One.
Waking from a shallow sleep I heard a twig snap underfoot. Struggling to keep my breath even I slipped the dagger from its case from around my neck to then grip it in my left hand. Footsteps could be heard close by. Almost two feet away from where I was hidden. Wishing fervently that I would not be seen I slowly and silently rose from the ground into a crouching position.
I could hear more than one deep voice whispering at how the woods looked too calm and quiet as if he was attempting to laugh away his unease. Stepping out from behind my camouflage I crept up behind the bear of a man standing closest to me. Quickly reaching around I brought the knife up to his neck and pulled him down towards me.
I could feel the muscles in his back and neck flex and tighten. Whispering into his ear I told him that if he struggled he would die.
The man standing next to him saw my movements and brought up his own knife in defense. In response I thrust my captive between us and my back against a tree.
"Who are you?" asked the man with the knife.
He stares at my abdomen seemingly shocked at the fact that I am very very pregnant. He looks about and I see his eyes taking in the camouflaged shelter's ragged appearance, and my own less than scrupulous apparel. His eyes wander up and down my body with my collarbone protruding from my neck and I could bet five dehydrated meals that he is probably able to count my ribs through my shirt. The skin of my face is stretched to an inhuman tautness pulling tight my forehead and chin. My gray eyes wide and red rimmed with exhaustion. My wide plump lips cracked and chapped with exposure to the elements as well as dehydration. My cheeks darkly tanned with the flaking skin of previous sunburns. My elbows, due to lack of extra nutrition seem to be sharpened to thin desperate points. My neck thin and wobbly from slow starvation. Moreover, my belly bulges with my unborn child. A thin maternity shirt and stretchy skinny jeans do not disguise the fact that I am wasting away while my baby thrives.
I will die soon, if I do not have help, I cannot give birth alone. Just the thought of being alone then, when I need help most, terrifies me. I shiver at the possibly inevitable outcome. Soon my desperation will drive me to do something drastic. Something I will probably regret.
The man I hold captive in my arms shifts from his left to his right. I press the knife tighter against his throat.
"My name is Leona. I am eight months pregnant and I need your help." My voice was raspy and harsh with misuse; I had thought that they might possibly be my future heroes come to save my ass. Yet I could see no hint of courage in the man opposite me, the one whose accusing glare made my anger boil up to a small unknown level. I still held the captive when the baby kicked hard against the confines of my womb, so hard I am sure the man felt it. He made a slight sound yet was then mindful of the dagger still held in my hand and kept quiet.
I could see no sign of the plauge upon any of them, yet I must still be careful, a person could not be too careful now. When Hell is rising in the form of the oceans.
There where no sores oozing acid yellow pus that I could see, but perhaps under their clothes there might be the blue, purple and yellow signs of internal bleeding, a symptom of the Blue Plauge, as well as hair loss, insanity, rashes, and great amounts of skin peeling off in the most painful way imaginable, leaving fat and muscle exposed to the cruel outside world.
The Blue Plauge can happen to anyone, none are immune. A person could only come down with a rash, or a fever, or hair loss. They are lucky; they will probably not die if they survive the fever. Most go insane and end up killing themselves and others in terrible tragic rampages that bring about massive destruction. Some die from infection and exposure due to their skin peeling off, or open sores that let in more and more germs until they are dead. A large number die from the internal bleeding.
Yet one thing remains consistant, every victim of the Blue Plauge will be forever scarred by a rash of blue streaks in either death or life, and will therefore be marked as a carrier of the disease.
A carrier is someone to be shunned and burned. Too many have died of the disease as it was spread unconsciously by the unknown carriers, people who suffered no symptoms but still passed on the disease. Because of the previous carriers in whom the plague was not noticeable, millions of people died. Whole countries, states, cities, suburbs, towns died. The Blue Plague is worldwide. People who panicked and ran for relief in different countries, people worried about loved ones and made their way towards them; all the while spreading the very disease that would kill the people they cared about. World wide the plague and panic spread until chaos reigned and everyone had died. Only those who hid in secret remote places survived. Only those who kept close watch on the people around them stayed free of the plague.
People who live with the blue marks die, and they die fast.
In a slow movement I pulled the sharp edge of my blade from my victim's throat, ever mindful of the men who outnumbered me by three to one. I had noticed the third coming from a ways off, probably coming back from taking a piss behind a tree. God I miss toilet paper. Pulling away I step forward pushing the man in front of me, baring my unprotected back. Letting go just as slowly I released the man.
He turned and faced me with deliberately punctuated moves searching for any remorse in my eyes, he found none. A person cannot continue alone when she is in as compromising a position as myself. I did what had been required in these moments that flash by.
"Why did you grab me? You could have just shown yourself as peaceful. There is no need for violence! Especially in times such as these, you could have hurt someone." The man I had held captive spoke as if passionate, yet I could feel the heat of his partner's eyes, their glare.
"I will deliver in a month's time if all goes well, I need help, please. I wont burden you as far as food, or water. I have my own shelter and I need no protection. I cannot be alone when I am in such a fragile state, it is suicidal." I plead my case in a reserved voice, doubtful of their acceptance. Watching their faces for any reaction, the glimmer of hope I had first felt within my chest upon hearing their voices, died. Their friend who had been in the distance approached even closer, I saw their eyes warring with each other in silent communication; while the argument progressed I watched their faces with unashamed brashness. They both had similarly shaped faces and eyes, the previously captive man's eyes are a very vibrant green, the others a hard hazel; their jaws possessed sharp edges and refined vigor hinting at health and strength. The hair of Green eyes, a deep brown slightly black with waves the broke up the hard edges of his face, his friend, or brother possessed deep brown hair as well, yet not quite so darkly accented. Their noses look identical with medium sized wide square like tips strong eyebrows that did not over shadow their eyes which where both rimmed with long soft lashes of a dark brown. Their chins identical with miniature clefts, as well as dimpled cheeks that where a little on the scrawny side.
The two where still in a silent yet, heated argument when their companion approached. He seemed to have come to fetch them as there was a sense of purpose in his dark eyes. He looked similar to the pair before me, yet somehow different, there was something the matter. Something wrong. As if in slow motion I saw his hand go behind his back, I saw him lift the tail of his plaid shirt and pull something from the waistband of his camouflage cargo pants. The slow motion continued as I discovered the identity of the object.
I leaped into action raising my knife from my side, I lurched towards the stranger. Grabbing the hand holding the gun I held the point of my blade to his stomach. Rasping into his ear to not move a muscle I took the gun from him. Throwing it to the side I marched him towards the men staring at the two of us in shock.
"Do you know this man?" I asked in a level and tired voice. The men stared at him as if with terrified amazement.
"He's our little brother." Said hazel-eyes, he looked hard at his sibling then turned away.
"You have saved us from our own family, and we wish we could help you but we cant. We need to keep moving, we are going to California. I'm sorry."
Green-eyes stared at his sibling, then looked away was well. Instead he turned his hot gaze on me, turning my insides into a mass of butterflies all dying for escape.
"I will stay here with you and my brothers will go to California. Jeremy will take Michael with him; Michael will be tied up for the entire duration of their trip." Green-eyes turned to Jeremy and looked him square in the face,
"I will follow after she has delivered and is settled." He turned to me, "I was a paramedic and I can deliver you baby as safely as can be expected of anyone right now." He searched my face for my agreement and seemed to have found it; though I myself was not so sure I was ready to have someone living close by for a little over a month.
"You guys should start moving, if you want to make the pass by tomorrow. I love you, and I'll see you soon, as soon as I can possibly make it." Jeremy approached green-eyes and hugged him good-bye while whispering something urgently into his ear.
"No." was all that green-eyes said to his brother as Jeremy pulled Michael away from me and slipped a zip tie fished from his expansive pocket around his sibling's wrists. They walked away more silent then when they had come a blessing upon the flora and fauna upon which they intruded.