The Rabbit's Den

The Return

When Ester awoke Rhys was already out of bed. When she placed her hand on the sheet it was cold, he'd been up for a while. She quickly got dressed and headed downstairs to find the load in the living room had already been taken. Opening the door she saw the truck was pulled over to the neighbor's house and he was loading more into the truck. Looking up he saw her and smiled. She met him at the door, "You should have woken me up." Rhys smiled and kissed her, "I figured you could use some rest, since I kept you up late." She smiled and shook her head, "Have you no shame?" He just shook his head and ducked into the house.

They had filled the truck to its max, Rhys was sure some of it may get knock out when they started going through the woods. It was just around noon when they took, they truck back out of the gate and closed the hole, making it look like no one was there. "How long do you think it will take to get back?" Ester asked. Rhys shrugged as he pulled the truck off road and started to weave around the trees. "Depends on how far we can get, the trees get thick I might have to back around a couple times." She looked at him with dismay. "I don't know, two maybe three days to the base. It won't take as long as walking." It was good enough for her; she was looking forward to going home.

The trip was actually going faster than he thought; they might be at the base of the mountain by the next morning. There was only one place he had to back up and reroute through the trees. He was wondering why Ester was being so quiet when she asked, "Rhys why are you so quiet?" He turned to her with a surprised look on his face, "I'm not, you are." She rolled her eyes at him, "No really what's on your mind?" Thinking for a moment he said, "I'm trying to figure out what the hell Cicero was doing. I mean he was right by the City, and it looked like we were the first in there. He flaked when it came time to blow the gate, disappears and then the bombshell over the missing girls. What in the hell is he doing in the woods, headed in the direction the group went?" She shrugged looking bewildered.

"It's spring." Ester said abruptly after a long silence. "What?" Rhys asked turning to her confused. "Petra's sister said she'd come find us in the spring. What if Cicero had come back during the winter and he took her up there?" She looked so proud of this conclusion, he felt bad disagreeing. "Nah, Sky and Walter are going to rip that guy apart. The last thing they'd do is tell him where a bunch of girls and babies were." She realized at that moment it was pretty silly to think that. "Well what if he's looking for all of us on his own? How did he get out of the City? The tunnel was blown, one gate was blown, and the other he was supposed to blow never did." That was not a silly observation. "You think he got caught?" Rhys asked her, really wanting her opinion. "The boys at the gates, that's all they do. If he made it to the gate, they probably grabbed him." He studied her for a moment, "What do they do with people they arrest?" She cringed, "Re-education camps."

"That's like a brain washing slash concentration camp, right? A big prison?" He asked. She nodded, "They were always rumors and threats. I never knew or heard of anyone actually going. Doesn't mean they don't exist." Rhys drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel. "Did he look like he's been through hell and back? He looked fairly clean and unharmed to me." Ester tried to think back on what she had seen; all she could remember was how fuzzy he was. "He had a lot of facial hair, I dunno."

Ester had fallen asleep on the bumpy ride. Rhys shook her awake, she looked around it was dark, but they had stopped. "We're here." Rhys said opening the door. "Wait, what are you doing?" Ester asked confused. He pointed at the dark figure that she assumed was the mountain. "You want to try to find our way at night?" Her tone was snottier than she intended, but she wasn't crazy about the idea. Rhys looked annoyed and defeated. "Is it because of Cicero?" She asked while yawning. He shrugged, "A little." Ester reached her hand out and opened and closed it rapidly, "Let's just sleep in the truck tonight, how far off is daylight?" He looked around up in the sky but couldn't see much through the trees. "I'm not sure, three maybe four hours." She gave him a dirty look, "You want to wonder around in the dark for three or four hours?" Sighing he climbed back into the truck.

The sun had just started to send its first streaks across the sky, but the birds signing to one another is what stirred Rhys from sleep. Nudging Ester he stated, "It's time to go, for real this time." Blurry eyed she sat up, it took a moment for her to gather her thoughts before opening the door and climbing out. In the very end of the truck towards the back they had stuffed several bags full of various supplies. They figured they could carry all six bags up on the first go. Before they left Rhys backed the truck up behind some thicker brush and the used the fallen branches from the winter storms to cover it best they could. Knowing where they were going, and without the fight of the snow and cold limbs that needed warming Rhys and Ester made it back to the Nest as the sun was setting.

"Can you tell me why it took almost five days to get down the mountain and one to get up it?" Ester asked, she was sore and tired. "We fought the ice and snow, remember?" Rhys said smiling as he opened the door to the building. Sadie was the first to see them, running towards them she hugged them both as they dropped the bags in their hands. "Oh my! I'm so glad to see you two! Kaleb was getting ready to head out to save you. I told him to give you guys a little more time!" Rhys smiled, "So he was worried about us." Yana came over and picked up two of the bags, "He worry over everything." She sounded annoyed herself. When she turned and carried the bags to the lines of tables without saying anything Rhys looked questioningly at Sadie. "Oh, honey she's just mad because Trixie is gone and Kaleb is driving us all nuts."

Ester was pulling the other bag off her shoulders, "Trixie's gone?" Rhys watched as the color drained out of her face, "Where did she go?" Sadie pursed her lips and shrugged. Rhys watched as one of the girls came out of the basement stairwell followed by Kaleb. He had a sick feeling in his gut. Kaleb made his way over to them and grabbed the bag off Rhys' back. "Good to see both of you." Rhys' eyes looked at him and then at the girl who was back in the kitchen. "What's going on?" He said keeping his voice low. Kaleb look at him strangely then to the girl in the kitchen. His eyes came back to Rhys' and his face pulled into a disgusted look, "No, she was just coming to get me. She said you two were back." Rhys felt a rush of relief, he liked Kaleb and didn't want to see something foolish going on.

"Was it a good haul?" Kaleb asked, his voice hadn't changed from the dismal note. Ester smiled, "Yeah, there's a whole truck bed at the base that's full. We all need to go unload it tomorrow." Kaleb and Sadie exchanged a surprised look. Kaleb cleared his throat, he didn't seem as down now, "Did you say a whole truck bed full?" "And part of the cab, except for these six bags." Rhys stated looked proud. "Did you get medical supplies?" Sadie asked anxiously. Ester shook her head, "Not much. The trucks stopped; the City is empty. We actually looted the houses and the pharmacy." Kaleb's head shot up, "The City is empty?" Rhys nodded, "And another thing. We saw Cicero walking around in the woods." The look on Kaleb's face said what his mouth couldn't.

Rhys followed Kaleb as he walked away, "Hey what happened to Trixie?" Kaleb shook his head and grumbled, "I don't know, but she's out there with that creep." "What do you mean you don't know?" Rhys probed. Kaleb exploded, "I mean I don't know. I fell asleep; when I woke up, she was fucking gone!" He could tell the only reason he shouted at him was because he was in pain. "Hey man, it's okay. She's a tough little shit. If she runs into Cicero, she'll probably...ya know..." Rhys took his thumb across his neck. "I wouldn't want to come up on her aggressive like." He half joked. Kaleb look at him, he looked lost and hopeless. "After we empty the truck, we can go look for her." "No, we can't" Kaleb said now running his hands over his head in frustration. "Why not?" Kaleb's hands came down hard on his legs, "She told me not too."

Ester and Yana started to pull the supplies out of the bags when Petra walked up. "Was it a good trip?" She asked, she sounded happy but looked dreadfully tire. Yana didn't say anything just handed her a jar of peaches. Petra's eyes lit up, "Peaches!" "How are the babies?" Ester asked getting a little too excited. "Finally, asleep!" Petra laughed. Yana nodded, "Colic, they never sleep. More came." Ester stopped pulling thing out and asked, "More babies were born?" Yana sighed, "Only few girls left. Yana not even have babies and tired." Ester snickered, "Thought you loved the babies." Yana snorted, "Only till they out number us." Petra laughed.

Kaleb came up beside the girl, "Why don't you all call it a night? I'll finish up here. We're going to need all the help we can get to haul the rest up here." Yana gave him a sleepy hug, "You are good man." She said as she walked away. The other two joined her, while Kaleb began to sort the supplies into four groups. Food, medical, clothes and blankets.