No Rest for the Wicked (thinking about deleting idk)

#8 On the Move

After a couple of days slouching around doing nothing, Bren decided to speak up.

“What are we doing here, what are we waiting for? I’m sick of staying here doing nothing all the time. We can't just wait for an army to pop out of the bloom.” Bren argued. He had a point though.

“May I remind you that you are on a strict policy?” said Fiona while reading her past journal entries. At least it was something different this time. “Once Max has healed, you will be on your way. If you want some action, go find some. Just don’t bring it back to our camp, will you?” 

Max's hand was looking a lot better. But was that a good thing? I had totally forgotten about the policy. Just when would he be forced to leave?

"Well," said Bren slowly. "Who wants to come with me? And by the way Max, you have no choice." Max sighed arrogantly. They were like two brothers, fighting all the time.

"I will," I said, a little too eager. Fiona had told me once, when we were both having a really bad day that I was 'overly ambitious'. It hurt a lot, to come from her, but maybe she was right. Every person has flaws, some are bigger than others. And then there are other people who have bigger problems, that are no longer classified as flaws, but are classified as disfigurements. Or worse.

"Can I?" Asked Arriane. Oh, this was going to get ugly. Again.

"Yeah, sure. Fiona, will you be ok back here?"

"I'll be fine, I think. What do you need?"

"Food," said Max.

"Water," said Arriane.

"Ammo." Said Bren.

                                                     ***

 Fiona and I packed the bags. We gave Bren the rifle, Max used Fiona’s pistol, Arriane brought her own and I brought my Makarov. Each of us had a pack to carry, filled with food and the little useful things like pocket knives and ropes.

“How long are we going to be out?” I asked Bren. He was clearly the one in charge of the group.

“Depends. Should be just a day or so.”

“No longer than a day,” said Arriane. “Fiona is all alone with no defence. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“It’s a good idea, just not a safe one. Fiona,” he turned to face her. “You’ll need to be on guard both night and day. Just because we’re gone, that doesn’t mean you’re on vacation.”

“Bren, we’ve been living out here for almost 4 years now. I think I can handle it. I don’t need you to give me a lesson.”

“Fine then.” I could feel the tension between the two of them. Bren had finally met his match.

We said farewell to Fiona, then set off on our hunt for the soldiers. We climbed the cliff on the left side, from where the soldiers had come last time. I prayed we wouldn’t find the bodies.

Everyone was quiet most of the time, even Max and I didn’t speak to each other. We had no idea what was up ahead it was a bad position to be in. When we reached the top I sat down in the shade of a tree to catch my breath.  Max sat next to me, and then so did Arriane, which annoyed me. We’d never been in a fight so serious before.

“Max, can I ask you a question?”

“What?” He was getting sick of this now.

“How long have you been here, on this island?”

“Um…”

“Wait, scratch that, are we the first kids you’ve seen?”

“I guess so. I think we came here later than you, when most of the kids, well, you know. I don’t really tend to talk about it.”

“Ah, I see.” And the conversation ended there.

We didn’t see any sign of life for miles, we were out on an open field. It stretched out for a while, a while without protection. Bren made us walk through everything the island had to offer. Swamps, grasslands and forests so dense we had to cut our way through them. In three hours I had done the worst imaginable.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Asked Max. He’d just walked dead straight into a thistle bush.

“I’ve got this all figured out don’t worry. Just give me a sec, I need to send out the signal.”

“Wait a signal? Who are you waiting for?”

“Look, it’s nothing, forget I even said that.”

CAW, CAW!

It sounded nothing like a bird at all. But it wasn’t coming from Bren’s mouth. The tree swayed next to us. Was there someone in it?

“Guys, get ready,” I whispered. We loaded and aimed our weapons at the pine tree, waiting for all to be revealed.

“Just don’t shoot straight away,” ordered Bren. What was he thinking? We saw two feet touch the ground. And then she stepped out of the shadows.

The girl simply walked up to us, unafraid. She came so close that the tip of Arriane’s gun was touching her nose. Her face was pale, emotionless. Her black hair was tied up in a short pony tale. She was just like us, kind of. Very… mysterious.

“Who are you?” Said Max sternly. We had surrounded her completely. She didn’t mind.

“Who, me? My name’s China. Nice to meet you all.”