by Kip Nelson
Saul grunted. “The last thing anyone in this world needs is family,” he said.
Anna and Gary both were a little shocked at the curtness of his reply, for in the time that they had known Saul they had seen him take care of the kids and show his gentle nature. But out here, in the wild, he let his rough personality shine through, let out a little of the beast that had been tamed by living in New Haven.
“We had a little problem with his brother way back. He was, well, let's just say that when we first met Saul, he had been thrown into a river because his brother was displeased,” Grace said.
“Wow. I really want to sit down with you and hear about all of this.. I can't believe the lives you've led!”
Grace shrugged. “We were just trying to make it to the city, taking each day as it came. There's not much else you can do, other than do your best and try making the decisions that will keep you and the people around you alive.”
As she said this Anna giggled.
“What's so funny?” Grace asked.
“Nothing, it's just that, well, you sound so much like Mack. It's nice.”
Grace smiled. “He has had a big effect on me. I'm sure he's told you about that.”
“Yes, he has,” Anna said.
“I'm still amazed. I really want to hear more stories. What happened with Saul's brother? Is he still around?”
Grace laughed and, since there was nothing better to do, regaled Gary with the tale of Saul's brother and how they had led a rebellion against him and freed a settlement. She told them all about the early days of the apocalypse and how she, Mack, Luis, and Saul all had met. While she spoke, more people gathered around to listen to her story. As the evening passed, others shared their tales of their lives before and after the end of the world, although only Anna could match Grace's tale in terms of sheer breadth and shock. Daisy and others delved into their own pasts as people started getting to know each other a little better, talking about things they had long-forgotten, feeling a warm surge of nostalgia as they reminded themselves of things past.
Then it became too late to stay up any longer. Everyone went to their own beds and tried to sleep through the night, resting their aching limbs, preparing for another arduous day's walk. Before they slept Grace set up a watch through the night, feeling that it was best to protect what they had in case there were any predators lurking around. They had hourly watches, switching quickly so everyone had a chance to get some sleep. Grace took the first watch since she was not tired yet, her mind still reeling after recalling all her adventures. Sometimes she forgot how amazing they were, until other people pointed it out to her. She smiled a secret smile, for it was the complete opposite life that had been waiting for her before that plane crashed. And without it she never would have met Luis...
Thinking about him still brought up conflicting feelings. She almost wished something would happen while she was on watch to take her mind off it, but the night was quiet, yet when she went to bed she was confident of getting a good night's sleep.
However, deep in the morning she was awoken by someone shaking her. She rose and rubbed her eyes. It was another member of the patrol.
“Grace, you have to wake up, it's Daisy,” the man began, and Grace immediately was awoken by the trembling tenor of his voice. “I went to relieve her of her watch and she's gone!”
Grace pushed herself up, looking at the sleeping bodies around her, and the empty bed that Daisy had made.
“I'm sure I heard a muffled cry. Then I got up, but she was just gone.” Grace looked up at the stars, now worried for her friend.
“Let's wake everyone up,” she said.
Chapter Seventeen
Soon enough, everyone was awake and Grace updated them on what had happened. Although the Moon was large in the sky, the silver light was not conducive to searching, so they quickly found some pieces of wood and lit them as torches, searching through the buildings. Grace hoped that whoever had taken Daisy hadn't gone far. It hadn't been long, and with the numbers that Grace had gathered she was sure they could find Daisy. They called out her name, softly at first. Then their harsh cries began breaking through the silence of the night, growing louder as each call was met with nothing but silence. They listened carefully, trying to hear any kind of sound, but there was nothing.
Of course, there could have been enemies nearby, but none of the patrol cared about that. They wanted to get Daisy back, and knew time was of the essence. They moved through the nearby area as quickly as they could, wondering if perhaps Daisy hadn't been kidnapped at all, but had fallen injured, or was helping someone. Grace tried thinking of the positive outcomes as well as the negative ones, because she didn't want to get swallowed up by paranoia or worry. She was the leader of the patrol, and whatever happened to anyone was her responsibility, and her fault.
All of them wondered how it could have happened. They all were there, all in such close quarters that it was supposed to be safe. None of them were supposed to have been in any danger, and the only reason a watch had been placed at all was to be better safe than sorry. Daisy was supposed to have been watching, not being subjected to it. Daisy was more than capable as well. Grace quickly had been impressed by her skills and her abilities, and it wouldn't have been easy for anyone to sneak up on Daisy. Still, that only served to make the disappearance all the more mysterious.
Grace assumed it would have taken a lot of people to take out Daisy without making a sound. Yet, with that number of people surely they would have made more noise than what was heard? And why was Daisy the only person taken? If they wanted to kill the people there, it would have been easy. So, why would they only want to kidnap one person? None of it made any sense to Grace. She pinched the bridge of her nose in the dark night and thought harder.
When she thought about Daisy being taken, she realized it could have been any of them. She looked around at all the people she was responsible for and felt a swelling of guilt inside her. She never should have insisted that all these people join her. But then again, they all were adults and responsible for their own choices. But first Tristan had been captured, and now Daisy. It seemed as though Grace had a nasty habit of people being taken while they were out on patrols with her. Perhaps Luis was right and she never should have come out. She should have stayed in New Haven. Other people would be safer for it. She didn't know who had taken Daisy, but given the types of people they had found lurking in the city before it didn't take a genius to work out that she was in danger.
The searchers’ cries echoed out around the area, but nobody could find any trace of Daisy. The orange light of the torches danced around in the darkness. Grace ordered everyone to stay close to each other in case whoever had taken Daisy was still nearby, but everyone came back disappointed. There was only so much they could do in the dim light of the night, for there were many shadows in which people could hide. Grace looked up at the sky. It wouldn't be long until the morning sun rose anyway, and at least then they would be able to search the surrounding area better. Although by then, Daisy most likely would have been taken far away.
Grace looked ashen. She already was tired, and this had taken a toll on her. Her mind still was twisted up with thoughts of Luis, and this wasn't helping matters. She could just imagine him telling her that he told her so, and that she should have stayed in New Haven where it was safe, but she didn't want to live that type of life. She had learned so much about herself by being out in the wild, and she didn't want to repeat the patterns of the past, where she was largely useless.
What had she accomplished by being a hacker, really...nothing. She looked back on her old self with a sense of remorse. All the dye had gone from her hair, and the only remnants of the person she used to be were her tattoos, which now stayed covered up for the most part, with only Luis really privy to them. Back then she thought she was changing the world, but she was only a bug buzzing around the white collars, and the only reason she had lasted as long as she did was because she simply didn't matter. Not
until the end, when she finally ruffled enough feathers to be hunted down and arrested. She was so smug, thinking she had made a difference, but nothing she did mattered. The world would have continued to turn. The rich would have got richer, and all she left behind was some code.
Not any longer. She had friends now, a proper life that had meaning in a tangible way. She was responsible, and had done things that she never had imagined she was capable of, and she wasn't about to let another person get kidnapped.
Anna came up to her. “What are you thinking about?”
“A lot,” Grace said grimly. “I can't believe this happened. It just doesn't make any sense.”
“I agree. But people are worried. Do you know what you're going to do?”
“We're not leaving here without Daisy,” she said, and then began walking among her patrol, talking to each of them in case they had seen anything that could be of use.
Although it was also to remind them that she was there and that she had a plan, even if she wasn't entirely convinced herself. But she remembered something Mack had told her once. Always appear as if things are within your control, and that you know what you were doing, even if you don’t, because the people under your command need to have that confidence in you. Confident was the last thing Grace felt, though. Despite all she had done ever since the end of the world, she still felt as though she was failing.
By the time she had gone around to everyone the morning sun was rising and the golden light slithered over the city, pushing the shadows back. Now that they could see better they scoured the area again, still calling out for Daisy in the vain hope that she was around. However, with each passing moment that hope diminished until it was barely there.
Grace went up to Saul and asked him to lead the search while she took a few moments for herself to think about things. Saul nodded. The two of them had been through so much together that he trusted her unconditionally, and would do anything she asked. He went around, barking orders like a drill sergeant to try keeping the search going and prevent people from giving up. Meanwhile, Grace stepped aside and went somewhere private where she could be alone with her thoughts. With people around her, though, it was difficult to be alone, and Anna was soon by her side.
“Grace, is there anything you'd like to talk about?” she asked gently.
“Not really,” she said.
“It's just that I've been married to Mack for a long time, and in love with him even longer, so I know something about listening to people who are in charge. I know how difficult it can be for someone to carry that weight on their shoulders.”
Grace turned to face her. “I was supposed to keep these people safe. I told Luis I was good at this, that this is what I could bring to New Haven, and it was my purpose, but I just keep putting people in harm's way. I shouldn't be out here. I should just go back to New Haven and let you or Saul take over. It's not fair to everyone else. I'll only end up getting someone else hurt.”
“You know that's not true, and you know you can't put all this on yourself.”
“Can't I? There's nobody else to put it on.”
“I know you're hurting right now, and you want to take care of these people, but the simple fact is there are some things out there you can't control. Obviously, with hindsight maybe you'd have done things differently, but in that moment you made the decision you thought was right. None of us questioned it. Hell, we'd have made the same decision in your place.”
“Isn't it my job to try seeing those consequences before they happen?”
“Nobody can see the future. Grace, you're human, cut yourself some slack. There wasn't any immediate threat. We set up a watch. We couldn't see this happening, but right now we need your head in the game because you are good at this stuff, and you're the rightful leader. Everyone here trusts you.”
“Mack would have seen it coming.”
“You can't compare yourself to him. He's had years of experience and training to get to where he is now, and even he still makes mistakes. I could tell you plenty of stories about him, but they're not mine to tell, and they're not important anyway. What is important is that he was always there for his men, like you're here for yours. And you can't blame yourself for what happened at the docks either. Nobody could have seen that coming. Even Mack didn't see it coming. So, I want you to snap yourself out of this funk right now and get back out here because these people need you, and you need to do it yourself. You're a good leader, Grace, you just need to stop laying so much blame on yourself. Let's find the people who are responsible for this, the ones who actually took Daisy.”
Anna's words were impassioned, and they had a profound effect on Grace. They were blunt words, but they were exactly what Grace needed to hear in that particular moment. She nodded and pressed her lips firmly together. There still were plenty of thoughts she needed to work through in her mind, but Anna was right. She was the leader, and she was the one who had to show them what to do.
As she marched back outside she wondered if Mack ever had had doubts such as this. It was strange to think so, for she only knew him as the capable man he was, and didn't even think of him as a younger, unsure man still trying to make his way through life. But she thought about all the things they had been through and how he had conducted himself. Then she summoned forth that appearance as well to try engendering inspiration and strength in the people she was leading now. They had returned from searching the area with no success. There was no sign of anything, no trace at all, and the whole thing was a big mystery.
“Should some of us go into the forest while everyone stays here to look for Daisy?” Gary asked.
“No. We're not splitting up, and we're not leaving Daisy behind. There is strength in numbers, and whoever took Daisy is going to have to answer to us. I don't know why or how they did it, but we're going to search this place until we find them. They can't have gone far. We're not going to send word out to New Haven either. I don't want anyone to be left alone. We're going to work as a group and we're going to get through this together. Somewhere close Daisy is waiting for us to rescue her, so let's get to it.”
But even with the sunlight as their ally, they still were unable to find anything, and as the day dragged on, everyone was getting more frustrated and more confused. It seemed supernatural, the way that Daisy’s captors had entered the camp like a ghost and then made their way out without anyone seeing anything, and there wasn't any sign of another camp nearby. Grace didn't stop searching, though, and she led by example until the darkness fell again, and they were forced to give up the search.
Grace wiped the sweat off her forehead, hoping the following day would be more successful. She knew people in New Haven were waiting for food as well, and she couldn't spend all their time searching for Daisy. It was a struggle to know which decision was the right one to make. She breathed deeply and tried to clear her mind, remembering that she had people around her she could ask for advice, and that deep down this was who she was now, not that scared girl who hid behind a computer screen, but a leader.
During the night, they made sure to have two people on watch at any given time, just in case the people who stole Daisy came back. Given that they hadn't found any evidence that people were nearby, it seemed unlikely that anyone would be able to come into the camp, but Grace thought it better to be safe than sorry. The first watch went without incident. However, on the second watch the two men were getting antsy. One of them needed to relieve himself, so he went away, much to the chagrin of his partner, who reminded him what Grace had said about splitting up.
“I'll just be a minute. Call out if you hear anything,” he said, but when he came back his partner was gone, and he had to bear the shame of his mistake.
Everyone looked at each other, wondering what kind of creature was able to come into the camp and leave without a trace, for they were sure that no mortal men could have been capable of such an act. No matter what was responsible though, Grace was determined to stop it.
Chapter Eigh
teen
“How the hell can this keep happening?” Grace asked in the dead of night.
Everyone had been roused once again to try finding the person who had been taken, but again there was no trace. It didn't make any sense to Grace because wherever the mysterious kidnappers had appeared from it must have been close. So, there must have been some way to figure out where they were. Before sleeping she had been worried that they had moved away from Daisy and never would be able to find her again. That idea made sense, but now it turned out that the mystery people had been lurking nearby the entire time! There were no footprints left, nor were there any sign of the direction they had headed. It baffled her and the others that someone could have sneaked into their camp without their knowledge and taken someone from right under their noses. Whoever had taken the two people must have had a close watch on the patrol to know when they were most vulnerable.
“I bet they've been laughing at us this whole time. They're probably watching us now,” Saul said grimly, and everyone felt an unsettling wave of paranoia wash over them.
Their skin tingled as they cast their eyes about the area, looking toward the barren buildings and suddenly feeling the eerie quiet of the city around them. For most of them, especially those who had been out on regular patrols, they had grown used to the silence of the city, which was a far cry from what it used to be. While it never had been the biggest city in the country, there were hundreds of thousands of residents, and the gap left by them was huge. Wind whistled through the empty buildings, and everyone was aware of the abyss in which they were left. It was different in New Haven, where a settlement was being built, and there was usually someone around to talk to. Out here in the city it was easy to feel alone, and vulnerable.