by Skylar Finn
“It’s enough for about a week,” Keiko said, hiding her guilt behind squared shoulders. “That’s almost enough for us to make it to Walt’s commune. It’s real meals too. They have this chemical induction heater in each package. All you have to do is add water.”
“But what about water?” Walt asked.
“I stole that too,” Keiko replied. “And these weird straws that filter out bacteria and parasites from lakes or streams or whatever. We should be good.”
Ailani wriggled out of her sleeping bag to throw her arms around her little sister’s neck. “You should have stayed in there. You would have been safe and fed.”
“And leave you out here?” Keiko said. “No way. Besides, they were going to kick me out anyway. I overhead the camp volunteers talking about it. I figured I should get out of there with as many supplies as I could while I had the chance. Let’s get a move on before they realize where their MREs have gone.”
She started rolling up Ailani’s yoga mat for her while Ailani and Walt cleaned up the rest of their camp.
“What about Sharon?” Walt asked. “Are we going to leave her here?”
“I told her I was going,” Keiko said. “She wanted to stay here. They really need her anyway. It’s a win-win. She gets fed, and they get someone who actually knows what they’re doing in the medical field.”
Keiko sniffed and wiped an invisible tear on her sleeve. Ailani patted her back.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m sure you two will find each other in the future.”
“She was the closest thing I had to a mom,” Keiko muttered. “Even if it was only for a couple of weeks.”
Keiko’s time at Camp Firefly seemed to renew her will to survive. She took the map from Walt and became the group’s new leader, forging new paths across Northern California. She had a knack for ignoring Walt’s routes and finding shorter ones, so they covered a significant amount of ground during the next couple of days. As Ailani tried to keep up with her sister’s pace, Walt gradually fell behind, quietly bringing up the back end of the trio’s adventure.
The sisters’ temporary separation had made Ailani all the more grateful for Keiko’s presence. She tailed her sister like a puppy, never falling more than three feet behind her. At first, Keiko seemed annoyed with Ailani’s attention, huffing and puffing whenever Ailani accidentally stepped on her heel. When Ailani gave her a tiny bit more space, the little Ho sister started opening up. This time, Ailani returned the favor.
“So what do you want to be when you grow up?” Ailani asked. “You know, if we ever get the power back on and you have a chance to go to college or whatever.”
“I’m not sure I want to go to college,” Keiko answered. “I might take a year off to travel. Get some more worldly experience and find a different perspective.”
“Ooh, how’s Dad feel about that?”
“He’s supportive,” she replied. “He thinks it’s a good idea.”
Ailani scoffed and shook her head. “When I told him I wasn’t going to go to college, he almost blew a gasket. He tried to guilt me into applying to universities by telling me it’s what Mom would have wanted. Do you believe that?”
Keiko didn’t answer, but she dug her makeshift hiking pole so firmly into the ground that she had to yank it out to take another step forward.
“What?” Ailani said.
“He doesn’t hate you, you know,” Keiko answered, not looking at her sister. “Dad. You act like all he has is disdain for you. He was just trying to take care of us after Mom died, and you never let him.”
Ailani hoisted her backpack up. They’d split Keiko’s supplies between the three of them so no one had to carry more than they could handle, but Ailani’s shoulders ached from the weight anyway.
“He never let me do what I wanted,” she told Keiko. “He was always trying to force me to go to tutoring or keep me from surfing. He was so scared something was going to happen to me that he ruined any fun I could have had.”
“He was scared of something happening to you because his wife died doing the same shit you like to do,” Keiko shot back. “You were there the day she died, and you went back to the same spot afterward to see if you could climb it yourself. You practically killed him with worry, and you think he wronged you?”
“You were three years old when Mom died,” Ailani reminded her. “You have no idea what happened between me and Dad while I was in high school. Don’t act like you were old enough to remember.”
“I do remember,” Keiko said. “I was old enough to remember all the times you didn’t come home until two o’clock in the morning. All the times Dad sat up waiting for you because he couldn’t fall asleep until he knew you were safe. I remember how much you yelled at him for doing things that a dad should do, like worry for your safety and keep you in school. And then you left Kauai—you left me—because you were so caught up in your grudge against Dad. Did you ever think for a second what it was like for me to lose my mom and my older sister? Did you?”
Keiko’s sharp gaze made Ailani stutter. She tripped over her words looking for an answer, then she tripped over an ugly tree root and sprawled forward. Keiko, without hesitation, reached out to catch her.
“Thanks,” Ailani muttered.
“Whatever.”
Keiko sped up, leaving Ailani to fall behind with Walt. Walt nudged her side.
“That was rough,” he said.
“She hates me.”
“No, she doesn’t.” Walt traded his duffel bag for Ailani’s backpack. The straps of the duffel bag didn’t dig into her shoulders quite as much. “She’s mad that she didn’t get to grow up with her older sister by her side. She expected this reunion to be a fun way for the two of you to catch up. She didn’t expect the apocalypse to happen. Give her some credit.”
Ailani wrapped her hands around the straps of the duffel bag to distribute the weight of it better. “Do you think she’s right? Do you think I made my dad the villain?”
“I don’t know,” Walt said. “I wasn’t with you two while you were growing up. But if I were you, I’d at least look at it from your dad’s perspective. All he wanted after his wife’s death was the safety of his daughters. Sounds like you made it pretty tough for him to get it.”
Ailani stared after Keiko as she powered along ahead of them. “I didn’t realize. I thought—I don’t know—that he wanted to keep me pinned down. All I wanted to do was get out of there, especially after Mom died. I didn’t think it would affect Keiko so much.”
“She needs her sister,” Walt said. “So get back up there and go be a good sister. Stop talking about how much your dad supposedly wronged you. She already knows about that. Tell her what she doesn’t know. Tell her what it’s like to work in Hollywood. Tell her how you work and party with celebrities. Tell her about your short film and your dreams for the future. Then give her a chance to tell you about herself. Listening is sometimes more important than speaking.”
“You’re right,” Ailani said. “I’m going to—where did she go?”
Keiko had disappeared from the trail ahead. She was nowhere in sight.
14
Ailani raced ahead, whipping around in every direction for a glimpse of Keiko. The woods were thick here. Keiko had taken yet another shortcut through the woods rather than sticking to the roads. Trees bore down on them. Grass and weeds tickled Ailani’s shins. Her skin itched from sunburn and mosquito bites. It all went unnoticed as she looked for Keiko.
“She was just here,” Ailani said. Exasperated, she gestured at the ground beneath her feet. “Right here. I saw her a minute ago. Where could she gave gone in a minute?”
Walt shielded his eyes against the sun as he peered in every direction. “I have no idea. She wouldn’t have run off, would she?”
“No! She left Camp Firefly to be with us.” Ailani frantically searched the area to no avail. “She wouldn’t have stolen all that food to leave us behind later. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe
she got lost or didn’t realize we fell behind.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Keiko! Where are you?”
His deep voice echoed through the woods, scaring birds from the trees. There was no reply. Ailani wandered off the route and into the brush. Walt followed closely behind her. Together, they searched the thicker parts of the forest, but there was nothing. No footprints. No trail of breadcrumbs. No sign of Keiko at all.
“I don’t understand,” Ailani said. “What happened to her?”
Out of nowhere, a bullet whizzed by Ailani’s ear and embedded itself in the tree that stood right in front of her. She yelled and ducked, yanking Walt into a crouch with her. They made a run for it, hunched over as they sprinted as quickly as possible from whoever had fired the gun. The landscape made it hard to escape. They tripped over tree roots and stumbled over rocks. All the while, bullets flew overhead.
“They’re not shooting at us!” Walt yelled after a while.
“Then what are they shooting at?” Ailani, out of breath, slid down a muddy embankment and into the shallow stream below. The water soaked into her boots. “Because it sure feels like they’re shooting at us!”
Walt slid down and landed next to Ailani. He pressed her against the embankment, breathing hard, and whispered, “They’re shooting over us. Not at us. They want us alive. Keep quiet.”
Somewhere above, heavy footsteps clomped through the mud and leaves. Ailani’s heart pounded in her chest as they came closer. Someone cocked a rifle.
“I don’t see ‘em,” said a gruff voice, making Ailani wince. “Think they got away?”
Another man answered. “I told you not to fire so early. It makes ‘em run like that. Guess we lost ‘em. Let’s head back to camp. At least we got one.”
Ailani let out a small squeak, and Walt smacked his palm over her mouth. He put a finger to his lips.
“What was that?” the first man said, his voice suspicious. “Did you hear that?”
“Probably a bird,” the second man replied. “Let’s go. I don’t feel like running anymore. My fat ass can’t take it.”
The footsteps shuffled off, and quiet fell again. Ailani brushed Walt’s hand away from her face.
“Did you hear them?” she half-whispered. “They said they already got one! It’s probably Keiko. We have to go find her—”
She tried to climb up the slippery embankment, but Walt pulled her down by the back of her shirt. “Wait,” he hissed. “Don’t you think we ought to come up with a plan? What if there are more of those guys? As it is, they have bigger guns than we do, and I don’t know if you remember correctly, but I have moral issues with firing mine.”
“Then give it to me,” Ailani said. “I’ll shoot them. I don’t care. They have my sister.”
“You don’t know that.”
“They just said!” Ailani dug a foothold in the side of the embankment and pulled herself up, much to Walt’s chagrin. “Are you coming or not? We’re going to lose them.”
“I’m coming.”
Once Ailani had made it to the top of the embankment, she lay on her stomach and reached over to give Walt a hand up. They were both soaked and covered in mud. It wasn’t a good look or feeling.
“Great,” Walt said, attempting to knock the mud off his pants. “I can’t wait to walk around in wet boots for the rest of the day.”
“Complain about it later,” Ailani answered. “We have to go find Keiko.”
A rifle swung up to meet Ailani’s nose. “Oh, I don’t think you’ll be doing that, sweetheart.”
The two men—both burly guys with scraggly beards and long hair—had not, as Ailani thought, returned to their camp. They had been hiding behind the trees nearby, hoping Walt and Ailani would reappear. The duo walked right into their trap.
Walt lifted his hands. “Hey, we don’t want any trouble. Just tell us where the girl is, and we’ll get out of your hair.”
“Afraid I can’t do that, pretty boy,” the first man—blonde and porky—said. He nudge Walt’s thigh with the butt of his rifle. “This one’s thick. He’ll be perfect.”
The second man—who was red and round—grinned. “Big Mike’s going to love us today. Can’t believe we brought in three good prospects.” He used the nose of the rifle to push Ailani’s hair out of her face. “This one’s pretty too.”
“And they’ve got more supplies,” the blond man said. “We hit the jackpot.”
“We’re not going anywhere with you,” Ailani declared.
The red man snorted. “You sure are, honey. That little one’s your sister, isn’t she? I can see the resemblance. If you want to see her alive again, you’re coming with us. That a good enough deal?”
With a rifle pointed at her face and Keiko in trouble, Ailani wasn’t exactly in the position to counter offer. Both she and Walt remained silent.
“That’s what I thought,” said the red man. He lowered the rifle and poked Ailani’s chest. “Let’s move.”
The two men forced Ailani and Walt through the woods until they emerged through the trees at a small RV camp. The RVs—about fifteen in total—were arranged in a circle to create the feeling of a town center in the middle, where an enormous unlit fire pit waited for people to gather. As they moved toward it, Ailani caught a whiff of the latrines dug outside of the camp. She also noticed a row of animal pens built crudely from thick branches, but none of them were occupied. Apparently, the RV people had not been able to catch anything to keep penned up.
As the men prodded Ailani and Walt forward, the other camp members came nearer for a better look. Some of them gave celebratory shouts of joy. Others eyed Ailani and Walt with mixed looks of curiosity and disgust. By the looks of it, about thirty people lived in the camp. They appeared healthy and well-fed. Like the men with the rifles, they were all burlier beings, with a little to a lot of extra weight. Most of the men refused to use a razor. These people had already been living in the woods long before the EMP blast struck. There were few children, and the ones that did appeared were all teenagers who had begun to resemble their parents’ weighty and woodsy aesthetic.
“What is this place?” Walt muttered to Ailani. “Did you know people like this were living in California?”
“We’re elves,” said the red man. Then he let out a raucous laugh.
“More like dwarves,” the blond man replied.
They both erupted in more laughter. It brought the others closer, an assurance that Ailani and Walt were not dangerous if the red and blond men were so cavalier about their capture. The people gathered around, but they kept looking over their shoulders as if waiting for someone else to come out.
“Feast your eyes,” the red man shouted, though everyone was close enough to hear his boisterous voice without amplification. “Two more sacrifices!”
Half the crowd cheered and stomped their feet. The others looked guiltily away from Walt and Ailani, refusing to make eye contact.
“Say what now?” Walt asked, his voice getting higher with every syllable.
“Look, we’re here,” Ailani said, speaking to the red man. “Where’s my sister?”
“Don’t worry,” the red man replied. “You’ll be joining her soon. Just as soon as Big Mike has the chance to look you over.”
“Who’s Big Mike?”
“I am.”
Ailani turned to face the voice and found a man the size of a redwood tree. He was the same width around from his shoulders to his feet. Unlike the others, he was clean shaven, perhaps to set himself apart from the others or to show off the fact that he had carved his incisors into sharp points. He wore a buffalo plaid shirt and muddied jeans. His boots were easily twice the size of Ailani’s head, and he was as tall as he was wide. Big Mike, indeed.
To Ailani’s great surprise, Big Mike waved off the men with the rifles. They scattered like swatted flies, shouldering their guns to take their places among the surrounding crowd. Walt flinched as Big Mike clapped him on the shoulder.
“Meaty,” Big Mike said
appreciatively. “Lean. It’s a good look, but a little bit of fat is good.” He pinched Walt’s toned abdomen and chuckled. “Not an ounce on you though, is there?” He moved on to Ailani next, but she refused to let him touch her. “It’s fine, honey,” he said in response to her aversion. “I can tell you’re more what we’re looking for. In several different ways. Mm.” Big Mike licked his lips. “I hear you’re looking for your sister. Would you like to see her?”
“Yes,” Ailani said, relieved at last. “Where is she?”
“She’s safe,” Big Mike assured her. “But I think it’s best if you face the truth about your time here before you’re reunited with little—what’s her name—Meeko?”
“Keiko,” Ailani said sharply.”
“Of course,” Big Mike said. He spread his arms wide, gesturing to the circle of RVs. “Anyway, welcome to Anchorage! We’ve been here a while, but we never thought something like this was going to happen. I guess I should have known.”
“What are you talking about?” Walt snapped.
“The EMP blast!” Big Mike answered. “What, you didn’t know about it? Come on, people, wake up. That wasn’t some terrorist attack. It was a sign from above. The apocalypse, you know? Earth’s biggest issue is overpopulation. This is the best way to root out the strong from the weak. It’s Noah’s Ark, my friends, and we made it on the boat. I’m sorry” — he placed a hand over his heart— “I meant we made it on the boat. Not the two of you. Y’all are in the water.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve brought us here because you’re throwing us a couple of life vests either,” Ailani growled.
Big Mike smiled at his crowd. “She catches on quick, huh?” He looked back to Ailani. “No, sweetheart. You’re not here to be saved. You’re here to save us. You see, we’ve been living off the land ever since the blast, but with our number of people, it wasn’t long until we killed off most of the deer population. The rest of them wised up and left the area, so it’s been squirrels and rabbits for us for quite some time. It’s not good enough anymore. We’re ready to take the next step.”
