Born 01 - Born

trying to tuck me in like I'm a little girl. Like I'm his responsibility. Like he speaks for me.
    Marshall watches me. I shake my head. "I just need a week or so to rest. I'm pretty injured and tired."
    He shrugs. "Too long. I guess we could do it without you. I just don’t want to worry about the farms figuring out our ways and adding more guards and snipers."
    I blurt, "I'll do it. I'll get ready to leave later tomorrow. I need some sleep, though, for now."
    He cheers up. "That’s my girl. Excellent. Get the medics to take a look at all those wounds."
    Will doesn’t move. "Marshall, she should be staying with the women. She knows the way better than anyone."
    Marshall beams at me. "It's up to her, Will. She's a big girl."
    I smile at Marshall and turn to face the huge chest in my way. I don’t look up at his face. I speak directly to his chest, "Can I just get past you?"
    "No. You're bleeding again." He takes my hand softly and pulls gently.
    "She needs rest, Will," Marshall says as I am dragged from the tent.
    "Thanks, Marshall."
    Will leads me to the medic tents. His grip on my hand tightens the thicker the crowd gets. I try to pull my hand away, but it only earns me a sore hand.
    "Emma! Will!"
    I turn to see Jake bounding to me. His run appears improved. He runs and pulls me right out of Will's hand. He hugs me and spins me. I pinch his skin. I don’t believe he is real.
    "Ouch! What the heck was that for?"
    I lean in and smell him. "You're real."
    He laughs. "Of course I am. Hey, Willy. Anna's here too. We came to help out in the fight!"
    Will puts his arm around Jake. "Jakey. Where is she? Where is Anna?" I hate it when he calls him that. I end up in the middle of the two of them and being hugged by both.
    "She's at the tent with the food. She is determined to maintain her plump breeder farm look. I heard shit went nuts with your rescue mission. You guys scared me. No one thought you'd make it back," Jake says. How did he know? How did the camp know that? A screaming Anna interrupts my thoughts.
    "Will! Emma!" I looked up to see Anna running to us. She is holding a leg of meat.
    I wiggle out of their arms and attack her with a fierce hug.
    She hugs me so tightly her muscles tremble. Only she will ever truly understand what I have been through. We share the moment. Nothing is spoken. It doesn’t need to be. She knows what I went back to. She knows what I saw. She was there when the bags ripped.
    She squeezes me and laughs. "You scared me, dick."
    "I scared myself."
    She pulls me back and kisses the tip of my nose. "Stop doing that to me."
    "Yeah. One day, maybe," I say. I'm dreading leaving again tomorrow. My feet ache at the prospect of it.
    Jake frowns. "Huh?" He looks at Will. Will shakes his head.
    Anna lets me go and hugs Will. They are less cold around each other since the retreat. Leo squeezes his way in and Anna drops to her knees and hugs him hard.
    "How is it the dog gets more love that I do?" Will crosses his arms.
    Jake shrugs and punches his arm lightly. "We're chopped liver, dude."
    Will laughs. "I guess so, huh? So we leave tomorrow for the next breeder farm. We are going to free the women."
    Anna looks at me. I nod. "We destroyed the place. Burned it to the ground."
    Her eyes twinkle with mischief. "I want to be there for the next one."
    I glance at Will. He looks at Jake, who shakes his head.
    I clear my throat and touch Leo's fur. "Well, now that this place is packed with pregnant women and babies, I was sort of hoping you'd help them get back to the retreat?"
    She stands and puts her hands on her hips. "What? Screw that! I'm not a babysitter and besides, I hate kids. That little monster of Mary's is enough to drive me around the bend."
    I laugh. I can't even pretend I don’t know exactly what she is talking about. Kids make me nuts.
    She looks around distastefully. "I will kill myself here. This is not the place for me. I'm coming." She grins at me. "Besides, you always said I looked just like bait."
    She stalks off. I know she is going to find Marshall and make him agree. She is good at that.
    I look at Jake and Will, clearing my throat again. "Well, I better get to the medics." I walk around them and almost break into a run.
    The medic's tents are full of pregnant women and babies. I take a seat on a stump and wait.
    "Marshall wants her seen now," Will's booming voice beckons over a doctor.
    The poor doctor looks at Will and the shitty look on his face and hurries to my side.
    I