365 Days At War

by Nancy Isaak

  Part of me wondered if he was getting sick; the other part wondered if Cammie was letting him get enough sleep.

  I sincerely hoped that it was the latter.

  * * * *

  On the far side of Kieran, Shawnee and Rhys were engaged in ‘pancake-games’. It was bizarre to watch them together; one moment they were examining their weapons, the next they were punching holes into pancakes and holding them to their faces as masks.

  They were so immature—children as soldiers.

  Beside Shawnee, meanwhile, Cherry was busy working on Wester’s dreads. As she twisted and backcombed, creating the little spirals, Cherry kept looking over at Shawnee and frowning.

  At one point, Kaylee looked up and yelled to her. “Hey, Cherry…how’s my wedding present coming along?”

  “It’s art, you ungrateful wench,” Cherry yelled back. “You’ll get it, when you get it!”

  Kaylee turned toward me and grinned. “I’m going to frame the best drawing and put it up with the Picasso.”

  “Oh, thanks for adding even more pressure,” groaned Cherry.

  * * * *

  I suddenly felt a moistness on my ankle. Looking under the table, I found Pugly, snuffling around for snacks.

  “Lily,” I called out. “Your monster is trying to eat me!”

  From a few seats to my right, Lily rose and came over to pick up her dog. Pugly wiggled in her arms, then began licking her face.

  “Are you going to have a baby?” asked Lily, ignoring the licks.

  “Boys don’t have babies,” I teased.

  “Kaylee!” she yelled. “Are you going to have a baby?”

  Once again, guys all around us began to hoot.

  “Why would I have a baby,” Kaylee yelled back, “when I have a tribe full of them?”

  If anything—her response brought even more hoots.

  * * * *

  As we were all cleaning up our dishes, Porter came over and sat down beside me. Like Kieran, he didn’t look well.

  “You okay?” I asked, as he coughed into his fist.

  “I think my allergies are acting up,” he answered. “They always get like this in the spring.”

  On my left, Ethan, Andrei, and Ian were arguing over which “Star Wars” movie was the best. As they rose—with plates in their hands—Andrei turned toward Porter and me.

  “Empire Strikes Back,” he proclaimed.

  Porter nodded. “Goes without saying.”

  Ethan and Ian groaned, shaking their heads in disgust. Then, together with Andrei, the three of them disappeared around the corner.

  Turning back to me, Porter waggled his finger. “You promised me a trip to the library, Jacob.”

  “That I did.”

  “And we’re getting low on some of the medicines. I’d like to see if we could bring in more stock.”

  “Make up a list.”

  “Okay.” Sniffing, he rose to leave.

  “We won’t be able to go to the Malibu Library,” I reminded him. “The Crazies control it now. That means Point Mugu, Camarillo, or Oxnard.”

  He nodded, shoulders slumping. “Guess I’ll have to find someone who knows where those libraries are…since we can’t Google their addresses anymore.”

  * * * *

  It had been such a nice breakfast—good friends, good food.

  Until Pauly’s throat was cut.

  * * * *

  The rider came galloping into the compound, yelling at the top of his lungs for Porter. As we ran toward him, I recognized the good-looking 15-year old as Topher, one of the spies we had sent up to the country club in Calabasas. The horse he was riding was new—a roan that he must have acquired somewhere along the way.

  “Pauly’s been hurt!” he cried, jumping down from his horse and running over. “We were on our way home and this bitch cut his throat and now he’s dying!”

  “Where is he?” I asked, as Porter ran up beside me.

  “Down on the highway, near Paradise Cove. There’s blood everywhere…he’s bleeding real bad!” The kid reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, handing it to Porter. “Connor wrote this, what you need…says you have to come. He says you’ll know what to do.”

  Porter looked down at the paper. “But you guys should already have this stuff in your first aid kit,” he insisted. “I packed it myself.”

  Topher shook his head of shoulder-length brown hair. “We lost the kit down near Carbon Beach. Our boat broke up there and the kit went down with it.”

  “I’ll get the supplies,” said Porter, with a sneeze and a sniff. “And Jacob—I’m going to need a horse.”

  “You’re not going. I am.” It was Jay, holding a first aid kit; Kaylee was right behind her.

  “But, Connor wants Porter,” said Topher.

  “Well, he’s getting me,” Jay insisted. Then, she turned to Porter. “If Pauly’s bleeding, you can’t be around him right now. You’re sick and you could infect him.”

  “It’s just allergies,” said Porter.

  “You’re sick!” she maintained. Then, she turned to Kaylee. “I’ll need you to drive the horse, okay?”

  “Of course,” Kaylee nodded. “I’ll drive.”

  * * * *

  Two minutes later, Jay and Kaylee were galloping away from the compound on Beauty; Kieran, Shawnee, and Rhys were sent with them as back-up. I wanted to go, too, but I knew that someone had to remain behind and set up defenses.

  If Pauly had been attacked by Crazies—who knew what might be coming next.

  KAYLEE

  It was nerve-wracking, galloping down the Pacific Coast Highway. Even though Paradise Cove was close to Point Dume, it was also edging up onto Crazy-territory.

  I knew that we had sentries along the road—in fact, we had passed some along the way. Still, if Pauly had been attacked, that meant that the enemy must be near.

  As we reached the turn-off to the Cove, I could see Pauly lying in the middle of the road. There was blood all around him, spreading across the tarmac. Connor was on his knees next to Pauly, applying pressure to his neck, desperately trying to hold Pauly’s life force in place.

  “Hurry!” Connor called to us. “Did you bring the sutures?!”

  Jay slid off the back of Beauty, rushing across the road toward them. “Is Pauly still conscious?”

  “Just barely,” Connor answered. “He goes in and out.”

  Meanwhile, I jumped off of Beauty and tied her to a nearby tree. Behind me, Kieran, Rhys and Shawnee dismounted, tying their horses up close to mine. A moment later, Topher did the same with the roan.

  “Kieran, you’re with me. Shawnee, Rhys…I want you up on those hills,” I ordered. “Shawnee, you take the left. Rhys, you’re on the right. Concentrate on the highway heading south. If the Crazies are coming, more than likely it will be from that direction.”

  As Shawnee and Rhys raced up their respective hills, Kieran and I headed over to where Jay was injecting something into Pauly’s neck. Connor still had his hand over the wound, meanwhile, pressing down hard.

  Kieran gasped when he saw the blood seeping out between Connor’s fingers—the clammy, white hue of Pauly’s face, the fluttering of his eyelids.

  “Dammit!” hissed Kieran. “Dammit, Pauly.”

  “What’s that you’re giving him?” I asked Jay.

  “Localized anesthetic,” she answered, withdrawing the needle. “It should help to numb the pain.”

  Pauly’s eyes were rolling back and forth; with some difficulty he managed to focus on me.

  “Always with the drama, huh Pauly?” I murmured.

  He smiled up at me, weakly. “Jacob put a…bun…in the oven, yet?”

  “Stop talking!” Connor barked at him. “We need to keep the wound closed and you’re not helping.”

  I watched, fascinated, as Jay began to organize her instruments. First she placed a sewing needle and some sutures on a sterile cloth. Then, taking a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the first aid kit, she sterilized he
r hands, after which, she put on a pair of latex gloves.

  “Okay, Connor,” Jay began. “We’re going to do this step-by-step. First, you’re going to release Pauly’s neck when I say ‘now’. I want you to immediately sterilize your hands, put on a pair of gloves, grab one of these new bandages and return pressure to the wound…understood?”

  “Sterilize…put on gloves…new bandage…pressure.”

  “Good…step two, I’ll want you to pull your hands back just enough so about one inch at that end of the wound is exposed. That’s where I’m going to put the first suture. Got it?”

  Connor nodded.

  “All right…here we go…now!”

  * * * *

  As Connor and Jay worked on Pauly, Kieran and I went over to Topher who was standing at the side of the road.

  “What the heck happened?” I asked. “You shouldn’t have even been on this road. You were supposed to come home by boat.”

  Topher shook his head. His eyes were moist, and he had difficulty tearing his gaze from where Jay and Connor were trying to save his tribemate.

  “We hit a rock just past Topanga,” he told us. “Pauly thought that the boat would still float, but it kept taking on water. We tried to bail it out, but we couldn’t keep up and the boat went under at Carbon Beach.”

  “You’ve been on the highway since Carbon?” I asked, shocked. “The Crazies didn’t see you?”

  “We stayed off the highway as much as possible,” explained Topher. “That whack job down at Carbon—the one who takes potshots—he’s still there. He shot at us a bit, but we ran up the beach and got behind the houses and we were okay. Then, we just went through the backyards. When we came to Crazy checkpoints, we went farther inland. That’s how we got around them.”

  “Then, how did Pauly get hurt?” asked Kieran.

  Topher pointed. “It was that bitch over there!”

  * * * *

  I had to physically restrain Kieran from attacking the girl. “Stop it, Kieran...leave her alone!”

  The girl was hogtied and gagged at the side of the road. We hadn’t seen her when we had arrived, because she was hidden by the bushes. Kieran was now standing over her, a knife in his hand.

  Below him, the girl glared up—as if daring him to attack her.

  “Fracking Crazy!” yelled Kieran. “I should cut you up—just like you cut up Pauly!”

  “Get—away—from—her!” With some effort, I managed to push Kieran to one side. “Go back to Pauly,” I ordered him. “Right now!”

  Growling, Kieran slowly backed off.

  I turned my attention back to the girl.

  She was a Hispanic, probably around fifteen—with shaved eyebrows and way too much green eyeshadow. In the old world, I would have immediately racially-profiled her as a gang member.

  “How’d she manage to take down Pauly?” I asked Topher.

  “Stupid bitch was walking straight down the highway,” he snarled. “She was, like singing—dumb bitch—heading right toward the Crazies.”

  “First…you can stop using the word bitch,” I ordered. “Second…is she a Crazy or is she not?”

  Topher shrugged. “We don’t know. But, like Pauly—he said that we couldn’t take a chance that she might be an innocent. Said we had to stop her before she got herself caught.”

  Below us, the girl started bucking at her bonds—trying to speak under her gag. I ignored her struggles, too furious at what she had done to Pauly to have any sympathy.

  “We came out of the bush,” Topher continued, “and the bit…chick…went all yelling and screeching at us. Pauly was just trying to explain and she’s like all up in his grill. Chick just kept getting louder and louder. We were all afraid that she’d like attract the Crazies, so Pauly reached out to maybe put a hand over her big fat mouth. Next thing we know she like lunges at him. It was so fast, I don’t even think Pauly knew it was happening. He just turned around, looking all shocked like, and he’s got blood spurting from his neck.”

  “She knifed him.”

  He shook his head. “There wasn’t any knife. It was a razor…she like had this razor in her mouth and she cut him with that! Connor says that if Pauly hadn’t pulled his head back at the last moment, girl would of opened up his carotid. Then, Pauly wouldn’t have any chance at all!”

  “Is she hurt? Did you guys hurt her?”

  The girl started struggling against her bonds again.

  Topher shook his head. “Pauly wouldn’t let us. He’s freaking bleeding out and he’s still telling us not to touch her. So, we just tied her up and Connor sent me to get you guys.”

  “Then, I guess the first thing we need to do is figure out if she’s a Crazy.” I motioned toward the girl. “Turn her over, Topher. Put her on her stomach.”

  Topher reached down and pushed at the girl. She resisted, trying to hit at Topher with her head. He managed to evade her efforts, however, and flip the girl over.

  Ignoring her muffled screeches, I tugged up the back of her shirt. There were no marks on the girl’s back—no sign of a tattoo. “She’s clean,” I declared. “You can turn her back over.”

  The moment Topher moved his hands, releasing her, the girl flipped herself over. She looked furious as she scuttled backward, pushing away with her feet, even though they were tied together at the ankles.

  With a few, quick steps, I caught up with her. “Congratulations,” I told her, “you’re not a Crazy.” Then, I bent down and ripped off her gag.

  “What the hell?!” sputtered the girl, the moment the gag was lifted. “Of course, I ain’t crazy, you psychos! Now, you let me go—I swear to God, I’ll kill you…I…”

  Quickly, I replaced her gag.

  “You’re too loud!” I hissed at her. “You’re gonna’ get us all killed!”

  The girl’s eyes narrowed; she shook her head.

  “That mean you’re going to be quiet?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  “It better be…because I will gag you again, the moment you get loud. So consider yourself warned.” I leaned down once again and removed her gag. The girl looked furious, but she didn’t say a word.

  “Okay,” I began. “You need to understand that this wasn’t about you being crazy. This was about the Crazies. They’re a tribe that has everything from about here down to Topanga and up into the Conejo Valley. They tattoo all of their guys. That’s why we were checking your back…to see if you were one of the Crazies.”

  “I got no tattoo,” she said, quietly.

  “We know that now.”

  The girl looked over at Pauly, frowning. “Look…I’m sorry ‘bout your guy, but he came at me, you know. Just let me go and I’ll move on.”

  “You continue on down that highway and the Crazies will take you.”

  “I can handle myself.”

  “You think you can, but the Crazies—they will catch you and they won’t just take you prisoner. They will make you their slave and they will sell you in their market. And if you cause them any trouble, they will put you in their Arena, where they will torture you. Then, they will kill you and—some of them—they will eat you!”

  The girl’s eyes narrowed. “You shining me?”

  I pointed toward Pauly, lying on the ground, while Jay and Connor stitched him up. “That boy there—that’s Pauly—and he was trying to save you. To make sure that you didn’t get caught by the Crazies. Because, guess what—I’m not shining you.”

  She didn’t say anything, just watched as Jay secured, then cut off a suture.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  Her gaze left Pauly and returned to me; she still didn’t speak.

  I sighed. “If you don’t want to talk, I’ll help you out by giving you back your gag.”

  “Florenza,” she said, quickly.

  “Well, Florenza. I’m going to untie you now. If you hurt me or anyone else, I will have you shot. There will be no warning—you will simply be dead. Do you understand?”

  She nodded.<
br />
  I bent down and started to loosen her bonds. She tensed but didn’t pull away.

  “You have a choice, Florenza,” I told her, quietly. “You can come with us or you can go on your own way. If you decide to go your own way, I’d suggest returning the way you came.”

  “You let me free?”

  With a tug, I pulled away the rope from around her legs. A moment later, I had her hands free as well. Quickly, I moved back, standing up. Florenza rose slowly, rubbing at her wrists. Her eyes moved from me to Topher, then over to the crowd around Pauly.

  Kieran—suddenly realizing that Pauly’s attacker was free—stalked over, his gun aimed at the girl’s middle. “What the hell, Kaylee!”

  “Put your gun away, Kieran,” I ordered, pushing his weapon down. “She’s free to go.”

  “But she attacked Pauly…she cut his throat!”

  “She’s a girl on her own and Pauly came at her. You need to see it from her point of view, Kieran. She thought that he was going to hurt her.”

  Kieran wasn’t happy at all. “Pauly may be dying.”

  “I know…but we can’t take it out on her just because she made a mistake.”

  “A mistake that might just kill Pauly!”

  “Leave—my girl—alone…”

  All of us turned—shocked—to see Pauly, struggling to sit up. He had a bandage around his throat and the color was beginning to return to his face. Beside him, Jay and Connor both were attempting to gently push him back down again.

  “Pauly, you’re going to rip open the stitches!” complained Jay.

  Ignoring her, Pauly rasped, “Like—feisty—girls.”

  “Dammit, Pauly,” frowned Kieran. “The girl just tried to kill you!”

  Holding a thumbs-up, Pauly grinned. “Feisty.”

  Before Kieran could object, however—we heard a low whistle. It came from Shawnee, trying to get Rhys’ attention.

  As we looked upward, Shawnee and Rhys—on opposite hills—began a silent conversation of hand signals. It ended with Rhys leaping from his vantage spot and careening down the hill, skidding to a stop at our feet.