when; a spray of rocks about the size of baseballs came smashing down. She was protected in the confides of the shop but the poor people standing outside where continuously pummelled by the meteor segments, they had no time to flee back into the shop, Sky said it all happened so fast they could not react, until all that was left of them was a pile of mangled bodies in a pool of blood. In a state of shock she ran back and locked herself in the storeroom. She placed her head between her knees and sat there for two days until the city became quieter. After the second day she decides either she’d die in there or come out.

  I felt so sorry for her, I could imagine how alone and confused she must have felt, I thought to myself for a glimpse of a second, if Layla made it out alive maybe... I stopped myself immediately, why was I even thinking of her? Why was that bitch on my mind, I should not have cared if she died. I turned my attention back towards Sky, Even though I did not speak to her much it was nice having that female presence in the bunker. It was nice having a woman’s touch and mostly it was nice to wake up in the morning and look at someone other than Sharif and Smith. But that’s all I would ever be able to do with Sky, look and imagine; there was no way I could get her to even acknowledge me let alone date me.