Hi,
Sorry this is late by a day, but real life got in the way of posting.
Chapter Four
Escape to Nowhere
The rest of the program to free Superman from his prison seemed to go without a hitch. Just before sundown, of what was now the previous day, Teo had brought the anonymous body into the compound in a large container which held the laundry. All of the camp linen, plus the personnel's uniforms and clothing were taken twice weekly to the village women for washing -- a circumstance which Teo had been able to utilize to the rescuers' advantage.
By employing his knowledge of the cameras' routine sweeps of the bunker and a number of blind spots in the cameras' range, Teo had succeeded in conveying the poor man's remains to the boiler-anteroom in the bowels of the complex. Once there, Stephan had removed the correct finger from the body, using as much care as he would have done with a living being. Later, for the sake of authenticity, he would smear the stump with some of Superman's blood, using the contents of the only vial which he hadn't destroyed.
Stephan was still surprised by his enthusiasm for thwarting Hyesan's orders. Since embarking on this project, vodka had not been his constant bedtime companion. And the reason was not only that he needed a clear head to carry out the risky plan, but the fact that he had found in Adrienne Ducos a fellow crusader and... perhaps a friend?
Was it possible they could be more than friends, if they ever got free of this repressive regime and Hyesan's insane schemes? By staying to save Superman, both he and Adrienne had given up the chance for their own escape. They couldn't afford to take any action which might alert the General's suspicions. Their only option was to stay and make their report on Superman's death, even if it meant remaining in the Korean's employ for the foreseeable future.
At least, they would be together.
Mind you, Stephan had no idea if that fact would please Adrienne. Until a couple of days ago, she'd linked him with Abelev and despised them both. Now she tolerated him, probably, because she needed his aid, but he had noticed a certain warming in her manner towards him. Whether this thaw was enough to give him hope he had no idea, yet the very fact that he was interested in a relationship with a woman was startling. For some years he'd considered himself an embittered, middle-aged reprobate. Only now he wanted more for himself... more for Adrienne... and, at least, freedom for the man they had wronged.
To that end, Stephan tidied up and bandaged Superman's injured hand, while Teo pushed the trolley with the substitute body into the boiler room. In full view of the CCTV cameras the soldier hefted the sheeted corpse onto his shoulder, apparently inadvertently letting an arm with a bloodied hand fall down his back. Seconds later, with some physical effort, he tossed his burden into the maw of the furnace, and lifting a large spade, he casually stuffed the cadaver further into the fire.
Teo watched for some time as the greedy flames lapped at the edge of the sheet, quickly blackening the material. Then he added to the fire stacks of the doctors' paper files, old video-tapes and discs which had been earmarked for destruction and which, hopefully, would aid the conflagration. It was imperative that no body parts be left for identification by the time the General and his entourage returned. The three were confident, however, that with a little extra tending of the incinerator, nothing but ash would be found inside... should Hyesan feel the need to check.
When Teo judged that the cameras had filmed enough of the blaze and a sickly-sweet smell of burning flesh mixed with plastic began to irritate his senses, he closed the huge door, latching it shut. Finally, he checked the dials to ensure the furnace would burn at its hottest temperature, then left. He'd monitor progress later, when he returned from their proposed foray into the wild forests.
They were on the final stages of the rescue, but only Teo, who was more acquainted with the remote terrain their route would take them through, understood that the hardest part was yet to come. The two doctors apparently believed that the worst was behind them, but thankfully, Dr Ducos and Janik had yielded responsibility for the journey into his hands.
At least, dawn would be breaking soon -- a night drive through the treacherous countryside would be nigh on impossible -- and once they closed in on the border, they would have to go on foot. Teo just hoped that Janik was correct and that Superman would be sufficiently recovered to manage the trek. Teo knew his own strength, and like any young man was unconsciously proud of his capabilities, but carrying the superhero over such rocky tracks might be too hard a task even for him.
But first they had to get out of the complex. The plotters had argued about the means of their leaving. Adrienne was all for transferring Superman into the laundry basket and smuggling him out in that, but the next delivery to the village wasn't due till the morning of the next day. How would they explain Teo driving the truck away at dawn? And waiting for the normal run wasn't an option. Besides, with only a handful of staff left behind, would Hyesan even believe that the laundry trip was necessary?
Especially since they'd agreed to burn Superman's bedding and his few pieces of furniture as extra fuel for the incinerator. The General had ordered all traces of the superhero's stay in the bunker obliterated, so it was pretty safe to assume that he would accept that decision without objections.
After much wrangling, the tiny escape committee agreed they needed another exit plan and once again Adrienne and Stephan were grateful for their newest recruit's intelligent and observant nature. Indeed, since bringing Teo on board, both had wondered if the guard had already contemplated rescuing his hero. He'd certainly jumped at their offer to help spirit Superman away.
In the time Teo had spent stationed at the complex he'd explored its layout extensively. Actually, Corporal Teo had been one of the advance guard who'd arrived with the General to reconnoiter the premises. When Hyesan had satisfied himself that the old 'cold war' refuge was remote enough for his covert experiments on mind control, he'd issued orders for the bunker to be modernized expeditiously. The fact that Teo was amongst the soldiers who'd liaised with the local builders was now very beneficial to their cause.
The bunker had been built in the 50s and the original plans had incorporated an emergency stairwell for access, in case a power failure would render the elevators useless. However, with more modern technology and highly efficient generators installed in the bunker, Hyesan had instructed that the staircase be blocked off. The contractors had left this job to last, and running out of time and money, behind the heavy steel doors at both top and bottom of the stairs, they had built brick walls. On the surface these walls looked adequate, but were not exactly secure, due to substandard cement work.
None of the officers had ever thought to test the security of these barricades, relying on the fact that above ground a high barbed-wire fence ran round the whole perimeter of the camp. Guards patrolled regularly, plus the area was scanned by CCTV. Besides, none of the locals would have any inclination to approach Hyesan's lair and, certainly, none of the inmates would be in a fit state to find their way to the hidden stairwell.
Teo had always been aware of the botched job, but he'd said nothing, wanting to protect the villagers from his commander's rage. These people barely scraped a living for themselves in this harsh wilderness and didn't need the added worry of having a high-powered General breathing down their necks. Now he was grateful that he'd kept silent and even more thankful that the entrance to the staircase was in the ante-chamber to the boiler room -- the one place with the broken surveillance camera.
A situation which hadn't gone undetected, either, by a few of Teo's enterprising comrades who didn't mind taking a few risks to sneak out of the camp to enjoy a little recreation at the local bordello, a pastime of which Hyesan would not have approved. The perpetrators had known the need for strict secrecy. In fact, they might have been the reason the camera was defunct in the first place, but that didn't really matter to Teo and the two doctors, since they could make full use of this undercover way out.
Sometime in the past, these guards had loosened some of the bricks to make holes in the walls... just enough for a grown man to squeeze through. When they'd return to the bunker after a night's recreation, they'd carefully replace the bricks so that their officers wouldn't find out what they were up to. But that wasn't quite true. Teo knew of one officer, at least, who had used the exit a couple of times along with the other soldiers.
It didn't take much effort for Teo to widen the opening in the shoddy brick work with some cautious use of a sledgehammer, a tool he'd taken openly, during the day, from the basement cupboards to break up the equipment in the respective doctor's labs and would soon employ on the furniture in Superman's cell.
Now Teo carefully pushed the extra bricks aside, so that like the other soldiers, he could repair the opening later.
“How many people know about this?” Stephan inquired as he watched Teo work, waiting for Adrienne to communicate to the corporal.
But it seemed a translation wasn't needed. Before Adrienne finished, Teo answered for himself.
“Not many! And no one tell.... They be too scared. They be hurt if General ever knows this.”
The doctors exchanged amused glances. Both had speculated privately that their helper understood some English. He'd often reacted too quickly to a conversation between themselves, not needing to wait for a translation. Yet he'd never spoken in English before; hadn't actually said much at all, so his words did surprise the two. Teo's accent might be thick and he didn't appear comfortable with the unfamiliar tongue, but the fact that they could converse would certainly make the next few hours easier.
Yet, Adrienne couldn't hold back the question that sprung immediately to her lips. “You speak English, Teo? Why have you never let on?”
Not stopping in his task, Teo glanced over his shoulder at the woman. “No speak English good... know some. Bad things happen to Teo if General Hyesan know. Teo no speak inside.” He jerked his head in the direction of the heavy steel door which they had closed behind them.
“That's OK, Teo, neither Dr Janik nor I will ever give your secret away,” Adrienne smiled as she spoke, throwing Stephan a glance, encouraging him to join in.
“No, of course not. We're all in this together -- like the three musketeers, and we have to watch each other's backs!” Teo looked puzzled at the strange phrases and Stephan explained. “Sorry! We all have to take care of each other... make sure Hyesan never finds out what we've done.”
Teo nodded, saying nothing, but his expression showed great relief. Speaking the language of the hated western world was strictly against the rules for a private soldier, and he was adding to his treachery by aiding and abetting Superman. He wasn't afraid for himself. A soldier risked death many times, but he was terrified for his family's sake.
Once the hole was deemed large enough, the three manipulated Superman through the space, and started to climb the four flights of steps. Not exactly an easy task, but made easier by the fact that the top of the gurney lifted of its base to be carried like a stretcher. Nevertheless, it was an extremely weary and out-of-breath threesome who reached the outer door.
Stephan grabbed the lever which operated the opening mechanism for the bulkhead door -- this, after all, was the entrance to a fallout shelter and the metal was thicker than the door below. He yanked with all his strength, but to no avail.
“I guess this is where superstrength would come in handy,” Adrienne teased, hoping to relieve the tension.
Clearly, Stephan didn't see the lighter side. “The damned thing can't be rusted in place if these other guards have been using it.” He tried once more, throwing his entire weight behind his effort. “Teo, maybe we should have gone with the laundry basket.”
The bolts screeched, echoing in the cavernous stairwell. “Damn! That's loud enough to wake the dead.” Stephan gave up on his efforts. “You'd think your partying friends would have oiled this door.”
“Not friends.” Teo's head shook back and forth emphatically, his hands gripping one of the older man's arms to move him aside.
“Relax, Stephan, there are no microphones in here to pick up the sound.” Adrienne's eyes scanned the concrete hallway at the top of the stairs just to make sure. Now that they were almost out of bunker, she felt strangely elated... tired, perhaps, but mentally alert. They'd come further than she'd ever dreamed possible and she was starting to believe that the gods were on their side. “Didn't you remind me that the meek shall inherit the Earth.”
“Yeah, but in this godforsaken country more often they get trodden in the dirt!” Stephan countered, for the moment, not sharing Adrienne's optimism.
Finding it difficult to understand the references in the conversation, Teo gave a dismissive shrug and stepped between the two doctors to attempt to release the locks. The corporal's muscles bunched beneath his uniform and within seconds the door groaned once more then swung slowly open, allowing the ghostly glimmer of pre-dawn to seep onto the landing.
Three expectant stares searched the flat landscape of scrub and boulders. Roughly fifty yards away they could barely make out the line of barbed wire fence, but in between there were few bushes to create shadows -- no places to hide. Stephan's anxiety notched up another level.
“How are we going to get passed the patrols? We're not exactly going to be able to sprint across that distance carrying a stretcher.”
Once again, Teo shook his head. “Guards gone... none in... lookouts....” The soldier looked a little nonplussed, before reverting to his own language to explain to Adrienne, leaving Stephan to stew in frustration.
“What's he saying?”
“Hush!” Adrienne ordered. “I can't listen to both of you.”
There was a short verbal exchange in Korean while Stephan tried to curb his impatience. He'd just about reached the end of his tether when Adrienne turned to him.
“The towers have been unmanned for weeks and with only two guards on the gate tonight, there should be no patrols about now. The plan was that one of them would go round the grounds at midnight, and again just after dawn. The soldiers have no idea what we're up to and they don't believe anyone would want to break in, so they decided to relax a little. The others have gone with Abelev into the village, including the remaining dog handler. Seems he likes to have a good time. In fact, he's the soldier who found this way out. Neither of the remaining guards trust the dogs, so we don't have to worry about our scent being discovered later. Besides, the dog handlers usually give this place a wide berth, not wanting to give the secret away. Teo also says they aren't planning to return until morning. They're taking full advantage of Hyesan's absence.”
“When the cat's away, the mice will play,” Stephan said with a chuckle, which soon changed to a moan. “Great! Then there's a chance that we'll bump into them now or on our way back in.”
“No! According to Teo they won't be back till much later, and this time they took a jeep and went out through the gates. Their friends on duty will turn a blind eye in expectation of the favour being returned someday.”
“Good God, are all these soldiers corrupt?”
“Looks like quite a few,” Adrienne concurred. “That's probably what you get when you keep your men on too tight a rein. We shouldn't complain though. They've made our job easier!”
“Oh, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. But what about the cameras?”
“The cameras scan the grounds more than the gates. Hyesan has faith in his men's loyalty. Not that there's any fondness between commander and troops, but he does have faith in their belief in self-preservation.”
“Seems his faith is misplaced, but if the cameras scan the grounds how do we get the stretcher over there without being seen?” Stephan gestured with his chin towards the fence.
Once again, Teo interrupted and Stephan had to shut up and wait. Moments later, Adrienne translated the message for his benefit. “There aren't too many cameras and this place is at the edge of their range. Teo knows the timing of the sweeps and is confident we can get across the ground in time, but we have to hurry. There is a jeep hidden in the woods beyond the compound boundary. We have to reach the river and get back here before the others return from their party.”
“Hmph, I thought this place was impregnable. If I'd known about all this coming and going, I might have escaped long ago.”
“Oh right!” Adrienne sounded sceptical. “And just where would you have gone? We're living in a camp in the middle of mountains covered with trees, and in an alien country. You don't even speak the language. Without a guide you'd wander around lost for days... weeks. And if you didn't die of exposure, Hyesan would have you brought back and flayed alive. He might need us, but he despises us. You might not have noticed, but I'm sure he'd enjoy having an excuse to torture us. Hyesan might be an arrogant sod, but he's right in surmising that only a fool would risk escaping from here.”
“I know you're right,” Stephan conceded quietly, determinedly straightening to his full height and grinning ruefully. He was over his moment of panic. “I guess we are crazy fools. But let's get this job done and just hope that he never finds that excuse.”
Teo made them wait a few more minutes then he stuck his head around the door frame, peering into the gloomy light with his infrared binoculars. Immediately he'd satisfied himself the camera had swung in the opposite direction, he picked up his end of the stretcher and gestured for Stephan to do likewise. Adrienne, as planned, would steady the unconscious superhero on what might prove to be a bumpy ride.
The group made their way outside, laying the stretcher down in the shadow of the wall while Teo closed the door. Then wasting no time, Superman was picked up again and the three jogged their way as speedily, yet as carefully as possible across the stony ground. It wouldn't do to stumble or drop their cargo. The camera lens wouldn't swing back in their direction for some minutes, but there was no time for errors.
When the stretcher bearers reached the fence they were both gasping for breath, though Stephan was in more trouble than his younger colleague. The man they were carrying might no longer have his powers but Stephan wished that the onetime hero had lost more weight, or that he himself was in better shape. Maybe he'd start taking better care of himself, if they ever were free of this mess. Who knew, maybe Adrienne might find him more attractive if he was fit.
The million dollar question, though, was whether they would succeed in getting out of here. On the other side of the fence, Stephan could see a shrub covered bank which sloped steeply to the encroaching trees. Over there lay the safety of cover, but how were they to reach that goal? He'd expected to find a hole in the wire; a cut out panel which could easily be removed and replaced, but the stretched wire seemed intact.
Obviously the men who used this route were fit enough to climb the fence, but he doubted that he or Adrienne could manage such a feat... and there was absolutely no way the stretcher could be manhandled over such a high barrier.
“The camera!” Adrienne hissed in his ear.
Stephan and Adrienne gazed up at the pylon which held the camera. The all-seeing eye was returning to the concrete structure they'd left behind. It crept along the wall towards the door, carrying on till it reached the far corner of the building. Very shortly, it would be arcing across the open land towards the very spot they were occupying. They'd be caught like rats in a trap and all their meticulous planning would have been in vain.
“Go, quick!” Teo's voice was little more than a whisper but heavy with authority, while he made a grab for Adrienne's waist.
Taken completely by surprise, Adrienne couldn't suppress a scream, quickly muffled by Teo's hand as he pushed her down into the earth.
“What the hell?” Stephan managed to grind out before he too was being shoved into a gully among the rocks.
Neither of the two doctors had appreciated that they'd been led to a particular point where a few boulders rested close by the fence. Rocks hardly big enough to hide a child, let alone an adult, but rocks that overhung a cleft in the ground leading under the wire; a makeshift path to the outside world which had probably been caused by heavy rains during the last typhoon season.
The camera was sweeping ever closer as Teo passed the stretcher down into the high-sided ditch where his fellow conspirators helped its progress. Quickly, the corporal dived head first for cover, his boots disappearing from view with just seconds to spare.
Once more the three lay perfectly still in the leafy trench, hardly daring to breath, while above their heads the CCTV searched the terrain directly outside the compound perimeter. In the total silence they heard the whir of the technological watchdog as it began to repeat its habitual journey.
After a few moments, they were galvanized into action, slithering and sliding down the length of the small ravine and into the tree line. From there it was only a matter of a short walk to the stashed jeep and five minutes later they were loaded up and driving north for the river border with China.
All three were too exhausted to feel a sense of relief. Their escape from the camp had been too close a call, but at least they were on the last lap. Which brought nearer the need to revive Superman and both doctors were all too aware that this procedure was little more than experimental.
The mood within the confines of the jeep was extremely somber. They were racing against time. Teo had estimated that the round-trip journey should take about two to three hours, not counting the time it would take to get Superman fit enough to cross the border, which meant they'd have to smuggle themselves back into the camp in daylight. Of course, if they got caught, they could always excuse themselves by saying the doctors had needed a drink after carrying out Hyesan's orders successfully.
Adrienne was sure Hyesan wouldn't doubt that she might want to get plastered after murdering Superman. He believed she was a spineless fool. Very probably he'd accept that Stephan would join her. After all, the General was likely aware of Stephan's nightly libation habits. So it shouldn't take too much trouble to convince Hyesan that they'd bribed Teo into guiding them to the village.
The ideal situation, however, was that they could sneak back in without discovery... and surely that scenario wasn't too much of a stretch. Abelev and his companions might not have returned, or if they had, those who could would probably be sleeping off their hangovers. The soldiers on the gate would be looking forward to being relieved -- also by a couple of those who'd spent the night outside. Either way, those guarding the gate shouldn't be patrolling too zealously.
But even if they were apprehended, all might not be lost. To protect their own backs, the guards might agree to keep quiet about the doctors' supposed recreational trip to the village. The ordinary soldiers should have no reason to doubt that explanation, since they too went AWOL on a regular basis. Certainly, they wouldn't be too keen to have the General discover they'd been sneaking out of his camp in direct disobedience of his orders.
There was no way Adrienne, Stephan or Teo could be sure of the outcome of the next few hours, so they sat silently as the vehicle bumped over the pot-holed track and prayed in their own way for salvation.
*****
Far removed from the Korean jungle, Lois Lane shut down her computer mid-afternoon and packed up her things to head out of the Daily Planet newsroom. This evening, her eldest daughter was to compete with the school's gymnastic team and she'd offered, along with some other parents, to help with the team's preparations.
Lois had learned in a very hard school that her family was the most important part of her life and she didn't take for granted a moment of the time she could spend with them. And this was one competition she wouldn't miss being a part of for anything in the world.
When Sara, their 'quiet' daughter, was seven years old she'd pleasantly surprised both her parents by joining gymnastic classes. Yet, for some months after her father's disappearance, Sara had lost all interest in her passion, ignoring her team mates and becoming almost a recluse. Lois had understood, but had worried so for her child. It had been such a relief when, suddenly, Sara announced she'd had a change of heart, deciding Daddy would want her to continue.
In the ensuing months, Sara had worked hard to achieve the required standard to regain her place on the team while doggedly suppressing her budding superpowers. Lois smiled gently, remembering her daughter solemnly telling her that she didn't want to use her 'specialness' to give her an advantage over her team mates. Clark would have been so proud....
Her hands stilled, as once again she was reminded of her husband. Lois might be learning to live without Clark, yet there wasn't a day went by, not even a moment, when he wasn't in her thoughts. Only a few nights ago, she'd told her younger daughter that she still talked to Clark, and that was true.
At work, she'd often find herself having a conversation with him inside her head as she worked through a difficult investigation, except she didn't do too many expose these days, But, when she did, she'd try to recreate the easy ebb and flow of ideas between them which had led to Lane and Kent nailing so many prize-winning stories....
Within her personal life, Lois always tried to see any problems that arose from his point of view, letting him guide her when the going got particularly tough. And she always made time to talk to her children about their father. To let them know how much he loved them.
No, it wasn't unusual for Lois to think about Clark... but on that afternoon at the Planet, she was extremely shocked to feel he was thinking of her. Lois' breath caught and she instinctively opened up the connection which had been lost to her for too long. For over a year, she'd felt no sense of his presence. Indeed, this had been the one unforgiving factor which had convinced her that Clark was dead.
Yet for a moment, as the city room of the Daily Planet went about business in its normally chaotic fashion around her, Lois was transported to another world by the shade of her husband reaching out to her once more. In her heart, she sensed a shiver of his panic, followed by a strange sense of peace... a final coming home. Whatever was happening, and Lois couldn't be sure just what that was, Clark was finally at rest.
“Lois?” Jimmy's voice sounded close by, rising anxiously over the hubbub of the bullpit. “Is everything OK?”
The interlude had passed, and again Clark's presence retreated into memory, into that special place in her heart where he would always remain, entwined forever in the very sinews of her being. He would never truly leave her -- how could he when he was the other half of her soul?
“Yes, I'm fine, Jimmy,” Lois said, not really sure if this were true.
“For a minute there you looked like you'd seen a ghost.”
Lois shrugged. “Something like that. I just got one of these feelings when you think someone is walking over your grave.”
“Right,” Jimmy grinned. “Never did understand where that saying comes from, or what it means.”
“Me neither, but I have to rush. Got a hot date with Sara this evening. She's representing the school at a gymnastic event for the first time since... since she went back....” Lois' voice faltered and she returned to gathering up her things. “The coach asked for volunteers to help keep the kids focused during the final training session.”
“Hey, why didn't you say. I'd like to come too. CK would have been so proud.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.”
Jimmy's grin softened in understanding. “So that's where you went to....”
“Yes.” Sudden tears sparkled on the tips of Lois' lashes, threatening to fall. “Oh, Jimmy, just when I think I'm doing so well, I get all emotional again. I have to be strong for the kids, but sometimes thoughts of Clark hit me out of the blue and I end up a quivering wreck.”
“And you wouldn't want it any other way,” Jimmy reminded her, helpfully snagging a tissue from a box on her desk and passing it to her. “Well, maybe not the quivering wreck part, but you wouldn't want to forget him... would you?”
“No! Definitely not. Clark is kinda unforgettable.”
“You just miss him, Lois, and if it makes you feel any better, I do too... we all do. He was one of a kind.”
They'd had this conversation before... a number of times. Often, when they were working late on a story, they'd end up talking about CK. The things he said and did, some funny, some sad... and those crazy ties he wore....
Maybe not so often late at night now, as Lois tried to restrict her work, as much as possible, to normal 9 to 5 hours. Her kids had lost one parent and Lois was going to make sure they didn't lose another. Yet Jimmy was determined to be there for Lois whenever she needed him.
“And just so you know, Lois, I think you're doing a great job. Clark would be proud of you too.”
Lois reached out a hand to her friend. This past year she'd discovered people cared for her more than she'd ever suspected... and that was also Clark's legacy to her. He'd taught her the value of letting people in.
Jimmy clasped her hand for a second, then started to draw her to the elevators. “You're gonna be late if we hang around here jawing about old times. And hey, tell Sara good luck from me. Oh, and where is this competition being held? I'll try to look in if I get off work on time.”
“It's at the Superman Foundation Hall,” Lois said, stepping into the elevator. “Starts at seven. I'm taking the kids for dinner first, though Sara will probably settle for a green salad. She's nervous and I doubt it would be a good idea, anyway, to tumble about on a full stomach. Her grandparents will be there too... and Perry and Alice.”
“I better not miss out if the whole family are showing up....” Jimmy's voice tailed off as both quickly realized just who would not be there.
Lois and Jimmy exchange a sad smile. Sometimes it was those little perceptions that caught you unawares.
The doors closed as the car started to move down to the lower floors, leaving Lois alone. Desperately, she closed her eyes and directed her senses inwards, to search again for that special connection to Clark, but this time she met with only silence and darkness. Had she only dreamed she'd heard his voice... saw his dark eyes staring at her, filled with love in abundance... felt that wondrous sense of belonging that she would never share with another?
The elevator arrived at its destination and Lois was hit with a cold deluge of reality. Staffers spilled into the car; a couple of young reporters rushing up to the newsroom to finish off their stories before deadline, a photographer anxious to reach the darkroom so his shots could make the next edition and a researcher loaded down with stacks of files. She felt their energy, their eagerness... and part of her regretted that she no longer shared that consuming commitment. The Daily Planet would always be the only newspaper she could ever work for, and she was grateful to have something to fill her days, but it was no longer the hub of her universe.
What had Mrs Church said all those years ago? 'A store couldn't boil an egg'? Mindy had been correct about that... and Clark had been great in the kitchen... amongst other rooms....
Lois forced her way out against the tide, deciding to take the single flight of stairs to the parking garage. If she didn't get a grip here, she'd be dissolving in a flood of tears and she had no intention of crying in front of her colleagues. They'd seen enough of that when Clark had first gone missing. Reminiscing about Clark, and knowing that memories were all she had left, often made her melancholic.
But she was not a wallower. She had to concentrate on the good... and Clark had left her so much of the good. The greatest of his gifts to her were his children, and they were waiting for her to pick them up after school.
Drawing strength from a love that would never die, Lois walked with a lighter step towards her jeep.
*****
tbc
