by Tara Brown
"He's a goof. We will travel together, Em."
I look back harshly. “He will die if we make him travel. Those red lines are blood poisoning, and if I remember correctly, when they reach his heart, he's dead. I will go, and you will stay and keep him safe.” I am risking my life for him, but I am taking the coward’s path. “I'll leave tonight. You will have to keep Leo with you. He can help you."
Her voice is small. “I can't ask you to do this."
It's my turn to smile bitterly. “Guess you'll have to trust me."
I stare out into the night. It's peaceful and quiet. It suddenly scares me more than anything.
My jaw tenses and tells her the part I haven’t mentioned. “If I'm not back in three days, I think you'll have to cut the leg off and clot it. Don't give him liquor before you cut it off, because it thins the blood and he will bleed out. Clotting is done with a hot iron. You press it against the stump where the leg bleeds to seal the veins.” I don't look at her. I can't. “The red lines are bad. I don’t know how long he has. He will need tons of soup, water, and rest.” I stand. “I'll leave tonight.” My leg aches at the thought of leaving.
The barn feels less scary with her in it, and I realize my whole life feels that way. They’ve made everything less and more. The less is awful but not being alone all the damned time is amazing. Not doing everything alone is worth the risks.
Chapter Seven
I don't look back. I know he's watching me, but I can't bear to see the look on his face. His eyes will haunt me forever. I've never left him before. He's always part of whatever I undertake. He waits in the woods while I raid houses, but he's there. This is the first time I have turned my back on him, and I don’t know if I will be back.
I just put one foot in front of the other.
When the sun rises, I am in the middle of nowhere. I walk and listen to the music of the birds. The sun is above me and hot. Spring isn’t like it was when I was little. It's warm and muggy in the day and cool in the evening.
I look around and realize I am finally about halfway. I had been lost in thought on the trail and hadn’t paid much attention to anything but my direction.
I am making better time than I thought I would with my leg being so sore.
A while later I hear something I haven’t heard in a long time—a buzz. I follow the noise to a hive. It's small and only half built but it makes me hopeful. If the bees aren’t dead like my father feared they would be, maybe there is hope. I haven’t seen a bee since before.
I look at the small hive. Humans could do that. We could rebuild. If we stopped trying to be on top, we could stand a chance. I watch the busy bees for a moment and turn back to the trail that is hardly a real trail. It's mainly just a path I walked a few times before.
The sun sets making me tired. I've walked nearly twenty-four hours. I climb a huge tree and lie against the trunk in one of the high-up branches. I close my eyes for a minute.
Flashes fill my head instantly.
My father is pushing me along the road. Cars and trucks fill the freeway. People sit in them still, but my dad doesn’t think we have enough time to get out. He has waited for this day his whole life.
"Em, we need to get to high ground, and we need to get away from these people.” His fingers dig into my back, poking it.
"Dad, maybe we should go back to Granny's.” My voice is small, compared to the noise from the masses.
"No. Run faster, Em. We need to run.” He is in front and dragging me up a grassy hill. My little legs hurt. He's made me work out and run since I can remember, but it's late and I'm tired.
I think a bad thought. It's a thought I will regret always. His erratic behavior forces the thought.
His hand squeezes mine.
There’s a cracking noise and my father's face fades away.
I wake and look around but I see nothing. My eyes are blocked by something. I lift my head to realize I'm face down in a bushy branch. The smaller branch, which I'm resting my weight on, is breaking. I struggle for a moment and pull myself up, but the branch below me snaps loudly and falls. It hits every other branch on its way down. I cringe as each noisy strike fills the air. The rustling of the bushes overtakes the night.
I pant loudly, waiting.
My heartbeat is throbbing throughout my body.
I have nowhere to go if anything has heard my noise so I stay perfectly still, willing my body to calm itself.
It’s insane how close I came to falling out of a tree. That’s why I never sleep in trees and always choose underground, but tonight I have no choice. I’m working without a plan. It's one of my rules to always have a plan and tonight I’m naked without it.
Regardless of my near death, I stay in the tree, resting my eyes and listening to the sounds of the night.
I climb down before the sun comes up. I never move much in the day. It's one of my rules but I have no choice. I'm limited on time so I walk quickly, trying not to imagine the fever that has flushed Jake’s cheeks or the pain the leg is causing. His eyes unnerve me, even in my own mind.
The trees start thinning, telling me I’m close and making my stomach a bundle of knots and nerves.
Getting as close as I can with my weapons, I stop and grip them close to me, cherishing my last few seconds with them. I've only been here, to this one, once and it scared the hell out of me. The choice I made and the girl I became scared me more than anything.
Trembling, I place my weapons in a hole under a tree, stuffing the bow to the very back of the hole with my knife. It makes me shiver, terrified of the nakedness of being without them as I cover the hole with branches and walk away. Along the way I break a branch with my hands every few steps, leaving the snapped ends hanging. It looks like a bear or another large creature has roamed the woods.
My father's craziness will live inside of me forever.
The first few steps from the woods feel like wading through the river. My legs ache, but the anxiety of being on an open road is making them feel like I'm wearing cement boots.
My breath increases. My peripheral vision becomes sharper and I notice a leaf blowing down the concrete next to an old brown stain. I have to force my brain not to hear the ripping and tearing. It feels weird to walk on a road. It's been so long I can't remember the last time.
Just when my stomach can't hurt worse, I hear them.
They're a ways down the road but they holler at me. I know it's me they're shouting at.
Hunters for the others.
Oh God.
My legs break into a run for the gates of the town, before I dare to glance at them. My muscles push and my bullet hole stings.
I run in a way I haven’t in a long time. No backpack to weigh me down, just a small sack in my hands. No heavy clothes, what with the spring sun popping out. I am wearing just a long sleeve t-shirt, cargo pants, and my thick-soled boots I took from the dead. I'm faster than I remember being. It could be that I'm more scared than I remember being.
My arms pump as my legs dig. The ground is passing by me in a blur.
I see the guards who won't protect me unless I reach the town. They'll watch the men tear me and attack me in the field out front.
The voices behind me are closing in on me. They're fast too. They run more than I do.
"Don't run, baby. We'll make it worth your while."
I blast through the guard gate and drop to my knees inside the walls, hearing a guard speaking over top of the blood pounding inside my ears. “Halt."
I turn around to see four guards there. They stand in front of the gate with huge guns.
The five men who have chased me are bent over and breathing heavy. I see the hungry grin of one of the men as his eyes meet mine, and I shudder.
He points at me. “See you on the way out. Maybe we can give you an escort home."
Shivers travel my spine. His grin scares me.
He is seedy and dirty. His smile makes me want to gag. I move away from the contact of a hand gripping my arm sud
denly. An older woman helps me stand. “I won't bite.” She looks back at the man and gives him the middle finger. My dad called it the bird. “Not like them, anyway."
She smiles at me. Her teeth are brown. She was probably poor before the world ended. The poor lived longer than any of the rich. They already knew how to survive.
I hate the smell of the town. I remember that now as the different smells wash over me. Sewage being the more distinct one.
"What can we do for you, dear?"
I glance at the old lady. I don’t trust her. No one should trust townies. I have to remind myself of the desperate situation I am in.
"I need medicine for infection."
She winces. “Are you injured?"
I shake my head. “Not for me."
"What kind of injury?"
I pause not wanting to talk to her, but I know I don’t have time to take any chances. “A stick went into his leg. I sewed it up, but I think bark is in there still, and he cut it in a river."
She nods. “I have just the thing.” She pulls me along.
The town is a shantytown made up of run-down houses and lean-tos. The houses would have been fancy before. Now the lean-tos almost seem nicer. The walls surrounding the town are made of sharpened poles like out of a medieval village. I see the smelly people peddling their wares to the pass-throughs; it’s like we have entered a dark age. I wish knights in armor were part of this nightmare.
I am permitted to sleep one night with a purchase. I’m excited in a way I can't explain at the idea of sleeping. My rest in the tree was terrible.
Being a pass-through means I may buy whatever I can carry. Buy is trade and I have very few things I can trade.
We enter a rundown house with stacks of papers and garbage inside. I can smell the garbage before I enter. The people who sell things raid old towns and landfills. It's funny that the world before made enough crap to last us even now.
She clears away a stack of plastic bags and other garbage from a long wooden counter. She lifts a white metal chest up and grins a brown smile at me.
"This is very special. It's from the city. It's what they use to treat the breeders. My son works there. He lets me have some to help us here."
Her words both disgust and scare me.
I can't help but look around the room, sensing an ambush at any second.
She laughs, seeing how leery I am. “Kid, don’t be a fool. He was taken there. He doesn’t work there because of the special perks.” I gag at the way she says perks and raises her eyebrows. “He's a doctor. All the doctors were taken."
I don’t feel better at the thought. I’m panicking at the idea of the breeder farms, like any girl would.
"Girl, you're going to have to wow me, for me to give you some of this."
I pull out the big guns on the first try, instead of trying to bargain. I'm in a hurry to get some sleep. I have to sneak out of the town in the middle of the night. The wolves at the gates have changed my initial plan.
Her eyes light up instantly as I pass the small blue bottle to her.
"Is it still sealed?"
I nod. She snatches it and kisses the bottle. My nose scrunches up as she eyeballs me with her crazy eyes. “How did you get this?"
"My father had a health food store. He left me a couple bottles. This is the last one.” I hate that I've given it to her. It's not really my last one, but it's still priceless.
She pushes three vials from the white chest at me and points to the door. “Leave and tell no one what I've sold you."
I nod. “Likewise."
She hands me the slip I need to get a night’s sleep at the inn.
I leave feeling her eyes on me, but when I glance back, she is hugging the bottle of pure tea tree oil like a nut. Her messy, long white hair makes her look like the evil queen from Snow White, hugging the poisoned apple.
I walk out onto the broken concrete street and look around, seeing the inn in the far corner of the shops. I keep my eyes low to the ground as I cross.
"Bread, miss? Eggs?"
I look at a young man pointing to a house. I shake my head. I don't eat anything that comes from other people. Especially not townies. The sanitation here is far below the standards we had as a civilization. I had heard rumors of a new plague the last time I came through.
I enter the inn and look around. A woman with bright-red hair eyes me up and down. I pass her the slip of paper. Her face brightens up. “Good to have patrons this early in the spring."
I glance around. “How safe is the town?"
She shrugs. “Depends. A sweet piece of virgin meat like you is going to have troubles no matter where you go."
I frown. “Thanks."
She croaks a laugh. “Precious, you are risking a hell of a lot coming here. The hunters are looking for breeders like you. Clean virgins."
I pass her a diamond ring from my pocket.
Her dark-brown eyes light up. “Luckily, a lady like me runs this inn. You'll be safe."
I smile bitterly. “Wait until you see the ring you get when I leave here in one piece. Virginity intact."
She raises an eyebrow at me. “I'm starting to think maybe you're not too virginal. Most girls who look like you are slightly more fun to mess with."
I shrug. “I aim to please.” I've read the line in a book once and always wanted to use it.
She croaks again and turns away from me.
"I'd sneak out in the night if I were you. The things that circle the town have what they want by sundown.” She turns back to me and grins a bright white smile. “Like I said, the girls that look like you are more fun."
I meet her smile. “I'm fun. Just not in a way anyone appreciates."
I climb the stairs, trying not to let my exhaustion be too obvious.
Chapter Eight
A hand slips over my mouth. I instantly think of the germs. I squeeze my lips together.
"Don't move, princess. They've come for you. Those bastards have sold you out to the breeders. Or it was that old witch. You should know better than to trade with the first person who talks to you. You bush people are stupid.” Her bright white smile flashes in the darkness. “Don't look so scared. I have a way out."
I nod. She pulls her hand from my face and puts it out in front of me. I slip my hand into my sports bra and pull out a massive ruby ring. I took it off a dead woman in a pile of rubble. It's gorgeous. It sparkles, even in the muted moonlight filtering in through the thin curtains.
She turns her back on me and walks to the closet.
She opens the door. I follow her. I'm holding my sack close to my chest. She pulls the rod for hanging clothes in the closet, making the wall pop out. She pushes it inside and walks into the wall.
She enters the darkness and I put my hands out, closing the wall behind me and shutting them out and me in. Their voices fill the room behind the wall.
A hand grips mine suddenly, making me want to scream but I don’t. Even though my pulse is vibrating throughout my body.
Words are whispered into the darkness. “Stairs.” So I put my feet down to the next level slowly. Men's voices fill the air above me. “What the hell is this?” They sound like they're right on top of me.
"She was here." I hear the old woman's voice. I can’t help but feel cheated and betrayed. For trade she would sell me out. Sell me out to the farms. I know humanity is a disgusting disappointment, but I still have a hard time imagining a woman turning another woman in to the farms.
"She was here. Please, let him just come home for a few days."
I continue down the stairs, feeling for each step with my toes. I swear an eternity has passed by the time I reach the bottom. The voices are gone and replacing them is a dripping sound and dank cold air—the kind that can only be found underground.
I look into the darkness. “This was your house, wasn’t it?” I whisper.
"You guessed it, kid. My husband had this installed when we built the house. He worked for the CIA."
Her hand grips mine again and pulls me. “The ground is flat. We have to hurry."
I am stunned that no one knows about her underground bunker. Not as stunned as I am that she is helping me.
"You could have sold me to them.”
Both her grip on my fingers and her voice change, becoming more intense. “They have no right. No right to do what they're doing.” Her fingers grip to my shoulders as she shakes me. “You must hurry. Don't come back here. The girls all get taken. The hunters are dressed up as traders but they're not. Run. Feel your fingers along the wall until you feel a ladder. When the sun rises, you'll see light in the ceiling. Climb up there. It’s a latch. I have to get back."
She is gone before I can even thank her, leaving me alone in the dark.
The fear is crippling me but I force myself to reach a trembling hand out into the darkness. Cold hard stone meets me somewhere in the black. I run my fingers along it, running as best as I can.
I'm scared and I hate being scared. I decide I need a rule about being scared and doing things that make me scared. I run until I reach the ladder. I hold the cold metal, staring up until I see the ring of light up ahead. It casts a dull beam in the shape of a circle on the floor. The morning sun has risen. I've slept later than I thought I would have. I should have been halfway home by the time the sun came up.
It’s like I'm stepping into a magical light, like in the movies I watched with my granny. The dark of the bunker is held at bay by the tiny ring of light. Dust sparkles inside of the ring.
Looking up I reach my trembling fingers through the light, making the dust dance. I climb until my head is at the wooden hatch and then listen to the silence. Nothing makes a sound but I don’t want to open the hatch. I want to hide in the dark of the bunker and never come out.
There is a whisper on the wind. It's a sound I would know anywhere, screaming in the distance. It isn’t close to my location, but it hurts me just the same. It could be me.