365 Days At War

by Nancy Isaak

  Jude shrugged. “Pretty sure. Seemed like Reena was pissed that Sophia left her behind, so I don’t think that she’d have a reason to lie. Plus, Peyton had a knife to her throat at the time.”

  We all looked over at Peyton, shocked; she smiled back, sweetly. “I had my period…I was cranky.”

  “We tried going to Thousand Oaks,” said Jude. “Thought that maybe Sophia might return to her mom’s house.”

  “Was she there?” I asked.

  Jude shrugged. “We didn’t have the address. Peyton thought that we could figure it out. Maybe go to the city hall and check through the records.”

  “Wouldn’t they be all computerized?” asked Jay.

  “You think?” Jude gave Peyton a dirty look.

  “Mamacita probably used an alias anyway,” shrugged Peyton.

  * * * *

  Even though there were Crazies everywhere, Jude and Peyton decided to return to Agoura High and see if they could find Sophia’s address. Jude remembered that I had hidden the school files above the ceiling tiles in the yearbook room. If she could get to them, she felt that there was a good chance that Sophia’s file could be among them. Otherwise, they would have to search through the filing cabinets in the main office.

  It took them three days to make it back into Agoura Hills from Thousand Oaks. Peyton and Jude moved slowly—mostly traveling by night.

  “There were Crazies all up and down the 101 Freeway,” said Jude. “So, we had to travel by the side streets. I’m guessing that they were looking for you guys?”

  Jacob and I both nodded.

  “We thought we saw you once. Almost called out to you—but then it turned out to be some Crazies on horses searching down around Lake Lindero. It was like they’d caught the scent of something and were trying to sniff it out.”

  I turned and looked at Jacob. “They must have found the house where we stayed! We probably got out just in time.”

  “When we finally got back to Agoura,” Jude continued, “it was wild, man. Peyton and I came down through Oak Park, up along the hills near where Amelie is buried.”

  “Amelie is dead?” asked Jacob, shocked.

  “I’ll tell you later,” I said, quietly—not wanting to upset Peyton.

  “We could see down onto the football field,” Jude went on. “They had a lot of the girls chained up there—Sue, Rachel, Rowena. And some were in the cage.”

  “No!” I gasped.

  Beside me, Jay shook her head back and forth, struggling not to cry while—across from us—Shawnee reached out and took Cherry’s hand for comfort. Cammie, meanwhile, just stared at the floor.

  “But, get this,” said Jude. “It’s not just the Crazies in control anymore—not just Brandon. Guess who’s leading the psychos now?”

  “The Unholy Trinity of Agoura Hills,” muttered Peyton. “Brandon, Orla, and the uber-bitch.”

  “Tray!” I growled.

  * * * *

  Peyton and Jude didn’t have much trouble, making their way into the yearbook room.

  “We came in through the foul area,” Jude explained.

  “Surprisingly, they didn’t have any guards there,” said Peyton, sourly.

  “Easy, Princess,” responded Jude. “I was just joking about throwing you into the crapper.”

  Peyton huffed, but didn’t say anything more. Instead, she leaned back and went to work on cleaning the dirt out from underneath her fingernails.

  “Were the files still where I’d left them?” I asked.

  Jude nodded. “Sophia’s was there, too. We took the page with her mom’s address and then just shoved everything back up in the ceiling.”

  “Then, what happened?” asked Hannah in her tiny, high voice. She was sitting cross-legged at Jude’s feet, looking up at her with wide eyes. “Was it scary?”

  Jude reached out and pulled on one of Hannah’s braids. “What are you, squeaky-thing—a munchkin?”

  “My name’s Hannah.”

  “Well, hello, Hannah-banana.” Jude pulled on another braid. “Probably time for you to hit the banana plantation and get a good night’s sleep.”

  “But I want to hear what happened.”

  “Tell you what, nosey-pants,” said Jude. “You go to bed in the next ten seconds and I’ll sit with you tomorrow and tell you the g-rated version of Jude and Peyton’s Marvelous Adventures.”

  “But…”

  “Ten, nine, eight…” That was as far as Jude got, because Hannah took off running.

  Cammie rose to follow her. “I’ll make sure she gets tucked in,” she said as she left the room. “Save the good stuff for when I return.”

  * * * *

  “Is it true that Lily’s brother is here?” Jude asked.

  Jacob nodded. “We found him a couple of days after the event.”

  “And Pugly’s with him, too,” Jay added.

  “Nice,” Jude smiled.

  “That dog farts too much,” murmured Peyton, not looking up from her nails.

  “And guess who else is here, Jude?” asked Shawnee, grinning. Then, not being able to keep from telling, Shawnee burst out with, “Wester!”

  Jude looked over at Cherry for confirmation. “Seriously...your little brother is here?”

  Cherry nodded. “He came looking for us at Agoura High after it happened and he ran into Jacob and his brothers. He’s been with them ever since.”

  “That’s crazy,” said Jude, shaking her head. “Like it must of been fate or something.”

  At the mention of fate, Jacob turned and smiled at me. A small bubble of warmth exploded in my belly at his glance, sending little tendrils of heat throughout my body.

  All I could think at that moment was—I so want to kiss this guy!

  * * * *

  While we waited for Cammie to return, Jude asked Porter about Frank Gornman. “That was him, wasn’t it? He was standing at the back of the guys when we arrived.”

  Porter nodded. “Frank’s in charge of the tribe’s farm now. He’s been doing some good work.”

  Jude frowned, not looking happy. “We’re talking Frank Gornman here, right? The dude who licks Brandon’s boots when he isn’t beating on one of the younger grades.”

  “He’s not the same guy anymore,” explained Porter. “Brandon screwed with him something horrible and it changed him.”

  “What about Denny Passelmore? Is he here, too?”

  “Denny’s dead,” Jacob told her. “Brandon basically killed him.”

  Peyton looked up from her nails, shocked. Meanwhile, Jude looked to Porter for confirmation.

  He nodded.

  Jude shook her head. “So, what you’re saying—is that I should’ve clocked Brandon even harder that night?”

  Porter smiled sadly. “You should have killed him.”

  “Sorry I let you down, Porter.”

  He reached out and touched Jude’s hand. “Never.”

  Seeing them together, there was no denying the close friendship between Porter and Jude. I wondered if, now that she was back, their friendship would develop into something more than that. And, when I looked over at Jay—who was watching them both closely—I realized that she was probably wondering the same thing.

  * * * *

  “So, why did you want Hannah out of the room?” asked Cammie, sitting down across from Jude.

  Peyton held her hand up, checking out the cleanliness of her nails. “Bitches have sold out their own,” she muttered.

  “Tray and Orla?” I asked, looking from Peyton to Jude.

  “Who else?” nodded Jude. “When we left the yearbook room, we climbed out the window and ran across Driver Avenue up onto the hill near Lily’s townhouse. We, like climbed along it because there were Crazies on the pathways. Just across from the Performing Arts Center—in that parking lot there—the psychos had set up a barbeque to heat up these branding irons. They had all the girls they’d captured lined up—chained together. Orla, Tray—some of the 11th and 12th graders—they were all there, watching�
�laughing.” She shook her head at the memory. “I mean, these girls were screaming while this guy was laying hot iron onto their backs and those dumb Foxes were laughing like it was all a big joke.”

  “Monsters,” muttered Peyton, under her breath.

  “Was Brandon there?” asked Jacob.

  “Yeah,” Jude answered. “But it wasn’t like he was leading it or anything. It was more Tray and Orla’s deal. They were pointing out which girls they wanted branded next, that sort of thing.”

  “How many girls were there?” I asked. “I mean, did it look like anybody escaped?”

  “It looks like they caught a lot of them, especially most of the younger ones.”

  Tears were running down Jay’s face now. “Why are they being so evil?” she cried. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

  Jude shrugged. “When does it ever?”

  * * * *

  Over the next few days, Jude and Peyton had tried to figure out a way to rescue the girls. Unfortunately, there were too many Crazies for them to get anywhere near the football stadium where the girls were being kept.

  Then, on the last day Jude and Peyton were in Agoura Hills—it got worse.

  * * * *

  “We thought that if we took Orla and Tray hostage—maybe then we could trade them for the girls,” said Jude. “It was a stupid idea, but we thought we had to try.”

  “It was a stupid idea,” confirmed Peyton, now using a comb to try and untangle her hair.

  “We snuck into the Foxes’ compound—you know that house they have up on the hill?” said Jude.

  Except for Porter and Jacob, we all nodded.

  “Orla and Tray are still living there…and Brandon has joined them now. Anyway, Peyton had this way to get in, kind of a secret route through the bushes.”

  “Girl’s gotta’ have her secrets,” murmured Peyton, continuing the struggle with her hair-knots.

  “What happened when you got there?” asked Shawnee. “Did you kidnap them?”

  Jude shook her head. “There were too many guards. The closest we got was just outside the fence, at the end of the back yard.”

  “At least you tried,” I muttered, feeling depressed.

  “Yeah,” nodded Jude. “But, get this—Orla and Tray were in the backyard, like sunning themselves on blankets. And they were talking about how Alice had just had her 18th birthday and didn’t disappear.”

  “Ohmigod!” I whispered, excited. “So, it wasn’t just you two guys. There are other girls who’ve remained, too.”

  “Not just girls,” said Jude. “Guys, too. Brandon came out of the house with some beer and joined Orla and Tray. He said that he had two guys who hit eighteen the day before. One of them was this douche named Matthew, who Brandon called his second-in-command. He said that Matthew was this freak who ate kids—like actually killed kids and ate their bodies.”

  “Are you sure he said Matthew?” asked Jacob. “Could he possibly have said Mateo?”

  “It was Mateo,” Peyton confirmed.

  Jacob sighed. “Damn…I was so hoping he’d be gone.”

  “You know this kid?” asked Jude.

  “Brandon’s right,” Jacob nodded. “The kid’s a freak—a very dangerous freak.”

  * * * *

  For the next hour, Jude and Peyton stayed hidden behind the back fence, listening to Orla, Tray, and Brandon define the new rules for their empire.

  “Orla said that if everyone’s going to live past eighteen now, then everything had changed,” Jude told us. “She said that they had to figure out new ways to control everyone.”

  “Guess the ‘beasts’ have worn out their welcome,” Cherry said.

  Peyton chuckled, amused. “Sorry,” she said, when we turned our shocked faces toward her. “It’s just, like—seriously—who would have thought you guys would be stupid enough to fall for that?”

  “It was the end of the world,” snapped Jay, offended. “The adults had disappeared, there was no electricity. Would it really have been that ridiculous to think that vampires or werewolves would be next?”

  “Well, I certainly thought so,” sniffed Peyton. She lifted one hand up. “FYI…I voted against the werewolves.”

  Totally irritated, Jay opened her mouth to respond. I quickly butted in, before Jay would say something she might regret later. “If they’re not using beasts,” I asked, “what are they using?”

  “Well, Brandon wants them doing something called ‘first blood’, but they didn’t really say what that was,” said Jude.

  “I think I know what it is,” said Jacob. “When the Crazies kill someone in the Arena, they—well, they…eat him.”

  My mouth fell open. “You’re joking, right?”

  He shook his head. “Brandon said that he pretended just to eat. But the other guys—like Mateo—they did. It’s wrapped up in this ridiculousness about, if you eat someone else’s flesh, then you gain their life…their mojo. Then, you won’t disappear when you turn eighteen.”

  “That’s disgusting!” growled Cammie. “That’s inhuman!”

  “Oh, great,” I moaned. “And Mateo just turned eighteen and he didn’t disappear.”

  “Which means that there’s a good chance they’ll continue doing it,” said Jacob. “Because Mateo having his 18th birthday just proved that it works.”

  “But…but…that means they’re…cannibals!” stuttered Shawnee. “Like in the movies.” She began to tremble and Cherry moved over to put an arm around her, comforting her younger sister.

  “Don’t worry,” she assured her. “You’re safe here.”

  “But the other girls—the ones in the cage. Who’s going to make them safe?”

  We all looked around at each other—none of us wanting to state the obvious.

  “There’s something else you need to know,” Jude said, ominously.

  I groaned. “It’s going to be even worse, isn’t it?”

  “Hard to beat eating dead kids,” said Jude. “But it’s pretty bad—Tray wants to set up a slave market.”

  “Are you kidding me?!”

  “She and Orla were talking about bringing back money. They said that if you want to have currency, then you need to be able to sell something that people will want. It was Tray who suggested selling the girls. She said that, since the guys are stronger and better suited for battle and hunting and stuff—that it only made sense that they sell the girls. She said that it would also make it easier to control the guys.”

  “But why would they sell girls?” asked Shawnee, confused.

  Peyton looked up, her eyes dark and dangerous. “Do you want me to give you details?”

  * * * *

  Cherry left soon after, taking Shawnee with her. The younger girl was in tears, horrified by what she had heard. Too late, we had realized that—warrior that she was—she was still too immature to face such a cruel reality.

  “We need to save them,” I announced, when Cherry and Shawnee had left the room. “We need to figure out how to get the girls away from the Crazies.”

  “There’re not just girls being used that way,” said Jacob. “I’m pretty sure they’re doing the same thing to some of the younger guys.”

  “Then, we have to save them all,” I insisted. “We have to go up there and figure out a way to get them all out.”

  “We won’t be able to. Crazy-land must be enormous by now,” said Porter. “If they’ve got guys all the way along the 101 Freeway, that would mean miles and miles of houses to go through. How would we find all the slaves?”

  “I don’t know,” I acknowledged. “But we can’t just leave them there. We have to do something.”

  Porter turned to Jacob. “What do you think?”

  He shrugged. “I think you’re both right. We can’t just let slavery go on just because it’s on the other side of the mountains. But we also can’t ride on in there without a plan. And that could take weeks, maybe months to figure out.”

  “But we’re still going to try?” I asked, hopeful
ly.

  “Of course. But, we have to be realistic about it. No matter what we do, chances are that we won’t be able to save everybody.”

  “But we’re going to try,” I said again.

  Jacob reached out and placed his hand on mine. “We’re going to try.”

  * * * *

  After they snuck back down the hill from the Foxes’ compound, Jude and Peyton waited until nightfall and then made their way back to Thousand Oaks. This time the trip was much shorter, because Sophia’s apartment turned out to be right on the border with Westlake Village.

  It was a small one-bedroom, in a rundown apartment building on a corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Ironically, Peyton and Jude had walked right by it on their first trip into the city.

  Inside, they found no evidence that Sophia or Lily had ever been there. Dust was everywhere, including on the floor—and no footprints existed to indicate anyone had passed there in a very long time.

  “I can see why Sophia became such a religious whack-job,” commented Jude. “There were all these crosses everywhere. Even in the bedroom, her mom had this giant cross over the bed—the kind with the bleeding Jesus on it.”

  “I’ve never liked that girl,” murmured Peyton. “I think she’s weird.”

  “We waited there for a couple of days,” Jude continued. “But when nobody came, we decided to leave.”

  “And because there was someone watching us,” added Peyton.

  “What?” I felt a stab of fear run down my back. “Was it a Crazy?”

  Jude shrugged. “We don’t know but, one night, we were looking out the window and there was this tiny orange light…like a little circle that came and went.”

  “A cigarette,” Peyton said. “We could smell it, too…because the window was open.”

  “We left the very next morning,” Jude explained. “Even though it was daytime. We figured that if it was a Crazy who had found us, it would be smart to get out of there right away.”

  “Did you ever see who it was?” asked Porter.