The next morning, Lauren woke up, looking like she hadn’t really slept, which I hadn’t done either. I was too worried to close my eyes. Slowly, she got up and walked to the creek nearby, which I hadn’t realized was there. She took her shoes off as she slipped her feet into the water against the rocks. Lauren wouldn’t lift her head, nor did she have the small smile on her face she normally wore. She began to move her feet a little, never making an attempt to elevate her head from facing the water. She plastered on a fake smile when Sean walked over to her.
I really didn’t want to see her like this: upset and faking her happiness. I didn’t think I could go over to her, not just yet anyway. She wouldn’t let me talk to her and I knew it. It didn’t take a genius to realize that. She took long, slow steps to the others and woke them up. They then headed farther into the woods. I had to stay a good distance away. If Sean or Paige saw me they would blow my cover.
When they stopped for lunch, I noticed something wrong. There was movement in the distance. I stood up and watched as two men drew closer to the group. I was ready to come to their aid in a heartbeat. There was not a chance that I would sit back and watch something bad happen to them.
“Well, looky here, buddy, a collection of kids.” A strong, sly voice came through the trees.
“Yes, a nice looking group of kids,” a raspier voice answered.
They started to get nearer to the group as Lauren and Cole hid the younger ones behind them. I felt my hands recoil into tight fists at my sides as I walked a little closer myself to them, yet I made sure that I was hidden behind the trees. I really did not have a good feeling about the two men and the way they hovered.
“I really like how this one looks,” one of them said, his ravenous eyes not leaving Lauren.
“Get the hell away from us,” Lauren shot back angrily, her eyes glaring.
“Where are your manners, little girl? A beauty like you should have fine manners.” A voice that was strong attempted a low and alluring tone.
“You should be very nice to guys like us,” the raspy voice continued for his friend.
The rage grew within me.
“Go to hell!” Lauren growled.
“What did I say about manners?” the strong sly voice seeping with fake politeness asked, as if he had manners of his own.
“Such pretty blue eyes and lips you have, girly.”
“I think her legs are nicer, if you ask me,” said the one with the raspy voice. His gaze fell to Lauren’s legs then stayed.
“Leave us alone or—”
“Or what, girly? Is this guy gonna hurt us?” He nodded toward Cole with a grand grin on his face.
Cole made no noise.
“No, but I will.” I finally came out, voice steady.
I stomped over to them not able to hide anymore. Lauren appeared completely shocked as I stood by her.
“Awe, how cute. Prince Charming is coming to the rescue of the fair maiden.”
“Leave them alone,” I snarled.
“Or what, you’ll hurt us?” The strong voice chuckled.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
I walked over to them. The guys didn’t flinch and I started to wonder if I really had a plan. Why did I keep getting myself into these situations without thinking them through? Nothing, absolutely nothing, came to my mind as I stared at them. One was bigger than me and the other was about my size. This was definitely not going to be a fair fight. Cole sure as hell wasn’t about to step in to help me.
“What are you going to do?” the stronger one asked.
I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t think of how to go at them. One of the guys went to hit me, so I ducked only to get hit by the other guy. When I landed backward, I heard a girl scream. Lauren? Thinking back to what one of my friends taught me when we were horsing around, I knocked him over by a swift motion of my foot so that it collided with his legs. He went flying as I stood up swiftly to punch his friend in the middle of his face.
“Get the hell away from us and leave us the fuck alone!” I yelled.
The two men looked at each other as if they were debating whether they should or shouldn’t go. There was a moment of silence. The only sounds were my racing heart and rapid breathing. It seemed the two men were having a conversation with each other telepathically. Then the bigger one started to smile and let out a small snigger.
“We’ll be leaving now, but don’t worry. We’ll meet again.” The bigger one laughed with his strong, cunning voice as he looked over my shoulder at something past me. I turned my head to follow his gaze, wanting to know what he was staring at.
My knuckles were clenched as I saw what he was so interested in. Lauren. I loathed the look in his eyes—desire and possessiveness.
The two men left, all beaming smiles. I had a really bad feeling about this. I watched them as they made their way back into the thick woods. I took a few deep breaths when I couldn’t find them amongst the trees then turned around to look at a bunch of wide eyes that stared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“What are you doing here?” Lauren questioned and I couldn’t read her face or voice. I felt guilty beyond belief when I only saw pain after looking in her eyes.
“I came back,” I answered as I attempted to read her expression.
She just looked the other way then back at me. There were haunted shadows in her blue eyes.
“Can you and I talk for a minute?” she asked quietly.
She wasn’t yelling so that had to be a good sign. Yet I still felt self-conscious at that moment I could tell she was feeling the same way. One of her arms was behind her back, with the other gripping her elbow.
“I agree, but we should keep moving so that we can get away from here before they change their minds and come back for us. I promise, Lauren, that we’ll talk tonight though.”
Lauren unlocked her arms to take the little ones hands before she made her way to start the trail as the others followed her lead. We were silent the rest of the day. Well, noiseless except for the happy chatter of Sean and Paige, who never seemed to be affected by what was going on. The two held Lauren’s hands and began to swing them back and forth while they sang.
I could not believe the progress we made that day, but we had still not found anyone. We knew we were finished, however, when the little ones said so. I wasn’t about to have Lauren carry one again for long because she still needed to recover. I didn’t know how long she had been well since I came back and I wasn’t ready to test her health.
Lauren made dinner. She managed to make sandwiches from some of the food we found in her backpack, which was low since we were at Ed’s and did not see a reason to restock. When everyone was falling asleep, Lauren folded her legs and slipped them under her sweatshirt. I walked over and sat down beside her. She didn’t even turn to look at me.
“Are you ready to talk?” I inquired softly, my fingers rubbed against each other.
“Yes and no,” she whispered automatically like a shell of a human being set on autopilot.
“I understand, but we need to talk about it now rather than later, so the argument doesn’t distract us from surviving,” I spoke tenderly.
I had never been in such a rush to actually talk out a problem before, especially with a girl.
“I know, but how do we even start?” she asked. Her voice was low, trying not to wake the others. Her hands pulled in part of her sweatshirt so that the fabric was balled in her grasp.
“I’m sorry that you had to see that...” I couldn’t finish describing what we saw.
She wrapped her arms around her knees.
“I still see that when I close my eyes,” she responded with her eyes closed.
“I really had no intention of you witnessing anything bad like that, you have to believe me, Lauren. I just wanted to…” I sighed. “I didn’t want you to get in the middle of the fight. I thought Ed could take care of himself and… and I don’t know.”
She finally turned to me a little but her eyes never lef
t the spot she had been staring at.
“I didn’t want you to get hurt. I saw them go into the house with the guns and I freaked.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered again, closing her eyes.
“What are you sorry for?” I questioned as my eyebrows scrunched together.
She had completely lost me now. I was confused on what she could possibly be sorry for.
“I watched Ed get shot and it was like the night the asteroids hit all over again. Here was someone willing to take us in and he was killed. Just after losing almost everyone. I’m afraid to see who’s next. I didn’t mean to blame you. You didn’t put the gun to Ed’s head.”
Her voice was cracking like she was about to cry. Slowly, I reached out and pulled her chin gently toward me so that I could stare into her blue eyes. Her irises shined in the dark from the tears that were waiting to fall.
“It’s alright,” I spoke warmly.
“No it’s not! I’m more worried now than ever! Look at what happened today—”
“I’m here to help you. You don’t have to take on the weight of the world by yourself, Lauren,” I said, slightly shaking my head., I was still holding onto her chin, and she made no attempt to pull away from me.
“We can’t possibly protect ourselves from everything.”
“We’ll take it one step at a time.”
She pulled her face away from me and gazed out into the distance.
“While we’re in the talking mode, can I ask you something?” she asked before she bit down on her bottom lip.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Why did you kiss me?”
My eyes widened. That was definitely not the question that I was excepting from her.
“I really don’t know, to tell you the truth,” I answered, voice wavering.
There was silence between us. I peeked at her, and for the first time, I didn’t know how to act around a girl. I hadn't been like this since the middle school. Being around her made me feel like that kid who didn’t even know how to talk to girls. Since then, I’ve had a fair amount of girlfriends, gotten my ear pierced, a tattoo, and learned to drive a motorcycle illegally. Bet when I was near Lauren, I couldn’t even think of what to do. There were the times I was so overly protective I made a fool out of myself. She turned me into a puddle of mind-numbing mess.
“I’m going to sleep now. So night,” she spoke, ending the humiliation for me of trying to find an answer.
She slid her body down and used her arm as a pillow with her back to me.