The Fire Guardians

Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

                I fell asleep easier than usual, only waking up once or twice with the occasional nightmare.

                “Krista, wake up.”

                I opened my eyes slowly and saw the girl kneeled beside me. Her brown hair dangled just above her narrow hips, and she smiled, revealing crooked teeth.

                “We’re having a quick breakfast and leaving,” the girl explained as I sat up. Everyone else was up and stirring.

                “I’m Hazel,” the girl said once we stood up.

                “Are you a good cook?”

                “Uh, not really. I mean, I’ve never really tried cooking. My family is more into packaged, quick food than home cooked stuff.”  

                “Oh. Well after we leave Margret I’m back to cooking the meals. My mom offers to help, but she’s a terrible cook. Everett helps sometimes, but that isn’t exactly guardian job. But I guess you’re supposed to be a guardian, too.”

                “I don’t care if it’s a guardian job or not. I’ll help if you need a hand,” I said, “It’s not a matter of life and death.” Hazel gave a shy smile, and walked over toward the fire in the center of the room. I made an observation of all the people; there was Hazel, Everett, Sky, Margret and Margret’s son. Everett was playing with Margret’s son, while Margret and Sky were discussing what sounded like moving arrangements.

                Everett looked at us as we approached him, “Everyone ate already. We just had an apple and slice of bread.” Hazel nodded, and led me to a cabinet. She opened it, and handed me an apple and piece of bread. I got a quick glimpse inside and saw a decent amount of food left. Although most of it appeared spoiled or rotten. My apple didn’t look very appetizing with the big brown blotches covering the red. The bread was kind of burnt, but it seemed fine. Now wasn’t the time to be picky even if I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t know when the next chance I’d get to eat would be.    

                I took a bite of the apple, and made myself finish it. I glanced over at Hazel who seemed to be enjoying her food like it was some type of freaking chocolate cake. Was this what It’d come down to? Eating wormy apples and burnt bread? Savoring it like I may never eat again?

                After I finished eating, I sat beside the fire with Hazel and Everett. Margret’s son had run/crawled back to his mom, and now he was sitting at her feet playing in the dirt.

                “Where were you from?” Everett asked.

                “Colorado, this place is America.”

                “What was it like there?” Hazel questioned quietly.

                “Freezing cold. The summers are too short. There are lots of mountains and trees. That’s it for the most part.”

                “Oh, we learned about that in geography. The messengers had lots of classes on it. I’m glad I didn’t. I was terrible at geography,” Everett said.

                “Me too,” I muttered, remembering my grade on the last test we had.

                “I wasn’t trained in geography. I guess it makes sense, though. Why would a servant need to know where Colorado is?”