Reborn (6 page)

I look at Anna, “I can't worry about Jake and Bernie. I know Will will be okay but I can't risk it. Putting them in harm’s way, makes me sick. Can you just stay here and cover for her and me, so we can get down the mountain to a truck?”

Anna gives me a look and shakes her head, “I have a better idea.”

I hate the look in her eyes.

It’s ambitious.

Chapter Two

I knew I hated the look in her eyes. She’s a scheming brat. I snarl and grumble as we make our run for it. Will and Jake were singing, and Jack, the real pain in the ass, was passed out. Anna had used guilt to get them to sing for the campfire. Bernie was chatting up another nerd about some crap to do with satellites. I don’t think he even noticed the sun went down. I sure did.

We run as fast as we can in the dim light of the rising moon. It’s brighter, not by much though, than the other night. Star can run like me, and Anna is too damned stubborn, not to run like us. We make it past the guards in the trees. I can hear Leo doing his running circles around us. We take turns tripping and stumbling but we finally make it to the road.

With hands on our hips and rapid heartbeats we start the trek to Bernie’s house. Every one of us is out of breath and nearly dead. The run was brutal.

We jog lightly for a while before we hear it. I glance at Anna. She nods. I veer off into the woods. Star does the same but the other side of the hill. She has a handgun she managed to steal before we left. She could only hide one.

Anna slows her pace. When the headlights hit her, she breaks into a run. The truck comes to a stop. The men hop out and run her down too easily. They’re too dumb to realize that. She lets them take her and doesn’t fight. She makes a sniffle. It’s the only sound I hear until my arrow breaks through the neck of one of them. He screams and Anna kicks his feet out from under him. She pulls the arrow out and stabs him in the eye with it.

Star shoots the other guy. The driver leaps out and I drop him. Anna runs around back; Leo is there with her. She opens the back as Star rounds the side of the van. She fires a single shot into the van. Screams fill the night air.

I run down to the van, stopping when I see what it is. It’s not what I expect at all. A man lies dead with a gun in his hand. Behind him are small children. Lots of them. Star gives me a look. I shake my head, “I don’t know.”

“Where are you from?” she asks.

They narrow their gaze at us.

I mutter, “Gen babies.”

She nods. Anna sighs.

I climb inside with Leo, “This wolf eats little kids.” They scramble back into each other. I look at the disapproving looks from Star and Anna. I point, “Hurry up. Drive, Star, you know the way.”

She points, “What about them?”

I shrug, “Is there a town along the way?”

She nods, “Yeah, it’s a cross-town.”

I shrug, “Supply towns have to have people willing to help a group of kids.”

She gives me a look and slams the door. I hear her cussing. We sit in the dark.

I don’t talk to them. I don’t have anything to say. I don’t know how to talk to kids. They’re all little and scowling.

“I have to pee,” a small voice finally breaks the silence.

I think it’s a trap and then I remember they’re five-years old. “Bang on the wall behind you all. She’ll stop the truck.”

One of them thumps and the truck skids to a stop. I hear the driver's door and then squint as the light blinds me. It makes me scared when I see the light. Bad memories flood my mind. Instead of terror and survival staring me in the face, I see Star giving me a shitty look.

“They gotta pee.”

She rolls her eyes, “Let’s go, make it fast.” She clearly likes kids as much as I do. I like one kid in the whole world. One little blonde.

Star points at them when they don’t budge, “We saved you from the bad guys. We’re going to free you so you can find your moms again.”

One kid makes a snarl-like cat noise. It's almost like a hiss. I climb out and pat my hand against my thigh. Leo follows me out and then they leave, hesitantly.

I give her a grim look, “Forgot I told them he eats kids.”

She laughs, “Oh yeah.”

They run into the bushes. We stand there until we hear the passenger door. Anna gives us a look. I frown, “What?”

She walks over and points at the bushes, “They ran away—seriously. You going to stand here all day?”

I look at the woods, confused, “Well, I guess that was probably what I woulda done.”

Star nods, “Yup.”

I don’t know what to do. They’re little kids alone in the woods. I glance at Star, “Should we go get them?”

She shrugs, “I don’t know.”

We wait a few minutes and I shake my head, “Let’s go. We won't be doing them any favors if we go drag them from the woods.” I take the lazy, coward’s path. I don’t want a dozen children to take care of.

Star nods but Anna looks confused, "Leave them?"

"Yes!" I climb back into the back of the truck and close the doors again. I hear Star start it and then we drive for what feels like forever. I’m passed out in the back, leaning on Leo, when the truck makes a weird stop. Anna opens the door, “Out of gas,” she whispers.

I yawn and grab my bow and quiver. We stretch and sit on the back of the truck, eating the dried meats we stole.

“You worried about this?” I ask.

Star looks at the road and sighs, “Nope.”

Anna gives me a cautionary look.

“Why not?”

She grins over at me, “Because Bern has a giant weapons store for just this moment. It’s in the woods, down the bomb path.”

“The bomb path?”

She laughs, “I know the way through.”

That doesn’t make me feel better.

We walk until I feel sick. I can't imagine how Anna feels. I pull an arrow, “Go find some water to refill the skins and I’ll find some dinner. Anna, make a fire and a spit.”

They leave in opposite directions. They will never like each other. I can't even imagine how uncomfortable it was in the front seat. I’m grateful I sat in the back with the weird little kids. Leo and I hike for a few minutes before I find a good tree. I press my body against it and wait. I close my eyes to listen.

I hear a branch break. It doesn’t sound huge, but when I look for the animal, I'm excited to see a massive hare. I haven’t had hare since Jake dang near killed us by under cooking it.

I pull back the arrow, lining it up. I feel the wind on my face and take a breath. When I release the arrow, it misses. I frown and pull another as the hare tries to hop away. I hit him in the neck. Leo pounces, grabbing him and giving him the death shake. I skin and gut him quick, wondering if the gutless cleaning works on hares too?

I get back to the fire with some leaves filled with berries I know we can eat.

Anna is holding up roots. She smiles, “They taste like potatoes.” I just catch her whisper over the crackle of the fire.

Star comes with full skins. She sighs, “I am starving.”

Anna puts the hare on the spit and turns him slowly. Star mashes the berries on the broad leaf. She swears if we rub it on the cooked hare it’ll taste better. I tie the roots into one of the huge broad leaves with vine. The vine cooks slowly, allowing the leaf to steam the roots.

“That smells good,” I mutter.

Anna smiles and continues to slowly turn the hare. I pull the roots out of the ashes with my boot and let them cool for a few minutes. Star grabs more huge leaves. We’re so hungry we don’t notice that no one talks. We tear the fur from the cooling carcass and drag each bite through the mashed berries. I moan into my bites and Anna wheezes. Star nods, “I told you.”

I laugh and eat a bite of the root. It does taste like potatoes. I give Leo a bite, he chews and walks away. We all laugh, “Guess he doesn’t like the berries.”

“More for us.”

I’m stuffed when I finish off the water in my skin.

Star yawns, “Normally, I’d be too full to sleep but shit I’m beat.”

Anna’s eyes are closing, even though she’s sitting up. I nudge her with my boot, “Sleep.”

She nods and gets up. I put more wood on the fire just as Leo finds his way back. He’s licking his chops and has, no doubt, also had a feast of his own making.

We pull boughs and make a bed. The three of us sleep next to each other. I know Leo keeps guard. He always does when we’re out like this. I think it’s why he likes the cabin so much, he sleeps the whole time.

We start back on the road in the morning, eating our stolen, dried meats and the last of the berries. When we get to a spot on the road, Star points, “This way.” She heads into the brush, but I don’t see a marker. We cross a field when we get past the initial brush. I see jagged remains of buildings over top of the trees at the other side.

“Used to be my soccer field when I was little,” she whispers.

Anna and I give her a look, “You lived near here?” I ask.

She nods, “There used to be buildings and things. It was a fancy neighborhood, just down here.” We crest a hill and stop. My skin crawls seeing it. It isn’t the first crater I’ve seen.

“Was it nuclear?”

She shrugs her head, “Not a clue. Bern said it was a hydrogen bomb.”

I nod, “That’s a nuclear bomb. We shouldn’t be here. Lenny said twenty years.”

But we don’t move. We stand on the edge of the massive crater and just look.

Finally, Anna whispers, “I think I can feel the dead in the air.”

I nod, “It’s creepy.” I’ve avoided craters my whole life.

Leo is anxious. He doesn’t like it. I follow him out, hoping they’ll follow me and we won't ever have to come back this way again.

We walk to a new road.

“How do you remember this so well?”

Star looks over at me, “I’ve walked it a lot.”

I frown, “Why wouldn’t you get him to drive you?”

Her eyes twinkle, “Trucks make noise. I don’t like making noise.”

We are more alike than I have realized.

She stops on the road and looks, “This is the bomb path. Stay directly behind me the entire time.” She cuts into the woods. My feet are hurting and my legs are exhausted. I can't imagine how Anna feels.

I step where Anna steps as she follows Star in. The brush is dense.

I hold Leo by the scruff and force him to follow my steps. He gets it after a minute and stays in the line.

Star drops to her knees after a while, lifting a huge piece of the land up. It’s a thin, metal sheet with dirt and moss stuck to the top of it. Inside is a small shelter loaded with guns and food. She jumps down and passes me a package. I open it and start to eat, too fast. I gobble back the nuts and seeds. Anna is wolfing down a bar. I take a protein bar and start on it at the same time as the nuts. Star is pouring a package into her throat. She’s chewing fast too. She passes us water bottles. The three of us gorge. I don’t stop myself. It’s been lean rations for days. I sit and sigh as it hits my belly with a thud.

“I need to go the bathroom.” Anna makes a face.

I laugh. Star passes her a tissue packet. Anna’s face breaks into a huge smile, “No leaves!”

Star laughs with me, “Can you remember the path back?”

Anna nods and starts back the way we came.

“Bernie thought of everything.”

She nods, “He really did. He set this up as a bit of a fallout shelter. It was in case the house got over taken. He is a smart guy. Not to mention, he had the list.”

I frown, “The list?”

She nods, “Yeah. They were all given a list—the higher ups and the necessary people.”

My stomach sinks, “So only certain people would survive.” I can’t help but think about the lady who saved me in the town, when the others were looking for me. In a sick way I have to be happy that she was able to save me, so I could save Jake.

Anna comes back frowning, minus the tissue. I smile, I know she hates going to the bathroom in the woods. Leo trots after her. She looks back at him, giving him a disgusted look. I know what he’s done. I hate it too, but he feels the need to clean up the evidence from his family. It’s his nature. I hadn’t even noticed he'd followed her.

Star sighs, “Well, let’s do this then.” She passes me two handguns, leather straps, and four clips. I load a clip in each shiny, silver gun. She straps the leathers around my thighs and places the clips in them. My jaw drops, “That’s cool.”

She nods, “I know.” She pulls out two sniper rifles and passes one to Anna with a belt of ammo. Anna grins, “Best day ever. All that friggin’ walking was worth it.” She shoots a glare at Leo, “Well, except for that. That was nasty.”

I roll my eyes.

Leo whines as he finishes his protein bar. I pour a bottle of water and he drinks from the stream. I pat his head, “You ready?”

He finishes the water and yawns.

I drop my bow and arrow into the hole for safekeeping. I’ll always choose a gun over a bow.