by Chris Kreie
After finishing their dinner, they walked to the counter to drop off their dishes. Austin moved slowly, trying to catch Darsha’s attention through the kitchen. When she finally looked up, he gave her a quick tilt of the head. She nodded back. Austin and Michael handed over their dishes and then walked outside to the back of the building.
Darsha appeared around the corner a minute later. “Take this,” she whispered. She handed each of them a strip of jerky.
“Thanks,” said Austin. He and Michael ate the jerky immediately.
“What’s going on?” asked Darsha.
“We need your help,” Austin whispered between bites.
“Of course,” she said. “What is it?”
“Can you help us get out of here?” he asked. “We need to go to Burlington to get medicine for my mom.”
Darsha looked confused. “You need my help getting out of camp? I don’t understand. Why can’t you just leave?”
Austin and Michael shook their heads. “The Yellow Jackets won’t let us,” said Austin. “We tried.”
“Really?” asked Darsha. “That’s crazy.”
“We agree,” said Michael.
“Do you think you can help us?” asked Austin.
“I mean, yeah,” she said. “But aren’t you worried about how dangerous it is out there?”
“My mom and I were on the outside just a couple days ago,” said Austin. “It wasn’t nearly as bad as Forrester wants everyone to believe. He’s just saying all that stuff to scare people and keep them here as labor for the camp.”
“So are you gonna help us or not?” Michael demanded before Darsha could respond.
“Of course I’m going to help you,” she said.
“Here’s how I see it,” said Austin. “The fences by the river aren’t finished yet. And usually there are only a couple guards posted in that area. If you can lure one of them away, Michael and I can easily escape through the woods.”
“Sounds simple enough,” said Darsha.
“Then a couple hours after we leave, meet us back by the river so you can sneak us back in,” said Austin. “But there’s one part I haven’t figured out.”
“What’s that?” asked Darsha.
“Curfew,” said Austin. “We’re going to miss it.”
She smiled as she crossed her arms and leaned back. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
“Cool,” said Austin. “Then it sounds like we’re all set.”
“Cool?” asked Michael. “All set? Don’t you want her to tell us how she’s going to cover for us at curfew? Maybe we should hear her plan?”
Austin shook his head. “Nope. I trust Darsha. If she says she’s got it, she’s got it. Let’s not waste time making her explain herself.”
Michael chuckled. “You have more faith in people than I do.”
“We’re in this together,” Darsha said.
Austin smiled. “Time to bust out of this place.”
Chapter 12
The three of them met by the river fifteen minutes later. That was enough time for Austin and Michael to grab backpacks, put on some warmer clothes, and fill their water bottles for the trip. As they crouched behind a bush, they could see a Yellow Jacket walking near the edge of the woods, patroling the riverbank.
“Darsha, you walk out and call for the guard,” whispered Austin. “When he comes over to you, Michael and I will sneak behind him.”
“Got it,” said Darsha.
She left her position and seconds later called the guard over from his post. She was waving her arms and talking fast, making a whole production of things. The guard followed her away from the river.
“Ready?” asked Austin when he thought the coast was clear.
“Let’s do it.”
They crept slowly toward the river, away from camp. They were close to safety when Michael tripped on a branch and tumbled to the ground. The noise from his fall echoed through the woods. Austin assumed the guard had heard it.
“Let’s go!” he hissed as Michael jumped back up. “Run!”
The two of them bolted along the riverbank. They jumped over rocks and ducked under tree limbs. Neither of them looked back until they had made it to a dirt road. There was no sign of the guard behind them.
“Think he saw us?” asked Michael.
“Not sure,” said Austin. “I guess we’ll find out when we come back.”
They looked down the road. Austin shielded his eyes from the setting sun. “Which way is Burlington?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“You’re not sure? You’re supposed to be my guide!”
“Sorry,” said Michael. “I don’t really know without my phone.”
“If we had our phones we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
“Wait!” said Michael. He pointed to an abandoned gas station down the road. “I remember passing that on our way here. We must be going in the right direction.”
By the looks of the sky, they had about another hour before nightfall. Austin hoped they’d make it to the pharmacy by then.
They walked along the dusty road in silence, seeing none of the violence Mr. Forrester had described. It wasn’t until about twenty minutes into their walk, when they turned a bend in the road, that they first came upon other people. They crouched behind a tree, not ready to be spotted by anyone just yet.
Down the road was a large farmhouse. A group of people were stacking boxes outside the entrance to a storm cellar. A man with a little girl was loading items into a wagon hitched to two large brown horses.
“What do you think they’re doing?” asked Michael.
“Probably just scavenging for food,” said Austin.
“You think we should talk to them?”
Austin figured there was a chance the people might be able to help them. “With those horses and that wagon, they could get us to Burlington a lot faster.”
“Or maybe they have medicine,” said Michael, nodding.
Austin figured it was worth taking the risk. They stood up and crossed the road. The little girl skipping along the driveway was the first to see them. Her eyes went big. “Daddy!” she shouted. She turned to the man tending the horses. “Daddy! Look!”
The man spotted Austin and Michael. “Chloe!” he shouted. “Get over here. Now!”
She raced to his side.
Austin and Michael approached slowly. Austin raised his hands in the air. “Hi there!” The two of them walked closer. “I’m Austin. This is Michael. We mean no harm.” They stopped twenty feet from the man and his daughter. “We just want to talk.”
The man looked around, then back at the boys. “Okay. Come on. I’m Gerald,” he said. “And this is Chloe.”
“Hi, Chloe,” said Austin. He waved at her.
“Hi.” She was clutching her dad’s leg.
“You guys looking for supplies?” asked Austin.
“That’s one way to put it,” said Gerald. “I’m not proud of it, but we need all the food we can get. How about you boys?”
“We’re heading for a pharmacy,” said Austin. “The camp we’re living at is about two miles back, but we left because my mom is really sick. We’re hoping to find medicine for her in Burlington. Any chance you have any with you? We’ll trade you for it.”
Gerald shook his head. “Not with me, sorry. But we have a lot of medicine back in our camp. There’s a doctor there and everything.”
“Really?” Austin became excited. “Then can we come with you?”
Gerald shook his head. “I’m afraid our camp is about forty miles away.”
Austin felt all the air go out of his body.
“We’re going to be traveling through the night to get back there with these supplies,” said Gerald. “Even if you came with us, you’d have to walk back to your camp. That would take days. You think your mom has that kind of time?”
“I don’t know,” said Austin. Any hope that Gerald would be able to help him seemed gone.
“I don’t suppo
se you could bring us into Burlington?” asked Michael.
Gerald ran his fingers through his hair. “We just came from there,” he said. “We can’t afford to go back. We’re on a tight schedule. I’m sorry. I wish we could help you.”
“It’s okay,” said Austin. “Well then. We’d better keep moving.” He turned.
“Wait,” said the man. “Tell me about your shelter. Did the two of you find a safe place?”
“It’s pretty rough,” said Michael.
“It’s like a prison,” said Austin. “We had to sneak out.”
“And they’re barely feeding us.”
“I tell you what,” said Gerald. “You manage to get your mom back on her feet, you come to our camp. We have a group of really good people there. We’d be more than happy to have you join us.”
“Thanks,” said Michael, surprise in his voice. The boys turned to each other and could tell they were thinking the same thing—leaving for this camp might solve all their problems.
Gerald found a scrap of paper and wrote down directions for how to find his camp. The boys thanked him.
“Hey, take these.” Gerald rummaged through the wagon. He came out with a jar of peanut butter, a box of crackers, and two bottles of water.
He and Michael grabbed the supplies, thanked Gerald again, and resumed their journey.
Chapter 13
Burlington was dark. The streetlights were black. Signs above the shops and restaurants were out. Not a single car moved. The whole scene gave Austin the creeps.
Under the moonlight he could make out the silhouettes of several people in the streets. He and Michael remained out of view around the corner of a large brick building.
“Think it’s safe?” Michael whispered.
“We’re close to the pharmacy, right?” asked Austin. “It might make sense to find a different way—avoid those people just in case.”
Just then a fight broke out in the middle of the intersection. Two men locked arms then wrestled each other to the ground. Two others quickly ran over and joined in.
“Good idea,” said Michael. He nodded his head to his left. “Follow me.”
They ran across a street and ducked into an alley behind a row of shops. At the end of the alley, they turned onto another street. This one was empty. After a couple of blocks Michael said, “The pharmacy is around the corner to the left.”
Michael led Austin through the street until they made it to the back door of the pharmacy. Austin’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough to see that the door had been completely bashed in.
They pushed the broken door out of the way and crept inside. “This way,” said Michael. They walked down a short hallway and into the main part of the store. Austin almost tripped several times on the debris covering the floor. The place had been looted, but it looked more like a tornado had passed through. From what Austin could see, shelves had been pushed over, glass displays had been shattered, and almost nothing of any value remained in the store.
They roamed the aisles, looking for any medicine that might be able to help his mom. The shelves were nearly bare. A few packages were scattered around. Several more bottles were strewn around on the floor. Austin grabbed a couple but couldn’t read their labels in the dark. “I can’t see anything,” he said.
Suddenly Austin noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked toward the front window of the store and saw a beam of light from a lantern. “Get down!” he whispered. “Someone’s outside.”
The two of them ducked behind an aisle.
“Do you think they saw us?” asked Michael.
“I don’t know.”
Just then the lantern shined into the pharmacy. The light passed over their heads and toward the shelves of pills. It moved back and forth around the store.
Austin held his breath, worried the person would decide to come inside and look around. He didn’t know who they could trust anymore. Then someone from down the street called out, and the light disappeared. The person must have moved on.
Austin stood up. “We should get out of here soon. Let’s just grab whatever we can. Even if my mom doesn’t need it, we can bring it with us to Gerald’s camp. It might be useful to somebody else.”
They grabbed whatever packages and bottles they could find, dumping everything into their backpacks. They found several bottles of sports drinks that they grabbed too.
“Here!” Michael whispered excitedly, crouching low to reach into the back of a shelf. Austin rushed over to him. Michael held up two boxes of cold and flu medicine. “This should help your mom,” he said. “Now let’s go—while we still can.”
They left out the back door of the pharmacy and made their way safely out of town. Now all they needed to do was sneak back into the shelter unnoticed.
Chapter 14
Austin and Michael crouched in a cluster of thick bushes near the river. They couldn’t see Darsha in the darkness but figured she was out there somewhere.
“Darsha,” he whispered, hoping no one else would be able to hear.
Nothing.
“I knew we couldn’t trust her,” whispered Michael.
“Give her some time.”
“I bet she waited for us to leave, then told the Yellow Jackets our whole plan,” said Michael. “She and her family probably get extra food or more blankets for ratting out people who try to escape.”
“Shut up,” Austin snapped. But even he couldn’t help but wonder. He didn’t know Darsha very well. Was it possible she had betrayed them? And if she did, what will happen to my mom?
“Psst. Darsha,” he tried again.
Still no sign of her.
Austin began to worry. He peered through the trees, trying to get a glimpse of a Yellow Jacket guard. “Can you see anything?” he asked Michael.
“It’s too dark,” Michael replied. “And there are too many trees.”
Austin tried one more time. Still nothing. He turned to Michael. “We’re gonna have to go it alone. We can’t wait here forever.” He got to his feet and crept toward camp.
Michael followed him and soon they made it to the river. There was still no sign of a guard. Thirty yards in front of them was the trail that led back to the cabins. “Let’s move,” said Austin. “Try to stay quiet.”
They made their way along the riverbank. Austin stepped lightly, avoiding dry branches that might crack under his feet. He also kept his eyes open for a guard.
Twenty yards away from the trail. Then ten. They were almost there. Maybe they wouldn’t even need Darsha to help sneak them back in.
Suddenly a shape appeared out of nowhere in front of them. “Hey.”
Austin nearly jumped out of his shoes. “Darsha? Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“You scared us half to death,” said Michael.
“Quiet,” she whispered. “The guard might hear you.” She pointed behind her. “He’s down the path that way.”
“What took you so long?” asked Michael.
“I’ll tell you later,” she said. “We’ve got to go. If we move fast, the guard won’t see us. Come on.” She grabbed Austin’s hand. Michael clutched the back of Austin’s jacket.
They scurried back into the shelter. When they made it out of the trees and into the moonlight, they moved even faster. They bolted toward their cabin.
By the time they got there, Austin was out of breath. He pulled out the boxes of cold and flu medicine from his backpack. “Can you bring these to my mom? Oh, and these.” He grabbed a few bottles of the sports drinks from Michael’s bag. “They’ll help her rehydrate.”
“No problem,” she said, taking them. “You guys better get going.”
“Wait a minute,” said Austin. “You want to tell us exactly what happened back there? Where were you?”
“I was able to bribe the guard in charge of curfew with a couple of chocolate bars,” she said. “But I didn’t trust the guy on tonight’s river patrol. I don’t think he likes me. I was
worried he might turn us all in if I told him what you guys were doing.”
“Michael thought you’d sold us out,” said Austin, smiling.
“Hey,” said Michael. “You did too.”
“Never,” said Darsha. “I’ve got your backs.”
Without really thinking, Austin stepped forward and put his arms around Darsha. “Thanks for everything.”
She hugged him back. “You’re welcome. But you guys really need to go.”
As they jogged back to their cabin, Austin noticed Michael smiling at him. “What?”
“How come I didn’t get a hug for helping?” he teased.
Austin gave him a shove. “Be quiet.”
Chapter 15
Austin was exhausted, but he had a hard time falling asleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about his mom, wondering if the medicine would help her. His thoughts returned to Gerald and his daughter and their camp. He didn’t know what to do. Would leaving for a new place be the best choice?
In the early hours of the morning, with the sun still buried beyond the horizon, he got out of bed. A few other people will milling around, preparing for breakfast and the day’s work. Several Yellow Jackets patrolled the grounds. Austin kept his head down and walked quickly toward the medical building. He circled around back and peered through windows. His mom was sleeping. Darsha sat in a chair next to her cot. Austin tapped on the window. After a few seconds, Darsha straightened up and looked his direction. He waved her outside.
“How is she?” asked Austin after Darsha had joined him.
“She seems to be doing better. The medicine helped her sleep through the night. Her fever seems to be down. She asked about you earlier.”
“Can you stay with her today?” asked Austin. He knew Darsha would have a better chance of getting into the clinic than he would.
“I’ll be glued to her side,” she said. “For as long as it takes.”
“I owe you big time,” said Austin.
Darsha smiled. “It’s nothing, really. You’d do the same for me and my family.”
“Definitely.” Austin looked around nervously. His mom was finally getting help, but he had so much more on his mind.