To Be A Rebel

Chapter 48: Better Dig Two

The sound of glass shattering fills the room.

"Mazel Tov!" Everyone yells, and we all clap, smiling at just how happy Maxine and Paula look. They both look absolutely stunning in their bridal gowns, which I am very happy about since I was the one who did the alterations and I was afraid they wouldn't fit exactly right, but they do.

The wedding was short and simple, and we had to have one of the New Canton runners act as a clergy person. He was the captain of a ship before Day Zero, so technically, he has the authority to legally marry people, or however the terminology would go.

I'm just glad everyone's having a good time. I mean, this is the first post-apocalypse wedding I've been to, and it's obviously not the same as ones before the world went gray. I mean, we still have the nice outfits (I nearly fainted when Sam came in wearing a suit) and we've done our best to play some music through the speakers, and we managed to make some decent food for the reception, but there is no cake to cut, and there isn't a whole lot of alcohol, not that I want to touch the stuff. I have to be in a certain mood to want any of that.

Terrible. The mood has to be terrible for me to actually want it.

But today is not terrible. I mean, a few hours ago we did get some news that was a little bit frightening, but we'll think about that after the wedding. Today was originally supposed to be Maxine and Paula's day, so that's what we're going to celebrate it as.

I put a few barbecue cocktail weenies on my plate, praying that it won't give me food poisoning, along with some eggs, some bread, and a few pieces of cheese that I made yesterday. The food itself is a little out there, but this is the best of what we have, so we're all dealing with it.

I take a seat on one of the old sofas that we pushed up against the wall so people could have more room to dance, and I stab my fork through the cocktail weenie and eat it, cringing at the taste of barbecue sauce that has far too much vinegar than necessary. I kind of wish I knew the homemade recipe my grandmother had for barbecue sauce. Looking back, there's a lot of recipes and traditions I wish I could remember.

I look down at my bridesmaid dress. It's different than the one I wore to the Valmont's party-the party that I never really got to go to. Maxine didn't like how brightly colored it was, so we-which is me, Jody and Summer, who are Maxine's bridesmaids. Paula had Nicole and Kaylen-are wearing are floor length navy blue dresses. I'm not sure if it's my color, but I don't mind it. People aren't supposed to be looking at me today anyway.

I take a bite of my bread, thankful that it tastes fresh and not stale. Baking bread is a lot harder than one might think, especially when you can't get all the ingredients and have to improvise most of the time. That's why we don't do it often, but we did it today, this morning, actually, while Janine and Peter and I were running around with Evan on coms. He's here too, I think. He was there for the ceremony, at least. He might have snuck off to try to think up some kind of plan to get that Viking armlet, although that cryptic message didn't give us much info on where it is. Actually, it didn't give us any info on where it is.

Why do ancient people have to be so mysterious and all that? They're dead. They should have known that by the time someone finds this stuff, they'd be dead. And the old Jerry should know that too. Being mysterious isn't cool in a time like this. It's annoying.

I finish off my food really quickly. We didn't get a chance to eat after coming back from that run because we had to get ready for the wedding, so I've been starving. That's why I'm still eating the barbecue weenies that have way too much vinegar in the sauce.

"Slow down. No one's going to take it from you."

I look up up to see Maxine and Paula smiling down at me, and I chuckle at the jab.