by Cass Kim
She fell silent for a moment, struggling to keep up with his pace. As if noticing, he slowed down abruptly, shrugging to himself.
“You ah… you seem to know my name, but you never introduced yourself to me.” Renna felt the need to fill the silence, feeling awkward and a little shy.
“Oh yeah, my bad.” He stopped and held out a hand to her, “I’m Emerson Kim. Nice to meet you.”
She hesitated, feeling like he was mocking her. Renna decided to play along anyhow, and placed her hand in his. “Renna Miller.” She shook firmly and let go. Even though he kept his gaze ahead, she was pretty sure he noticed as she surreptitiously rubbed more hand sanitizer across her palms, which suddenly felt tingly.
Chapter Eight
“This,” Emerson gestured grandly at the large open tent set just outside an encampment made up of tiny cabins and many tents grouped and clustered together, “is the mess hall. Just in time for a little breakfast.” He led her to the back of a line where plastic bowls were being filled with oatmeal and fresh blueberries. Once they’d both gotten their bowls and plastic utensils he led her over to a small wooden table in the corner. A few people were eating and writing in notebooks, or talking in small groups. Some looked up and watched them for a moment before returning to their conversations. Much like the cabin earlier, there was no obvious metal anywhere. Light was created by a mixture of chemical glow sticks and the natural light filtering from the open sides of the tent.
He leaned across the small table and spoke between bites. “Okay, so, it’s a small community, and there aren’t many kids our age. It’s pretty much just adults. But my friend Syd will probably roll up in a few minutes to get breakfast, and she’ll be able to take you to the places I can’t.”
“Why can’t you take me?” Renna felt suddenly attached to him as she stirred her oatmeal around to let the heat dissipate. How did he not burn his tongue eating his right away?
He shrugged and said, “I don’t really like to go into the central camp.”
“’Kay.” She said through a mouthful.
“My dad wants me to keep an eye on you, though. Please don’t try to make a run for it or some crap like that. I wasn’t kidding when I said you wouldn’t be able to find your way back to society.”
“We can’t be that far from my home. I got here on foot.”
“You got here by being carried here. And on foot for us means something way different than on foot for you. Besides, I’ll just have to track you and bring you back, and I’d rather not have to be all he-man again so soon.”
Yet he’d said she wasn’t a prisoner. Renna frowned at him, watching as he scraped the last of his oatmeal onto the spoon. She thought of the injuries she’d seen before he’d put his shirt on. “Did you kill my brother?”
He jerked as if she’d slapped him. “What? No. I just knocked him out so I could get him somewhere safe. I’m not a murderer.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
He dropped his spoon into his bowl with a light clatter and leaned back in his chair, face stormy. The oatmeal was suddenly a cement block in Renna’s stomach. She probably should have thanked him for saving her, not accused him of being a murderer. She was about to apologize when he suddenly grinned and waved to someone behind her.
“Hey Syd! ‘Bout time you woke up.”
“Psssh. Says the guy who went MIA for almost a week. You come back and expect me to just be at your beck and call like I have no other friends?” Setting her bowl down and sitting, the curvy girl leaned over to Renna and said, “just between us two, I pretty much don’t unless you count my momma.”
“Syd, this is Renna. Renna, this is Sydney, the only other person our age, and therefore your new best friend.”
Renna gave the girl a half wave, “I’m not planning on staying. I don’t need a new best friend. Thanks, though.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t offering anyhow. This guy,” she flung a thumb toward Emerson, “gets me into enough shit with it just being him. And no offense, but your arrival here speaks heavily of some serious shit.” She turned to Emerson and gave him a pointed look. “Are you going to fill me in, or do we have to barter for new information like when ya’ll first arrived?”
“Syd thinks she’s the queen of the camp because she and her mom were in the first wave of scientist to come up.”
“Oh no,” Syd replied, patting her short natural hair, “I think I’m the queen because I am a queen. Wilderness or no. But also, yeah. I was here first.”
“So this really is like some secret government science facility?” Renna looked between the two.
“Noooot exactly,” Syd answered. “It’s more like a secret non-government sanctioned camp for scientists that think maybe the government is handling this whole outbreak thing wrong.”
“Jesus Syd, just tell her everything so we have to force her to stay here forever, why don’t you?”
“She already saw you and your mutant powers, Professor X. You think they’re gonna let her go home now?”
“First of all,” Emerson sat up straighter, his face endearingly earnest, “Professor X was all about mind control. Call me Beast or Wolverine or somebody tough. And second of all, I’m just saying, we don’t need to scare her.”
“Whatever, nerd. She’s sitting right there, and she has a right to know. Now, you gunna tell me how she came to be here in the first place?”
He pushed away from the table, sliding a pair of dark shades on, “Not right now. Can you just show her the basics? I have some stuff to deal with. Don’t show her anything crazy. Nothing secret, just like something she can do, or some way she can help so people don’t get pissed about her being here.”
“Nothing secret? This whole damn place is a secret, bro!” Syd called at his back as he walked away. “Man, sometimes he can be a moody little shit. Alright new girl, I’ll give you the grand tour and we’ll find him back here around lunch time, I’m sure. Growing boy and all that.”
Syd helped Renna get a couple pairs of clean clothes, teasing her about needing something that would actually fit her and was, you know, made for the feminine figure. When Renna protested that she had no way to pay for anything, she explained that as long as she pitched in somehow it was fine. The community had been working on a “do what you can” system for the approximately five years it had been established. Renna could not believe that people had secretly been living in the woods for five years with no one the wiser. Then again, there were so many different small towns and tiny roadways and open areas. And with the parks all closed down, it did make sense for a large secret camp to be hidden here.
“Are Emerson and his family the only ones who have survived the change?” Renna could already tell that Sydney was the kind of person who would tell you the truth, even if it would hurt.
“Nope. They’re the only full family that changed, but there are other survivors. If Emers brought you here it must be because he thought you were infected. This place, this is the best chance you have.” The other girl’s deep brown eyes were clear and earnest.
“I think, um, that maybe his Dad brought me. Do you know where they might keep somebody that was infected?”
“Look, you don’t gotta worry about that unless you start the change. Don’t sweat it.” Syd elbowed her, “Get it? You know, since sweating is one of the symptoms?”
“Very punny.” Renna rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you guys are so,” she searched for the right word, “so casual about infection.”
“We aren’t casual about infection or standard precautions. But you know how they say some things are laugh or cry? I’m not a crier. And Neither is Emers. So, I guess we have a dark sense of humor sometimes, but can you blame us? You can’t tell me you and your friends never make jokes about zombies or vampires or something.”
“Yeah. I guess that’s true. It just feels different when we do it.”
Syd gave her a long look, “Because you’re safe in little metal gated houses, or because your best
friend didn’t survive the Wilder virus and live to tell about it?”
“Maybe. Probably.” Renna pushed on, “Look, I want to know because they have my brother here somewhere, and he’s been changed.”
The other girl perked up, “How recently?”
“Um,” Renna thought hard. Had it really only been a few days ago that she’d been at a high school party, drinking and dressing up? “Two days, I think.”
Syd nodded. “Okay. There are a couple of places he could be, depending on who’s in charge of him. And how his body is handling the virus. The virus has been mutating a lot faster the past few months, so it could make a difference for him.” She seemed to be considering her answer.
Renna held her breath, hoping the other girl would be willing to help her.
“But I can’t tell you where. I’m sorry, but I don’t know you from Adam and if you let him free in the middle of this camp…” Syd trailed off, spreading her hands like the answer was right in front of them.
“I just want to see him. Please. I just want to know if he’s okay.”
“Believe me, you don’t want to see him right now. Just keep your head down and help out around here. If you’re lucky, and you aren’t infected and he survives, you’ll only have a few weeks to wait to see him when he’s not either drugged to unconsciousness or a raving madman.” She softened a little, “I’ll see if I can at least get some info for you on how he’s doing. I might even have something for you by tomorrow.”
Renna spent the next few hours cleaning tables and washing and drying dishes in the mess hall under the watchful eye of Syd, who was helping to wash and chop wild roots and mushrooms for a stew. There was a small store of frozen meats and vegetables in a freezer chest run off a generator somewhere deeper in the camp, but they only had meat for one meal a day. The head cook looked to be about fifty years old and had the saggy skin along her arms and jawline that spoke of significant weight loss.
Just as Syd had predicted, Emerson ducked back into the tent when they were almost done serving the midday meal. They were given permission to take their turn eating, with the promise to start on clean up as soon as they’d finished. This time the tent flaps were mostly closed, and Renna had noticed several of the people she’d served hadn’t taken off their sunglasses, just like Emerson now wore his.
“Yeah, they’re like me.” Emerson had noticed her staring across at one of the sunglass wearers sitting a few tables away.
“So the sunlight doesn’t actually burn you, but it obviously affects you somehow?”
“I told you people think ya’ll half vampire!” Syd pointed her spoon at Emerson.
He sighed, “No. It’s not that it burns us. It’s more like when you stare into a light, and then look away and you have all these dots floating in your vision and you feel half blind for the next few seconds? It’s like that, except all day. It’s just too bright”
Renna thought about last night, when he and his father had stepped out of the cabin without the candles, on a dark and cloudy night. And how their pupils reflected the light just like Tim Tams did.
“You can see in the dark.”
“Yep. But the sunlight might as well make me blind without my shades.”
“She figured that out pretty quick.” Syd winked at her across the table. “At least she’s not a dummy, Emers. Then she’d never fit in here.”
Renna and Emerson replied at the same time.
“Never thought she was.”
“I’m not staying anyhow!”
Despite her protest, Renna was having a hard time seeing how she’d go back to her normal life with her changed brother and rarely home mother after this. Emerson stayed and helped with the post lunch clean-up. With his help, it went a lot faster than the breakfast clean-up had. The way that he and Syd bickered good naturedly through the chore made Renna feel oddly comfortable. After, he said he had to go foraging for more food items. Syd declined, saying she had to put in some time at the lab for her Mom. That left Renna with nothing to do but join him.
Chapter Nine
“If my brother survives where will he go?” They had stopped at the cabin and changed the bandages on Renna’s feet before going on the trek. The new fluffy bandages and thick boots made it a lot easier to hike through the forest.
“I guess he’d have to stay here,” Emerson said with a shrug.
“And me?” She looked around them, at the patchwork of sun filtering through the leaves. The dirt was starting to smell of mold and decay, as the summer growth was dying off.
“I don’t think you’re infected. Your blood work would have shown it by now, and if you were they’d have grabbed you from the mess hall.” He passed her the dog-eared book of edible plants and herbs, so she could look as he started pulling up tubers.
“So, what, you’re just going to take me home in a few days?” She dragged a foot through the dirt, feeling awkward standing over him as he knelt on the ground.
He shrugged, “I don’t know. I think you should wait it out here for now. That outbreak that got your brother moved really fast.” He worked at the dirt, pulling a fat root from the ground as he spoke. “I haven’t checked, but I doubt it’s controlled. You shouldn’t go home and be alone right now.”
“I bet my mom is freaking out. She was literally just yelling at me for not answering my phone, and now I don’t even have my phone and it’s an emergency and she hasn’t heard from either of her kids.” She flipped through the book, thumbing past notes made in a neat and even hand, trying to focus on the drawings and just breathe in and out slowly. She was not going to cry in front of him.
“She might be, but there’s nothing you can do right now.” His voice was calm and matter of fact.
She watched him for a long moment, thinking about the past few days. About how he’d shown up just on time. “ Were you in the woods spying on us?”
He leaned back on his heels to look up at her. She found herself wishing she could see his strange eyes instead of the dark lenses of the sunglasses. “I wouldn’t really say spying. I kind of found your house by accident once, when I was looking for new areas to forage. I mean, you guys are kind of out on the edge of town. I visited a few times. Not like a stalker or anything. It’s just…” He paused before confessing with a sheepish grin, “I liked your cat. I mean, he’s huge, but he’s so friendly to you guys.”
She couldn’t stop herself from returning his smile, “He’s a Siberian. Even then, the vet says he’s abnormally large.” She’d always been proud of their unusual cat. She hoped he was still alive, still at the house.
He kept watching her, “I used to have a cat too. Her name was Felix.”
“Isn’t Felix a boy’s name?” She wrinkled her nose at him, his smile growing.
“Yeah, it is. But she was all black and she meowed all the time. I mean, like just all the dang time. So, my brother named her Felix, like that talking cat cartoon.” His attention was carefully back to working roots out.
“Your brother. Thomas?” She sat on the ground next to where he was kneeling. His hand paused before he replied.
“Yeah, Thomas.”
“Did you..did you all change at the same time?”
He worked in the dirt for a long moment before answering quietly. “It’s kind of a long story.”
“I have time.” She thought of his mother’s words from the night before You should hope you never have to experience it.
He looked at her a little ruefully, “You know that’s just a polite way of me saying I don’t really want to talk about it?”
She shrugged. “I know. I just… if you did want to. I have time. Apparently, I have nothing but time, right now.”
“Well,” he said brightly, “lucky for you, we have a vast forest and book full of herbs for you to study.” He nodded to the book she’d set down.
She didn’t move to pick up the book. “You said ‘liked.’ That you liked my cat. Is Tim Tam dead?”
“I don’t really know. I kind of h
ad my hands full trying to keep your brother from killing you.”
“Those bruises on your body. Are those from him?”
His full lips pressed together for a moment before he answered. “Yeah. I mean, him and the ground. We might be really strong and fast, but we aren’t invincible.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry you got hurt.”
“Better me than you. You didn’t have a chance.” He shrugged again. “Might as well use this freakish Wilder life the best that I can.”
Renna reached over and caught his hand for a brief moment, squeezing gently. “I don’t think you’re a freak. And you don’t seem that wild. But you might be an X-man.” Which made him chuckle. She quickly let go of his hand, feeling the same tingles as that morning dancing along her veins.
They gathered herbs, roots, and fungi for a few hours, until the sun was low enough that Emerson could take off his sunglasses and Renna had to pick her way more carefully along the tree roots. They’d traveled a fair distance, and she’d recognized nothing of the landscape. When they returned to the camp they met up with Syd for a quick dinner. Syd was distracted, and said she’d have some serious news in the morning. News worth getting up early for. They’d parted ways after the meal, with Renna and Emerson heading back to the cabin on the outskirts, and Sydney back in towards the center of camp.
“What do you think it will be? Will it be about my brother?” Renna was more than a little annoyed that Syd refused to expand on her upcoming news.
“It might be. With Syd, it could be anything. It might be camp news, town news, or maybe even national news.” He yawned deeply, interrupting himself. “Her mom has one of the few radios in camp that still works, so she really does get all the information. Just wait; she’ll draw it out and make it as dramatic as she can. The more you pester, the longer it takes. Trust me. I speak from years of experience.”
“I hope it’s good news. I really don’t think I can take any more bad news right now.” Her voice was thick as she thought on how much had happened in such a short time frame. Her entire life was spinning out of control.