Letters to Eleanor

February 22, 2014 (Part 2)

Dear Nel,

Sorry I had to leave earlier.  I heard a blood curtling scream in the distance.  It was so high pitched that I knew straight away it was a young girl. 

I had to drop my pen before I could even sign my whole name.  I shoved on my layers of snow gear and sprinted out of the tent.  I knew I heard it, but there weren't any people or anything in sight.  Thankfully, there was still day light for me to scope out my surroundings.  

There she was, a few feet away, hidden in the trees, some of her flesh ripped out of left arm... She was a lovely young girl, like maybe eight or nine years old.  With a sweet heart shaped face, almond eyes, and a slim and short body.

Tears left my eyes and fell to the ground as ice before I could move.  I've never seen anything so heart breaking.  I had to rip myself from my spot and scoop her up with my arms.  "Liam!" My throat was drying and I was still choking from the tears. "Liam!!!" My eyes stung from the cold as I whipped around looking for him.  He finally materialized out of the woods from behind me carrying two dead rabbits in one hand and his gun in the other.

"What's wrong?" He sounded panicked.  I turned around to face him, hot tears streaming down my cheeks.  His eyes went directly to the girl.  Everything he was holding fell to the floor."Oh my.." he took her from my arms and ran with her back to the camp site. I stood there with my feet locked in place. The chilly wind biting my face, all of the sadness in the world falling right on top of me.  All of the emotions I've held in suddenly flowed out of me, in a river of silent cries and tears.

I've never seen something so cruel in my life.  We were taken away from the horror of what used to be our home and brought to a safe haven.  I suppose I should be thankful for that.  But in the end, we're all scared on the inside, even if we try to act tough.  And we have every right to.

Liam returned and snatched up the gun and the rabbits.  "I put her in my sleeping bag, I really don't know what to do past there..." He sounded so concerned. I wondered how he managed to keep his feelings from bursting.  He did have a family before the bomb.

"I know some first aid," I snapped out of my daze and went back to the camp site with Liam.  We stayed silent the short distance as we jogged slowly.  

When we reached the tent, I made sure she was still alive and not in need of CPR.  Her chest was rising and falling and that was how I knew she hadn't lost too much blood flow and she wasn't going under cardiac arrest.  Always a good sign, but her arm... she lost so much flesh it was hard to look at.  

I dug into the backpack (I'll get back to the pregnancy test later, don't think I forgot) and took out the disinfectant.  Even though she was unconscious, iodine still burns like all hell, so I used a gentle disinfectant that had the same effect.  

The poor little girl was still bleeding, nearly gushing blood. I had to put a torquinet around her arm to get the rest of the blood out and stop other blood from leaving her body.  Now that I was up closer, I realized that she wasn't that young, but was about eleven years old.  I started wander why she was out here in the first place and alone.  

Liam sat in a corner next to a lamp, small tears falling down his cheeks as he silently wept.  I got up once I was done and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. He hugged me tightly to his chest and we held on to each other for a while, still staying quiet.

We only let go once we noticed the girl rustling, a sign that she was gaining consciousness.  

Her eyes opened slowly, revealing beautiful green eyes that looked beautiful with her long, wavy blond hair.  

She sat straight up and began to panic, thrashing around in her sleeping bag.  I crawled over to her and put a finger to my lips.  "You're safe, sweetie," I whispered to her.  "I found you alone not too far away from here.  You had a pretty nasty bite on your arm, but it will feel better soon."

The girl coughed on her good arm, a terrible hacking sound.  "Where-?" She frantically looked around and backed up from me.  "Where am I?" Her voice was high and sweet sounding, like she would have a great singing voice.

"You're in Northern Alaska, close to Canada.  You're safe," I said soothingly.  Liam didn't say anything, he seemed choked up.

"Last thing I remember," the girl finally noticed her mangled arm, "was a wolf attacking me, then I blacked out."  She gagged at the sight of her arm, even though it was all bandaged up.  

I sighed.  "The wolf left you after nearly ripping your arm off." She winced once I said that.  "But I heard your scream and came right to you, you're safe," I repeated. 

"Okay," she seemed to relax slightly.  

"Why are you here in the Alaskan wilderness?" I pressed gently on her wound to see if she was still bleeding.  Thankfully, it had stopped and none came up to stain the cloth even more so.

"That really hurts," she complained, so I pressed a bit lighter.  "I'm from California. Where are you two from?"

"We're both from south Alaska," I replied, thinking about my poor mother by herself.

She widened her eyes slightly.  "You guys don't know what happened, do you?"

I looked to Liam and he shrugged.  "Please tell us," I urged.

"What's left of America has been taken over, not by the Chinese or Japanese, but by a greedy group of people that call themselves 'The Enlightened Ones'.  The government has been exectuted completely.  None of them are alive anymore."  Liam and I gasped and urged her to continue.  "They are demanding things of the contigious states.  Girls as young as me have to be pregnant by the next year.  All men are required to donate their sperm once a year.  Most men have been sent to war.  We don't have any food.  'The Enlightened Ones' are supposed to distribute it equally, but only the rich get food.  Most of the American survivors are starving to death.  

News has been forbidden to travel until they have taken over Alaska and Hawaii.  They are working extremely hard to keep it a secret and to keep us inside of the old America.  I've escaped after my family had been killed under the belief that they were part of a conspiracy.  I was alone, so I ran with my older brother, Caleb.  He-  I don't know where he is right now.  We made it to Alaska and traveled for a bit here, and he was with me for one night and vanished the next, leaving me alone again.  The next day, which I guess is today, I hiked until I was attacked.  And here I am," she concluded, letting out a heavy breath.  

Liam and I stared at her with our mouths wide opened.  I closed mine and tried to process all the thoughts running through my head:  Wow, this girl is pretty smart for her age.  When will they take over Alaska?  What if they get mom?  Oh crap, poor mom.  Poor little girl, lost her brother. Maybe we can find him again.  It sounds like the Holocaust now.  That's really depressing.  Wait, we still don't know her name.

"What's your name, sweetie?" I asked, breaking free from another daze.  

The girl scratched her nose and sneezed.  "My name is Rosalie, but you can call me Rosie."

"I'm Kaliah and this is Liam.  Do you want to stay with us, Rosie? We're going up to Canada where it's safe."  Liam gave a small wave and stared blankly at us.  

"I think I'd die on my own..." she trailed off.

I gave her a small, reassuring hug, "You'll be okay with us, you'll be safe."

"Are you sure you're willing to have another mouth to feed, another person to look after?" Rosie asked hesitantly.

"Always," Liam spoke for the first time. He walked over to us and patted Rosie's back before giving me a long kiss on my lips. Rosie passed out as we kissed gently, not demanding anything more.

"I love you," I whispered into Liam's mouth with a smile.

He kissed me a little bit harder and pulled back after, looking into my eyes with his beautiful ocean blue ones.  "I love you too, Kaliah."

Love always,

Kal