Eden's Root (29 page)

“I was afraid of the immediate dangers. For my family, I mean. I didn’t realize that the real danger was starvation,” he choked. Then he straightened up and cleared his throat, his focus returned to the barter. “So we have a deal then? One can of tasty fruit cocktail and one bar of soap, for two jars of baby food and three strips of jerky.” He itemized the deal in an overly serious tone, making Fi laugh.

“Done,” she smiled and held out her items. Mark held out the fruit cocktail and the soap and they exchanged at the same time. Fi began throwing her things into her pack. “Thank you very much Mark.” It was getting late, she realized, she had to get going before dawn. She sealed her pack and swung it onto her back. Mark’s expression took her by surprise when she turned back to him. It seemed like he was struggling to speak.

“What is it?” Her hand hovered over her gun. He shook his head.

“It still doesn’t feel right somehow, just letting you go. It feels weird even though you’re clearly,” he paused, searching for the word. “Capable,” he settled, and she smiled.

“It’s just my baby-face Mark,” she laughed, pulling down on her ear warmer. “It makes people underestimate me.” In an uncharacteristic gesture of trust, she held out her hand.

“Goodbye and good luck to you and your Family Fi,” Mark said as he shook her hand.

“And to you and yours Mark,” she replied with true sadness. She would never know how things turned out for this nice man and his family.

She slipped out the broken front doors of the store and disappeared into the night. A few hundred yards into the woods she let out a quiet whistle. It echoed back from her left by about thirty yards. Sean and Fi moved together in silence and then dove deep into the cover of the forest, putting distance between them and town before the sun appeared. After months of raiding together, they had grown very coordinated.

Several hours later they took a break in a small clearing with a downed tree basking in the sunlight. The trunk was so large that when Fi sat on it only her toe tips still touched the ground. It felt a little ridiculous, she noted, shifting forward a bit. Fi turned to Sean as she bent forward to open her pack.

“So,” she smirked, “Whadja get?” It was always a competition now, the take from a raid. Sometimes they stuck together, but often they split up, each collecting what they could and then rendezvousing once or several times in the night. Fi knew that Sean would be frustrated to find out that she had engaged in a barter without him. He still hadn’t had a chance to do it. He smiled and sat next to her.

“You’re going down Fi,” he said and started emptying his pack. Despite her own confidence, she was intrigued. He seemed very confident tonight. Of course, both of them would have a lot of the everyday boring things they needed. It felt strangely like being a soccer mom sometimes when she brought back things like toothbrushes and toothpaste, socks and underwear, batteries, band-aids, shampoo, soap, and, of course, toilet paper. These little details made a big difference to the Family Members, but they weren’t really exciting.

Fi peered at the items as Sean unpacked them. So far, his take didn’t seem that great. He had the usual mix of canned veggies, some canned tuna, baby wipes and diapers, and a few new books. Then he reached in again.

“Drum roll please,” he said and she obliged him by rolling her tongue and patting her knees with her index fingers. “Taa daa!” He pulled out two cell phones. Fi gasped.

“Working batteries?” She asked eagerly and he nodded, grinning.

“They totally work, I turned them both on,” he said with excitement. “And then off again, of course.” Wow, he had her beat after all, Fi thought. The kids would go nuts. Sadly, cell phones weren’t worth anything else to them anymore. With no working electricity, there was no service, no Internet, no GPS. That would have been amazing. But in this world a working cell phone with a few games loaded onto it was great entertainment for bored, frustrated kids. At least, it was as long as it lasted. Fi reached inside her pack.

“Now I feel like a loser,” she joked, pulling out the fruit cocktail. To be fair, Sean did gasp at the sight, making her crack a little smile.

“I dunno Fi,” he said, shaking his head. “I think this may be a tie.” She smiled. Yes, that simple can of fruit and syrup would also make the kids’ day. The thought lightened her heart further as the lemon ice sun climbed into the clear sky. Their breath still came in dusty puffs, but their run had warmed them. Both shed an inner layer. It would be a nice day for their return hike Fi thought, stretching and standing up. It was time to get going again. They both closed their packs and got ready. As they walked off together they were quiet, and then suddenly Fi spoke.

“Sean?”

“Yes Fi?” His voice was tight and for a second, she hesitated. She didn’t want to keep hurting him but so many of their conversations had other things hidden between the words.

“I’m really glad to have you out here with me.” Her tone was both gentle and matter-of-fact at the same time. “I didn’t realize how much your support would mean to me,” she added and touched his hand lightly with hers. He took her gloved hand and squeezed it, releasing it with reluctance.

“No problem, Fi,” he said, his voice growing thick. “Glad to be of help.” They walked in silence for a few minutes again, the only sound the crunching of brittle groundcover as they moved.

“Oh by the way,” Fi said with a devilish grin, “I’m not sure how you found the cell phones, but I know you’ll want to hear how I got the fruit cocktail.” Sean searched her face and then his eyes widened.

“No!” he cried out and then realized that he’d been too loud. “No!” he repeated, whispering fiercely. Fi nodded, stifling a laugh. “You did
not
barter without me!” he hissed.

“I’m sorry Sean,” she said, poking less fun now. “It just happened that way. The guy was cool actually, he was a dad, I could tell. I’m pretty sure that they had a baby in their Family.” Sean sighed.

“I can’t believe it,” he murmured. “The first raid where we separated in the last three, and I missed it,” he grumbled. For a moment they walked in silence again while Sean sulked. Fi let him stew. She knew he’d come around. After a ways, he gave in.

“Alright,” he said. “You’re right, I want to hear it.” The sun rose farther into the milky sky. A light snow had fallen overnight and Fi pulled on her sunglasses to cut the full glare of winter.

“Weeeeeeeell,” she warmed to her story, “It really started right after I came out of hiding from the first group of Others,” she started and Sean choked. Whoops! She had forgotten how upset Sean would be to learn she’d run into a bad group of Others without him. Hmmph. Oh well, she thought. He’s definitely not going to separate on the raids again for a while. Sighing at her slip, she continued.

“Well the store appeared to have a lot of stuff, so I didn’t smell a trap. And so when I heard Others, I just climbed on top of the freezers…” she began. It would be a full day’s hike or more back to camp, so she might as well go into all the gory details. “It took those fools an hour of arguing to decide that they couldn’t find what they were looking for…” she chuckled.

----------- Fi -----------

Fi was standing in the kitchen, up to her elbows in soapy water and linens with Maggie when she heard a voice calling from outside.

“Hey Fi.” It was Sean.

She frowned at Maggie who looked at her with confusion. Sean was supposed to be on sentry duty at the fence. Fi rushed down the front stairs, wiping her gun hand dry on her pants, and then stopped short. It was early evening, the sun had almost set and it was getting dark. Despite the dim light, she could see Sean’s lanky frame ambling up the hill behind two teenagers who were walking without blindfolds. He looked relaxed and his gun was holstered.

“Look what I found wandering on our land,” he said with a smile. The trio walked all the way up to the porch, and Fi lifted an eyebrow.

“No blindfolds?” She would have insisted on the blindfolds. “And no weapons?” she nodded, indicating that he walked with them with no weapon drawn, no way to protect himself from attack.

“Aw Fi, c’mon,” he said with chagrin. “They’re just kids.” Fi crossed her arms and sighed. Obviously she would have to look over the two young people that Sean had brought to her, to the doorstep of the Family home, she thought with annoyance. At least the Family would be leaving soon. If they were compromised, it would not be as big a deal to leave now that it was spring.

As they drew near, it became obvious that the two were brother and sister. Both had thick dark hair and brown skin with startling green eyes. The girl’s hair was curly. They almost looked like twins, except that the boy was older. He was taller than Fi and appeared to be close to her age. If they had been in another world, she thought, they might have gone to high school together. Both of them remained silent while she looked them over, their eyes skimming to her holstered gun.

The girl kept her head down while the boy kept his eye on Fi with his left hand and foot turned to protect his sister. Fi smiled, he was ready to jump in front of her at any second, she could tell. That helps explain how the little sister stayed alive all this time, but not how they both looked so healthy. She narrowed her eyes as she studied their pink, full cheeks and clear eyes. None of her Family had looked this well fed in months. Fi sat down on the porch stairs, her eyes level with theirs as they stood.

“What are your names?” The boy spoke.

“I’m Jose Gutierrez and this is my sister Mayra.” He supplied the answer to her question, nothing more. Interesting, Fi thought. He wasn’t stupid or brash.

“How old are you both?”

“I’m twelve and she’s eleven.” Again, he gave away nothing else and held her gaze. Fi turned to at Sean.

“Did you say anything else to them? What do they know about us?” she asked him. Sean shook his head.

“All I said was that I would take them to speak with you.”

“You asked for me?” she asked the boy, confused. “Do I know you?” Jose shook his head.

“I asked to meet the Leader,” he coughed. “I wasn’t expecting you.” Noting his smirk, she smiled back at him. He was a little bit of a smartass, like her. That meant that he trusted her though, she thought, maybe too much. Fi pulled out her buck knife and started twirling it on the stair on its point, the wood shredding in tiny bits beneath it. Jose shifted one step backward in front his sister. Good, she thought, and sheathed her knife again.

“I wasn’t exactly expecting you two either Jose. It’s a little surprising I have to say. Not only to see two young people surviving on their own, way out here. But with the Famine and the winter, I definitely did not expect to see two people looking so
healthy
.” She waited, the question hanging in the cool night air. Jose exchanged a glance with Mayra and then shrugged.

“We look healthy because we are pretty healthy,” he said simply. “Mayra and I are very practiced at outdoor survival. We learned from our father growing up.” His eyes grew fierce as he continued his story. “When he was shot invading a home that first week, Mayra and I had to run into the woods to escape. Over the next few nights, I got us the gear we needed,” he nodded toward the packs on their backs. “I wasn’t lucky enough to find a weapon, but we sought refuge in the woods, as far from others as we could get.” Fi nodded, that was how they were still alive.

He continued. “We’ve been living off animals we’ve caught and killed, and edibles in the forest that we’ve gathered. With just the two of us, it hasn’t been hard to stay fed, especially with Mayra’s bird appetite,” he smiled. The girl raised her head for a second and a half smile flickered across her face before she looked down again. “We are used to the outdoor life, and we found suitable shelter during the winter.”

“So,” Fi began, tilting her head, “Why did you want to meet me then? You seem to be doing very well on your own.” Jose shook his head.

“We’re tired of being alone.” He reached to hold Mayra’s hand. Fi was moved by Jose’s gentleness toward his sister. “We were hoping you might find our skills useful and consider letting us join your group.”

“Well then,” Fi smiled. “You need to speak with more than just me.” Mayra smiled then. It was a wide, beautiful ray of sunshine flashing across her face. Even in the dim firelight peeking through the shutters, Fi could see how stunning Mayra was when she smiled. Wow, Fi swallowed. Jose must have been so worried, guarding such a beautiful young girl. Fi stood and tromped down the stairs. With a wave, she invited Jose and Mayra to follow her around the side of the house and into the cellar, as she had done with Sarge’s family. There would be time tomorrow for another Consideration, she thought.

The following day, Fi sat in rapt attention with the rest of the Family as Jose and Mayra were offered for Consideration. In retrospect, their Consideration would turn out to be the shortest in the Family’s history, even shorter than the Coopers’, though they made that one up as they went along. That seemed like a million years ago now, she thought as they sat in the cellar in a circle. With Jose and Mayra all that was needed was a clear explanation of Orienteering and the vote was made.

“So how long have you two been doing this Orienteering stuff?” Fi asked Jose. Her heart was pounding. As soon as they started explaining their skills everyone had become excited but this, the skill to navigate in the wild, this was an unexpected glimmer of hope for Fi.

“Well you could say all our lives,” Jose responded and Mayra nodded. “Our dad started taking us out camping with him when we were toddlers. We lost our mom early, she died of breast cancer when Mayra was just a baby.” Fi could hear murmurs in the room. Everyone realized now that Jose and Mayra were orphans. No wonder Jose acted like Mayra’s father, Fi thought. He basically was her father now.

He continued, ignoring the ripple that his honesty had created. “So we have been navigating the outdoors our whole lives, but that was why we turned out to be so good at actual Orienteering. When we got started doing the competitions we used to kill it in our age groups,” he grinned. He turned to Mayra and smiled with pride, “Mayra actually won a national competitive event two years ago.”