A New World: Awakening Read Online Free Page B

Lynn and I adjourn to our little living space which isn’t much more than a couple of cots set within wooden walls and a blanket covering the entrance.   We plop down on our beds almost in unison.   I’m hesitant to ask my next question but curiosity gets the better of me.
    “Hon, have you spoken with Craig about what took them so long to get here?”   I ask with hesitancy.
    Lynn looks at me and then down at her lap but not before I see the beginnings of tears in her eyes.   She remains silent as she contemplates her lap.
    “I’m sorry.   We won’t talk about it if you don’t want to but when you do, I’m here,” I say feeling tightness grip my heart.   I feel bad for her and for my insensitivity in asking.   I should have waited for her to bring it up.
    “No, that’s okay,” she finally says with a sigh.   “Jack, what I haven’t told you before is that my sister is, or was, a drug addict.   You know my sister and I don’t talk much and we haven’t in some time.   I never told you this because I was ashamed of her and didn’t want any connection with her lifestyle.”   Lynn pauses briefly before continuing, “Anyway, Craig and Mom landed, found a car and drove to my dad’s house.   My dad wasn’t around but they found my sister in the house.   She was going through pretty bad withdrawals so they stayed with her.   By that time, they had a pretty good idea of what was going on so fortified the house as best they could and Craig foraged for water and food.   It took my sister a little while to recover and, according to what Craig said, it wasn’t pretty.   They had to keep quiet during the night as I guess you can expect but that was hard to do, especially with what my sister was going through.   They managed with one of them staying with her every hour during the night to keep her quiet.   Well, she eventually starting coming around and feeling better, to the point that Craig and Mom talked about leaving to meet up with us here.   That’s when my sister disappeared.   They were both exhausted and fell asleep close to dawn one day and when they woke, she was gone.   Craig searched the area during the day and they stayed hoping she would return.   He said the hardest was the nights when they heard the screeches of the night runners and envisioned her out there defenseless.   They stayed for a week and a half afterwards before Craig decided they couldn’t stay there indefinitely and should be moving on but Mom wouldn’t have any part of it.   She told Craig he should go on but that she would stay and wait for my sister.   Well, of course Craig wasn’t going to leave Mom so they stayed.   My sister never returned and finally Mom agreed she wasn’t going to.   That’s when they made their way here.”
    Still staring at her lap, Lynn finishes with a silence that is deafening.   Several tears fall onto her fatigues.   Reaching over, I pull her close.   She buries her head against my shoulder and her body shakes as she weeps for the loss of her sister and dad.   There isn’t anything I can do except offer her my shoulder and hug her for as long as she needs.   Her body eventually stops shaking and she pulls away to look into my eyes.
    “Thank you.   I needed to get that off my chest,” she says and lies down.   I wrap my arms around her and we fall asleep.   Her story is a reminder that the world is not a safe place.   I feel grateful for our place and the people around us that make it relatively safe.   I still have the images in my head but they’ve been relegated to a place that I can control.   I drift off to see what my dreams hold.
     
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    The sound of feet slapping on the pavement is a familiar one; one he has heard every night while on the hunt.   The small pack he joined a while ago is running ahead down the darkened street.   A faint scent of prey lingers but the swirling of the air around the buildings makes it