Freedom

Fall Breeze

Days went by and I was still on Chubs declared bed rest. I spent my days grading Zu's schoolwork and helping Chubs come up with new lessons for Zu. Pretty soon she would be up to all of our levels of education. Then it would be time to start training her to hang with the big dogs. Liam was driving all morning today, Chubs and I were making paper airplanes and rating them to see who was the master at origami. Chubs walked over to me and started to check how I was healing. The swelling had gone down, but the stitches were still really painful. He spoke as he re did the bandages, "I think you can be off bed rest now. Be warned though, if you pop a stitch and I have to re do it, it's gonna hurt big time." I didn't care about his warnings I was just excited to be able to move around again. We parked on the side of the country road we were traveling on. Liam told us we were just past the border in Ohio. Chubs opened the side door and I scooted myself to the edge of the van. Chubs and Liam got on either side of me, ready to catch me as I would inevitably stumble. I put weight on my good leg first and stood up, Liam grabbed my right arm.

"I haven't barely moved yet." I laughed at his over cautiousness. He raised an eyebrow and loosened his grip on my slightly. I let my other foot feel the ground and tried to put weight on it. Everything was fine for a second before the pain set in. I let out a small 'ah' and grabbed my left thigh. Liam and Chubs reached out at me but I shooed their hands. I had to get used to the inevitable pain. I took a few steps and got the hang of not putting as much pressure on that leg. I had developed a small limp from my few steps. Chubs mocked me from behind,

"You look pathetic" He snickered. Liam elbowed him,

"Not helpful!" He whispered at Chubs. "You're doing great." Liam sounded like a coach watching his student utterly fail. I turned around to look at the two of them. The cold fall weather urged them to wear flannels and wool lined jackets. I had taken to wearing their jackets and shirts, mens clothes were much more insulated.

"You need to put some weight on you, a small breeze and you're off to the clouds." Chub's mockery was enough to get me moving faster towards them. I managed to get back to the van and elbowed him in the stomach. "Easy punchy" He helped me back into the van.

"She can still beat you up with only one functional leg" Liam sat inside the van and closed the door. The once busted heater was working once again. The van was warming up and clothing was drying in by the back window. The van had taken in the sweet scent of Ohio forests and fall changes. We all sat in the back of the van with a map.

"There's two places we can go from here. There's been rumors of a seperate camp." Chubs pointed at a spot on the map

"Camp, like East River?" I remembered how great that went over.

"No, it's actually a place where escapees of East River meet up." Chubs elaborated on the option.

Liam chimed in, "Still sounds risky"

"Well its either there, or a place in Michigan. We have enough supplies to make it there, but we need to start making allies with people. As much as the wolf pack sounds appealing, it's not sustainable." Chubs had a point we had all thought of at some point, he was just brave enough to bring it up. We sat around for a few minutes trying to come to an agreement.

"I'm in to go to this camp, but if anything I don't like happens we're out." I would always be skeptical of camps but we had to try.

"I'm not a complete fan of the idea but Chubs is right. We need to start thinking about the future. Creating alliances, learning about our options. We cant live in a van for the rest of our lives." Liam leaned against the side of the van and gave into Chub's suggestion. I got in the front seat of the van for the first time in a while. I fumbled with the heater and the radio and got comfortable. Chubs got in the drivers seat and started on the way to the camp. I felt particularly cute that day, an odd feeling to have in a time like that. But I thought I looked good in red, and the red flannel made me fell cute. 

"You're smiling an awful lot over there" Chubs sparked a conversation and kept his eyes on the road.

"Am I not allowed to smile."

"No, no smiling allowed in this van." 

"I'm smiling because it's fall and I love fall clothes."

Chubs taunted me in a fake white girl voice, "I love faaall, I love to wear my boyfriend's fllaaaneeelsss, I love ppuumkkiinnss"

"Lord Chubs ssssh!" I didn't want him embarrassing me any longer.

"Worried your boyfriend is going to hear?" He kept teasing me. I pulled my hat over my face in embarrassment. "How long are you two not going to address the elephant in the room?" I hoped Liam couldn't hear or wasn't paying attention or something.

"How much louder do you want to get Chubs?" I matched his volume and he raised his.

"I don't know, is this volume okay?" He was practically screaming. Liam poked his head through the curtains.

"Could y'all try not to scream?" I thought I was going to die from embarrassment. If he heard us yelling then he probably heard the whole thing.

"Got it no screaming, and no smiling." Chubs shooed him away and started singing along to a song on the radio. God he's embarrassing and idiotic. But he's also the smartest person I know and my brother.