sit on your ass all day or what?” A light blue milk crate slid a foot to the side to reveal the sideways Liam, supine, bathing in what sunlight there was filtering through the clouds, “Eh?” Liam shouted. “I swear... get over here and help me you turd.” Liam stood. A light brown tweed jacket smudged with oil, torn at one elbow, stretched across his lanky frame. The edges were frayed at the bottom, but blended into the grey jeans he wore beneath. He dusted himself off, pulled a dark, wool Ivy cap over his head and started toward Paige. “This isn’t a job interview,” Paige remarked smirking. “There’s no reason not to look nice. It’s a personal prerogative,” Liam opined. “I wasn’t aware we could still afford those.” Paige yanked on the cable once more and broke it loose of the shrubs. As she turned to pull it along, Liam arrived beside her and wrapped his arm around the cable. “This thing’s thick. It must be solid copper inside,” Liam said. “I found it up by the electrical towers. Must have been knocked down in the last wind storm,” Paige said. “That’s really dangerous, you know. A live current from one of these would cook you in an instant.” Looking at him sideways, her brow lowered and jaw tightened, “I’m not an idiot. It wasn’t sputtering or anything, and nothing caught fire.” “Still,” Liam said. “Just pull,” Paige interrupted. “Half of the power lines around here are falling over just from a lack of maintenance. And anyway, if we can run this between the river and the battery bank, we’ll be able to run enough power for the electric fence.” “If we improve the paddle wheel, with a cable like this, we could run a village,”
Liam thought out loud. “Let’s focus on keeping the crazies outside before we consider letting anyone in.” As the two reached their junk pile, a weak whistle grew more audible. Liam dropped the cable, running toward the hillside. Paige pulled up the last bit of slack and crouched beside a capped PVC pipe sticking a few inches out of the ground. She pulled it up about a foot, the dirt around it moving slightly as a hidden tether rose up from below. After a moment, a hole appeared in the side of the pipe above the ground level. Several strands of wires hung out of it, running back underground in the direction of the river. “Will it fit?” Liam asked as he returned, handing Paige a hot mug. “It’ll be snug, but I think so.” Paige looked into the mug. Steam trails wafted from the translucent red liquid into her nostrils, filling them with the starchy, rich aroma of Assam tea. It was one of the only flavored beverages they had been able to find with any regularity. Looters had largely left stores of it alone. “I’ll need you underground to grab the line as I feed it in,” she said, setting the mug down. “Take a break, geez. Let’s just enjoy some tea while it’s hot.” With reluctance, Paige nodded and sat in the dirt. Liam pulled up a cardboard box for a table and alighted on his milk crate. Paige took a sip, then hastily wiped the dirt from her grimaced lips. Liam chuckled. After a long silence, Paige leaned forward and rested her chin on the box, observing Liam. He sat high over the box atop the milk crate, his bony knees shooting out at a wide angle. His elbows rested on his thighs, keeping his mug just high enough to rest his chin on it. She was glad they were together, even if he sometimes valued style over survival. His dreaming and optimism kept her going – kept her motivated.
“You know, my mom called it the Star of Bethlehem,” Paige said. Liam looked up from the liquid in his mug. He studied Paige a moment then moved his gaze to the box, but his focus was beyond it. “Maybe it was,” he said finally. “She only thought that because of all the instant prophets that were born the day the comet was discovered,” Paige said, her gaze shifting to Liam. “It rose out of the east. Who’s to say it wasn’t?” “The Muslim leaders called it a star and crescent. Proof that Allah had come to end the rule of western evil.” Paige recalled the programs that filled every channel leading up to the day the comet passed by. Every religious leader claimed the event for themselves and their respective religion. “It could have been both,” Liam said with a shrug. This answer frustrated her. Splitting the difference wasn’t good enough. “It’s more likely neither,” she said, “and if you thought it’d been either or both, you wouldn’t have come up here with me. You’d have stood out there like those idiots as the asteroid approached.” Liam set his mug on the table. “They were demonstrating their faith,” his voice was louder. “They were screaming in agony as their flesh burned away.” “Paige.” “They ignored all the warnings.” “They went to a better place.” His voice was firm. She shouted, “They’re still here! They’re in the clouds, blocking out the sunlight.” “Stop it.” Paige pulled her knees up to her chin and buried her face in them. She felt like crying, but over the last two years since the comet came, she’d forgotten how. Pulse - 91