Our already slight frames were all the more skinny already.
“Thank you for coming tonight,” I was surprised when it was Avian who took control of the meeting. I glanced over at Gabriel. He sat to the side of Avian, his eyes on his hands in his lap. His face looked empty. “You are all aware of what happened a few weeks ago. I know everyone has been thinking about it but it is time we actually talked about it and what this means for our future.
“We will run out of food in the middle of the winter. We have enough for everyone for a few more months but with most all this year’s harvest gone to ash we will not make it to next spring.
“Add to that fact that the Fallen have become more aggressive. It has been deemed not possible for us to go into the cities on raids any longer. They have been pushing further and further into the country. Just today a man passed away who was on the run after his family was attacked. He came from the east. We’ve never heard of them pressing in from the mountains like that.”
Avian cleared his throat, his eyes dropping to the ground. I realized how hard this must be on him, having to be the one to finally bring this to everyone’s attention. He was strong in a way I had never realized before. He may not have been as physically tough like Bill and Graye were but he was a rock, a foundation for the rest of us.
“It has been proposed that we need to move. I agree with this. I don’t think there is any other choice. The natural resources we have will not last us for as long as we need. We’re going to have to go someplace warmer. Southwest.
“The question is when and how to move,” Avian said as he looked around at our fellow men and women. “If we leave right now we would be crossing the deserts in the hottest part of the year. And yet if we don’t leave now our supplies will become all the more depleted.
“It would be incredibly dangerous to move any way we do it. If we leave all at once it will be easier for Fallen to spot us. At the same time, there is safety in numbers. We can have our best scouts with us all at once. If we move in smaller groups it will be easier to stay hidden, to keep a low profile. At the same time, each group could have no more than one or two of our most skilled scouts. It also splits all of us. There’s the risk that we might not all ever be reunited. Without electronic devices it will be difficult to stay in contact and reconvene.
“It is up to you. We, Gabriel, Eve, and myself, won’t force any decisions on you. This affects all of us. The choice is yours.”
Everyone was silent for a long while. How was anyone supposed to make this decision? There were pros and cons to each way, there was no clear decision to make. There was great risk with either. Each carried the possibility of destruction, with being wiped out in one big group or the chance we would never be a group again, a family.
“We could go in two groups,” Graye spoke up. We were all surprised when he did, he was usually a man of few words. “If we split right down the middle, one group could go in a few weeks or so when things will start to cool slightly. We send our best scouts and Eve to clear the way. We could leave messages for the group to follow, traces the Fallen won’t pick up on. Leave a trail for each other to the new location. The last group will bring the rest of the food. We have the two trucks, if we camouflage them well enough, we should be able to bring enough supplies. At least until we run out of fuel.”
The group was quiet for a bit, mulling over Graye’s idea.
“That seems reasonable to me,” Avian finally said. “Eve? Gabriel?”
“It seems a viable option,” I answered.
Gabriel simply nodded his head. His behavior was disturbing.
“All those in favor of Graye’s plan?” Avian asked, turning his eyes over the group.
The majority of hands, including mine, went up. After a few hesitant and thoughtful seconds, the rest of them went up as well.
“It is agreed then,” Avian said with a nod. “We will make preparations. I think until then that a priority should be to hunt as much as possible and gather as many other resources as we can find. Traveling would be hard under normal circumstances, but considering the conditions we have been under these last few weeks, it will be even harder. We will need food to keep up our strength. Our survival has become all the more difficult.”
A flurry of mixed emotions was tangible as everyone left. I watched their faces as they did, Wix, Victoria, Morgan. Each of them had different thoughts behind their eyes, but there was one unifying one. We had to survive.
It wasn’t until the meeting was over that I realized Sarah had not been in attendance. I asked Avian where she was and he told me in a very hushed voice that she had not been feeling well. I didn’t miss the anxiety that seeped into his face. I had a feeling then that things weren’t getting better.
TWENTY-ONE
The beast hit the ground with a loud cry. A circle of red started forming on his neck before he was even fully down. He twitched for a few moments before the fight seeped out of him.
I slung my bow back across my shoulders and leapt down the small cliff I had been hiding on. I crouched beside the animal, checking to make sure it was fully dead. I saw my own reflection in the buck’s eye as he took his last strangled breath.
I pulled my arrow out of his neck and wiped it clean on the grass at my feet. I placed two fingers under my tongue and gave a loud whistle. Two minutes later Bill and Graye joined me. Together we started the mile journey back to Eden with the animal.
We had been hunting nonstop for the last three days. While scouting duty was as important as ever, it was now just as important to find food. We had brought back three doe’s, a few foxes and rabbits, and now this buck. The kitchen had been busy cooking, bottling, and drying the meat, others tanning the hides.
Not only would our food supplies have to last us the few weeks till the first group left, and then another month after the second group left, it would also have to last the week, maybe two, journey into the unknown. And who knew what immediate food sources would be like once we reached where we were going.
It had been brilliant on Avian’s part to put everyone to work on making preparations to leave. With everyone so busy, there was no time for anyone to sit and worry too much about the fact that we were moving, that we would be traveling so far. Everyone had a role to play. Hands were needed to forage the woods nearby, searching for berries and edible mushrooms. Others were needed to collect water in any containers we could spare.
As I walked through Eden, after I had dropped off the buck, I caught a glimpse of Gabriel. He sat at the entrance of his tent, staring out over the rest of us. He watched as the rest of us worked. He wasn’t supervising, checking to make sure everything was done right. He was just gone. He’d checked out. I hated him for his behavior.
Checking to make sure no one was watching me, I poked my head inside Avian’s tent.
Sarah had not come out of the tent since before the meeting. When I pressed Avian about it he simply told me that she was not feeling well. I did not think he was intentionally lying to me. He was lying to himself.
“Sarah?” I said quietly through the dim light. “Sarah?”
Only silence greeted me. I stepped inside, closing the flap behind me. It felt muggy inside and it was suffocatingly hot as the sun beat down above. “Sarah?” I said again as I knelt next to her cot.
A thin sheet was gathered up around her neck, damp and clinging to her skin where it touched her. Her brown curls were matted and stuck to her face. Her skin clung to her cheekbones. Her eyes were closed. They frightened me. They looked like they were sinking into her head.
“Sarah,” I called again, my voice insistent. I felt the urgent need to wake her up. Now. “Sarah,” I said again as I placed my hands on her and shook her slightly.