Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

8) Hope All Gone

The checkpoint into the camp seems deserted compared to earlier when I went to find Steven. Only Sarah and Adam are here, and I can tell they both have been crying, even Adam wipes a tear away before he tells me:

"They're gone. All gone. Leia is pretty tore up. She went back to the house. I don't know why, guess she didn't want to see us bawl like babies."

Today is turning into a day where I wish I'd never asked any questions because I don't want to know the answers.

"Who's gone?" I ask wincing and bracing myself for the answer that is going to be bad, so bad. Bad enough to make a grown man cry like a baby.

"The kids," says Sarah who bursts out into a fresh bout of crying. She is squeezing Adam's hands so tight I wonder why he's not complaining.

"Kids?" I ask.

There were some children killed at the stadium battle, but we didn't know them. It was horrible, but some of their families came and got them and were burying them before we left. It was awful though, and I guess what I am seeing is a delayed reaction to the horrors of yesterday. We are all in shock and numb from the things we have seen. I begin to think about the massacre that Steven and I witnessed at the school cafeteria. You never get over that horror and sadness and fear. I feel so sad now too that I can't seem to remember why I came back here in the first place.

Oh yeah, I'm looking for some pie. My stomach is rumbling thinking about the pie. I am so hungry I could eat a whole pie, so I say, to hopefully make these two feel better: "It was horrible what happened to the children at the battle, but at least they are with their families now."

Sarah starts to reply, but Adam doesn't let her. He pulls her to him and embraces her in a big bear hug, and she buries her face in his chest. It is at that moment that I realize that these two are together. They love each other. A grandpa and a woman only a little older than me. It seems like that should be wrong, but it's not. You can't help who you love. I for sure know that.

Adam speaks for Sarah because she can't now. "The children at the stadium battle was bad enough, Eliot, but we're not talking about them. We're talking about our kids. The little ones we sent west in the bus with Mary and Ronnie. To Safety. They're all gone."

"Gone? Millicent? Mary? Ronnie? The babies? The kids? All the Leos? Gone?"

"Gone," says Adam. "All gone."

"Dead," whispers Sarah peeking out from behind Adam's jacket. "They're all dead."

This can't be. We sent them to a safe place. We sent them west to the colleges that were taking all kids. All children were welcome, no questions asked. We sent them to save them. This can't be.

I start to run to the house to find Leia. She will know this can't be true. She will know this is just another crazy rumor spread by the scared and desperate. A rumor that is said to be truth because some idiot's cousin saw it with their own eyes. Or they heard what happened themselves from the horse's mouth. Their best friend's brother was there. Saw it, with his own eyes. They heard the rumor, or they know someone who saw the rumor, but it can't be true. It can't be true, and I won't believe it, and then I remember what my dad says - there's always some truth in every rumor. Listen and listen close.

I find Leia in the house in a back bedroom. Before I open the door, I know the truth. The children are all gone. They are dead. I know this is true because I hear her through the door. I've never seen Leia rattled, even when some of her friends were killed at the battle. Leia is cool, calm, and collected. She is what my dad would call "steady as a rock", but she is not so steady now. Leia is sobbing.