The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) (71 page)

She shook her head. Jeremiah was an evil mastermind. Evelyn had spent most of her life trying to figure out how to stop him. It was a slow process, but the opportunity would come. It might take years, but she would not give up.

Eventually, the villagers of Salem had been able to fight off the greyskins and begin the process of burning the dead and purging the infected. Evelyn sat on the ground as the sunrise was beginning to creep up. Her hands ached from the countless hours of firing guns at greyskins. But her thoughts were only of the young girl she had met at Springhill only hours ago. She reflected on each precious moment as if staring at a picture.

Guards outside the broken walls of Springhill pointed their guns at Evelyn and Jeffrey when they approached, but Evelyn and Jeffrey were quick to explain themselves. They told the guards about how they had lost communication with the people who were supposed to be helping Springhill. One of them finally agreed to take them to one of the village elders named Austin. 

Evelyn, however, didn’t want to go into the meeting. Looking around, she felt heartbroken by what she saw. Springhill’s wall was broken into pieces. She could still smell the ash of the burned corpses just outside the village. There were still bloodstains on trees and buildings. These people hadn’t even found the will to try and build themselves back up. Jeffrey agreed to meet with Austin alone while Evelyn walked around the front of the village by herself. 

There were more people out than she would have thought. She imagined most were still having trouble sleeping. She wished that she could help these people. They needed someone to help them. They needed a real place to hide and protect themselves. 

As she walked along what use to be the wall, she could faintly see a black painted line. She had heard of this before. When villages were attacked they would often draw lines to separate the infected from the non-infected. Once a person crossed the line, there would be no going back. These were the brave ones who knew what had happened to them and knew what needed to be done. 

As she kept walking, she noticed a young girl, maybe a teenager, sitting in the dirt next to the black line. Evelyn stood back a few paces and watched as she traced the dirt in front of her with her fingers. The girl was crying, muttering something to herself. Evelyn could almost feel the pain radiating from the girl. She must have lost someone close to her. 

Evelyn slowly walked up next to the girl and sat down beside her. She didn’t look up or give Evelyn any attention at all. She just continued to rub her fingers in the dirt. Evelyn leaned in to whisper to her.  

“What’s wrong, dear?” Evelyn asked, trying to sound soft and warm. 

The girl looked up, but not at Evelyn. She stared off into the distance as if she were looking for someone to come back. “I killed my parents,” she finally said. More tears streaked down her face as she said the words. “It’s all my fault. I killed them. I killed them.” She buried her face in her hands. 

Evelyn felt tears starting to form in her own eyes at seeing the pain from the girl. She scooted closer to her and placed an arm around her. The girl rested her head against Evelyn’s chesg to fot, sobbing softly. It wasn’t Evelyn’s intent to see into the child’s mind, but such a gesture of comfort made the use of her gift inevitable. 

Like a flash, Evelyn could see the entire girl’s life from beginning to end. She had been happy once. Sure there had been greyskin attacks here and there, but she always had comfort in knowing that her family would always be around. 

Evelyn saw a memory of the girl meeting her baby brother for the first time. It had been love from the beginning. 

“Jake’s just a baby,” her father had told her. “He will need our protection more than anyone.” 

“I won’t let anything happen to him,” the girl said through a toothless smile. 

Her father tugged on her braid affectionately. “I know you won’t.”

Hundreds, maybe thousands of memories passed by. Another one showed the girl and her family in the tree houses. Her mother held her close and the girl held her baby brother in her arms. The girl’s father sat on the edge of the tree house, watching for any kind of threat. 

“You’re staying with us, aren’t you Dad?” the girl asked in a whisper. 

“There aren’t too many,” he whispered back. “We’re hoping they will just pass by.”

The girl was happy to know that her family was all staying together. She knew that if they stayed together, they would be safe no matter what.

Another memory passed of the girl and her father. It was daylight and the two of them were walking in the woods within the confines of the village. He had wanted to show her a special tree that he had discovered long ago. The two of them climbed to the top of the tree and found a spot that was perfect for sitting. But the best part wasn’t the sitting. It was the view. The two of them could see past the trees into open terrain for miles and miles. When the breathtaking red and orange hues of fading sunlight had nearly overwhelmed her, her father placed a hand on her shoulders. She sat back in his warm embrace and they watched the sunset. When the sunlight was gone, they stared out into the stars for hours, counting the constellations. 

“Do you think there are people like us out there?” the girl asked. 

The father nodded. “I think so. Too big of a universe for there not to be, I think."

The girl was pleased with the answer. She caught herself wondering if other worlds were as scary as this one, but she quickly shoved the thought from her head. Other worlds didn’t have her family. 

More thoughts and memories rushed by. It finally came to the day just a week before. Evelyn witnessed the horrible attack. She saw how the father left them in the tree house to help the others. The girl wouldn’t have it. She knew she had to help her father. Evelyn then saw that her parents had been scratched. Infected by the greyskins. 

The black line. The painful hug goodbye for two of the most important people in her life. The girl’s world had been shattered. She had only ever known the bond of her family. She had always known that if they stayed together, nothing could break them. But her family was broken. They had been ripped from her in a matter of seconds. 

The girl just knew it was her fault.

She had climbed to that same spot that her father had shown her long ago. This time it wasn’t to witness the fading sunlight. It wasn’t to count the constellations. It was to see her parents leave. She shut her eyes before she heard the gunshots that would send them away forever. 

Since that time, the girl had dreamed of that day every night. She was afraid to sleep because nshotof the images. She would wake up crying every single night and come out here to the black line to sit and think, almost as if to call her parents back to her. But the girl knew they would never be back. They would never be back and it was her fault. 

Evelyn wiped her eyes with one of her hands, unable to contain the sadness and anger she felt. Jeremiah had done this to all of them. He had made the entire world a place of suffering and cruelty. How could she tell the girl this? How could she tell her that it wasn’t her fault?

The girl wept quietly with her head still resting on Evelyn’s chest. 

“I feel a strength in you,” Evelyn said. “You care so much for your family. Your brother. Your grandmother. They need you to be strong. They need you now
more than ever.”

The girl didn’t move her head as Evelyn spoke, but her soft cries stopped. 

“What do I do?” she asked. 

“You lead them,” Evelyn said. “But not just them. Others. Always remember what your father said: A world like ours is desperate for good leaders. A world like ours needs more people like you. You are special. You’re going to do great things.”

“How do you know that’s true?” the girl asked, not bothering to question how Evelyn knew about what her father had said. 

Evelyn thought about the girl’s life. She saw her intelligence. She saw her determination to do the right thing in even the smallest situations. She saw a compassionate person with a love for human life. Evelyn knew that this was the kind of person to take into battle against Jeremiah. A pure soul such as this was what would save the world and end Jeremiah’s reign of terror. 

“I know what kind of person you are,” Evelyn answered. “I know that you have a drive to do what’s right. Your father saw that too.”

The girl sat up and placed her forehead in her palms. Telling her that she needed to be strong didn’t bring her family back. Neither did it ensure that she would be a force for good in the future. Evelyn just hoped that she would remain safe and not buy into the lies of Jeremiah. This village still had hope. They hadn’t yet placed their faith in the man that promised a paradise if they joined their village with him.

Evelyn rubbed the girl’s back between the shoulder blades. “Just do what is right and take care of your little brother and grandma. You’ll be fine.”

The girl was silent, still refusing to look at anything but the dirt in front of her. Evelyn hoped the words had sunk in. When she looked to her left, she saw Jeffrey walking toward her. She got up from the ground and walked over to him. 

“The village elder, Austin, told me they haven’t heard from anyone,” he said. “Our people never got here.”

Evelyn nodded thoughtfully. “Then we should get back and report them missing. Something must have gone wrong.”

“I agree,” Jeffrey said. He looked past Evelyn and saw the girl sitting in the dirt. “Is she okay?”

Evelyn looked back at the girl and shook her head. “No. But she will be.” Evelyn couldn’t help but wonder if the girl would even remember the conversation that had taken place tonight. The girl hadn’t looked at her once, but she seemed to have taken it in. Evelyn said a silent goodbye to the girl as Jeffrey grabbed her by the hand. In a flash, they were gone.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

I woke up with tears streaking down the sides of my face. I quickly wiped them away in hopes that no one saw me crying in my sleep. When I looked over at Christopher he was still asleep on the ground next to me. I knew I couldn’t have been out for very long because there were still people in the hideout, shuffling around like they were doing something important. 

I sat up and instantly my head started swimming. My limbs were starting to get sore and my neck felt stiff. I had to use the top of my shirtsleeve to wipe the mucus from my nostrils. Perhaps the tears in my sleep hadn’t been from the emotions running through me, but the virus causing a reaction. I shook my head when I thought about what I had just seen. 

Evelyn had been there for me from the beginning. I never knew. I searched through my own memories, trying to remember that night. There were so many nights like that where I just went out to the broken village wall and sat, wishing that my parents would come back. Though I didn’t remember anyone being there to comfort me, I believe the message from her had stuck with me.

The whole thing felt so bizarre, yet it made sense. Maybe that’s why all this time Evelyn has looked at me as the one to carry on when she was done. Maybe she thought our second meeting was a sign of our connection - a sign that I was the one she had been looking for.

I rested my head against the wall again, feeling the weight of the virus taking over my bones. I was glad to know that my brain was still functioning normally. Perhaps it was Christopher who had helped that. I didn’t know what kind of mess I would be if he hadn’t been here to help. I would have probably already asked someone to shoot me. 

A couple of minutes went by and finally Heather came up to us. When she rounded the corner to face us, she stopped abruptly. 

“What happened to you?” she asked. 

“What do you mean?”

“You look sick,” she said. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were bitten by a greyskin.”

“Do you know any better?” I asked. “For all you know I could have been bitten five times.”

Heather hesitated. “I…guess.”

I did my best to give her a devious grin, though I wasn’t sure it was my most convincing one. “I’m just not feeling well. That’s all.”

“Okay…Uh, everyone is about ready. Evelyn asked me to come get you. We’re about to take the fight to Jeremiah.”

“Lucky us,” I said. 

“Tell me about it,” she said rolling her eyes. “If this thing was any less organized we’d already be dead.”

I smiled at her and she smiled back before leaving to find the others. It might have been the first time I had actually seen her smile. I wasn’t sure. 

I reached a hand over to Christopher and grabbed his shoulder, shaking it softly. His eyes blinked open and he turned his head to me. 

“It’s time to go,” I said. 

“Already?” he asked. 

I nodded. “I might need you to help me out one last time.”

He sat up from his sleeping position and looked at me. “Your eyes are starting to darken a bit. That’s not good.” 

“I’m running out of time,” I said. 

“I’m going to wait to heal your symptoms until we get close to the Center. I want you to have as much strength as you can for when we get there. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” I said. 

We helped each other off the floor and made our wae fight y into the main room where Allison was preparing to leave. Everyone stood near the table and looked up when we came into the room. Evelyn stared at me in the eyes and I could tell she was wondering if I had slept. I smiled at her, feeling warmer toward her than I had expected.

“So, what’s the plan?” Danny asked. 

Allison took a deep breath. “We take everyone we have and attack the Center.”

The room was silent. This was the extent of her plan. Martin stood next to her and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. He spoke next. 

“We try to cause enough of a diversion so I can get the explosives into the Center basement. I have a small team. We need the Starborns to help us and to make sure no one actually leaves the Center.”

My eyes darted to Evelyn and she met my stare. The two of us knew that Aaron and Connor were going to be stuck in there and it would probably be up to me to get them out. The two of us knew that I would be going into the Center no matter what, because I was going to die anyway. If I could get to Jeremiah, our work would be finished. As far as Evelyn and I were concerned, the mission was to sneak
me
inside, not the explosives. They were just the backup.