The Roar (The Roar Series Book 1)

by A. M. White

  Timothy sighed, “Okay, I am going to strap my belt and jacket around you so that I can lower you down.” He worked quickly to rig me up.

  My legs dangled into the crevice. I slid into the crack, my feet reaching for the bottom. The belt gave me a tug when Timothy caught my weight. The crack opened to a larger cavern.

  “I think it’s just a little lower, I’m going to release myself,” I called up.

  With a thud, I hit the bottom.

  A dark shadow huddled against the wall. I felt my way to her.

  “Cara, come on Cara,” I beckoned. I shook her and she answered with a grunt.

  “Alex, is she alright?” Timothy yelled down to me.

  I quickly checked her over. She was a little scratched up and had been knocked out, but alive.

  “I think so!” I replied.

  I took out the water bladder and poured it onto Cara’s face. She stirred.

  Disoriented, she mumbled, “Ugh, what the heck.” I helped her sit up.

  “Are you okay?” I grabbed at her arms and legs checking to make sure there were no broken bones.

  “What an idiot! I can’t believe I fell for that,” she exclaimed and leaned on me to stand straight.

  “I hate to interrupt you ladies but the trappers could come back any moment. We yelled enough for anyone within a mile to hear us. We have to get somewhere discreet, fast!” Timothy urged.

  I grabbed the end of the belt and wrapped it around both of her wrists, buckling it for good measure.

  “Hang on, tight,” I told Cara. I patted her back. “She’s ready!”

  Cara inched toward the opening. Dirt fell into my face as I watched. Timothy moaned as he pulled Cara to safety. Soon her feet slipped out and I heard the two of them fall to the ground.

  “Thank God! Cara,” he exhaled loudly.

  I could tell he was hugging her.

  “I know, I know, let go of me and get Alex out of there,” Cara mumbled.

  The belt lowered. I wrapped it around my wrist.

  “Ready!” I yelled.

  Timothy groaned as he pulled me up. I kicked against the sides to try and help him lift me. He grabbed me around the shoulders and dragged me on top of him.

  We were both breathing heavily, face to face. Wisps of my hair fell over my face, but his eyes bore into mine. For the first time, I noticed depth to them. They were not a wall, but an inky pool.

  “Oh, geez,” Cara scoffed at us. “We have to get out of here, people. We don’t have time for that touchy feely junk!”

  Timothy rolled me off of him and sprang to his feet. I crawled over to kneel by Cara.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “I feel like I was hit over the head. I’m sure that is going to hang on for a while, but otherwise, yes.” She held her forehead and let Timothy prop her up against him.

  I insisted on carrying her knapsack. We took a few steps away from the trap.

  “Hey, Jared, I think we got something over here!” A gruff voice called out just beyond our sight.

  Timothy ducked and pulled Cara onto his back

  “Alex, you are going to have to try and keep up. If you lose me, hide and I will find you,” he hurried.

  Two rugged men rounded the tree next to their trap. “Well, looky here! Hands up where I can see them!” The man yelled. He raised a rifle at us.

  Timothy tore off into the woods. I sprinted in the same direction. The rifle fired and I tried running off the trail. Timothy was getting further away.

  “Darn it, stop!” One of the men shouted, out of breath, from running.

  My legs pumped as fast as they could. I could no longer see Timothy. The gun fired again; it was followed by burning in my arm. Blood seeped through a tear in my jacket.

  “I think I got her!” One of the men called out. Their footsteps stopped.

  I clamped my hand over the wound and searched for a place to hide.

  “It won’t be hard to find her now. We can just follow the blood,” one of the men told the other.

  Briskly walking, I spotted a thicker area of bush. No, that was too obvious. A downed tree stretched across the ground. I climbed over it, squeezing into the space where the tree and the ground met. Quickly I pulled leaves and branches over the exposed part of me.

  Crunching down, the men’s lumbering around was getting nearer. I held my breath, waiting for them to pass or find me.

  “I don’t see any blood. You must not have got her good,” the voice said, approaching.

  “Shoot! I didn’t see you take no shots”, the man spit.

  “That’s cause I don’t like my gals all marked up,” one man jeered.

  My skin crawled.

  They were almost to the tree now. The pain in my arm was becoming more of a throb and the blood was slipping through my fingers. I felt a little dizzy; it would help if I could get my heart rate down.

  The men stopped on the other side of the log. “Come out, come out wherever you are!” One of them laughed,” Peek-a-boo, I see you!” He peered over the log and looked down at me.

  One of the men screamed. The man looking at me disappeared from view. A gurgling noise followed. Then the sound of two bodies hit the ground.

  I sprang from my hiding spot and began to run. Timothy was instantly wrapped around me, yanking me to a halt.

  I swiped at him. “You left me”, I sputtered.

  My left hand slapped bloody prints on his chest. Tears betrayed me and sprang from my eyes. “Timothy, you left me!”

  “You’re hurt,” he noticed. He pulled me in to him. “I’m sorry, Alex, I’m so sorry,” he muttered.

  I sank in to the embrace and allowed myself to cry.

  Timothy scooped me up and ran. This time, he held me like a child, careful not to jar me. I rested my head on his chest and tried to stop crying. We didn’t go very far before he shifted me to one arm and climbed a tree. His strength amazed me.

  Once in the tree, I saw Cara leaning against the trunk, legs straddling a thick bough. She looked pale.

  “What a freaking mess we are, huh? She’s hurt, too?” She asked weakly.

  “Yeah, she got shot, Cara”, Timothy replied.

  He sat me on a branch near Cara. I shifted my weight against the trunk.

  “She still got my pack?” Cara asked.

  “Yeah somehow,” Timothy untangled it from me.

  “Everything you need to fix us up is in there”, Cara laid her head back.

  Timothy placed a few bottles between his legs. Cara held her hand out for him to pass her one. She opened the bottle and drank. We both watched her, waiting for something to happen.

  Timothy turned his attention back to me. “It will take a few minutes, but she will be alright. Thank you for what you did back there,” he smiled at me. I tried to smile back through the pain.

  He carefully pulled the jacket from me. He tore the sleeve off of my shirt to see the wound better. I bit my bottom lip. The wound left my flesh jagged and blood poured from the hole.

  “The good news is you aren’t going to die. It’s just a flesh wound, but it is deep. I can fix you up but it’s going to hurt a little,” he said sympathetically.

  I thought I saw a grin on Cara’s face from the corner of my eye. I shot her a look but the smile was gone. Her eyes were closed and her head tilted back.

  Timothy busied himself pouring some of the liquids together. He pulled Cara’s knife from his pocket. Blood covered the blade.

  “Did you-,” I started.

  “I had to.” He wiped the blood on his pants.

  He used the knife to mix the solution.

  “That doesn’t seem too sterile,” I commented.

  “Trust me, this stuff kills any germs”, he said.

  He scooped some out with the knife and motioned for me to move my hand from my hurt arm.

  He spread the mixture over the gash.

  “The hardest part is not screaming from the pain.” Timothy handed me his belt. “You might want to bite
down on this.”

  I took the belt and immediately the pain spiked. Timothy pulled me into his chest for another embrace, this time to steady me. The wound sizzled and smoked. I clenched my teeth down on the leather. My eyes rolled back in my head. Searing agony spread from the hole in my arm. A moan escaped my mouth and my body shook against Timothy. Then the pain was gone and I went slack. Timothy rested me back against the tree trunk. I looked down at my arm and only a scar of burnt flesh remained.

  He moved over to Cara. She smiled at him, “I knew I wasn’t going to get a bath tonight”.

  He chuckled and looked her over. “I feel much better, really”, Cara snorted.

  My eyes felt heavy.

  Just before I drifted off, I overheard him say, “You know you owe her a thank you. She saved you when I couldn’t.”

  Cara groaned, “Maybe she isn’t all that bad, I guess.

  Chapter Nine

  When I woke, it was much later in the day. The sun cast long shadows between the trees. My arm wasn’t even sore to the touch. I tested it by rotating it, good as new.

  Cara snored softly from her perch. I watched her, while she slept. She was pretty in a fairy-type of way. For someone so petite, she was sharp and strong willed. She also had Timothy. I hadn’t quite figured out their relationship, yet. I felt weak and alone.

  I noticed Timothy climbing up. He sat next to me, opening a cloth filled with berries. He offered them to me. We ate in silence listening to Cara sleep next to us.

  “What was that stuff you put on my arm?” I whispered.

  “They have that kind of stuff under the ground”, he shrugged.” They are far more advanced than humans, in some ways.”

  “Did the drink you gave Cara work?” I asked.

  “It always does,” Timothy chuckled, “Saving people is a dangerous business. This ain’t our first rodeo.”

  “I can see that.” A smile spread across my face.

  “Wow! Is that a smile I see?” Timothy nudged me.

  I laughed. Cara yawned and stretched, “You guys planning on sharing those berries, or what?

  I passed a handful to her. She popped the whole thing in her mouth. She moaned, “Those are amazing right now, I’m so hungry”.

  Timothy handed her more. We all sat groaning in ecstasy, chewing the juicy berries. They were delicious in our parched mouths.

  “If you ladies are up for it, we have another hour of sunlight left. We could still try to make it to the camp,” Timothy urged.

  “I’m in,” I replied.

  “Let’s do this,” Cara stood uneasily.

  “Are you two sure?” Timothy raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Yes, but maybe with a little help at first.” She reached for his hand.

  We made our way down the tree slowly. It felt good to be back on the ground. Even though, I now knew there were more secrets beneath it than the roars.

  We treaded softly among the twigs and leaves. Frost was starting to take hold of everything. I saw it on my jacket and heard it beneath my feet. I quietly wished for warmer weather soon.

  “Timothy,” I crawled over another fallen tree, “what month is it?”

  “I believe it is February, it’s easy to lose track of time out here,” he kept going,” I think we were looking for you for about a month before we found you.”

  “Are there other compounds like mine?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  “Many,” Cara interjected.

  She looked back to see my face. It must’ve disappointed her because she went back to watching where she stepped.

  “Yes, there are many, probably all across the Earth. Different places made for different things,” he trailed off.

  “What kinds of things?” I didn’t look up.

  “There are energy sites like the one you were at. Please don’t ask about that, yet,” he looked back at me and I nodded, “There are all kinds of infrastructure being put in place, some to build for them and some to get rid of what was left by people. There are also places where people are made to hunt down what is left of humans.”

  “Wait”, I planted my feet. “You aren’t just taking me back to them, are you, for some type of reward or something?”

  Cara faced me. “Sweetheart, they would kill us on sight.”

  “Again, Cara is right, and I’m in the business of living.” He never lifted his head.

  I believed them; otherwise, they could have already turned me back in. Why walk all this way and go through all the trouble to do that?

  “They have spread some rumor that they will pay for people that go missing. It is a lie; they take everyone that shows up. They want everyone left on the outside,” he growled.

  “Why do you do this, then? Why save people?”

  “It’s more the benefits of having things than it is the saving part,” Cara pointed out.

  “Yes, having some place and some things to call my own is nice, but it really is the freedom of choice and being able to live my life the way I want.” Timothy rubbed a mark on the back of his hand.

  Cara laughed at his reply.

  I hadn’t taken notice of the scar before. The way he touched it made me think it had something to do with why he valued freedom. Apparently, Cara didn’t feel the same.

  Soon after our talk, we came to the edge of a clearing. Timothy held his hand out to stop me. The grass grew tall in the meadow, but the bushes and thicket I was used to picking through was absent.

  I stood behind the two of them.

  Chapter Ten

  “You two hide behind a thick tree and let me do the talking,” Timothy ordered.

  Cara grabbed my arm and pulled me behind the nearest base of a tree. “Keep quiet until he signals us.” She drew her knife.

  We both peered from the sides of the tree. Timothy raised his hands and took a step into the clearing. Nothing happened. He took another step. I felt sweat trickle down the small of my back.

  “Halt!” An ominous voice bellowed. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  Timothy didn’t waiver, “I only seek a place to stay the night with my travel companions. I am Timothy, the fetcher. I know Elijah; you may ask him.”

  A few moments passed in silence. I hoped Timothy had a good reputation with this, Elijah.

  “How many are there?” The voice called.

  Timothy shouted, “Three of us, together, me, and two girls”.

  There was a pause again as if the message was being sent and answered on the other end. “Let them be seen.”

  Timothy waved to us without turning around. We slowly crept from our hiding spot and stood next to him. All of our hands were raised. I couldn’t make out where the voice had come from across the clearing. There was no sign of guards.

  “Your entrance has been granted,” a voice boomed at us.

  We all looked at each other. Timothy walked in between Cara and me. He grabbed both of our hands. “Stay close until we are inside,” he cautioned.

  We walked across the field and into the shadows of the tree line. It had to be nearing dark now. A guard was waiting for us. He eyed each of us, analyzing, and then turned and marched us to a tall wooden fence. The fence was made with lumber, capped with spikes.

  It was hard to believe a fence that stretched that far was invisible across the clearing. It reached wide and taller than two of me. There were guards posted every thirty feet or so on platforms. Each bearing a rifle, slung over their backs. Several of the closest guards had their weapons pointed at us.

  Our escort directed us to a place in the wall that opened. The gate opened and my senses were immediately bombarded. There were more people inside than I had imagined. They were walking to and from huts carrying pails, food, weapons, or lumber. The people were dressed in layered clothing from before the end of the world, a blur of mismatched colors. Smells filled the air, fire, food, animals, and people, mixed. The sounds of people living and talking overwhelmed my brain.

  It was almost too much for me. I took a st
ep back and dropped Timothy‘s hand. There was too much to process. As soon as I digested the scene in one area, it changed. I stood still.

  Timothy gently took my hand again and whispered in my ear, “Amazing isn’t it?”

  He looked at me as if he understood what I was feeling. After being locked in that prison for the past few years, this was more than amazing. This was pure sensory overload.

  The guard called back to us, “Elijah requires that you see him before settling in.” The three of us followed him.

  Close by, there was a house that was quite large. In comparison to the other structures, the building was a mansion; the only similarity to the others was a thatched roof. The structure was made from logs instead of boards. Smoke puffed from the stone chimney.

  The guard knocked on the door. “The visitors are here,” he announced.

  “Send them in!” a voice called from inside.

  The guard opened the door and stepped back, “Please go in”.

  The three of us entered. The main room was warm from a fire. An elderly man sat in an armchair next to the fireplace. He had a blanket wrapped around his legs.

  The man outstretched his arms, “Timothy! Cara! I am so pleased to see you again.”

  They both bent and hugged him. He awed over them, asking about their adventures and checking them over. They asked him about the village and if there had been any changes since their last visit. They chatted easily, even Cara was acting pleasant.

  I stood awkwardly waiting for an introduction. Timothy finally took my arm and presented me to Elijah,

  “Elijah, this is Alex; she is our newest member of the outside world”.

  Elijah waved at me to come closer. I moved to stand at his feet. The old man looked me up and down before he cracked a grin.

  “Welcome, I can’t imagine what you have been through at the hands of those animals. I am glad you are safe now. The new world needs as many pretty ladies as it can get. Right, Timothy?”

  I looked at Timothy. He was blushing and grinning from ear to ear, “It certainly doesn’t hurt old man.”

  I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks. Cara shot me a look out of the corner of her eye. I pulled nervously at the bottom of my jacket.