Stay...Alive

Chapter 28

Victorine woke up on something soft. Very soft. She lifted her hand from under her blanket to feel the mattress under her. My God, a blanket too! And something soft and squishy to support her head as well. The first thing she heard was: "What'd I tell you 'bout scaring me?'

Victorine opened her eyes and saw Yolanda grinning down at her. Victorine sat up, her head twisting and turning to look around the place. There were walls. Painted walls. An unbroken-ceiling as well. Across the room was a doorway, complete with a real, functioning door. Victorine looked down at her sheets and blankets. She was in a real bed.

"We made it," Yolanda told Victorine, kneeling next to her bed. "We're at the next haven."

Victorine inhaled sharply and her face lit up before she wrapped her arms around Yolanda's waist and hugged her tight.

"And thanks for fainting," Yolanda said, semi-sarcastically. "They let us right in when they saw we had three, injured, unconscious children."

Victorine slowly let it sink in, and sprang up from her bed, laughing, only to be met with a cramp.

"Easy, easy," Yolanda whispered. Victorine steadied herself, then got back to warmly grinning at Yolanda. The women bent down to her level and put her hands on Victorine's shoulders.

"We made it kid," Yolanda told her, leaning in and kissing her forehead. She took her hand and they walked outside the building.

Outside was the biggest arrangement of tents Victorine had ever seen. Most were colors that were once bright, but by then were faded. There were some sites with small buildings, and others were being built. For the time being, the tents were moderately sized enough.

But Victorine's favorite sight was the people.

People were smiling. Kids were huddled in tents around a phone or a game of poker. A few toddlers played in the dirt under the watchful eye of a parent. The sky was clear and blue, and the last September air was warm and thick. Before she could finish taking everything in, Anita stepped into view.

"How dare you find a Goddamn land mine and not let me tag-along?" Anita stated. "C'mon, you know that right up my alley!"

Victorine chuckled and impulsively pulled Anita in for a hug. "Aw, thanks. I mean, we'll probs be having loads of adventures in this place."

A man approached her from behind, put a hand on her shoulder and spun her around.

"Oh, there you are, dad," Anita said, casually.

"You escaped with them and not me," her father told her, in almost the exact same tone.

"Well, you didn't seem to do anything 'bout finding me," Anita retaliated. They both nodded in recognition. With that, the two walked off.

Yolanda led her through the aisles to their tent. They strolled by Laura and Lyla were sharing a tent with Cherie and her mother. She recognized that tap-dancing blonde girl from the last haven, among others. The tents were about as big as a medium-sized room and were propped up so the tents were shaped like cubes. Victorine and Yolanda stopped in front of two, bright pink tents.

"We had to get two since out whole crew couldn't fit in one," Yolanda told Victorine. "But they're right next to each other, so don't worry."

She entered the tent to the left, and pretty much everyone from the group was crammed inside. Asha was lying down on a cot, Lane standing over her. Gina and Frankie sitting on a cot across from them, and Jacey and Parker were on an air mattress on the far-wall, Jacey snuggled up in Parker's sweatshirt. Horace and Oliver were on a carpet in the middle of the floor gathered around one of Anita's books.