3
The group had been tracking Michael all day, and it wasn’t long before night fell and they had to stop. Jessa didn’t want to make camp. She felt sure that she was close, but she knew that it was too dangerous to keep going in the dark.
“Milo, can you find us a place?”
He nodded. There was a hesitation, like he shouldn’t leave them, but he finally turned around and left. Jessa knew it wouldn’t be long before he would be back with a place in mind. He was good at those types of things. She had briefly considered going back to the house, but something kept her from going back. It seemed wrong. Instead, she found herself stopping several miles before the house. It would have been easier to go back. Everything was already there and prepared for them. But she’d sent Milo in search of somewhere new.
“Why don’t we go back to that house mom?”
Shane was reading her thoughts again and it seemed like the two newest in the party felt the same way. They had made the place their home for quite some time. How could she explain it without scaring him? And did he need a little fear? Maybe they all needed a reminder of what they were walking into.
“Because Michael is around some bad men and they may come looking for us. So we don’t want to be where he could tell them we are.”
She could see him trying to process it, but soon he was shaking his dark head, disbelieving that such a thing might happen. He had seen a lot, but he was still naïve in many ways.
“Mike would never tell the bad men where we were. He wouldn’t.”
“He never would intentionally Shane. But sometimes people can get information from a person, even if they really don’t want to tell anyone.”
He thought about it some more and she could tell that he didn’t agree with her, but he wasn’t going to argue. Carin and Jason were quiet as well. Jessa had given them all something to think about. It was one thing to know there were possibilities that could arise from a decision. It was another to hear them out loud and to really think about it.
They were quiet as they waited for Milo to come back. He was taking longer than usual and she started to worry that he was found. Jessa’s nerves were on edge, quite possibly from her own thoughts of what was or could be happening.
Finally, Milo emerged from the darkness and led them to a place that wasn’t too far away. Jessa was relieved to see him and even more relieved that it was high on a bluff and she could see scope out the area easily. It was a great spot, and if she looked hard enough, Jessa could actually see the small cabin that they could have gone back to.
It was late by the time they had settled in. After everyone went to sleep and she was left to stand guard, her eyes kept settling on the cabin. She was waiting for something, but she couldn’t say what it might be. When it finally came, the dark smoke emerging from the chimney of the cabin, it was not a good feeling that went over her. It meant that the worst case scenario had happened. They had Michael and he had talked. Jessa knew that he wouldn’t have if he’d had a choice.
Of course, she was supposed to be gone like he told her to. He had told Milo to keep going on without him and to wait for him to catch up. He would believe that he hadn’t put them in any danger. She didn’t regret going back, but it meant that everyone with her was going to be in trouble. Jessa was torn once again and she didn’t know what to do, but she could see a fire burning in the old house. It wasn’t coincidence, nothing ever was.
“So they do have him.”
Jessa looked behind her to Milo and nodded. “Yeah, I guess they do. We need to go over there Milo, but I can’t leave Shane.”
He nodded his head, implying that he understood, but he didn’t say much more about it. “Well there is tomorrow. We can get there early, leave the other ones here.”
“Carin said she would watch Shane, so I think that is a good idea. Jason is too young to go into something like this.” They both knew that Milo was not that much older, but he had not been sheltered the same way that Jason had. He had been on his own and he’d had to learn how to survive on his own. Jason was still under the protection of his grandmother. It was not a bad thing, Jessa would have preferred that Milo had someone to protect him as well. However, it made Jason less likely to help them out much. Jessa didn’t want Jason to get hurt himself. His grandmother would never forgive it.
Jessa worried about Milo’s health though and if he would have the strength for what was needed. For a while, he had seemed to be getting better, but the nearer they got to the city, the more he seemed to be coughing again and the less energy he had. She wondered if there was still radiation present. His body was already sensitive from all of the abuse that it had been given. The fact that the radiation was affecting him more seemed to give her a clue that they shouldn’t stay long. They needed to get in, get Michael and get out.
“Are you sure you are going to be up for it, Milo? It could get rough.”
Milo nodded his head. It wouldn’t be the first time that he had to be around people like that. Those were the type of people who would make life worse for everyone once they arrived. “I have seen groups that are not even human. I think that the world is full of them now. If it isn’t this group, there will always be another to deal with. There is never a shortage of bad people. The world needs people like Mike in it.”
Jessa agreed. She had done a lot of traveling and had encountered the worst, and the best, of people. She had never met anybody in between. In these times, it was one extreme or the other, and she was glad to have found so many good people to share the road with. But it was a reminder that there would always be good people. There would also be the worst. They would always have to fight for a place in the new world, and Milo was always good at reminding her.
“You’re right Milo. Mike makes the world a better place. He helped me out of more than one jam and I don’t know what I would have done without him. We have to get him back.” Jessa stopped, afraid she was going to lose herself to emotions. It was something she could never let herself do. Especially not when there was work to be done.
***
Milo told her that he would stand guard for a while so that she could get some sleep. She agreed, though it was hard to wait. Someone was in the cabin, and Jessa knew that whatever rest she managed was not going to be peaceful. They had to get closer and make sure that they weren’t seen. The last thing that she wanted to do was get caught as well. She closed her eyes for a few minutes, but soon it was morning and the time had come for them to leave.
Jessa got up and looked around. Her heart hammered in panic when she couldn’t find Milo. She asked Carin and Jason if they had seen him, but it was becoming clear to her that he had left. He was going ahead, to take care of it himself. She thought it was the most ignorant thing to do, but she knew it was to keep the rest of them safe. He was much like Mike in that way, trying to make everything better by taking it all on his own shoulders. The only problem was, he had no idea what he was going to get involved in. What if he got caught? What if she did? Then what would happen to Michael? What good would three casualties do?
Jessa had Carin watch Shane and she promised him that she would be back soon. Jessa had to fight with Jason a little bit. He was bound and determined to go with her, but she didn’t have time to argue. Jason needed to stay and keep his grandmother and Jessa’s son safe as well.
“You have to stay here with them Jason. You are the man right now and you must keep them safe. No matter what you see or hear from the cabin, you must keep them here.”
“What if they come for us?”
“They won’t.” Jessa wasn’t sure of much, but she was sure that she would not be telling them where they were. She would rather die than have something happen to her son. She knew that Michael must have been forced to tell them, but he would have known that they were gone. She had to believe that.
“What if they do?”
“If they do Jason, me, Milo and Mike are dead and you should all run. But it is not going to come to that. Just hunker down for a day or two. There is enough supplies for a week. You don’t have to leave for anything, so don’t.”
He nodded, his eyes widened, but he seemed to come to his own resolve. Jessa was happy to see the change in him and it made her feel safer leaving her son with him and Carin. Whatever was going to happen, it was her son in the end that she cared about being safe.
When she finally headed out, she was already tired from the confrontation and leery of what was going to happen next. She hoped that Michael was still okay and that she could somehow get him out of there.
In the far back of her mind, she hoped she had been wrong about everything and it was just a coincidence. That somehow it was just a new group that found a spot for themselves for the night, just like they had before. She wanted to believe that Michael was not in trouble, but taking care of whatever it was he thought he had to and was coming back to her. He had told Milo that he would catch up and she wanted to believe more than anything that it was true. Jessa wasn’t prepared to think about what happened after he left.
She looked for Milo’s tracks, but he was always untraceable. Jessa couldn’t believe that he had left alone, knowing and hearing what those men were capable of. It might not even be the same people that Mike went after. Mike may not be with them and Milo could be walking into some kind of trouble. She didn’t know what he was thinking, but she was touched by the thought. He wanted to help, that much was clear. What wasn’t clear was what the consequences were going to be for doing so.
There was nothing to deter her from her thoughts and they were taking over far faster than she would have liked to admit. It wasn’t that she had no faith in Milo, but he was used to hiding in the shadows, not confronting someone. With the ordeal with Billy she had found that he had been protective, but still in a way that kept him out of the line of fire.
“There is nothing you can do until you get there Jessa. Stop worrying about it.”
Her words did little to make her feel any better, but it was something.