The Wounded

Pelo shook his head slowly. “You know, you’re a lot like your mother. You have that fire… that will to survive on your own terms.”

I took a sharp breath in and a step back. Who was he talking about?

“Please. Don’t talk about her. You don’t get to. At least she stayed,” I managed.

Flapping his hands, desperate not to upset me further, Pelo said, “All right, all right. We won’t talk of the past. We will start anew?”

“We’ll try,” I conceded.

Movement distracted us as the line continued to wind its way past us. I heard Rash singing out of tune, and Joseph and I ran to catch up to him.

Just as we neared them, Joseph pulled me backwards and wrapped his arms around me, kissing the top of my head gently. I breathed into him, and my body relaxed a little.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” His gaze was so hard to look away from.

I blushed and snorted. “Hardly!”

He shook his head. “Not many people could forgive, especially after everything you’ve been through. I’m impressed that you could let it go and give him another chance.”

I gulped and stepped back, pointing to my chest. “It’s still here. I feel it.” I hoped I could let it go. But I was still clamped around my distrust of Pelo like a rusty bear trap. It was an old feeling. It had lived in me for a long time and felt at home there. Those things didn’t release themselves so easily.

We caught up to Rash, and Joseph actually talked to him. It made me smile, which I think Joseph thought was about Pelo. I was happy to let him think it.

We wound and trekked, keeping in time with the others.

We had a week before we reached the Monkey City. God only knew what we would find when we arrived.

We split up into smaller groups of a few hundred people. We started as one giant organism, and then pulled apart so as not to draw too much attention to ourselves. Predators stayed away because there were so many of us; we didn’t see any soldiers. They had probably returned to the Woodlands now, with Deshi. I walked with my shoulders hunched. Despite Joseph’s effort to pull them down, I was wound tight, bound up with all my insecurities about my father. I only had myself to blame for letting him into my life. The consequence was his bouncy, non-stop enthusiasm, which made me want to run repeatedly into a pine tree until I knocked myself out.

Rash wandered through the whole group, collecting friends as he went. He and Joseph even seemed to be coming to an understanding. Although I suspect it had more to do with the fact that Rash had started focusing his attention towards a shy girl who was part of our group. My complete opposite; round, amply breasted, with short, blonde hair that framed her cute face. She was always tucking it behind her ears. Rash was always teasing her and un-tucking it, which made her flush scarlet, two perfect apples appearing on her cheeks.

I was watching him dance around her like an idiot when Joseph nudged me. “You jealous?” he asked with a smile on his face, but his voice was careful. Orry snored on Joseph’s back, their curls matching up and creating one golden halo that didn’t include me.

I looked up at him, wondering whether I should provoke him or reassure him. I squinted into the light shining behind his hair and sighed at his ridiculous beauty. “Nope,” I said, continuing to stare up, my lips pursed.

Joseph frowned. “That’s it?”

“What am I supposed to say?” I asked, confused. We stopped, and I took a swig of water from my bottle, handing it to Joseph.

He paused before sipping. “Well, I thought since Rash is an ex-boyfriend, you might have some feelings about him chasing after another girl.”

The water I was about to swallow reversed and came out my mouth and nose as I snorted.

“What? You think Rash and I…?” I couldn’t even finish the sentence.

I leaned over and wiped my face, shaking with laughter.

Joseph’s stern shadow hung over me. “Stop laughing. It’s not that unreasonable an assumption,” he said, embarrassed. “I saw you back at the Classes, you were always so close.”

I tried to calm myself, taking a deep breath. “Look, Rash and I have always been friends, and that’s all.” I pointed over at Rash and the girl. “Clearly, I’m not his type. Can we please just let this go?” I asked.

Joseph looked from me, to the girl, to Rash, and back again, and then he smirked, “All right.”

I really hoped it was the last time I would hear about this.

*****

We were nearly there. Some of the groups took a less direct route and would arrive over the next few days. We were the first to arrive. Everyone stood on the edges of the crumbling city, tired and sore from sleeping on the ground and hungry from eating only quick-hunted game and sparse supplies. We were dirty and completely over it.

The sun-bleached walls splattered with bird poo were not overwhelmingly welcoming. The city was huge, with plenty of places to hide, but this was not home. Gus shouted, waving his hands about, trying to get our attention. The group curled around him like a folding petal as he spoke. “I’m going in to ask permission. Can I have three flanking volunteers?”

My eyes narrowed at the word ‘permission’. Permission from who? The monkeys? I pictured those yellow eyes and whipping, striped tails, cringing.

Joseph’s hand shot up. My head snapped to him and then my hand careered into the air, waggling around like a loose stick in the wind, before I could stop it. Nobody else volunteered, which worried me, so Gus picked someone who was unluckily standing at the front of the group. The man’s shoulders drooped, and he shuffled reluctantly to stand on one side of Gus.

I handed Orry to Rash. He eyed the baby apprehensively. “Here, spend some quality time with you nephew.” I smirked as his face registered surprise.

He took Orry’s capsule with the child snuggled inside it and swung it under his nose. “Er, ok, but I’m not changing any crappy nappies.”

“I won’t be long.” I looked to Gus, and he nodded.

“Wait here until we return,” Gus barked gruffly to the rest of the Survivors. The group receded beyond the tree line like a low-lying mist, and the thump of packs hitting the ground and tins rattling travelled through the woods. Gus turned and walked briskly towards the city with the three of us trailing him.

*****

The city was the same as we’d left it almost nine months ago. Everything crumbled at the edges, colors once bright were faded and clinging to the remaining timber frames like mold. Gus was practically ru

Finally, we turned a corner and were faced with a beautiful stone building bordered by cobblestones. Its spires scraped the sky. A tattered ba

Gus kept powering headfirst while the three of us stood back, taking in this foreboding building.

“DING!” The sound made us all jump out of our skin, and Gus paused momentarily before he climbed the wide, stone stairs and turned around to glare at us. The great wrought iron arms of a clock clicked into place, and it dinged another ten times.

My hand found Joseph’s, and we stared at the birds startling and resettling like they had heard this a million times before.

Gus stood at the top of the stairs. The dark, wiry man stood out against the light sandstone, with his hands on his hips, grimacing. “Hurry up!” He stomped his foot, and we ran-walked over to him.