365 Days At War

by Nancy Isaak

Did they take weapons?” I asked, worried.

  Kaylee nodded. “Shawnee and Rhys are covering them.”

  “How long have they been gone?”

  There was no need for an answer because the back door suddenly opened, and all four of them—Cherry, Jay, Shawnee, and Rhys—trooped in, three buckets of sloshing water being carried between them. Jay placed one of the buckets up on a counter, while Cherry and Rhys took the other two over to the horses.

  “This bucket is for us,” Jay announced. “But it’s not a lot, so we’re going to have to share.”

  Pauly walked over and looked inside of the pail, frowning. “Do you think it’s safe?” he asked, dubious.

  “Well, we’ve run out of bottled water,” said Jay, “so it’s not like we have a choice.”

  Cammie walked up beside Pauly and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Dude, I’ll be happy to take your share if a wittle grunge bothers you.”

  Pauly lunged for her, intending to place Cammie in a headlock. The skinny redhead somehow managed to evade him, sprinting for the far side of the store. Pauly immediately took off after her, the two of them laughing.

  “We’re trying to be quiet here!” I hissed after them. “Remember…quiet!”

  If anything, their laughter became even louder.

  “Idiots!” muttered Kieran, as he cut open the bale and spread the hay around for the horses. “They’re gonna’ get us killed.”

  Beside me, Kaylee spoke quietly—so only I could hear, “I think your brother is jealous.” Her features were lit by a sliver of moonlight coming in through a small window set above the front door. There was an ethereal quality to her in the dark—a luminous beauty that sent a shiver down my spine. I felt my knees go weak, my belly twist, and sensation in another part of myself that I will not describe here.

  Let’s just say that—I wanted to touch her.

  * * * *

  “Why are you staring at me? Do I have something on my face?” Kaylee ran her hands over her cheeks, her fingers trailing down to her lips.

  Oh god—why did she have to touch her lips?

  I was rescued by Rhys, who came over, cradling his sniper rifle in his arms. “Kieran said that you want me to head down to the fire road.”

  “We need to know that it’s safe to use,” I nodded. “Do you feel confident that you can get there and back without being seen?”

  Rhys handed me the rifle. “I can do it. But not with Lulu. You’ll have to take care of her while I’m gone.”

  Kaylee giggled. “You named your gun?”

  “Lulu’s not a gun,” Rhys corrected her. “She’s a rifle.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got yourself a girlfriend there,” she teased.

  Reaching out a hand, Rhys patted the rifle in my arms. “And anybody touches my girlfriend, I’ll kick their ass when I get back.”

  “We’ll take care of Lulu,” I assured Rhys, tucking the rifle up high on a nearby shelf. “Just come back safe and don’t take any chances or the only ass that will get kicked will be yours.”

  * * * *

  I won’t lie—I hated sending Rhys.

  If something happened to him out there, I would never have forgiven myself. But, the truth was, I believed that he could do it. Rhys wasn’t just my younger brother anymore. He was the leader of his own group of soldiers now, and—I had to respect that he was growing up.

  Still, when Rhys walked out the back door of the store, I followed a few feet after, stopping only when I reached the edge of the road. I stood there, behind a tree, watching as Rhys disappeared into the dark—waiting, listening.

  When nothing happened, I finally turned back, only to discover Kieran leaning against the door. “Frankly, I thought you would send me or Pauly. Why didn’t you?”

  I pushed by him. “Time to give Rhys his due.”

  “You think?”

  * * * *

  It was just before dawn when Rhys finally returned.

  Both Kieran and I were waiting for him, hidden in the trees behind the mall. Meanwhile, Josh was covering the front of the store, just in case he came from that direction.

  “Where the hell have you been?” I demanded, when he walked into our view. “You should have been back hours ago!”

  “Hello to you, too, big brother.”

  I reached out and pulled him in for a quick hug. “Dumbass…we’ve been worried.”

  Rhys shrugged me off and headed for the back door of the store. “I’m thirsty…and do we have any of those power bars left?”

  The door opened as Rhys reached it; I realized that it must have been ajar this whole time. Kaylee was behind it, holding out a small bottle of water toward Rhys. “It’s creek water, but it’s not too bad. And we saved a granola bar for you.”

  Rhys took the bottle and emptied it in one gulp. “Thanks, Kaylee.”

  “Jay has the granola bar,” she told him.

  Nodding tiredly, Rhys headed past her, into the store. Kieran followed, reaching out to touch Kaylee on the shoulder as he passed. I wished that I could have done the same thing.

  Instead—I just frowned at her. “You were supposed to be sleeping.”

  Kaylee frowned back. “You’re not the boss of me.” And she turned and walked into the store, letting the door slam shut between us.

  Dang it—my girl stayed up out of concern for my brother and how did I respond? I showed my gratitude by being an idiot.

  * * * *

  “The Crazies definitely have the fire road covered. There’s a guy watching it. He’s supposed to blow a trumpet if anyone goes down it.”

  Rhys was sitting on an overturned shelf, eating a granola bar as he told us of his night’s adventure. “But that’s the bad news.”

  “What’s the good news?” asked Jay.

  “The guy watching is a Star. It’s one of Brent’s guys.”

  “That’s great,” I said. “So, he’ll let us by tomorrow night?”

  “Yeah,” Rhys nodded. “But he also wants to come with us.”

  “No problem with that. He’s more than welcome to join the Locals.”

  “Well, there’s a little bit of a problem with that,” admitted Rhys.

  The hackles went up on the back of my neck. “What problem?”

  “I think that you might have seen the kid already,” Rhys said. “He was in the Arena, the kid over near the bathrooms who took care of the weapons.”

  “The blond kid. He’s just a little guy,” I said. “What’s the problem with that?”

  “You didn’t recognize him, did you?” Rhys asked.

  “I’m not sure that I even really looked at him,” I admitted. “I was kind of concentrating on the weapons.”

  “That’s what I figured,” said Rhys. “His name is Lance, by the way. He had two brothers with us.”

  And—then it hit me.

  Damien and Goran—the kids who Brandon killed—just after they had betrayed Rhys and orchestrated his kidnapping.

  “Ohmigod!” I groaned. “He’s the twins’ brother!”

  Rhys nodded. “And he’s a good kid, Jacob. He just wants to get somewhere safe. Just because Damien and Goran were spying for the Crazies, doesn’t mean that Lance will.”

  “And it doesn’t mean that he won’t,” Josh piped up.

  “He’s a Star,” insisted Rhys.

  “He says he’s a Star,” said Josh. “That doesn’t mean the tattoo isn’t fake. I don’t think that we should take the chance. Last time we did, Rhys—you got kidnapped and we all know what happened to Jacob because of it.”

  “I don’t think we should take him either,” agreed Pauly.

  Rhys—one moment ago, the tough soldier—suddenly looked like he was about to cry. “But that’s not fair!”

  “Maybe we should take a vote,” suggested Kieran.

  “No vote,” I said, coming to a decision. “The kid goes with us.”

  “But, Jacob—” started Josh.

  I held up my hand to silence him. “The kid helped me out in
the Arena, showed me which weapon to choose. Plus, he’s already lost his brothers to the Crazies. There’s no way in hell that I will leave him here for Brandon to take his anger out on.”

  Suddenly, I felt a hand brush against my own. I looked over to find Kaylee standing beside me. “It’s the right thing to do,” she said, quietly. “We girls would take him in.”

  Josh sighed. “Well, at least put a guy on him. Watch him until we’re sure he won’t turn.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “That makes total sense.”

  * * * *

  Later, just as Rhys was arranging his backpack into a pillow, so he could get some well-deserved sleep, I knelt down beside him, keeping my voice low.

  “Does Lance know?” I asked. “About his brothers?”

  Rhys nodded, yawning. “I told him.”

  “How’d he take it?”

  “He kind of already suspected. When Damien and Goran were sent to the Point, Lance pretty much figured that they wouldn’t be coming back. He said that he had hoped they would simply run away.” Rhys shrugged. “Well, we know that didn’t happen.”

  “Did he tell you how he became a Star?”

  “He said that some guy named Han approached him after his brothers were gone for a couple of weeks.”

  “I’ve met Han,” I said. “That would figure since they both work in the Arena.”

  “He said that Han took care of him, kept the bigger guys away.”

  I shook my head, disgusted. “Fracking Crazies!”

  “Lance is worried that you won’t let him come to Point Dume. He says that if you don’t, then he’s going to just run away. See if he can make it up north—maybe head toward Canada.”

  “That’s a stupid idea,” I said. “If the Crazies are all along the 101 Freeway, they’ll find him. And if he somehow does manage to evade them, there’s sure to be other guys along the way who’d love to meet up with a cute little blond kid like him.”

  “He knows that,” said Rhys. “But he can’t live with the Crazies anymore. He said that he’d rather be dead.”

  I stood up. “Well, it’s a moot point anyway. As far as I’m concerned, the kid’s a Local from now on.”

  Rhys yawned. “Good…because I promised him, you know…and because he’s scared…and because…”

  That was as far as he got…then, Rhys began to snore.

  * * * *

  When we reached the fire road the next evening, it wasn’t just Lance who was waiting for us—but Nate, as well. He was standing astride a bicycle, his arms folded over the handlebars.

  “About time you guys showed up,” he drawled.

  “I thought I told you to go down to the Point,” I said.

  “Been there and come back. You’ll be pleased to know that we’ve got guys all along the fire road, so you’re covered all the way down to the Pacific Coast Highway.”

  I leaned in close, talking quietly so only Nate could hear. “What about that little job I asked you to do for me?”

  He gave me a thumbs up. “At the bottom of the hill.”

  “Why don’t you ride on down, then?” I suggested. “Make sure that everyone knows that we’re on our way now.”

  “Roger that.” And Nate took off riding.

  * * * *

  Meanwhile, Lance was standing between Rhys and Kaylee. He looked nervous and I couldn’t help but be a little jealous when I noticed that Kaylee had her arm around his shoulder and was talking quietly into his ear.

  As I walked toward them, I mentally kicked myself for not having seen the resemblance in Lance to Damien and Goran. Like the twins, Lance was small and fragile looking; his skin was pale and his long hair platinum blond.

  How could I have missed it?

  Oh, yeah—I was fighting for my life.

  * * * *

  “I’m so sorry about your brothers,” I said, quietly.

  “They weren’t b-bad, you know,” Lance stammered. “It was B-brandon who made them do those things.”

  I nodded. “They were trying to save you.”

  “Brandon said he would k-kill me.” Lance lowered his head. “But he didn’t. Instead, he d-d…he did other things.”

  My heart fell.

  Beside Lance, Kaylee’s eyes filled with tears; on the other side, Rhys’ eyes narrowed, his lips becoming tense with anger.

  No doubt—if Brandon had showed up at that moment—any one of us would have killed him.

  I held out my hand to Lance.

  “Come on, bro,” I said. “Time to go home.”

  KAYLEE

  I remember once, when I was a little girl, my mom and dad had taken me for a hike along the fire road in Rancho Sierra Vista. There were a number of families moving along the trail, making their way either up or down—from the beach into the Valley—a journey of about 3-4 hours.

  The view was stunning—with rocky mountains rising up on each side, descending into rolling hills that cradled the fire road between them. At one point, we had glimpsed a coyote galloping along a crest and I remember my mother pulling me into her arms in a panic.

  * * * *

  There were more coyotes now—at least ten of them—silently watching us as we made our way down the fire road. They were stationed on top of a nearby hill—a half dozen adults and an equal amount of adolescents.

  “Do you think they’ll attack us?” asked Jay, nervously. She and Cherry were riding beside Jacob and me. Kieran and Pauly, meanwhile, were somewhere in front of us. The rest of our group were riding behind.

  “Even if they did, we have guns,” I answered. “Don’t worry. We’ll be okay.”

  “But there’s so many of them. I’ve never seen so many coyotes together.”

  “Neither have I, but I still don’t think they’ll attack.”

  “What if they go after the horses?” she persisted, her voice squeaky with nerves.

  In front of Jay, Cherry piped up. “If they do, we’ll toss them our smallest member as a sacrifice and save the horses.”

  Jay gave Cherry a good backhanded whack on her shoulder.

  “Careful, Jay,” warned Cherry. “You don’t want to find yourself walking. I don’t think you could keep up with the horses, and you know that those coyotes would just love to pick off a straggler.”

  * * * *

  About a mile from the bottom, we began to smell the ocean. It was still some distance away, hidden in the dark, behind a large mountain looming in front of us. But, the briny scent cheered us anyway, making us realize that our long journey was almost over.

  Our group was larger now—twenty-five in all. We had picked up boys along the way, some appearing out of the shadows from the side of the road—others racing toward us the moment they heard our horses. They seemed ecstatic to see Jacob—especially those I was told belonged to his personal armed guards. Many of them reached up to shake his hand, or pumped their arms in the air in celebration.

  But then…they saw us—the girls.

  And to a guy—they fell silent, their mouths open in shock.

  * * * *

  There was a small creek moving along the side of the road and we stopped for a short time to give the horses a chance to drink. As they slurped away noisily, I found myself moving away from the group—to the other side of the road, to look down the cliff toward the beach. It was still too dark to see much, but I thought that I could finally make out the break of the waves far below.

  “Weird, huh?” I turned around to find Jay, Cherry, Shawnee, and Cammie coming up to stand beside me.

  “What’s weird?”

  “Having all these guys around,” said Jay. “For so long it was just us. Now, there’s so many of them. It’s kind of weird, that’s all.”

  Cherry looked back to where the guys were sitting on rocks, talking among themselves. They kept glancing toward us, as if keeping track of our movements.

  “I’ll bet they’re talking about how weird it is to have girls again,” mused Cherry.

  “Rhys is cute,” said Shawnee
.

  We all looked at her, surprised.

  “Well, he is,” she insisted. “I like his bald head. And he shoots good.”

  I looked at Cherry; she just shrugged. “Little sister is growing up.”

  “What do you think about Pauly?” asked Cammie, looking back at the wild kid, now leaping from rock-to-rock with his usual boundless energy.

  “I thought you liked Kieran,” I said.

  “I do…but I guess I kind of like Pauly, too.”

  “Oh-oh.” I shook my head. “Two best friends…that’s not going to end well.”

  “What about you, Kaylee?” grinned Cherry. “Anybody you think is hot?”

  Jacob chose that moment to head over toward us.

  Immediately, all of us girls burst into laughter.

  Looking confused, Jacob quickly (and wisely) turned and walked back toward the guys.

  * * * *

  As the saddle straps were being tightened under the bellies of the horses for the final push down to the Point, Jay pulled me aside. “I can’t stop thinking about Lily,” she said.

  “I know…I’m worried about her, too.”

  “Do you think that we should go look for her?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said, honestly. “I mean, I’m pretty sure that Sophia will take good care of her, but I also want Lily with us. But, if we go back, we’ll probably run into the Foxes.”

  “And then there’s the Crazies to worry about now.”

  “Exactly.”

  Jay was silent for a moment. Then, she said, “So, when are we going back for Lily?”

  I sighed. “It’s times like this that I really miss Jude.”

  JACOB

  While Kaylee was off talking to Jay, I realized that this might be my last opportunity to talk privately with Kieran before we reached Point Dume.

  “Need you, bro,” I told him, walking a few yards away from everybody else.