After the Fall

Chapter One

"Please help!" Thomas stopped dead in his tracks. Who could be out here at this time of night beside him? It was nearly 3:00 in the morning and the only ones awake were usually the camp patrolmen. He stood there for a few seconds and listened. There was nothing. For a minute he was unsure if he really had heard anything at all.
But there it was again. Somewhere in the distance from what had to be near the shore line he heard someone calling out for help. It was pitch black and with the fog rolling in off the water it made it harder for him to see anything in the darkness ahead of him, but he instinctly took off in the direction of whomever was calling.
"I am here... What do you need?" Thomas said as he stopped abruptly. A large case had been left on the shore by the faction once more and of course they had dropped off another one of the infected. His blood boiled in his chest. He hated the Compliance Brigade with everything inside of him.
"My head... everything is spinning." the girl reached out to him.
"That's just the fever. You will be well in a day or so." he collected her into his arms. Thomas knew the drill. But it had been nearly a year since anyone had been discarded to their island.
"Put me down." the woman insisted. But Thomas knew that with what she had, she would be too weak to resist. She wasn't the first mainlander that he had found and brought back to the camp.
"Don't you know whom I am? I'm the colonels daughter!!!" she shouted at him as she wrestled against his chest to be free.
"How? How is that possible" Thomas stopped in his tracks and set the girl before him. He turned her to face him. She looked healthy, well fed. Her face was smooth and without a single blemish. That certainly spoke of her stature in the city of Eile.
"My father would have you in chains if he knew you had your filthy hands on me!" she tried to break from his grasp.
This didn't make sense. Why would a member of the highest ranking family be here, on the island. They were supposed to be immune?
"Tell me what you remember!" Thomas demanded.
"I... I don't really..." she started before this fear came across her face. She took a step back and Thomas knew she was going to fade. He scooped her up once more and carried her back to the base camp.
This was going to be huge with the guards. What would they do with her? Should he make her appearance known? For a moment he contemplated taking her back to his hut and letting his mother tend to her. But He wanted answers. On one hand there was this nagging question of what would happen if he didn't let the others know? Surely this girl was a valued asset to the cause and could have intel that they needed to get back to the main land.
"I've found another one on the beach" Thomas announce as he carried her into the main hut.
"Here, put her here." his mother instructed.
"Does she have the fever?" she asked.
"Yes." Thomas informed them. He had felt the heat radiating from her body the whole way back.
"Daley... get my bag." she informed his younger sister.
"Thomas I need cold water... to the spring." she shewed him away. Without hesitation he done what was asked of him. He found a bucket and hiked the short distance to the base of the mountain and drew up some water. When he got back the hut was nearly full of others who had heard the commotion and come out to investigate the new arrival. News certainly traveled fast, the thought to himself.
"Let me through." Thomas demanded, pushing his way back into the center on the hut.
"It's been a while since they've sent one of their sick." someone remarked as he passed.
"She looks well off, just look at her dress!" another exclaimed, and as soon as the words were spoken a hush settled in on the crowd.
"Who found her?" Nolan, their leader asked.
" I did." Thomas spoke up. Nolan motioned him forward.
"Was there anything else?" he asked quietly with a knowing look. Thomas nodded. Nolan pulled him to the outer edge of the tent.
"Stay here with them... we will recover whatever accompanied this girl. I want to know as soon as she comes to." he instructed and simply walked away with a couple of the guards in suit.
Thomas didn't know what to make of this. He could have told Nolan about what this girl had said but something didn't feel right. Maybe he could talk to her first before they got the chance to. He didn't know what he would do with that information, but having one of the top leaders children here on their island had to mean something big.
     "Thomas!" his mother broke his thoughts
      "please bring her to our hut. I need to watch her overnight" she instructed him. Without pause he lifted her back into her arms.
      "she's sooo pretty" Daley spoke.
     "That's what a well fed belly will get you." her mother huffed. Thomas gritted his teeth. He hated the faction even more for what they had done. His mother had been with the first few groups of infected that they sent to the island. There were not many that had survived those first few months period. The fever had taken out most of them before they even got settled, and then the island itself claimed her share. Most of the ones who remained at that point died from starvation and barely made it through the first winter at all. But his mother was strong. She had not only survived, she thrived with the help of Nolan and the original leaders that had created a village they knew today.
     Thomas was born that next summer. His mother never said who his father was. It didn't really matter, they were too busy simply trying to survive. Alma had always said that they were all one big family on the island. But Thomas had always thought that it was Nolan. They carried the same dark features, same piercing blue eyes.  Nolan had also always had a soft spot for him. He would never admit it, but Thomas could see the difference in his treatment towards him.
     "Here..." his mother pointed. "Lay her here" she instructed.
    "And where am i to sleep?" he asked.
    "Go to Nolan son. He will be needing you this eve" she waved him aside as she took over duty of caring for the sickly girl before them.
    Thomas looked to his sister Alma. She simply nodded, indicating that he was no longer needed and that he better get off to whatever job Nolan needed him for next. Nolan was not one  to be held up, so he hurried back out towards the shore.
     "There is a map!" he heard someone exclaim. Something made Thomas stop dead in his tracks. He wasn't sure that he would be permitted to be part of this conversation, but he knew that he needed to hear what they were saying.
     "Keep your voice down" He heard Nolan command. "that is the kind of information we'd like to keep to ourselves" he added as he heard rustling of the papers. He stooped down in the tall brush at the edge of the tree line and could just make out the solohuet of the men standing near the box the faction had left with the girl.
      "We keep getting less and less" someone he couldn't make out spoke as they searched through the crate.
     "We won't have to worry about that for long" Nolan stated.
     "Are we really going to do it?" Aaron asked him.
"I mean we've talked about it for years."
     "with this..." he patted the map tucked inside the inner picked of his long coat "we have our in"