Born 01 - Born

hanging. It looks like a bear or another large creature has roamed the woods.
    My father's craziness will live inside of me forever.
    The first few steps from the woods feel like wading through the river. My legs ache, but the anxiety of being on an open road is making them feel like I'm wearing cement boots.
    My breath increases. My peripheral vision becomes sharper. I see a leaf blowing down the concrete. I see an old brown stain and force my brain not to hear the ripping and tearing. It feels weird to walk on a road. It's been so long I can't remember the last time.
    Just when my stomach can't hurt worse, I hear them.
    They're a ways down the road but they holler at me. I know it's me they're shouting at.
    My legs break into a run for the gates of the town, before I dare to glance at them. My muscles push and my bullet hole stings.
    I run in a way I haven’t in a long time. No backpack to weigh me down, just a small sack in my hands. No heavy clothes what with the spring sun popping out. I am wearing just a long sleeve t-shirt, cargo pants, and my thick-soled boots I took from the dead. I'm faster than I remember being. It could be that I'm more scared than I remember being.
    My arms pump as my legs dig. The ground is passing by me in a blur.
    I see the guards. They won't protect me unless I reach the town. They'll watch the men tear my clothes from my body and attack me in the field out front.
    The voices behind me are closing in on me. They're fast too. They run more than I do.
    "Don't run, baby. We'll make it worth your while."
    I blast through the guard gate and drop to my knees inside the walls.
    I hear a guard through the blood pounding inside my ears. "Halt."
    I turn around to see four guards there. They stand in front of the gate with huge guns.
    The five men who have chased me are bent over and breathing heavy. I see the hungry grin of one of the men as his eyes meet mine.
    He points at me. "See you on the way out. Maybe we can give you an escort home."
    Shivers travel my spine. His grin scares me.
    He is seedy and dirty. His smile makes me want to gag. I move away from the contact of a hand gripping my arm suddenly. An older woman helps me stand. "I won't bite." She looks back at the man and gives him the middle finger. My dad called it the bird. "Not like them, anyway."
    She smiles at me. Her teeth are brown. She was probably poor before the world ended. The poor lived longer than any of the rich. They already knew how to survive.
    I hate the smell of the town. I remember that now, as the different smells wash over me. Sewage being the more distinct one.
    "What can we do for you, dear?"
    I glance at the old lady. I don’t trust her. No one should trust townies. I have to remind myself of the desperate situation I am in.
    "I need medicine for infection."
    She winces. "Are you injured?"
    I shake my head. "Not for me."
    "What kind of injury?"
    I pause not wanting to talk to her, but I know I don’t have time to take any chances. "A stick went into his leg. I sewed it up but I think bark is in there still, and he cut it in a river."
    She nods. "I have just the thing." She pulls me along.
    The town is a shantytown, made up of rundown houses and lean-tos. The houses would have been fancy before. Now the lean-tos almost seem nicer. The walls surrounding the town are made of sharpened poles like out of a medieval village. I see the smelly people peddling their wares to the pass-throughs and I feel like we have entered a dark age. I wish knights in armor were part of this nightmare.
    I am permitted to sleep one night with a purchase. I feel excitement I can't explain at the idea of sleeping. My rest in the tree was terrible.
    I am a pass-through. I may buy whatever I can carry. Buy is trade, and I have very few things I can trade.
    We enter a rundown house with stacks of papers and garbage inside. I can smell the garbage before I enter. The people who sell things raid old towns and landfills. It's funny that the world before made enough crap to last us even now.
    She clears away a stack of plastic bags and other garbage from a long wooden counter. She lifts a white metal chest up and grins a brown smile at me.
    "This is very special. It's from the city. It's what they use to treat the breeders. My son works there. He lets me have some to help us here."
    Her words both disgust and scare me.
    I can't help but look around the room. I feel the ambush is upon me any second.
    She laughs. "Kid, don’t be a fool. He