The Woodlands (#1 THE WOODLANDS SERIES) (COMPLETE)

33. THE MALL

I woke up to Hessa’s ‘knitting needles in my ears’ scream. I dragged myself out of my bag, eyes half shut, and started preparing his bottle. Joseph was still dozing. I let him sleep. I walked to Deshi’s rake-like form, but the baby was not there. Panic hit me, like a claw turning my heart sideways. The crying was coming from outside the circle of sleeping bodies. I kicked Deshi. He jumped up fast when he realized Hessa was missing.

“Where is he?” Deshi said, his normally smooth voice cracking around the edges. We followed the crying, sweeping our heads back and forth along the ground until we came upon a pair of long legs, attached to Careen, standing with her back to us, rocking on her heels, hushing the baby in her arms.

“What are you doing?” I asked accusingly.

She looked up from Hessa, eyes reproachful. “What? I just thought I would let you get some rest,” she said as she handed Hessa to me.

“You can’t just walk off with him like that without asking. You scared us to death!” I placed the teat of the bottle in Hessa’s mouth, watching him eagerly drink the grey liquid, his unnaturally blue eyes peering over the rim.

“I don’t see what the problem is,” she snapped suddenly, clapping her hands on her toned thighs. “You know, he doesn’t look much like you,” she added, reaching out to touch his springy, black curls.

I pulled away. “That’s because I’m not his mother,” I said, handing Hessa to Deshi and standing side on to display my swollen middle.

“Oh, where is she?” Careen asked innocently, her mood swinging from aggression to sweetness in an instant.

“She’s dead,” I replied, wishing I didn’t have to talk about it, feeling my heart tear a little at the memory of Clara.

“I’m so sorry,” Careen said as she patted my arm gently. I stared down at her arm in confusion. I was starting to think she was a bit more than batty.

I shrugged her off and changed the subject. I needed some information from her anyway. I was thinking about the end of summer. We really needed to find or build shelter in that time, before winter hit. To do that, we needed some tools that I couldn’t fashion from sticks. I asked her whether she had seen anything resembling a tool shed or shop.

“No, but there is a big building with different commercial sections. There might be something in there.” Her eyes slid up my body with scrutiny. “We could get you some new clothes too.”

I ignored her condescending assessment of my appearance and went back to tell the others my idea. There were arguments, of course. About one thing I was adamant—we couldn’t stay in the city. We would get supplies and walk through to the other side, see what the terrain was like, and make a plan from there. For once, Alexei and Joseph agreed with me. Apella wasn’t sure, still holding on to the ludicrous idea that there were people hiding somewhere in the rubble. There was no evidence that anyone had been here in hundreds of years. It was completely overrun by nature. Careen said she would go along with anything and Deshi pursed his mouth shrewdly and shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

*****

I agreed to let Apella stay with Hessa by the fire. We took knives and Careen’s spear with us. She said if we stuck to the more open parts, wider roads and lower buildings, the lynxes would not be a problem. The creatures with the yellow eyes only came out at night.

She led us back to the end of the railway line and over a bridge. It was a great stone and iron structure that had stood the test of time where other constructions had not. Its strong archways looped in and out of the water like a snake, reflecting against the water on this clear, sunny day. I stepped on tentatively, imagining it crumbling under my feet. Careen assured me it was safe. She had used it several times. Joseph took my hand and I relaxed a little.