Will laughs, "I guess so hey. So we
leave tomorrow for the next breeder farm. We are going to free the women."
Anna looks at me. I nod. "We
destroyed the place. Burned it to the ground."
Her eyes twinkle with mischief, "I
want to be there for the next one."
I glance at Will. He looks at Jake, who
shakes his head.
I clear my throat and touch Leo's fur.
"Well now that this place is packed with pregnant women and babies, I was
sort of hoping you'd help them get back to the retreat?"
She stands and puts her hands on her
hips, "What? Screw that I'm not a babysitter and besides I hate kids. That
little monster of Mary's is enough to drive me around the bend."
I laugh. I can't even pretend I don’t
know exactly what she is talking about. Kids make me nuts.
She looks around distastefully, "I
will kill myself here. This is not the place for me. I'm coming." She
grins at me, "Besides you always said I looked just like bait."
She stalks off. I know she is going to
find Marshall and make him agree. She is good at that.
I look at Jake and Will and clear my
throat again. "Well I better get to the medics." I walk around them
and almost break into a run.
The medic's tents are full of pregnant
women and babies. I take a seat on a stump and wait.
"Marshall wants her seen now."
Will's booming voice beckons over a doctor.
The poor doctor looks at Will and the
shitty look on his face and hurries to my side.
I sneer at Will, "I can wait."
Will crosses his arms and shakes his
head, "No we leave tomorrow and she has infections."
The older man smiles at me and kneels in
front of me. "What's the problem?"
"Besides him?" I ask quietly
and hold out my infected quill pokes and open my shirt a bit to show the
others. I slide my sleeve up gingerly and show the bandage, "Gunshot and a
porcupine and an asshole."
He winces, "You are a mess and those
are infected. Let's go. In the tent."
I'm sweaty and filmy from the muggy
spring air. I pull off my over shirt and walk into the tent in my tank top. My
bandage is soaked again.
He unties it and whistles, "This is
bad. It doesn’t look very good."
Will's face flushes from the entrance,
"That’s because an asshole kept sticking his fingers in her cuts and
dragging her around the woods like a madman."
I chuckle. The doctor looks lost but I
know I look softened. He looks at me under his lashes and I melt. I hate him. I
want to anyway.
"That’s great. Maybe try not to let
assholes touch your wounds. Try not to get shot too."
I don’t listen. I stare into the
beautiful blue eyes that are watching me from a humble face. I shake my head.
He nods. I look away. Jake's smile fills my mind.
I wince a couple times but mostly I
ignore the doctor and the things he does. I have a new bandage and ointment
everywhere. He bandages my chest and hands. I look at my hands and laugh.
"I can't fight like this doc. You have to figure out a different way to
make me better."
The doctor points a meaty finger in my
face, "Twenty-four hours like this. Then you can go traipsing all over
hells half acre."
I grin, "How did you know that’s
where we're going?"
He laughs, "Water and take these
pills."
I look at them. I've never taken a pill
in my life.
"Antibiotics. You need it. The quill
infection holes are actually starting to show signs of blood poisoning."
I remember Jake having it and I drop the
pills in the back of my throat. Will hands me his water. I drink huge gulps.
"Thanks."
"Send the next lady with an infant
in."
I feel badly for him. It's going to be a
rough night for the doctors.
He looks at Will, "Be a good asshole
and make her rest okay."
Will grins and looks at me, "Doctors
orders."
My stomach flips, "You're still an
asshole."
He takes my padded hand and holds my arm.
He drags me gently through the tents and small structures until we reach a
tent. He opens the door and climbs in. There are blankets and bedding
everywhere. I step in and feel my stomach twist when I hear him closes the
door. We are alone. I still hate him. Sort of.
"Leo."
He looks at the wolf through the screen,
"You sleep outside."
I look at Leo and shake my head, "He
sleeps with me."
Will closes the tent door. "No,
he'll bite me in the night."
I laugh and lie down on the bedding and
kick off my boots. Every inch of me hurts. "You can't sleep in here with
me."
He lies beside me. "But I'm going
to."
I can feel the heat coming off of him. It
makes me shiver. I feel my body melting into the bedding when he speaks.
"Is watching Star come running up and hug me as annoying as watching my
brother do it to you?"
"Too tired Will. Ask me
tomorrow."
"I'm serious."
My eyes are closed but I can imagine exactly
how his face looks. "Yup."
"Wow that annoying huh?"
"Yup. Except your brother is a sweet
and kind guy who wants nothing but to make me happy and make me smile. He never
wants to hurt me or make me jealous."
He sighs and touches my arm. "You're
killing me."
"No but I'd like to."
"Emma I'm being serious. I don't
know how to be with a girl like you. I don’t know what you want."
I open one eye. "I want to have this
conversation after, like, a week of sleep? I'm exhausted and Marshall has me
invading the farms for the next year."
He rolls over and wraps an arm around my
waist, "No. I need this conversation now."
I groan, "Sleepy. Doctor said
sleep." I pull away.
He kisses my nose, "He said resting.
This is relaxing."
I shake my head and close my eyes again, "No
it's not. Please don’t touch me."
His lips brush mine, "I have made a
grave mistake."
"You've made a few. You're making
one right now."
He brushes his lips against my lips
again. "You've made some too."
I know I have. I just don’t know how to
say it. I am making one by not stopping him.
"My biggest mistake is falling in
love with a girl who doesn’t need me. I know I should probably be with someone
who fulfills that big man taking care of the little girl but I love you. I want
you. Even if you don’t need me, I need you."
I open my eyes again. His blue eyes are
all I see.
"You're wrong. I do need you. Just
not to save me from the world. I need you to give me space and earn my respect.
Being with you and Anna and Jake and Sarah and Meg is amazing for me. It's the
first time I've ever felt like I'm part of something. I need you to see that.
You all have become a family to me. I'm not good at this stuff. I need you to
see that I love Jake. I love him for all the right reasons."
He winces. "How do you love
me?"
I close my eyes, "With all my heart
and probably my soul."
He kisses me again, "I want to give
you everything you want and need."
I yawn and shiver, "I need
sleep." And to never have this conversation again.
He kisses my nose, "Sleep." And
I do. I sleep because he is there and I feel safe, even if I hate him.
Anna walks down the road gripping the
hand of the Muriel. Together they look like little lost sisters.
"So what's the deal with you and
Will?"
I look at my sniper partner and frown.
"Nothing. Nothing is up. We're friends. Why?" Mitch and I don’t talk
much. He's the strong silent type.
"Jake said something. Said he
figured he'd lost you to him."
"Seriously?" I turn and look at
him. "You guys are like little old women."
Mitch, who is a year older than me and
best friends with Jake, laughs. He watches through the scope on his gun.
"We got some action."
I pull an arrow and ready myself.
"Who would you pick?"
"Jake. Will is an asshole."
The truck rounds the corner. It's a huge
white cargo truck. Will calls them furniture trucks. It has a symbol on the
side of it I've never seen before. My bow is ready. My arrow is taut.
"He is an asshole."
"Yup. Ready?"
"Yup."
The first guy climbs out and just like
the last three trucks we've tricked, they immediately go for the intimidation.
One guy slams Muriel against the truck. My arrow slices through his neck. He
falls to the ground.
Jake and Will and the other guys come up
out of the forest. My second arrow hits the guy grabbing Anna. Anna retrieves
my arrow from his heart and wipes it on his shirt. She retrieves the other
arrow from the throat of the other man. She wipes it on his pants. I smile. She
is disgusting.
Jake and Will drag the dead men to the
ditches. Mitch uses a hunting rifle. He has dropped three in the time it takes
me to drop my two. Will opens the back door of the truck and shoots a man as he
jumps out. I can see everyone climbing in. Leo and I run down the hill
following Mitch into the back of the truck. I close the door and get ready. Leo
pants in the dark.
Girls cry in the back of the truck.
"Only two arrows Em? Mitch out shot
you this time." Anna teases me in the dark. The girls in the back with us
cry harder.
Muriel talks softly. "We're going to
free you. We just need to drive you to the place where you'll be set free. This
is a bad location."
"You're not the others?" One of
the captives says.
Jake laughs, "We're like the other
others. Can you all find your ways home if we drop you at Green Mountain?"
"I can."
"Yup."
"Thank you so much."
"God bless you."
I fish a flashlight out of my backpack
and shine it in the back to see the faces. Some are young but some are older,
more like thirty-five. I suspect what those ladies are for. I know it's not the
breeder farms.
"Who are you people?"
Another flashlight shines around the
truck and lands on my face. I shrug, "Just regular people." Leo
growls.
"Oh my dear lord you're the girl
with the wolf. I heard about you. They burned my village looking for you."
I look around for a second, not realizing
they're talking to me. I feel my face heating up, "What?"
The flashlight shines on the roof so we
can all see each other a little bit. A small woman with dark hair and a fat lip
nods, "Yeah. They come looking for you. Said they were looking for information
about a girl who traveled with a wolf. Said to tell you they was looking for
you. Had something you might be interested in."
I look at Will and Jake. They both shake
their heads, "No Sarah and Meg are back at the retreat."
I look at her and frown, "They had
something that I wanted?"
"Yup."
"They come to my village too."
I look at Will. He shakes his head,
"Impossible. They're trying to get to you."
I look at the young girl who spoke,
"What did they say?"
She shrugs, "Just asked if we knew
ya."
I feel dizzy. "So they know who I
am?"
She shakes her head, "Nope. Couldn’t
describe you. Just a girl with a wolf. Said you was some kind of vigilante.
Causing trouble for folks like us."
I laugh. I know that word.
"Me a vigilante?" I put my
hands out, "Well this is the kind of trouble I like to cause them."
The women smile, "You are the hero
we need girl. Everyone needs hope. You got a name?"
"Yeah, Emma. You see those men again
you tell them everything you saw. They will probably pay you with food and
maybe leave you alone."
They all shake their heads
simultaneously. The oldest looking woman speaks looking defiant. "Nope. We
need you. They say you're going to overthrow the government that they worked so
hard to create out of the ashes. I say they burned it all down so the ashes
that’s there is all their fault anyway. Make them pay for everything they done
to people. I hear they shipped the blacks and Asians and South Americans and
Indians home to their countries. Poor people lived in America longer than most
whites but they got put on slaver ships. Every country is doing the same as
here. They breeding their people like here. Blacks in Africa. Indians in India.
Asians in Asia. It's crazy. Whites here and in Europe. I hear Canada is still
free though. They aint got slaver camps and ships."