I looked at the back of the head of the woman in front of me. Margie's hair was wrapped in a tight bun with hardly a stray hair. I looked around for her husband, Robert. He was in his kayak, sticking close to the food canoe. Constantly accusing people of eating too much, he cautioned the supplies wouldn't last nearly long enough. He was probably right, but in a world with no modern conveniences, the sooner we learned to live off the land, the better.
"She's a good sleeper," Margie said, looking back at Bee.
"It's the water." I smiled. "Practically puts me to sleep every afternoon."
Margie pulled her oar out of the water and laid it across her lap. Ahead of the pack, we could spare a break. I kept mine in just to steer.
She turned around so we were facing each other. "Had you been on the river long before reaching us?"
I shook my head. "Not really. We came from West Virginia. It has been quite the goose chase, looking for Micah."
The hollow feeling grew in my chest every time I mentioned his name. It must have shown on my face. Margie asked, "Her father?"
"Yes." I didn't hesitate. Not by blood, but by all rights, at least in my opinion. "How was Micah, when you saw him?"
"He seemed…distracted. Perhaps even conflicted. Very antsy. Gave us the feeling there wasn't much time left."
"Until what?"
Margie shrugged. "We don't know. He never actually said."
I frowned. As far as I was concerned the worst already happened. Shawn's EMP went off, throwing much of the world back into the dark ages. One Less was quick to shut down any signs of progress. He still had to be stopped, but I was not sure what else Shawn could be up to, besides maintaining status quo.
Bee's snoring caused us both to look down.
"My daughter used to…" Margie trailed off.
That’s interesting.
"You have a daughter?" Bobby was the only one introduced as their child. It dawned on me, "Oh. You had a daughter," I said, in a much softer voice.
She nodded.
"I'm sorry," I said. I wasn't going to be making any friends by bringing up people's dead children.
She took a deep breath, and stretched out her neck. "Robert and I only recently got married. I did it more out of necessity than anything else. He is a good…protector. Well – at least until you scorched his arrows." The corner of her mouth turned up in a teasing smile. "Anyway," she continued, "Bobby’s my stepson. My husband of fifteen years, and my eight-year-old daughter, both died after Daybreak."
"Were they on a plane?" I remembered the one that had almost fallen on us, right outside the caves in Kentucky.
She shook her head. "No. We all got sick. Some kind of infection. I survived; they didn't. It was long enough after Daybreak that the pharmacies and hospitals had been wiped clean. Medicine was horded by those hoping to profit. I gave away everything I had, including my body, to try to get what they needed. Problem was, I had no idea what would help. I didn't find out fast enough."
My mouth hung open. Here she was, losing her family because there was no medicine to cure what might have been a basic infection, and we complained about no running water. "I'm so sorry," I said again. There really wasn't much else to say.
"It's not your fault," she said, looking down again at Bee. Little did she realize, it was my fault. Partially, anyway. I had the power to stop Shawn, but I had gotten there too late. My stomach lurched. I didn’t want to be in this canoe anymore, sitting face to face with a woman whose husband and child I had killed.
I looked up at her again, for the first time seeing the subtle red streaks in her hair. I imagined them on a little girl in pigtails. Acid rose up into my throat. I leaned over the side and threw up. The edge of the boat tipped dangerously close to the surface of the river. Margie threw her weight to the other side to compensate, rocking the canoe even further. There was a split second of heart-stopping realization, and then we were all tossed into the icy Ohio River.
I reached for Bee, latching on and squeezing as tight as I could. We went under, but my head popped above the surface almost right away. I pulled with my arms, dragging Bee's weight up. Several agonizing seconds later, the bag of potatoes my arms were wrapped around came up.
"SUSAN!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I heard splashes and shouting above the ring of panic in my ears. Susan was already in the water, by my side. She paused, closing her eyes and concentrating. Without a word, she jumped, piked her body and dove under. I tried to follow, but the water was murky. The sight of Susan's kicking feet disappeared in no time.
I came up for air. Margie hadn't resurfaced either. A horrible thought hit me. What if she did know how responsible I was for her husband’s and child's deaths, and she was seeking revenge?
Without thinking, I sent blasts of air into the river. They were strong enough to create large but temporary divots in the water. There was still no sign of Bee – or Susan or Margie. I continued to tread water, shooting more divots and pulling at the river.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex's canoe pass. He searched the water, then paddled forward and searched again.
"You dumped a quarter of our food!" Robert's gruff voice was just behind me. "And my wife!"
My lip curled in a snarl. I shot another hole in the river, trying to tune him out.
I scanned the river. A few of our supplies had popped up to the surface, much further downstream. Despite the calm surface, the undertow was strong. It was possible Bee had gotten picked up by it. Alex was still in his canoe. He threw his oar into the boat, and reached down into the water, grabbing at something.
Robert continued pestering me. "You want to throw me in too? How can we follow you? How can we trust you? You have no idea what you are doing." He angled his kayak so the tip of it moved in front of me.
The river pushed me into the side of his boat. I put my hands on it, trying to pull my head far enough out of the water to see what was happening.
Alex had come up with Susan, who held a limp Bee in her arms.
"Hey!" Robert yelled. "Get off." He raised his paddle, aiming at my already slippery grasp of the side of his boat.
I pulled, yanking on his kayak. As the edge submerged, I ripped the paddle from his hand. Robert went upside down just as the river turned rough, reacting to my energy. I got pulled under without having the chance to suck in air first. My body somersaulted until I was so disoriented I didn't know which way was up.
Bee would have never been able to hold her breath through this. My elbow hit hard rock. I forced my feet against it and pushed off. I swam until my mouth breached the surface. I got a quick glance of Alex's canoe, now parallel to me. He already had a bag valve mask out.
"Bee!" I managed to shout until I got sucked back under. I floundered around again. My limbs were growing tired and refusing to do what I wanted. I didn't go nearly so deep this time, and popped up again without hitting the bottom first. Now the canoe was upstream from me. Susan leaned over Bee. I could see water particles being pulled from her mouth and returning to the river. Could her tiny lungs even hold that much water and still function afterward?
Another surge of adrenaline hit me. I tapped into the air element, weaving a windstorm just above my head. Clouds rolled in, thundering at the disturbance in the atmosphere. I raised my arms and lifted myself from the river. It required more control than I had ever used with the air element; ten times as much as I used with Robert's arrows.
Water dripped as I flung my body forward. It was a hard landing in Alex's canoe, but he and Susan managed to keep it upright. I turned to see Bee's blue lips, water still trickling from them.
"That's enough," Alex said to Susan. "Let me do the chest compressions again."
I was frozen still, too scared to move. My unfortunate reaction to facing down my worst nightmare. Susan and Alex were focused, determined to bring Bee back to life. Alex placed his hands at her sternum and pushed, counting out loud. "One, two, three."
Susan squeezed the bag valve mask, f
orcing air into her lungs.
"One, two, three."
In contrast to my frozen over limbs, my stomach felt like it was on fire. It grew as I stared at Bee's blue lips, obscured when Susan placed the mask back over them.
"One, two, three," Alex said again, his voice cracking.
The fire reached my chest now, and my cheeks were going hot.
One, two, three. I counted inside my head with Alex, willing him not to give up. Too much time had passed. The fire was molten hot, consuming me.
"You bitch, are you trying to kill everybody?!" Robert yelled, bobbing up and down on the other side of the river.
I released my fire directly above his head at a tree on the bank. The tree cracked and fell forward into the river. Robert went under just before the tree hit. The huge wake rocked our canoe. We all came a few inches off the seats, including Bee. When she landed, a splash of water was forced from her lungs and she began coughing.
Alex rolled her on her side, patting her back. "There, there," he said. "Get it all out."
As soon as she had the breath, she began to cry. I dropped to my knees, my eyes also brimming with tears. Across from me, a drenched Susan sat back, hands shaking.
Alex pulled out several blankets and wrapped all three of us, then retrieved his oar and steered us toward the bank. I glanced back. Robert clung to the fallen tree trunk; both making quick progress down the river. Beyond him, on the opposite shore, I spotted Margie pulling herself up onto the bank. She turned just in time to see her husband go floating past, still cursing me. She shook her head, then placed her hand on the ground beside her. Seconds later, vines tumbled down from branches hanging over the water. Robert and his trunk became tangled. His forward momentum stopped until another canoe could catch up and retrieve him.
Before I could look back at Margie, we were jolted forward as our canoe hit land. Alex helped us each out; we all shook with exhaustion and cold. Bee's crying had subsided. She clung to my neck, hiccupping. Susan and I stood, side by side, saying nothing while Alex tied up the boat then started a fire. Half of the rest of the convoy pulled up on our side of the river; half on the other.
Alex intercepted them as they came ashore, keeping them clear of us despite their concern to see if we were ok. He suggested everyone start setting up camp for the night. We sat around a fire, bare under blankets while our clothes dried nearby. Alex passed out portions for dinner, but I was too upset to eat. Bee was ravenous; she finished mine for me.
An hour later, the sun sank behind the trees and Bee fell asleep in my lap. My eyes had barely left the fire since Alex built it. Alex was still running around, setting up camp, getting people organized, and making sure boats and supplies were secure. Once it was full dark, he sat down at the fire beside me and Susan.
He poked at the fire, glancing up at us. "Everyone okay?"
No one answered. He addressed us individually, "Susan?"
"I'm fine," she said, tight-lipped.
Was she mad? I suppose she had every right to be. She was hard at work saving my child while I was busy flying around, knocking down trees, and dumping more people in the river.
"Kaitlyn?"
"Huh?" I said. My eyes flitted from Susan over to Alex.
"You okay?" he asked.
I looked down at Bee, and pulled the blanket tighter around her. "I'm not getting back in the river until we get her a lifejacket."
"Agreed," said Alex and Susan at the same time.
More silence, and more poking at the fire.
"Did you eat anything?" Susan asked Alex.
"No. I'm going to take a canoe across the river; make sure the camp over there has everything they need."
"Eat something first," she said. It wasn't a suggestion; it was an order.
"Yes, ma'am." Alex stood up and went over to another fire they were using to cook food.
Susan picked up Alex's stick and assumed fire duty.
I stared into the glowing coals. "Susan…"
She paused poking.
"I just wanted to say…that if anything ever happens to me—"
"Don't," she interrupted.
I glanced at her.
"There isn't any need to have that conversation because nothing is going to happen to any of us. Micah, Alex, you, Bee, and me. We're all going to be just fine."
It really was wishful thinking, considering I was thrown into the mix.
I leaned back, adjusting my legs under Bee. "You guys have really been great to her. Thanks for saving her today, and thanks for…well, just everything."
She sighed, put the stick down, and scoot closer to me. "You're welcome." She wrapped her arm around me, laid her chin on my shoulder, and looked down at Bee. Susan straightened. "Our pants."
"What about them?" I looked over at them drying across a log.
"Didn't Alex say they can float?"
He had.
"Sure weren't floating for me today," I said.
"You have to take them off," Alex said, entering our clearing while eating an apple. He wiped juice off his chin. "Tie off each leg, then cinch down the waist."
I stood, and handed Bee to Susan.
She asked, "What are you—?"
"Geez, Kaitlyn," Alex cut off Susan's question as he turned his back to me.
The blanket was already on the ground at my feet.
"A little warning next time?" Alex mumbled.
"Oh, please. We're all adults here." It wasn't like he had never accidentally walked in on me when I was changing, or using the bathroom – in the woods.
I put on my oversized shirt before I grabbed my pants. Under Alex's direction, though he still refused to look, I tied each leg off.
"Now hold them at the waist, and bring them up, then down quick, catching the air. Cinch the waist straps down," he said.
It took me a couple tries.
"It will work better when the waist is in the water," Alex said, having turned around.
"By the time she is in the water, it will be too late," Susan said.
I studied the pants, "We could seal the waist up, instead of tying it off."
Alex picked out the seeds and threw the core of his apple in the fire. "I'll check with the other side if they have anything for that." He handed me the seeds.
"Thanks. Oh – and Alex?" I looked up at him. "See if anyone can spare some pants."
Chapter 11
Nightmares
"Easy there, princess." Shawn's words echoed through my head. His blue eyes floated in front of me, but they were familiar. I was able to ignore them. It was the same dream that always plagued my sleep. The circle of fire surrounded us, Shawn held a knife, and there was something at my back.
This time, I would make a decision. Maybe it would end the repeating nightmare. I turned, leaving my back vulnerable to Shawn and his knife.
"Where's the baby?" I heard him ask behind me. I ignored him.
The thing at my back was a large ball of light, steady and strong. It didn’t flicker like in the last dream. When it began to rise, I pulled at it, willing it back down. It didn't stop; but it slowed. I did have some control over it, but my grasp was slippery, making the task difficult.
I pulled again, and the light ceased its upward momentum. I worked, struggling as though my fingertips were barely holding on.
I took a deep breath and tried again, aware of Shawn breathing down my neck.
"Come on!" I shouted at it. The ball obliged, falling the rest of the way toward me. I extended my hand, and the ball grew smaller, fitting in my palm. Within seconds, it winked out, extinguishing itself. I smiled.
The circle of fire around us roared in reaction. Blood mixed with the flame and it grew higher and thicker, closing in on us.
I turned to Shawn.
He was smiling. "Too late."
* * *
The next morning, after a rough patch of unintentional head-butting by Bee, I woke to Alex and Susan talking together by the fire.
Did they even sleep?
>
Susan's hair told me yes. Alex – I wasn't so sure.
Bee snored; her head heavy on my arm. Pins and needles raced through my limb from the weight. I had to pee, but I wasn't quite ready to rouse the little one. The smell of coffee tempted me. I turned to look at Alex and Susan. Their backs were to me, but I could see them working together to pour boiling water over crushed beans. The steamy liquid ran through a filter and into a camp cup. They took turns sipping from it.
"I miss cream," Susan said, voice low.
"We had some a few months ago, when we came across that dairy farm," Alex reminded her. Susan stuck out her tongue in distaste. He pretended not to notice. "At least you had that – I haven't seen sugar in over a year."
Susan took another sip, "We should save some for Kaitlyn."
"These beans can be used again," Alex placed another pot of water over the fire for boiling. "And here, let's warm up these canned peaches for Bee. She'll be hungry as soon as she wakes up. She deserves a treat."
"Do you think she'll be scared to get back on the river?" Susan asked.
I hadn't thought of that.
"I don't know. I'm a little more worried about how Kaitlyn will act."
Susan nodded. "Have you noticed the bags under her eyes? They are getting darker by the day. I don't think she sleeps much anymore." Susan kept lowering her voice.
"Hell, her nightmares are keeping me up now," said Alex. "Good thing Bee is a heavy sleeper."
Heavy head, too. I flexed my arm muscles. Come to think of it, last night was the best night's sleep I had in a while. Maybe it was just pure exhaustion.
Alex started analyzing my nightmares, "Do you think it's because of what happened?"
What happened? I strained to hear them.
Susan shrugged. "She hasn't mentioned anything leading up to Daybreak. Maybe it's a sort of memory loss."
"Or maybe just a subconscious block, but one day the memories are going to catch up with her and it won't be pretty." Alex threw his head back, finishing the drink.
Akasha 4 - Earth Page 5
