Six

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jacks POV

She doesn't bring it up. I don't ask. But I can't ignore the way it felt like electricity

Or the way it made my heart melt

Or how I loved every second of it.

I don't know if she feels the same. I pretend I don't care. But I can't help noticing how she blushes crimson every time she makes eye contact with me. Or how she sheepishly twirls her hair around her finger every so often.

Instead we started playing a game we both silently agreed on.

I say a question. She answers or passes.

I follow her blindly through the polluted rubble not knowing where we will wind up and continue the never ending game.

"Full name?" I say

"Margurite Frenda Bakes," she rips through old branches of dead trees with a stick she uses as a crutch and avoids eye contact. "But call me Marge for short."

"Destination?"

She looks at me and stares at the curtain of yellow dead grass held up by two lifeless branches grasped by gaunt trees barely stable. She gingerly slides the curtain open and I see a habitat.

It looks pathetic and worn over time but amazingly built and designed.

"The past two years, I have stayed here. Alone." Instead of seeing the fierce jungle woman I saw before, I finally see a little girl, abandoned and alone. Not alive but dead with a beating heart.

I see my sister.

"My sister built it with me when we were banned from Socitey. We were barely living, but lived for each other. We survived off of an apple tree not far from here and the occasional wild goose. "

She looks away from me and talks in the direction of a framed craked back and white photo of a girl no older than six, with long dark hair that lays in a braid on her shoulder. Her eyes are the same brilliant blue as Marge.

It is no doubt her sister.

"Deli was her name. One day they found us. I was out gathering food with Deli and I heard a scream. She called my name. But I was to late. That's where I met Snake." She says. "He killed her. He made her die." She says and cries. Tear after year falls until I'm certain there are none left to be shed.

I wipe the tears off her face and sit next to her in the area of the.... room which is full of hand woven bark baskets that hold food. That section abuts the bedroom section which holds the cracked picture of the beloved Deli and two sections of sliced bark one for her and one for Deni.

"How far is Society from here?" I ask.

"A mile. Two." She says weakly.

"This isn't right." I say. "We can't pretend like it's all alright. It's not!"

"Jack..." She says

"We need to fight back." I say. "Are you ready" I say. I offer my hand and he takes it as I pull her up. "Ready."

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