Bev's skin was burning like fire. Fuck. We should have watched her better. What had happened? She was fine so far. I checked on her before switching vigilance with Stella. She was alright then.

"Is she dead?" Stella asked, breaking the silence while I checked Bev's temperature.

"No, but her fever is extremely high." I said.

"I know why..." Heather said while lifting Bev's shirt. A rag stained dark red was tied around her stomach. I carefully removed the rag, revealing an ugly, inflamed wound. My heart sank. How had she kept this from us?

"Shit!" I muttered while holding Bev's hand.

Stella kicked a dead piece of trunk angrily. "This is a disaster!"

Heather shot her a look. "Hey. Calm down, right now."

Stella's eyes blazed. "How could any of this happen? I double-checked every step of the mission, and now everything's screwed!" She yelled.

"Nothing is screwed!" I snapped. "We're gonna cure Bev." I said.

Stella gazed at me, arms crossed on her chest. "Oh, really? And where's the medical box? Let me think... Inside that fucking SUV!" Stella yelled.

I took a deep breath and tried not to let her words get to me. We had to stay clear-headed and act fast.

"She's right," Heather said. "We forgot it when we ran away. We'll have to go back."

"Then, we will." I said.

There wasn't any other choice. We weren't that far, and while it was risky, we couldn't let Beverly die. She was one of us, and we had to do whatever it took to save her.

I took out my water canteen and handed it to Stella. "Use it to keep Bev cool," I said. "Heather." I looked at her. "You and I will go get the medical box."

Heather nodded and grabbed her backpack. "Let's go." She said, already moving.

"We'll be back as soon as we can." I assured Stella.

"The SUV might be watched." She warned.

"I know. We'll be careful."

Heather and I walked fast, trying to retrace the path we had taken the night before. In the daylight, it was harder to recognize. Everything seemed different.

"Pretty sure we went through those bushes." Heather said, pointing to the left.

"No. I remember this rock clearly." I said, pointing to the right. Heather nodded and followed me. She was different today, quieter, following my lead and supporting my ideas. It was a far cry from her attitude when we first met at the Nexus Court. Now, she seemed to trust me, to rely on me. Did this have something to do with our cozy chat the other night? I felt so pathetic doing that puppet shadows show. Why did I even do that? Damn, I thought my tendency to do silly things when I'm nervous had improved. But no, at least not with Heather. And the fact that she had grown even more beautiful over the past five years didn't help either...

"Hey." Heather's voice pulled me back to reality. "Where did you go?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to cover.

"You looked absent." She said.

"Oh... I was just thinking about..." I trailed off. Great, Grace. Great.

Heather arched her eyebrows, waiting.

"About... the weather... it's really nice, don't you think?" I finally said.

Heather gazed up. The sky was an ugly, grey mass of clouds. "If you say so..." She said.

And that's how I managed to look even more stupid than the night before. Making strides, clearly.

As we walked, I couldn't help but notice how much the other side had changed. There was way more vegetation than when I used to live here. The tree trunks looked healthier, not that dark gray I remembered. Even the air felt different, more... fresh?

"Look!" Heather said, pointing to the ground. There were boot marks in the dirt. Our boot marks.

"We're on the right path!" I said, a surge of determination coursing through me.

"Now we should be very careful. We could run into unwanted visitors." Heather said.

I touched my laser gun, strapped to my belt. We had taken them in case we had to fight, but I was desperately hoping not to have to.

About a kilometer later, we spotted the SUV crashed into a tree. The vehicle was wrecked. I had no clue how we survived that. It was surreal.

Suddenly, Heather hid behind a tree trunk and gestured for me to join her.

"Come here." She whispered.

I pressed my back against the trunk next to her, my heart pounding.

"What's wrong? Did you see anything?" I asked.

Heather put her hand over my mouth, silencing me.

"I heard something." She whispered, drawing her laser gun.

We waited a couple of seconds. Heather peeked from behind the tree.

"Do you see anything?" I asked impatiently.

"Wait here until I give you a signal. I'm gonna move to that other tree." She said.

"I can do that too." I insisted.

Heather shook her head. "If there's someone waiting for us, they'd better shoot me first. You're more valuable to this mission than I am." Before I could argue with that nonsense, she moved to the next tree as agile as a fox.

I sighed. "Alright, we'll do it your way, LEAD." Heather stifled a laugh at my comment.

We waited for a couple of seconds, each hiding behind a different tree. Suddenly a noise. It came from inside the SUV. She was right, there was someone. I looked at Heather, who put a finger on her lips, signaling me to keep quiet.

More noises. I could see a shadow moving inside the vehicle.

Heather and I locked eyes, and as if we had read each other's minds, we counted down with our hands: 3, 2, 1... We left our hiding spots and approached the SUV aggressively, covering both sides and pointing our laser guns at the intruder inside.

"Put your hands up!" We both yelled.

A pair of big brown eyes gazed at us in terror. Blond, dirty hair. Tiny hands. It was... only a kid. Heather and I looked at each other, concern spreading through us like lightning. I lowered my weapon immediately, and so did Heather. It was just a little girl, breathing fast and frozen in fear. She wasn't wearing any shoes, and her clothes were torn and dirty. Definitely not the feared Phoenix soldier we were expecting.

We all stayed silent for a moment, not knowing what to do or say. I gazed at her hands. She was holding the medical box we so desperately needed.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to scare you." I began.

That was a stupid thing to say, considering we had just burst out yelling and pointing a weapon at her.

"Are you alone out here?" Heather asked.

The little girl didn't answer.

"It's okay. We're not going to hurt you." I said, returning my laser gun to my belt. Her eyes darted nervously from Heather to me and back again.

"What's your name?" Heather asked.

"Jen." She whispered.

"Jen?" I repeated, and the girl nodded. "Is someone sick, Jen?" I asked, glancing at the box she was clutching.

She slowly nodded.

"Who?" I asked.

"My brother." Jen said.

"Where is he?" Heather asked.

Jen looked back, indicating a direction.

"We know someone who is sick too." I explained.

The girl held the kit even tighter upon hearing that. She wasn't going to let it go.

"Maybe we can share it?" Heather suggested.

Jen shook her head. "No. I found it. It's mine now." She said.

Heather and I exchanged a glance. We couldn't rip it off from her, but at the same time, we needed to find a way to get the medicines. We had to figure out how to approach the situation delicately, without scaring her any further.

"Hey, why don't you take us to your brother? We can help him and then get back to heal our friend. What do you think?" I suggested.

Maybe that was the best choice. They couldn't be far from here, and judging by her clothes, they weren't dangerous. She was only a kid, and her brother was probably another kid too.

Jen hesitated for a moment and gazed at our laser guns. She was smart. I wouldn't have trusted us either if I were her. Two adults with weapons? No way.

"Please, Jen. We can help each other." Heather said gently kneeling down to the girl.

I opened my backpack. "Look. I have bunch of food bars. Are you hungry? Take them." I offered a couple. Her eyes shone hunger and she rapidly came to get them.

"I can give more to your brother." I said while she devoured both bars.

Jen seemed now interested.

"I have more too." Heather said.

Once Jen finished devouring the last bit of the food bars, she took Heather's hand, and the two of them walked deeper into the woods. I followed them, and after about ten minutes of walking, we reached their destination. As I had suspected, they were very close by.

We arrived at a rocky area, and Jen pointed to a pile of branches on the ground. She then approached and cleared it away, revealing an underground door.

Thousands of memories came to my mind. The other side was riddled with those mini shelters, they were everywhere. Holes in the ground where neither drones nor acid rain could reach. How many times had I hidden in those dark caves...

Jen opened the cranky but heavy door and gestured for us to go down. Heather looked at me, distrusful, but I nodded at her, feeling sure. I knew this girl was harmless, and the more time we spent with her, the more I sensed they needed us.

I went down first. Only a weak light illuminated a tiny, rounded space. A bunch of smelly blankets lay on the floor, with leftover food scattered around. In one corner, curled up, was a child. He was much smaller than I had imagined. I thought they would be about the same age, but he was almost a baby, two or three years old at most. And they were alone? Why?

Heather came down behind me and couldn't help but gasp in surprise at the living conditions of these kids.

I approached the little boy, but Jen immediately placed herself between us, protecting him.

"Don't touch him." She said fiercely, showing me her fists.

"I'm not gonna hurt him." I assured her.

"Where are your parents?" Heather asked.

Jen shrugged and then kneeled in front of her brother. She opened the medical box, took out all the meds, and looked at them, confused. She had no idea what to do with them, of course. She was just a kid in the end.

I kneeled next to her. "Jen, let me help you." I said gently. I reached out my hand toward the child. "Can I?" I asked and she nodded, resigned.

Heather came and kneeled next to me. I pulled the blanket that was half covering his head. As I had thought, he was barely two years old, tiny as a chickpea.

I touched his forehead. He was burning up, even more than Beverly.

Heather examined the pods. "Here." she said, passing me the antibiotic.

"He can't swallow pills. We'll have to inject it." I said, taking a needle from the kit. When Jen saw it, she jumped on me like a monkey in a rage.

"Don't hurt him!" Jen yelled. She kicked and punched me, and for God's sake, she was strong! Heather wrapped her arms around her to stop the attack and pulled her away from me.

"Calm down, Jen!" Heather said. "Your brother needs medicine, this is the only way!" Heather glanced at me. "Come on, Grace, do it!" She yelled.

"No." I said firmly.

"What?" Heather said confused.

"I want Jen to be okay with this. I'm not going to do anything if she doesn't understand what's happening." I said.

I stood up and locked eyes with the little girl. "Jen, look at me." The girl stopped resisting Heather's arms and gazed at me, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"What's your brother's name?" I asked.

"Will." She whispered.

"Okay, see this?" I held up the antibiotic. She nodded, her eyes fixed on the bottle. "This is the medicine Will needs. But it has to go into his veins, alright? That's where it'll fight off the bad stuff that's making him sick. You understand?" I asked. She nodded slowly.

"I'm gonna have to prick him, but it'll be quick, and then he'll start feeling better." I explained, trying to sound as calm and secure as possible.

Jen was starting to calm herself down.

"Do you want to help me?" I asked her. She nodded, and Heather released her, allowing her to come closer to where I was.

The three of us knelt again, surrounding little Will. Heather scratched the paper container of the needle and passed it to me. I let Jen hold the antibiotic bottle as I charged the needle with it.

Then I uncovered Will's leg and pricked the needle into his thigh. The kid winced slightly in pain, but that was it.

"He's gonna feel much better in a while." I said, smiling.

Jen fixed her big brown eyes on me and then jumped into my arms, hugging me tightly. I returned the hug, feeling a warmth spread through me. After a moment, she moved away and lay down next to Will.

I looked at Heather and nodded to her, signaling for us to step outside. She frowned but followed me.

"We can't leave them here." I blurted out once Jen couldn't hear us.

"What do you mean?" Heather said confused.

"They're alone. The kid is practically a baby. We can't leave Jen alone with him." I explained.

"Maybe their parents will come back." Heather said. 

"Come on. Have you seen the conditions they're living in? There are no adults around." I said.

"Grace, we can't take them." Heather said.

"I won't leave them here." I said firmly.

Heather sighed and pursed her lips. I could sense her mounting anger.

"Grace, think about it. Take them... where?" Heather said.

"I don't know. But at least with us, they'll be safe." I insisted.

"I'm not so sure about that. Yesterday we were shot by a stranger in the middle of the night." Heather reminded me.

"I know.... But we'll look for the nearest town and drop them off somewhere they can be safe."

Heather covered her face with her hands, clearly frustrated. "Grace, you can't save everyone."

"You don't get it, do you?" I raised my voice, maybe a bit too much. But I wanted Heather to understand. "I was once like them. I was Jen, taking care of my little brother. I won't leave them here." I said, my voice trembling.

Heather fell silent, her eyes reflecting on my words.

"You told me you wanted to know more about this place. About my memories, right? What you just saw is practically a piece of my past, and it's not a very nice one. I wish someone had helped me back then!" I said.

We stayed silent for a moment. Then Heather turned and headed back to the shelter without uttering a single word. What the hell?

"Heather, wait!" I yelled, following her down into the shelter. "What are you doing?"

Heather took one of the blankets from inside and cut it with the scissors from the medical kit. Then she passed it around her shoulders and tightened it in her wrist.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked, puzzled.

"I'll carry Will, you take Jen." She said.

Now I understood. She'd made a harness to be able to carry Will more easily. A smile spread across my face. I wasn't sure if this was the right decision, but having Heather by my side was the best feeling of all. However, the journey was far from over. I had convinced Heather, but what would Stella and Bev think, when we appear with two kids? Not sure I wanted to know. But for now, we had the medicines. That was what mattered. And we needed to rush. Bev relied on us. We were her only hope to survive, and I sure as hell wasn't about to let her down.

Author's Note:

Hey, everyone! 💖 Thanks for reading! This week, I've been buried with work, but thankfully, I could find time to write! What did you think about Grace's decision to take the kids?

Thank you so much for being here; it's what keeps me writing this story.

Love you!

Ava 💫