A. H. Wong

Chapter Thirty

 

June 22nd, 2012

 

Early Afternoon

 

“Okay, who was the one snoring last night?” Kevin yells, rising to his feet. It was clear he hadn't slept well-then again, none of them had. After their successful escape from the Agency grounds, they'd barely gotten into the realm of safety before they all collapsed in exhausted puddles.

 

“That wasn't snoring....That was our stomachs,” Janelle mutters, raising herself up into a sitting position. Her hands press against her growling stomach, ignoring the large amount of dirt and leaves that had accumulated upon her clothing. “None of us have eaten much in...in a long time.”

 

Bit by bit, woken by the brief conversation, the others awaken. There were maybe three hundred in total-all in all, far too many to have escaped so easily from the Agency's grounds. Sure, the guards had made attempts at shooting them, but just like in the movies, their bullets had always just missed them. Unsurprisingly, most were trying not to consider the importance of that-if it turned out that they had been allowed to be free, then there was something that was happening-something that was going wrong. No one knew what the future might hold for them at this moment, but as one, these three hundred survivors were just glad to be alive.

 

Beatrix, her hand being clutched tightly by Veto (whose other hand now continually clutched at a small red stone) led the group north. They had a long walk ahead of them—a long walk to anywhere that might accept them. They possessed no money, little to no education, and no hope.

 

At the back of the group, Maverick and Janelle followed, Sara and David flanking them. Speaking in hushed voices, Sarah and David's voices and bodies wracked with hunger, they moved on. They moved forward.

 

Whenever some tried to drop back, as if to eavesdrop upon their conversation, their tones would change. Sarah would make some light-hearted comment, David would respond with a laugh, and Maverick would merely glower. Janelle, meanwhile, would simply gaze straight ahead as if there was nothing else in the world, nothing and no one. No one at all to judge her.

 

Kevin and Lily remained around the middle of the pack, splitting it into almost even batches of one hundred and fifty people. They stood at the center of a circle, a meter and a half its radius, for none seemed at all interested in getting any closer to them. Every once in a while, one of them—typically Kevin—would eavesdrop upon a nearby conversation, and holler his judgments towards the speaker. That conversation would automatically cease, and those who had partaken in it would quickly dart away from them.

 

The tension among the group was palpable as they walked through the woods. Beatrix, never quite certain where she was going, did her best to guess her way towards a road, any road—but, not one that would be guarded. More than once, throughout the day they spent walking, her and Veto would stumble onto a path of pavement—only to quickly dart back into the woods, for fear of being spotted by the guards. These guards seemed adamant on maintaining the illusion that the Agency members had, indeed, escaped—instead of being allowed out. This was proven by the fact that, for all the Agency member's attempts at secrecy, it's impossible not to hear three hundred people in the woods—and also quite impossible to not see someone who trips and falls on her face a few meters away from you, before being dragged by her ankles back into the 'cover' of the ditch.

 

Maverick and Janelle, who occasionally jogged through the group to check up with Beatrix and Veto, wisely told the pair to never comment upon the guards seeming more stupid than humanly possible—it wouldn't do to cause the group stress. Not when so many of them, around sixty or so, couldn't be more than thirteen—and a good deal younger than that.

 

One of the youngest, a tiny five year old boy who had obviously been sent to the Agency for Unwanted Children due to his parents very obviously malnourishing him, never moved more than eight feet from Beatrix. This wound up with the obvious result of him needing to be held back whenever Beatrix and Veto went ahead to check out a road, but tiny Joey didn't seem to mind—Joey was just happy that, whenever Beatrix came back, she gave him little kisses on the forehead.

 

Not entirely seeming to mind the fact that he was now acting as a father figure to a five year old, Veto just seemed happy to be with Beatrix. They laughed often during the walk, Veto telling funny stories to Joey whenever he could. Everything seemed to be going right in the world, which was something absolutely incredible to realize.

 

Of course, they couldn't keep walking forever.

 

It didn't take long for the first few to collapse from hunger.

 

It didn't take long for a tough choice to be made: They needed help.

 

<3 <3 <3 </3

 

June 23rd, 2012

 

Late Evening

 

"We ask the guards for help." Beatrix leaned back against a nearby tree, looking at the camp the rest of the group had created.

 

"They'll kill us." Janelle replied harshly, rubbing her fingernails on her torn tights. She wasn't looking well—she was thinner than Beatrix had ever remembered seeing her, but that just made her look even more hardened by the world.

 

"No, they won't—trust me, they won't. If there job was to do anything more than keep up appearances for the press, then—" Beatrix broke in quickly, trying to convince them the best she could.

 

"Of course! There has to be press somewhere! The Agency's been on the news pretty much continually since it fell. We need to contact them somehow!" Veto, his eyes wide with sudden hope, automatically began to pace as plans for signal fires spilled from his lips.

 

"As if. They weren't at the gates when we escaped through 'em, or at the fences when we took them down. Why'd they hang around now?" Maverick sits down, hard, on the ground. Her loose clothes now hung even larger upon her—it was obvious both she and Janelle had been giving their shares of the supplies away.

 

"The guards must've ran the press off when we were planning our escape...." Janelle mused quietly to herself, taking a seat beside her frail lover.

 

"So, what? Do they still think we're in there?" Sarah asked, snickering a tiny bit at the thought.

 

"Do I look like I know everything? I was thrown the fuck out a long time ago! You and David were the ones inside!" Maverick snapped, causing Sarah to wince.

 

"Now, now, Maverick my sweet....No shouting." Kevin murmured, his voice cold.

 

"Shut your trap, Kevin. You aren't welcome here." Beatrix said aloud, straightening her back.

 

"Oh? All I did was challenge your precious Taylor's rule....But, oh, look at who got himself shot in the head, and  who's still standing here perfectly fine....Look at who survived and who didn't...." Kevin stood up, walking to smirk down at Beatrix' cold face.

 

"Back off from Beatrix. I don't know who you are. I don't know what you're doing here, but no one talks to my girl like that," Veto snapped, rising to his feet as well.

 

"Oh, look at you, trying to protect her! How...sweet." Kevin said with a smirk, his eyebrows raising.

 

"Oh, just shut the fuck up, will you?" Beatrix' hand flashed through the air, slapping into Kevin's face. Staring into the now-silent group, she says softly, "I'm going to go ask the guards for help."

 

She turned her back on them then, and left towards the nearest road.

 

Veto was right on her heels.