Zoo (20 page)

“
Aren’t you going to sleep
up here with us?” I whisper. I’m actually relieved to see that he’s
not—beyond relieved.

“
No, that’s okay. You two
take the bed. I’ll be fine down here. Pretty used to lying on the
ground anyway. The carpet will be a bonus.” He’s standing at the
end of the bed, shirtless and chivalrous, smiling at me with
sincere affection. I can’t feel the same way in return—not just
yet. I think I was starting to realize some things about Kale
before James attacked me, but those wounds are too fresh. I need to
heal, and then, maybe I can
see what’s
been there all along
, as Kansas
recommended.

“
Thanks,” I say to him.
“And thanks for
everything
. Really. You’ve been
nicer to me than I deserve.”

He looks like he wants to
ask me what “everything” means, but thinks better. “You don’t need
to thank me,” he says, his voice dripping with kindness.
“Everything I do for you is because I want to do it . . . And by
the way, you
do
deserve it.”

I reach over and turn off the lamp beside
the bed so he can’t see me blush.

During the night, I have
nightmares of James chasing me and firing a gun at my back. I run
as fast as I can, but my legs don’t seem to carry me anywhere. I
open my mouth to scream. Nothing comes out. The
pop, pop, pop
of the gun sounds like
it’s right next to my ear. I try to duck and take cover. He catches
me and grabs me by the front of my shirt, balling it up in his fist
and pulling me closer to his face. I can’t break away. He’s too
strong. His handsome face is distorted by the mania within his
soul.

I toss and turn the entire night, having
different versions of the same nightmare.

The real nightmare, of course, is having to
leave this sanctuary in mere hours.

BEGGING NEVER DOES ANYONE ANY GOOD

“
Please let us stay,
Kansas. We don’t have anywhere to go. Please,” I beg. I’m exhausted
from my nightmares and the trauma of arriving to this
super-enclosure. I can’t even fathom having to go out on our own.
We only have one gun to protect the three of us (three and a
half).

“
I’m sorry friends, but
you can’t stay here,” Kansas says with a grim expression. “The
others will be back soon, and I promise it’s safer for you out
there than if you stay here. There are things that I can’t tell you
about.” She tosses a brown backpack at Kale, who catches it with no
problem. “There are three water bottles, a book of matches, and
some food in there. Not a lot, but enough for a day or
two.”

Victoria is crying, but doesn’t say
anything. I’m glad, because I don’t think I could take the added
stress of her whining. Besides, I’ve done enough of that for the
both of us.

“
Thank you, Kansas,” Kale
says as he digs through the bag.

“
Oh, good. Here, can you
put this in there so I don’t have to carry it?” I hand Kale the
thin light cord that I hid under the bed, while we stayed with
Kansas. He takes it out of my hand and buries it inside the
bag.

“
The mountains are
probably your best bet, but remember to stay away from the caves,”
Kansas warns. “You should probably try to build a hut or something
for shelter, but be prepared to move around a lot. If anyone comes
your way, run. Don’t stay and try to fight them off. You can start
to trade with some of the other more peaceful residents, and maybe
one of those groups will even take you in. It’s going to be hard
for a while. I’m sorry about that, but I know in the end,
you
will
be
okay.”

How can she be so
sure?
I ask myself.

I take Victoria’s hand as we’re ushered
toward the front door. Kale and Victoria are back in their old
clothes with the exception of Kale’s new jeans (courtesy of Kansas’
housemate) and James’ cowboy boots. I can see the handgun Kansas
gave Kale poking out of the top of his dark pants. He slings the
backpack over his shoulder and fearlessly throws open the door. I
pull Victoria along after me, forcing her to keep walking
forward.

Before we step outside, I
turn back and thank Kansas one more time for all her help, even
though I’m bitter about not being able to stay. But maybe she’s
right. We don’t know with whom she lives with, and it
may
be better for us to
not be here when they get back. “Kansas, really, thank you so much
for everything. We are so grateful.”

She offers me a smile and then turns to
Kale. She has one last thing to say as the three of us stand at the
bottom of the porch. “Kale, remember what I told you, if it
happens.”

He nods.

Kansas stands on the front porch with her
shotgun slung over her shoulder. She puts her hand over her heart
and bows her head as we walk away from her.

That doesn’t seem very promising . . .

INTO THE WILD

We pass the third suburban home on our way
across the valley floor. The door is open wide, and the windows
show an empty interior. While this home may be dead inside, there’s
lively music and shouting echoing over the land. It’s drifting over
from the western town.

I wonder if that’s where James went last
night. Probably. Why do I even care?

I don’t.

I’m still holding Victoria’s hand and
pulling her along behind me. Kale’s walking pretty fast, so we
almost have to jog to keep up with him. I worry about Victoria and
her pregnant state.

“
Hey, what’s the rush?” I
ask.

“
I want to get out of the
open and into the tree line as fast as we can. We’re sitting ducks
out here. Anyone with a rifle could pick us off,” he
answers.

“
But those trees are
almost a mile away, Kale. Victoria can’t go that fast. Slow down,
please,” I request.

He slows his pace, but I can tell it’s
killing him. He keeps looking back at us to make sure we’re close
enough behind him.

“
Kale, what did Kansas
mean when she said to ‘remember what I told you, if it happens’?” I
ask him.

“
Oh, something about a
rebellion. Apparently some of the Keepers may be in on it too.” He
slows down so that he’s walking next to us when a flying train
passes overhead. It doesn’t stop over us like it did before, but it
still causes Kale to lower his voice and be suspicious of the
vehicle. “She said that should something big happen, we should look
for the Keepers with the silver, star tattoos.”

“
Do you think what I did
helped at all?” I ask him. I hope that it did. The horrors of the
punishment we took are still fresh. I don’t think those memories
will every truly fade.

“
Yeah, maybe,” he answers.
“I hope so.”

***

We reach the beginnings of the low mountain
range and enter the forest. The trees give us an instant sense of
safety. They may block us from the threats of being out in the
wide-open, but they aren’t keeping the cannibals from eating us.
“Maybe we should try and find a place that’s not too far into the
mountains. We don’t want to get anywhere near the caves or the
other side,” I offer as we all sort of hesitate on a direction to
take.

“
I’m okay with that. What
about you, Victoria?” Kale asks as he runs his hands back and forth
over the top of his head. Then he lets them slide down to the back
of his neck, where he laces his fingers together. He waits for
Victoria to answer.

She won’t disagree with us, and we both know
it, but he asked out of respect. “Sure,” she replies.

“
Okay. Let’s go then.”
Kale starts to lead the way, but stops abruptly. He pulls the
backpack off his back and unzips the larger compartment. After
digging around, he pulls out the bow and rudimentary arrow that
James carried only yesterday. “Here, you should take this just in
case.” He hands me the shabby weapons.

I put my arm through the bow and hang it on
my shoulder. My pockets are too shallow to hold the arrow without
the worry of it falling out unnoticed. I’ll have to carry it in my
hand for now. I’m glad that he gave me this weapon and not the gun.
It still makes me a little nervous.

We set off again through
the forest, following close behind Kale. It’s too quiet here. Every
snap of a twig or crunch of pine needles underfoot is amplified. I
feel like I might as well get on a loudspeaker and say,
Hey! We’re over here!
We
have a bag of supplies that we know you want!

We walk for an hour or so without passing
any homes or caves. We all realize we’re getting a little too close
to the castle, so we start to slow our pace. Victoria is obviously
relieved because she was once again falling behind. I had to take
hold of her hand to keep her moving forward. But now, the time has
come to find a place to call home, or in the very least, a place to
call our temporary home.

“
Let’s check things out
here,” Kale says. “We can canvas a half-mile radius around this
area, and then we’ll pick a spot.”

“
Sounds good. I think
Victoria is ready for a break.”

“
Victoria is definitely
ready for a break y’all,” she says about herself, and we all
chuckle. It’s nice to find humor in something.

***

Checking out the area we decided on is
pretty uneventful. No one jumps out and tries to eat us or holds us
up to steal our things. The forest looks pretty much the same
around here, except for some changes in the elevation. There are
some small boulders and overhangs, but absolutely no caves.

After a quick break to eat, we settle on a
spot under one of the rocky overhangs and start gathering wood to
build a shelter. We work as a team, finding branches and small
trees. Even Victoria helps. We are all pleased to have something to
do.

Another flying train filled with people
slips through the trees and pauses to watch us. It stays for about
five minutes before resuming its course. I hate it. Even after
living in the smaller enclosure and being watched all the time—like
a caged animal in a zoo—I still don’t feel comfortable having them
watch me, point at me, and laugh at my expense. I loathe it even
more now because they could give away our location to people we may
not want to have it. Unfortunately, there’s not a thing we can do
about it.

After gathering piles and piles of wood,
Victoria stops to rest. Kale and I continue on without her. We
start hunting for thin, pliable branches. We need them to secure
the larger branches that will form the walls.

Victoria stays seated and helps remove the
leaves from the smaller branches, preparing them for building. I am
happy that she’s working without complaining or prodding. Maybe we
will become friends after all. Looking at her sitting there,
knowing she’s pregnant, makes me think of Janice. I wonder if they
sent another girl to our enclosure to replace me, and if she likes
her better. Probably. I wasn’t much fun, especially toward the end
when I stayed away from everyone, trying to avoid Kale. That was so
stupid.

“
It’s getting dark. We
should probably stop for the night.” Kale drops more branches on
top of the large pile we have already gathered. “Maybe I can hunt
tomorrow with the bow. I saw a few rabbits and squirrels out there
earlier.”

“
Oh, I like squirrel meat.
I can make a stew,” Victoria offers.

My stomach churns at the thought of eating
the furry, little rodent. “How much food do we have left in the
bag?” I ask Kale.

“
Not much.” He tosses
Victoria and me each a pear and a few crackers. “We need to get
some more water too. I’ll do that in the morning, while you two
start on the hut.”

I never thought about us having to split up,
and now that he’s said it, the idea of Kale leaving us terrifies
me. And it’s written all over my face.

“
Don’t worry,” he says.
“I’ll leave the gun with you. You’ll be okay. Victoria, do you know
how to shoot?”

“
Absolutely. First time I
held a gun was when I was six years old. Shot me a
opossum.”

OMG! Who is this girl?

“
Okay, good,” Kale says
with a nod. “We’ll hide it so you two can have it close by.” He
shifts a little and brushes some of the pine needles and leaves
around. “We should probably hide the rest of our food
too.”

“
You thinking about
putting it in the ground?” I ask him.

“
Yeah. And we could put
one of those rocks on top to hide it. I’ll have to bring the
backpack with me to get water. It’ll be easier to carry it back.
I’ll even be able to run on the way there. Hopefully, it won’t take
longer than about four hours.”

Four hours. That seems like an eternity to
be without him. Will he be okay without the gun? Will we be okay
with it? What if he doesn’t come back because he finds better
company or worse, he gets injured or killed?

“
Maybe you should take the
gun. It could be dangerous. You’ll probably run into someone before
we do,” I say. The gun-talk is really making me uncomfortable, so I
start digging a hole in the ground for our few belongings. I use a
stick to dig and my hands to scoop the dirt off to the
side.

Kale is adamant. “No,” he says. “The gun is
staying with you two. I’ll take the bow.”

He helps me dig. Our hands bump
occasionally. We both ignore the contact and continue working.
Victoria starts up some conversation to pass the time as we work.
“So, Kale, what was your old life like?” she asks.