The Burn Our Houses Down Series: Painted Red (#3)

Chapter 2

        My boots squish in the mud with each step I take towards the edge of the forest. A kid limps up to the front doors of the fort. I hear him call something out, but can’t understand what it is he’s saying. A soldier kneels down to his height and holds out his arms. They disappear into the fort together, and my heart sinks a little further; three people in three days.

        The soldier returns to their post and stands flush against the stone wall. I pull my feet out of the mud and climb my look-out tree. I don’t see much movement aside from the soldier on the ground. Two more stand in towers on either sides of the front doors with what looks like .50 caliber sniper rifles. Other than the front entrance, it doesn’t seem like there’s any other way into the fort.

        “Have you seen that guy Earl was talking about?”

        I look down and spot two men walking in my direction. I push myself up against the trunk of the tree.

        “No, but I think someone saw him run off towards town.”

        “I don’t know. I heard Tommy saying something about that rickety hotel looking like someone was in there.”

        “Ain’t there food there?”

        “Not anymore. Tommy took it all back to the house.”

        “To eat?”

        “Nah, so we can bribe more people to come with us.”

        They both laugh, and my stomach flips. I dig my fingernails into the bark. What the hell is wrong with them?

        “That should get more people to come back to the house with us.”

        “God, I love the way they taste when they’ve got food in ‘em.”

        “Oh yeah, I totally agree with you man,” the other one says nudging his partner in the shoulder. “You know, I’ve been craving it these days. The hunger is unbearable. It’s all I can think about.”

        “I know. Me too,” the other one says. “I can’t wait until we can overrun the fort. I bet you they’re all well fed in there.”

        “Stop it man, I’m drooling over here.”

        I hold down the vomit. These are real people that were out in the real world a couple months ago. Disgusting.

        “Come on, let’s get back to the house. I’m sure someone hauled something in while we were out.”

        “Yeah, I’m starved.”

        I watch them walk off back towards their house and wait until their out of earshot to vomit on the forest floor. I shimmy my way down the tree and into the mud.

        Xavier, you’ve got to leave that hotel. It’s suicide if you go back.

        “Well, if I do, I’ll be farther from the fort,” I say answering myself. “I can’t give up on Hayley and Aisley. I made a promise to them both. Who knows what’s happening in there?”

        Hayley could be dead. And be honest with yourself Xavier, Aisley’s better off in there. What do you know about being a father?

        I let out a long sigh and push my hair from my face. I don’t know much, but leaving them is wrong. I slush back towards the hotel with an aching hole in my gut. 

        That devil on my left shoulder may be right.