After Grace

27. A False Sunset

The tires burned against the asphalt as the car came screeching to a halt. I jumped out and threw the back door open. Nightfall was only minutes away. "Wilson!" I shouted.

People had already begun to gather as Wilson ran up behind me, he put his arm beneath Seth's and pulled him out of the car. "You're gonna explain this right?"

"Just keep him alive, we need to know what he knows."

He brought the unconscious Seth to the medical tent, the only tent we had bothered to set up. "Grace?" Elizabeth's voice was groggy, like she'd been sleeping all day. Her son clung to her leg, his eyes focused on his feet. "Where's Travis?"

I took the keys in my hand and offered them to her. "Take the car, he's on the road."

"Walking? Alone?" she asked, already in a panic.

"He'll explain it. Go."

She took the keys from my hand and led Jonah to the car. She hesitated when she saw the blood in the back seat then helped Jonah into the passenger's side and in seconds they were gone. I knew we only had a few minutes to get the information out of Seth before Travis came back demanding my blood.

"What's happening?" Ron asked, putting a voice to the rest of the crowd who only watched and wondered.

"When Travis comes back, don't give him a gun." I said and ran to the Medical tent.

Wilson put a stethoscope over Seth's bruised ribs and listened. "I don't think there's any internal bleeding."

"Can you wake him?"

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

Annie quietly asked Marcus to wait outside when she walked in behind me. She seemed older, taller. She looked at Seth's face. "Who is he?"

"He's a scout for the group we're looking for. He's our chance to find it," I said.

"Did you do that to him?" she asked.

"What? No. Travis did when he wouldn't tell us where his camp was. I saved his life." She looked up to me, something like surprise in her eyes. "That so hard to believe?" I said. She turned her eyes to the ground. "We have to get him to tell us where it is before Travis gets here. He might try to kill him, or me."

"How do we get him to talk?" Annie asked.

"He was pretty adamant about not giving their position away, but I think we have a move. He mentioned a little sister. Maybe you can go over there and just talk to him, tell him you're afraid of that Mother's group will do if we're caught."

"That's it?" she asked.

"Beating him didn't work."

She took a deep breath and walked to the ailing young man on the cot. Wilson poured a bit of water into a small jar, he brought it to the boy's mouth.

"No," I said. He watched me, waiting. "Let her."

Annie took the jar in one hand and with the other lifted Seth's head. He peered through the tiny slits between his swollen eyelids. "Drink," she said. He opened his bloody lips, she tilted the jar to him.

I walked outside, searching for the headlights in the dark horizon but finding none. "Hey," a voice called beside me. Marcus stood awkwardly by the tent, his eyes searching mine for something. "What happened?" he asked.

"A lot," I said, he slowly turned away, looking at anything but me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to sound so... I don't know."

"It's okay," he said.

"I'm sorry I kidnapped you..." He turned to me, I smiled. "Bet you never heard that sentence before."

"Getting out of there was the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Still, I had no right."

"You saved my life." He didn't smile, only stated it as fact.

"I'm glad Annie has you," I said. Finally, he did smile.

"She misses you," he said. I didn't say anything, I didn't know what to say. "She's just-" he began, but just then, two little white dots blinked on in the distance.

"Stay here," I told him. "Let me know when they're close." I rushed back into the tent. Annie was sitting on the cot beside Seth who was now in tears. I looked to Wilson who stood silently in the corner, he shook his head.

"Travis is coming," I said. Seth looked back to me, afraid. I pulled the gun from my belt and checked to make sure the magazine was full, though I already knew it was. "We don't have time Seth, please."

He turned away from me. Annie frowned, out of ideas. "Goddamn it," I muttered and looked out at the car which was now tearing down the road toward us. I ran to Seth and looked him in the eye. "If he comes in here out of control I'm gonna have to kill him. It's all gonna fall apart."

"They're here," Marcus said. Voices fought to be heard outside, Travis, Ron, Elizabeth, all at once, all screaming.

"She left him there!" Elizabeth shrieked. "She's insane!"

Travis pushed the flap aside, I walked around the cot, putting myself between him and Seth. "Travis," Wilson said, but the man only kept his eyes on me. I tightened my grip on the gun, ready to lift it at any second. Travis' eyes burned into mine as he calculated. He was covered in sweat, his jaw locked and his fists closed. He was ready to attack.

"I'll show you where it is," Seth coughed. Travis' eyes finally drifted from mine to the boy on the cot. "Get me something to draw on."

#

Wilson ordered the whole camp to gather their things, we were leaving in thirty minutes. All around me people ran to find their scattered belongings and bring them back to their cars. Word had gotten around about the scout who got away, a sense of urgency polluted the star-filled night. "I'm sorry," Annie said. "I assumed it was you who hurt him..."

"You saw what I did to Gunner. I shouldn't blame you for thinking it."

"You never hurt anyone unless they were trying to hurt you."

"I'm not sure that's true."

"It's true now isn't it?"

"Yeah," I said. "It's true now." She began to walk off. "What did you say to him?" I asked.

"Seth? I told him I didn't want to see anyone else die." She avoided my eyes as she spoke.

"You saved us. Thank you," I said. She gave me a shallow nod and went to gather her things.

"They're right behind us," Wilson said as he ran into the tent. Me him and Annie rushed out.

"What?"

He led the way, I followed. We sped past the crowd, moving towards the back of the convoy along the long stretch of empty highway that sprawled out behind us for miles. "Slow down," I said. "What's going on?" I asked but he only kept moving.

We ran on the blacktop until I saw the orange light pulsing on the horizon like a second sunset. From here we could only see the glow from the flames as they glowed soft over a small town we had passed only a day before. As I watched on, I could see a small figured outlined in the firelight. It was a boy, watching the flames fifty feet in front of us.

"Jonah!" Elizabeth called out as she searched for her son by the convoy. The boy quickly turned and ran, he rushed past us, sprinting back to his mother. She lifted him into her arms, her eyes caught the light.

"Holy God..." she said and stood in awe before turning and running back.

"It's them isn't it?" Wilson asked.

"It's them."

"Why would they do that? Why not sneak up behind us?"

"They want us to know they're coming."