“How could that man have ever been my father?” I ask no one specific while shaking my head in disappointment.
“You look nothing like him,” Cara says while plopping down next to me cross legged on the floor.
“I never thought so,” I tease, trying on a smile.
She looks around the room with a new shine in her eyes.
“How old are you?” Jake asks.
“I’m not for sure,” she answers sadly.
“How can you not be sure?” I ask reluctantly.
She looks down at her pretzel twisted legs, and then to Rose, who is busy taking inventory of their supplies. I wonder if she does this every night, or if she is making sure she knows how much of everything she has in case we decide to steal something.
“We will have the first watch, Rosa Maria,” Cara says while gesturing towards herself, Jake, and I.
“Very well,” Rose answers. “Take to the ladder.”
Cara nods.
“Come with me.” She gets to her feet, motioning for us to follow her.
I look around, making sure our family is safe and looked out for. Dia is asleep on Mar’s lap, while Zac and Eli play some silly hand slapping game. Eli nods towards me, letting me know that the kids are safe with them. Magi and Samantha are asleep restlessly, and Robert is still… well, Robert. Shawn and Leah huddle together in the corner, whispering back and forth.
I need to make it a point to get to know Leah better, I begin to think to myself.
“Let’s go,” I grunt while raising up off the floor. I hadn’t noticed how much I really was in pain from the activities of the past several days until now.
Cara leads us into a small closet just off the store room. She then pulls down a ladder from the ceiling that nearly reaches the ground. I wouldn’t have known it was there had she not shown us.
“Follow me,” she says again.
I climb up after Cara with my gun slung over my shoulder, as Jake follows close behind me. About half way up, I slip, narrowly missing falling off the side of the ladder. Jake slides a hand up my hip to my waste to support me the rest of the way back on the ladder.
When we reach the top, Cara reaches down to help me up the rest of the way. When we are all three safely at the top, she leads us over a board we must balance on, to a small plank that looks out over the street below through the building’s perhaps only unbroken window.
She sits cross legged on the plank, leaving just enough room for Jake and me to sit, not leaving very much space between us. Cara then slides a small board away from the floor behind us, allowing us to look down on the sleeping members of our groups. Lastly, she opens a panel on the wall, revealing a small knife, a tiny pistol, and a few old looking hand grenades.
She grabs the pistol, checking the ammo, afterward, throwing the safety back on and placing the small gun in the waistband of her pants, near the small of her back. She then places the panel back over the small arsenal.
“Unarmed,” I scoff, half teasing.
“Well, they are,” Cara smiles, “these are a few things I had with me when this group of voyagers found me five years ago.” Jake and I sit in silence. “I told you I didn’t know how old I am… well, I don’t. All I know is I am between fifteen and seventeen somewhere. I was raised as a voyager in a large group of about thirty people, most of them unrelated. My parents along with most of the others from my group died at the hands of The Elected. They raided the place we were staying and opened fire. My little brother, Baxley was taken by them alive.” Cara looks down at her hands frowning. “They took him, but not me.”
“Why not you?” I ask, enamored with her story.
“When they shot my father, the bullet went through his heart, came out his back, and entered me.” Cara pulls her shirt down just enough for us to see a scar on her chest. “I played dead, so they thought I wasn’t worth taking. Baxley was only six or seven.”
“How did you end up here?” Jake asks.
“Rosa Maria… Well Rose, and her people, found me and took me to The Facility for healing.”
“How did they let you leave The Facility once you were healed?” Jake asks.
“They believe, as our people do, that if you have something or someone to trade them that is of interest or use to them, then they will do what you ask, then allow you to leave.” She looks out of the window. “You have to promise to leave this town after you leave The Facility, but Rose won’t allow us to leave. We have been stuck here for five years.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because… the thing she traded was her daughter, Cloe.”
“Why would she do that?” Jake asks.
“Because Cloe wanted to be trained to do The Cleansing and live with the people of The Facility to have the securities of each day.”
“I met Cloe,” I say excitedly. “She was a nurse in the bathhouse.”
“That still doesn’t explain why Rose won’t let you leave,” Jake brings up a good point.
“She still thinks Cloe will find a way to come back to her.”
“She won’t,” I say. “She is happy where she is, I can tell her that.”
“No!” Cara almost shouts. “No, don’t tell Rose anything, she mustn’t ever know you have seen her, or that she is happy,” she whispers this time.
“Why?” I ask.
“She plans to rush The Facility to rescue her if she doesn’t return soon. She thinks she is
