Back When the Lights Shined

Chapter Twelve

Jaydon and I part ways to find others who are still free and living. A couple of days pass and my regularity of fatalities lessen. The remaining white-coats are either dead or hiding. I wonder if it is wise to be wandering around like I have been, being that they are ready to shoot a moving target that isn’t female appearing. Plus, the government has a bounty on me. Even if they did shoot me, I might not die. I could be nursed back to health, then receive my punishment.

            Unable to find survivors, I decide to seek refuge on one of the local properties for the night. I tread across a ruined, singed, corn field and enter a rotting barn. It seems to be empty, except for the infestation of mice and God knows what else. I climb into the loft, deciding it’s safer to sleep above ground. The hay provides a comfortable bed and seems to also serve as a blanket-slash-camouflage.

            Sometime that same night, I am woken up by a noise down below me. Quietly, I peek through the cracks of the rotting, splintering wood. Two men are there, standing in the moonlight. One is larger and burlier than the next. The other is small and scrawny. I recognize him as the boy I let go earlier. The larger one is scolding the younger boy.

            “What are you doing here,” he asks angrily.

            “I wanted to fight,” the boy argues.

            “There’s a reason I came here in your place. You’re barely fifteen! You shouldn’t have come, Drey.”

            “Don’t yell at me! You are not my mother!”

            “No, I’m your brother! You listen to me, Drey. Mom’s not here, she’s dead!”

            “I know that! Let me fight the scum of the Earth who burned her alive! I want revenge just as much as you do!”

            “Not in this battle, Drey!”

            “Why not?”

            “The Whistley Child is here, that’s why. She’ll kill you in a heartbeat if you give her the chance. Look, if you see¾”

            “I know, find the girl with the eyelashes, and capture her.”

            “No, I want you to kill her.”

            “But the Colonel said¾”

            “I know what he said. But if you try to take her prisoner, you’ll end up like everyone else.”

            “Dead? All of them?”

            “Yeah. All but us and Brock and Kwindlke. There are only three on the rebel side though. The Whistley Child and two boys.”

            “How do we find them?”

            “My guess is that they aren’t smart enough to stick together like you and me.”

            “So, you’re saying it’ll be easy.”

            “I’m saying we have the advantage. They won’t have anyone watching their backs. There’s no getting out of war now, kiddo. Can’t back out. Stick with me and I’ll make sure the girl won’t get you.” There is a short pause. “Go up to the loft and get some sleep.”

            I panic. Quickly, I grab my hat and try stuffing in my hair as fast as possible. I start feeling through the hay for my hair band, hoping to find it before I’m caught. The burly man is gone, but the boy is still here. Drey. I wonder if he can hear me. Where is that hair tie?