Chapter 5

Painful Memories

Holly watched Daze run along the rooftops with startling agility. She wondered what other secrets these city-stranded possessed. How could he run and jump without so much as a look to where he would land? Or so it seemed to her.

"And I thought I was in shape." she said to herself.

When she and her brothers had grown old enough to use a gun their parents made them run a few miles everyday. The parents had made all the kids do push ups and sit ups, jumping jacks and "six-inches". Holly had hated it then, hated her parents and the other adults for making them do it. She now saw her own folly. They had done it out of love. So that their kids would be able to endure a long run to escape or to be able to outmaneuver the locust in a fight.

But this! This was amazing! Running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Landing on the ground and rolling so you wouldn't hurt your knees. Getting up and running almost straight up a wall, at least that's what it looked like.

"Sis!" Holly broke out of her daydreams. Jet was looking out from an alleyway far ahead. "You're supposed to be coming up the road."

"Be right there!" she shouted.

Up ahead the city was changing. They had been traveling through the suburbs, with its small houses and shops, tight compact road with barely a side walk. Now she could see more five, six, seven story buildings, some warehouses and strip malls. Farther up she saw skyscrapers, large pillared monuments, and even a few trees.

Just like the woods.

Just like home.

She wondered if sheíd ever forget him. He had been her first crush. Even when she had been a little girl she had liked him. Heíd always throw dirt in her hair or find a worm or something, but she had loved him nonetheless. She thought it strange that there was any love or happiness. They had been lucky. Apparently the locust didnít care about some random group of people hiding in the woods. At least not much.

She thought about the night a year ago when they had snuck off into the woods to make love. They hadnít ended up doing it because they were afraid of the rule that no one was allowed to get pregnant, and that anyone who did was shown no mercy. If they had to break camp and run they would not stop to help the pregnant mother or her young child if she had ended up having the baby.

It hurt her to remember Mia.

Mia was one of Holly's best friends who had been raped by one of the leaders of their group. Everyone new who it was but only a couple of the families wanted to do anything about it. Holly's parents said he should be thrown out of the group, but to many were already on his side for them to make much of a difference. Then when the locust attacked once and they had to move, she could not keep up. Holly's father gave her a knife to keep with her after that.

Holly could still hear her screaming when she had nightmares.

Surprisingly Carson had been the one to say no to sex, even though they both knew it was wrong and could end in her death. He told her that he wouldnít be able to live with himself if any thing happened to her. The had kissed that night. A lot. They sat out under the stars and talked. That night they promised to get married when they were older.

Only there was no older.

When Holly and her brothers had gotten back after the attack no one was left but him. His legs had been blown off and wretches had eaten his entrails, he was losing blood. He said he had waited for her to get back, waited to die so that he could see her one last time. He told her that he wanted to die in her arms, looking up into her eyes.

"No!" she had screamed through the tears. "I won't live without you!"

"You must," he coughed hoarsely, "do it for me, find someone to marry and be happy with."

"I can't!" she cried. "Let me die with you."

Holly picked up a knife and pressed it to her breast. "Please!" she pleaded.

He merely pushed the knife aside and put a finger to her lips.

"My love for you is unending," he said as he coughed blood, "I won't let you ruin your life."

She sat with him for a few more minutes before he asked, "One more kiss."

Holly leaned down and kissed him, and not wanting to let go, she held her lips to his. When it came, she felt the last breath go out of him.

She let his head rest on her lap and cried.

Holly had pushed the memory away for so long that she couldn't help the tear that fell down her cheek now. She wiped it off with a blond curl of hair and walked on. "Could this Daze be the one? Could he ever know the pain I feel?" She let the question linger.

"Nice job Daze!" Rojas said as he watched him get on top of the roof. "Any one else know how to do that?"

"We all do," Justin said, "Clara is the best though."

"Than get up there," Rojas smiled. He hadn't dared to hope his only sniper would be able to cover them from the roofs.

Clara tightened the strap of her Longshot. She ran to a shop on the opposite side of the street from Daze and jumped up on a dumpster, climbed up to a window sill, then reached over to a light post and climbed up it.

Clara scanned the opposite street to the one they were traveling. Nothing.

"Daze, check the street to your right." She spoke into the mic as she ran. She could see him quite a ways ahead running along the rooftops.

"Nothing there." He replied as he jumped across an alley way.

Daze stopped to look around. He could see Jack come out of an alley about a thirty yards back. There wasnít a single locust anywhere.

"Rojas?" he spoke into the mic.

"Here. Do you see any?"

"No, and that's what I donít get." Daze saw Clara running along the shops opposite his.

This had been a kind of market back when people lived here. They would close off the road and set up stalls to sell different things. It made it easy to jump from roof to roof.

"Be careful then, tell the others to come back here. You and Clara are enough, and I don't want them getting caught in a trap."

"Understood." Daze whistled and snapped his fingers to get Jack to look up. When he did, Daze pointed at him, then held up three fingers and pointed back towards where Rojas and the others were jogging up the street.

"Holly, Jet," Jack nodded to Daze, "we'll wait here for the others."

Daze started to run again, this time parallel to Clara.

"Afternoon, beautiful." Daze smiled as he looked over at Clara.

"What did you call me?' she was pretending to be indignant, "I'll tell Justin you were flirting with me!"

"Riiiiiiiiiight," he laughed, "cept you like it too much."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, "You're pretty hard to deal with you know that?"

"You donít have to tell me," he looked over at her, "I know I'm pretty."

"Don't make me come over there!"

"I think you just might have to!" Daze smiled, "Betcha can't beat me to the end of the road."

"Bet I can!"

Daze ran as fast as he could. Weaving between chimneys and plants, ducking under clotheslines and jumping from house to house.

When he got to the house at the end of the street he couldnít tell who had won. She looked just as tired and worn out as he felt.

"Tie?" she gasped between huge breaths of air.

"Sounds good." Daze took off his shirt and armor and leaned against a chimney after looking around to see that there werenít any locust.

"Nothing to report," he said as he switched over to channel five and let the breeze cool him.

"Good," Rojasís voice crackled through the earpiece, "wait for us there."

"No problem, Daze out."

"Lucky bastard," she said looking over.

"Hey, I don't mind if you do it," Daze laughed.

"Like H you don't!" she snipped at him, ìI would if I didn't have to take this ammo off.

"I'm sure." Daze snickered.

"Of course I would!" She looked away. "Your like my brother!"

She loved Justin, and didn't want to think of what could have...No, it couldnët have been. Justin was her man. She realized she loved him completely. Even though she loved Daze too, it was a more brother sister love than anything else, she told herself.

Daze put his shirt and armor vest back on, then hopped down as Rojas and the others came up.

"Which way?" he asked.

"Straight ahead," Rojas looked down the road, "when you come to the T take a right."

Clara was already climbing the apartments opposite when Daze started up onto the roofs again.

They had run for a ways when Clara saw Daze come to a large warehouse. He found an old broken window and climbed in.

She kept running when she heard Daze over the mic.

"Get down!" he whispered, "We got a locust patrol in here. Looks like they're waiting for us."

"Did they see you?" she whispered, "Are you alright?"

"Shhhh!" she could barely hear him, "Tell Rojas."

His mic went dead.

"Rojas, Rojas, are you there?" she hissed into her mic. "We got locust in the warehouse to the right, do you copy?"

Clara jumped onto the fire escape and entered what looked like an abandoned seven story office building.

"Rojas here." she heard him say as she was setting up her sniper rifle in one of the windows. "Where are you?"

"I'm on the fifth story of the building across the street." she pulled ten cartridges from the ammo bandoliers on her back and placed them on a old desk sheíd pulled up next to her. "I'm set up to cover the entrance to the warehouse."

"Perfect," Rojas motioned his men to move forward, "We'll be right there."

"I want you all to stay here and watch our back,"Rojas turned to the other teens, "don't let any reinforcements behind us."

"Yes sir," Jack looked back, "Let's spread out. Take up positions on either side of the street."

"Good," Rojas turned back to his men and started to move off. "We'll go help Daze and Clara."