365 Days At War

by Nancy Isaak

  “But we’re not going to let that happen,” I said, patting her hand. “I promise.”

  There was a sudden knock at the door.

  Connor opened it and Sophia entered, pulling in a cart of sandwiches and juice boxes. On a bottom shelf, meanwhile, were plates of big slices of chocolate cake.

  “You asked for lunch at 1 p.m.,” she said, setting up the food on a nearby table for us.

  As she did, I reached over and folded up the Wanted poster, so that she wouldn’t see it.

  Meanwhile, Josh rose and went over to help Sophia. “Here—let me take that,” he said, taking a plate from her hands and putting it down on the table. “The sandwiches look good, Sophia.”

  “Thank you, Joshua,” she said. “I made the bread with sunflower seeds—the way you like it.”

  Kaylee, Connor, and I shared a grin—Josh and Sophia—something was definitely happening between the two of them.

  Finishing her setup, Sophia turned toward us, wringing her hands nervously. “I know I shouldn’t ask but—Reena?”

  “We haven’t talked about her, Sophia,” said Kaylee. “I’m sorry.”

  “Okay, sure…sure,” she said, softly—turning to go.

  Josh, however, reached out, placing a hand on her arm. “She’s a slave, Sophia. I’ve seen Reena walking behind her owner in the marketplace.”

  Sophia gasped; her hand flew up to her mouth in horror.

  “No,” said Josh, quickly. “It’s not as bad as you think. I don’t know how much I can tell you, but I’ll tell you this—Reena was bought by someone I think is a good person and I’m pretty sure that she isn’t being harmed.”

  “But she’s a slave!” cried Sophia, struggling not to cry.

  “For now,” I said, butting in. “But Sophia, you know that we’re going to do everything we can to try and save them—to save all the slaves.”

  “I know,” she said, hanging her head. “I just…well…I should of let Reena come with me and Lily. Then, it would not of happened…I am so stupid!”

  She slapped the heel of her hand against her forehead in self-hatred—once, twice, three times. Before she could hit herself another time, however, Josh caught her wrist in his hand and held her steady. “I won’t let you say that,” he told her. “You’re a good, kind person who simply tried to do what she thought was right.”

  The tears spilled over, running down Sophia’s face. She carefully pulled her hand out of Josh’s and turned to leave. “Sorry, sorry,” she mumbled, embarrassed. Then, she disappeared through the door, closing it softly behind her.

  With a sigh, Josh returned to the table and sat down. He looked angry and frustrated, like he wanted to go after Sophia, but knew that he couldn’t.

  “What is it?” I asked him. “What couldn’t you tell Sophia?”

  “Alice owns Reena,” he told us. “She’s the owner.”

  “Ohmigod,” whispered Kaylee. “That’s horrible!”

  “Not really,” he said. “And Alice also owns another slave named Sue.”

  “I know Sue,” said Kaylee. “And her sister, Rachel. They all go to Jacob’s and my school.”

  “From what I could see,” continued Josh, “and from what Brent and Han told me—Alice bought Reena and Sue to keep them away from the Crazies. And it looks like she might have bought others, except that I don’t know what’s happened to them. Neither does Brent or Han.”

  “Do you think that Reena and Sue are part of her soldier-cell?” asked Kaylee, hopeful.

  Josh nodded. “That’s exactly what I think. And get this—Brent and Han didn’t tell me, but I overheard enough to figure out that a lot of the other Stars are buying up slaves as well.”

  “But they’re against slavery,” I said. “So, are they just buying the slaves to send them somewhere to safety. Which doesn’t make sense—because no slaves have made it down here, yet, have they? And I would think that, if the Stars wanted to send a slave to somewhere safe, it would probably be to us.”

  “What are you getting at?” asked Connor, confused.

  Kaylee figured it out first. “Maybe the slaves are their cover.”

  “And that’s exactly what Brent said when I asked him,” said Josh. “Except I think that he was lying—or not telling me all of it. I mean, I have no proof—but I think the slaves are all part of the plan.”

  “What plan?” I asked.

  Josh grinned, looking excited. “I don’t know. But, I can definitely say that they’re planning something. Every time I would come into a room where they had their heads together, Brent and Han would immediately stop talking. But I heard enough that I’m guessing the slaves have a part in a plan they’ve got—to take over the tribe.”

  “But why wouldn’t they tell us that?” asked Kaylee.

  “For the same reason we don’t tell them all of our plans,” I told her. “So, there’s no chance of betrayal—accidental or otherwise.”

  * * * *

  One of the biggest disappointments of Josh’s spying trip into Agoura Hills was the discovery that the young girl slaves had been moved out of the house in the Foxes’ compound. It had apparently happened during the night—at a time when no Star was in attendance.

  Although Alice had been trying to discover where the girls had been sent, so far, she had had no luck. Like the slaves at the country club—the young girls had simply disappeared.

  * * * *

  After the meeting with Josh, Kaylee and I walked over to the Medical Clinic. We were worried about Kieran and Porter; plus, we wanted to check up on Pauly.

  When we arrived, Jay was trying desperately to keep Porter in bed, while Kieran was sitting on the edge of his, looking angry. Meanwhile, Pauly and Florenza were on the other side of the room, playing cards, laughing and joking together.

  While Kaylee went to help Jay, I sat down across from Kieran.

  “How you holding up, bro?” I asked.

  “It’s so annoying,” he complained.

  “You’ll probably just have to stay here for a few days—to make sure that you don’t infect anyone else.”

  “Not that!” he barked at me. “That!”

  He pointed across the room at Pauly and Florenza. She had tucked a card between her breasts and Pauly was trying to reach it with the toes of one foot. Florenza kept slapping his foot away—the hits getting harder and harder.

  “Guess I don’t have to ask how Pauly’s doing,” I grinned.

  “It’s so stupid,” Kieran grumbled. “She tries to kill him and he’s in love. Like it’s so fricking random!”

  “Like it’s so fricking Pauly, you mean.”

  * * * *

  “I hear there’s a bounty on our heads.”

  “Two horses for you,” I acknowledged, sitting down beside Pauly.

  On the other side of the bed, Florenza leaned back in her chair. “I got some need for a good horse,” she grinned, mischievously.

  “I’ll give you a good horse,” Pauly told her, his hand traveling under his blanket and raising it obscenely.

  “Seriously, bro?!” Embarrassed, I rose to leave.

  “Get your mind out of the gutter, Jacob,” teased Pauly. He pulled his hand out from under the blanket and I discovered that the ‘obscenity’ had actually been Kanga. Apparently, the cat had been sleeping between Pauly’s legs.

  “The young dude brought him in,” explained Florenza, giggling. “Thought the cat would cheer papi up.”

  Papi?!

  “Where’s Xavier now?” I asked, trying to regain my composure.

  “He and Nate took off surfing—probably Zuma,” said Pauly. “I hear the waves are gnarly there right now.”

  “They are,” I acknowledged. “Wish I could head out myself, but Council business, right?”

  “Yeah, bro…I get you,” said Pauly. “So, Kieran said that Josh is back. Everything go okay?”

  Trying not to be obvious, I looked toward Florenza, then back at Pauly. “It went well. We’ll talk about it later—when you’re
better.”

  “He means when I’m not around,” Florenza told Pauly, grinning. “In case I’m a spy or something.”

  Pauly reached out and grabbed at Florenza’s arm. He pulled it toward him—inch-by-inch—giving it little kisses as he did. “If you’re a spy, you’re doing a great job.”

  Florenza giggled again, trying—not too hard—to pull her arm away.

  I realized that Kieran was right.

  They were annoying.

  * * * *

  As Jay and Kaylee managed to get Porter tucked back into his bed, I walked over and joined them. “How’s he doing?” I asked Jay.

  “He’s a lousy patient,” she complained.

  “Because I’m not sick!” Porter insisted, coughing. “It’s just allergies!”

  He started to maneuver out of the bed again and Jay pointed a stern finger at him. “One foot touches the floor, Porter—I swear to God, I will put laxatives in your coffee!”

  Grumbling, Porter settled back onto the bed.

  Meanwhile, I pulled up a chair and sat down beside him. “Connor says that you guys need a trip to a pharmacy. He suggested that we scavenge the hospital up in Oxnard.”

  Porter nodded. “That would be smart. We should take shopping carts, bring back as much medicine as we can.”

  “So, we’ll add that stop onto our library trip.”

  “We’ve got the book lists made up like you asked,” Porter sniffed, rubbing at his nose with his hand. Jay immediately tsk-tsked, handing him a tissue.

  “How long do you think until you’re ready to go?”

  “A couple of days,” he answered, using the tissue to rub at his nose.

  “Not a chance,” Jay butted in. “You’re too sick!”

  Porter turned and glared at her. “You’re not the boss of me!”

  “When you’re in this clinic—yes, I am.”

  * * * *

  That night, I sat at the side of the bathtub, watching Kaylee enjoy her soapy nighttime ritual. It was dark in the room, the only light coming from tea candles. Bubbles glistened on the bathwater, sliding sensuously around Kaylee’s body—teasing me as they caressed the girl I loved.

  Needless to say, I was having a difficult time concentrating.

  “But why are you going?” Kaylee asked, frustrated. “Isn’t there anyone else you could send?”

  “There are a lot of guys,” I acknowledged. “But—honestly—there are only a few that I really trust. Josh is heading back up to Agoura Hills tomorrow. Kieran and Pauly are in the Clinic. I trust Nate but he’s been gone so much, I just can’t ask him to take on this trip.”

  “Besides, you want to go yourself,” she added, looking a little hurt. “It’s okay. I can see it in your eyes.”

  I sighed. “It’s not that I want to leave you. In fact, I’d rather you be going with me. But I need you to stay here—to be in charge.”

  “And what will the guys say about that…about me leading?”

  “Kieran and Pauly already agree with me that you’re the best-suited for the job. If you’re talking about the Locals—I think they’ll be fine with it.”

  “I don’t know,” said Kaylee, rubbing the soapy sponge over her shoulders. “Maybe Frank should take over.”

  “Even if I agreed, there’s no way that Frank would do it. He just wants to be left alone on his farm. Frank is done with that sort of thing.”

  Kaylee sighed, slowly moving the sponge around the base of her neck. “And it absolutely has to be done now, right?”

  I nodded. “It’s not just Porter and Kieran who are sick. There are other guys coughing. If we’ve got an infection coming through the tribe, then we need to be prepared. That means, we have to stock up on meds—as much as we can get.”

  “Which means the hospital in Oxnard.”

  “We’ll head there first. Then, we’re going to the library and the National Guard armory along the 101 Freeway.”

  “To get weapons? Why don’t you just go to the military base just past Point Mugu—the Naval Station there? They’ll probably have lots of guns.”

  “Our guys at the Mugu sentry post took a walk up there a couple of days ago,” I told her. “They say that the base has guys already on it. They’re not friendly—and they have guns.”

  “Crazies?”

  “They didn’t stop to ask. But, whoever it was, they shot at them. Didn’t try and say hello or find out if our guys were friendly—just opened up and tried to kill them.”

  “Well, you might come up against the same thing at the National Guard armory,” Kaylee suggested, taking her sponge and drawing it down her chest. She took her time, making small caresses that circled her breasts.

  I sighed. “You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?”

  “Absolutely,” she grinned.

  APRIL

  JACOB

  We decided to leave on the 2nd of April. Even though none of us were particularly superstitious, it just felt wrong to start an expedition on April Fools’ Day; instead, we left on the day after.

  There were eight of us going—two girls and four guys.

  With Kieran sick, Rhys jumped at the chance to be my second-in-command. I was surprised that he had no problem leaving Shawnee behind, but Rhys didn’t seem bothered at all. I wondered if this meant that their romance was coming to an end. Or, perhaps, it was never anything serious to begin with—simply two kids fooling around and discovering what their bodies could do.

  That said, Shawnee did ask to also be part of the expedition team. I turned her offer down, though—explaining how important I thought it would be to have at least one sniper remaining at the Point. If something happened and the Locals needed to fight, Shawnee’s talents would definitely be needed.

  She wasn’t happy with my answer—but Shawnee understood.

  * * * *

  Rhys was the one who suggested adding Andrei and Ian to our team.

  They had been part of his Raiders since the beginning, and Rhys was confident in their strengths and abilities. Both boys had become good shots with their rifles, were quick to respond to any challenge, and usually followed orders without too many annoying questions.

  And, of course, Andrei and Ian thought that joining the expedition was, “a most excellent idea!”

  * * * *

  It had been my intention to make the expedition an all-boys trip. Kaylee, however, quickly set me straight.

  “Didn’t we already go through this?! We’re not fragile creatures that you need to keep locked away for our own good!” she yelled at me—one night in our bedroom—during one of our rare disagreements. “It’s one thing wanting to protect us girls—it’s another thing all together wanting to keep us basically prisoners, confined to the Point.”

  “But what if we run into Crazies up in Oxnard and they get caught? You know what Crazies do to girls.”

  “Apparently the same thing they do to some of the guys,” she countered. “You’re taking Andrei and Ian and they’re not exactly big, tough, macho men, which means that they’ll be targets for the Crazies, too. So, why aren’t you making them stay behind?”

  “Because they’re good with guns,” I groaned, frustrated. “And I know that they can fight if they need to.”

  “And you don’t think that Jude and Cherry could beat the crap out of both of them?!”

  Damn…Kaylee had a good point.

  Then—she went in for the kill.

  “Jacob,” she said, softly, placing a hand on my arm. “I want desperately to go with you myself, but I know that I can’t—because you need me here. And I’ve accepted that. But I’d feel so much better knowing Jude and Cherry were going with you. Those girls are single-minded powerhouses. They’ll have your back—they will fight for you, they will die for you.”

  “Kaylee…”

  “And I guarantee that, on the day you come back, you will tell me that I was right all along. Then,” she purred, her hand dropping from my arm to gently rub along my leg, “you will thank me…and y
ou will be so very, very grateful.”

  Every nerve in my body was beginning to tingle; I felt a tension build, muscles betraying me as they snapped to attention.

  “They…can…go,” I managed to choke out—losing the struggle to control my traitorous body.

  “Of course they can,” murmured Kaylee, leaning in to kiss me. “Now, why don’t you let me show you my gratitude, husband.”

  No doubt—I had just been played.

  Ask me if I cared.

  * * * *

  Jude and Cherry jumped at the chance to join the expedition. They were both restless, suffering from cabin fever, and eager to travel outside of the Point.

  During our planning meetings, they arrived early, eager, and with their own, personal to-get lists. Cherry, of course, wanted to visit a tattoo shop. She had been spending a lot of time with Wyatt lately—non-romantic, of course—and their supply of tattoo ink was low.

  “Wyatt’s probably got enough for a while,” Cherry told me. “He’ll keep on tattooing volunteers while we’re gone, but he’ll definitely be out of ink by the time we get back.”

  “How many volunteers do we need to tattoo?” I asked.

  “Fifteen who are ready to go into Agoura Hills and actually join the Crazies. Another ten who will go on missions into the Valley, but who don’t want to stay there undercover.”

  * * * *

  Meanwhile, Porter was furious that he wasn’t going.

  “Sorry, dude,” I told him, as I sat by his bed in the Medical Clinic. “We need to leave now and you’re just too sick.”

  “So, you’re taking Connor,” he groaned, frustrated. “This isn’t fair!”

  “I know,” I agreed. “But you know it’s the right decision.”

  Even as he nodded, Porter began to cough. It started as a small bark, then progressed to a violent hacking—his body shuddering under each violent outburst. I reached out to pat him on the back, only to be stopped by Jay racing over, yelling at me. “Jacob…no!”