Born 01 - Born

crowded bunch of trees and bushes, deciding that I need to risk it and stand. I need my bearings. I take another deep breath and slide my body up alongside a tree. I try to blend in. Hoards of people have gathered in the street in front of the town. I can see the field and the cement road. I'm on the right side.
    Women and girls are being loaded into trucks. They sob and reach for their loved ones. One girl looks about thirteen. I feel anger welling inside of me. There are the four guards from the gates and five other men milling around the trucks. The tenth man is inside the cab of the truck.
    My brain is screaming at me to help the girl. She's a kid. That won't stop them, the sweaty men who take turns. I close my eyes. I shake my head to rearrange my thoughts.
    I turn my back on them. I run away like the coward I am. I run until I find the broken branches. I use them to lead myself back to my weapon stash. I breathe easier when my bow is back in my hands. I could kiss my knife. I tuck it into my boots and start the run back to the house. I run faster than I did the day before. I run with new fear.
    I reach the house in the middle of the night. I see Leo's eyes. He stalks to me. He sniffs me everywhere. He's checking to make sure I'm okay. When I bend my knee to kiss him, I sob. He's seen this before. He knows sometimes I just need to get it out.
    "Em?"
    I look up to see Anna pointing a gun at me.
    I smile and hold up the sack.
    She lowers the gun."You okay?"
    I nod into the darkness. "No, but it's not anything new. How is he?"
    I can see her grim look in the moonlight. My stomach sinks. I want to panic and cry out.
    "He's fading fast. I was about to cut his leg off when I heard you."
    I sigh and break into a run. I burst through the farm door, something I've never done before.
    I'm pulling the needle out of the sack with one of the vials, as I kneel before him. His dark hair is matted against his sweaty face. I can see the moisture in the moonlight.
    Anna pours the vodka we found in one of the cupboards all over my hands and the needles and vial. The liquor is splashing all over me. She holds the bottle up to my lips. It burns its ways into my empty stomach. The bits of food I've eaten are long gone. Thank God. She wipes his arm. I finish putting the vial together and stab him in the arm. I push it in slowly like my dad showed me. He doesn’t stir. He doesn't register that I'm pumping his arm full of antibiotics.
    I pull the bandages off his wounds. The red lines are everywhere. I swallow hard. Anna puts the vodka back to my lips. I drink again. I pour the tea tree oil she has next to the vodka all over the wound and the blade of my knife. I slice into swollen parts of the injury and milk the pus from it. I pour the tea tree oil after I douse it in vodka. I am careful not to rupture the blood vessels and make more infection. When it's clean and no more pus comes out, I smother it in the old tube of medical salve I always get from the farmhouses I go to. I cover it again with a gauze bandage and tape.
    His fever is still high. He licks his lips and looks down at me with blood shot eyes.
    "You made it back."
    I nod. His expression is breaking my heart. He looks weak. This is why I never care for things; they always die. Well, except Leo.
    Jake reaches a hand to mine and squeezes. "I was worried."
    "I can take care of myself." I don’t even let the bizarre day I've had cross my mind. It's not the moment to stress him out.
    "I don’t doubt that. You scare me."
    I laugh. I can't even help myself. He's huge and no doubt strong, stronger than he knows. Stronger than me. I try not to think about the young girls in the truck. I am a coward.
    "I'm going back to watching." Anna is gone suddenly, and we are alone. I feel funny about it.
    He pulls me up on the couch. "Come lay with me."
    It's the first human contact I've had in a while. Watching TV with my Granny is the closest thing to a snuggle I've ever had. I don’t know what to do. I go limp. He laughs.
    He pulls me alongside him on the couch. His arm is burning hot. It feels amazing. He wraps his arm around me. I shiver from the heat.
    "Tell me a story, Emma."
    I pause. I don’t have any. I want to tell him something fun about my childhood, but it basically looks just like my life now. Well, with more showering.
    "I went to the town once a long time ago. The infection was newer then. I ran through the woods and broke the branches to make a path for myself to find the