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kiss.
“About?” David asked, kissing the hollow of her neck. The flesh was soft and sweet as cream.
“Marriage…”
David pulled his lips from her throat and met her gaze. “We’ve talked about this before. There is no priest.”
“What about Jenkins?” Samantha asked.
“What?”
“He is the Supreme Commander here.”
“So?”
“Doesn’t that give him the authority to preside over a wedding? You know, kind of like the Captain of a ship…or a judge?”
“I don’t know? I’ve never even considered it.”
“Maybe we should ask him?”
    David didn’t answer her. They had talked about marriage. He loved her, and he wanted to marry her, to adopt baby Tyler and baby Mary as his own. But would it be real? The world had fallen apart. There was no society to recognize their marriage. Having the ceremony, whether conducted by a priest or a General, wouldn’t mean anything. So what was the point?
“David? What do you think?” The look on Samantha’s face told him he had not been listening to her.
“I’m sorry, I was in pain.” It was a weak excuse.
“Maybe we should ask Jenkins if he could marry us? If he can’t do it then I’m sure the Council can.”
“Jenkins will stop in to talk with me later. I’ll ask him about it then.” David gave her his best smile.
    “Good. I’ll talk to Susan.” Samantha bent down and gave him a kiss. “Your mom’s watching the kids, I’d better get back. Are you coming to eat?”
    “My leg hurts.” David said. It was true, but he also didn’t feel like seeing anyone right now. “I’m just going to stay here and see if I can get some work done.”
“I’ll send a plate up, and you better eat it!” she said in mock tyranny.
“Whatever you say, babe… I love you.”
“I love you too.” She left the room, pulling the door closed behind her…

 
    CHAPTER 8
     
     
    Saturday, July 14, 2001
    Rainbow Lake, UT
    3:10 PM
     
     
    “You know what I miss about Park City?” Private Shane Law asked aloud.
    “What’s that?” Private Brad Potter responded.
    “The whores… Now don’t get me wrong, Rainbow Lake is a nice place, safe and secure, but there ain’t shit in the way of available pussy.” This drew laughs from all four men of Second Platoon, Alpha Company. They were all on horseback, riding single file, following a hiking trail in the woods south west of the Lake. As Pvt. Law continued his crude musings on the pleasures of days gone past, Lieutenant Stan Larsen tuned it out of his mind, focusing instead on how fortunate he was to still be alive.
    Lt. Larsen was a large man, built like an ex-linesman, with a thick beard and mustache that hid a round, cheerful face set with icy blue eyes. He was a career Army Vet, who first enlisted in the eighties. After the Gulf War he entered the reserves and moved to Salt Lake City. Before long he married and had a son. When the Deadrise began and the world had fallen to shit, he was contacted by some reservist friends in Park City via CB radio, and told of the situation there. So he loaded up his wife Tina and his son, Stan Jr. and made for Park City. It had been harrowing with the living dead roaming the streets everywhere, searching for warm flesh, but they had made it just hours before the freeway junction at the mouth of Parleys canyon was closed. Upon reaching Park City, he had flashed his US Army Reservist credentials and been conscripted into the Park City Militia, and given command of a platoon of men. They had been stationed at Kimball Junction when it had fallen, and the horrors he had witnessed while evacuating back to the city still haunted his dreams.
    He and his family had been living in one of the old resort hotels, and he'd barely gotten them out of the building and into the family vehicle when the Krylok spacecraft began its strafing run of downtown Park City; The first building that collapsed missed them by less than one hundred feet. The family sedan barely made it out of Park City, up an old quarry