Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) (7 page)

As Angel implied,
it’s rude. Jacob doesn’t know me, he doesn’t know any of us. And he definitely doesn’t
know that my mother grew up on the east side of Detroit—she’s a survivor.
Or that Wade comes from a family of hunters, who’ll be hiding out for sure. He
doesn’t know what our families are made of.

I put my hand over
Shayla’s, comforting her. I want to tell her to screw this asshole but I bite
my tongue.

“Sorry,” Jacob
says. “I didn’t mean to say that.” His apology sounds a bit half-assed to me
but, unlike me, Ms. Burgess seems all too agreeable and accepts his apology.

Angel is still
peering at Jacob through the slits of her eyes.

“Are you all
hungry?” Mandy asks. “We don’t have much, but what we do have helps to keep the
hunger pains away.”

“I think we
might have more to offer you,” Ms. Burgess says, trying to sound as if Jacob
didn’t just tell us all that our families are dead. She indicates to the bags
Wade, MJ and Ian are holding. “We have some canned goods. We only have the one
can opener so we can’t leave that behind.”

“Thank God,”
Mandy exclaims. “We’ve been living off of junk food for a while now. The baby
needs a little more sustenance.”

MJ reaches into
his bag and gives Mandy three of our canned goods. “Here you go.”

“Fair trade,”
Harry declares.

“Honey, can
you get them something to eat?” Mandy says to Kevin.

Kevin grabs a
handful of snacks from their stash and throws us each one. I catch my sour
cream and onion potato chips like it’s the homerun ball from a major league
baseball game. Opening it I savor the smell.

It’s
wonderful.

My mouth
waters and my eyes roll back in my head. Mia squeals as she opens her candy
bar. Everyone is in their own little world as we snack on our goodies.

The first chip
that lands on my tongue ignites my taste buds. I can’t remember chips ever
tasting this good. I chew very slowly and thoroughly, trying to make each chip
last as long as I can. Between each one I take a swig of the bottled water I’ve
been nursing since yesterday. Half-way into the bag, I roll it up and stuff it
and the bottle into my bag.

I can save
this for later.

“How long have
you guys been in here?” Ms. Burgess asks between bites of her cupcake.

“Since
yesterday,” Kevin replies. “We came down from New York. We’re on our way to
Mexico.”

“Mexico? What’s
there?”

“Undeveloped
land. If we can make it to Mexico, we can keep going until we reach South
America. We’d rather take our chances hiding in the jungle.”

I eye the baby
again. It’s a wonder that they made it this far with her. I can’t imagine
trying to get to South America.

“We don’t stay
in one place for very long, but we found this RV Park.” Harry beats against the
wall. “It’s not home but it’ll do for now. We’re just regrouping.”

“That’s
smart,” Ms. Burgess says.

“Where did you
get the candy?” MJ asks. He’s licking chocolate from the empty wrapper.

“There’s a convenience
store up the road some. There’s not much in there, but plenty for you all.”

“Sweet,” Ian
says.

Wade shakes
his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. The lizards could be hanging out
there.”

Ian nods in
Harry and Kevin’s direction. “They didn’t get caught.”

“I don’t want
to risk it,” Wade replies.

“Good thing
nobody put you in charge of me,” Ian says smartly.

Ms. Burgess
puts up her hand. “Enough guys. We don’t want our hosts to regret ever letting
us in. I agree with Wade. I don’t want to risk our lives for some snacks. As
long as we ration what we have, we’ll have enough food to get us home. If we do
have to get more, we’ll do like we did the first time, find a house.”

Even though my
stomach has a mind of its own and right now doesn’t mind risking my life for
snacks, the practical side agrees with Ms. Burgess.

“This tastes
good, but I don’t want to die for it,” Mia says.

“I don’t
either,” I add.

Shayla takes a
deep breath. “I should also agree but my stomach is screaming out for candy.”

MJ licks one
side of the inside of his wrapper clean. I think he’s going to finish off the
other side, but he folds the wrapper and places it in the pocket of his jeans.
It
seems stupid to save it, but maybe he wants to finish it later
.
“You’re right, Ms. B. If we come across snacks we’ll get them. I don’t want to
die over them.” He shrugs. “Besides, we still have a while to go. We’re sure to
pass some other stores on the way.”

Yeah right, I
want to say. Not with the routes we’ve been taking. No one builds stores in the
middle of trails and wooded areas.

“Sure,” Shayla
says, sounding just as doubtful as I’m feeling.

“We’d love to
have you come with us,” Harry says.

“Thanks, but
no thank you,” Ms. Burgess says. “But if you don’t mind we’d like to hang out
here for another hour or so to rest our feet.”

“No problem,”
Harry says.

And true to
Ms. Burgess’ words, we leave at the hour mark. Everyone is more than anxious to
keep moving. We still have a long way to go and the most treacherous part of
the trip is still ahead of us. The mountains are a hop, skip and jump away. We’ll
have to get through the western tip of North Carolina first. According to Wade,
we’ll need about two days to get through both areas and to Maryville,
Tennessee.

As soon as the
woods begin to thicken again, we start to run into more people. With more
people comes more stories about the aliens. When we get closer to North
Carolina we run into a couple who tell us the aliens have swept through
Asheville. Everyone who hasn’t been caught is fleeing toward the mountains. All
the more reason we need to get through the area as quickly as possible.

We all know
the consequences of being around a lot people. The more people, the more
aliens. It’s just a matter of time before the aliens move their hunting ground from
the residential areas to the mountains.

And, when that
happens, we plan to be as far away from these parts as we can possibly get.

Near Robbinsville, North Carolina

April 18
^th
, 2012: Day 27

Slap.
“Shit,”
MJ mutters under his breath.

I don’t stir
from my spot, or even give him a glance, but continue my game with Shayla. MJ
has been battling bugs for the past hour. When we first found this place,
hidden beneath the trees, with an area that would accommodate all of us, everyone
could clearly see the mosquitoes and other flying things had gravitated to a
few of the bushes outlining the perimeter. Shayla and I warned him not to sit
or lie down so close to the bushes where, under the moonlight, a million little
bugs hovered. But I think because the “girls”, told him to move, he’s trying to
prove us wrong and stay anyway.

“Serves him
right,” Shayla murmurs, under her breath. Although I’m not bothered by MJ’s
refusal to find somewhere else to bed down for the night, Shayla clearly is.
Every now and then she peeks at him from the corner of her eye and murmurs
curses at him, agitation lacing every word.

Shayla and I
are sitting cross-legged, facing each other, with a pile of twigs between us.
To pass the time, we’ve collected them, deciding to play our own version of
pick-up sticks. It’s not the same as the actual game, but it’s working out for
us just the same—we’d do just about anything to pass the time.

“Man,” Wade
says to MJ, with a low chuckle. “Do you want some of this bug spray?” The spray
was a luxury item we traded for water earlier in the day. We could have lived
with the bug bites, but we took a vote on it. Trading one bottle of water meant
we would have to tighten up our water rations until we could find another
source. And seeing how MJ was struggling and we weren’t, I quickly decided we
had made the right decision.

Slap.

“I don’t need
anything. Nothing is bothering me.”

Shayla and I
meet each other’s eyes. She rolls her eyes in exasperation. “Really?”

“Lucky for him
it’s so chilly out. I’m sure if it was any warmer this whole area would be
covered with bugs.”

“And I bet you
he still wouldn’t put on the spray, just because I suggested it.”

I shake my
head and smile. It’s so obvious she cares for him and the fact that he’s
getting torn up by bugs is hurting her just as much as it’s hurting him. “That’s
your man. You deal with him.”

She lowers her
head and peers from out the corner of her eyes to where MJ stays, defiantly, by
that bush. He has his jacket zipped all the way up, the hood pulled over his
head with the drawstrings tightened around his face. His feeble attempts to
keep the bugs off of him are clearly not working, because even from here I can
see how miserable he looks. I also see Wade rolling the can of bug spray MJ’s
way.

Doing as Shayla
does, I pretend to not even notice him as he quickly picks up the bug spray and
hides it behind his back. When he’s confident that we aren’t watching him, he
turns away from us and it isn’t long before I can hear the faint burst of
aerosol as he coats himself.

“He’s not my
man,” she says in a whisper, turning her attention back to our game. “He thinks
of me as his little sister.”

I carefully
slide one of the middle sticks out from the stack. “You guys could have fooled
me.”

“He’s with
Kiera.” Shayla chews on her bottom lip and selects a stick. “That’s all he
talks about is going back home and finding her.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, I
know.” She takes a deep, steadying breath. “Our parents are good friends, so he
thinks he’s responsible for me. He wants to get me home safe. He likes me, but
he doesn’t like-like me.” She quickly glances up at me then back down to the
sticks. “It’s not what you think.”

I shrug. “It’s
none of my business. But if you ask me, I think you guys make a good couple.”

I was used to
seeing gorgeous Kiera and handsome MJ walking the halls of school, hand-in-hand.
They were pretty much inseparable. They seemed to make the perfect couple. But
now, seeing him with Shayla, it seemed more natural, not at all forced. With
Kiera, it felt like they were some kind of power couple. He’d be behind the
steering wheel of her BMW and they’d pull up to the school parking lot,  where
their entourage would be waiting for them. I guess to everyone, not just me, it
was expected that when
MJ
made it big in football,
Kiera would become his trophy wife.

Shayla doesn’t
have the model good looks Kiera has. She’s a lot shorter than MJ, probably
around five-foot-five, and she’s curvier than Kiera’s long, lithe frame. Before
she began wearing her hair in braids it was cut in a short bob, whereas Kiera
always had a long, flowing, super-diva weave in at all times.

“You would be
the only one. Everyone adored MJ and Kiera as a couple. The golden boy and
girl.” She lets out a light laugh. “Hell, I even thought they were perfect
together. Sometimes I thought about it though…us…as a couple. ”

“Sounds like
you would have changed that if you had gotten the chance.”

“Maybe, I
would have.”

I lean over to
whisper to her. “
Pst
. Now’s your chance.”

She clears her
stick from the pile. “Your turn. You don’t understand. MJ and I have known each
other our entire lives. That’s why he sees me as a sister. I can’t make a move
and pounce on him.” She shakes her head and the waves of braids bounce on her
shoulders. “It would be too weird.”

I work on
pulling out my next stick. “I knew the two of you were close. I used to see you
and your clique all the time. I admired the awesomeness from afar.”

“We were not
awesome. Well, maybe just a little bit.” She says the last sentence with a
smirk.

I clear my
stick from the pile without it toppling over. “To me, you and MJ were part of
the cool kid’s clique.”

She nods up to
me. “What about you and Mia. I’ve seen you hanging around Ian and his crew. You’ve
been hanging out with the rich boys so much I thought you would have snagged
you one by now.”

“Uh, no. I
only hang out with them because of Mia. If I wasn’t with her, and if she wasn’t
with Ian, they wouldn’t be caught near me. In case you haven’t noticed I’m a
nerd. Hanging out with the rich kids could never change that. And I wouldn’t
change what I am or who I am to try and fit in with them. I really don’t see
any of them paying my college tuition.”

“But still, if
it were me, I would have hooked up with one of them. I’ve never dated a rich
kid before.”

“Neither have
I.”

She
straightens a little and eyes me. “Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you
with a boyfriend. I always wondered why you never dated anyone. Getting good
grades can’t be so important that you kill your social life over it.”

I point one of
my twigs at her. “It is when you want to get into a good school.” I snap the
twig in half. “Plus…guys were never interested in me that way. If they needed a
calculus tutor, then I was the girl to call. If they wanted a date…well, they
called someone else, which was fine with me.”

“I don’t think
you gave anyone a chance to get to know you.”

“
Pft
. I’m
glad I didn’t. I wanted to get into Michigan and do something other with my
life than follow guys around and end up pregnant.”

“Whoa. I said
a boyfriend. I didn’t say go down the unwanted pregnancy road.”

“Yeah, but I
see it all as one. I thought—still think—that I can worry about
boys later. I just wanted to concentrate on college and a career.”

She frowns and
tilts her head. “You’re like what? Eighteen?”

“Seventeen.”

“You’re way
too serious, girl.”

Wade comes
toward us, checking the perimeter for the hundredth time. No one stops him,
because frankly it makes us feel better. He stops in front of us.

“Are you okay,
Sin?”

I look up and,
for a split second, I think I see something pass behind his eyes. It’s gone
before I can even tell what emotion it was. “I’m fine, you?”

“I’m good. I’d
feel better once we leave this area though.” He looks around, as if he heard
something or is trying to hear something. “I’m getting the creeps.”

“Um, I’m fine
too, Wade,” Shayla says, drawing his attention to her.

He glances
down to her with a frown. “Okay,” he says, elongating the word.

“I’m just
saying, there are two people sitting here,” she says, swiping her hand through
the air.

“Give him a
break,” I say playfully. “He was about to ask about you too.”

She glances
over to me, giving me a “yeah, right look”. I shrug.

“I’m sorry. If
it means so much to you, I’ll check on you morning, noon and night.”

Shayla shakes her
head and smiles. “You do, you. I’m not mad.”

Wade smiles as
well. Something I rarely see him do, since he’s always so serious, but I guess
surviving an alien invasion gives one reason to be serious.

“I’ll make my
bed next to you, Sin. There’s just something about this place…” He says the
last sentence as he walks off to inspect some bushes.

Shayla raises
a brow.

“What?” I
whisper. “I don’t mind if he wants to sleep next to me. He knows how to kill
rattlesnakes.”

“You are so
gullible it’s almost cute.”

I lean back.
“Whatever. You have MJ to kill crawly thingies for you.”

Mia plops down
by my side, interrupting us. “I can’t wait to find another house. The first
thing I’m going to nab is a toothbrush. I don’t even care if it’s secondhand.”

“That’s super
gross,” I say, even though my teeth are slick with build-up and my breath
probably smells like holy hell.

“Anything will
be better than this.” Mia leans to the side and spits out a piece of leaf she’s
been chewing on, trying to clean her teeth. “What are you guys talking about?”

Shayla nods to
me. “Sinta getting pregnant and sleeping next to boys.”

“What?” she chokes
out, her face contorting with a mixture of confusion and shock.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My mother is
sitting on our sectional in the living room. Even though the sofa can comfortably
seat eight, I’m planted in her lap, with my head resting against her chest. She’s
holding me close to her body with one hand while the other is stroking my hair.

This is how
she used to hold me when I was smaller. I’ve never realized it before, but I miss
sitting on her lap. With a contented smile, I snuggle closer, listening to her
heartbeat through her scrubs. She’s wearing the scrubs with pictures of storks
and babies. They’re pink and blue and remind me of a whimsical scene. She hasn’t
worn these since she stopped working in the newborn nursery, way before she
went back to school to get her advanced nursing degree.

I take a long,
languid breath in, letting her scent swirl through my nostrils. She smells of
newborn babies, who, to me, smell like baby powder and baby lotion, with a hint
of baby burp. I don’t question my reasoning. It’s just how I always imagined
the smell.

“Do you want
me to put your hair in a braid?” she asks. She loves to brush and braid my
hair. She likes to “tame” it, as she calls it.

“No.” I
snuggle deeper onto her lap, making myself comfortable. “I just want you to
hold me.”

She lets out a
soft chuckle. “Sinta, your bony butt is digging into my legs, but if this is
what you want.”

“This is what
I want, Mama.”

We sit in
silence, me listening to her heart and breathing and her running a hand over my
hair and back. Before long, she breaks our silence with light humming. She can’t
sing. She couldn’t hold a note if her life depended on it, but her humming
reminds me of home and good times.

“Is that a
song grandma used to sing to you?”

I only
remember my grandmother faintly. She died from breast cancer when I was
younger, but I remember her singing and cooking. I also remember how much my
mother loved her.

“Yes, she used
to sing that song to me every night before I went to sleep. That was so long
ago…” She lets her voice trail off, as she picks up the tune again.

I look up to
her. “Why haven’t you ever sung it to me?”

She smiles and
tilts her head to the side, as if in thought. “Hmmm…I guess because I haven’t
thought about it in so long.”

“It’s nice. It
can be our song now.”

She chuckles.
“I’m dead, Sinta. I can’t sing to you anymore.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“No! You can’t
be!” I scream out in pain. “Mommy!”

“Shh, calm
down,” a deep and gruff voice says. “Yer just havin’ a nightmare, darlin’.”

I try to catch
my breath.
Yeah, that’s it. My mother isn’t dead. She can’t be dead.