A Spaceman

Chapter 30--The boys are back

"Wake up."

I roll over. Light is coming in the window already. I sit up, blinking, it's later than I usually get up, but I was up late last night making sure Quinn would actually monitor the radios. I knew better than to trust him but there was nobody else fit. With the harvest season coming we are all dead on our feet, those who aren't tending to our miniscule crops and those who aren't standing guard or doing any of the other million things that needed to be done from teaching the children to fixing this place up are coming back from dangerous trips outside the compound to hunt and travel between the settlements. And we are starving. Titus actually succeeded in poisoning most of our crops. Again. Some we saved but those were in the greenhouse and that isn't nearly enough to feed all of us. our daily food rations are getting terribly small.

"Hey," Tess kisses my cheek, "Good morning. Don't look so worried already."

"Sorry," I say, giving her a squeeze. I can't help but notice how thin she is. The bones protrude painfully through her skin. "Long day ahead."

"Good news, the Gibbs across the hall woke me up, they said the hunting party returned, two raptors. We'll all eat well tonight," she said, smiling.

"You should have woken me," I say, standing up and reaching for my clothes.

"You needed your sleep—---no, that sounds nice, actually I tried but you were out cold," she says, then frowns a little, "And the power went out again. just for a few minutes."

"Right, I'll have to go up there and check that out as well," I say, rolling my eyes.Like it matters that it goes on the blink for a few minutes at night when we're sleeping anyway.

"Yeah," she says, moving aside the curtain to go into our main room. We live in an old classroom, with sheets hung up to create walls, the only proper room being the oversized closet. In the front nearest the door, we have a table and the cold box for our food as well as stacks of books and toys, then the rest is sectioned off for our bedrooms. "I'll get us breakfast."

"I'll wake the boys," I say, seeing that they are not already up. I check the closet first, which is where I find both of them, curled up like puppies next to each other. For a moment I look at them. they are so sweet lying there, my angels. Their eyes squeezed shut and the happiness of the dream world on their faces.

"Hey, it's morning," I say, shaking their shoulders gently.

Soren mumbles something incoherent and rolls over, nearly crushing his little Cinder who squeaks and moves out of the way. Donovan mumbles something like 'daddy' and does not open his eyes. they both look thin, I realize. Far too thinner than they should. My sweet little Donovan, he is smaller than he ought to be, I worry. His gold curls are limp and his cheeks sunken. I kiss the top of his head protectively. Tess and I both share our food with him and he still doesn't seem to get enough to eat. The same with Soren, though he tries to stop us from sharing. He's nearly as tall as I am, growing like a weed, and not eating enough for his size. I look closely at him, his forehead is raw, as though he's been rubbing his hands on it again.

"Morning daddy," Donovan says, opening his eyes properly. I pick him up into a hug.

"Morning," I say, squeezing him tightly. Every day he wakes up and smiles at me is a good one. His happy grin cheers me up on the worst of days. He's why it's all worth it.

Soren sits up rubbing his eyes, and then looks at his hands and sees the blood them and sighs.

"Here," I say, handing him a knit hat from the rack on the wall, "Your mum doesn't have to worry."