Survival

Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE (edited)

“Kathy, is that you?” A sweet voice greeted Katherine.

She insisted they call her by her first name. Katherine's sad eyes landed on a girl in the far corner of the dark underground room. Miya's hair was tangled and wild, her eyes deep with fear and search for love. The girl was really thin but tall for an eight year old.

“Hello darling! Where’s Nedit? Has he-“

She stopped. A young thin, bony boy came into view. It was hard to believe that this boy helped Jack in so many ways. He had dark hair that swept to the side like a wave and big brown eyes full of intelligence.

            “Kathy. I’m here. I fed the Nabrask’s, Jonsen’s and the “perdido” siblings with the food in the storage but...”

There’s a pause.

“But what? Nedit, is something wrong?” Katherine's voice shook.

She could tell by Nedit's expression that something was terribly wrong. She looked around. Maybe Jacob is feeling worse. Or maybe the "perdido" siblings did something outgoing again. But everything looked fine. Jacob was lying on a blanket in the far left corner. The children seem to play some sort of game. She looked at Nedit, confused.

Nedit continued talking.

“The food supply....well, it….you know…”

His face expression turned grim and his face twisted like the words were too bitter to even say. Nedit didn't have to say anymore. Katherine understood. Their food supply had ended and that meant starvation and death. No. She couldn’t think about fears. She had to fight. Fight? She thought, I thought Jack or someone else was supposed to do the fighting. I guess you can’t live without fighting once in a while.

“Everybody. Please listen up.”

The children looked at her with concern. They knew that when Katherine started to say a speech like this, with her voice shaky, it meant they were in trouble. Katherine gulped.

“We will move our location to further out west. Out here the drought is severe, and in the west there is more rain. Children, this means more crops and food.”

There was fake cheerfulness in her voice. She tried to make it sound simple even to convince herself.

“We will head west in the morning. Pack up your things. Katy and I will gather what’s left: berries, plants, fruits...”

Pack what you have? She had to be kidding herself. Katherine knew that these families had nothing except for a few blankets, clothes and torn up jackets. She remembered bringing the so-called “perdido” siblings, known as Lina and Nellie, to her hiding place. The sisters were only toddlers lost in the streets of the big city. "Perdido" meant lost; Katherine decided to call them that. Gratefully they are now grown enough to take care of themselves a little. The Nabrask family consisted of only a sick father, Jacob and a teenage boy, Danny. Danny wasn’t pleasant at first. He used to be very careful about who he met and had a sharp tongue but  he was a good partner at hard times. Then there were the Jonsens’ - a toddler boy with a sister to take care of him. Twelve year old Katy is very protective of Georgie and she has a tough attitude. The poor girl had a hard life. She was very determined and helped Katherine a lot since she was the oldest girl. It made her feel important and wanted.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She needed to bring them to safety as quickly as possible.