The Sanctuary

by Sara Elizabeth Santana

  “Zoey. Zoey, wake up.”

  I bolted up, reaching for my gun before remembering that I’d left it in its holster in the bathroom. I swore under my breath; I was usually never this careless. I had grown accustomed to not carrying a weapon around with me at all times. I looked around and saw Astrid standing in the doorway. She was gripping the doorway, tightly, her eyes wide in anxiety. She looked smaller, clad only in a large t-shirt that hit her right above the knees.

  “What’s going on?” I whispered to her, pushing the blankets off of my legs and sliding out of bed.

  “There are people outside,” she whispered back, chewing the end of her braid nervously.

  My heart stopped in my chest and I looked at her, in shock. “What? Who? How many?”

  She shook her head. “It was hard to see, but I didn’t recognize them and I couldn’t tell what they were wearing. There’s only three, maybe four, but I don’t know for sure.”

  I nodded, feeling the adrenaline running like currents in my veins. I pushed past her, tiptoeing to the bathroom across the hall, grabbing my gun. I already felt better having it in my hands. “Go wake up Liam. Quietly.” I wondered for a moment why she hadn’t woken him up first. Surely they had shared the same bed last night.

  Astrid must have read my mind. “I couldn’t sleep. I haven’t really been sleeping well since…” she trailed off, but she didn’t need to finish. I knew exactly what she meant. “I didn’t want to disturb Liam so I was on the couch and that’s when I heard them. I was on my way to his room but then they sounded like they were closer to the house so I ducked into your room.”

  I nodded. “Go wake him up. I’m going to go check it out.” She nodded a few times in response and stopped chewing her braid, letting it fall back over her shoulder. She disappeared.

  I turned to the front of the house, suddenly very glad that it was dark – that we had no access to lights, and therefore, had none on to attract attention. I crept down the hallway, wincing at every noise I made. Every creak seemed to echo in the silence and I understood why Astrid had been terrified to take the few extra steps to the room where she and Liam had set themselves up.

  The curtains were closed in the front room, and I was immediately grateful. I crept closer, and stopped when voices floated through the walls and into the house. Whoever they were, they were unconcerned about keeping their voices down and I realized they probably thought the house was unoccupied. This was a good sign and worked in our advantage. Either they would move on, unaware that we were here, or we’d be way more prepared for them than they would be for us.

  I moved even closer to the window, wishing that the curtains weren’t so dark so that I could see through. I took another deep breath, my trembling fingers reaching for the edge of the fabric and pulling it aside just enough so that I could peek through with one eye.

  I could see three dark shapes, all of them fairly tall. They were dressed in dark clothes, not that it would have mattered much. The only light present was from the moon and it barely allowed enough light for me to see them. It let me see enough though.

  All three of them carried weapons.

  I let the curtain fall back in place and stepped back. The best thing for these strangers was to walk away, to not come anywhere near the house and to move on, but I didn’t know what the likelihood of that was. If they were just people traveling through, they might not want to pass up the opportunity to scavenge for whatever this house had to offer. We had locked the door behind us when we came in, but locks weren’t going to stop anyone. Not these days.

  Liam came up from behind me, his hand at my waist in warning. I jumped and glanced over my shoulder at him. His rifle was clutched tightly in his hands, locked and loaded. He was ready. Astrid was a few feet behind him, looking nervous, but set. She had a knife in her hand. I was confused at where she could have possibly gotten it, but when it glistened in the light, I saw it looked like a cooking knife and I realized she had probably stolen it from the kitchen. This girl never failed to impress me.

  Liam moved forward, his steps careful as he reached for the curtain, pulling it aside slightly. His brow furrowed as he studied the people outside who continued to talk amongst each other. Their voices carried but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. Liam pushed the curtain further aside, looking confused, and I glanced back at Astrid, who looked as dismayed as I felt.

  “Oh my god,” Liam said, and I flinched at the volume. He was speaking normally, as if we weren’t trying to hide from three armed strangers right outside our door. “Kris. Erik.”

  He moved past me, toward the door and I looked at him in shock, when he flung the door open and went sprinting down the front steps.

  Astrid and I both looked at each other in shock and went sprinting after him.

  THE THREE STRANGERS had immediately drawn their weapons and they had them pointed at us. My gun was in my hands, pointed at them. Astrid appeared at my side, her knife clutched tightly in her small hand. She looked fierce and ready, and I was glad to have her by my side. The only person who didn’t have their weapon ready was Liam. He was staring at the trio, his eyes wide with shock.

  Now that we were closer, I could see them better. They were young, much younger than I had expected. They could not have been more than a year or two older than me, and they looked hard and tough but not an immediate danger, despite the three guns pointed in my face. There were two guys and one girl, and they were looking back and forth between the three of us. Their glances passed over Astrid and me easily but they all paused, their faces paling, when they landed on Liam.

  The girl spoke first. “No way. Liam?”

  “Kris?” he asked, hesitantly. He was staring at the girl as if he wasn’t quite sure what he was seeing.

  The girl’s face broke out in a huge grin, startling me enough that I dropped my gun, slightly. The guy to her right was smiling as well. They exchanged looks and then approached Liam in unison. I raised my gun again and nearly dropped it when the two of them embraced Liam and…he embraced them right back.

  “Oh…” Astrid said, softly. “They’re from Hoover.”

  Comprehension flitted through my brain and I lowered my gun completely. “Well, shit.”

  The two strangers stepped back from Liam, who was grinning widely. The third moved forward to clap Liam on the back, though they didn’t look nearly as chummy as the first two. All four of them turned to Astrid and me and the girl’s eyebrows rose, her grin widening. I suddenly remembered that I was wearing no bra, and that Astrid was only wearing an overlarge t-shirt.

  “You have quite a situation going on here, don’t you, Liam?” Amusement colored the girl’s voice.

  Liam rolled his eyes. “Guys, this is Kris, Erik and Nathan. They’re from that group I told you about, Hoover. This is Zoey and Astrid.”

  Erik’s smile grew wider and knowing. “Oh, so this is Zoey…”

  Astrid groaned but there was a smile on her face. “Always Zoey, isn’t it?” She nudged me playfully, her hand reaching for Liam’s. I shook my head, my eyes meeting Kris’s. She was looking at me, sympathetically, and I wanted to tell her, no, no it wasn’t like that but it would bring up Ash and I wasn’t ready for that.

  “What happened, man? You disappeared and then your mom decided to leave us for Sanctuary. We all thought you were dead,” Nathan spoke up. His voice was low and soft, unexpected for someone as large as him.

  Liam shook his head. “Still alive, last time I checked.” He gave a brief rundown of his time spent at Sekhmet and how he had ended up at Sanctuary. He left out a lot of details, sticking to the important stuff, but he definitely left out the point about Astrid being pregnant. She looked over at me and I shrugged, knowing that Liam would have his reasons.

  “This is all fine and dandy but anyway, we can go inside this house of yours?” Kris asked, looking over her shoulder. “I really don’t like just hanging around. You never know what’s hanging out in the dark.”

  “Yeah, of cou
rse,” I said, quickly. “Come in.”

  The six of us made our way back into the house. I fumbled around for the candles that I found earlier and lit a few, placing them on the table in the dining room. We gathered around it, though no one made a move to sit down. Everyone seemed to be weighing each other up, unsure of what to do.

  “What are you guys doing out here, by yourselves?” Liam finally asked, ending the uncomfortable silence.

  “Scouting. There have been more Awakened in the last couple months, more so than usual and Greg has been reluctant to keep moving. You never know when you’re going to run into a group and we just don’t have the numbers to take them on,” Erik explained, sounding tired. “A few at a time, sure. But the numbers we’ve seen have been overwhelming. So Greg usually sends out a small team before we move on.”

  Liam nodded. “You guys are awfully close to Sanctuary.”

  Kris shrugged. “We figured that place was safe. We don’t much agree with hiding in a hole in the ground but we can’t deny that they have the numbers, so we’ve been thinking of trying to settle nearby for the time being. Awakened don’t get over that way much.”

  I snorted and all eyes turned to me. “You’re a little out of the loop. Awakened have been attacking quite often lately.”

  Kris’s eyes grew wide and she looked over to Liam for confirmation. When he made a face, she swore. “What the hell?”

  Astrid, Liam and I exchanged looks and I sighed. “So here’s the thing…” I proceeded to tell the three of them about Sekhmet, about the creation of the Awakened, about Razi’s purpose, about my escape, everything except Astrid’s pregnancy and Ash’s current kidnapped state.

  Kris whistled, looking slightly overwhelmed. “Well then.” Her eyes met Liam’s and then she glanced back at the two of us. She was tall, looming over both of us. Astrid was tiny but I had always thought I was a good size. Everything about Kris was large. She was tall, broad shoulders, long limbs, but it all combined for a beautiful Amazonian look. Her blonde hair was short, chopped unevenly, and there was a tint of some faded color at the ends.

  She noticed me looking and smirked. “You’ve gotten yourself into some trouble, Liam.” She indicated toward the two of us and I rolled my eyes. “Last time you were with us, you were with your parents. Now you have two pretty girls with you.”

  Astrid was studying Kris, carefully, and Liam looked uncomfortable. I started to laugh. Everyone looked at me in surprise. I was pretty sure that every girl here had kissed Liam and it was funny to me that even in this mess, there could still be this kind of awkwardness. My laugh grew louder and suddenly, before I knew it, before I could even prevent it, I had burst into hysterical tears. I covered my eyes with my hands, my heels digging in tight, as the tears spilled down my cheeks.

  There was a sudden movement and Astrid’s arms were around me. The crying only lasted a minute or two. I was starting to think that my tear supply was going to completely run out.

  “Sorry,” I said, my voice thick, when I managed to clear the tears from my eyes. I saw no judgment on their faces. Nathan, Erik and Kris were looking at me with one defining feature on their face: understanding. Even though they didn’t know the actual reason why I was crying, they still understood. They had seen bad things too.

  Nathan pulled his eyes away from me and looked over at Liam. “If you made it to Sanctuary, then why are you out here? Unless you were looking for us…”

  Liam shook his head. “The plan was to stay at Sanctuary, because Astrid…well, because it just seemed like the safest option. I had considered leaving Sanctuary to come back to Hoover but…yeah, circumstances. We’re actually on our way to Sekhmet…”

  The three of them recoiled and their voices overlapped in protest.

  “You’re crazy…”

  “What on earth are you thinking?”

  “Didn’t know you had a death wish, Liam…”

  “We have to,” Liam said, firmly. He looked over at me and a small smile passed over his features before he turned back to them. “They took one of our own. We’re going to get him back.”

  There was a long pause as the three of them took this piece of information in. Finally, Erik sighed. “You should come back with us to Hoover.”

  “No!” I protested, loudly. “I’m sure it’s safe. I’ve heard a lot about you guys, actually. But I can’t go there. I need to get to Sekhmet. I need to save Ash.”

  Kris raised her eyebrows, looking unsurprised, but I ignored her. I knew what she was probably thinking but I didn’t care. Ash was more than just my boyfriend. Ash was my family, the integral part of the small family that I had left.

  “I know,” Erik said and Kris shot a surprised look at him. “But you’re not going to do it by yourselves, not just the three of you, especially since that one is pregnant.”

  Astrid jumped as if physically shocked and her hands went protectively over her stomach. “How did you know?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” He looked around and we all just stared at him. His face flushed a little. “My sisters were always getting pregnant. I had about a thousand nieces and nephews. I guess I just know how to tell. You have a little weight in your stomach, and only your stomach.” He sighed. “And it’s not like people are eating that well nowadays. It was a guess, mostly.”

  The three of them looked at Liam but his face was set and they all hastily looked away.

  “The point is, you need help. You can’t do it on your own,” Erik said, his face still bright red. He avoided looking at both Liam and Astrid and focused on me instead. “So I think you guys should come back with us to Hoover.”

  Liam cleared his throat, his brow furrowed. “I don’t know that we’re going to get any help at Hoover…” he trailed off, looking unsure.

  Erik scratched the back of his head, studying all three of us. We looked positively spoiled next to them. We had all taken showers recently, had clean clothes and had been eating pretty well at Sanctuary. They looked well fed, but worn, tired, and dirty. They had lived hard the past year. “I don’t know that Greg will do anything. But I think it’s worth a try. And I’d hate to just let you guys break into Sekhmet – which is insane – without at least trying to get you help.”

  I considered that for a moment, shocked. Ash had been a member of the community at Sanctuary, a place sworn to protect its inhabitants and they had done nothing to prevent all the deaths that had occurred and they refused to lift a finger to get Ash back. Then there were these people, who I didn’t know at all, willing to help us out. A smile broke out across my face. “Well, let’s go then.”

  It took us no time at all to gather us back up again. We changed back into normal clothes, grabbed another pack from one of Bert’s closets. We took a few things from his house. Bert hadn’t said anything about returning but I didn’t want to take anything that he may need in the future. Nathan, Erik and Kris wandered around the house, looking around with varying degrees of emotions on their faces. I wondered when they had last seen a bed or any of that and I realized again how spoiled we were at Sanctuary.

  When we finally set out, the sun had risen and there was a heat beating down on us. I was grateful to be out of the black Sanctuary uniform. It had been so long since I’d been able to wear a pair of shorts, and the ones I’d pulled from the drawers had been soft and worn in. I tried my best not to think of Octavia wearing them before me.

  Liam and the Hoover kids talked back and forth for the entire trek to where Hoover was currently camping. Astrid and I stayed behind, trying to keep up as they climbed over rocks and fallen logs and led us through a few streams, one of which was up to my thighs, and nearly to Astrid’s waist. We stayed quiet as they talked about people neither of us had heard of. Liam looked more animated than I had ever seen him, reminding me of the Liam I met in the woods so many months ago, before the events at Sekhmet and Sanctuary had changed us all.

  It didn’t take us long to get Hoover. Kris explained that they were scouting ahead, looking for a
nother safe place for them to camp when they had run across the house. It was in the middle of nowhere, and looked intact, unlike a lot of other houses they’d run into and they’d debated breaking in before we had run out to meet them.

  We passed Hoover’s sentries first. Kris whistled, a series of short and long sounds that were answered in return before we could proceed forward. There were two older men, both who nodded at the three returning scouts. Their eyes went wide when they spotted the rest of us but they let us through without comment.

  I knew we had reached Hoover; there were voices right away, several all at once, all talking in hushed tones, like a low buzz. I spotted one tent followed by another and another and then there was a whole sea of tents. There were big ones and small ones. There were people everywhere. It was probably only close to roughly about fifty people but it seemed like more.

  They were spread out, all doing different things. There was a huge bonfire in the middle, where something large was tied up, emitting an incredible smell. People were milling about, bent over various tasks, like washing and mending clothes, tending to the children – children – that were running around and things like that.

  It looked like a community. A real actual live community of people living together. They weren’t just surviving. They were living. Several people sat in the openings of tents, conversing. People said hello as they passed each other. My eyes were wide as I took it all in. It felt real and alive. No one was avoiding eye contact or whispering. Despite the situation, despite everything that had gone on, they looked…happy. Taken care of. They were alive and aware of it and they were living those moments.

  Erik caught the awed look on my face and smiled. “Welcome to Hoover, Zoey.”

  BACK WHEN I lived in New York City, I used to make fun of tourists. You could always spot them right away. Their eyes would be wide and their jaws would be dragging along the dirty sidewalks. They’d be wearing the most ridiculous clothing as if trying to call attention to the fact that they weren’t from there. They took pictures of everything, and smiled way more than the average New Yorker did. They were the ones scratching their heads over the subway maps. They were the ones that overreacted, squealing and acting like they had never seen something that was relatively normal.