Born 01 - Born

ever met. You lived through it all." He pulls me into him and grips my back.
    I hear a noise and see Leo watching us. He looks sad. I drop to my knees. He jumps up on the log and down in front of me. He puts his paws up and hugs me.
    I breathe in his fur. The smell of him brings me home.
    "I love you too, boy."
    He looks at Will and makes a throaty noise.
    "He hates me."
    I pull back and stroke his huge ears. "No, he doesn’t. He hasn’t even tried to eat you yet. Don’t be a baby."
    We walk back and I am resolved in my debate about going back to the breeder farm. I glance at Will and Jake's words ring in my head. I never feel guilty when I'm in Will's arms.
    I silently agree with Jake. I am broken.

Chapter Twenty

    "I don’t give a good Goddamn what the conditions in there are, Will. I am not sending my men into the farms. It's a suicide mission. Think with your brain and not your cock. Jesus."
    The crowd can't help but watch from outside the tent.
    A man beside Marshall glares at me. "She's filling your head with stories. Lisa's sister went and got a condo in the city. They don’t Goddamned kill them." He paces around the maps like a caged animal.
    I feel my fingers twitching but I let Will do the talking.
    "She saw what she saw. She isn’t making it up. My sister saw it. Are you calling my sister a liar?"
    The red-faced man throws his arms in the air. "I'm not calling them liars, just confused. Some of the girls aren't going to make it. Not every woman lives through childbirth."
    He is backpedaling. Will leans over the table and looks at Marshall. "Marshall, huge dumpsters full of dead women in body bags. The nurse told them what was going on. There are no condos in the city."
    Gasps and whispers fill the crowd outside the tent.
    Star is there beside Will suddenly. She reaches down and touches his lower back with her hands. I want to focus on Marshall and the fighting but her cut offs look shorter than ever and her tank top is tighter.
    I leave the tent and walk away. I am not waiting for them to decide. I'll figure it out on my own.
    "You were the one in the farms?"
    I look over at a lady with long brown hair. Her face is old but I would bet she isn’t that old. Her eyes look young.
    I nod.
    "My sister is there. She went last year. They took her.""I'm sorry."
    "Is it true? Are they killing them?"
    I nod again.
    "I knew it. I was in the city last year. That's how she got caught. We went there and she got taken and I got kicked out. I was a smoker, before. Said I have a seventy percent chance of getting lung or throat cancer. Wouldn’t take me. Then they kicked me out of the city."
    I sit at a small table with some stump chairs. "What was the city like?"
    She shakes her head and sits across from me. "Like nothing you ever seen, even before."
    She rubs her dark eyes. "There wasn’t no one like us. You know, looking like they spent any time out in the woods or old abandoned houses. We tried sleeping in an alley but they patrol them all night. Me and Amanda, my sister, we found a place under a building to sleep. There was no one like us. The women are all thin and pretty.They have little kids and everyone is too clean. They eat like they ain't never been hungry. Pick at it and then throw it away."
    My lips curl into a smile, a bitter and expressive smile. "Well, maybe we should show them what it's like to be hungry."
    She puts a hand over mine. "The kids are weird. They ain't normal. They are like little adults, but they have bad tempers. We was hiding in the back of a building and a pack of them came along. They was maybe twelve years old. All beautiful and perfect looking. They attacked an older woman and killed her. They smiled while they done it."
    My skin shivers.
    She shakes her head. "If you want help getting them girls out, I'm in. I got people here too. When they find out Amanda is going to be killed after she has her babies, they'll help."
    I admire her bravery. She may be skinny and tired looking but I can see a fire in her tired eyes.
    "I'm Emma."
    She cackles and coughs. "Everyone knows who you are, sugar bee. I'm Nannette. Everyone calls me Nan." She puts a boney hand out. I take it. It feels soft compared to mine.
    "How old are you?"
    "Twenty-nine."
    I honestly would have guessed forty. I hold my face muscles still and smile. "I'm nineteen."
    "You look about fourteen. You're plump like them city people are. Having enough water and food does that to you."
    I look at my forearm and know it's the