Born 01 - Born

his head, saunters to the door, and sniffs. I think about just opening the door and freeing him on her, but his tail wags. This makes me doubt his ability to eat the adorable girl.
    I see his sloppy wolf face emerge and I raise an eyebrow at him. He retreats, moaning.
    "Please, miss. I need your help. Please," she shouts, no longer stuttering. Her voice is desperate. She bangs on my door. "Please, he's dying. My brother is dying, please." She is making a ton of noise. I feel scared like I haven’t been in a long time. I don’t know what to do. I pace a little and bite my lip, but she doesn’t stop shouting.
    I have watched children left on the road screaming. I've watched teenage girls dragged into the woods and been forced to listen. I've survived because I watched and listened. I've ignored everyone at every cost. Several times I have lain under a truck with my eyes closed and waited for it to end. Waited for the screaming to stop.
    She is bait.
    I close my eyes waiting, but the banging gets louder. If the others aren’t already here, they will hear the banging and come.
    Dejectedly, I open the door again, putting the tip of my gun through the door. I am ready to shoot. Again, I feel the path of the coward before me.
    "If, if you kill me, please just go find him afterward. He's hurt. They’ll find him. He's in a hole south of here. Please. Just kill me and go help him."
    Her words aren’t a plea. She is resigned to die for him. She isn’t a coward. She isn’t like me. She presses her chest into the gun. Her eyes harden. “Kill me and save him, please. Don’t let him die in that hole.”
    I slump and pull the gun back. I close my eyes for a second and let myself acknowledge that this is a bad idea. I will no doubt regret this. My mind screams. “Why her? Why would I help her?”
    But I don’t listen. I open the door.
    Leo walks cautiously to her, sniffing and circling.
    "Please, if you must kill me, just go to him. He's back a ways down the big hill. He's fallen in a hole and broken his leg, I think. He isn’t conscious."
    I watch her eyes. They never dart. I think she speaks the truth.
    I grab the bundle of rope I keep on the storage shelf and close the door.
    "Thank you so much. Thank you. My name is Anna." She holds her hands together like I've saved her life. Her tears still pour down her face. She is small and weak, but she appears stronger than I am. Braver.
    I look at her, choosing to ignore her. After I have gotten her brother out of the hole, she will be on her way.
    Leo rubs himself against the girl.
    "He's not going to bite me?"
    "He might. Let's go. Stay in front of me where I can see you."
    She nods and tucks her long brown hair into the back of her jacket. She is thin. Everyone is thin, but she is thinner than anyone I've seen in a while. I frown at myself. Who have I seen in months? No one.
    Her gaunt face tells me she and her brother have been alone since the beginning, like me. And Leo. No one takes care of her. She fights for everything she has. This makes her my enemy.
    I know the exact hole her brother is in, if he is really in there.
    I keep my ears sharp. Thankfully, she never speaks. I know she is a survivor; she has common sense. She walks silently as I do. Her breathing is even.
    As we approach the hole, I wait at the far side, assuming I am being led to be pushed in. I have a bad feeling they will take my cabin and leave me to die. She gets onto her knees and crawls to the edge. "Jake?"
    "Anna?" A guy's breathless voice rises from the hole.
    She starts to cry. "Jake, we got rope. I found her. She's back now. Everything will be okay now."
    My hackles rise at the words 'she's back'. "How long have you been following me?"
    She puts a hand out. "Let me have the rope."
    I take a step back as Leo takes one forward. He senses my agitation.
    "Just let me have the rope, please; he's hurt," she pleads.
    I shake my head and point my rifle at her face. "How long have you been following me?"
    She slumps. "Two months. We stayed in the woods outside the cabin. We needed the well water. I'm sorry."
    I want to feel nothing, but I know, I know I'm lucky. She is skinny and desperate looking. Her life has been hard where mine has been simple, planned even. My father told me about the cabin in the woods his family owned. I knew I had somewhere to go when it all ended. They were, no doubt, left with nothing. This doesn’t take away the sick feeling I have in my stomach, knowing I have been spied on