The Twenty Five Percent Rayanna

Abbeville

                          Darkness has become my new best friend as of late. It keeps coming back to me and attacking me when I least expect it. Sometimes it brings peace with it, and sometimes it brings memories, painful memories. This time it brings pain. The death of Wolfe. My brother, my father figure, my protector. And now he's gone. I watch him die in a hundred different ways. I watch as a rival soldier shoots him down. As friendly fire takes him out. Another time I watch wild dogs devour him. Not knowing what happened is hard. But even harder still is the question of how I will take care of a child on my own? A child that is not mine, that I didn't birth? I feel like I'm still a child, myself. Twenty-one. I know lots of people have children by my age, but not me. I never did learn how to survive on my own, without someone's help.

                     I open my eyes and look around; I am surrounded by the embers of a dying fire. Next to me is a small bundle, a person? I stare at the bundle for a few minutes before I realize that it's Lou. I look past the dying fire and see the sky is turning grey. Dawn is quickly approaching, and with the morning light, Altair will soon be on our trail. He is not one to let something escape his grasp, whether he wants it or not, he will fight to maintain what is his. I am not his property, but in his eyes, I belong to him. I quickly get up, change clothes, and start packing what little bit of stuff we left out last night.

                 I look over at the sleeping form of Lou, such a brave little girl. She has lost both of her parents, now, and yet she took the news well. Maybe she didn't fully understand the fact that her daddy is gone. She cried a few minutes, but then asked if I was going to stay with her. I would love to stay with her, but I'm tied to Altair now, and I don't think he is going to let me go that easily. He is violent, and I am not going to let him use her to keep me "in line". But there was this place, a few towns back, a nice place, technically outside of town, hard to find unless you stumble upon it. The lady that owns it is Lou's grandmother, a much better person to raise her, than me. She is the mother of Wolfe's wife. It would be best for her grandmother to raise her. Especially since I'm not entirely sure what will become of me when I confront Altair. And I have to confront him, if I don't, he will never stop hunting us.

                         I check our food supplies before I wake Lou. There isn't much left, but if I cut back on what I eat, it should be enough to sustain us until we get to a safe town. I had to skip the last two small towns, for fear that they would alert Altair and then he would know which direction I was going in. As of now, I have a small advantage because he doesn't have a clue which direction we went. Our food supply is almost gone, and as much as I hate it, we are going to have to stop at this next town. Maybe Altair's men won't be here yet. "Come on, Lou, honey, get up," I say, bending over and gently giving Lou's shoulder a shake.

                          "mmm..." she mumbles, swatting my hand.

                 "Time to get up Lou. Time to play hide-n-seek, again." I say in a sing-song voice, standing up.

                "Hide-n-seek? Like yesterday?" she asks, stretching and opening her eyes.

                    "Yes, just like yesterday. The game isn't over, yet."

                   "It's not? Did we lose?" she asks, sitting up.

                          "No. We haven't lost." Not, yet anyways. "The game doesn't end until we make it to home base or until we get caught."

                   "Where's home base?"

                  "Mimi's house," I say, pulling some food out of my backpack.

                 "But that's really far." Lou whines.

                   "No, it's not, we are almost there. Now eat your breakfast, so we can get going. I plan on winning this game."

                    The sun has just started peeking over the horizon when we reach the town. Abbeville. Ha. What a strange name for a town. We pass the guards outside the gate and give them a wave.

                    They wave back and then one of the guards calls out, "Wait!"

               "Yes?" I ask, stopping.

                 "What business do you and the girl have, in Abbeville?" the guard asks.

                      "We are just passing through. We need to buy a little food, maybe refresh our water."

                        "What are your names?" the other guard asks.

                   "Kat and this is Alexa," I say. Thankfully, Lou isn't paying attention to the conversation but is instead fascinated with a blue butterfly.

                   The second guard walks over and whispers something to the first guard. "Where is your husband?" the first guard asks.

                    "He..." my brain freezes, and I can't think of a good excuse. Come on! Think! I see a man walking alone, and that sparks an idea. "He arrived a few days ago. He's supposed to be waiting for me in the processing building."

               "What's his name?" the second guard questions.

               What's a good generic male name that sounds believable? "Paul."

                 The guards glare at me a moment, trying to break my story, but I refuse to look away. "All right, just make it quick. The town is full of soldiers, they are looking for a missing girl, and someone's missing wife." The first guard says after a few moments of silence.

                "Oh, wow, that's sad. I hope they find them." I say.

                   "I'm sure they will. Just get what you need and leave. Stay out of the way, and don't interfere with the investigation." The first guard orders.

                    "Okay, I will," I say. "Come on, let's go refresh our supplies so we can be on our way," I say, holding Lou's hand.

                    As we walk into town, I see lots of gun-toting soldiers, walking around, wearing their camouflage clothing. I'll have to be extra careful here. I have come too far to get caught now. If everything goes according to plan, we should make it to Lou's grandmother's house before nightfall. But how do I make it through town without getting caught? They are on the lookout for a woman and a little girl. I'm sure they are stopping everyone, and without a man to back up my story, I'll be sent to Altair, for sure. What I need more than anything is a safe place to leave Lou, while I do our shopping. And then when I'm done, I can come back and collect her. But where can I find such a place? Does one even exist here?