From the Shadows

by Jacqueline Brown

  “There’s a town, about a day from here,” I said. “We have friends there. They will accept you, and you will be protected.”

  “Where is the town?” Mrs. Tait asked.

  Jonah and I described how to find it and told them about our friends. They agreed it was their only real option.

  Sara and Juliette went to the house to help them pack whatever supplies they could. An hour later, they returned. Everyone carried some form of bag. Simon and the boy, James, who was their actual son, each pulled a wagon full of as many supplies as they could carry. On her back, in waterproof containers, Mrs. Tait carried heirloom seeds that would produce plants whose seeds would be good for planting season after season.

  She gave a small amount to Sara, who carefully sealed them in plastic baggies and distributed them among our packs. These were worth more than any other possession we had.

  Jonah noticed Mrs. Tait looking longingly at the onions, potatoes, turnips, radishes, and carrots planted in neat rows. He said, “When these plants are ready for harvest, maybe some of the townspeople will come with you to gather as many as you can.”

  “Yes,” she said wistfully.

  “He was never mean to us,” Mr. Tait said, as I watched the curly-haired boy. Sage had given him a torn rag to keep his face out of the dirt.

  “He did what he could to keep the rest of them from hurting us,” Mrs. Tait added.

  Simon came beside us. “What are you gonna do with those scavengers?” He asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Jonah answered, “but I think we’re going to leave them there. We don’t want to hurt them. We don’t want them following you or us, either.”

  “You think they’re gonna stay in our house?” a woman who stood beside Simon asked, her face angry, her arms folded across her chest.

  Jonah said, “The man is wounded and won’t be able to walk very well right now. So yeah, they’re probably going to stay here until they run out of food.”

  “Or until someone comes and takes it from them,” the woman said, the thought making her smile.

  “Yes, that might happen,” Jonah acknowledged.

  “Thank you for saving us,” James said. He reached down to give Juliette a hug. Juliette collapsed in sobs against his stained shirt.

  Mrs. Tait placed a hand on her back while the tears continued. She stayed like that for a long while, James holding her, enveloping her with kindness. Finally, she released him and picked up Astrea. Tears continued down her face until Astrea licked them, causing Juliette to stop crying.

  Mr. and Mrs. Tait each carried a gun. The rifle came from the scavengers, the pistol from us. I hoped they would make it to the town; I believed they would. We had seen few signs of people between here and there. If they kept to the woods like we told them to, they could be there by noon the next day.

  “Thank you,” Mr. Tait said, taking Jonah’s hand in his as his family started their journey.

  “Good luck,” Jonah said.

  “And you too,” Mr. Tait said, catching up to his wife.

  ***

  “What are we going to do with him?” Josh asked, talking about the curly-haired boy. Our backs were to the scavengers as we too, were preparing to leave this place.

  “They said he was kind to them,” I reminded him while lifting my pack onto my back.

  “So, what are you thinking?” Jonah asked.

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t seem fair to leave him tied to a tree like the others. He didn’t treat the Taits badly.”

  Blaise stood, ready to resume our journey. She said, “If he’s left free, he could untie them and they could come after us or the Taits.”

  Sage said, “We should take him with us.”

  “Take him with us?” Josh asked.

  “Why would we do that?” Blaise asked.

  “They are so mean to him,” Sage said.

  “The world is mean,” Blaise countered.

  “Yes,” Sage said, “but those are his parents. He told me so. Imagine being called those horrible things by your own mom.”

  Blaise blinked. She couldn’t imagine that. Her parents had always shown her love, never cruelty.

  “Sage, we can’t take him with us. He isn’t a lost puppy. He’s a human boy who needs to figure out his own life,” Sara said, holding Juliette’s hand.

  “He isn’t a boy. He’s my age and I’m not going to leave him here tied to a tree,” Sage retorted.

  The five of us exchanged a glance.

  Jonah took the knife from Juliette’s waist and went to the boy. “What’s your name?” he asked.

  The boy didn’t answer.

  “My son is too much of a coward to answer you,” the man said with a laugh. The others laughed with him.

  The boy closed his eyes and then opened them. “Hayden.”

  Jonah went behind the tree, cutting the rope effortlessly. He turned and knelt beside the young man. “Hayden, this is your life. Do with it what you wish.”

  Jonah stood and came to my side. “Let’s go,” he said to the rest of us.

  Sage lingered.

  “Come on,” Sara said, and Juliette slipped her fingers into Sage’s hand.

  Sage turned and followed us. Hayden remained sitting under the tree, his feet and hands tied.

  “Do you think he’ll untie the others?” I asked as we wove our way around the trees.

  “Maybe,” Jonah answered. “But Sage was right. He didn’t deserve to be tied to a tree. Besides, they’d be fools to come after us. And if they go after the Taits, East and Haz will take care of them.”

  Jonah was right. By the time Hayden untied himself and the others—if he did—the Taits would have a strong lead and we would too. There were more of us than them, and we were better fighters and better armed. They would not come for us.

  Nineteen

  The next day, the rains returned. The heavy spring rain would rejuvenate the thirsty earth, but it made walking miserable and cold. We ducked into the open bays of a service station. A car remained on the lift, as if waiting for the mechanic to come and finish her work. I doubted anyone had been there in months. Soon after the light, someone may have come to find food or supplies, but after that, nothing. Except for the rats that had made this place their home. When we ducked into the space, they scurried. Blaise shot the first with her crossbow. Jonah threw his spear for the second, and Blaise shot again for the third. They would join the squirrel Blaise killed before the rain started.

  Josh and Jonah retrieved the rats, sliding them off the arrows and spear. Blaise wiped the rat blood from the arrows with a garage towel. Once the fire was hot, she would heat the metal tips in the flames to kill whatever bacteria may be left behind and put the arrows back in the homemade quiver she carried on her hip.

  Josh used his knife to peel the fur from the rats and squirrel.

  I went to the edge of the garage, listening to the rain fall rhythmically onto an empty gas can. Though I knew the animals’ deaths meant I could live another day, I still felt like crying every time a limp furless body was brought to the fire. Jonah came beside me, washing his hands in the water that poured from the roof.

  “Are you okay?” he asked as the blood left his hands.

  “I’ll be fine,” I answered, turning back to my friends. By now the animals would be skinned. Josh was as efficient at cleaning the animals as Blaise was at killing them.

  Juliette and Sara each carried a wooden chair to a pile of grease-soaked rags. Jonah took the chair from Sara and smashed it hard against the concrete. It broke and splintered, creating the perfect firewood. One match was all we needed to create a blaze.

  Sara propped a piece of metal, something from a car, on top of the flames. A few minutes later, Josh splashed the metal with water. It instantly began to sizzle and we knew it was hot and sanitary enough to cook the meat.

  Astrea stood near us, gobbling the entrails that Josh had laid out for her. Blaise picked up the bones and fur and carried them to the bay entrance. After t
ossing them away, she rubbed her hands together to clean them as best she could in the falling rain. If we didn’t throw the bones and fur away, Astrea would eat them, and though she was born in the wild, she was not wild. Other canines—wolves and coyotes—ate the fur and some bones. We found it in their scat, but a pure-bred lab puppy was not the same as her wild cousins.

  “Look what I found in the bathroom,” Sage said, as she held up a green bar. “Soap.”

  “Really?” her sister exclaimed.

  Sage nodded. “And it’s raining,” she said, a broad smile crossing her face.

  The combination was a luxury we hadn’t had in weeks. We had each bathed once at the town, but that was in a muddy lake with soap that wasn’t as good as Nonie’s. It had been since the night Trent attacked me that I last had an actual shower.

  “Do you think it’s safe enough?” Sara asked.

  “Safe enough for me,” Sage said. She strode toward the open wall, pulling layers of clothing from her body.

  Jonah turned toward the fire, while she stepped, dancing, mostly naked into the falling rain. The car suspended in midair blocked her body; only her calves and thighs were visible from where we sat, but I could tell she was dancing as she showered.

  “Girls first,” Blaise said, skipping toward Sage, stripping as she went.

  Josh moaned and turned away as his wife entered the water. Jonah chuckled, but he remained staring at the fire. Sara stood and pulled Juliette up with her. I sat, awkwardly tapping my foot, not knowing what to say or do. The thought of being naked so close to Jonah made me feel different things, none of which had to do with bathing. Josh peeked up at me and mouthed, “Go.” He was right; I needed to get clean.

  I stood, saying nothing, slipping off my shoes as I went. I glanced behind me as I neared the edge of the garage. Jonah lifted his head upward, but never turned it toward us. Neither did Josh. They were content to watch the cooking rodents. I lifted my shirt above my head and stepped into the streaming wall of wetness.

  The water was freezing, but the smell of the soap invigorating. I lifted my hands to my scalp and felt the long soft scar, and Trent’s eyes filled my thoughts. Memories of being in his shower, of blood turning the water red, of knowing he would kill me, flooded my mind. I stepped back, breathing heavily. The water poured down on my friends as I stood against the car, telling myself over and over again that I was safe.

  “Are you okay?” Blaise asked, taking the soap from my hand to wash her shirt.

  I nodded. She handed me the soap, and I stepped into the rain, my body shivering. Again, the memories came—of the cold water pelting my skin. My heart raced as panic threatened to overwhelm me. I felt the urge to run, escape. It made no sense, but my mind was shutting down, seized by the memories.

  I felt warmth on my arm. Juliette’s hand was there. She was holding me, staring into my eyes. Did she know what I was thinking, of the panic rising within me? She exaggerated her own breath, as if telling me to breathe.

  I inhaled and exhaled, focusing on the warmth of her hand. After a minute or two, I was calmer.

  “Thanks,” I whispered. I finished washing myself as the others were stepping back into the garage.

  “Now, really, don’t look,” Blaise called out, stripping the remainder of her clothes off so she could pull on dry ones from her bag.

  I longed for a towel while I pulled the clean dry clothes over my wet skin. As much as I liked being clean, I hated that feeling. There was no room in my pack for a towel. We lay our wet clothes on the edges of the lift, hoping they would be dry enough to stuff into our packs in the morning.

  “Our turn,” Josh said, handing Astrea’s leash to his wife. “No peeking,” he said, kissing her passionately before he walked away.

  “I make no promises,” she called as he pulled his shirt over his body.

  Jonah stood, avoiding my glance, and went toward Josh. I watched him longer than I should have, his back muscles mesmerizing me as he pulled the shirt over his head. He turned and saw me watching him. My face flushed as a wisp of a smile appeared on his lips. Then he stepped behind the lift and a moment later I could see his bare calves.

  The fire was warm and comforting after the frigid water.

  Sara flipped the meat. “It’s almost done,” she said.

  “The guys are taking a long time,” Blaise said. We turned, looking under the lift, but saw nothing.

  I jumped from my seat, grabbing Quint’s pistol.

  “Where are they?” Blaise screamed in panic as she ran beside me.

  At the edge of the garage we saw them, about a hundred yards away, boxer shorts clinging to their rain-soaked bodies, a person between them. Jonah’s hand on the back of the person’s neck forced him forward. We pointed our weapons. Staring down the sights of the pistol, I recognized the large doe-eyes of the curly-haired boy from the farm. His curls forced down by the rain.

  Jonah pushed Hayden into the garage. He crouched, dripping, against the wall and held his hands over his head.

  “Were you watching them?” Josh screamed, fists clenched, going towards the boy.

  Never before had I seen Josh so angry; never before had he caught someone watching his wife shower.

  “Were you? Were you?” Josh demanded.

  Hayden sat, shaking. “N-n-no, no,” he said.

  “Josh, calm down,” Blaise said, placing a hand on his arm.

  “He was out there while you were, while you all were …”

  “I know,” she said.

  “I promise, I didn’t watch them,” Hayden said.

  “Then why were you there?” Jonah said, still seething. His chest was heaving, his arms flexed, rain dripping from his hair and boxers.

  “I-I’ve been following you,” he answered.

  “Why?” Josh yelled.

  “Josh, stop it,” Blaise said.

  “Where else can I go?” Hayden screamed back, the water dripping from his hair and clothes.

  His eyes were red. If he had been crying, it would’ve been impossible to tell. And in that moment the anger surrounding the boy shifted to pity.

  Sage stepped forward. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”

  “A while,” Hayden answered.

  “Come with us,” Sara said, offering him her hand to help him stand.

  “Wait, you’re just bringing him in? What about the others he was with? What if they are out there, watching us, waiting to attack?” Josh asked, his voice raised but no longer yelling.

  “I’m alone,” Hayden said. “I’ve always been alone.”

  Twenty

  “I’ve never seen anyone fall asleep that fast,” Jonah said, glancing at Hayden sleeping in the corner, while the rest of our friends prepared for the night.

  “My dad,” I said.

  “What?” he asked. He reached up, placing his hands on the metal door of the garage.

  “Right after I found my dad, or he found me, he fell asleep as soon as we got on Talin. He’d been walking for days, afraid to sleep.” I remembered the feel of the bones in his back and shoulders when I hugged him. “I bet Hayden hasn’t slept since he was at the farm.”

  “You’re probably right. Sleeping alone in the woods at night is dangerous. He could run the risk of losing our trail too,” Jonah said, rolling the large garage door down. Rust breaking away against his strength. One of the windows was missing, which was perfect to keep the smoke from filling the garage. Jonah slid a metal rod into the base of the garage door and I did the same on the other side.

  Blaise and Josh were curled up beside one another, a few old newspapers between their hips and the concrete. They had chosen a spot toward the back of the garage, where the concrete wasn’t as stained by oil. Juliette lay beside them, wrapped around Astrea. Astrea wouldn’t stay in that position—she never did—but she waited until Juliette was asleep before getting up and lying beside whoever was on watch. She was still a puppy, yet her instincts were good. She knew her job was to be our eyes and ear
s in the dark. Sara and Sage each lay on one side of her. Almost every night, at least one of them cried out for their mother. It didn’t matter if I was on watch or asleep, I heard them.

  The fire burned brightly with the last of the wooden chairs and would offer them plenty of heat for the first several hours.

  “Are you sure you want to stay up with me?” I asked when Jonah carried our packs and weapons into the glass office of the garage.

  “Hmm. Alone time with you or sleep. It’s not a difficult decision,” he said, taking his blood-stained seminary sweatshirt from my pack and handing it to me.

  I blushed as I pulled it on, as I did every night to keep the chill and dew from my skin. Though there would be no dew tonight, thanks to the shelter of the garage.

  Jonah chose a spot on the thin, frayed carpet where we could see out the windows, while keeping most of our bodies hidden by the metal desk that filled much of the space. I sat beside him, Quint’s gun resting against my leg. My head leaned on Jonah’s shoulder.

  “Do you know what this reminds me of?” I asked.

  “The night in the barn,” he said.

  “How did you know?” I raised my head so I could see the shadows of his face.

  “It reminds me of the same thing, except we’re not alone, we’re not freezing, and Fulton and Talin aren’t poisoned.”

  “I miss them,” I said, allowing my voice to show some of the sadness I felt.

  “I do too.” He kissed the top of my head. “And everyone else.”

  “What do you think my dad and your family are doing right now?” I asked.

  “Sitting in the family room, a warm fire burning, reading a Bible story to Quinn and JP,” he said.

  That’s what they did every night. Charlotte said that’s how she put her kids to bed and she wasn’t going to change that, no matter what had blown up in the sky.

  “What do you think they’ll say when they find out East stayed?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to think about that. It will destroy my mom and dad and grandmother and Quinn,” he said, lifting his head toward the ceiling.