by Cal, Sarah
But with this, they would all need to go on unarmed. Well, the people that wouldn’t be carrying the kids, at least. Though she had a feeling Brian would carry both, anyway. She was pretty sure he walked the same way the whole time, actually, with his five year old daughter strapped to his back, and his gun in his arms.
If only that worked on the older children, but even if it did, Emma still wouldn’t have done it. If she was going to stand between them and suspicious people that didn’t like, or have much need, for strangers, then she wasn’t going to have anything important on her.
She was a little worried about what was to come, but made herself have a little faith. They were going to do something risky, but they just had to try. Almost anything would be better than what they’d been subjected to, death being one of the things that didn’t count. No matter how painful, Emma planned to fight to the very end.
She woke up the rest of the camp, because she didn’t see much reason to delay. They couldn’t waste time just hanging around.
“We’re going to have a good day,” she said, encouraging them.
Their high spirits from the night before hadn't die exactly, but Emma thought they were acting more cautious with their optimism. They didn’t want to get disappointed, because it must have dawned on them after sleeping on it, that seeing houses didn’t necessarily mean something good for them. It simply meant they would be out in the open again, where other people could find and hurt them.
It was the reality they lived with now.
Emma could see their nervousness as they all got up and started moving around. She could tell who as more stressed, because instead of sitting still and waiting for food, they were already working on taking down the tents and packing stuff away. Chase was among them, of course, because he was an even bigger worry wart than she was. Merry, who still looked kind of exhausted, had moved her sleeping bag out of the tent, and was lying down. But Emma was close enough to see her eyelids fluttering, so Emma knew it wasn’t a very restful sleep.
They had a quick meal before packing everything up. They divided the bags, most people taking their own stuff, but she did notice most of the people carrying guns in their arms took the least to carry for easier movement. She hoped that was for the sake of the group, and not for running away. She noted Brian did as she’d thought he would, and she almost smiled as he put up Brianna on his back and strapped her there, then walked around with her on his back and his gun on one hand before they were done taking down their camp.
As they walked, Kellen sidled up to Emma who was up at the front, carrying her youngest daughter, strapped with blankets to her front. Emma shot a glance her way to show she had her attention.
“When do you think we’ll find somewhere?” she asked, her voice sounding a little nervous.
Emma gave her an apologetic smile. “I wish I could give you a direct answer, but that would be lying. I don’t know myself, but I hope... there’ll be something soon. There isn’t anything in these woods, we’ve looked all over, but once we’re out, it will be easier.”
Her hands tightened on the straps of her bag on one side, and her gun on the other shoulder. She wasn’t sure that was true, though. Food would be easier to spot, if there was any around to spot without resorting to going to people’s houses.
“I’m worried for my kids, especially the baby. I know... I haven’t been the best mom to the both of them, but they are my children, and I want them to be okay, Emma.”
Emma looked at her with sympathy. She didn’t have children of her own, but she did care for Kellen’s own and now felt responsible for four of them along with several adults, so she understood. It must have been even worse on her because Emma knew she felt a little guilty for not being there for her children before, only having the time until after the EMP attack so she couldn’t put her work first.
Emma just admired that she had been able to get past so many hurdles, and most of them through her own power. Brian had told Emma Kellen had some trouble looking after the children in the beginning, yet she still sent Brian away and took care of them alone, and nothing major happened. She was also surprisingly ruthless when it came to her family, something Emma could relate, and a surprisingly good shot with a gun. Emma was surprised she even owned a gun to begin with.
She had to remember she wasn’t the only one that had seemingly changed after the attack. Before, Kellen worked at a hair salon that she owned, had a book club meeting nearly every week, and spent most of her time gossiping about the ‘hottest news’ in town, and sometimes spread it to Emma when their paths crossed in the mornings.
Kellen seemingly had such a carefree life. It was why, as ashamed she was of it now, a part of her hadn't minded her affair with the other woman’s husband so much. Emma hadn't particularly liked Kellen, because to her, it seemed like she struggled too much when the other woman seemed to struggle so little.
Well, it took a while, but she was proven wrong. Her feelings of remorse and guilt for what she did to Kellen aside, Emma could honestly say she was more than just impressed that she could handle herself and several things at once, she held a respect for the other woman that wasn’t likely to die soon.
She wasn’t sure if their relationship was repaired enough yet to mention it, but it was how Emma felt.
“You weren’t always there for your family, Kellen,” she started slowly, because she just had to say something. “But you definitely were when it counted. Brian can see it, I can see it. Your improved relationship with Brianna proves it.”
They both cracked a smile. Not that long ago, little Brianna kept running from her mom, either going to her dad or to Emma, because she didn’t know her own mom that well. Now, Brianna cried out to be carried by her mother if she felt her dad had been carrying her too long, and her baby sister was hogging their mother.
“I will swear it to you now, Kellen. I promise that the children will be first priority when we arrive wherever we’re going, if I have to make sure of it personally,” she said seriously.
The other woman gave her such a look of gratitude and relief that Emma almost wanted to look away. But she met the gaze head on with a nod, then looked away when Kellen did, pretending she hadn't noticed the shine in the older woman’s gaze.
She chewed on her lip, doubts assaulting her. She would ask those with children to stick around the back, just in case, so it would be easier for them to get away. Brian might be a problem when it came to that, but he would probably listen to Kellen. The potential for danger was too great, and at least the children had to be saved, so the adults with guns would be at the fore front. She clenched her hand around the strap of the gun slung over her shoulder.
Hopefully, even if they did run into trouble, it wouldn’t be the kind that didn’t mind hurting children. She watched Kellen bounce her baby in her arms as she fussed, and vowed to herself that she would protect them like they were her own. She might not know the youngest as well as she did their five year old daughter, who she’d been babysitting for years, but she was still a child. Karen’s kids, too, even though they were both much older.
Somehow, things just had to work out.
They came out of the forest area, finally, and found stretches of cornfield. They all stopped and stared for a moment, most of them with jaws dropped. When had any of them ever seen so much food in one place? The corn stalks were so tall that as close to them as they were, they couldn’t even see houses beyond them.
Emma was elated, more than even. This was the first time they’d come across food in several days, and with the food rationing they were doing, they were all hungry.
“Let’s all pick some and get our strength up,” Emma suggested. They could even carry some, in case they had to go further, but there was only so much they could fit in with their luggage.
However, as they went to pick some of the veg, a man with a gun crept towards them through the corn. Emma heard him before she saw him, though the others must have been too excited to pay much mind. She held
her hand up sharply, stopping them in their tracks, then swung her gun around so she held it in both hands, but aimed at the ground.
He didn’t seem to have a problem with aiming his gun right at them, and Emma practically heard everyone behind her freeze. Thankfully, she didn’t hear any rustling that meant someone was reaching for their weapons. They all had rifles like her, though a couple had shot guns, and there were some handguns scattered among them, but nowhere near as handy. In full view of the man, he could easily take it as their being hostile, and he would likely shoot before giving a warning. There was a standoff where none of them moved, then his eyes met Emma’s and held, probably because she was the one in the lead.
“What is your business here?” he asked gruffly.
Emma felt hope stir in her chest. While he was pointing a gun at them, and she didn’t doubt for a second that he would shot them, he didn’t look hostile like the people from the last town. His gaze was blank, but he wasn’t outright glaring, and Emma thought he would at least hear them out.
“We’re sorry to be trespassing, sir,” she said, and licked her lips, her heart beating fast in her chest in excitement. She explained, “We’ve been walking through these woods, and we’re all hungry and tired, and are hoping to find a place to stay. We don’t mean to trouble you.”
She caught her breath in her throat, holding back the words that wanted to spill. Emma would have gladly gone down on her knees and begged, and she didn’t doubt the others behind her would do much the same thing.
He didn’t say anything for a while, and his eyes went back to looking over their groups. He noticed they were all holding weapons.
“Are you all handy with those weapons of yours, or are you just carrying them around?”
Emma said, “We’ve had some experience, since the EMP strike happened.”
She wasn’t sure if that was true for all of them, but definitely most of them. Just like her, some of the people currently behind her probably hadn’t held a gun before in their lives, until they had to.
There was another short silence, before the man lowered his gun slightly, his stance relaxing. He aimed at the ground, like she did.
“You can stay with me if you help out on the farm and guard my crops,” he finally said.
It took Emma a second for the words to register, and her eyes widened, before they were stinging with tears of relief she wouldn’t let fall. Instead, she took several steps forward, letting of her gun so it hung off her shoulder again, and watched as the man switched the gun to one hand, anticipating what she was doing.
“We have a deal,” she said, and he fully lowered the gun so they could shake hands.
“My name’s Harry. All of you, follow me and I’ll take you up to the house,” he invited.
Emma was pretty sure she felt the collective relief as they all followed.
Chapter Nine:
Harry and Emma stood in front of his house, looking out at his farmland.
Her heart still hadn't settled. The situation was so surreal, when she thought of where they had been not moments before. In spite of her hope, and trying to bring everyone else’s spirits up, the doubts nearly did her in.
The moment she set her eyes on the food, all she could think was that they were saved. She had been so happy to have food right in front of them, because she’d been glad that the people behind her hadn't followed her for no good reason. They got food out of it!
But in that moment, they had been wide open, and she hadn't been paying enough attention. Sure, she had been the one to hear and see Harry first when he approached them, but... what if it had been too late?
She knew now that he hadn’t had the intention of harming them, if they didn’t try to harm him, as well. He was a lonely old man, with a lot of food and space for just one person that he couldn’t even completely protect on his own. Yet he had not only tried but succeeded on his own for a while before they came.
At the time, though, there had been no way to know that. Emma got careless, and if he had been any other kind of person, a few of them might have died before he bothered to hear them out. She didn’t know what to thank for the man’s kindness, and if it was God, then she would gladly do so. Because this... with this, all their worries weren’t gone, but most of them were, the important ones.
Emma could have cried, and she didn’t even fully know what was holding her back.
“So,” Harry finally said. “How long have you all been out on your own? No offense, young lady, but you do not look well.”
Emma laughed, only it was a weak, breathy thing, and her breath hitched in her throat half way, cutting it off.
When was the last time someone called her ‘young lady?’ she remembered her own grandmother calling her that sometimes, when Emma was being difficult, but that had been ages ago, long before Emma was the breadwinner of the family. Thinking of her grandmother brought a sting of tears to her eyes, and she felt Janice would have liked to know Harry.
Oh, grandma, she thought. I wish you could have been here.
Emma could even picture it, but there was no way, even had she been alive, her grandmother could have fared well on the trip they’d had. Emma would have been sure to leave her to guard their cars with Merry, and fi she’d received a blow to the head...
Well. No use thinking about it. Her grandmother was already gone. Emma was supposed to learn to let go and heal, after all, not start having delusions.
“Can you believe I don’t really know?” she finally answered. Her voice low. “It feels like a long time... and I got to sleep through most of it while we travelled by car, but... it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks,” she said, surprising herself with the low number.
It was less than a week with the cars, she thought. Then the days they’d spent stranded, beside a working car with a flat wheel, her sister injured. Then the day and a half walking through the woods...
“You’re not from around here, huh,” he muttered, and nodded. “I figured you weren’t. But how did you end up all the way out here?”
Emma smiled wryly. “That... isn’t quite a long story,” she said softly, sucking in a quiet breath.
“Painful one?” he guessed.
Emma took a moment, then nodded slowly. “Yeah, you could say that.”
She didn’t think she would ever get over that, not for a while. Especially now that things had settled for the rest of them. It was bad of her, but Emma hoped they met with some misfortune, or at least part of them regretted what they’d done. But no, really, regret wasn’t worth much if it didn’t come with a lot of pain. Even if they struggled with the decision, they still ran and left Emma and her group to suffer, so she had zero sympathy for them.
There was no way for her to find out their fates, they were probably in another state already with how long they’d been gone, if all the fuel they had even got them that far. And, though she hated to think they were living in luxury, she liked to think they hadn't let the food that had belonged to her family go to much waste.
She could think that now, allow that small mercy, because she had a feeling, with Harry’s help—and he seemed very open to sharing—their starvation problem would be gone for quite a while.
“Anyway,” she continued. “We decided to walk through the forest, because we thought it was safer than using the road, just in case. Our numbers are reduced, but not bad. We walked most of the day yesterday, we barely had any food left and the children were all growing so weak... we were lucky to find your farm.”
“Others?” he repeated.
Emma had hoped he wouldn’t catch that, but that he focused on it specifically... she had a feeling he wouldn’t let go until he had the whole story from her. When she thought of it like that, she knew he deserved that much for offering them his home, but she wasn’t ready to just come out with it, either.
“There were, others,” she said, voice clipped. “They left.”
“Ah.” Harry nodded like he understood, and he probably di
d.
It wasn’t exactly a big leap to take.
She glanced over her shoulder when she heard something from inside. Harry didn’t even twitch.
The others were inside already. There was food in the house already, so they didn’t have to take anything from the farm yet. She had waited, and she wasn’t entirely sure why.
But she did know that she wanted to talk to Harry. She wanted to talk to someone, and while Chase was always there for her, and a lot of the other people in her group would have been just as fine for her to speak to, but...
There was something different about speaking to Harry. For one, there was no overprotectiveness like with Chase that had him trying to comfort her with every word Emma felt... that she needed to have everything out so her heart could calm down.
Besides that, there was also her curiosity. She wanted to know why anyone would so willingly open their house to strangers in these times, especially when they were all armed, and even though they had children with them. He’d easily turned his back on them to lead them to the house, and they would have shot him in the back and take everything for themselves.
Emma didn’t want to believe it, but she thought some of the guys in her group had even thought about it. If it had been any of the guys that left them behind... she wondered if they would have done it.
Best not to think about it, she decided, and threw it into the corner of her mind she was letting things better not thought of stay.
“It probably wasn’t easy, but, I’m sure you did good out there. I can tell by the group you brought in. and you, right in the front, ready to protect them all. That was really something.”
Emma smiled awkwardly at the praise. She didn’t really think she deserved it. She was just doing her part, considering they were where they were, partly because of decisions that she made. Even though it meant they were there, alive, it still counted. But that wasn’t the only thing that had Emma feeling a little uncomfortable.
