Born 01 - Born

couldn’t keep that conversation in your mind? I'm in my undies."
    Jake laughs again. "Me too."
    Will nods. "Okay good. Me too." His eyes dart to me. I can see the glisten of them in the moonlight. "What about you?"
    I laugh and point. "Just stay over there."
    His booming laugh echoes off the rock walls. There is joy and mystery in the swimming hole.
    Jake looks at Will. "So, this is where you were?"
    Will gives a short nod. "Some of the time."
    Anna snorts and splashes him. "Rough. We were out running away from slavers, the others, the infected who just don’t die, and you were here?"
    He looks sad. "I came for you."
    I feel awkward in the conversation. I want to climb out but I don’t want to flash my naked butt at them when I do. I turn and look up at the moon again and try to keep my body in the water.
    Her voice is emotional. The humor is gone. "When? When did you come for us?"
    "Anna, they made me work in a camp for a year, and then they tested me and sent me to the breeder camps. I was there for three months. I looked for you after that."
    She sounds pissed. "How long? For how long?"
    "Anna, stop, okay? We're all together now," Jake pleads with her.
    "No, Jake. He left us."
    Will sighs again, "Anna, I looked for two years. Every town, every bar and brothel. I looked in the slaver camps I snuck into just in case. I looked. I mourned you. I made a small headstone and had a funeral because I couldn’t bear to be empty anymore. Ask Emma. When I met her and she said your names I almost got eaten by Leo for attacking her. We walked across the mountains and looked for you. I looked. I've crossed the country three times." His voice is cracking.
    She sobs, "You left us. We starved. We ran and fought and ran some more." Her sobs are muffled.
    I look and Will is holding her. "I have you now. I will never leave you again."
    Jake is in on the hug. I pretend to watch the stars and moon. I wish I were on the moon. I am cold and uncomfortable. I don’t understand what is happening. How can they say such cruel things to each other and then hug?
    They all hug and sniffle, and finally I can't take it. I dive under the water and swim under it all the way to the flat rock. I leap out and pull myself up on the rock. I grab my clothes and run up the hill. I hear their voices calling me.
    It's just like the first time. I need to start making reservations so I can have the bloody water hole to myself. I pull on my tangled and sopping wet clothes on the trail. I can feel the dirt sticking to my feet and being dragged into my pants. Before I'm even fully dressed, I run up to the fire to hide out.Mary walks up to me with a mug of cider. I take it and sip. The sweetness is overwhelming but the warmth is amazing.
    "Meg isn’t the first girl with Eric. I'm sorry I doubted you."
    I want to nod and say okay, but I know I broke the law too. "I'm sorry for fighting. Is his arm okay?"
    She laughs, "Nope. He had to get stitches, and you broke his nose and blackened both his eyes."
    I grin and sip the cider. "I want to feel bad. Does that count?"
    She giggles and the white-haired devil comes to my side. Leo is lying at the fire.
    Mary kisses his little hands and speaks softly to him, "No wolfie, okay? He's sleeping and he will bite you."
    The little beast curls up in her lap and I have a hard time hating him. It's fleeting. A spark lands on him and he shrieks. She carries him off to bed.
    Meg walks up but doesn’t look at me. She speaks as if it's to the fire. "I don’t want to forgive you, but I know what you was at. My momma would have liked what you done. I have to be honest about that. My momma always said no older boys."
    I hand her my mug and she sips it.
    "That’s generous of you, Meg. I didn’t mean to lose it. I just don’t do well with that sort of stuff."
    Meg bumps against me with her arm. "Oh shoot, Emma I knows you a virgin. You got a sign over your forehead that says pure."
    I cringe. "Not so much anymore."
    She turns sharply. "What? With Jake? I figured Will, but after meeting Jake, I don’t know which I'd take. Though it's good you picked, cause between me and you, Mary has been eyeballing the younger brother like a bear in heat."
    I laugh. My Granny always said that.
    I shake my head. "At the breeder farms…"
    "Oh, Lord. No. Not you. Not like that," she interrupts and covers her eyes.
    I shake my head. "No, it's not like you think. It's all done with machines and instruments. No men. The doctor did it with a metal