The Way Back (Book 2): The Way Back, Part II

by Giancioppo, Danny

  “Where’s Jonah?” he asked. He spoke so gruffly now; that was probably due to Jeremy’s hitting him, though he may also have been trying to appear more intense than he really was to intimidate their more than likely soon-to-be captors.

  The people surrounding them looked around at each other confusedly, no one quite sure what to say in response. Jonah must have been one of the people Luke talked to outside. The friendlier one, if Jeremy’s memory served him correctly.

  “He’s inside the camp with some of our men. How do you know Jonah?” another man answered.

  “These must be the people, from the house! That fortified place the guys were talking about!” a woman warned, causing everyone to raise their guns in a nervous sort of caution.

  “Yeah look, he’s the one with those silver eyes!” someone else pointed out. “You can see ‘em, even from here!”

  “Woah, woah, easy!” Jeremy yelled, throwing his hands up in innocence. “If he did tell you about us, and he told the truth, then you’ll know we were only protecting one another after an unexpected shooting, that as I hear it, one of your men executed, killing a kid.”

  Everyone paused for a moment. Both Jeremy and Luke assumed it was no secret to these people why they were out here in the first place, so their hesitation couldn’t have been from that.

  No, it was more likely because these people weren’t high enough in the ranks to really know what was said about assignment-related information, only bits and pieces. Which meant that they couldn’t be sure whether or not to trust the two men before them.

  “Why do you want to see Jonah?” one of the men, the first to speak up, questioned.

  Before this point, Luke and Jeremy had both been on their knees, careful not to make any sudden movements that may cause them to be shot and killed without discretion. Now however, Luke rose slowly, while moving his hands up into the air by his chest.

  “I need to show him something,” Luke said.

  Everyone in the outer ring surrounding Jeremy and Luke hesitated, no one sure of the right move. It interested Luke that none of these people were decisive enough to make a firm decision; by the Snow’s description, they probably anticipated they would just get to shoot and kill he and Jeremy right there and then. Neither group expected a real conversation to take place, with two young men being arguably smarter and more cunning than the group of adults.

  “Okay,” the first man said again. “We’ll take you there, but your friend stays here. He moves, he dies.”

  Jeremy darted his gaze over to Luke, who looked back at him with steely eyes; seemingly unconcerned with leaving his friend behind. But something familiar in those silver eyes told Jeremy he thought otherwise.

  Luke had gotten good at not displaying his emotions obviously when they were out in the open, so if someone didn’t know him well enough, they’d believe he felt however he wanted them to. For the six of them though– and maybe other than that only Cyrus– they could see the truth to it right away.

  It was all in his eyes. They had all learned to read Luke through his eyes. To his closest friends, they spoke volumes about what Luke was thinking, and what he really felt in the moment. Even just the smallest of movements and tensions around them were enough to get an idea what he was going through. Right now, it was fear, and yet a growing sense of anger with it.

  Luke looked back to the man who last spoke, and motioned for Jeremy to get up. Jeremy followed, and the people in the circle all aimed at him suspiciously.

  “No,” Luke said. “He comes with me, or I don’t go at all.”

  “Fine– not at all then,” the man said, cocking his gun and aiming it at Luke. Jeremy was nervous, as he knew part of Luke was too, but outwardly Luke still remained calm. This happened sometimes: Luke would have some plan so complex that only he knew what was happening, and he felt in total control; everyone and everything around just had to trust him.

  Then again, Luke had been wrong before, too. Hell, his biggest blunder caused him to get seriously damaged, not to mention causing a huge mental scar for the entire group. Jeremy just had to hope this wasn’t one of those times.

  “You’re religious, right? You all are?” Luke asked, glancing at the others in the circle. Some of them flipped their wrists to better see their cross-bracelets, some even fiddled with the crosses around their necks. Jeremy shot Luke a bewildered glance, shocked he noticed such things.

  “Yeah, so what?” the man asked. “Just because we’re religious doesn’t mean we won’t kill some intruders, especially if they’ve been following our people.”

  “Fair enough. I’ve got a question though, if I may: why do you think the world ended?” Luke asked again, taking a small step forward.

  “Luke, what the fuck are you doing?” Jeremy muttered through gritted teeth and a nervous laugh. Luke just held his hand out toward Jeremy as if to say, ‘give me a minute.’ He knew Jeremy hated when he did that.

  “How… What?” the man asked. Luke took another step forward.

  “Well, you’re Christians, and it looks like pretty devout ones, at that. Christians believe in the rapture: God taking away all the righteous and holy to heaven, leaving the sinners and the damned to rot while the devil destroys the earth, right? No one but Christ to fight him off in his second-coming?” Luke explained. “Now, not a lot of people were taken; maybe none of us were good enough, not enough to leave a mark on the world’s population anyway. But do you really believe that aliens came from outer space and took over earth? That’s insane!”

  Some of the members of the outer circle made small sounds of agreement, or at least acknowledgement; it was unclear. They were definitely listening intently to what Luke said at least, he knew that much.

  But how? How could Luke have guessed that these people were so heavily religious? Even with the crosses, there was just no way to be sure they were so devout. He must’ve just gone off a hunch, which again, Jeremy really hated.

  “So what, are you telling us you know Jesus or something?” someone in the circle asked. Luke smirked a little, and again took a step forward, then extending his hands out.

  “No, I’m not. What I’m saying is that I can see what the demons see, and I can tell you where they are before they get to you,” Luke announced. Someone actually gasped, which baffled Jeremy. This was complete nonsense! And Luke knew it! “So, I’d like to talk to Jonah, please, and I’ll be taking my friend with me.”

  The others stood silent, unsure what they were hearing. Jeremy hoped to God this worked, because if it didn’t, they were probably going to die. And if there was a heaven, Jeremy assumed they wouldn’t be making it there, this far into their corrupted and messed up lives.

  “Okay. Come with me,” the first man said, lowering his gun, and slowly the others followed suit.

  Jeremy sighed in relief, and Luke looked back at him with a small grin, proud of his own work.

  A moment later, Luke and Jeremy, lead by the first man to speak, were brought into one of the tents in the campsite. Jonah sat in an old wooden chair, with Hugh laid in a bed, his arm wrapped in bandages. Jonah looked up to see them, and his eyes widened.

  “You…?” Jonah asked, surprised. “It was you out there? You followed us?”

  “Who the shit is this kid?” Hugh asked, motioning to Jeremy with his head. Jeremy just stared him down. Luke opened his mouth to speak, but Jeremy already made his own stupid decision.

  “I’m the guy that shot you in the arm; name’s Jeremy. Sorry about that by the way, just trying to protect my people,” he explained. Hugh huffed, glaring at Jeremy. Luke looked back, and somewhat did the same.

  He knew what Jeremy was doing. He was covering their tracks, keeping their information private and hidden. If he claimed to be the person in the watchtower, they wouldn’t know how many people they had in the house, and would seem to keep the situation contained to a need-to-know basis. They had no idea it was Chris and Cody up there, and they had absolutely no clue how many people they had in the ho
use, so by lying like that, Jeremy was keeping the others safe.

  In many ways it was smart, and it was who Jeremy was, and Luke admired that. All the same, it was a dangerously stupid thing to claim, because now he put himself far more at risk than it was worth.

  “Luke,” Jonah said, getting back to the task at hand. “Why did you follow us?” He sounded annoyed, which didn’t fit his previous demeanor, so Luke imagined this was to be considered pretty unlawful on their part.

  “He said he has something to show you, sir. Says he can see the demons,” the man said. Jonah’s eyebrows raised, and he looked over at the man, waving him off. As he left, Jonah got up, and zipped the entrance to the tent closed. Now, it was just the four of them. Jonah turned back to Luke.

  “What do you mean, ‘see the demons?’” he asked, crossing his arms. Luke was surprised at his serious nature; he thought for sure that it was the lackeys that really believed in the religious aspect of the end of the world, not all of them.

  “I… it’s hard to explain,” Luke said. “Remember the head injury I told you about?” Jonah nodded. “I can… see things. I don’t know how, or why, or what it means, but I can see through the eyes of…of Goliaths. I saw a couple of them in Niagara Falls.”

  “Are you serious?” Jonah asked. Hugh scoffed.

  “Jonah, come on! What kind of made up bullshit is that!? There’s no way that’s true, and how could he even prove it if it were!?” he argued.

  “Can you?” Jonah asked, not straying his gaze from Luke. “Can you prove it?”

  “Maybe, but first I have some questions,” Luke said.

  “No, that’s not how this works!” Hugh insisted. “You come sneaking up on us, cause a whole ruckus, after shooting me in the arm, and now you want to take charge here!? No god damn way!”

  “You’re fine, I didn’t hit anything major in your arm,” Jeremy argued. Luke really wished he’d stop doing that. It would only make things harder. “And we only came to tell you about this!”

  “Why though?” Jonah asked. “I can tell you’ve made out that we’re a religious group, but you had no reason to believe that beforehand. So why now?” Jeremy shifted in his stance a little, uncomfortable at the corner he saw them being backed into. He looked to Luke, who glanced back with an odd blend of both confidence and hesitation.

  “Because… I trust you, Jonah, and if this is real, I thought you should know that they’re not extremely far away. From either of us,” Luke said.

  Jonah stared at Luke, once again seemingly reading him over. It was a lot like what Luke would do, but slightly less subtle. It was almost as though he simply contemplated something else entirely, but in all reality he tired to figure out whatever he felt necessary from whoever he inspected.

  “Okay,” Jonah said at last. “Ask away.”

  “What!?” Hugh shouted, outraged at Jonah’s decision. “Jonah!” Jonah unzipped the tent, and motioned outside.

  “Why don’t we leave Hugh to rest. He’s clearly… temperamental, at the moment,” Jonah said. Luke nodded, moving outside with him. Jeremy followed close behind.

  “So,” Luke said, as they waltzed through the camp, “what’s this? You told me you were hours away by foot.”

  “We are,” Jonah replied. “That’s why we set up checkpoints. Maybe fifteen people stay at each post, keeping it stocked and protected. Most of the time they’re empty, but since the kids ran off we’ve been stretching out to find them all.”

  “So you’re probably only staying for the night, then?” Jeremy asked.

  “Yes. We wouldn’t have even done that, but Hugh needed medical attention,” Jonah commented, then looking over to Jeremy. “For what it’s worth, I understand your reasoning. We would have done the same, as you saw earlier.”

  “The girl, she’s the last kid?” Luke asked, changing subjects. Jonah looked at him skeptically.

  “Yes, why?” he responded.

  “You haven’t found her yet?”

  “No, we haven’t. People at this checkpoint are going to spread out for her by morning, keep searching. We’re going back to Gilead, Hugh and I,” Jonah explained. “Why are you asking?”

  “I saw how you handled the last kid; if I’m honest I’m kind of hopeful you don’t catch her. I’d hate to see the same thing happen to another child, especially a little girl,” Luke said.

  “Well, so would I, for the record,” Jonah defended. “That’s Hugh’s trigger finger, not mine. I just wanted them to come back where I knew they could be safe.”

  “Sure doesn’t seem like it,” Jeremy said. Luke scowled a bit, and turned his gaze ever so slightly to look over at Jeremy, trying to signal him to cool down. Jeremy didn’t notice though.

  “Well, it’s the truth, whether you want to believe me or not,” Jonah said, then stopping by a set of neighboring tents. “So, my turn, Luke. You need to prove to me that you really can do this. If you’re lying to me, for whatever reason you may have… I can’t be the nice guy forever,” he admitted.

  Luke frowned, and stared out into the darkness of the woods. It was empty out there. The sounds of swaying pine creaking and croaking against the brushing shoulders of the wind cooed off in the distance; an all to unpleasant reminder of the dangers that still lay in the night.

  Luke still wasn’t positive he could just bring it on whenever he wanted, and it seemed like his first theory ran nowhere, fast. He needed some way to prove he wasn’t lying; he believed in Jonah’s warning, and he didn’t want things to come to that.

  However, by then, it was already far too late.

  Hugh, with the help of four other large men, ran over and tackled Jeremy and Luke, then grabbing and leading them into one of the tents they stood by.

  “What the hell is this!?” Luke yelled. “Jonah!”

  Jonah looked around, shocked and confused. Clearly he had no idea what was going on, but that didn’t matter to Luke.

  “Hugh, stop this immediately!” Jonah ordered, but Hugh didn’t listen. “Hugh!”

  “You may be in charge of me, but I know Abe, Jonah. He wouldn’t allow this!” Hugh argued.

  “You know nothing of my brother! And you do not speak for him!” Jonah shouted.

  “Then I’ll act for him,” Hugh said. The two men that grabbed Jeremy rushed him over to the bed in the tent and grabbed his left arm, forcing it onto the bed.

  “What are you doing!? What the fuck are you doing!?” Jeremy screamed. “Luke! Stop them! Help me, please!” Luke stayed constricted by the other men, unable to move– though his anger lashed out still, unquelled.

  “I swear to God, I will kill every single one of you if you touch him!” Luke threatened, his voice cutting deep within his throat like glass. Some of the men seemed warry, but it didn’t stop the others.

  “An eye for an eye, kid. You knick my arm, I knick yours,” Hugh said, pulling out a hatchet from his belt and inspecting it, moving over to the left side of Jeremy’s body.

  “Hugh, enough!” Jonah shouted. He stood as though he was ready to fight, yet he did nothing to help either Luke or Jeremy. He didn’t move. He couldn’t.

  “You’re so fucking gullible, you know that, Jonah?” Hugh taunted. “You think just because this kid has silver eyes it means jackshit!? He’s lying! He wants to infiltrate us, to do God knows what! He was probably lying about the damn girl, too!”

  “I will rip you limb from fucking limb if you don’t let go of him, I swear on my life!” Luke screamed. “I will have you begging for mercy and choking on your own blood! Do you hear me!? Let him go!”

  Hugh just looked at Luke, and paused for a moment. Then, he scoffed, and rose his hatchet into the air.

  “Good luck with that,” he said.

  Then, Hugh swung down. Time seemed to literally slow to a grinding halt in those fleeting moments. Luke saw the hatchet move, inch by inch, millimeter by millimeter, getting closer and closer to Jeremy’s soft, pale, scarred skin.

  He saw Jeremy’s face. The face he ha
d known since sixth grade. Since they were children. The face he had seen laugh, cry, argue, sleep, smile, all so many times before in the past. Now that face had tears streaming down it, his nose running and bubbling like a broken water fountain. His eyes fixated on the hatchet, though now slowly moving toward the spot just below his shoulder, where contact was about to be made.

  And one thought moved through Luke’s mind as he saw all of this: This was all his fault. His brother’s arm just got hacked off, and it was all his fault.

  The hatchet went through about five times before it cut through entirely, the two men then pulling Jeremy away from his arm to see the separation.

  He shrieked in pain, and Luke suddenly saw everything go into a bright silvery-blue hue. Then, in an instant, his eyes shot open wide, once again radiating an almost blinding light.

  Jeremy passed out, and everyone else in the room took notice of Luke’s eyes. The men holding him shot away, letting him fall onto his knees, and Hugh and the others backed away in horror.

  Jonah turned in his own terror to gaze at Luke, now seeing the proof he so desperately requested.

  Luke saw the Goliaths. They were closer now, already on the eastern half of New York.

  “There are two of them,” Luke muttered, tears cascading down his face, his breathing unsteady. “They’re in New York.” He turned to Jonah, and Jonah looked directly into Luke’s shining eyes. “They’re coming closer. They’re going to come here. They’re going to… c-come…”

  Luke passed out himself, leaving both he and his brother out cold, in the hands of their enemies, with no sign of help anywhere in sight.

  Cody sprinted back to the house with Snow in his arms, fatigue catching up to him more and more by the second. He knew he had to make it back though; Luke was counting on him.

  His left foot felt rock solid; a solid sprint turned into an uneasy run and fell to a desperate limp. He felt like he couldn’t move his toes. They weren’t even cold anymore. He didn’t care though, he had to keep moving.

  Still, Cody had some terrible kind of feeling. Like something had gone terribly wrong. They were outnumbered two to who knows how many, and as cunning as both Jeremy and Luke could be, there was no way they could beat them all out, could they?