FALLOUT

5

It took me a moment, but I realized what the man had been looking at. Wyn's tattoo. The tattoo my father had given all of us. The Three. The Athans. A series of dots and dashes; Athan, spelled out in Morse Code, the universal language of the military my father loved so much. Except now, my own wrist only bore a marbled rough patch of skin. I could still feel the red hot steel burning deep inside it somewhere. 

"Who are you?" Wyn asked sternly, gun still on the ready.

"I am Theon. And I believe I am the help you were speaking of." He bowed before Wyn, going down on a knee. At this gesture, three other men and one woman, all similarly dressed in ragged and dirty earth-colored robes, emerged almost magically from the trees and did the same.

Awestruck, Wyn looked at them strangely then recognition crossed his features and he lowered his weapon and looked back at me. Motioning for me to come closer, he pointed.

I saw it clear as day. A primitive arrow pointing up on the back of Theon's neck; on all of them. The symbol of The Protectors. Warriors, their training passed on from generation to generation, in order to keep mankind safe from the secret of The Athans. Our secret. And they were bowing to their founding father.

Recovering, Wyn's features sobered. "Please, stand. You have no reason to bow to us." 

"On the contrary, we have every reason to bow to you. It is because of you that life continues as it should." Theon glanced over our shoulders into the distance. "You are exposed here," he explained. "They have high lookout points a mile in with high tech surveillance gear. If they have been looking, they have likely seen you already." Wyn whirled around and looked in the direction of The Berm. "Come, our village is close by."

Wyn looked to me and half-shrugged. It was a better plan than his solo mission. I nodded and he turned back to Theon and his group. 

"Okay. Lead the way." 

I fell into step beside Theon, with Wyn, ever so cautiously, right behind me, the rest of The Protectors bringing up the rear. I realized I was still holding Theon's bow and removed it from my shoulder, handing it over to him. 

He took it with a grateful smile. "As a father myself, it is my pleasure to tell you, your daughter is safe." The smile made it's way up and out of his bright blue eyes with a twinkle.

Goosebumps ran over my body as my breath caught in my chest. Izzy. "How do you know that?"

Theon glanced back at Wyn. "Your men sent word. It seems the communication chain you established long ago still works despite it rarely being used." He turned his attention back to me. "I am to relay a message. Stop screwing around and get, your butt," his voice went up at the word, "out here."

Chuckles rumbled through the group and I laughed, relief washing over me. I looked at Theon, who was clearly just as amused at Izzy's message. "Thank you," I said softly and he nodded, eyes forward on the path ahead. 

As we drew further into the forest, tension I'd been holding inside my body for days loosened slightly. Our footsteps padded softly on the brown needles blanketing the path. The piney scent of the conifers took me back to nightly after-dinner strolls in the cool forests of Amaranthus. With Wyn, hands clasped together, making us one. The purple glow of twilight would seep in through the treetops, filling the air with a mystical beauty that belonged solely to that sector. He was right. I was happy then. We were happy. What I wouldn't give to be back there in that place with him again. 

His presence behind me glowed with a warmth that only he emitted and I slowed a half step, falling back into it to walk next to him. He glanced at me sideways and continued walking. Reaching down, I tentatively brushed my pinky finger along his, and stopped breathing when it looped around mine, the contact sending that familiar charge through my hand and up my arm. 

Izzy and Annora were safe, and for the moment, so were we. Or so it seemed. 

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A/N - What do we think about The Protectors? I really loved the idea of a tribe of people being the keepers of the legend, the knowledge passed on through generations.