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  Will grins and looks at me, "Doctors orders."

  My stomach flips, "You're still an asshole."

  He takes my padded hand and holds my arm. He drags me gently through the tents and small structures until we reach a tent. He opens the door and climbs in. There are blankets and bedding everywhere. I step in and feel my stomach twist when I hear him closes the door. We are alone. I still hate him. Sort of.

  "Leo."

  He looks at the wolf through the screen, "You sleep outside."

  I look at Leo and shake my head, "He sleeps with me."

  Will closes the tent door. "No, he'll bite me in the night."

  I laugh and lie down on the bedding and kick off my boots. Every inch of me hurts. "You can't sleep in here with me."

  He lies beside me. "But I'm going to."

  I can feel the heat coming off of him. It makes me shiver. I feel my body melting into the bedding when he speaks. "Is watching Star come running up and hug me as annoying as watching my brother do it to you?"

  "Too tired Will. Ask me tomorrow."

  "I'm serious."

  My eyes are closed but I can imagine exactly how his face looks. "Yup."

  "Wow that annoying huh?"

  "Yup. Except your brother is a sweet and kind guy who wants nothing but to make me happy and make me smile. He never wants to hurt me or make me jealous."

  He sighs and touches my arm. "You're killing me."

  "No but I'd like to."

  "Emma I'm being serious. I don't know how to be with a girl like you. I don’t know what you want."

  I open one eye. "I want to have this conversation after, like, a week of sleep? I'm exhausted and Marshall has me invading the farms for the next year."

  He rolls over and wraps an arm around my waist, "No. I need this conversation now."

  I groan, "Sleepy. Doctor said sleep." I pull away.

  He kisses my nose, "He said resting. This is relaxing."

  I shake my head and close my eyes again, "No it's not. Please don’t touch me."

  His lips brush mine, "I have made a grave mistake."

  "You've made a few. You're making one right now."

  He brushes his lips against my lips again. "You've made some too."

  I know I have. I just don’t know how to say it. I am making one by not stopping him.

  "My biggest mistake is falling in love with a girl who doesn’t need me. I know I should probably be with someone who fulfills that big man taking care of the little girl but I love you. I want you. Even if you don’t need me, I need you."

  I open my eyes again. His blue eyes are all I see.

  "You're wrong. I do need you. Just not to save me from the world. I need you to give me space and earn my respect. Being with you and Anna and Jake and Sarah and Meg is amazing for me. It's the first time I've ever felt like I'm part of something. I need you to see that. You all have become a family to me. I'm not good at this stuff. I need you to see that I love Jake. I love him for all the right reasons."

  He winces. "How do you love me?"

  I close my eyes, "With all my heart and probably my soul."

  He kisses me again, "I want to give you everything you want and need."

  I yawn and shiver, "I need sleep." And to never have this conversation again.

  He kisses my nose, "Sleep." And I do. I sleep because he is there and I feel safe, even if I hate him.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Anna walks down the road gripping the hand of the Muriel. Together they look like little lost sisters.

  "So what's the deal with you and Will?"

  I look at my sniper partner and frown. "Nothing. Nothing is up. We're friends. Why?" Mitch and I don’t talk much. He's the strong silent type.

  "Jake said something. Said he figured he'd lost you to him."

  "Seriously?" I turn and look at him. "You guys are like little old women."

  Mitch, who is a year older than me and best friends with Jake, laughs. He watches through the scope on his gun.

  "We got some action."

  I pull an arrow and ready myself. "Who would you pick?"

  "Jake. Will is an asshole."

  The truck rounds the corner. It's a huge white cargo truck. Will calls them furniture trucks. It has a symbol on the side of it I've never seen before. My bow is ready. My arrow is taut.

  "He is an asshole."

  "Yup. Ready?"

  "Yup."

  The first guy climbs out and just like the last three trucks we've tricked, they immediately go for the intimidation. One guy slams Muriel against the truck. My arrow slices through his neck. He falls to the ground.

  Jake and Will and the other guys come up out of the forest. My second arrow hits the guy grabbing Anna. Anna retrieves my arrow from his heart and wipes it on his shirt. She retrieves the other arrow from the throat of the other man. She wipes it on his pants. I smile. She is disgusting.

  Jake and Will drag the dead men to the ditches. Mitch uses a hunting rifle. He has dropped three in the time it takes me to drop my two. Will opens the back door of the truck and shoots a man as he jumps out. I can see everyone climbing in. Leo and I run down the hill following Mitch into the back of the truck. I close the door and get ready. Leo pants in the dark.

  Girls cry in the back of the truck.

  "Only two arrows Em? Mitch out shot you this time." Anna teases me in the dark. The girls in the back with us cry harder.

  Muriel talks softly. "We're going to free you. We just need to drive you to the place where you'll be set free. This is a bad location."

  "You're not the others?" One of the captives says.

  Jake laughs, "We're like the other others. Can you all find your ways home if we drop you at Green Mountain?"

  "I can."

  "Yup."

  "Thank you so much."

  "God bless you."

  I fish a flashlight out of my backpack and shine it in the back to see the faces. Some are young but some are older, more like thirty-five. I suspect what those ladies are for. I know it's not the breeder farms.

  "Who are you people?"

  Another flashlight shines around the truck and lands on my face. I shrug, "Just regular people." Leo growls.

  "Oh my dear lord you're the girl with the wolf. I heard about you. They burned my village looking for you."

  I look around for a second, not realizing they're talking to me. I feel my face heating up, "What?"

  The flashlight shines on the roof so we can all see each other a little bit. A small woman with dark hair and a fat lip nods, "Yeah. They come looking for you. Said they were looking for information about a girl who traveled with a wolf. Said to tell you they was looking for you. Had something you might be interested in."

  I look at Will and Jake. They both shake their heads, "No Sarah and Meg are back at the retreat."

  I look at her and frown, "They had something that I wanted?"

  "Yup."

  "They come to my village too."

  I look at Will. He shakes his head, "Impossible. They're trying to get to you."

  I look at the young girl who spoke, "What did they say?"

  She shrugs, "Just asked if we knew ya."

  I feel dizzy. "So they know who I am?"

  She shakes her head, "Nope. Couldn’t describe you. Just a girl with a wolf. Said you was some kind of vigilante. Causing trouble for folks like us."

  I laugh. I know that word.

  "Me a vigilante?" I put my hands out, "Well this is the kind of trouble I like to cause them."

  The women smile, "You are the hero we need girl. Everyone needs hope. You got a name?"

  "Yeah, Emma. You see those men again you tell them everything you saw. They will probably pay you with food and maybe leave you alone."

  They all shake their heads simultaneously. The oldest looking woman speaks looking defiant. "Nope. We need you. They say you're going to overthrow the government that they worked so hard to create out of the ashes. I say they burned it all down so
the ashes that’s there is all their fault anyway. Make them pay for everything they done to people. I hear they shipped the blacks and Asians and South Americans and Indians home to their countries. Poor people lived in America longer than most whites but they got put on slaver ships. Every country is doing the same as here. They breeding their people like here. Blacks in Africa. Indians in India. Asians in Asia. It's crazy. Whites here and in Europe. I hear Canada is still free though. They aint got slaver camps and ships."

  I nod, "We had a black nurse in the farm and she confirmed they weren’t breeding blacks there. Only whites."

  "I heard a man say that mixing the religions and races was a sin and god smote us for it."

  "That's bullshit. God didn’t drop the bombs or make the infection. They burned the world and now they gotta live with the Phoenix that rises out of the ashes."

  "You are the Phoenix Emma. You need to spread your wings and soar. Don’t let them catch you."

  The women all speak trying to motivate me. I feel sick. I've caused death and destruction. My actions have had consequences. Not to me, but to innocents who never met me before. Innocents have suffered because I have stood up against the breeder farms.

  "This is crazy." Joe looks stunned.

  Jake looks horrified and whispers to me, "This is creepy." I lean in and whisper back. "I know right."

  The truck rolls to a gentle stop. The back opens.

  Mona smiles, "Well we're at Green Mountain."

  The ladies in the back stand and stretch.

  Each of them touches my hand and squeezes it or hugs me as they climb from the truck.

  "You guys sure you'll be okay?" I ask in between hugs. I feel lost in too many thoughts.

  They nod.

  "We all got picked up fairly close to here."

  "Good luck Emma and may God be with you. You are the Phoenix. Don’t ever forget it."

  I can't smile. Not without losing the control I have. I want to shake them and tell them to stop speaking such treason or the others will come for them. Instead I look out at the bright day ahead of them and mutter. "Stay safe."

  Mona closes the door and I hear her laughing as we sit in the darkness. Will sits beside me. He kisses my cheek silently and whispers, "You okay?"

  I shake my head and push myself away from him. I feel more ready than ever to kill something.

  We ride in the dark for a while but then we feel the truck veer off to the left and slow down. We hear talking and the truck starts moving again. I have my bow ready. I stand at the back of the truck and press my back against the metal. When it comes to a stop and the door opens I am ready.

  When the first bit of light hits I let the arrow soar. I've already pulled a second arrow and shot my second guard when necks are broken and knives are slashing. Mona backs the truck up and parks over the dead guards. Their guns are thrown in the back of the truck and Will and Jake each take one.

  My bow is left in the truck but the back of my pants is filled with knives and scanning cards. I have a gun with a silencer too.

  When we enter the facility I let Will snap the neck of the first nurse. I try not to watch him kill. It makes it harder to watch him sing later around the fire with images of him snapping necks and stabbing people.

  We move silently and effectively. We are always split into teams. Will and Jake are doctors and have Anna as a patient in tow. I am alone with Leo. I always dress as a doctor. Mona and Joe stay with the truck. Mitch and Muriel are a doctor and nurse team. Everyone takes a wing and guides their group to the pool. I take the girls around Anna's age who are fit and don’t have babies in tow.

  I have to blow up the building.

  Each building is the same. They are made like a cookie from a cookie cutter. Every room and garden looks the same.

  I don’t ever take the elevator. I take the stairs and sabotage the elevator when I'm in the basement.

  I slink down the stairs and open the door. Leo growls. He hates the boiler rooms of these places. I dig my fingers into his fur.

  We walk into the place just as cautious as the first time.

  I look around. Something feels off. My stomach hurts. I stop in my tracks and turn around. Leo leaps at the same time a shot is fired. He falls to the ground mid jump and whines. Everything slows down. I scream as loud as I can and leap for him. I'm firing shots at the men standing behind the elevator. Two fall. I land on Leo and everything gets hazy. The steam releases and the valves make their noises. I dig my fingers into his fur. I feel a dart. He's not shot. He's poisoned. His breathing slows down. I sob into him but my head feels heavy. I try to lift the gun but I can't. I manage to lift it once and shoot the pipes several times. Water and steam blast everywhere. I shoot the boiler in the far corner. I look at my left arm and see the dart sticking out of me too. My eyes grow heavy.

  I grip his fur tight and feel my breathing begin to pace with his. The darkness takes me quickly. I try to fight it but I can't. The last face I see makes my stomach clench tight.

  Marshall.

  XXXX

  The End