The look that her husband gave her was too confident for Meg's liking...so she turned around and seized him in the heat of the moment...and kissed him straight on the mouth. "Don't get too up on yourself and think you're invincible, sweetheart. If you get killed, I'm going to resurrect you and then shoot you myself."
"I love you too..." Tosh smirked at her. Harm and Mac, the bystanders, tried to look in any direction other than the two osculating officers. Meg tried to keep the tears from her eyes, as Tosh playfully tossed her a nod and rifle at the ready, headed through the gates out into the unknown.
Mac stared down at the ground muttering to herself, "I didn't see anything."
Tosh found that the clip-on rad meter didn't waver surprisingly as he worked his way down towards the city center. It was curious, but even though he exercised caution most of the way in, the fact that the needle on the geiger counter never wavered more than a few millirads told the story that the radiation levels had dropped significantly in the past year since the Russian attacks. At least he wouldn't be running the gauntlet of radiation exposure and resultant poisoning so long as he kept his wits about him.
There were survivors; a lot of them scarred, but going about their business as if nothing was wrong with this whole picture of a nuclear obliterated landscape and going to and fro from place to place with nary an outward concern for the state of their existence. And more and more, Tosh wondered if it was even possible to set Sunset Valley aright. Was there the inkling of a possible resurrection of the town as it was or were the inhabitants in the throes of a permanent sort of shell-shock, just going about their daily lives to escape the horrifying reality that they were doomed to live out their lives in squalor.
Topaz was out scouting the area as well looking for things to dig up and bring home. Skilled enough to dig gemstones out of the ground, it was clear that the financial backbone of the whole group was in this young wolf. She was keenly nose to ground searching for the slightest odor of a buried object that she could potentially bring to the surface for her Best Friend Meg to turn around and cut into a saleable gem.
In the meantime, Mac took it upon herself to watch the cliff-side of the encampment while her boyfriend Harm watched the front. It was always a prudent measure to make sure that all sides of the perimeter were secure. There might actually be someone suicidally crazy enough to attempt an attack from the rear quarter.
By about 1200hrs of slow and steady movement from concealed position to concealed position, M-4 at the ready, locked and loaded, Tosh managed to make his way from the compound down to the center of the city. His rad-meter was showing life-sustaining amounts of radiation. The radiation levels had dropped down to the point where life was possible. He was nosing around the area when he heard a hail, "Sir?"
Startled he looked over to see a young dark-haired woman motioning him over from a picnic basket and blanket set out. She was in ACUs, "How'd you peg me for an officer?" Tosh asked her as he sat down.
"Army?" he asked simply.
She shook her head, "Negative, sir... Navy... Lieutenant Commander Erin Kennedy, sir."
"How'd you know I rate the sir? Lieutenant Commander?" Tosh asked her.
LCDR Kennedy looked embarrassed, "Well, sir. there's no diplomatic way to say it. It's just that you look like you wear stars."
He winced. Ouch..., Tosh thought to himself, Do I actually look that old? Being married to someone eleven years my junior sort of makes me forget my actual age."No offense taken, Lieutenant Commander." He defused the uneasyness of the younger woman sitting beside him.
"You're correct..." He explained extending a hand and shaking hers, "Vice Admiral Toshio Nakamura..." He volunteered his name, "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
At least she had the wherewithal to know that this, being technically considered a combat zone...was not the time or place to jump up and render military courtesies, so she kept her seat and nodded, trying to keep the exclamation of surprise out of her voice.
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