The Wounded (The Woodlands Series) (35 page)

One of the men that we could understand addressed us. “You have two day before All Kind come.”

We nodded and turned swiftly towards our shelter. Our pace picked up until we were running. Poor Olga waddled behind us.

She grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and pulled me backwards.
Breathless, she stammered, “Wait. I can’t keep up.” I put my arm around her soft middle and dragged her forward.

*****

We grabbed our gear and threw it into the cars. The hidden keys were retrieved, and we jumped in. We needed to move fast.

Pelo grabbed my arm as I stepped into the driver’s seat. His fingers press
ed desperately into my skin. “I’m so glad you’re all right,” he said, “but that was foolish, Rosa. Dangerous. Next time, let someone else take the fall.”

I shrugged him off
. “Sadly, I don’t think you were Sukh’s type, Dad.” I laughed, kind of high on the fact we’d gotten away.

“You called me
Dad,” Pelo said smugly, his eyebrows rising, his chest puffing up.

“Slip of the tongue, Pelo
,” I snapped as I pulled the door closed so he would have to let go of me.

“I’ll take it!”
he shouted as he ran to another car.

I pulled at the door but someone had their fingers around the
edge, pulling it back open.

Rash’s dark head popped up
. “My turn to drive, Soar,” he said.

“No!” I said shortly, my body vibrating with excitement.

Joseph slid into the back seat, groaning in pain and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Uh, I don’t think beautiful blond man wants me to be his nurse,” Rash said, waggling his dark brows.

Joseph snorted
. “No, beautiful blond man certainly doesn’t!”

I shrugged and climbed in the back with Joseph.

Matthew hopped in next to us, slamming the door with a clap, and Rash tore away, the wheels squealing and spitting up dirt and gravel. We headed for the highway, speeding as fast as the car would allow. When we found it, we drove a few kilometers and took a sharp right angle turn, driving directly into the wilderness, searching for the river that would bring us right up to the Superiors’ compound.

*****

I could tell every bump hurt him. He winced and held his side like his organs might fall out whenever the car jolted. Matthew turned to face him in the squashed compartment and felt Joseph’s nose.

Joseph leaned
forward, and a gush of fresh blood drenched his bare chest.

“It’s broken, Matt
,” he said as he leaned back, squeezing the bridge of his nose gently, and staring at the grey ceiling.

Rash’s eyes widened in the mirror
. “Ew! Gross, man.” He returned his eyes to the front and swerved to avoid a log.

“Keep your eyes on where you’re driving
,” I barked, slapping the back of his head.

He gripped his hands on the steering wheel tightly
, as we bounced around in the backseat. “All right, all right,” Rash said, gritting his teeth.

“I’ll have to set it
,” Matthew said, reaching up to Joseph’s face. Joseph jerked away at his touch but then he held still, his hand finding mine and clamping. “Ready? One… two…” I heard it snap. Joseph groaned but looked relieved after.

Joseph turned his
bruised head to Matthew. “You know that trick doesn’t work on doctors, Matt.”

They laughed.

I leaned my head against the window. I was so tired, so ready to go home, but this was only the start of what we had to face. My eyes blinked slowly in exhaustion, the blur of green and brown tumbling together like the colors were running. The windows were frosted over, but mostly the world looked lush, splashed with green paint. I sighed and let the movement lull my eyes closed. Joseph’s hand was over mine, filthy and crusted with blood.

*****

We lurched over an embankment, everyone jumping in their seats at Rash’s jerky driving style. The nose of the car hit the riverbank and straightened. We turned and followed it, the tires sinking into the soft earth.

The
shale grey riverbank stretched into the distance like a tapering line. The tires ran over the flat, sharp rocks, making a clattering, brittle sound.

Joseph slept next to me. Matthew’s eyes searched the heavy wooded area across the river. Soon we would run out of bank to drive
on, and we would have to abandon the cars.

His finger traced the
condensation on the window in a line that matched the bank on the opposite side of the river.

“Look…
there,” he said to me, his finger pressing on the trail he had etched in droplets of water.

I craned over Joseph’s lap and stared out the window. Movement in the trees across the river caught my eye. A flash of black against the green
, and then a leap of white fur. The dwindling light caught its honey eyes, and I shivered. We were being shadowed by a pack, or at least one black wolf and one white, weaving seamlessly between the tree trunks.

Matthew patted my hand. “Don’t worry. We’re safe in here.”

I watched their graceful bounds and could almost hear the scratch and rush of branches as they glided past them. They were beautiful. It was a reminder we were back in the wild parts. We were the vulnerable ones, yet again. I thought back to my first journey into this world, their world.

Where are we going?
The words echoed in my mind, the cool snap of a memory digging its way out of me. Apella’s mask-like face hiding behind Alexei. Clara beaming like a child on signing day.

Alexei
stood like a mirage in front of me, wavering in and out.
Into the wilderness
, he’d said.

*****

We drove until the bank became so narrow the cars would have become bogged if we didn’t stop.

Tiny shrubs
, poking out of the silver rocks like stubble on a man’s face, grazed the bottom of the car as we eased to a standstill. It was dusk, a grey, cool night promised. The vibration of engines shut off one by one until mechanical sounds died, and natural ones took over. The headlights skimmed the water and illuminated watchful eyes.

We were about a day and a half’s hard walk to the compound now. We lit a small fire and settled down to eat and enjoy what little time we had left.

The orange coals glowed but gave off little heat. We huddled together, shoulder to shoulder. When we were done with our dinner of dried meat and canned goods, Matthew stood.

“To Ansel
,” he said, holding up his charm.

We repeated hi
s words as we joined him and held our charms to the sky, the Spiders and Rash looked on, not sure what to do.

One of the men slapped Joseph on the back and congratulated him on his fighting skills. Then they all started talking at once in small,
rounded-off groups. Pelo came to sit next to me.

“Fascinating culture
,” he announced. “Gus, did you know about them?”

Gus shook his head gruffly
. “We’ve never come by this route before.”

“Hmm
…” Pelos tapped his chin lightly. “Wonder what it is, why it is, that they developed into such a barbaric society compared to the Survivors?”

I matched his gaze
. For once, I was just as curious as he was. “More’s the point, how many other mini-worlds, mini-societies are out there?” I said, staring out across the bank, the stars reflecting dully over the navy water. There were so many. They were so far apart.

“Yes! Yes! Precisely what I was thinking
.” His tone was clipped with excitement.

I gave him a rare smile. Joseph gave me a very unsubtle knock with his elbow. I rolled my eyes and put my
own elbows on my knees, talking with Pelo and the others. The conversation got more ridiculous as we grew more tired. Rash suggested a society that was all women, just waiting for someone like him to discover them and rule as their king. I kicked his shin, but there was possibility in his words. More people, more ideas. I stared up at the stars, their random placement so beautiful. Who knew what clusters lay in the pieces of sky we couldn’t see.

I fell asleep in Joseph’s lap, dreaming of my mother
and Orry. A small girl clung to my mother’s leg, Orry sat on my hip, the walls around us crumbling. Mother smiled and pushed the girl towards me, before she walked backwards and disappeared into tumbling clouds of concrete-grey dust.

The air was as a cold as an icicle stabbing my eyes when I woke. I lay half in a sleeping bag, my bare leg poking out the side, I pulled it in and shivered. A bug buzzed near my face, and I slapped at it lazily. This could have been an ordinary day. A day in the life of someone else, who camped and breathed in the mountain air without it feeling like poison. My body shook a little as I remembered why I was here and what I was planning to do.

I could almost feel
both children’s hands in mine. I clawed my way from my dream and stretched, watching the others stir from their last safe sleep.

Rash sauntered up behind me and slapped me on the back. “Ouch!”

“Hurt me more when you did it to me,” he said as he came to rest next to me. “God, look at that guy,” Rash said, pointing to the river. “Such a show off.”

Joseph
stood waist deep, his back to us. The water rippled around him, unsettling the mirror image of the scruffy pines scraping the blue sky. I smothered a gasp, as I let my eyes wander over all of him. One side was bruised, like a large, purple hand gripped his ribs. It spread under his arm and towards the dent of his spine. But these shapes only made him look more beautiful. A map of experience. He dipped his head in the water and let it run over his face and mouth as he walked back towards the camp. I bit my lip so hard it hurt.

Rash’s laughing brought me back to reality. I stomped on his foot. “Stop it
,” I whispered sharply.

“Sorry,” he said between his ha-ha-
ing. “It’s just sometimes I forget how much you are like me until I see you act like that…” He placed his finger under my chin to shut my gaping mouth.

I glared at him to stop giggling like an idiot as Joseph approached.

Joseph eyed Rash’s grinning face suspiciously, but then turned to me. “You going in?”

I waved him
off, remembering my last bathing experience. I wasn’t anxious to get back in the water. “Nah,” I said, looking down at my weird skirt and bodice ensemble. “I might change my clothes though.” I stood up, swishing my hips and letting the skirt billow around me.

They both laughed at me, Joseph saying, “Good. It’s not really your style.”

I untied the bodice, feeling my torso relax, like letting the air out of an overstretched balloon, and threw it at him. “Put some clothes on before you freeze to death, you’re making Rash feel inadequate!” I snapped.

With a devilish look, Rash raked his eyes up and down Joseph’s half naked body and let out a low whistle. “And how,” he said, as Joseph
arched his eyebrows at my odd friend. “But whatever I lack in breathtakingly defined muscles, I make up for with sheer animal magnetism!”

Joseph shivered and pulled on a shirt, splotches of water showing through. I tried to hide my disappointment. He walked over to where Rash sat and grabbed his dark arm, pulling it up and fanning the air under Rash’s armpit. “Is that what you’re calling this smell?” Joseph quipped.

Rash jerked his arm back and shuffled away from Joseph with a hurt expression. “Hey man, would you mind not standing so close to me?” He started to laugh, his best toothy grin blaring in the pale morning, “It’s really bad for my self-esteem.”

Joseph responded by saying, “Shut your face!”

I grabbed my bag and wandered behind the cars to change, smiling to myself as I heard Joseph and Rash teasing each other.

I dug both hands into this moment and held onto it tightly.