Born by Tara Brown Read Free Book Online

this girl
Angela and he…"
    "Jake."
    I look back at Anna who is making a
distasteful face, "Dirty Will stories in your underwear is creepy
dude."
    I smile. Jake blushes. He looks at me
through his bangs and my heart feels like it's too big for my chest.
    "Where is your brother?" I
don’t want to ask but I know I have to.
    Anna answers from behind me, "We
hope dead."
    I nod. I leave it at that. I know that
feeling.
    Jake's face is haunted. I swear I see
guilt but I leave it.
    I feel weird being in the house with
other people, not just because it's one of my havens but also because I am
never with other people. Ever.
    My leg aches. I know I won't sleep. I
look at Anna, "You guys sleep first. Me and Leo will take first
watch."
    Jake frowns, "Why don’t we all just
sleep. There is no way anyone followed us Emma."
    I want to slap him, it is irrational, but
his survival skills leave a lot to be desired.
    Instead I turn and walk away, Anna has it.
    "Dude we will take watch here every
night. It just feels safe here, that doesn’t mean it is."
    "Fine. Whatever."
    I pull the knife that I stole from the
dead military guy out of my boot and rub it down with the bleach I pulled out
from under the sink. I wipe the blade down and my fingers. I pour water from my
bottle over my fingers and the blade. I hate that I touched something of
someone else's.
    I catch Jake watching me.
    I ignore him. I ignore my heart's desire
to flutter every time he glances at me.
    I will leave him. It's in my nature.
    Instead I look at Leo, who has positioned
himself in front of the back door and curled into a ball.
    "So much for helping, hey boy."
    He opens one yellow eye and closes it
again.  
    I take my new knife, my bow and quiver
and my bottle of water to the door. I rub Leo's head once and head out into the
night quietly. I stealth across the gravel silently.
    I open the barn door and slip inside. The
darkness of the barn is frightening, but I grip the handle of the blade for
strength. I climb the stairs, feeling like something will grab my feet any
second and drag me down into the hay. I will finally hear my greatest fear, my
own ripping and tearing.
    I climb into the hayloft and sit in the
open window. The dark night is silent. I don’t like silence. I like the sounds
of animals telling me I am safe. I open my ears and close my mind against the
sounds that haunt me.
    I hear them suddenly.
    The night creatures that will warn me of
any intruders fill my ears. There is a cricket, a single cricket out in the
field. I hear a bat off in the woods south of the farm. Something snorts behind
the barn in a way that makes me smile.
    Whatever it is, it's rooting. The signs
of life fill me with a mistaken and misguided hope. I know the reality of it all.
I am not fooled by the warm and fuzzy feelings.
    I know we are lost, all of humanity is.
    I know what we have done to each other.
We are no longer human. Our humanity is lost. The animals have bested us in
behavior and survival.
    The door to the house slips open. Anna
crosses the driveway carefully.
    A smile crosses my lips, she is a
survivor.
    "His leg is infected."
    Her whispered words cut me. I know what
we must do but I'm not prepared to do it.
    She sees my face in the dull moonlight,
"I know. I feel the same way."
    "The medicines are all
expired."
    "We have to go for him. His fever
has returned. The red lines have started. My dad warned me about the red
lines."
    My eyes leave the deserted yard and fix
on hers. They glisten in the moonlight.
    "I will go alone."
    The glistening spot in the dark lowered,
"I can't ask that of you."
    "He can't travel."
    "But I can't ask that of you. He is
my burden."
    I laugh softly into the cool night air,
"He really is isn’t he? How is he so clueless?"
    Her lips curl into a grim smile the
darkness can't hide from me, "He worshipped our brother. They joked and
laughed while dad tried to teach us how to survive. Dad always called them the
grasshoppers who played all