"Hard to thank you when I don’t know your name."
I feel my hand trapped in his. I look at him over the back of the couch and smirk, "Emma. My dad called me Em."
He pulls my hand to him and kisses the back of it, "Thank you Em."
I feel expressions attempting to cross my face. I fight them and pull my hand from his sweaty palm.
I walk to the left over boiled water and pour him a huge glass of it. I pass it to him, "You'll be needing this."
His blue eyes sparkle. My stomachache is back.
"Thanks. Thanks for everything. I know you could have left me in that hole."
I break his stare and look at the hardwood floor.
"It was nothing." I say.
Anna looks at us and grins, "How old are you Em?"
I feel my cheeks flush, "Nineteen."
"I'm sixteen."
I feel sad when she tells me that. I realize she was six when her mother never came home from work.
"Jake is twenty-one."
I don't know what to add to the conversation. I don’t have conversations.
Leo senses my awkwardness and saunters to me. He nuzzles his face into my palms.
"Where did you get him?"
I scratch his huge face and smirk at Anna, who has already won him over.
"He was at the doorstep one day. I heard his mother dying in the woods near the house. She got the infection and died just after giving birth. Her cubs ate her and got the sickness too. Leo was the only smart one. He never ate her. He found me instead." I try not to think about having to shoot the baby wolves, as the madness took them.
Anna beams at the large wolf, "He's huge."
"Very. But he is good company and he helps out with the chores."
She laughs at that. She is bubbly. I remember my granny calling kids bubbly. I wonder how bubbly Anna would be if she had a normal childhood. I wonder what I would be like.
I look at Jake who is sleeping again, "He falls asleep fast. We need to make him some soup." I walk to the door and look back at her, "Can I trust you?"
She shakes her head, "No. I like it here. I will do whatever you want to let me stay but if it comes down to it, I will sell you out to save my brother."
"Fair enough." I like her candor. I point to the books on the shelf, "Start with the top shelf. They're the easiest reading."
She bites her lip.
I roll my eyes, "You can't read?"
She shakes her head, "Not so well." Standing next to the huge bookcase teaming with books, she looks tiny and vulnerable. I know not to let myself believe that. She is a survivor.
The wood paneling of the out dated cottage is comfortable and bright with the light filtering in the huge windows. I haven’t seen my cabin for what it truly is, until this moment. Seeing Anna and Jake in my house makes me realize how lucky I am. I wonder when the last time they rested on comfortable furniture was.
"The books at the top are easy reading. Practice makes perfect."
Leo's yellow eyes meet mine. He speaks to me with his look. He wants to stay with them. He doesn’t completely trust them either. I can see it in his eyes. I nod at him and walk out of the cabin.
I need grouse or pheasant or wild turkey. There aren’t a ton of them but I know a sweet spot. The cabin sits surrounded by huge tall fir trees and brush. Green is everywhere. It made me nervous in the beginning. It was so big compared to me. I felt the eyes on me from a million different vantage points. I could see the infected stepping through the brush, arms reaching for me. Blood running from their eyes and seeping sores covering their skin. The tattered clothes and the smell would overwhelm me, as they pulled me to the ground.
I could see the others. I could hear myself screaming as their greedy fingers bit into my skin and they dragged me into the woods. In the woods where I would scream like the other girls. The tearing of the clothes haunted me in the beginning. The infected tore flesh and the others tore clothes and the sound could swallow you up.
Now I see the greenery and listen to the sounds of the forest, and know I am safe. The forest is my friend. It was a tense relationship in the beginning, but it has earned my trust over time.
Like Leo, it has become part of my family. Where I lost one family, I gained another.
The branches break under my foot but in a way that keeps the birds chirping and squirrels nattering. It is a gift. I learned it from Leo. He is able to wander the forest quickly, but in sync with the woodland creatures.
I stop at the small dip in the forest. I have a great view here. I blend into the trees and listen. I close my eyes and wait. The noises become like a song the forest sings. You only hear it when you stop being you and become part of the forest. I feel the waves in the music rising and falling with the wind.
I grab my bow and arrow and get read. I wait for it. I hear the sound I am seeking. It is a pheasant.
I see the bizarre looking face of it and the spectacular colors. It is a male. I take a breath and on the exhale, release the arrow perfectly. It took me two years of constant shooting to be able to down a pheasant at this distance. The male drops without a sound, as the arrow pierces his throat just below his head. I wait and watch. The forest continues its merry song. I wait an extra second. I put the bow and arrows back in the small hole beside the tree.
I retrieve my catch, constantly looking over my shoulder. Jake and his sister watched me in the forest for two months before I became aware of them. My sense of security in this place is questioned. A heat flushes my cheeks as I walk carrying the bird by his feet. I think about Jake. His dark hair and blue eyes and long eyelashes.
A stabbing pain rips through my thigh.
I look up to see the reflection of a scope from across the small gully. I drop to the ground and whistle. I lay amongst the brush frozen. My heart is beating out of control.
Anna.
I know she has shot me. She wants my cabin. She made that perfectly clear. My heart hurts for the smallest of seconds. I force it back into its cave and harden myself to the fact I will have to kill her. Flashes of her sweet face and how much she looks like her brother fill my mind.
I hear the shots whizzing past me in the brush. Panic fills me. She is using my own silencer against me. I wonder if Jake knows.
I hold my breath and wait. I know Leo will come to me. I have trained him to come to me. He will come.
I hear footsteps.
The forest is silent as the predator moves through it. The birds can hear the panic in me. My heartbeat reveals all to them.
I feel a sickening hurt as I realize I have been betrayed. I never should have helped him out of the hole. I should have never opened the door.
I should have cracked the whiskey and listened from inside my cabin, for her to die or leave.
I knew I would regret it.
I look around. There is too much brush surrounding me. Any movements will stir up the bush and reveal my spot. I can hear her footsteps as she draws nearer. She is heavy in step. She breaks the branches roughly, making the birds and woodland creatures even quieter.
Her footsteps are on top of me. I am certain she can hear my heartbeat. I am also certain she is going to shoot me in the back.
I hear a whizzing noise again and bullets hitting the tree behind me. The ricochet lands not far from me. I wonder what she is doing. Has she lost the spot where she shot me? Thankfully the bush is thick around me.
I hear a thump and some rustling near me. I don’t know what's going on. I am panicking silently.
"Em." A whisper fills the forest near me.
I look around without rustling the bushes.
"Em."
I feel Leo's breath on me suddenly.
I look up to see Anna squatting beside me. She has walked silently toward me like Leo does.
I see the rifle in her hands. Rage fills me, but I know the bullet in my thigh is not going to allow me to jump up and fight for the gun. I will not be defeated by some kid. I look at Leo, who is on edge. He is hunting as if Anna is his partner. That hurts more than anything.
"Em I killed him but there might be others."
"What?" The words leave my mouth, before I have a chance to check my volume.
She puts a finger to her lips, "He probably isn’t alone."
I look at my gun in her hands, "You never shot me?"
She points to a bush beside me, "He shot you. Why would I shoot you? What? Where are you shot?"
I ignore the shooting pain and get up on my knees. I almost cry out as I make it to my feet in a hunched position.
I see the boots of the man on the ground.
"Those are military issue." I speak softly, scanning the forest.
"Great."
I limp to him and bend over. My leg is pouring blood now. I take off my outer shirt and tie it around my thigh tightly. I fish his pockets. The warmth of my blood is seeping down my leg. He is older, forty maybe. He has brown hair and looks like he's been eating quite well. His butt is remarkably large. I take his gun and a knife I find in his boot. I take some beef jerky he had and throw it at Leo.
"We could have eaten that."
I look back at Anna and frown, "Never eat anything you take off another human. Could have the infection or be rotten."
She points to Leo, "He could get the infection."
I shake my head, "He's immune."
"No one is immune."
I smile sarcastically, "I have downed sick things before and he has eaten them. He never gets sick."
She makes a face as she unties his boots, "Oh god, so he ate his mother and lived?"
I nod, "Yeah probably. I try to not think about it."
"You said he never ate her."
I shrug and scan the forest speaking softly, "I didn’t want to gross you out or scare you while I was touching your brother's wounded leg. We just met. I was trying to be polite. Get the bird."
She takes his boots, the bird and walks to me, "You need a hand?"
I lean on her. Leo comes up to my other side. He is less startled now.
"He got all crazy and started scratching at the door. He tried to open the door himself. I knew something was wrong. He led me right to you."