Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 150878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 754(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 754(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
“His choosing?” Layne asked, eyes wide.
“Young, strong, I don’t know. They’re his people. He’s the leader here now. The guards at the front are loyal to him and let the others in.”
“Fuck,” Freddie hissed. “I worked with those dudes guarding the gate in LA. I always thought they were sketchy,” he muttered. The low beam of a flashlight flickered next to us, and we all leaned back, using the fence for cover. After a moment it disappeared as though someone out on the street had shined it through the side yard. We waited for a moment, listening before Freddie met my eyes and then looked at Layne. “A number of us have been planning for something like this. There are many here who’ve been gathering weapons and supplies. Some had them in their homes and risked going back out for them. Other attained them in other ways.”
“You were keeping that from me?” Layne asked.
“We didn’t want to offend the original residents. You weren’t here yet, but they wrung their hands even about arming the guards at the gate. They had a whole meeting about it and everything. And I didn’t want to worry you, I know you don’t like guns. But we might end up having some of the last food in the city. We might be very close to that point now.”
He took a few steps and leaned around the fence quickly, surveilling the area and then walking back to us. “Come on, I’ll explain as we walk.”
We left the cover of the fence and started walking across an area of open lawn, finally moving behind a spread of trees and bushes where we could get lost in shadow.
“It was just a contingency,” Freddie went on. “Me, the original staff, and some of the others who have been here longer than you, thought something like this might happen. Even two armed dudes at the entrance weren’t going to cut it if a group of people worked as a unit to overtake them. We didn’t expect it from within, but we figured there’d come a point where we’d have to defend this community and its resources.”
Leon had essentially said the same thing. Only he’d used that belief to enact his own takeover. Freddie and whomever else he’d been working with here had done it to defend these people.
“Where are the weapons?” Layne asked.
“In the gardens. We need to get to the others before they’re rounded up. Our best chance is to surprise them. Asher, who lives down in the old guardhouse, has been gathering ammo for weeks. We have a planned meeting place near the bottom of the hill.”
“Asher’s incapacitated, but unharmed,” I said, repeating what I’d heard Leon say. “I’ll get down there and help Asher. You and Layne start gathering the people you can. Many are probably already being guarded. Gather your own army.” I gripped my clammy hands together. I was simultaneously relieved that others had formed a small army, had a tentative plan, and the ability to fight fire with fire. But it also sounded extremely dangerous. “This could get really bloody,” I said, my voice shaky.
Freddie looked at Layne quickly and then back to me. “Some things are worth fighting for. We have the upper hand in that we all know the lay of this land and they do not. If we can surprise and incapacitate some of them, then maybe we can convince the others to drop their weapons. They’ve got to be weakened from lack of food. But…yes, it will be a battle. It’s either that, or willingly leave, but that’s certain death because there’s nowhere else to go.”
Only that wasn’t true for me.
My eyes met Layne’s in the dim light of the lantern hanging nearby. “Emily…” She put her hand on my arm. “I understand if this isn’t your fight.”
An ache pierced my chest. She knew. She knew how much despair I felt at the absence of Tuck and my parents. This wasn’t my fight. There was only one place I would willingly die to protect. But it also was my fight because these people had taken me in and been kind to me and they were now facing betrayal and starvation. How could I live with myself if I didn’t participate in helping them in some way? How could I ever look Tuck in the eyes again if I didn’t exhibit at least some of the honor so important to him?
I’d learned so many lessons about valor and what it truly meant to have integrity in the last few weeks. I had learned who I wanted to be and the values I would put ahead of anything, even death.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry I can’t stay.” My purpose wasn’t here. And though I prayed with all my heart Layne and Freddie and the rest would be victorious tonight, my home was elsewhere.