The Wanted

“Joseph, look…” Gus said, pointing at the woman standing next to Gwen. She still wasn’t moving, standing atop the pile of rubble, looking down at the small girl who clung to her leg. She leaned down, spoke to the girl, and then she flipped her hair, put her hands on her hips, and smiled wide.

The sun crossed her face and those eyes… those eyes I’d wanted for so long, flashed defiantly. A revolution standing in front of me. Rosa.

ROSA

This was what I had wanted. To stand atop the crumbling wall and watch the Woodlands disintegrate before me, turned to dust. But not like this. Terrified people clipped my shoulders, and I struggled to hold my ground. I clung to Rosa-May, keeping my body rigid, a barrier between her and the crush of the crowd. She wouldn’t stop crying, that sticky, hick, hick, hick, hitching her breath. I had run out of tears. I was an empty drum with salt lines ru

Gwen spoke, though I could barely hear her through the screaming. “They have to be here. Let’s go.”

Rosa-May’s perfect little jacket was smeared with dirt and blood. I leaned down and dusted it off, carefully checking her for injuries. My heart broke as I said, “It’s okay, little sister. Hold tight to my hand. Don’t let go.” I was all she had left. I tried to smile for her sake.

Gwen tugged on my arm, but I wasn’t ready to tumble into the crowd and lose my perspective. From here, I could see for miles. I put my hands on my hips and sca

My heartbeat grew steady as I took in sections of the forest. Like the pie of the Superiors’ compound. I broke it up and searched each piece thoroughly. The black rocks were clear, the forest line seemed clear, although they could have been hiding behind the bushes. A soldier shoved past me, scrambling down the rubble and knocking others out of his way as he went, his uniform in tatters. Someone had pulled all the gold decoration from it, and now he looked like an urchin. He disappeared into the crowd. He was just the same as the rest of us in this situation, frightened, trying to survive.

My eyes landed on the chopper. I moved sideways, keeping my legs as sturdy as steel beams. The shadow of a person somehow shone behind the rear of the black angel.

The air around him was brighter, shining, pulsing like golden brushstrokes. Joseph.

JOSEPH

She looked thi

“It’s her. Let’s go,” Pelo urged, pushing me forward.

But I froze, my feet stationed, burning a hole in the ground. Her eye’s fell on me. They ripped me open and cut me a million times with every dusty-lashed blink.

What does she see?

I am broken.

ROSA

He looked the same. His beard scruffy, his hair knitted over his brow in that delicate balance. But when he looked up at me, his eyes were deep green, ringed with sadness.

What does he see when he looks at me?

I am broken.

JOSEPH

I forced my legs forward. Something stronger than any shame, stronger than any fear I had of what she might say or do when she met me, pulled me towards her and suddenly, I was ru

She was here. That was all that mattered.

ROSA

“There,” I said as I pointed to the group of Survivors who were now approaching us carefully as the people of Pau Brazil spilled around them in scattered lines. Except for Joseph, who was flat out sprinting.

I handed Rosa-May to Gwen and helped them climb down. Slipping through the cracks, something snagged my leg, tearing my dress even further. I pulled my jammed leg out and scrambled down, holding Rosa-May’s hand, keeping us co

“You’re so brave,” I said, patting her head. Her gaze did something strange to me. Her eyelashes stuck together with salt water, her brown eyes, my mother’s brown eyes, blinking up at me like I was the one. The only one she trusted. It filled me with hope.

I took a deep breath and crossed my arms over my chest. Something pulled at my body, elastic getting tighter and tighter. I found him. He was here. I was broken, but I could still run. My feet hit the frozen grass and my body surged towards him, my hand still wrapped around Rosa-May’s as I dragged them with me. I wasn’t in control anymore. He was here, here, right here in front of me. My heart. My hands ached for him; everything I wanted was wrapped in a green shirt and a dark jacket.

“Joseph,” I whispered, as if it were my last breath. My first breath.

JOSEPH

If she knew of my crimes, she didn’t seem to care. And I wasn’t sure I cared either. She was here. Impossibly. She ran towards me as fast as a heartbeat. As strong as warrior. My Rosa.

My brain couldn’t take in anything other than her tiny form streaking across the muddy land with Gwen and the child behind her. Nothing could slow us. She was five feet away from me, her face dirty, her hair wrong, her mouth open and panting. “Jose…” she started, letting go of the child’s hand for a moment.

I reached out and grabbed her, pi

“I found you,” I said.

She gasped as I squeezed her tighter, her face buried in my chest. Forcing her face upwards, she blinked up at me.

“I think I found you,” she said stubbornly, her voice like ringing bells in my ears. I had wanted to hear her voice forever.

ROSA

Joseph’s chest rattled with a chuckle. It felt old and new at the same time, like he hadn’t used it in a while. I let the vibration fill me, let the cymbals crash against us both, the sparks fly. I felt his lips press down on the top of my head, felt him breathe me in. Every brush of his skin was killing me. We were ending and begi

“Say it,” I said, my teeth glistening whiter than the ice, my smile too big for my face.

He gri

I was done being apart from him.

JOSEPH

“Jooosssephh!” A woman’s scream managed to fight its way through the crowd. I lifted my head from where I was staring at the part in Rosa’s hair like it was the map to my heart. Rosa leaned back from my embrace and turned in the direction of the screams. She waved her hand, calling someone over to us.

“Oh yeah, and I found your parents too,” she said, her eyes crinkling in the corners in the most perfect way.

“You’re my hero,” I said softly, my smile cracking me open.

You save me over and over again.

ROSA

I knew conversations had to happen. Big, serious conversations. But right then, all I wanted to do was make myself flat as a piece of paper, slide under his shirt, and live against his chest.