A New Home (Chasing Destiny)

by Abigail Denver

  “I miss my friends,” Emily sulked.

  Hannah turned toward her sister. “Em, I miss my friends too. I didn’t want to come either. But I needed to, and we need you here. You’re going to play a huge role in our community.” Her voice was pleading with her sister to understand and accept.

  “Whatever. You know this whole place revolves around you. That’s why you like it here.”

  Hannah sighed. “Haven’t you figured out I hate being the center of attention? I’d rather go hide under a rock somewhere. You’re the one who likes to have people fawning over you. If I could give you my visions, I’d happily slip away into the background.”

  “I wish you could. You’re the only thing the other kids talk about.”

  Hannah squeezed her sister’s hand. “I’m sorry, Em. I really wish I could change it. I’d go back in time and not have the vision in a heartbeat. Then we could stay in Texas.”

  Emily looked at her considering. “It actually makes me feel better to know you hate it, too.”

  Hannah grinned. “That’s my sister. As long as I’m miserable all is right with her world.” She breathed a sigh of relief. She’d finally broken through her sister’s funk.

  Emily rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

  They walked together to the morning training session. “My legs are going to fall off if he makes us run for an hour again,” Emily whispered.

  “He’s going to make us run. Just stretch good before and after. This first week will be the hardest.” She bent over from the waist and touched her palms flat to the ground.

  Emily groaned. “At least you swim. I’m a couch potato and proud of it. I hate exercise!” She went down into a lunge, stretching out her legs.

  “I know. I don’t like running, but it’s for the future of our planet. One long run for us, one short step for mankind?”

  “You keep joking about it, and I’ll run back to the trailer and tell Mom I died.”

  “She won’t believe you.”

  The general stood up in front of everyone. “We’re running again this morning. I hope you stretched.” He pointed toward the stream. “Go.”

  Hannah ran in the direction he’d pointed, groaning mentally, but not letting her feelings show. She felt a lot better after her talk with Emily. Maybe things would be better with her sister now.

  Justin caught up with her and they led the others. “Do you run for fun?” she asked him.

  “No, but I play basketball and the coach made us run every day after school.”

  “Ahh. That makes sense then.” They didn’t say anything else. Both concentrated on their breathing as they ran and ran.

  Finally, the general allowed them to turn and head back. Justin and Hannah were the first two back, and Hannah immediately stretched out her muscles. When she felt limber enough, she walked to the general who was watching as the last of the kids ran across the line. Despite Emily’s protests, she was right in the middle of the pack. Hannah smiled, glad her sister wasn’t as bad at running as she thought she was.

  “General?” she said softly.

  “Yeah.” He looked to see who it was and smiled at Hannah. “You’re a good runner, kid.”

  She shrugged. “I’m a better swimmer.” She took a deep breath. She couldn’t believe how much this man intimidated her now they were in Idaho. “I was wondering if I could shadow you this afternoon. There are a few things I want to point out about our defenses and where the attack will come from.” She said the last part in a low voice, not wanting any of the others to hear.

  He looked at with a raised brow. “Not holding back information there, are you, girl?”

  She shrugged. “I’m making sure the appropriate people learn everything they need to know.”

  “No need for mass panic?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “All right. Meet me here after lunch. I’ll bring the sergeant in on it, too. We’ll take whatever information you give us and work with it.” He paused, thinking for a moment. “Do you want us to have the teachers tell any would-be soldiers to shadow someone else today?”

  “That’s probably for the best. I’d rather they thought you see the specific area as a weakness and a place of the most probable attack, rather than a definite one.”

  He nodded. “I’ll go talk to the teachers now.” He raised his voice above the groans. “You have ten minutes to make it to school.”

  Hannah walked toward the “school.” A decent amount of work had been done there in the past twenty-four hours. They’d put up a canopy over each of the two school areas. They’d be protected from rain until the school was finished being built.

  Hannah took her place at one of the tables that had been set up for them to work at. She took out her school books and began her work immediately. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the general have a conversation with Mrs. Maddox, the teacher for the upper grades. She couldn’t hear them, but knew what they were talking about.

  As soon as everyone had taken their seats and the general had left, Mrs. Maddox stood up. “How many of you were planning on shadowing the military men this afternoon?”

  Four hands went up. All four were boys Hannah knew would end up making up their “army.” She looked around. The two others were obviously looking into other things right now, but they’d be there within the month.

  “You’re going to have to find some other activity this afternoon. They need to do some private consulting and check out the grounds. I’d like to suggest you shadow the police instead. One of you may find yourself more suited for that line of work.” She held up a sheaf of papers. “I’ve finished grading these, and will be around to hand them out. All of you did quite well.”

  She walked from student to student handing the papers out aided by their nametags they were still wearing. Hopefully within a couple of weeks, they could be disposed of.

  Hannah glanced at the papers she was handed. She’d always been an excellent student, and independent study seemed to work well for her. She worked through the school hours, and went to lunch with the others.

  This time when she sat down, she was joined not only by Justin, but by Emily and some of the new friends she’d made. “Hi,” Hannah smiled.

  They ate quickly, talking about the morning training session and their plans for the afternoon. When Hannah was asked what she’d be doing, she was unsure how to answer. Justin came to her rescue. “Top secret.”

  Emily looked at her with wide eyes. “What? You have to tell us!”

  Hannah shook her head. “I can’t. I’ll tell you tomorrow I plan on helping out with teaching the younger kids.”

  Emily grinned. “Whatever. I’m going to shadow Dad, I think. It would be cool to be the doctor.”

  “Remember, Em. Being a doctor here won’t bring in the big bucks like at home.” Hannah knew it was her sister’s destiny, but had to joke anyway.

  “I know. Oh well. I still think it would be cool.”

  After lunch, Hannah made a wide circle around through the woods and back to the training area. “I’m sorry I’m late, sir. Some of the others were asking me what I was doing this afternoon, and with you making it clear no one could shadow here, too many people would have figured it out.”

  He nodded. “I thought we’d take a whirl around the walls.” He indicated the passenger side of the front seat of a golf cart for Hannah. The sergeant climbed into the back.

  Once they were off, Hannah looked carefully at the wall. Finally they reached the spot. It was along the northern boundary. “Here it is.” She described the battle in-depth. “I’ve seen it two ways. Without you here, we’d have lost, and it would have been the end. With you here, we will lose a man, but we’ll survive. I’m hoping you can find a way to put a watch along here to avoid losing even that one man.” She didn’t mention the man lost was his grandson.

  The sergeant and general got out to inspect the wall and talked in low voices about what to do. Hannah sat watching and waiting.

  After a
few minutes, the two men got back into the cart, and they continued driving the perimeter of their territory. “Were there any other places we need to watch out for?” the sergeant asked.

  She shrugged. “I only know what I’ve seen in my visions. If there’s another spot, then you guys fixed it before my vision took place.”

  The general sighed. “Your visions aren’t an exact science, are they?”

  She shook her head. “I wish they were. I only know we’ll be attacked in that one spot. There may be twenty other attacks as well, but for some reason, I was shown that one as if we need to try to stop it.”

  “Is there any chance we can stop the disease from killing so many of us to begin with?” the general asked. “Like maybe not allowing anyone to leave at all for a month before it hits?”

  “I don’t think so. If it is possible, the visions didn’t show me that. I can’t control them.”

  “We’ll have to work with what we have then.” He looked over at her. “How long do we have before it happens?” He didn’t have to say what. They all knew.

  She swallowed hard. She hadn’t told anyone that. She’d simply let them know they only had a few years to prepare. “Seven years. It’ll happen in September seven years from now.”

  The general nodded. Seven years wasn’t nearly enough time and they all knew it. They needed to concentrate on their short term goals. The school and cafeteria needed to be built by winter. The greenhouses needed to be built yesterday. And the gate. They needed to build the gate within the month.

  “So, how do we keep the kids from coming in the gate after we’re gone?” the general asked. “We post soldiers there?”

  Hannah shook her head. “A month before the disease hits, we tear down the gate, and wall ourselves in. No one can come in or leave for twenty years.” She hadn’t told anyone else about that part of it. It sounded so harsh. And it was.

  The general stared at her. “So after twenty years, how do you get out?”

  “We tunnel under.” She sighed looking around her. “Most of us aren’t leaving this place for the next thirty years.” She looked around their beautiful home, knowing it would soon be their beautiful prison. They’d build it and make it the best possible prison it could be. It was her job and her destiny to change the world. “And there’s always swimming under the edge of the stream, but I’m sure you’d figured that one out for yourself.”

  The general nodded. They had a lot of work to do. And only a short time to do it in.

  The author welcomes feedback at both abigaildenver@yahoo.com and http://abigaildenver.com