Born 01 - Born

twitch when I say the words us and them. I included her in my ‘us.’ Dang Leo and his instantly loving them. He’s making me crazy too.
    Her small face is blank. I know that feeling too.
    "Anna." A sleepy voice comes from the living room.
    She is up and out of the bed, before I can even pull the covers back on my bed.
    "He's burning up."
    I nod and walk into the room stretching, still holding my gun. "Good. I think that means his body is fighting the infection. The bark of the branch was really flakey. I tried to flush the wound as best as I could, but some bark might still be in there. Like a sliver that gets red and infected." I feel a small spark as the back of my hand rests against the balmy skin of his forehead. Touching him is weird for me.
    He takes my hand in his. It's a moment of intimacy I've never had before. I don’t pull away but I don’t know how to react. He squeezes my hand. "Hard to thank you when I don’t know your name."
    I feel my hand trapped in his. I look at him over the back of the couch and smile. "Emma. My dad called me Em."
    He pulls my hand to him and kisses the back of it. "Thank you, Em."
    I feel expressions attempting to cross my face. I fight them and pull my hand from his sweaty palm.
    I walk to the leftover boiled water and pour him a huge glass of it. I pass it to him. "You'll be needing this."
    His blue eyes sparkle.
    "Thanks. Thanks for everything. I know you could have left me in that hole."
    I break his stare and look at the hardwood floor.
    "It was nothing," I say.
    Anna looks at us and grins. "How old are you, Em?"
    I feel my cheeks flush. "Nineteen."
    "I'm sixteen."
    I feel sad when she tells me that. I realize she was six when her mother never came home from work.
    "Jake is twenty-one."
    I don't know what to add to the conversation. I don’t have conversations.
    Leo senses my awkwardness and saunters to me. He nuzzles his face into my palms.
    "Where did you get him?"
    I scratch his huge face and smile at Anna, who has already won him over.
    "He was at the doorstep one day. I heard his mother dying in the woods near the house. She got the infection and died just after giving birth. Her cubs ate her and got the sickness. Leo was the only smart one. He never ate her. He found me instead." I try not to think about having to shoot the baby wolves as the madness took them. Animals don’t react the way we do. They get dizzy and fall down and die slowly.
    Anna beams at the large wolf. "He's huge."
    "Very. But he is good company, and he helps out with the chores."
    She laughs at that. She is bubbly. I remember my Granny calling kids bubbly. I wonder how bubbly Anna would be if she had a normal childhood. I wonder what I would be like. I like to think I’d be like Granny. I would make tea and chat with friends and play Scrabble.
    I look at Jake who is sleeping again. "He falls asleep fast. We need to make him some soup." That is a dilemma. Do I give her a gun or go hunt and leave them in my cabin? I walk to the door and look back at her. "Can I trust you?"
    She shakes her head. "No. I like it here. I will do whatever you want to let me stay but if it comes down to it, I will sell you out to save my brother."
    "Fair enough." I like her candor. I point to the books on the shelf. "Start with the top shelf. They're the easiest reading."
    She bites her lip.
    I roll my eyes. "You can't read?"
    She shakes her head. "Not so well." Standing next to the huge bookcase teaming with books, she looks tiny and vulnerable. I know not to let myself believe that. She is a survivor.
    The wood paneling of the outdated cottage is comfortable and bright with the light filtering in the huge windows. I haven’t seen my cabin for what it truly is, until this moment. Seeing Anna and Jake in my house makes me realize how lucky I am. I wonder when the last time they rested on comfortable furniture was. I hate that I like them here. I feel like Leo; different has always been bad but this feels nice. Scary, but nice.
    "The books at the top are easy reading. Practice makes perfect."
    Leo's yellow eyes meet mine. He speaks to me with his look. He wants to stay with them. He doesn’t completely trust them either. I can see it in his eyes. I nod at him and walk out of the cabin.
    I need grouse or pheasant or wild turkey. There aren’t a ton of them but I know a sweet spot. The cabin sits surrounded by huge tall fir trees and brush. Green is everywhere. It made me nervous in the beginning. It was so big