I snap my head around; I would know that voice anywhere.
"Jake!" I try to cry out but my words are stuck in the instant pain in my chest.
He rushes me and wraps his arms around me.
"Am I dreaming?" I mutter into his thick shoulder.
He lifts me off the ground and cradles me in his arms, "Oh my God. You're alive," he whispers into my shoulder, squishing me into him. "Of course you're not dreaming, you're all bones. You're so skinny, Em. You wouldn’t be this skinny in a dream. Or bleeding."
I look down at my legs and see it, blood stains on my thigh. My face is warm instantly. I ignore it and enjoy the fact he's holding me.
"How did you find me?" I ask but the answer is there in the shape of a golden dog. He bounces around the forest joyfully.
Anna walks up smiling, but behind her I see something that hurts me more than anything. Seeing him makes me want to cry. I don’t know why. Jake lifts me up and makes me feel happy, but seeing Will walking up behind his sister, breaks the hold I have over my emotions. I clutch to Jake as Leo circles our legs, rubbing around me and letting me know he's there.
Will's face hardens as he walks towards us, but I see it in his eyes… I think. I think he's relieved to see me. Or he's very angry. I can't ever really tell with him. When he gets to us, he pulls me into his arms and I feel it. I feel the safety of my cabin, the reassuring words of my father, and the touch of Leo's fur all wrapped up in one thing…this embrace. He smells the way I remember, but holds me tighter than I can breathe through.
His body trembles and wraps around mine completely. This is the safest place in the whole world.
"I'm sorry, Em," he whispers into my hair, "I've got you now."
Chapter Six
The sniper in the tree is probably the greatest thing I've ever seen. I would sigh and smile, but I'm surviving on the high of my friends being with me.
Will scoops me in his arms and starts walking faster, "I'm taking her to the med tent."
I struggle, "Will, I can walk." They've been taking turns carrying me for days.
He shakes his head and clenches his jaw, "No." He actually speaks through his teeth.
I roll my eyes and look at where we're going. The tents come into view as we crest the hill. The bustle of the camp and the smoke of the fires are the first things I notice. Leo's hackles are the second. He looks angry, like he knows we were betrayed.
Will takes his huge steps until we are on the far side of the camp. People see him and raise their eyebrows. They almost smile and then don't. They must see the look in his eyes. It's the same one that’s keeping my mouth shut. There isn’t any point in arguing with him, he's an ass.
His fingers are almost clawing at my skin as he rounds the tents, and I see the doctor who fixed me last time. Will walks right up to him and snarls, "I need her seen immediately."
The doctor looks up, like he might say something but then changes his mind. He looks at me and smiles, "Hey, it's you."
I nod.
He looks me over and points to the same tent as last time, "This way."
Will carries me in. He places me on a cot and stands back. Leo follows and sits at my bedside. I look at the two of them and shake my head. Poor doctor has no idea how bad it'll be if I don’t live through this.
He smiles softly, "Want to tell me what's wrong?"
I swallow and look at Will. The doctor reads my eyes and turns to him, "You can wait outside."
Will shakes his head, "Nope."
I feel anger curling around my insides and tightening everything up. I look at the doctor and scowl, "As you know, there was a baby in me, it's not there anymore, and I'm bleeding still. I've been peeing my pants; I had something in there…a tube. I pulled it out and peed everywhere."
I can't look at Will. I want him to have that stupid smug look on his face, but I'm scared it's going to be something else. Something I can't deal with.
"How did you know that I knew about the baby?" the doctor asks.
"Vincent Fitzgerald told me." I lift my face and accidentally catch the disturbed look on Will's face. It's a frozen angry look, but then sadness, or something like that, crawls across, like the weather changing in the sky. His eyes meet mine, "You were pregnant?"
My mouth drops. I lick my lips and close them. I nod and look down again. I'm ashamed. I don’t know why, but I know the feeling is shame.
He crosses the tent, shoving the doctor out of the way, "Who? How?" He grips my arms.
I push him off of me, "The farms," I whisper.
He doesn't move. He looks forward. His blue eyes are cold and mean. He stands and leaves.
He's disgusted.
My lip trembles. I want to believe, that because he was at the farms, he has no right to judge me. But it doesn’t feel like that. I feel disgusting.
The doctor takes my hand, "It's okay. How did the miscarriage happen, then?"
I feel the story sitting on the tip of my tongue and I don't know if I should say it or not. Will he kick me out of town, if I tell him what I am?
I blink, holding my breath and then just say, "I'm not normal, I don’t think."
His eyes grow in size as I retell the story Vincent gave me, and the events that occurred, as far as I was aware of them. I wasn’t aware of what he knew and didn’t.
His hands creep to his lips. He sits on the wooden makeshift stool and holds himself.
"I knew you were pregnant, and about the breeder babies, and the way things were, because of you rescuing the women, they told me all about it. I never knew the mutations were being implemented before the breakouts. I knew the mutant children were bad, but this... This is horrid. Adult Gen babies." He is gray. I'm a mutation. I think that's bad.
I nod, "It was the man who fathered me. He did it to my mom. He's one of the scientists. I think."
He nods, "That’s the most horrible thing I've ever heard. I never would have told Marshall you were pregnant if I had known what he would do with the information. I just wasn’t sure about you going back out there fighting, if you were with child." His thoughts are interrupted by a scream. It's blood curdling.
I jump up but he holds me down, "I think you should stay here." I want to fight him but I can't. I lie back on the cot and feel the water I've drank swish around in my belly.
The screams get much worse. I cringe, "It's the infected. They've made it into the camp. Or the others. They followed me." We've been followed. I never even thought about it all, I was so sick. I expected I was safe with Will. He has a bad way of making me feel like that.
Now they're here. They’ve made their way in, and everyone is going to run or die, and I am to blame. Marshall was right, I should have been kept away from other people.
The doctor stands and runs from the tent.
He is white as the sheet I'm lying on, when he comes back in after a few minutes.
"It's not the infected." He washes my arm and puts a needle in, "You're going to need to rest."
I blank out then with things still to tell him, like I might be infected, I might be immune, and that I'm not mad he told Marshall.
I wake on a soft bed and snuggle into the sheets. It's almost as good as being home. I reach around the bed for Leo. I don’t find his fur. Opening my eyes, I see I'm in a small tent, not the medical one. Anna is sitting in a chair beside my bed, eating a leg of meat.
She smiles with crap all through her teeth, "Hey!"
I wince, "Hey." My voice is a croak. I lift the sheets and see nothing but a pair of cotton underwear and a baggy t-shirt. No blood, thank God.
"How are you feeling?" She takes another huge bite, making my tummy rumble.
"Hungry." I watch her eat. She reaches down next to her and lifts a plate. She passes it to me. I take a leg of meat and bite down. It has sauce; nothing ever has sauce anymore. I moan; it almost tastes like Granny's chicken legs.
She nods, "Good, huh?"
I chew and sit up. I smelled the food and forgot about the fact my throat is completely dry. She sees the face I make and passes me a jug. I push the chicken to the side of my mouth and chug the fluid. I shudder from the sweetness.
I pull it back, making a face, "Is that juice?"
She smiles and nods, "Awesome, huh? Trina—over with all those ladies that stand in the circle and scare the men—she makes it. I love it. Loaded with vitamins. Made from some berries she grows. You need it, trust me. You almost died."
I scowl, "What?" I sip the juice again. Being prepared for the sweetness of juice and not water, like we've all had for a long time, makes me enjoy it.
She bites the chicken and talks with her mouth full, like Meg does, "Yeah, they almost didn’t get you back. You lost a ton of blood. Doc has kept you asleep for a week. He figured you ‘hem-something’ and that it was bad."
I look past her, "Hemorrhaged." I read about it. It's bad in a time where you can't get blood from other people. I know my blood type, but not everyone will. Not that I probably have normal blood. I have mutant blood. I need to find out what mutant means.
I look at her and wonder how much she's told her brothers. They'll be done with me for sure.
She wipes the sauce from her face and takes the juice from my hand, "Leo is with Jake; you know how those two are. He still hates Will though."
I laugh.
She smiles and drinks again, "You okay?"
I swallow the lump of chicken in my mouth and nod, "I will be. I need to stop my real dad, whatever he is to me. When I stop him, I'll be okay."
She smirks, "You better be careful, you'll become that flashy crow everyone keeps saying you are."
I look down and shake my head, "It's not that."
She kicks my foot, "I know. I was kidding. Good to see all that time in isolation never mellowed you out."