by B. Buechter
Jake slid closer to Eva. She lifted her head and let the light from the bonfire fill her hood. He thought he saw a tear sliding down her cheek. Their gaze remained locked. He was at a loss for words as he thought back to the gruesome scene at The Post. Eva did not want to hear his words. The calm and warm feeling between them was comforting. She felt drawn to him for a moment.
“I was given the symbol of the lioness,” she said, breaking the link between their eyes. “Though we don’t have any around this part of the world. They are the ultimate predator, Masha says. And yet, they will protect those who give them respect until their dying breath.”
“Beautiful way to describe you,” Jake chuckled. “You have protected Tommy and me and risked your life ten times over for the Rovers and the Nomads. And I know that he hasn’t said anything since our mother died, but he and I are grateful. Especially me. Even though I’ve given you a hard time. I promise that I will change.”
Jake took a leap of faith and leaned towards Eva, and she followed suit. Their lips only brushed against each other before they heard the screams. Without a second to think, Eva grabbed Jake by the shoulder and ripped him to his feet and shoved him behind a brick wall as the sound of an explosion rang through the city streets. Fragments of metal clashed against the walls around the camp. The sound was soon followed by gunshots.
Jake screamed over the ringing in his ears. His voice was panicked. “We have to find Tommy.”
As he began to run for the crowd, Eva threw him against the wall again. Her fists grabbed bunches of his clothing. She forced him to look at her.
“You need to get back to the colony,” she pleaded. “Do. Not. Let. Them. Follow. You.”
“But Tommy,” Jake tried to peer around the corner but Eva shoved him back against the wall a third time. His eyes were welling with tears. “I can’t leave him.”
“I will find him,” she promised. “But you have to get out of here. Now. There is nothing you can do for these people. Most of them will escape. They always do. Take these roads north and get out of the city. You will see the colony on the outskirts to your right. Get back to my home and stay there until I return.”
Jake desperately wanted to run into the hail of bullets, but took one last look at Eva and grabbed his weapon. Soon, the gunfire had been absorbed by brick walls. Only the sound of Jake’s footsteps passed his ears. His mind was numb, and all he could think about was Eva and his brother. If anything happened to them, he wouldn’t know what to do.
Lucky for him, the sun’s rays flooded the horizon as he exited the city. A burning in his chest tried to force him back to the camp, but he pushed himself forward as tears streamed down his face. He looked over his shoulder. No one had followed him. This was the life he lived now, running from death at every moment.
***
Eva had to be careful in how she handled the Gang that was massacring the Nomads. There were too many to fight and too many to try and pick off one-by-one. Plus, she was low on bullets. Her lone goal was to save Tommy. An ominous fog formed across the battlefield. Most had managed to disappear into the safety of the city, but countless others had met their gruesome end around the fire.
Eva fought her emotions as she desperately scoured the crowd for Tommy. Smoke and gunshots coming from all directions became disorienting. But then, she saw him. He was hiding under one of the cloth tents on the far side of the camp. Cradled in his arms was the girl he had been eating with. From the distance between them, Eva couldn’t tell whether the girl was dead or dying. She only saw the blood. Worst of all, there was no easy way for Eva to get to them. She would have to brave the hail of bullets.
Dammit, she took one quick, shaky breath. Her boots dug into the dirt as she dashed across the battlefield. The Gang members must have been near the stream because she could not see them, but they were still shooting. Eva ran into a few Nomads who were trying to escape, almost knocking them over. Unfortunate souls were hunched over their loved ones - men, women, and children. All dead or dying. The Wanderer’s ears were drowning in sounds of moaning, screaming, and gurgling. Her eyes locked onto nearly every victim who was still clinging to life, watching them cry out for their families. Off in the distance, she saw a hooded figure with long bony hands. Its presence felt eerily familiar. All of this was almost too much to bear, but she kept her focus on Tommy.
Although it felt like eons, she finally reached him. The young girl he was cradling had a piece of metal shrapnel jutting from her right side. The color was draining from her eyes and skin. Rage boiled in Eva’s as the girl struggled to breathe for just a few more moments and relaxed for the final time. Tommy had tears streaming down his face, but said nothing.
“Let’s get out of here.” Eva’s voice was shaking and her fists were clenched.
Tommy laid down the little girl and threw his arms around Eva. At first, they did not notice that the rain of shots had gone silent. Pulling away from the hug, she grabbed Tommy’s shoulders and squeezed them.
“Do you know where the safe house is?” she asked. “My house?”
Tommy nodded.
“We need to get out of here,” she mimicked his nod. “But I need you to get out first. I need to find out which Gang did this.”
He started to nod, but he was staring at a few trickles of blood coming from Eva’s leg. She had been shot. Fear flushed his face as he pointed to her wounds. Pain began tingling from her thigh up to her back. Ripping a thin strand of cloth off the side of the tent and wrapping her leg tightly, she pushed Tommy out of the tent. He ran out of sight just as the sound of footsteps closed in.
“Damn near got all of them,” a male voice said. Eva pushed herself as far back in the tent as she could, careful not to shake the sides.
“Nah,” a female voice said. “They have numbers. We were lucky to catch them by surprise. There are many more.”
“We outnumbered them still,” a deep male voice called out. “Whether she was here or not. Check the bodies. She wouldn’t be dressed like them. If we happened to bag her head, the Eastern Gangs would pay a hefty price.”
Eva’s legs began to burn from crouching. Her wounds were stinging and she was beginning to shake from fatigue. With each breath, the smell of burning corpses and blood permeated her lungs. The body of the little girl was lying at the entrance to the tent, her eyes wide open. She pulled her tourniquet tighter and tried to silently adjust her legs. The pain almost made her yelp.
From outside the tent, she could hear them sweeping the campsite. Occasionally, a shot would ring out. She closed her eyes and winced. A bead of sweat ran down her nose, across her lips, to her chin. A couple of the Gang members closed in around her. They had been checking all of the tents by knocking down the supports. A large boot and the bottom of a gun came into view. Before she could blink, the barrel was pointed right at her face, but its owner did not bend down to look inside. All Eva could do was stay perfectly still and silent. She bit her lip when his boot kicked the support. It didn’t budge. Tried again. Still nothing.
“Damn tent,” the voice outside cursed.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m shooting the struggling ones,” a female voice laughed. “They’ve run off by now anyway if they weren’t hit.”
“Too bad the Serpents didn’t get to these guys first,” the man near the tent joked. “They would have sold these guys for great trade.”
“Us Wolves may not be as large as them,” a younger man’s voice called from much further away. “But we are just as deadly. If we can sabotage the Serpents getting any bigger… then why not?”
They laughed in unison.
Wolves, Eva repeated in her head. They’re from the other side of the forest. Why are they all the way out here?
“Plus, our servants are better than any of these Nomads,” an older woman said. “Especially the man from the hills. He takes half the beatings the rest do, but works twice as hard. Smart man.”
What the hell? Eva mouthed. Man from the hills? The vault? That mu
st be Jake and Tommy’s father. It has to be.
That was more information than Eva needed. Good information nonetheless. All she had to do was wait until there was an opening where she could slip past them, unnoticed. Her legs were screaming. She pulled her wrappings tighter over the oozing bullet hole. It was only a matter of time before she would either bleed out or pass out. After what felt like an eternity, she saw the Wolves gather near the far side of the campsite. That was her chance. She took it.
When she went to stretch her legs with her back against a wall, she nearly collapsed. The pain from her injury shot up her spine and made her head swim. She had to hold onto a crate inside the tent for support. A dark spot forming on her pants told her that she had to get medical attention soon. Quickly grabbing a sturdy wooden beam, she limped back towards the city outskirts as fast as her legs would carry her. The distancing sound of Wolf voices had finally silenced. That was when she let out a loud sob and fell to her knees.
The image of the little Nomad girl stuck at the front of her mind. Bodies of countless others flashed into her view. No one was around to hear her cries. Same as before, her sadness turned to pure rage. She was seething, shaking, and bleeding. All she could think about was revenge. But revenge would have to wait until she healed. Her hands tightened around her crutch and she struggled to her feet.
Wolves.
Each step became significantly more painful as Eva made her way towards her colony. What was normally a two hour journey would now take double the time. Luckily, her wrapped leg was cutting off most of the blood flow. The cool wind soothed her body, yet she was becoming weaker by the moment. Splinters were digging into her hands, but the tinges of pain seemed to be keeping her alert.
The rest of her journey was a daze. The only thing she could remember was seeing the colony over the horizon as daylight rose in between the metal shacks. After that, she could only recall standing in the middle of the town. And then, her vision went dark.
With Eva’s instructions, Jake was able to make it to her home with ease. He had been on edge for hours before Tommy returned safely. The rush of relief was almost unbearable. He looked into the street, but did not see Eva. When he questioned his brother, the boy’s look sent him into a panic. As he rushed back inside to latch the door, he heard moaning and the sound of something heavy dropping. It was Eva. His heart jumped out of his chest as he raced to her side. Hoisting her into his arms and the warmth of the blood running through his fingers, he began banging on the Rover’s doors.
“Please!” he cried out. “Someone help Eva. She is injured. She’s been shot.”
Not one door budged. Daylight meant lock-down in the Rover colony. Jake didn’t care. He needed Eva to live and it didn’t matter what he had to do to make it happen. Finally, at the last shack, someone opened the door to let him in. And luckily, it was the home of the colony’s healer.
“Thank you for helping us,” Jake breathed. Tommy snuck into the shack before the door closed and latched shut. “She is badly wounded. And I think she’s lost a lot of blood.”
The woman could hear the panic in his voice. “It will be okay. I’ll do everything I can to patch her up… But I may need your help.”
Jake laid Eva on a wooden table and the woman got to work immediately, cutting her pant leg off at the tourniquet and grabbing long, rusted forceps. She also took off Eva’s thick jacket and tossed it at Jake, checking for any other injuries. Tommy’s eyes widened in horror. His brother shooed him back to Eva’s home reassuring him that he would look after her until she was well enough to come back.
“You are going to have to hold her down for this,” the woman instructed. “If she isn’t completely unconscious, this is going to sting a little.”
Jake’s palms started sweating. The way she had said ‘sting a little’ sat in his stomach like a boulder. He caught a whiff of the open wounds and wanted to vomit. His breathing quickened as he grabbed her arms and pinned them to the table. When the woman poured alcohol over the forceps and started reaching towards the bullet hole, he whispered loudly.
“What are you doing?” His eyes darted between the instrument and the woman.
“I have to get the bullet out,” she flicked the forceps in the air, irked. “Otherwise she could die from infection.”
Jake nodded and braced himself over Eva’s body. This is not what they would have done in the Vault’s Infirmary. Still, he could not break his gaze from the instrument going into Eva’s flesh. The woman yanked out the first bullet with some force. That was when Eva screamed and struggled to break free, nearly knocking Jake off of her.
“Do you have anything to help the pain?” Jake pleaded. “I can’t see her like this.”
“Trust me,” the woman said sternly while snatching out some shrapnel. “This isn’t my first time doing this. Or hers.”
Eva strained again. She must have woken slightly because her cry was much more muffled. Veins started to pop out of her arms as she attempted to free herself.
“You can’t give her something to help?”
The woman stopped for just a second. Eva was fighting for air as sweat dripped down her neck. The room was quiet, but only for a moment. Pure annoyance was the emotion plastered on the healer’s face.
“Do you want her to die?” she asked.
“No - but,” Jake shuffled his feet.
She took a piece of balled piece of cloth and shoved it in Eva’s mouth. “Look. Let me do my job, alright? I don’t enjoy hurting people, but we don’t exactly have the luxury of pain medication. I don’t know how you did it where you came from. We aren’t so lucky here.”
Jake shook his head but the woman continued. This time, Eva’s scream was stifled from the gag. He closed his eyes tightly and winced with every one of her screams. He blamed himself.
If I had only listened to her, he berated. She wouldn’t be dying right in front of me. Stupid piece of shit. If I had just stayed in the block she told me to… instead of following those Nomads…
“Done.” The woman’s voice made him snap out of it. She had already dumped some alcohol on the bullet wound and sewed it up. Eva had relaxed, her entire body drenched in sweat. Carefully, Jake removed her gag and wiped her forehead softly with a dry rag.
“I’ll take her back to her home and take care of her,” he declared as the woman wrapped the wounds. “Is there anything else I can do?”
“Just don’t underestimate her again,” the woman smiled softly. “Or yourself.”
Jake nodded, lifted Eva into his arms and carried her back to the eagerly waiting Tommy. For once, Jake said nothing to his brother. He just laid her limp body on her bed and sat by her side, promising himself that he would never let her get hurt again.
Chapter 5
Eva’s recovery was going to be long and arduous. Her condition in the first week caused Jake to worry. Every day was spent in a semi-conscious nightmare filled with whispered pleas of mercy. She winced with every movement. Neither Jake nor Tommy slept much. And when he was not by her bedside, Jake criticized himself under his breath for putting her in danger. He had vowed to care for her, so he remained in the home. The Rovers brought him food each night and took turns checking on him throughout the day. At first, he refused to eat, but Tommy finally convinced him to consume something.
The Healer confirmed the brothers’ fear that Eva had lost a lot of blood while venturing back to the colony. When she returned each day, she explained to them that Eva may not wake up for a few days or weeks, if she survived at all. But the Healer stayed optimistic and Eva slowly made progress.
“You cannot blame yourself for what happens out here,” a middle-aged Rover explained to Jake. “The Gangs have always been ruthless. And she has been their target ever since she started protecting this place”
Jake shooed him away.
With each passing day, Tommy would wake up early and fetch water from a nearby well. His brother would lay the cooling washcloths on Eva’s face to lower her fever. She w
ould squirm and her breathing would be sharp, then relax. Occasionally, when Tommy was in another room reading old newspapers and magazines, Jake would run his fingers through her mahogany hair. The guilt was crippling and deep in the night, he would whisper apologies in her ear while she slept.
On the fifth day, she finally opened her eyes. Jake hadn’t left her side for longer than a few moments and was there when she awoke. His sigh of relief was so loud, that Tommy ran into the room and sat on the other side of Eva’s bed, bouncing slightly.
“Thanks for whatever you did,” she whispered and cleared her throat. Arms shaking, she slowly raised herself to lie against the cold metal wall behind her.
“Are you doing okay?” Jake twiddled his thumbs. “We’ve… I have been worried.”
“I’m fine,” Eva gave him a heavy pat on the back. “Just in a lot of pain. Nothing I can’t handle, though.”
Jake turned towards her and caressed the edge of her bed with his hands. He shot a look at Tommy who left promptly. Sunlight creeping through the cracks fell on Eva’s chest. Faint, yet prominent in the light, scars hashed across her collarbone and below. They were slightly lighter than the rest of her skin and made X shapes in various places from shoulder to shoulder. He had not noticed before, but from what Yidi and Masha had told him about the years she spent within the Serpent’s compound, he was not surprised at the sight.
Eva had noticed him looking and quickly grabbed a blanket and threw it over her shoulders. She cleared her throat, trying to convince Jake that she was just cold, but he wasn’t buying it.
“It’s okay,” Jake touched her hand. “The Nomads told me about your past. That you were the only one that ever escaped a compound. There is nothing to be ashamed about.”