Born 01 - Born

the closets and then turn the small lantern on, creating a tiny warm orange glow.
    He hops along the couch and sits down, grimacing in pain. My house feels exposed. No one has ever been here before.
    "Jake, you're going to be okay, right?" Anna kneels in front of him and looks back at me. I lock the door and close the curtains completely. I feel vulnerable. His eyes watching me make me feel worse.
    I need them gone.
    "He'll be fine. Let me take a look." I bring the lantern and sit on the floor beside her. "Go sit by the fire and warm up. There is a stew on top. Get a bowl and eat." She doesn’t have to be asked twice. I don’t want to share with them, but I hate seeing the way we’re all so skinny. Besides it’s what Granny would have done.
    I look up at him. He lays his head back on the couch and looks like he will fall asleep at any second.
    I grimace, knowing he will be wide-awake the moment I touch the break.
    "You can't scream, okay?"
    He lifts his head and smiles bitterly. "I screamed like a little girl when I fell in the damned hole."
    I take a breath and put my fingers to his button on his jeans and undo them. My fingers tremble. I have not touched anyone in ten years. It's been Leo and me for eight. He's all I've touched.
    He grins. "Don’t I get any stew before you try to take my pants off?"
    I glare at him. "No, you'll throw up, and we don’t waste food here." I don’t appreciate the awkward joke.
    He laughs weakly, gripping the couch with his massive hands. I unzip the pants and start to gently pull them down.
    "I would probably be enjoying this if it weren’t for the unbearable pain. I need to get injured more often."
    His stomach flexes, revealing muscles like I have never seen before. His hipbones stick out a little too much, but otherwise his body is strong and amazing. He looks like the men on the cover of Granny's romance novels, but skinnier.
    I start to slide the jeans down his hairy legs just below his grey underwear. I try not to notice his grey underwear. I try to pull the pants down but they get caught on his thigh. I grimace. He cries out.
    I have seen disgusting things in my life and as I feel around his thigh for the break, I prepare myself for the worst.
    Fortunately there is no break, but a large piece of wood has pierced his leg. I don’t think it's hit the big artery in his leg. His blood loss is nowhere what it could be if it had been pierced. I wonder about removing the stick and what damage will be caused. I don’t actually know where the artery is; I just know there is one.
    "Your leg isn’t broken."
    He looks down at me. "What? I felt the bone sticking out."
    "It's a stick, not bone. A stick must have stabbed into you. I need some things. I'm going to have to cut the pants from your body though."
    Anna speaks with a mouthful, "I can sew them."
    "Don’t look down at this, Jake. Just lie back and give me a minute to get everything I need."
    He nods and lays his head back. I grab my gun and walk to my bathroom to sit on the earth friendly toilet my grandpa had installed because my grandma refused to use the outhouse any longer. It runs when the weather is good but in the winter it's useless.
    I sit and cry in the dark, gripping my gun. I look at my filthy hands. Even in the dark I can see the dirt. I could cause an infection, and he would die from that. I could pull the stick out, rupturing his artery, and he could die from that. I don’t know exactly where the artery is. I wish I'd read more of the books than I have.
    I don't know what my options are, but the thought of him dying bothers me some. I should have left him in the hole and let them die out there. But Leo liked them, and without her brother that girl would suffer a fate far worse than death.
    I think about my family and the years of life experience that have brought me to this moment and nod. If anyone can help him, it’s me. I can do it. Then I get rid of them, and it’ll be like it never happened.
    I light the bathroom candle and stand to see my reflection in the mirror. I am a ghostly girl in the muted light of the candle. My mother's bracelet and necklace glisten in the dark light. I forgot I put them on when I got home. I lightly touch the metal. I wish she were here. Not just her, any adult. I don’t want to do what I'm about to do. I grab my medical kit and take a deep breath.
    I walk to the kitchen and pour a pot of water and place it on the counter. "Boil this now."
    Anna hops up and grabs it. She