by Skylar Finn
“Thanks,” Keiko said. She kept her voice low, but Ailani listened closely. “Do you want this? I’m not hungry.”
Ailani watched out of the corner of her eye as Keiko offered Sharon the piece of beef jerky. Sharon hesitated to take it.
“You eat it, honey,” Sharon said. “You look like you need it more than I do.”
“I have plenty.”
Sharon gently pushed Keiko’s hand and the jerky away. “Please, sweetheart. You have it.”
After Sharon turned away, Keiko bit savagely into the jerky and devoured it in three bites. She looked slightly better after she finished. Ailani, momentarily satisfied, finished packing up. Walt checked his bag.
“Shit.”
“What is it?” Ailani asked.
“We’re low on food already,” Walt reported. He rummaged through his bag. “We’ve got a little bit of jerky left and a couple of protein bars, but that’s it. Everyone keep an eye out for potential supplies. Otherwise, don’t eat unless you have to.”
By midday, all Ailani could think about was her stomach. Every few seconds, it rumbled to remind her that she hadn’t eaten anything all morning. She felt as though it was caving in on itself with every passing second. Finally, she gave in.
“Walt, give me a protein bar,” she said. “I’m about to drop.”
Walt, his brow covered in sweat, needed no further excuse to drop his bag. He dug through it and pulled out one of the bars. “Are you sure? Maybe only eat half of it. We don’t know how much longer we’re going to be without food.”
Ailani took the bar and ripped open the wrapper. “I’ll hit a squirrel with a rock if I have to. Just let me eat now.”
She took a bite and hummed a happy note. They trudged onward.
An hour or so later, they still had not reached any sign of civilization. The long road was bordered by trees, shrubs, and nothing else. Ailani had taken to walking in the grass along the shoulder. It was softer beneath her feet than the pavement and made her ache less. The protein bar hadn’t helped much. She already wanted more food.
“There’s something up ahead,” Sharon said. She pointed toward the horizon. “Look over there, on the right side of the road.”
Ailani couldn’t see much of anything at first, but eventually the trees thinned out and she spotted what looked like the entrance to a sleepaway camp. A tall wall, built with long study logs, surrounded the camp. Over the entrance was a sign: Camp Firefly. From behind the walls came the murmur of voices and other activity. Ailani exchanged a glance with Walt.
“What do you think?” she asked him. “Is it worth it to check it out?”
“Is it safe?” Sharon added.
Walt squinted through the branches, trying to get a better look at the camp. “What other choice do we have? If we don’t at least try, we might end up starving to death.”
“Let’s see what they got,” Ailani agreed.
The three of them stepped forward, but Keiko did not follow. She collapsed instead, tumbling to the ground with no awareness of her body. She was completely unconscious.
13
Ailani dropped everything and rushed to her sister’s side. Keiko’s head hung heavy, but she at least she was breathing. Ailani checked to make sure she hadn’t injured herself on the way down.
“Keiko?” she said, patting the girl’s cheek. “Keiko, can you hear me?” She looked up desperately at the others. “What the hell happened? She was fine a few minutes ago!”
Sharon stepped forward, her hands clasped together. “I’m not so sure she was.”
“What are you talking about?”
When the older woman let her hands fall from each other, they shook more violently that usual. The spasms were tied to her emotions. She was too worried about Keiko to think about controlling her tremors. “She’s starving. I told her to eat. Ever since we got off the plane and started foraging for food, she’d been eating less and less. She might have been—” Sharon cut herself off and stared at her trembling hands.
“She might have been what?” Ailani demanded.
Sharon took a deep breath to steady herself. “I think she’s been eating less to make sure I’m satisfied. She’s been giving her food to me. I didn’t realize—”
“What?” Ailani’s shock came through as anger, though she didn’t quite mean it that way. Nevertheless, Sharon received the full brunt of her rage. “She’s seventeen! She’s still a teenager. She’s still growing! Why would you take food from her?”
“I know. I—”
“Moreover, how did you not realize this was happening?” Ailani said. “You’re a freakin’ doctor. You should have seen the signs.”
“I did. I tried to tell her—”
“You should have tried harder,” she snapped. She cradled Keiko’s head in her lap and stroked her sister’s long hair away from her forehead. The bones in Keiko’s cheeks were more prominent than ever, and her lips were dry and crusty. She had a deeper tan on her face than usual too, the product of walking around in the sun without any sunscreen. Ailani tried again to wake her. “Come on, kiddo. You gotta wake up to eat.”
“I’m sorry,” Sharon said.
“I don’t want to hear it,” Ailani replied.
Sharon began to tear up. Walt stepped in and took her aside, murmuring in a low voice to her. When he returned, he didn’t bring Sharon with him. He knelt next to Ailani and examined Keiko’s condition over her shoulder.
“You’re being a bit hard on her, don’t you think?”
Ailani glared at him. “Do you not see what’s happening? My little sister is unconscious in my arms, potentially starving to death. Sharon knew and didn’t say anything. In my book, this is her fault.”
“We all knew something like this was a possibility,” Walt reminded her. “Keiko didn’t look healthy to begin with. She’s been restricting herself from eating for days, possibly weeks. That was Keiko’s choice to make.”
Ailani’s lower lip trembled as she gazed at her little sister. “She shouldn’t have had to make that choice. She should be in Kauai, where it’s safe.”
Walt put a comforting hand on Ailani’s back. “We’re going to figure it out. The most important thing is that she has a pulse. Her heart hasn’t stopped. This isn’t cardiac arrest or anything like that. She’s just fainted.”
“We don’t have anything to feed her,” she said.
Sharon lumbered over to them, moving quicker than her disorder usually allowed. She dropped to her knees beside them and whispered, “Someone’s coming from the camp.”
There was no time to hide or move Keiko, and Ailani wasn’t going anywhere without her little sister. Walt stood, planted his feet, and drew his gun. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Sharon, forming a small wall between the sisters and whatever possible danger that marched their way. Footsteps crunched through the leaves, and soon enough, a man and a woman emerged from the gates surrounding the camp.
They were dressed like civilians. They both wore jeans, hiking boots, and T-shirts. Each of them sported a pin on their shirt with font too small to read from a distance. They were well-built. The man was lean and muscular, and the woman was lithe as a gazelle. Each one carried a gun. When they saw the foursome, the pair walked purposely toward them but fell short when they realized Walt was armed too.
“There’s no need for that,” the woman said. She held her hands up to indicate she didn’t mean them any harm. “We’re volunteers at Camp Firefly. Were you the ones making all that ruckus?”
“What ruckus?” Walt asked warily.
“The shouting,” replied the man. He already looked annoyed. “It’s pretty quiet around these parts. When we hear something like that, we get worried.”
“Did you lose someone?” the woman asked.
Ailani clutched Keiko closer. “She’s not dead. Who are you people?”
“Like I said, we’re volunteers at Camp Firefly.”
The foursome stared blankly at the “volunteers.”
The man jabbed his thumb at the sign over head. “Camp Firefly. We’re one of the safe places the state set up for this county after the EMP blast? Don’t you guys know anything?”
Relief widened Ailani’s eyes. She carefully placed Keiko’s head on the soft ground so she could approach the two outsiders. As she did so, the man’s hand drifted toward the gun on his belt.
“You have to take my sister.”
The man and woman exchanged knowing glances. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened right outside the camp gates.
“We’re sorry,” the woman said, sounding sincere. “But we’re already over-populated. We aren’t accepting anyone new, especially anyone who’s sick and might need extra supplies.”
“She’s not sick. She’s starving,” Ailani argued. “She’s only seventeen. She’s technically still a child. I heard on the radio you’re bringing children inside. She qualifies.”
The man’s brow furrowed as he looked around Ailani and Walt to better see Keiko. “She’s practically grown up. We’re already low on resources. We can’t afford to spare any.”
Ailani advanced toward the man, taking slow but steady steps that seemed more menacing than if she’d lunged for him. “You are working for a government-run establishment that is dedicated to saving lives. It is your obligation to take my sister in and give her what she needs to survive.”
The man pulled his gun. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to step back.”
Walt tugged on Ailani’s arm, but she kept moving forward.
“You are supposed to be accepting children,” she argued. “My sister is a child. If you don’t help save her—”
“You look familiar,” the woman interrupted. She wasn’t looking at Ailani, but rather peering around her to see Sharon. “Have I seen you before?”
Sharon’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She’d intentionally stayed close to Keiko, just in case the younger girl woke up. Now, she peered at the other woman.
“I’m not sure,” Sharon said. “What do you do?”
“I’m a paramedic.”
Sharon nodded in understanding. “I used to work at the UCLA Medical Center.”
“That must be it!” The woman snapped her fingers happily. “We dropped off there all the time when I worked more in that area. What did you do there?”
“I was an orthopedic surgeon.”
The volunteers swapped another loaded gaze. They seemed to have had practiced and refined their silent communication skills. The man shrugged at the woman and nodded toward the camp entrance.
“We’re short on medical experts,” the woman said. “We’ll take the girl until she’s able to stand on her own two feet again, but only if you” —she pointed at Sharon— “come too. We could use your skills.”
Sharon tucked her trembling hands behind her back. “I’m not so sure how much use I’ll be. I have Parkinson’s. I’m afraid that’s why I had to leave my job to begin with.”
The man and woman conferred again, this time with hushed whispers behind their hands.
“We’re still willing to bring you both inside,” the woman announced. “We have a lot of broken bones and fractures on our hands. You can at least supervise procedures and teach our medics the basics. Is it a deal?”
“Deal,” Ailani said.
“You’re not the one who has the right to answer,” the man reminded her.
Sharon looked at Keiko, then at Walt and Ailani. “Just the girl? My friends can’t come inside too?”
“Not unless they know how to set bones,” the woman answered. “Sorry, but we have to do what’s best for the people already inside our camp. Besides, the two of you look relatively well prepared. You can make it for a few more days.”
“Thanks,” Ailani said bitingly. “But you’ll take my sister?”
“If the surgeon agrees.”
“I’ll go,” Sharon replied firmly. “Of course I’ll go. I’ll make sure Keiko gets what she needs. Is that alright with you, Ailani?”
Ailani, stricken simultaneously with worry and relief, had no other choice but to agree. “Yes, but please take her quickly. She needs food and water.”
The woman extended her hand. As soon as Ailani shook it, the volunteers got to work. Carefully, they lifted Keiko from her bed on the ground and carried her toward the camp. Sharon started to hurry after them, but she paused to speak to Ailani.
“Does she have any allergies?” Sharon asked. “We never talked about it.”
“Penicillin,” Ailani called as Sharon hastened to keep up with the volunteers. “Don’t give her penicillin!”
Sharon waved to show she’d heard Ailani. Then she and the volunteers disappeared behind the gates of Camp Firefly, leaving Walt and Ailani alone once more.
“This is my fault,” Ailani said later that night.
She and Walt had set up their own camp right outside the gates of Firefly. Earlier, Ailani had walked along the outside perimeter of the camp’s walls. She told Walt it was out of curiosity, but if she was being honest with herself, she was looking for a way to break in. The camp was huge, and it was bordered by a lake at the back. The only way in was to swim, and Ailani hadn’t decided if she was that desperate yet.
Walt stoked the fire. He’d harnessed all of his wildlife survival skills to spear a fish in the lake with a sharpened stick. Then he’d gutted it, cleaned it, and managed to cook it on a hot rock near the fire. It looked relatively enticing, but Walt regretted the lack of spices to season it with.
“No, it’s not,” he assured Ailani, poking the fish with another stick to see if it was close to done. “You didn’t force her to starve herself.”
“No, I mean before all of this.” She stared blankly into the fire, watching the flames devour the brush below. “It’s my fault Keiko came here. If I had bothered to visit her in Kauai every once in a while, she wouldn’t have felt the need to come here and surprise me. I’m so stupid.” She rested her head in her arms, trying to keep her eyes from watering.
Walt coaxed the fish to a cooler part of the stone. “Dealing with family is always the biggest struggle, isn’t it? Why didn’t you visit her anyway?”
“No time,” Ailani said. “Once I moved to L.A., I got in on the game. I had every intention of making it, and that took all my time and dedication. I barely thought about home. When I did, I always promise myself I’d call before forgetting again. There was always something else going on.”
“That’s it?” Walt asked. “You were busy?”
“I also didn’t get along with my dad much,” Ailani admitted. “After my mom died, he was so strict. He didn’t want me to surf or hike or have fun. I was a teenager. All I wanted to do was have fun, but I kept getting into trouble for skipping school or getting caught somewhere I wasn’t supposed to. My dad didn’t know how to deal with me, so he stopped talking to me.”
“Then what happened?”
“He put all his energy into Keiko,” she answered. “To make sure she wouldn’t turn out like me. She loves him so much, and I’m glad for that because she didn’t really know Mom. She should have at least one parent that gets her.”
Walt pulled the fish off the stone to let it cool. “So you dad doesn’t get you, but your mom did?”
“Yeah.” She rested her chin on her forearms. “Mom got me. She was the adventurous one. She was the one who showed me all the best cliffs to jump from, the best places to climb, the best routes to hike. She was basically a Hawaiian goddess, one with the ocean and land and all that.”
“Sounds like an amazing woman.”
“She was,” Ailani murmured. “She was.”
Walt cleared his throat loudly. “So are we going to try this fish or what? You have to promise me you won’t make a face if it’s terrible though.”
The fish was surprisingly tasty, and for the next three days, Ailani and Walt practically lived off of it. Walt taught Ailani how to shape her own spear out of a tree branch so they could fish together. Walt still
wasn’t a fan of killing anything, but since fishing didn’t involve a gun, he managed as well as he could. When Ailani asked why he wasn’t a vegetarian already, he didn’t have a solid answer for her.
For three days, Ailani worried. No one came in or out of the camp. No one bothered to update Ailani on her sister’s condition. It was three days of excruciating impatience. They had officially run out of protein bars and beef jerky. Even if Keiko made it out of the camp, they would have to forage for food elsewhere. It was all up in the air, and Ailani felt the worry digging a hole in her stomach lining.
On the fourth night, Ailani actually slept, something she hadn’t managed until utter exhaustion took over. She was dead asleep when a set of hurried footsteps rustled the leaves near her ears and a hand jostled her shoulder.
“Ailani. Ailani, wake up!”
Ailani woke with a start, staring up into a familiar face. “Keiko?”
Her younger sister looked a hundred times better than she had when they’d arrived at Camp Firefly. She was no longer pale and sickly, and she had even put on a pound or two. Her cheeks were flushed, and she breathed long and hard, like she’d just run a marathon.
Ailani sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What happened? Did they kick you out?”
“Not exactly.”
Walt rolled over and woke up. “Keiko, you’re okay!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Keiko pulled Ailani to her feet. “I’m fine. I was just hungry. Come on. We gotta get out of here.”
“Why?” Ailani asked. “What happened in there? Did they do something to you? Where’s Sharon?”
Keiko let out a groan. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just—”
“You stole from them,” Walt said.
Unlike Ailani, he’d spotted the huge tote Keiko had dropped at the edge of the campsite upon waking them. It was stuffed to the gills, so much so that the top of it didn’t close. A pre-packaged meal poked out of the zipper.