One Hour Earlier
Callum
We’d been inching through the woods outside of the town for at least half an hour before we heard voices. Wes and Uncle Leo motioned for me to be quiet and we pulled up behind a few tree trunks. I peaked around and squinted through the leaves that hung as cover.
There was a momentary camp set up under camo tarps that were draped across branches, shielding them from view of any planes that were to pass overhead. Around a small camp fire were a group of women, young and old, that were either sewing, talking, or working on the food that cooked over the flames. Children played with dolls, some were real, sock dolls. Others were dolls twined together and made of sticks, their clothes of leaves.
On the edge were the men. They were dressed and ready for any surprise attack, each on holding fast to their guns, their faces smeared with war paint. “So far, it’s clear, Sam.” One man closest to us was saying. The other man, Sam, was blocked from view, “It looks like their headed north, so we should head south at dawn.”
“Not yet.” Sam said, pushing the man aside and stepping into view. I was surprised to find that he was hardly older than Wes, and yet he seemed to be the one in charge. There were men much older than him, and yet, they followed his orders. “We need to go to their newest destruction and look for survivors. Then we can go North too.”
“But Sam-”
“You heard me, Collin.” Was all Sam had to say. He was turning around to go back to his position when there was a loud *SNAP*.
I swung my head around to look at Uncle Leo, who’d taken a step back, trying to regain balance, and stepped right onto a stick. The men lifted their guns, all in the direction of us, and Sam got up front. “Who’s there?! Show yourself!”
Wes sighed and motioned for us to follow his lead. He lifted his hands in surrender and stepped out, Uncle Leo and I behind him. “We come in peace.” He called out. It made me feel like some sort of alien, walking into their camo tented world after my entire world had been burned to the ground.
“Where’d you come from?” Sam asked Wes, still training his gun on us.
“Our town, Linden. It was burnt down a few weeks ago. We’ve been staying in one of the other burnt towns, waiting it out.” Wes explained. Sam nodded for his men to put their weapons down before lowering his own. We dropped our hands and Wes reached out to shake Sam’s hand. “This is my Uncle, Leo, and my brother. Callum.”
Sam shook my hand, his grip firm. He looked genuinely excited. “It’s great to find some survivors. Well, more like, be found by some survivors. Are there more?”
“Not sure. So far it’s just been me and my family. Three sisters and our Aunt back at town.” I said now, “Our youngest sister’s hurt. Bad. Do you have anything we can give her for an infected leg wound?”
Sam thought a second, “We have a doctor. He’s from a few towns over that got destroyed. I’m sure he’ll take a look and do the best he can.” He said finally, “Lets go get her.” Collins got one of their jeeps ready to go and we all piled inside. It took us only ten minutes to get back to the others.
I led them to the spot we’d been staying in, a few feet ahead, in a hurry to get back to Minnie. When we got to them, she was curled against Aunt Fiona. Her face shinned with sweat, her curls sticking to her cheeks. Sam moved around me, lifting her up as carefully as possible. Her eyes were now closed and my breath quickened. She didn’t look good. Her skin was ashen and she’d gone limp in Sam’s arms.
“Where’s the twins?” Uncle Leo asked Fiona.
“Here.” Millie announced as they arrived, looking around curiously at the new arrivals. “What’s going on?” Willa stopped beside her, but as soon as Sam settle Minnie into the back of the jeep, she went over to her, climbing in next to the child.
“We’re going to their camp to get Minnie taken care of. Now lets go already.” I said, waving my arms toward the jeep so that everyone would get a move on. We all piled into the car, sandwiched against each other.
------
It was getting dark by the time the doctor, Miller, a big dark skinned man, came to find us. “You’re sister’s very lucky to have been taken in when she was. Any longer and…” He rubbed the back of his neck, letting the sentence go. “Well, we’ll just let her rest for a while. See how things go.”
He turned and went back to his tent/hospital that was set up in one of the far corners, away from all the bustle of the people. We’d found out that most of them had come from different towns along the south. Sam and Collin had started the group. They called themselves the Revolutionaries. Any man over sixteen was to serve as a soldier, which made me slightly mad. Since I was only fourteen, he’d pushed me aside and taken Wes under his wing, teaching him everything he knew about gun usage, or how to tell when it’s safe to check out the latest hits from the enemy.
Willa and Millie were helping Miller in the tent with a few of the others who were hurt in bombings. Aunt Fiona was with Minnie.
Uncle Leo and I were sitting around an old Transistor radio, fiddling with the dial, trying to find a channel that came through. The first one we came to was exactly what we were looking for. The president was making some sort of a speech about what was going on.
“Despite our many precautions since World War Two, the unthinkable has happened. Now, in 2032, the third world war has begun. Citizens of the United States, we will need all able to help our nation fight everything that is coming to us. Troops are being formed throughout the states. Survivors of attacks can find help wherever troops can be found. We are all-” The signal started to cut out, so I reached over and flipped the switch, turning it off. I looked at my Uncle, my eyes wide. The third world war. We’d known this was coming, with all the wars that were going on between the other countries, but from I’d always thought, deep down, that we were untouchable. Nothing this bad could ever happen to us.
I’d been wrong.
-----
The next day, I went to see Minerva. She was awake, but her fever was still there. Miller only had so many antibiotic pills, so he could only give her one a day. We all knew that wouldn’t be enough to beat the infection alone.
She was still pale, almost matching the pillows she rested on, but not as near death as she’d looked the day before. “You need anything? Water? Food?” I asked her, sitting down on the edge of the cot.
“No.” She whispered. She couldn’t get anything out any louder than a whisper, and even then, you had to strain to hear her. She kept looking around her, at the other sick people. There was a man who’d lost an arm, his shoulder wrapped tightly with bandages. He was getting better though. Even able to walk around again, since recovering from his own infection. Min looked up at me, “Am I going to lose my leg, like that man lost his arm?”
I shook my head, brushing her hair back from her face, “I can’t promise you anything, Min, but we’re doing our best to get that leg better.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. For a moment, I thought she was asleep, and was about to get up to leave, but then she spoke. “Papa’s looking for us. Him and Mommy…they’re not dead. They can’t be, Callum.” She murmured. “He wouldn’t let some explosion take him away…Not Papa.”
I didn’t answer. There wasn’t anything to say. As she drifted off to sleep, I looked around me. I would have liked to believe our father and mother were still alive, looking for us, but as Uncle Leo’d said, the first explosion had gone off close to where they were working…and with all the sickness and death right under this tent…it was a hard thing to hope for.
