Critical Measures

by Kip Nelson

  Chapter Sixteen

  As soon as Annabelle wriggled free of the cage she ran to the shadows. She knew her father and the others were angry at her, but she wanted to prove to them she could be an asset. The hole wasn't big enough for anyone else to escape through. She was the only one who could help. Her father had tried shielding her from the executions, but he had failed. He had covered her eyes and turned her head away, but he had not been able to shelter her from the horrific screams, or the sight of the dead bodies on the ground. The evil man who had walked into the camp was worse than Lisa in some ways, but she was getting tired of adults always trying to hide the truth from her. She wasn't blind. She had seen her parents get dragged away from her, she had seen so many things in her time on this Earth, and this was nothing new. Peter had done the same thing when he had killed Lisa, but the result was the same. Annabelle still knew she was dead, just as she knew the others had had their heads chopped off.

  With all the adults captured in a cage she knew it was up to her to rescue them. She wasn't going to stand there helpless when there was a chance she could do something to improve their situation. Her young heart pounded with fear, but her determination to make a difference was stronger. She had learned from many role models over the years and they all had shown her that it was important to act even when you were scared, and to take risks to protect the people you loved. She only was applying the lessons she had been taught, and she didn't think her father could be too angry with her for that. She'd already lost him once, and never thought that she would see him again. They finally were getting back to a place where it felt as if things were normal between them, where he was her daddy and she his little girl. After so many days had been spent apart, she didn't think she could handle it if he was taken away from her again. They all had spoken about doing the right thing, and Annabelle knew that this was right.

  Light on her feet, she skipped through the camp. It was fortunate that she knew the layout, although at first, she did not know where she was going. Her only aim was staying out of sight of the death cult. The way the man had spoken sent shivers down her spine, and she tried not to think of it. He was everything she thought the devil would be. She hated Lisa, but Lisa was different from this man.

  They were not swarming through the camp, so there were plenty of places for Annabelle to hide. By now everyone had been rounded up and placed in the cage, although nobody knew what was going to happen to them. It didn't seem like anything good, though. The last time Annabelle had been sneaking through the camp she had been captured while eavesdropping on Lisa, and she didn't want to make the same mistake again. She knew somewhere out there Diana and Adam were alone. So she thought about running away to find them, but she didn't know where they would be and the last thing she wanted was to be alone in the city again. Besides, she didn't want to leave her father and the others. They needed her help right now, and she didn't know if they could wait for her to find Diana.

  Her breath caught in her throat when she heard stomping footsteps and ragged laughter. She crept into a safe place and waited for the voices to recede into the distance. She needed to be strong, like her father and Diana. She needed to be patient, and to think of a way to help those she loved. She remembered Peter telling her that she had to protect her innocence, and her father had said a similar thing, too. She understood what they were trying to say, but she thought it was adults being adults and worrying too much. She couldn't escape the nature of the world. She already had seen and done so many things that had shaken her to her core. How could she keep her innocence intact when there were people such as Lisa and this new man around? People who wanted to inflict pain on others. Annabelle didn't want to hide her head in the sand and pretend that everything was going to be okay, because she knew it wasn't going to be. Her mother was dead. The friends she had made in school and in the Girl Scouts probably were dead as well. There was no hiding from that, and the sooner her father and the other adults realized it, the better.

  She thought back to Tara's class for a moment. Annabelle liked Tara, but it seemed a waste to teach kids about things such as geography and math. They needed to learn how to handle themselves in a fight, how to creep around a camp like a ninja, how to find food and water to survive. Sometimes the adults seemed ready to change with the world, and other times they seemed as if they were too locked to what it had been. Annabelle knew what the future held in store. She knew that if she could do just one thing right, if one of her plans worked, then they all would be forced to look at her in a new light and give her the credit she deserved. At the moment, it felt as though they didn't trust her enough, and that hurt her deeply.

  When she had been younger and had gone on camping trips with her father, he always had trusted her with things. He taught her how to use a bow and arrow, and knives. He showed her how to sneak up on prey and avoid making noise. She used some of these skills now, keeping to the shadows, listening carefully for any noises so she could be sure to avoid them. She breathed slowly and deliberately, and made sure to look where she was walking. Whenever she heard noise she paused and stayed still, holding her breath. Sometimes her heart pounded so fiercely that she was sure somebody would hear her, that they would drag her back to the cage and make an example of her. Sometimes the fear got so great that she was paralyzed and could not move. Part of her wondered if she simply should return to the cage and back to the safety of her father's arms. Maybe all the adults were right, and she wasn't ready to do these sorts of things, but then she burrowed deep down into herself and remembered that she was a Girl Scout, and she could do anything.

  Annabelle always had loved learning about things. Her happiest memories were when she had been out in the wild, with either her father or the other Girl Scouts. She'd been attracted to stories about kids going on adventures and surviving in the wild, showing the adults that they didn't need them. She had seen so many different people in the world now that she had a feeling adults weren't really as needed as they thought, and that if there were more children around they could have made a good attempt at living in the world. It certainly seemed that adults were more prone to violence, even though they always said that violence wasn't the answer. Adults always were so confusing, she thought.

  Kids, on the other hand, were usually straightforward, and she knew how to handle them. She wondered if there were any kids out there such as herself, ones who didn't want just to stay in school and be parented all day, but who wanted to be a part of this new world, to contribute their skills and knowledge. So far, she hadn't seen any adult who really knew more than her, and she was getting tired of holding her tongue when it came to speaking about survival. She already had ideas for how they could get more water from the well and plant flowers nearby, but with everyone so focused on recovering from the fighting it was hard for her to make her ideas known. Hopefully, she thought, it wouldn't be long before she was able to prove herself in that regard. But that would entail her being successful on this mission.

  She knew where the guns were, but also knew that she could not carry enough of them back to her father and the others, and she was not equipped to handle a gun herself, certainly not well enough to take on the entire death cult. As far as she could see they were armed only with swords and other bladed weapons, but she didn't want to take them all on by herself. No, the best she could do for now was to try staying away from them and thinking of a plan. Perhaps if she waited for nightfall she could smuggle the guns from the armory to her father, and then they would have the advantage, or she could find a way to free them. Perhaps if they all dug at night they would be able to escape the same way that Annabelle had, and then they would be able to flee to safety.

  All she knew for sure is that she didn't want to stay in one place for too long. Her nerves were bouncing around inside her, but by continually moving she was able to keep them at bay. She found herself moving away from the main camp, to the edge, where it was safer and less likely that she would be discovered. While lost in this tho
ught, her attention and concentration slipped. She was distracted by some bushes and didn't hear someone close to her. By the time a hand clamped down on her shoulder it was too late for her to do anything but be pulled away as she felt terror seize her heart.

  Meanwhile, in the cage, Stan was pacing back and forth as much as he could in the cramped area. He tried not to draw attention to the hole through which Annabelle had escaped, but his eyes continually were drawn to it. He kept glancing out between the bars of the cage, trying to see where his daughter was, but there was no sign of her. She was alone, and he knew these people would show no mercy for the mere fact that she was a child. He was angry at himself for not keeping a closer eye on her, but he never had thought she would escape.

  “She has a knack for doing that,” Tara said, noticing Stan had been quiet for a long time.

  “I should be out there with her. What if they find her?” he said.

  “She's a smart kid, she won't let herself be caught,” Tara said.

  “But what is she trying to accomplish? She can't do anything out there. She can't fight them,” Stan said, his voice filled with despair.

  “Maybe she's trying to find help,” Peter offered.

  “I hope she and the others have run far away from here,” Matthew said. The leader had been despondent since he had been locked up. Stan rolled his eyes.

  “We don't need that kind of talk, Matthew. It's not going to help anyone. These people aren't invincible. They just had the advantage of surprise. If we can get out of here, we can take them down.”

  “But you've seen what they can do. They're horrible,” Matthew said. His eyes glazed over as he relieved the horror of the executions.

  “You don't need to tell me about that, but right now I only care about two things, my daughter, and getting out of here alive. We've got to try thinking of a plan,” he said, moving around the cage, trying to find any points of weakness, but it had been made too sturdy. Metal was twined together with wood, fastened by strong, thick ropes and leather, and he wondered how many other people had been kept in this cage. He returned scowling.

  “No luck?” Peter asked. Stan shook his head.

  “Maybe when night falls we can try shaking it down or something, but I don't see how. These people know what they're doing,” Stan said.

  “What do you think they want with us?” Tara asked.

  “To kill us,” Peter said.

  “No, it can't be that simple,” Matthew said. By now he had regained some of his composure. “If that's all they wanted, then they would have killed us all by now. They're holding us for a reason.”

  “Maybe they just want us for sport,” Stan said. “I've seen this kind of thing before. You realize what we are, don't you? Look at us, we're locked in this cage like animals. We're they're prey, and they're going to hunt us.”

  He hadn't wanted to give voice to his suspicions because he knew people already were worried, and the last thing they needed was for everyone to panic and descend into histrionics. It was impossible to have a private conversation with everyone in such close quarters, and Stan had wanted to keep his cards close to his chest. However, he couldn't keep the truth to himself any longer. It was the only thing that made sense to him. These people worshiped death, but they were also ruthless, and it didn't seem as though they would be wholly satisfied by a simple execution. They would need much more than that to satisfy their lust for blood.

  It didn't bode well for them, but at least it gave them a little time. While there was time there was hope, but as Stan looked between the bars forlornly, he worried for his daughter. He wished he could rip the cage open with his hands, for that was how angry he felt, but he was powerless to help Annabelle. To a certain extent their hopes rested on her. All his life he had known that at some point he would have to let her go and be her own woman, but he hadn't expected it to happen so soon. He didn't share Matthew's faith in God, but he did pray for Annabelle to be safe. He was glad for every minute that passed without her being dragged before them, because as long as everything remained still and silent he knew she was alive.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Adam and Diana had led their force through the city, trying to be as stealthy as possible, even though they were aware that with such a large amount of people with them it was hard to remain unseen by anyone who would be watching out for them. Adam was not a general, and he had only the most fleeting war experience, but it seemed as though he was the one who had unified these people and they were following his lead. He felt something of the burden that Matthew must have felt, and Adam pitied the man. Adam had every intention of relinquishing his role as a leader once this battle was done, but he knew Matthew would not do the same. Matthew was the kind of man who was born to be a leader. Adam was not, but by chance he was at the front of this small army.

  There were few guns between them, and only the most able-bodied people had joined up. Everyone else was loathe to commit all their people to the battle in case there was a counter-attack. They didn't want to risk losing everything, which was something Adam could understand. Before he left he told them to start thinking about the future, to think of ways that all of them could work together and make this world in the image they wanted to believe in. Some of them grumbled and muttered, 'If there is a future,' but Adam told them to believe, that anything was possible and that they would come back from this. If nothing else, people had to keep believing, because while there was a seed of hope there was always the possibility that the world could be reformed. It was only when people gave up and let others such as Lisa and the death cult win without a fight that all hope was truly lost.

  Indeed, when they first began walking Adam spoke about lessons he had learned from Annabelle, trying to get people's minds off the fact that they were going to war with a ruthless enemy. Diana's lips curled into a smile, for Adam did not attribute his knowledge to the eleven-year-old girl, and this helped to improve the mood. Once all the action was over it would be time to think about survival again. It seemed like such a luxury. It was almost hard to forget that they had bigger problems than just fighting other humans. Food, water, and shelter still were going to be factors in their survival.

  Winter still had a couple months left. Sometimes when Adam looked back he barely could believe how little time had passed. The rest of the year was left open. Spring and summer would bring with them blossoming plants and the opportunity to build for the future, and then the winter would come again. Adam thought ahead to this point in a year's time. He wondered how things would be then. What other adventures awaited him and his friends? What other trials and tribulations? He hoped they would be in a settled environment, with no threats around them, safe and secure, with an idea in mind of how to bring the human race back to its glory.

  Humanity had lost its position as the dominant force on the planet. Before the world went dark animals rarely ventured into the city. Perhaps there was the odd fox, and of course domestic pets such as cats and dogs, but now the animals were getting braver. Adam noticed beady eyes and the sounds of scurrying paws around him. The animals mostly kept to the shadows, especially when faced with a large group of humans, but they only would get braver and more daring, and soon enough there would be a fight with nature.

  But that was all for the future. Right then Adam had only one concern, defeating this new enemy, this death cult. As they approached the camp, they stopped. Adam knew there must be some sort of sentry, so he and Diana skulked forward to see what they could find. They heard a quiet rustling, and at first Adam thought it may well have been one of those animals, but then he saw some hair, and he placed his hand on her shoulder. He was delighted to see that it was Annabelle.

  The young girl saw him quickly enough to quell the scream that was building in her throat. She flung her arms around Diana and the three of them quickly moved back to their army before they could be seen. Annabelle's eyes widened when she saw how many people were with Adam and Diana.

  “We made some friends a
long the way,” Adam said with a grin.

  “What happened?” Diana asked. Annabelle told them things they already knew from Oscar, but then told them about the cage and how she had escaped and wondered what she could do to help.

  “Don't tell me that I did the wrong thing. Everybody always gets annoyed when I do anything, even though all of you always go off and do something on your own. This time I was right. If it wasn't for me, you'd have gone walking into the camp and probably been captured yourself,” she said, folding her arms and pouting.

  Adam and Diana shared a sly smile. “I don't think anyone is going to be telling you off, Annabelle,” he said, “you did a smart thing. Risky, but smart.”

  “But I think it is best if you stay away from danger. I don't want you to get hurt,” Diana said.

  “I don't want you to get hurt either, but I'm not telling you to stay away,” she said.

  “I can't argue with her logic,” Adam said.

  Diana could, but she didn't have time. They needed to act quickly before any other people were killed by this vicious death cult. From what Annabelle and Oscar had said, Adam managed to get a rough count of how many enemies were in the camp. Based on numbers the two armies were not that different, but in terms of sheer savagery there was a vast disparity. Some of the people Adam was leading had fought before, but like him they were reluctant soldiers. He hated to admit it, but having someone like Lee around would have been an advantage.

  “We're not going to win this by running in there and having a big brawl. We have to be smart about it,” he said, although that was difficult.

  With Lisa having hoarded many of the guns the army he was leading had primarily makeshift weapons, knives and javelins and the like. But from what Annabelle and Oscar had said they wouldn't last ten minutes in a fight against the jagged swords of the death cult, who were far more proficient in the art of close combat.