Born 01 - Born

My arm still hurts. I can't help but wonder if it’s the ghosts of the dead girls. They're pinching me and telling me that I've slept long enough. It's time to wake and stop the breeder farms.
    I grab a robe next to my bed and pull it around me. I am thinner again. I sigh. All that eating was for nothing.
    I stumble out of the tent. My legs are weak. They feel like sticks. My feet are sore. I look at them, surprised. They're covered in bandages. I lift my foot and touch the bandages. My feet sting.
    "You were bleeding from everywhere."
    I look up to see Will sitting outside of my tent on a chair.
    His eyes meet mine and I feel like he knows everything. He can see my soul.
    I put my fingers up to my head and wince when I touch the thick bandage I find there.
    He stands and walks to me. His body towers over mine.
    "You made it back." His words are suddenly a whisper. It's as if he was terrified he would never speak the words and even now, they scare him.
    I nod once and try to fight the tears that fill my eyes.
    He wraps his body around mine and lifts me into him. I feel like it's the safest place I've ever been in my life. My father, my grandparents, my mother, no one has ever made me feel like I do in his arms. It's the safest place in the world.
    "You never do that to me again, Emma." His words sound wet in the crook of my neck. He's trembling. "You never do that again."
    I shake my head. I can never leave him again.
    My legs buckle. Partly from lack of strength and partly because I'm emotional. I don’t know where to put all of the emotions. They're everywhere.
    He compensates for my lack of strength. His strength becomes mine. He holds me up.
    I sob. I sob for the women and girls in the black bags. I cry for the people who have no idea what's going on. The ones who think their family members are living in condos and have forgotten about them. Children who have been left to believe their own mothers are living it up with air conditioning in the city instead of suffering in the woods with them.
    I sob because a small, shallow part of me misses the food. I will never eat like that again.
    I sob because a doctor took my virginity. When Anna explained what had happened to us both, I never cried then. I was strong for Sarah. Now I cry for my loss.
    I sob because I never imagined in all my life I would be here in this moment. It's a dream come true.
    I feel other arms beginning to hug me. I feel fingers digging into me.
    "Emma." I know it's Sarah's voice.
    Will is holding me so tightly I can't see anyone. My face is buried in his massive chest. I am breathing him in. It's the sweetest air in the world.
    "Emma." I hear Anna scream and another body is crammed into the massive hug.
    I tap lightly on his chest. He lets me go a little but not completely. His eyes are red. I don’t see tears. He gives me his smile that makes my insides twist into knots. I turn away from him. His arms stay on my waist. I pull Anna and Sarah into me. We hug and shake.
    Sarah snuggles her way into my armpit.
    "You smell," she whispers. I laugh into Anna's mass of dark hair. She and Sarah both look shiny and clean again.
    I look down at my dirty skin. "All that work to clean me up and I came back just as dirty as when I left."
    Jake walks up with his goofy grin. "I think you're dirtier." I feel Will holding my waist tightly, but I pull away and run to Jake. My robe is flapping. I pull it around me and hug him. His arms sweep me up into his embrace. He kisses my filthy face like he did the other time.
    "I missed you, Em."
    "I missed you, too."
    "Did you follow the broken branches?"
    I laugh in his chest. "Yeah. I did notice you left me nothing. Not a water bottle, nothing."
    He pulls me back. "We didn’t know where to put it." I look back at Will. He is smiling with his mouth, but his eyes are aflame. I hug Jake harder and ignore the flames in Will's eyes. I haven’t forgotten the girl in the micro shorts who mauled him like a bear. Or the fact he called me his friend. He has no right to feel slighted by me hugging Jake. I knew him first.
    Jake puts an arm around me. "So what's the plan?"
    I look at Will. "The other camp. The rest camp." I need to collect my wolf and my friend. I've been gone too long.
    Will nods. "Yup. Anna and Sarah should be there, anyway. And probably Jake, too."
    Jake's eyes narrow. "Hey!"
    Will smirks. "You have no capabilities here, Jakey. You're still healing."
    "Anna, how's your arm?" I ask.
    She moves it gingerly.