I smile back, "Thanks."
She shrugs, "You're my sister, Em. Even if you never pick which brother you like better, although I will say, it seems to me Leo has chosen for you."
I snicker, "Yeah, he sure likes Jake."
She grins, "Not as much as he likes me."
"Nope. Besides me, Leo loves you the most," I close my eye again and drift away into a clean sleep. No bad dreams, dirt, or infection—just Leo, the woods and Anna.
Chapter Seven
The walk down the hill makes my stomach grumble with nerves. I can't help but think nonstop about the goodbye I gave Marshall. I snuck into his tent before we were leaving and watched him sleep. I wanted to shove a pillow over his face, but I didn’t. Doc was watching me and it felt wrong to do it, without him being able to fight. I leaned down low to his face and returned the whispers that he had given me so long ago.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance." I looked back at Doc and smiled, "You keep him safe for me."
He smiled nervously and I left the tent.
Jake nudges me out of my daydream of smothering Marshall, "You excited to get to the retreat?" Seeing the farmhouse scares me. I don’t know why.
I ignore it and nod anyway, "I need to figure out how I'm going to stop my…uhm… them." He isn’t my dad. Lenny was my dad. Lenny has been with me every minute of this life; he has kept me alive. His wisdom has made me who I am. The terrible things they did to the baby I was, has been kept at bay by Lenny and Granny and Gramps. I was loved. Lenny might have been a weird dad, but he loved me. The man who fathered me doesn’t know me, never has.
I take quiet steps, clutching my bow. My quiver is on my back. I miss the guns I had, Mary's guns. I feel bad for losing them.
We get to the place where the others were and I smile when I see me, Will and Anna are all looking at Leo. He looks normal, but he's sniffing the air. He recognizes home. Jake is scratching his head and looking at a bird in the tree next to him.
I shake my head, "Let me go ahead with him." I walk up to where Leo's standing. Will grabs my arm, "You're still weak."
I shake my head, "I'm not." I am a little, but it's not enough to tell Will about. Honestly, even the doctor was amazed at how quickly I healed.
I pull from his hand and creep to Leo. My animal eyes return with my nerves and instinct. I see a hare in the far right and some leaves rustling behind it. Something is hunting it. I pull an arrow and relax into the pull. My breath whispers along the bow as I watch the bushes. The hare hops away while whatever it is stalking it stays still, it smells us.
Leo watches it and then looks at me. I shake my head, lowering the bow. Whatever is behind the bushes is scared of us; it's clearly not the infected. We slip down the hill slowly, watching out for movement and listening for changes in the patterns.
I hear Will behind me, he's closing in on us. I scowl at him, making him stop. Everything he does annoys me.
Leo and I crouch, stalking through the woods silently. When I see the light of the field and the break in the forest, I stop and nod at Leo. He crouches low and stops moving. I jump into the tree nearest to me and climb fast. My skin aches, my calluses are gone. I'm getting soft.
I pull and lift until I'm high enough that my guts ache. The farmhouse looks empty. I miss it. I miss that life. The simplicity and peace. I want for that to be my way again. I want Jake, Megs, Sarah, Anna, and Will to live with me and Leo. I close my eyes and listen, as the wind sways the branch I am in. The wheat tickles and touches, the dust in the driveway rolls across the gravel, the breeze brushes against the house like it's painting it or stroking lightly, and nothing else moves.
There is nothing. No ragged breathing or high moans or campfires burning in the wind. There is no sign of life. The house looks the way it always does. I don’t like that. That is unsettling. Why would they have left a good house with a working well?
My heart tugs me in the direction of the house, and the supplies I know I have stashed, but my fears tell me that we need to give the house a wide birth. Leo pants nervously.
I look back and nod. Will speaks softly and they all move down the hill slowly. Anna still has her rifle, my old one with the silencer. They stashed it and all our things at the camp when they came looking for me. They traveled light.
I watch the field as they walk down the hill to me. Nothing moves around the house or field in a way it shouldn’t.
When they're close I climb down, "I'll go first and climb a tree at the far side. When I'm across and up the tree you all make it across one at a time."
Will nods, "Be fast."
I ignore him and crouch next to Leo. We slip out of the forest and into the wheat. I glance at him and whisper, "Ready?"
He pants at me, but I can see the yellow in his eyes is darkening. He's ready. We bolt at the exact same moment, running hard and fast across the field. I only have my bow and quiver. Normally, I would run the field with a huge pack and supplies. I am much faster without them. It's almost freeing to run this fast.
We break the forest at the same spot as last time. I leap into the huge tree and haul myself up the branches. I pull an arrow and scan the field.
There is nothing but the line in the wheat where we ran. I see Anna come first and then Jake. Will brings up the back end of them. Anna breaks the forest and spins, pointing the gun back at Jake. He flinches when he sees it and scowls. She ignores him and watches the field. Will comes last. I watch for an extra second.
"Nothing," I say. I'm almost disappointed.
We start the hike to the retreat and I can feel the excitement building inside of me.
Anna leads with Leo. Jake naturally falls into pace with me, leaving Will to bring up the back end.
"What are you, Em?" he whispers.
I feel a look flash across my face but I fight it, "Nothing. Why?" I hate that he knows something. Did I act differently?
He grabs a stick and snaps it, "I heard what Marshall said to Will. He said he knew almost right away, you were a seed. I just don’t know what that means. Will started to kill him and that sort of ended the conversation." He grins and my heart skips a beat. His cheeks flush when we make eye contact and I want to get lost in him like the girls in the romance books.
But I can't. I'm not like those girls.
I feel a burning pain in my eyes as they fill with tears. I look down when I realize I'm crying. I shake my head, "Marshall was right."
The back of his hand rubs against mine slowly. I let it. I let his touch mean something. I need it to, for some unknown reason. He always makes me feel something I like. I don’t know what it is, but it's good and maybe pure.
"Are you like the breeder babies?" he asks after a minute.
I nod once, "Yeah, like that. It's a long story, but basically I'm like that."
I can hear the grin in his voice when he speaks, "I knew you were more than just a regular girl."
I glance up at him and shake my head.
His grin stays on his lips, but I see it leave his eyes when he notices the tears. We don’t talk about it again but his hand encompasses mine. I notice suddenly he gives me a different sort of safety than Will. He makes my heart feel safe, like it's protected in his hands when he holds mine.
I notice Leo's ears go back and I drop the hand, pulling an arrow instantly. Anna has the gun pointed out, scanning. Will catches up, looking around savagely.
"There should be scouts by here," he says.
I notice it; we are at the big trees again. There should be armed guards in the trees.
I break into a run. Leo follows me. Fear for Meg and Sarah pulls me along. I run hard, oblivious to the sounds behind me, oblivious of whether they followed or not.
I smell the camp, before I see anything. I hear them, and then finally, I see it.
Laundry is hanging in the trees, people are laughing and talking, and everything looks like it was, only more relaxed. I come to a stop when I see her. Leo doesn’t stop he races to her and knocks her to the ground.
"Gosh darned, stupid crazy wolf!" she cries out, as he lies on top of her licking her face.
I grimace and laugh through my gasping breaths. Meg swats at him. He does his frisky-dog thing and hops about playfully. People seeing him have stopped talking and moving.
"WOLFIE!"
I turn my head to see the blond demon running for Leo. I whistle once. Leo is up and running for me. He stands behind me, panting and looking sloppy. Meg runs for my arms. She knocks me back a bit when she hits me. I wrap around her skinny body and hold her tighter, than I think I've ever held anything. I feel a million things I can't put my fingers on, but relief is the biggest.
"Sarah?" I whisper.
"Swimming lessons with Mary," she mutters into my hair. I can hear the sobs in her words. She trembles in my arms. Anna and Jake catch up to us. Meg pulls back and grins at him. I shake my head and sigh, but a sound overtakes all of us.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING? GET THEM BACK IN THE TREES AND ON ROTATION NOW!" Will is screaming at a group of men. His words are savage growling at the end of the shouts.
The men lower their heads.
"They all listen to him?" Anna asks, almost laughing.
Meg snorts, "Well, I done told them, taking them guards outta the trees was a stupid idea. They told me to shut the hell up and play with the kids." She rolls her eyes and picks something from her teeth. "Soon as Will left, they all started slacking off. Been making wine and beer and been drinking." Her eyes flash something, "Been a bit scary round here lately. I was giving y'all two more weeks and I was taking Sarah and going to a town."
I frown at her, "No one hurt you, right?"
She shakes her head, "Not me. Hell no. Mary runs a tight ship with the kids now. They raised the age of all the something - something, too. No minors doing any dating till eighteen." She sounds bitter but I smile. She sneers at me, "You wipe that smile off, Em. You are to blame for the lack of fun, we been having."
