The Runaways

XVIII

  I woke up in a cold sweat the next morning, they were coming! My body trembled as I felt the arrival of our enemies, we weren't safe. I raced up as quickly as I could, but my legs gave out almost as quickly. I hit the ground, but raced back up as fast as I could. I ran outside in the blazing sun, and looked for the threats. 

"Where?" I felt out of breath as I looked around. 

"Vanessa." The sound of boots shook me, I faced the man behind me and glared. 

"Gino." I stood tall. 

"Take it." He held out the memory card and tossed it my way, along with my old bag. 

"My bag! I knew it." I caught the items. 

"I told you to trust me." He approached me, but I stepped back. 

"You're an Other." I slipped on a rock and fell. 

"That helped you." He held out his hand, but I refused it. I stood up on my own and crossed my arms. 

"What do you want from me?" I asked. I slipped on the backpack and shoved the memory card in my pocket. 

"I'm going to help you." He said and I scoffed. 

"You? Help me?" I didn't believe it. 

"I've done it before." He got closer to me. 

"Why?" He grabbed onto my hands, slipping something for me to hold. 

"Before you go to the airport, you can use those keys. You'll know what I'm talking about." He whispered into my ear before shoving me down on the ground. 

"Hey!" I got angry as I fell behind the dirt. 

"Gino!" A woman pulled up in a military truck. "Did you find the signals?" She stepped out. 

"Nothing in there Teresa. Let's get going forward, we can check the port." Gino talked to her before they entered the truck and drove off. 

Why did he just help me? 

  I got up once I knew the coast was clear. I shoved the keys in my hiking bag and went back into the house. Everyone was quiet and still asleep, so I snuck back in the room with Jordan. I placed the bag down and moved the bedsheets to get back in bed. I sat there and tried to figure out what just happened. 

"Wanna tell me where you went?" I froze hearing that voice. 

"N-no?" I gazed over and Jordan chuckled. He turned over to me and smiled. 

"Good morning." He yawned. 

"Morning." I watched him get up to put his shirt on. He gazed over to me and stared. "Hungry?" 

"Um, y-yeah." I got back up and followed him into the kitchen. 

  We looked through the refrigerator; the bottom drawers were full of moldy fruits and the door had a carton of expired milk. There was cheese that hadn't expired yet and a half-empty bottle of grape juice. The eggs and leftovers were probably rotten as well, I closed the refrigerator and opened the freezer. Like yesterday, it was full of frozen vegetables. 

  "We can always look through their pantry." He chuckled. 

 "Great." We walked over to the pantry and opened it. 

"Oh jackpot!" Jordan reached his arms above me and pulled down boxes of pancake mix. "Sweet, this junk doesn't expire right?" He asked. 

"Maybe?" I didn't know, I've always made mine from scratch. The box wasn't open and when it was, it didn't seem bad. 

"I'll get the mix going, find something to eat with this." He walked off with the mix. 

  As I looked, everything hid behind the cans of beans. I found a container of peanut butter, and a box of fruit cups. There was a large box of crackers and another bottle of grape juice. And a box of stale cereal. I continued looking, but that was basically it except for a large jar of applesauce. 

"Find anything?" He walked over with a large bowl full of thick pancake mix. 

"Some stuff." I pointed at the peanut butter, fruit cups, crackers, applesauce, and grape juice. 

"Awesome." He hugged me. "But I have a question, you know how to not burn these things?" He handed over the mix. 

"Lucky for you, I do." I kind of expected this. 

  I turned on the stove, and found a pan and spatula for the pancakes. In the middle of me making and stacking the pancakes, the kids began pouring into the kitchen. I watched as Jordan tried to take order of them, but they were too interested in the food. 

"I'm almost done, so just sit down and I'll serve you soon." I giggled watching them listen to me better than they did him. 

  Once I was done, I set the stack of pancakes on the table. When I moved my hands, they began digging in. I poured the grape juice into bowls for them, since the all of the cups were cracked. They either ate the apple sauce from the plates with the pancakes, or devoured the fruits cups without utensils. It was fun to watch, but I'm sure I ate just as savagely. 

"All full?" I asked breathing out.

"All full." Carol answered. 

"Good. We have to leave soon." I told them. 

"Leave?" Jordan looked at me puzzled, I never told him. 

"We're leaving. We can't stay here forever." I said, and Michael explained the plan before I had to. 

"So we're leaving today?" He asked. 

"Yeah, we can't afford to waste time here. We leave at night." Surprisingly, no one fought back at my plan. 

  Once they left to prepare their things, I cleaned up the mess they left. I gathered the food left and carried it to my hiking bag. I shoved it inside, so we had food for the way there. Who knows how long it would take us, and how long we could last out there in the open. I felt on my pocket and took out the memory card. 

"What's that?" Jordan crept behind me. 

"I'm not sure." Bit gave it to me, but there was something eerie about it. 

"Put it in there." Jordan pointed to the television attatchment. I opened it and looked for the memory card size and slipped it in.

I hesitated, but turned the television on.