Chapter 6

I charged down the field towards the dining hall, Carter needed food to run again. I stopped to catch my breath because I was panicking. For a second, a million thoughts ran through my mind and I realized that our survival wasn't just resting on my shoulders. It was on Kathy, who was protecting our friends while I run to get food. It was on Carter who was our only hope to survive the trip down to the Hideout. It was on Liam, Madelyn, Nathan, and Cornelius carrying the cow feed. And suddenly my job had become a lot easier. By equalizing everyone's jobs it made my job seem easier. I just had to get food. I thought of it in a way that I wasn't the only person people were counting on. Only some food, that little thing of food would save our families, our friends, and our lives. I started running, and ran faster than I was before. I got down to the dining hall in fifteen minutes. Nobody was in sight. I searched the kitchen for five minutes for as much food as I could carry. Off again I ran back, running slower because I was focusing on not dropping any food. Again; nobody to be seen the entire trip. I started to think we were in luck and it would be easier to get to the boat then I thought. That thought quickly slipped away when I reached the top of the hill and saw smoke. I started to run faster, still holding the food, and dropping a potato or two. The barn was surrounded by fire. It wasn't on fire yet, but none the less surrounded. I instantly thought someone was trying to kill them from smoke inhalation, but then I saw the ice, and the craters. "How did I not hear any of this?" I quietly said to myself as I ran up to the fire and walked through it. Will and Penelope were sitting down next to Carter, who was drawing in the dirt floor. I handed him the food and looked at the kids. "Why are you here?" I asked, "How did you get here, when did you get here?"

Penelope smiled, "Nathan told us you guys needed backup through the computer in the cave, so we came running."

I looked at him is disbelief, "You contacted the children instead of an adult.

"I said, tell mom we need backup and told them where we were. They came, not my fault they didn't listen," Nathan explained.

"They're the only reason we're alive now," Kathy explained, her arm was bleeding.  I walked over and lightly touched the wound. A bullet fell into my hand and I gave it to her. She held it in her hand and examined it before tossing it into the dirt.

"How many died?" I asked.

"None, we scared them off," Will explained.

"Okay, we don't need any more people to die," I said. I was relieved that the kids hadn't killed anyone, they don't need the thought of that in their head. That will stay with you forever. We sat for a few minutes while Carter ate. I sat in the dirt, leaning up against a support pole and looked at the ceiling. I started to think about what we're going to do when we get to the continent. My friends, my family, the people I grew up with. I pulled the bullet out of my pocket and rolled it through my fingers. My throat closed up and I went into my own little world.

I was sitting on a wooden chair in the corner of a room. The walls were a dark brown wood that matched the floors. The floor had a large animal pelt laying in the middle of it. The walls were painted with art; ideas that I had thought about before. Carter was there, in the middle of the room. He was trying to pull a stick out of a canine's mouth. The dog was a baby, and a peachy brown color with a black cloth around its neck. Carter was laughing and mimicking the growling noise coming from the little dog.

Nathan was sitting on the floor with an extremely pretty black haired girl I didn't recognize. She had eyes as green as the trees after it rains in spring. She was talking to him about radios. She had her hair pinned up to one side and a cross necklace on, the same one I was making in the forest. Kathy and Liam were in an attached room, I could see them through the door way. I couldn't hear them but they were laughing while cutting something that was hanging from the ceiling. There were stone stairs in front of me. With a fur rug centered in the middle going all the way down. There were windows, with real glass around the room. A whinny rang out from behind me, horses? I haven't ever seen a horse, but that's what horses are supposed to sound like. I turned to see a dark brown, long faced animal through the window.

I was shaken awake. I opened my eyes and looked around, everyone was staring at me. Kathy was in front of me with her hand on my shoulder. "Hey, are you okay," She calmly asked.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"You fell to the ground and started mumbling about horses and a dog," Kathy explained. She had fear plastered all over her face; so did everyone else.

"Yeah I'm okay, maybe a little stressed, but okay," I answered. Everyone but Carter seemed to have their fear dissipate.

Liam looked out the door, "I think we should get going to we can ride the tide out to sea tonight."

"Okay," I answered. Everyone picked up their feed bags again. Carter looked at me, then at the floor, then walked out of the door. Everyone started to walk out the feed stable. I traveled a few yards behind nobody else turns out like Cleo. Carter was up front and the kids were in the middle of the circle like water buffalo protecting their young from lions. Were we the water buffalo though, or were we lions stealing the pride from the alpha? I picked up a few pebbles and started to make them bigger. They never stayed the same shape. Everyone was talking up front, but I stayed silent in the back. I was thinking about whatever that dream was. It felt so real, maybe to real. Once we made it to the forest line Carter made his way to the back with me. He stayed quiet, I could tell be was thinking about what to say. I spoke first, "What's wrong?"

"What was the dream about," He asked.

"It was a lot," I explained.

He looked at me with his ocean blue eyes, "We've got time."

I explained what I saw. He lit up when I told him about the dog.

"I'm pretty sure it was just a dream though," I explained.

"Did your throat close up?"

It freaked me out a little when he asked.

"Yeah," I shakily answered, "How did you know?"

"It used to happen to Ryan when we were cleaning the cows, he described the visions and explained that his throat closed up."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," He answered.

"Why did you look mad?" I asked.

"You were asleep for an hour," Carter explained, "Kathy and I agreed that we wouldn't leave you. That forced everyone else to have to stay."

"Wait what," I asked, "They wanted to leave?"

"Nathan was on the fence but yeah. Nobody left because Kathy and I are the only two that weren't carrying anything."

"Oh," I looked around, "You could've left, I would've caught up with you all."

"That's silly Carla. When you woke up it was when Kathy was going to put you over her shoulder and carry you to the boat. We weren't going to leave you."

"Oh okay," I said relieved.

"It was Liam's idea, nobody wanted to leave you, they just wanted to get going," Carter explained.

"Oh I thought they wanted to leave me there," I said relieved. I put my hand over my chest and breathed out.

"No, no, no, they wanted to get going, I guess I worded that wrong." Carter explained.

I laughed and shook my head.

"So a dog, what did it look like?"

"It was little, like a baby," I explained, "And a light brown color."

"Awww," Carter smiled.

"It had a black cloth around its neck," I explained, "like our sleeves." I looked down at my arms.

He smiled, "Maybe you can see the future?"

"I doubt it,"

"What about the girl who was with Nathan?"

"She was so pretty, she had long blonde hair and the prettiest green eyes you can imagine. She seemed so soft." I pulled a cross necklace out of my pocket, "She was wearing one of these. She had a flower in her hair. They seemed really happy."

"What about Liam and Kathy?"

I laughed.

"What?"

"I think his eyes sparkled when they were laughing," I laughed.

"Really? They've never looked at each other like that before," Carter questioned.

"I might have seen wrong but yeah I that's what I saw."

"Wow," Carter laughed, "That would be cute."

"That what I was thinking," I said.

We were almost at the boat; our friends had already gotten there, it was only a few meters away.

Carter stopped and looked at me, "Ready to do this? Ready to go make that vision a reality?"

"Absolutely."

My mom, Lydia, came and gave me a hug. Carter and Nathan's mom hugged them too. Everyone was starting to get on the boat again, this time actually getting on instead of just getting all their stuff situated on it. Liam was and Kathy were helping people get on, they put the kids on first. The boat was big enough for all of us to fit in it with a some wiggle room. The kids were playing freeze tag on the ship's deck. My mind trailed off to the point that Cornelius started snapping his finger in front of my face. I snapped back to reality and looked at him, "What do you want?"

"It's our turn to get on," Cornelius stated.

"I need a minute," I demanded as I walked away from him. Everyone else but Liam were already on the ship. I looked at the water, the sun had turned the sky a fire-like red on the horizon. I turned and walked into the cave, it was empty. I walked down the empty halls. I had created this cave from a hill in the woods, we had lots of long nights of planning for this day. The day we'd leave this place and be reunited with civil people. The day we'd eventually have a stable government with a president again instead of a commander. I was both relieved and nervous. There was a pile of random stuff in the middle of the room. All stuff that could be left behind. I picked up a few items and looked them over. I noticed that all the stuff was laying on a piece of paper. I pulled the paper out from under everything. It was the boat design that worked. I put it on top of everything so it would be the first thing you see. I slowly walked out of the cave and towards the boat. Cornelius was already on the boat. Carter was doing a head count when I walked on board. The 30ft×10ft wooden sailboat was lined with people. There were some people straddling the fence around the edges of the ship. The kids were sitting in a circle playing bubblegum, probably Will's idea. Penelope jumped up from her game and ran to give me a hug, "Yes, I'm the first, always!"

"We should start calling you huggle instead," I laughed, "You always give me a hug before everyone else."

Will ran to hug me next and before I knew it, all the kids were giving me hugs.

"Okay, okay, guys I love you but I need to breathe," I said, it felt like  my airway was getting tighter. I sat down in the middle of the boat and tried to catch my breath. Carter touched my head and called out the number 30 then proceeded to say, "Okay Liam that's everyone including us. Time to go."

My throat started to close up and I blacked out before my head even hit the deck.