Analise came out of her room wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt looking like an ordinary girl in every way. None of her tattoos were showing, her long hair was brushed and she had replaced her combat boots with sandals. She was trying her best to fit in.
He let go of the curtains and they moved in unison to the entry way of the kitchen. He watched Runa as she bustled about laying out ingredients. She seemed nice. Like him and his sister she had the pale blonde hair and glacier blue eyes.
She had volunteered to foster him, Analise and the bears and it was probably the best match they could have asked for. She’d been a flight attendant from Oslo and had barely made it out of the Chicago O’Hare International Airport on the first day of the outbreak.
She hummed as she busied herself and nodded towards the cutting board when she noticed them.
“You can chop the vegetables.” She said in her faintly exotic Norwegian accent.
She knew they had been the primary cooks for the tribe for a year and were pretty handy around a kitchen.
“What are you making?” He asked as he eyed the cutlets of fish on the counter.
“It’s a dish from home, but the fish here is not so good. We make do with what we have and thank the Gods it’s not less.” She said, quoting an old Norse proverb.
He picked up the knife and began dicing the carrots and potatoes as she told him about her recipe and asked about the fish they caught out of the Mississippi. Tobias was happy in the kitchen and confident, in a different life he may have become a chef. She watched the tattooed boy as he worked. He was thin, all lean muscle, heavily scarred and tattooed, wild eyed and long haired. He would be a handsome man someday but she wasn’t sure he was going to be able to slip back into society as easily as the others. His hair was long and he hadn’t combed out the little braids and the mementos woven into it. He wore short sleeves and tribal tattoos covered his arms. He had a short fuse and knew if the kids at school teased him it would lead to a fight, he wouldn’t take much abuse from anyone. Her heart went out to him, she knew he was a good kid, but he would need more time to adjust. The other foster parents had met to discuss the best ways to integrate the children back into civilized society. From the stories they shared, they had had it rough. They had been at war, had killed the entire gang that had kept Trish, Misty and Sasha as sex slaves. They had killed thousands of undead and it was a miracle they had survived all that they had endured.
She asked them if they were excited to start school again and meet new friends. Analise was eager to get back and try to have a normal life. Tobias was still on the fence. He said nobody better mess with him or his sister and talked of not going, maybe learning how to drive and become a Retriever.
He seemed more nervous of sitting in a classroom with a group of other children than he would riding into battle.
“Eg vet dere har hatt det vanskelig.” I know you haven’t had it easy. She said in Norwegian.
“We’ve done just fine on our own.” Tobias grunted. “And these soft handed kids’ best not forget it.”
He understood some of the language. Their grandfather had come from Norway as an adventurous young man. A beautiful American exchange student had captured his heart when he was a ski instructor in Lillehammer. After a whirlwind romance they’d gotten married, much to the surprise of her friends and family. He’d followed her back to the States and they spent the next forty-seven years together. Again, much to the surprise of her father who had prophesied a quick end to the foolish marriage. Grandfather Gjurd had regaled the twins with tales of Norwegian explorers and mythology. Brave adventurers and mighty warriors.
“This place, it is safe.” She said, choosing her words carefully. She knew he was trying, that he wanted to be a part of the town, but it was hard for him.
“The people of Lakota are good people.” She continued. “The president is fair and they are rebuilding the world into a better place. I don’t think there is a better town out there.”
She looked at him intensely. “But, is it for you? The way of the warrior is in your eyes and your blood. You may be a great explorer and do heroic things like our ancestors someday but for now, you must be polite in a civilized society.” She stated.
“I know.” He sighed. “I think I’ve had enough of fighting to survive for a while. I want to see what it feels like to be a normal kid again.”
Runa smiled and took the vegetables he’d chopped to add to the hot skillet.
“You know you are welcome to stay with me as long as you like, but when the day comes that you take a boat and sail to Norway, do not forget me.” She said. “I miss home. I miss good fish and the smell of salt air. I miss the wind blowing in off the fjords.”
Tobias contemplated what she said as he cleaned the knife and methodically sharpened the blade. He had never thought that far ahead. Before the fall, he was only worried about getting passing grades. Now he was so used to scratching out a day to day existence that he’d never bothered to think about the future. Her words struck a chord, though. The possibilities were limitless. He could go anywhere, be anything. Why couldn’t he rediscover the places that were lost? Why couldn’t he sail to the land of his forefathers and claim the untold riches and relics that were gathering dust in museums. He was snapped from his daydream by the sudden silence and realized she was waiting for a response.
“Sorry. What?” He asked.
“I said, when you reach the north, you must watch out for Huldra.” She repeated with a smile.
“Huldra, what is that?”
“She is a beautiful elven spirit that lives in the forest. The most beautiful woman you will ever see and she will ask you to dance with her and her friends.” Runa said.
“Nothing wrong with that.” Tobias said. “I’d dance with a bunch of hot elves.”
“Ah, but if you accept her invitation, you’ll be there forever. Time moves different in a fairy ring and long after you’re exhausted and dying of hunger, begging for them to stop, they will laugh and dance until you die.”
Analise giggled. “Tobias will be safe. He’s scared of girls.”
He shot her a dirty look and touched the braid of Kassie’s hair. “No, I’m not. I have a girlfriend, remember?”
38
Donny
Donny and Yewan kept lookout for the kids rummaging through the cargo containers below. They were all younger than him but he enjoyed their company. It seemed the rest of the tribe was all starting to assimilate into society again. The unofficial leader of the band of scofflaws looting below was called Slippery Jim. The mischievous boy was always concocting some scheme that would surely land them in trouble and his pal Gage was right there in the middle of it. There were eight of them all together. Most of them were boys except for Lizzie, a sassy, smart mouthed beanpole of a girl.
When the container wall had been built last year, they’d been in a hurry. Hordes of hungry zombies were following the train and they only had hours to throw it up. Some of the boxes were crooked, some of the hastily bulldozed dirt path they sat on was washing away with the rains. They had brought in another trainload of containers and were methodically swapping them out as they made the wall another row higher and reinforced the foundation. The boxes they replaced were stacked up in a holding yard where they would be inventoried and emptied if they held anything of value. It was a back-burner project and they didn’t have the manpower to search through every box so hundreds were stacked up waiting until someone had the time. Once Jimmy realized what they were doing, the Bullet Brigade went into action. There was too much treasure at stake to stay away and the group had a thriving black market of goods that they ran through the school. Every few nights they would sneak out and ride their bikes to the holding yard. They knew which guards were diligent and walked their post and which ones would stay in the booths on top of the wall and nod off. The only unknown was Phil. He was the head of security and you never knew when he would make the rounds or have a surprise inspection.
Fro
m his position on the highest container, Donny could the see the top of the wall to watch for roving guards and also spot a blacked-out golf cart if Phil was trying to sneak up and catch a guard sleeping. He was content but not truly happy. He loved the time he got to spend with Analise exploring the town in safety. They didn’t have to be wary of the Savage Ones or zombies or gangs trying to kill them. He didn’t have to hunt for their food and if he had a bad night, they didn’t go hungry. They’d done all the things dating teenagers were supposed to do. He bought her ice cream sodas, taken her to the movies and had walked hand in hand through the parks.
One of the bullet brigade had a jet ski and had promised to show him how to ride it. He was warm and safe and happy but something was missing. He was almost bored at the complacency of everything. There was no thrill. No adventure. No adrenaline rush taking down game or killing something that was trying to kill you. His biggest excitement was acting as lookout. The pilfered items meant nothing to him, but his new friends did. He felt protective of them, they were a lot like the kids in the orphanages he’d run away from. Looting the containers was the only real excitement in this town. There was no real danger in it though. Lakota was more secure than Fort Knox. He almost wished the kids would find a long-lost zombie in one of the containers to spice things up. In the days since the tribe had arrived, he hadn’t had an opportunity to hunt. Kim Li acted like a bossy older sister and was adamant that he stay inside the walls. He was pretty sure that she knew he snuck out the window most nights with Yewan to prowl the streets and back alleys but she didn’t push the issue.
Despite his grumpiness, Cobb and his family had welcomed him in with open arms. Kim Li was wonderful to him and Mama Martha treated him like a long lost relative.
Kim’s dad, Tommy, had invited him to help out in the truck shop and he discovered that he liked it. He learned quickly and usually only had to be shown once how to do something. He liked working in the shop better than going to school but he did what they wanted. They said he should give it a try but he was way behind. Most of his classes were with the little kids. Book learning had never been his thing. He could read and write and do some basic math but not much more.
He gazed off in the distance. Out there was where it was really at. Living by the blade. Outsmarting your prey, fighting for your life and the life of your tribe. He missed it, but knew it wouldn’t be the same without the tribe. Those days were over.
He tapped his spear to warn the others of an approaching patrol and melted into the shadows.
39
Girl Talk
“Hold still.” Sasha said. The heavily inked girl began the process of outlining the faded pink flower on Analise’s arm. She was keeping her promise to Sara.
Trish’s boss, Caitlin, sat beside Swan on the couch in the back of the bakery. Kassie, Vanessa and Harper sat in chairs opposite flipping through outdated magazines. The scent of fresh bread and other delicious concoctions permeated the space.
Swan was recounting their escape from Gallatin for the hundredth time when Caitlin heard the wild girl’s stomach growl over the buzz of the tattoo gun.
“I can’t believe it. Are you still hungry?” The redhead asked.
“I could go for some more of that banana bread.” Swan answered. “Where are you getting the bananas anyway?”
“They’re freeze dried, got a few hundred cans of them but they do taste good, don’t they? What about you girls?” Caitlin asked the other three. “You want anything?”
“Chocolate chip cookies!” They chimed in unison.
She shook her head, left the room and returned a few minutes later with a plate of cookies and a thick slice of banana bread.
“I wish I could eat like you.” She sighed. “I think I gain a few pounds just breathing in the air.”
“Finish your story. I want to hear more about this retriever you met in Gallatin.” Caitlin urged.
“That’s pretty much it, he helped us out and then he disappeared.”
“Is he cute?” Caitlin asked.
“I guess, for an old guy. He said he would be coming this way before long. Can’t miss him. Drives this big jacked up Jeep thing with guns hanging off it and thinks he’s a cowboy or something.” Swan said through a mouthful of bread.
Caitlin raised an eyebrow at Trish. “Dibs on the cowboy.”
“I dunno.” Kassie said. “You might have some competition; I think my mom kind of likes him. She said she hoped he showed up while we were still here.”
“Oh really?” Caitlin asked. “How much longer are you staying again?”
The girls laughed, everybody knew they were leaving tomorrow. Kassie was bemoaning the fact that she and Tobias hadn’t been able to spend enough time together. They only came in because the doctors here wanted her mom’s opinion about Swan’s hyena bite. The infection was bad and getting worse. They had some kind of new medicine they wanted to try but didn’t know a whole lot about it. They wanted a second opinion before they injected her with the pink liquid.
“I wish those truckers would raid a plus sized fashion store.” Caitlin grumbled as she pointed at the beautiful rail thin models in the magazine’s pages. “Not everybody looks like this.”
“So.” Trish asked, eager to change the subject before Caitlin went off about the lack of fine clothes again. “Have you forgiven him yet?”
They knew she was talking to Harper and asking about Cody. They’d heard the story about their fight more than once. Everything had been so harried and busy the past few weeks they hadn’t found time to talk to each other. When they did cross paths, there were other people around and it was awkward. It was easier to be excruciatingly polite and keep their distance. Harper stared down at the gossip magazine and the happy couple announcing they were expecting a baby.
“I’m not mad anymore.” She said. “He’s avoiding me though. I don’t think he wants to talk.”
“Well,” Sasha looked up from her tattooing. “It did seem to work out for the best. If Bert hadn’t shown up here no one would have known where to look for you.”
“Maybe.” Harper admitted. “But I’m not going to chase after him. He knows how to find me.”
“I see him moping around when I go out to the gardens.” Caitlin said. “He likes to sit at the end of the wall and stare at the water like he doesn’t have a friend in the world.”
Vanessa looked at Harper over the top of her Outdoor Life magazine. “Girl, you better go get your man or someone will. You know these city girls are just waiting for a chance to get their hands on him. I heard them giggling and whispering when he went in the dollar store to get school supplies.”
Harper looked away from Vanessa’s intense gaze. “Maybe you’re right."
When Sasha finished, Analise admired the new ink on her arm. She’d tried to encourage Donny to come with her, but he’d declined. The boy who feared nothing was afraid of any kind of needle. It made her love him even more. She really hoped Harper and Kodiak worked out their issues because Vanessa was right. The Lakota girls wanted to be with him just because he was famous. They might not even care about him but if posting selfies together got them likes on their Facebook page then they’d string him along.
40
Kodiak and Harper
Cody sat on the southern corner of the barricade wall. Much like the river spot at Piedmont it had become his place to go when he needed time to think. The guards paid him no mind after the first couple of days. Just a wave or nod and a how ya doing kid as he walked along the top of the wall.
It was sort of nice to not be constantly looking over his shoulder for danger. It was a relief to have plenty of food and a real bed to sleep in. His new foster brother Gage had tried to get him involved in some kind of plan to loot some of the cargo containers, but he’d declined and steered him in Donny’s direction.
He pulled a piece of chalk from the pocket of his shirt and began drawing on the rusty red steel paint of the cargo container. Mindlessly he doodled and when he fi
nally looked at what he’d drawn he saw it read C+H. Cody and Harper. He wondered if he really was Cody again. All of the townspeople called him Cody; the only ones who still used Kodiak were the tribe. Except Harper of course, she hadn’t called him anything. She wouldn’t talk to him even though there had been a few opportunities. That was fine. If all it took to make her so mad she’d never speak to him again was saving her life then maybe she wasn’t worth it. He didn’t need a girlfriend and he certainly wasn’t interested in any of the silly girls he’d met so far.
He wondered if Kodiak the Warrior was just a memory in this safe and secure walled city that would fade in time. He started school in a few days. That would be strange. Going back to learning Algebra and other stuff he considered useless was going to be hard.
He heard approaching footsteps but didn’t look up. He automatically categorized them. Soft soled shoes, not boots. A light tread that would be silent if it wasn’t on metal. One of the girls. It had taken a while but he no longer reached for a weapon every time he heard a noise. He had no enemies in this place, nothing to fear. His enemy lived in his head and constantly rehashed his mistakes and bad decisions.
He smelled lavender and the soft scent of lilacs. It was Harper.
“Hey.” she said as she sat down beside him. She offered him a chocolate chip cookie but he waved it off and dropped his chalk in the process. He watched it fall the thirty feet to the ground. Great, he thought.
“Hey.” He replied.
She rested her hand on his knee and spoke softly as they stared out at the wide lake. “I forgive you and I’m sorry. I don’t hate you and I never have. I love you, dummy.”
The Feral Children | Book 3 | Nomads Page 19