Boondocks

Chapter 22: Battle Cry

CROC

Willow stood on the bank, her eyes wide and unblinking. "Willow." She needed to leave. She needed to hide.

She didn't respond.

"Willow," I said louder. It was as if she'd emptied. The men were slowly getting closer. I hurried from the water and forced her to look at me. She blinked as if waking from a dream.

"Their focus will be on the men in camp. Go wait in the garden with Julia."

She shook her head. "The kids—"

"I'll protect the kids." The thought of her anywhere near a fight made my blood so hot it burned.
"I need you to promise me you'll protect our baby. Promise me you'll wait in the garden."

She stared at me, saying nothing with words, and everything with her scent. The sound of boots plopping in the mud set my teeth on edge. We didn't have time for this. "Promise me!" It wasn't a request any longer, and I was no longer thinking like a human. Protect. That was the only word I knew. The only thing that mattered.

"I promise." Her voice was so small, so broken, not hers.

I pressed my palm to her stomach and kissed her head, inhaling her scent like I could ingrain it into my nose. "Go." I released her and returned to the bank. Then the call I'd barely been holding in exploded from my chest.

The gators answered, tearing onto land and headed toward camp. I wouldn't let them face the men alone, where they could be picked off one by one. Not again. At least now, we had help. I turned just in time to watch Willow disappear from view, then I ran as hard as I could into camp.

The men were alert by the time I got there. Some already armed, the others scrambling to get there. Merle rushed up to me. "What the hell is—"

"Officials are headed this way," I shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. My gaze scanned the masses, searching frantically for the kids. I needed to get them somewhere safe so I could return to Willow and Julia. Men rushed back and forth, falling into position and training their guns on the path. It wasn't until the majority settled that I finally saw them. They were balled together behind the barrel of apples, frozen in silent terror.

I rushed forward and hoisted them into my arms. "I'm here," I soothed.

They clung to me, burying their faces into shoulders. The first shots fired, and the babies jolted. Protect. That was all that mattered. My family would live. They would be unharmed. I ran, leaving the fight behind. My feet pounded the ground far beyond the camp, deeper and deeper into the thickest part of the woods, where a massive pine caught my eye.

"Hold onto my neck," I said. "Don't let go."

Their tiny arms curled like snakes intent on the kill. I gripped the bark of the trunk and hurried into its branches. "It's okay." I had to pry them loose. "It's okay." I sat them together on the same limb. "You'll be safe here. I'm going to go get Willow and Granny Julia."

Eric gripped my leg. "No go!" he cried. "Safe."

"Pappy has to go sleep now."

"No!"

My chest constricted. "I promise, I'll come back. No matter what. But I need you two to be very brave. Can you do that?"

Eric nodded, and a single tear dripped off his nose. Eve took him into her arms. She suddenly looked too wise. I didn't want this to be normal for her. This wasn't good enough. Pappy had protected me. He'd kept me safe from the world, even after he was gone, and I owed it to them to do the same. Yet, here I was, failing them, leaving them alone the way he'd left me.