by Amber Garr
“And that’s when Sasha told us that you were safe and that we needed to keep running,” my mom added. Her eyes bulged when she looked over at Max. “You were with him?”
I had to laugh. Not just at the way she stared at the man, or how her flushed cheeks gave away her internal thoughts, but also at the way my dad narrowed his eyes and cleared his throat when he caught my mom staring.
“Yes,” I said with a smile. “This is Max.”
Max nodded but didn’t drop his grip on Sasha.
“Have you seen Vee?” I asked my parents. A sudden, powerful rush of dread almost knocked me to the ground. I hadn’t seen Vee since her dad grabbed her.
“No, sorry son,” my dad answered.
“They’ll probably meet us at our camp,” Sasha added. “We should keep moving anyway.” With a quick glance at Max that passed a thousand messages between them, Sasha lead us forward. The blue tarp runners had disappeared and only the trees surrounded us now. We moved at a brisk pace, my parents followed Sasha and Max stayed behind us all. I felt better knowing he was here to help in a fight.
After another mile through the woods, I noticed a dark patch of air up ahead of us. The closer we got, the more menacing it seemed, until I realized that it was a giant rock outcropping. Perfectly hidden in the shadows of the leaves, the place looked like the ideal rock climbing hangout…or deserter camp.
“You are welcomed to stay with us for a while,” Sasha told my parents.
“Thank you,” my dad said, but my mom shot him a look.
“I can’t promise your safety,” Sasha added a little curtly at the end. My dad simply nodded at her and watched Sasha and Max walk away.
“What are we doing, David?” My mother stepped in front of both of us, hands on her hips and expectation written all over her face. “We can’t stay here. We can’t live like this!” She had a knack for yelling in a very soft voice, and she used that skill right now.
My dad reached out to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Mary, relax. Let’s just take this one day at a time, okay?” When she glared, he continued. “For now, let’s just be grateful that we are all here. And let’s go find the Witterlys.”
At the mention of Vee’s family, I started to look around. I noticed movement in the distance, closer to a cleared area of forest just before the rocks jutted out of the ground. People. There were quite a few people here.
“I’m going to look for Vee,” I said, moving before I even finished the sentence.
“Zach, wait!” My mother called out to me, but I didn’t stop. My parents were safe for now but I didn’t know about Vee. Suddenly, nothing else seemed to matter. And I chastised myself for not seeking her out earlier. What if her and her father were lying dead back in the woods? Or what if they were injured and we’d all just left them behind?
Panic clamped down on my chest, breathing becoming harder with each inhale. I pushed through the lack of oxygen and burning tendrils crawling up my rib cage. I had to find Vee. None of this would be worth it if she didn’t make it here.
The realization of what that thought meant to me came crashing down like Max’s heavy body on top of mine. I couldn’t live without her in my life. When had this happened? When did she become so important to me?
I didn’t really know how I felt about that, but before I had time to ponder anymore of the emotional side of me I hadn’t known existed, I spotted someone with dark hair sitting on a boulder, with a guy. He had his hands on her face, examining her with a look I didn’t like. She was talking to him although I couldn’t hear the words, but when they both laughed, I picked up my pace.
The image of the two dead men burned through my soul. Even as I ran for my life, bullets barely missing my head, I couldn’t stop seeing them. So much blood. Life ended instantly. I looked down at the broadsword I’d taken from the deserter’s corpse and wondered if I was even worthy of carrying it. Would I ever have the kind of courage he showed?
“Come on, Vee!” Zach shouted at me just before he slipped and fell to the ground. I’d tripped over a dozen rocks and roots already, but at least I’d stayed on my feet. The thought made me smile in the middle of all this chaos.
I reached Zach before he could recover. On his side, I noticed the knife in his hand and how close it had come to puncturing his neck. Shaking my head, I reached forward. “Come on. Get up!” I started to pull him off the ground. “Why are you stopping?”
He glared at me, but in a way I knew didn’t have true anger behind it. “I was waiting for you!”
The tree shattered behind us, and a piece of bark slashed at my cheek. I turned fast enough to avoid damaging my eye, but it still didn’t feel good.
“Jesus, would they really kill us?” Zach mused, looking behind us where the soldiers were following everyone through the woods.
“I don’t want to find out,” I said, taking off at a sprint again and hoping Zach would follow. Although daytime, the forest had darkened the deeper we’d run into it. I could see the ground in front of me, but it all seemed to be flying past at warp speed. I jumped, skidded, slid, and dodged everything in my way the best I could. Without thought, I propelled myself over a large tree trunk, lying on the ground like a warning about what may be behind it. “Where are they?” I asked, trying to find any signs of life ahead of us. Like my parents. Where were my parents?
“I haven’t seen them. I think they—” Zach’s voice cut off when a large man jumped out from behind a tree and stopped us cold.
Zach said something, but all I saw was a giant hand the second before it slammed into my left shoulder and knocked me to the ground. I hit the dirt hard, my forehead striking a tree root, and slicing open the skin. Stars danced in my vision for several seconds before the sharp pain of a fresh cut settled in. A body crashed to the ground somewhere behind us and then someone tried to pull me away.
I screamed and kicked out at the person squeezing my arms.
“Vivienne, relax. It’s me.” My dad’s voice instantly calmed the fear racing inside.
“Dad? Where did you come from?”
“It doesn’t matter, sweetheart. Come on!” He lifted me up to my feet and glanced at my forehead. Then he looked down. “What is that?”
I glanced at the large metal weapon still gripped firmly in my hand. Somehow, I hadn’t dropped it.
“It’s my sword,” I said.
My dad simply shook his head and started dragging me deeper into the forest. Away from Zach. Reaching out in silence, I met Zach’s eyes and beckoned him forward. But I didn’t even have time to speak before the ground exploded in front of my dad and me, and we were thrown backward.
It felt like a free fall. At least for a moment. My body sailed through the air, unaware of the trees or the branches trying to snatch me back up. The muffled ringing in my ears actually soothed the anticipation of what was to come next. I didn’t see my dad. I didn’t see Zach. All I noticed were the think rays of sunlight streaking through the leaves and flickering across my face.
And then my flight ended. My back crashed into the ground, head hitting a split second later. I swear something cracked, unless it was just the sound of the impact. Shocked ribs squeezed my lungs tight, forcing me to take shallow breaths. As I lay perfectly still, I tried to assess the extent of my injuries. Toes can wiggle, check. Knees bend slightly, check. Turning my head slowly from side to side, I also ruled out a broken neck. I moved my fingers, wrists, and eventually my whole arm.
Marveling at the fact that I didn’t seem to have any broken bones, I decided to try and sit up. But the second my head lifted higher than my knees, dizziness and nausea tore through me. I guess I’d hit my head a little harder than I realized. Quickly turning over on my side, I waited for the dry heaves that never came.
And then I heard a moan. My dad! Zach! Where were they? Ignoring any protests my body tried to throw at me, I attempted to stand. It wasn’t pretty and I think at some point, I almost passed out. But
a strong pair of hands caught me around my waist and stopped my impending fall.
“Whoa. I’ve got you.” The voice belonged to a guy. A guy I didn’t know.
So I slammed my head back into his nose. Or at least I tried. He easily dodged the move, making me think I hadn’t been as stealthy as I thought.
“Take it easy. I’m not the enemy here.” He held on tight while I tried to struggle, but the impact of that…explosion had really taken the fight out of me. Every limb felt like a piece of spaghetti, limp and useless. “Are you okay? I want to go check on the other guy.”
Who? My dad or Zach?
I nodded and the guy let me go. He sprinted about ten feet away from me and dropped to the ground. A faint mist now cluttered the air, blocking my view. Someone shouted nearby, but I couldn’t tell who it was.
“Vivienne?” my dad called out to me.
Enough to snap me out of my daze, I ran toward my father’s voice. The guy had helped him up, and aside from a gash on the side of his left cheek, my dad appeared to be unharmed. I threw my arms around him, inevitably hugging the stranger a little bit too.
“Dad! Are you okay? What was that?”
He touched my face and tried to smile. “I’m fine. And my guess? A grenade.”
“A grenade? Jesus!” I ignored the chastising look my dad gave me. “I don’t understand why they’re trying so hard to kill us.”
“It’s because they think you’re one of us,” the guy said.
“A deserter?” I asked, and he nodded.
“But….but…” I wanted to say that I wasn’t old enough for the draft. And that we weren’t deserters. And that we hadn’t done anything wrong. But that wasn’t totally true.
Zach had killed one of them.
“Look, we can talk about this later. But we have to keep moving,” the guy said.
“What’s your name?” my dad asked.
“Josh.”
“I’m Sampson and this is my daughter, Vivienne.”
I smiled the best I could and then realized that I didn’t have my sword. Without saying anything, I dashed away from the two men back toward the place I’d landed. They called after me, but the sound blended with the pounding of my heart in my head. At first, I didn’t see it, and a rather unjustified wave of disappointment rolled through me. I’d already let the man down—losing his sword before I even had a chance to get to safety. But then I caught something shimmering near a rotten log. A sliver of the silver metal remained uncovered by the debris, calling out to me like a beacon. I slid to my knees, hands frantically digging through the leaves, moist bark, and soil critters. Finally, I freed the sword and sucked in a deep sigh of relief.
“Vivienne, let’s go!” My dad shouted, waving me up off the ground. “Your mom will be waiting for us.”
“Where’s Zach?”
“He’s safe with Max,” Josh said.
I didn’t know who Max was, but I accepted that Josh was telling the truth. Why? I wasn’t sure exactly. Maybe it had something to do with his eyes—they looked honest.
My dad grabbed my arm and the three of us starting sprinting through the woods again. Several bullets blasted through the brush scattered on the forest floor, but none of them hit their target. Josh led the way, my dad following close behind. I tried to spare some glances over my shoulder to see if I could find anyone…someone familiar. Zach.
But the forest gave me nothing in return. No crashing footsteps. No calls for help. Nothing but an endless stream of trees.
I don’t know how far we’d traveled before Josh finally slowed down. He smiled back at us and then pointed to a brighter spot up ahead. “We made it,” he said through his quick breaths.
My dad leaned against a tree, his face flushed and sweat beading on his forehead. The cut on his cheek had continued bleeding, but it didn’t seem to faze him. I rested my hands on my knees, pushing the sword into the ground beside me.
“Hey, that’s Hoyt’s sword,” Josh said.
I looked up at his worried green eyes and tanned skin and almost started to cry. “His name was Hoyt?” I whispered.
“Yes,” Josh said suspiciously. “Where did you get that?” He reached forward and yanked the broadsword out of the ground. Turning it over in his hands, he admired it like a precious gem. Or like a last piece of a memory.
“He…,” my voice cracked and I glanced at my dad who looked like he was waiting to hear this story as well. “He was trying to help us,” I finally squeezed out. “He gave us a chance to escape.” Tears streamed down my face, the sobs choking any kind of apology I tried to make. “He’s dead.”
While my dad attempted to reach me, Josh suddenly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around my back. He pushed my head gently against his chest as I cried, hands rubbing slowly over my hair and shoulders. I didn’t care that Josh was a complete stranger. I didn’t care how weak I looked. The whole situation had sucked every ounce of self-control out of me, beat it into the ground, and smashed it into pieces. The government tried to kill us. They killed so many today. Hoyt was dead. Although I didn’t know the hairy, burly man who’d shown no fear, I mourned his loss. Everything had been lost.
“You know what Hoyt would say to you right now?” Josh asked while his hands continued to brush over me. I shook my head the best I could, sniffing and trying to catch a breath. “He’d tell you to stop being a baby.”
I looked up at Josh, pulling away from him slightly. He stood several inches taller than Zach, although I guessed he wasn’t more than a few years older than us. I hadn’t really noticed what he looked like earlier, but now I saw another lost future. He’d probably been in college, dating lots of girls and partying it up. He certainly had the looks that women would like, especially when he smiled.
“What?” I asked.
Josh laughed. “Hoyt wasn’t one for showing emotion.” He smiled, looking over my shoulder as though he could see his friend again. “He didn’t like crying.” I pursed my lips and Josh smiled even wider. “But I have a feeling he would have liked you. You’re tough. Just like him.” Josh stepped away and handed me the sword. “He would’ve approved.”
In a daze, I took the weapon, its weight surprising me once again. “Thank you,” I whispered, sparing a glance at my dad. He raised his brows and shrugged. Yep, this is what it was going to be like from now on. Welcome to our new life.
“Sampson and Vivienne!”
We turned at once to the sound of my mother’s voice. She hobbled over to us, ankle still messed up from earlier. Our family shared a monstrous group hug that almost put us on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Josh leave and wondered just how many of his deserter friends were here.
“Any word on the Scotts?” My dad asked.
“Not yet.” My mother’s sad eyes found mine, but I refused to let my mind go in that direction. Zach wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. “You two need to get cleaned up. Come on.”
My mother led us toward the small cleared area that backed up to a sheer rock wall. For a moment I wondered how this place could possibly be safe since our best exit route was blocked. But seeing the people standing around with packs on their back, led me to believe this was only a temporary staging area. Several of them stared at us like we had the plague, while others welcomed us with tentative smiles.
My mom hung on to my father’s arm, hopping on one foot when necessary. “Mom, you should sit. I’ll see if I can get you—” In the next second, I found myself on my hands and knees, feeling the world spin around me. Liquid climbed up the back of my throat, the nausea pushing it along its journey.
“What happened?” Josh’s voice rushed through the haze of dizziness.
“I…I don’t know,” I said.
“No, don’t try to get up yet. Just sit.” Josh helped lower me all of the way to the ground, a jagged rock digging into my butt. But that was the least of my worries.
“She hit her head a few times,” my dad said, hi
s shadow blocking out the light.
“Are you still feeling dizzy?” Josh asked, concern reaching every part of his voice.
“No. I think I’m okay.”
“I’d like to take a look. Can I help you up?” Josh ignored my parents, eyes only for me at this moment.
“Take a look?” I asked.
He smiled. That charming smile again. “EMT training in a past life.”
“Oh.”
Without saying anything else, Josh and my dad helped get me back up to my feet and over to a small boulder. Its flat top made the structure surprisingly comfortable, unless that was just due to the numbing sensation creeping though my body. How hard had I hit my head?
“Okay…Vivienne was it?” I nodded. “Follow my finger.” Josh lifted his hand, index finger extended out from his chest. His eyes narrowed, lips pursed in a way that made him look constipated, and I started to laugh.
“Is she okay?” my mom asked. She still hadn’t sat down nor had her ankle looked at.
“I think so…” Josh looked at me with a question in his eyes.
“My mom needs help,” I said. I think my words slurred like a drunk, and if my head was working right, I probably would have worried a little bit more about that.
“I’ll check her in a minute. Now, does your head hurt?”
I closed my eyes to assess. “Nope.”
“No headache?”
“Nope.”
“How about stars. Are you seeing any stars?” Josh grabbed my cheeks gently, peering into my eyes like he had super vision.
“You’re eyes are very green.” I couldn’t stop the words.
Josh laughed. And when he laughed, the sound caressed my skin in an unfamiliar way. It seemed like no one had laughed in so long. So I just had to join him.
“Vee!”
I sucked in a breath and tried to turn my head toward the wonderful sound. “That’s my Zach,” I whispered.
“Your Zach?” Josh asked.
“Vee!” Zach lurched forward, knocking Josh’s hands away, and squeezing me tightly. “Oh thank god, Vee. I didn’t know what happened to you.” His body bounced with his sobs, and suddenly I couldn’t control my emotions any more. Even though I thought about Hoyt and how he would call me a baby, I didn’t try to stop the tears.
