I get back to the fire with some leaves filled with berries I know we can eat.
Anna is holding up roots. She smiles, “They taste like potatoes.” I just catch her whisper over the crackle of the fire.
Star comes with full skins. She sighs, “I am starving.”
Anna puts the hare on the spit and turns him slowly. Star mashes the berries on the broad leaf. She swears if we rub it on the cooked hare it’ll taste better. I tie the roots into one of the huge broad leaves with vine. The vine cooks slowly, allowing the leaf to steam the roots.
“That smells good,” I mutter.
Anna smiles and continues to slowly turn the hare. I pull the roots out of the ashes with my boot and let them cool for a few minutes. Star grabs more huge leaves. We’re so hungry we don’t notice that no one talks. We tear the fur from the cooling carcass and drag each bite through the mashed berries. I moan into my bites and Anna wheezes. Star nods, “I told you.”
I laugh and eat a bite of the root. It does taste like potatoes. I give Leo a bite, he chews and walks away. We all laugh, “Guess he doesn’t like the berries.”
“More for us.”
I’m stuffed when I finish off the water in my skin.
Star yawns, “Normally, I’d be too full to sleep but shit I’m beat.”
Anna’s eyes are closing, even though she’s sitting up. I nudge her with my boot, “Sleep.”
She nods and gets up. I put more wood on the fire just as Leo finds his way back. He’s licking his chops and has, no doubt, also had a feast of his own making.
We pull boughs and make a bed. The three of us sleep next to each other. I know Leo keeps guard. He always does when we’re out like this. I think it’s why he likes the cabin so much, he sleeps the whole time.
We start back on the road in the morning, eating our stolen, dried meats and the last of the berries. When we get to a spot on the road, Star points, “This way.” She heads into the brush, but I don’t see a marker. We cross a field when we get past the initial brush. I see jagged remains of buildings over top of the trees at the other side.
“Used to be my soccer field when I was little,” she whispers.
Anna and I give her a look, “You lived near here?” I ask.
She nods, “There used to be buildings and things. It was a fancy neighborhood, just down here.” We crest a hill and stop. My skin crawls seeing it. It isn’t the first crater I’ve seen.
“Was it nuclear?”
She shrugs her head, “Not a clue. Bern said it was a hydrogen bomb.”
I nod, “That’s a nuclear bomb. We shouldn’t be here. Lenny said twenty years.”
But we don’t move. We stand on the edge of the massive crater and just look.
Finally, Anna whispers, “I think I can feel the dead in the air.”
I nod, “It’s creepy.” I’ve avoided craters my whole life.
Leo is anxious. He doesn’t like it. I follow him out, hoping they’ll follow me and we won't ever have to come back this way again.
We walk to a new road.
“How do you remember this so well?”
Star looks over at me, “I’ve walked it a lot.”
I frown, “Why wouldn’t you get him to drive you?”
Her eyes twinkle, “Trucks make noise. I don’t like making noise.”
We are more alike than I have realized.
She stops on the road and looks, “This is the bomb path. Stay directly behind me the entire time.” She cuts into the woods. My feet are hurting and my legs are exhausted. I can't imagine how Anna feels.
I step where Anna steps as she follows Star in. The brush is dense.
I hold Leo by the scruff and force him to follow my steps. He gets it after a minute and stays in the line.
Star drops to her knees after a while, lifting a huge piece of the land up. It’s a thin, metal sheet with dirt and moss stuck to the top of it. Inside is a small shelter loaded with guns and food. She jumps down and passes me a package. I open it and start to eat, too fast. I gobble back the nuts and seeds. Anna is wolfing down a bar. I take a protein bar and start on it at the same time as the nuts. Star is pouring a package into her throat. She’s chewing fast too. She passes us water bottles. The three of us gorge. I don’t stop myself. It’s been lean rations for days. I sit and sigh as it hits my belly with a thud.
“I need to go the bathroom.” Anna makes a face.
I laugh. Star passes her a tissue packet. Anna’s face breaks into a huge smile, “No leaves!”
Star laughs with me, “Can you remember the path back?”
Anna nods and starts back the way we came.
“Bernie thought of everything.”
She nods, “He really did. He set this up as a bit of a fallout shelter. It was in case the house got over taken. He is a smart guy. Not to mention, he had the list.”
I frown, “The list?”
She nods, “Yeah. They were all given a list—the higher ups and the necessary people.”
My stomach sinks, “So only certain people would survive.” I can’t help but think about the lady who saved me in the town, when the others were looking for me. In a sick way I have to be happy that she was able to save me, so I could save Jake.
Anna comes back frowning, minus the tissue. I smile, I know she hates going to the bathroom in the woods. Leo trots after her. She looks back at him, giving him a disgusted look. I know what he’s done. I hate it too, but he feels the need to clean up the evidence from his family. It’s his nature. I hadn’t even noticed he'd followed her.
Star sighs, “Well, let’s do this then.” She passes me two handguns, leather straps, and four clips. I load a clip in each shiny, silver gun. She straps the leathers around my thighs and places the clips in them. My jaw drops, “That’s cool.”
She nods, “I know.” She pulls out two sniper rifles and passes one to Anna with a belt of ammo. Anna grins, “Best day ever. All that friggin’ walking was worth it.” She shoots a glare at Leo, “Well, except for that. That was nasty.”
I roll my eyes.
Leo whines as he finishes his protein bar. I pour a bottle of water and he drinks from the stream. I pat his head, “You ready?”
He finishes the water and yawns.
I drop my bow and arrow into the hole for safekeeping. I’ll always choose a gun over a bow.
She climbs out of the hole and slaps the lid back down. She turns something I never noticed before and covers it with moss again.
She puts a finger to her lips. I nod.
We walk in a line. They can't fight, not like I can, but they can both shoot like marksmen.
I see the house after we walk for a bit. I see a man in a tree and stop. Star shoots him out of the tree with the silencer on. I love silencers. He falls, making a huge ruckus, and drops to the ground with a thud. His face is slack. When we walk past him, I take his rifle and sling it onto my back.
The closer we get, the more we hear. They’re building or fixing the mess they’ve made, when they trashed the house.
Anna’s face is savage, as usual. Star stops us and turns, “From here on out there are no bombs in the woods. Don’t backtrack though. Anna, stay in the trees, no matter what.”
Anna points to a tree and nods once. She walks there, climbing it. If I look carefully, I can see movement. Star takes the left side and gives me a grin, “Good luck.”
I nod.
My stomach is filled with nerves, but the possibility I will see Marshall suffer is driving me on. The need for vengeance is like a magic pill. I have more cunning and energy than I could have imagined.
I slip from the woods, and scan the grass. There are men everywhere. They’re moving crates and fixing things, like the front door. I don’t see Marshall.
A man’s face lifts from a box. He opens his mouth to scream but he drops to the ground dead. Anna.
I smile and creep across the expansive field. I point my gun to shoot a man walking with a rifle, but he falls dead. They are dropping like flies, silently. Finally, as one falls, another opens his mouth, “WE ARE BEING ATTACKED!”
I shoot him, making the first real gunshot ring through the air. At least half of the twenty are dead now.
My heart is beating in my throat, Leo nudges me constantly. I place my back against the siding of the house as I hear the shots firing. All I can do is pray Anna and Star manage to move before a scope reflection gets them killed.
I slide along the house to the side door. I glance in the window once. Nothing.
I open the door and let Leo inside. He growls and snarls inside of a doorway to the right. I step into the room and shoot the man aiming at Leo, who is devouring someone on the floor.
We walk together through the house, checking rooms. Someone grabs me from behind. I feel a knife slice across my arm, when I block the grip on my throat. Leo dives, taking us both to the ground. His face is rage and red froth when his huge jaw snaps at the head behind me. I not only hear his teeth sink into the flesh, but I also feel the breaking of bone. I shudder and stand. My arm is pouring blood. I rip the bottom off my shirt and make a bandage. I wrap it tightly and continue on. Leo looks worried but I give him a stern look. He walks ahead.
I hear a sound behind me. Turning with my gun ready, I see Star grinning.
We sneak through the house. I hear talking and peek my head around the corner. It’s a man I recognize whispering to two other men.
They’re all very large, close and heavily armed. I sigh softly and look at Leo; he can't come in there. I nod back behind us. He makes a face. I give him my alpha look. He bows his head and backs up. I jump out, shooting the man whispering, in the head. I shoot the second man, but the third man has his gun on me fast. His finger jerks at the trigger but he drops on his back and shoots the ceiling. I look back at Star. She winks. She leaps in front of me, rifle out. I see her finger pull the trigger once before we are in the kitchen. It’s a mess.
“Bernie’s going to be pissed,” she mutters and looks around, “They’re in the cellar.”