Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

When I wake up Ryan isn’t there. I sit up and look around through bleary eyes. The refugees are sleeping, their faces peaceful and serene. I look at the man we saved yesterday and he is wide awake too. He sees me looking and glares at me. I scowl and stand up. I grab my gun and start to walk out of the door when he grabs my arm. I rip my arm free and stare at him.

                “What do you want?” I whisper.

                “I want to talk to you."

                I look out the door and see nothing for me to be suspicious about. Silently, we slip out of it and close the door behind us. I lead him to the back of the house and turn to face him.

                “What do you want to talk about?”

                He fidgets in his place and asks, “Why did your Crew let a him in?”

                I hold back a chuckle. “We didn’t let Ryan come into the Crew, he let us join the Crew.” After the incredulous look on his face, I continue, “Here we think of Ryan as one of us, okay?"

                “But how? You slept next to him and he still didn’t attack you.”

                “He has to use a lot of self control even when he’s seven meters from me. Don’t ask me, ask him.”

                The man sighs. “What about when the Federation finds you?”

                I scowl. “I think that’s enough questions for today.” I brush past him and give him another look. “I’m going to find Ryan. Get back inside.”

                Shaking my head, I start walking down the street towards Ryan’s private little house. The Federation? I think. Why would he want to know about the Federation?

                I walk down the street and turn right then keep on walking until I find Ryan’s safe place. When I knock on the door twice then wait three seconds and rap four more times, the door opens and Ryan is standing there. He has meat in his mouth that’s bloody and raw. I shake my head and wrinkle my nose. The animal’s blood is all over his face. I push past him and pick up one of his spare blankets while setting my gun down. I walk back over to him and start wiping around his mouth. He gives me a look, grabs my hand and takes it off of the spare blanket, and starts wiping his own face. I hold back a small, halfhearted laugh.

                “I can do it myself.”

                I cross my arms over my chest. “Why did you come here? It’s not safe.”

                He chuckles darkly and flashes his teeth at me. “Nowhere is safe, Sloane. Ever since the making of the first-“

                “I’ve heard it before,” I snap. He seems a little taken aback by my impatience and rude behavior. I sigh and sit against the wall.

                “What’s got you all wired?” he says sitting down next to me.

                I cringe from the smell of blood on him. “The man was asking a lot of questions about you and about the Federation. It made me suspicious and annoyed.”

                “Everything annoys you.” I give him a look and push him over. He smiles and just stays lying on the ground. “I’m sure it was nothing,” he continues. “You’re just taking things too seriously since you’re in a bad mood.”

                “Wonder why I’m in a bad mood,” I mutter to myself.

                He raises his eyebrows. “That time of month?”

                My face turns red and I stand up. I walk towards the door and turn the doorknob.

                “Sorry,” he says, coming up behind me. “Do you need anything?”

                I push him again. “No. I can take care of myself.”

                He holds up one hand and grabs my arm with the other. “Sloane,” he says, “What’s wrong with you today?”

                The look I give him tells him to back off. He doesn’t. Ryan drags me back to the wall and sits me down. He puts some meat on a branch and lights it on fire with some matches we found. I know he thinks this will make me scold him and show him how to cook the food right, but it doesn’t work that way with me. When I decide something you can’t stop me.

                And I’ve decided I’m not going to fall for his little traps.

                “Sorry it’s burnt,” he says.

                I don’t say anything because I don’t trust myself with words right now. I just take the half raw meat from him.

                He just sits there watching me as I dig into the piece of meat. It tastes better than usual, I’ll admit. He has picked up some cooking skills from watching the rest of us do it. Ryan starts tapping his fingers again and I glance his way. His eyes are far off like he’s thinking about something important.

                “What’s wrong?”

                Ryan doesn’t look at me right away. He stops tapping his fingers but keeps looking straight ahead. “I’m thinking over what you said about the man being suspicious.”

                “And?”

                “You’re right.”

                I laugh. “How do those words taste?”

                He looks at me. “Like honey.”

                The smile stays on my face as I continue eating. Ryan waits for me to finish and stands up. I grab my gun as he takes my hand and leads me out the door. When we’re outside, he drops it and we start walking back to the cement house. We arrive and walk in to find Jesse sleeping on the floor. He’s snoring when I crouch next to him and shake him awake. He jumps when he sees me and socks me in the arm. He sits up and rubs his eyes.

                “Where have you two been? Sneaking off to be alone?”

                I push him back down and he bangs his head. He curses and stands up on shaky legs. Jesse grabs his gun and starts walking out of the house, muttering  astring of curses. He slams the door behind him and I redo all the locks on the door. I sit down next to a girl and close my eyes. I fall asleep mulling over the possibilities of why the man we saved yesterday got here and why he seemed to know my weak points so well.   

 

Ryan is shaking me awake when he jumps up and flings the metal scrap up from the small hole in the wall and looks out. I can hear the sound of a Drailer’s roar and the Fed airplanes and helicopters outside. He comes away from the crack and puts the metal plate down. Ryan picks up the extra machine gun and hands it to me. I jump up behind him and follow him to the door. He looks back at me while he unlocks it.

                “I need you to stay here and guard the refugees.”

                He sees the anger on my face. “Wherever you go with that gun I’m going with you.” He’s about to argue, but I cut him off. “I’m not letting you leave me again,” I growl at him.

                I narrow my eyes as he lets me get my way and we barge out the door. What I see shocks me. Huge plumes of thick, black smoke are rising from the buildings. Fires rage across the streets and up the houses. A helicopter’s on the ground, probably crashed by the Feds on purpose to try and blow us up. I look at the Feds as they try and get away from the immediate danger of Drailers but they are quickly overwhelmed and ripped apart by them. Bodies are strewn all over the place and my heart sinks into my stomach when I see the motel on fire with the some of the wounded and mutilated people trying to get away.

                Ryan and I run to it and charge right into the building. We see Jesse carrying a girl in his arm and a woman on his back. He’s not carrying his gun and there are teeth marks and drops of blood all over his shirt and face. Jesse locks eyes with us as he passes and the important silent message to get all the people out is exchanged between misfit "rebels". 

                We take off up the stairs and arrive in the room with the refugees. They’re on the ground coughing. Ryan takes two furthest from the door as I take two children from halfway across the room. He runs out first as I take another child’s hand who isn’t too badly hurt and jog down the stairs trying not to breathe too much smoke. Jesse runs past me again on the way back up and I yell at him to stop. He turns around briefly and picks the child up off my back.

                “Something wrong?”

                I glance at him. “Where are the others?”

                “They’re keeping watch over the people in the house and out in the streets. We’re the only one’s evacuating the motel so move it!”

                I run with him to the cement house and quickly tap it three times. The door opens and Ian grabs the kids from me and Jesse then slams the door in our faces. We turn around quickly and start running back into the other house. The fire has spread and the smoke is snuffing the refugees. I grab the first ones that I come across and throw them onto the street where Sean picks them up and gets them safely to the cement house. We grab the last few women and men from the burning motel and get them to the house.

                That’s when I hear the crying.

                Ryan is outside and staring at a woman who is screaming that her baby is still in the house. I run to them just when Ryan shoves her at me. The fire in his eyes tells me to just walk away. 

                When I turn around Ryan is running into the house and my knees almost buckle out from under me. The flames lick the frame of the door and I cannot help but imagine the worst that might become the reality for me. The woman is still screaming about her baby. Out of the corner of my eye I see a Drailer. She starts to charge us. I throw the woman behind me and take out my gun. The Drailer knocks it out of my hands and beats me to the ground. She jumps on top of me and digs her fingernails into my skin. I try and reach for the knife that is strapped to my calf but it’s just a little too far for me to reach without any help. I refuse to scream for help as I bash my forehead against hers. She pushes back from me and holds her head. I rip my dagger from my calf and jump on her. The Drailer quickly retaliates and punches me in the cheek. She sinks her teeth into the side of my neck and I stab her in the back. She lets go instantly and howls in pain. I stab her again in the shoulder and she starts to back away from me. Her teeth are revealed and I see the deadly poison dripping from her canines. She crouches and waits for the right moment to spring.

                I take my eyes off her for a moment to look for my gun. The gun is a few feet from me and I look back at the Drailer. She’s getting ready to charge me and I know if I even get the slightest cut from her teeth I’m dead. She starts to charge me and I lunge for the gun. I get a hold of it as soon as she jumps on top of me. I whirl around and send off a round of bullets into her face. While I’m busy pushing her off, the woman is cowering in fear by the cement house. I stand up, run over to her and take her hand. Then I rap three times on the door and wait for them to open it.

                The moment Jesse sees me he pulls me in and sets the woman down next to the others. He pushes me down on the ground and starts examining the damage. I start freaking out and screaming at him to let me help Ryan. He denies me and asks for help holding me down. I struggle against them and start snarling and snapping at them like a Drailer might. Jesse takes the bandages and lifts the sleeve of my shirt up again. He wraps my shoulders and my neck with them. I elbow him in the nose and run to the door. I fling it open and stop dead when I see the building.

                It’s just starting to tumble down when I see Ryan a few meters from the doorway. He looks at me and I start sprinting to him. Ryan tosses me the baby when I’m a few meters from him because he knows my reflexes will catch it. He also knows both of them won’t make it out, so he chooses the baby. And it works.

                I catch the baby in my arms and keep running to him. The charred building starts tumbling down and my tears start rolling down my face. He gives me one last smile. Then the building comes crashing down on his head.

                I fall to my knees, my mouth open and my arms cradling the baby. My blood turns to ice and my body tingles. I can feel my heart get ripped and shredded inside. I feel sick and too weak to move. My strength, my pillar, my protector, my lover . . . Gone.

               Ian comes out behind me and grabs my arm. He tries to pull me back to the house. I rip my arms from him, push the baby into his, and run to the pile of rubble. I start throwing pieces of metal and wood in every direction. One time I hear Ian curse because I hit him with a piece of wood.

                Ian comes to help me with one free hand and we uncover Ryan. I cling on to the sliver of gleaming hope that he will live even though his heart has stopped and start dragging him back to the cement house. Jesse comes out next and takes him from me. I start yelling at them and cursing at them because they took him from my hands. Ryan’s body moves out of sight and Ian holds me down on the street.

                “He’s dead Sloane! Let it go!”

                I snarl in his face and push him off me. He just simply watches as I run to where Jesse is and push the guy down on the ground. I sit next to Ryan’s torso and open his mouth. I pinch his nose and blow into his mouth. Then I come up and put one hand on his chest as the free hand covers the other one. I pump his chest six times and pinch his nose and breathe into his mouth. I repeat this process four times before I put my ear to his chest and I hear a faint but light heartbeat that I had probably missed earlier.

                That technique had no way of working.

                “He’s not dead! He’s not dead,” I whisper to myself.

                Ryan has already turned a little blue when I try and carry him into the house. The people stare at him in shock. I look at each of them and see the man we helped yesterday is smiling. I pick him up by the shirt and slam his soon to be bloody head against the hard wall.

                “Who are you?” I scream at him.

                He just simply frowns and grips my wrist. “I’m no one.”

                “No one crawls on the streets unless you’re stupid. They find shelter.” I pause a moment and it all dawns on me. “The Feds sent you, didn’t they? They sent you to snuff us out.”

                Only when he doesn’t object do I know it’s true. I throw him to the ground and punch him in the nose in mid-air. “You monster! You’re worse than the Drailers themselves!” I punch him again and scream, “Because of you innocent people died!”

                “It isn’t because of me,” he whispers. “It’s because of you.”

                Jesse and Ian run in and pull me off of him. They sit me down in a corner and take the man. Then they shove him into a corner and get the duct tape we found. They tape his hands behind his back and his ankles. I try to calm down but it’s almost like I’m hyperventilating. Only then do I remember that I dropped my gun in the building when I was carrying out those three children.

                I look around and see Sean next to our guns. Five AK47’s and one sniper.

                S**t, I think.

                 Sean sees me looking and shrugs as if to say it’s no big deal. I narrow my eyes and crawl over to him. He raises his eyebrows.

                “Who’d we lose?”

                He looks back to the wall. “Tommy, and-“

              “Where’d you get the extra gun?” I say cutting him off.

                He says, “Farris got it off one of the Feds before he went down.”            

                My mouth drops open. “We lost him?”

                Sean doesn’t seem to care at first, but I know that Farris was his best friend. “The problem with war is you lose the people closest to you.”

                I don’t say anything else. I just sit next to him and hold his hand to comfort him. Soon I feel the wet tears sliding down his cheeks and onto my shoulder. I squeeze his hand as Ian comes over and picks up a gun. His face is somber but he hadn’t known Farris long because he is the newest of the group. After a few more moments Sean moves his hand away and wipes his face. He picks up a gun and helps me up off the ground.

                “Should we move our location?”

                Ian who is close by says, “No. Let the Feds come. They won’t be able to touch us.”

                I know Sean doesn’t like this being the more cautious and careful one. I, however, agree with Ian. Let them come so we can show them how much more powerful we are than them.

                “Fine,” I say. “We’ll stay.”

                Sean knows Ryan would agree with him but he says nothing. He’s still sad and angry about our friends dying. I can feel the tears stinging my eyes now but I try and hold them back and fail. I turn my back to the others as I sit down next to Ryan. His eyes are partly open and I can see his fingers twitching. I don’t try and talk to him. I just sit him up and look at him. His face is marred by the rubble and everything I can see is bloody and scratched and cut. I walk over to the blanket pile and rip part of a blanket off. I submerge it in our water and crouch next to Ryan. I lift up his face so I can see it clearly and start gently cleaning the blood off. Ian comes to sit next to me.

                “Can you play nurse for a few hours on him? He’s probably hurt the worst of anyone.”

                I sigh and stop cleaning Ryan’s face for a moment. “Yeah I’ll play nurse as long as you can be the assistant.”

                He smiles and says, “What do you need?”

                “Water and strip cloth.”

                Ian goes over to our supply stash and starts looking while I return to cleaning up Ryan’s face. Sometime’s he’ll groan and start fidgeting when I hurt him. When he starts making sounds that hurt my ears I have to stuff a piece of cloth Ian brings back into his mouth. I brush my knuckles along his jawbone. The familiar touch seems to calm him down a little. I decide to move from his face and to his arms. This goes over smoothly since his cuts and bruises aren’t too bad. I have to remove his shirt next and find a whole mess waiting for me. I have to keep the contents of my stomach down as I clean that part of him up too. When I’m done cleaning the upper half, I hand the cloth to Ian. He raises his eyebrows.

                “Clean the rest of him. I don’t want to do that part.”

                He understands but he’s not happy about it at all. He almost chucks the cloth at some other person and orders them to clean it up, but he does it. After he’s done, I take the cloths from him and douse them in the bucket of water. I leave them there to soak and help Ian get Ryan back into his pants. I decide to leave his shirt off since he has so many cuts. Then I remember the bandages we have.

                “Where are the bandages?”

                Ian shrugs. “We used them on you since your wounds were actually gushing blood.”

                “Oh yeah,” I say, touching my neck and shoulder.

                I get Ryan a blanket and wrap him in it. I can see the sun barely starting to set in the west and look at both of the boys. “Who wants to take first watch?”

                “I’ll do it,” Ian says.

                Surprise, surprise.

                Sean and I lay down and almost instantly go to sleep and block out the day of war and deaths of our comrades and friends.