“I… I fed him for you.”
My shoulders bounced and I fought back the tears. “I can’t thank you enough.” I fumbled placing the carrier over my shoulder. In fact, I could barely lift my shoulder. I hated not holding Edward, but I had to move. “I have to go. Get him dressed.”
“They took all your stuff. I went to the barn, all that was there was a bottle.”
“That’s fine.” I turned left to right. “Do you know which way to get to the road?”
“There’s a stream over the next hill.” She pointed in that direction. “Cross it and keep going straight. You’ll see it.”
“Thank you.” I started to walk.
“They took your stuff.”
I reached for my front pocket, and felt my keys. I had moved them there because they hurt to sit on. “Not everything.” If it didn’t hurt to smile, I would have.
It was time to move forward, follow her direction.
“Mister,” she called me. “You’re headed to Sanctuary City, right?”
“One of them, yes.”
“Can I come with you?”
I stopped walking. “No, that’s not a good idea. You should go back there.”
“But you’re hurt,” she said.
“I’ll be fine.” I started walking again.
“You should stop at the creek to wash your cuts.”
“I’m fine.”
“I can help you.”
Again, I stopped. “I said I’d be fine.”
“You don’t look fine. You’re all beat up and bleeding still.”
I kept walking.
“I can be a big help. I know this area really good.”
“You should stay back. Go now, before you’re missed,” I said.
“No one’s gonna miss me. They ain’t all that good there. The people I mean. They’re getting worse waiting on the transport guy. I’m… I’m afraid.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
“I saved Edward!” she shouted.
I spun around. “How did you know his name?”
“I heard you tell Mr. Mills. I saved him. I stopped them men from crushing him. Don’t that mean anything? I don’t want to go back there.”
“How do you know I’m all that good?”
“Because you ain’t killed her yet.” She extended her arm and swung out a point to her left.
My shoulders dropped.
Leah was standing there.
13
PARTNER
Her name was Hannah and she had this innocent yet intelligent air about her. She carried a Barbie backpack, even though she seemed too old for one. I don’t know what all she had in there, it was packed to the gills.
At the creek, she pulled out a sock for me to use as a cloth.
“That’s okay, I have a whole pack. My mom said socks can be used for a lot of different things.” She handed me the sock, then took Edward while I cleaned up.
I dampened the sock in the creek, raised my eyes to her, then shifted them to Leah who kept her distance. Her head was tilted, her hair dangled and even at a distance, I could see she was covered with blood.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“About her?” She looked at Leah. “Mr. Mills talks with his radio all the time. Pastor Jim radioed and said a man carrying a baby might be stopping by. Said he watched you leave the church and you were lugging a former. Those were his words, not mine.”
I winced in pain as I brought the water to my head.
“I was gonna watch out for you. You know, look for you coming. Nothing else to do up there. But you got there so fast. No one ever walked that stretch that fast. So I ran to the far end of the fence to peek. Sure enough, she was tagging behind. She ain’t got no pants on, you know. Her lady parts are showing.”
“I know.”
She reached in her backpack and handed me another sock. “Don’t keep washing with dirty ones. You’re just moving the dirt and blood. You might get infected.”
“If I don’t die from these injuries first.”
“Or mebas.”
“What?” I laughed.
“Mebas. My mom didn’t let us play in the creek. She always told us not to ’cause there are mebas in there.”
“Amoebas,” I corrected.
“Same thing.”
“Okay.”
“Anyhow, she says they’re all in the creek and lakes and if we get one, our flesh will come off.”
“Swell. Back to what we were talking about. Did anyone mention about how fast I got there?” I asked.
Hannah shook her head. “They probably figured Pastor Jim just waited to radio. Don’t forget to wash your arms, they’re all scraped up.”
“Thanks.”
“Who is she?”
I lowered my head. “My wife. She died after she gave birth.”
“Well that makes sense why she’s not wearing no pants.”
“Yeah,” I partially smiled, but stopped when it burned. “You’re not scared of her?”
“Not really. Not yet. She’s moves slow.”
“I know.”
“Plus. She’s good now. She got one of them guys that beat you. The more they get in them, the longer the calm ones are calm. At least that’s what I learned.”
“You’re a plethora of information.”
“I don’t know what that means,” she said.
“It means you know a lot of stuff.”
“I do. About this I do. I listen.”
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Twelve. Well, I’ll be twelve… what’s the date?”
I looked down at my watch. “September fifth.”
Hannah sat up straight. “I’ll be twelve in two days.” She then curled her lip and titled her head. “Not a fun way to spend your birthday, huh?”
“Well, if all goes well. If I don’t die… from mebas… you’ll spend your birthday in a sanctuary city. That won’t be too bad, will it?”
“Does that mean I can come with you?”
“Yes,” I replied, and soaked the sock again. “You can come.”
Hannah smiled.
14
SPUTTER
It had only been a couple days, but it was good to have someone else to talk to, even if she made my head spin.
When we emerged onto the road, I ignored her telling me that we were going the wrong way because I knew soon enough she would see why.
“Don’t know why we’re walking this way. This road takes you pretty close,” she said.
“Trust me, Hannah. I know what I’m doing. How long were you with Mr. Mills?”
“Three weeks. I was supposed to go when the transport man returned. I don’t know when they would come.”
“What is a transport man?” I asked.
“He trades things for a ride. He has a big old cart and four horses. Takes four days to get to sanctuary.”
“Horses and a cart. Wow. Oregon Trail.”
“What? Is that where we’re headed?”
“No.”
“’Cause either way we’re walking the wrong way.”
I kept telling her, “You’ll see.”
And she did.
The moment she knew we were getting in the car, she jumped with joy and giggled… a lot.
“Does this have enough gas?” she asked.
“I think so. If not, we’ll get close and I have supplies.”
“Oh, wow, Calvin that was good thinking to hide it.”
“I know.”
I freed the car from my hiding place and pulled out onto the road. Hannah jumped in the front seat and I paused before climbing in, “Listen, Hannah, I can’t… I can’t leave her yet.”
“Who?”
I pointed to Leah who staggered up the road.
“You aren’t bringing me along to feed her when she gets crazy, are you?”
I shook my head. “No. I won’t let her hurt you.”
Hannah nodded and I got inside.
“You gonna drive with Edward on your chest?”
“I have been?”