Akasha 4 - Earth (8 page)

He poked at the fire, glancing up at
us. "Everyone okay?"

No one answered. He addressed us
individually, "Susan?"

"I'm fine," she said,
tight-lipped.

Was she mad?
I suppose she had every right to be. She was hard
at work saving my child while I was busy flying around, knocking
down trees, and dumping more people in the river.

"Kaitlyn?"

"Huh?" I said. My eyes flitted from
Susan over to Alex.

"You okay?" he asked.

I looked down at Bee, and pulled the
blanket tighter around her. "I'm not getting back in the river
until we get her a lifejacket."

"Agreed," said Alex and Susan at the
same time.

More silence, and more poking at the
fire.

"Did
you
eat anything?" Susan asked
Alex.

"No. I'm going to take a canoe across
the river; make sure the camp over there has everything they
need."

"Eat something first," she said. It
wasn't a suggestion; it was an order.

"Yes, ma'am." Alex stood up and went
over to another fire they were using to cook food.

Susan picked up Alex's stick and
assumed fire duty.

I stared into the glowing coals.
"Susan…"

She paused poking.

"I just wanted to say…that if anything
ever happens to me—"

"Don't," she interrupted.

I glanced at her.

"There isn't any need to have that
conversation because nothing is going to happen to any of us.
Micah, Alex, you, Bee, and me. We're all going to be just
fine."

It really was wishful thinking,
considering I was thrown into the mix.

I leaned back, adjusting my legs under
Bee. "You guys have really been great to her. Thanks for saving her
today, and thanks for…well, just everything."

She sighed, put the stick down, and
scoot closer to me. "You're welcome." She wrapped her arm around
me, laid her chin on my shoulder, and looked down at Bee. Susan
straightened. "Our pants."

"What about them?" I looked over at
them drying across a log.

"Didn't Alex say they can
float?"

He had.

"Sure weren't floating for me today,"
I said.

"You have to take them off," Alex
said, entering our clearing while eating an apple. He wiped juice
off his chin. "Tie off each leg, then cinch down the
waist."

I stood, and handed Bee to
Susan.

She asked, "What are you—?"

"Geez, Kaitlyn," Alex cut off Susan's
question as he turned his back to me.

The blanket was already on the ground
at my feet.

"A little warning next time?" Alex
mumbled.

"Oh, please. We're all adults here."
It wasn't like he had never accidentally walked in on me when I was
changing, or using the bathroom – in the woods.

I put on my oversized shirt before I
grabbed my pants. Under Alex's direction, though he still refused
to look, I tied each leg off.

"Now hold them at the waist, and bring
them up, then down quick, catching the air. Cinch the waist straps
down," he said.

It took me a couple tries.

"It will work better when the waist is
in the water," Alex said, having turned around.

"By the time she is in the water, it
will be too late," Susan said.

I studied the pants, "We could seal
the waist up, instead of tying it off."

Alex picked out the seeds and threw
the core of his apple in the fire. "I'll check with the other side
if they have anything for that." He handed me the seeds.

"Thanks. Oh – and Alex?" I looked up
at him. "See if anyone can spare some pants."

Chapter
11

Nightmares

"Easy there, princess." Shawn's words
echoed through my head. His blue eyes floated in front of me, but
they were familiar. I was able to ignore them. It was the same
dream that always plagued my sleep. The circle of fire surrounded
us, Shawn held a knife, and there was something at my
back.

This time, I would make a decision.
Maybe it would end the repeating nightmare. I turned, leaving my
back vulnerable to Shawn and his knife.

"Where's the baby?" I heard him ask
behind me. I ignored him.

The thing at my back was a large ball
of light, steady and strong. It didn’t flicker like in the last
dream. When it began to rise, I pulled at it, willing it back down.
It didn't stop; but it slowed. I did have some control over it, but
my grasp was slippery, making the task difficult.

I pulled again, and the light ceased
its upward momentum. I worked, struggling as though my fingertips
were barely holding on.

I took a deep breath and tried again,
aware of Shawn breathing down my neck.

"Come on!" I shouted at it. The ball
obliged, falling the rest of the way toward me. I extended my hand,
and the ball grew smaller, fitting in my palm. Within seconds, it
winked out, extinguishing itself. I smiled.

The circle of fire around us roared in
reaction. Blood mixed with the flame and it grew higher and
thicker, closing in on us.

I turned to Shawn.

He was smiling. "Too late."

* * *

The next morning, after a rough patch
of unintentional head-butting by Bee, I woke to Alex and Susan
talking together by the fire.

Did they even
sleep?

Susan's hair told me yes. Alex – I
wasn't so sure.

Bee snored; her head heavy on my arm.
Pins and needles raced through my limb from the weight. I had to
pee, but I wasn't quite ready to rouse the little one. The smell of
coffee tempted me. I turned to look at Alex and Susan. Their backs
were to me, but I could see them working together to pour boiling
water over crushed beans. The steamy liquid ran through a filter
and into a camp cup. They took turns sipping from it.

"I miss cream," Susan said, voice
low.

"We had some a few months ago, when we
came across that dairy farm," Alex reminded her. Susan stuck out
her tongue in distaste. He pretended not to notice. "At least you
had that – I haven't seen sugar in over a year."

Susan took another sip, "We should
save some for Kaitlyn."

"These beans can be used again," Alex
placed another pot of water over the fire for boiling. "And here,
let's warm up these canned peaches for Bee. She'll be hungry as
soon as she wakes up. She deserves a treat."

"Do you think she'll be scared to get
back on the river?" Susan asked.

I hadn't thought of
that.

"I don't know. I'm a little more
worried about how Kaitlyn will act."

Susan nodded. "Have you noticed the
bags under her eyes? They are getting darker by the day. I don't
think she sleeps much anymore." Susan kept lowering her
voice.

"Hell, her nightmares are keeping me
up now," said Alex. "Good thing Bee is a heavy sleeper."

Heavy head,
too
. I flexed my arm muscles. Come to
think of it, last night was the best night's sleep I had in a
while. Maybe it was just pure exhaustion.

Alex started analyzing my nightmares,
"Do you think it's because of what happened?"

What happened?
I strained to hear them.

Susan shrugged. "She hasn't mentioned
anything leading up to Daybreak. Maybe it's a sort of memory
loss."

"Or maybe just a subconscious block,
but one day the memories are going to catch up with her and it
won't be pretty." Alex threw his head back, finishing the
drink.

They couldn't have been talking about
what happened when I was kidnapped by Shawn; Susan and I had had a
few conversations about that the past year. We knew we had to face
him again, and talking about him openly let us fear him less. It
was extremely therapeutic.

Bee whimpered, and both turned to look
at us. I closed my eyes, feigning deep breaths of sleep.

"Come on, they'll be up soon. Turn the
peaches so they don't burn. I'll pour more coffee," Alex
said.

Thanks, Bee.
I would have to discover the source of the
mystery nightmares on my own.

Chapter
12

Thunder

"Earthquake in Huntington," Alex said
as we pushed our canoe into the river.

"Huh?" I asked, preoccupied with the
balancing act of moving to the front, with Bee in one arm and an
oar in another. It wouldn't do to immediately dump Bee in the river
on her first day back in.

"The camp across the river linked up
with someone from Huntington last night on their Hamm radio. They
said there was an earthquake three days ago." Alex pushed the canoe
into deeper water, then jumped in himself without a wobble. His
learning curve with this whole canoe thing was much steeper than
mine.

"Wasn't that the big city we just went
through?" Susan asked, sitting in the very front, playing
navigator. We decided to stick with the fab four after yesterday's
incident; no more splitting up.

"Yep," said Alex.

"So what are you saying?" I
asked.

"I'm not saying anything, except that
maybe we ought to reach out. See what information we can gather
about places we left, as well as our next destination. Whether the
natural disasters are caused by someone in our group or not," he
cleared his throat, "we don't want to be leaving a
trail."

Susan glanced at me over her shoulder.
"Could just be a coincidence."

"Could be," I agreed. Desperation
crept up my chest. She was finding excuses, trying not to be
obvious about the truth.

So was Alex. "Could be a spy from our
group, leaving bread crumbs the only way they know how," he
suggested in a much lower voice.

"Maybe…" I said. I looked
down at Bee, busy organizing her play area for the day.
Oh fine, I'll just say it.
"Or it could be me and Bee."

Bee looked up at the mention of her
name and shot me a smile. I touched her dimple with my finger, "You
are trouble; you know that?"

"Let's just see how it plays out,"
Alex mumbled from behind me.

Very shortly, we'd be in Louisville,
Kentucky. As the morning hours passed, the trees that dotted the
riverbanks became sparse, replaced by wide open parks and fields.
Buildings, many just showing the first signs of neglect with plants
growing out of gutters and broken windows, began outnumbering the
trees. There were people, at first just one or two, then larger
groups of a dozen or more, working along the riverbanks. Washing
clothes, filtering water, or bathing – they all stopped their work
to watch us row past. Bee waved to every single one of them.
Several waved back, smiling.

"A different perspective from our
hiking trails," Alex said from behind me.

I nodded. "When we started to see
fewer and fewer people, I thought we were dying out. Turns out
everyone was just flocking to freshwater sources."

"And thriving," Susan chimed in,
staring at a fenced off area full of chickens. "Remember all the
bones we found?"

I nodded. On our way from Mammoth Cave
to D.C. then West Virginia, we saw countless remains of dogs and
cats, sometimes even horses, lying exposed by a snuffed out
campfire. "People had to eat something once the packaged food ran
out."

I touched the bag of canned vegetables
at my side. The chickens, even scratching around in the mud as they
were, looked far tastier.

A dog ran around the pen, playing. It
was one of the lucky ones.

We passed under a series of bridges,
and all at once the groups of people grew in number – so much so
they couldn't be classified as groups. It was just one, large
mass.

"How are all these people surviving?"
I wondered aloud.

"The rivers support the masses," Alex
said. "Look Bee!" He pointed to five horses tied up by the river,
drinking.

Five horses!
I never thought I'd see another horse.

"Big dog!" Bee shouted at
them.

We laughed. "Horse, honey. That's a
horse – neigh!"

Bee spent the next two hours
practicing her horse sounds until one loud, horn blast drowned her
out. She jumped into my lap. "Thunder!"

I brushed the hair out of her face and
kissed her forehead. "No – not thunder. Some kind of horn." I
turned around and looked at Alex, my eyebrows raised in
question.

He shrugged.

We slowed the canoe, and motioned the
rest of the group to do the same. Robert and Margie, now in a
double kayak, were the exception. They pushed forward to
investigate, both looking at me as they passed. Robert had a set
chin and narrowed eyes, Margie glanced over me from head to toe,
then Bee.