RENEGADES II

Prompt: Fic Lab Prompt (#now)

Date: March 2022

This is a continuation of the first Fic Lab Renegades Story.


Two Years Later

We're not alone anymore.

The instinct is deep, and sets me instantly on alert. My eyes scan the area, my heart—now trained to handle the strain of a potential attack—is calm, despite the small spike of adrenaline that has just rushed through me. My eyes seek out Emmett, scanning over the debris until I see his large form. He's hunched down, blending in with the concrete pile so well, I almost can't spot him. Ten feet to my right, Alice too has sensed the new threat, and I see her freeze, curling into her surroundings until she's nearly disappeared. I crouch down and wait; breath steady, hand flexing around the edge of my knife. It won't do much against a gun, but close up, I'm lethal enough with it to get out of a scrape.

Two people dressed in matching fatigues appear at the base of the rubble we're sifting through. They have assault rifles strapped to their backs, and it's that and the blue bands across their arms that identify them to me.

Racers.

My hand tightens ever so lightly over my knife, but the two soldiers are talking, barely looking around at their environment. One of them lets out a loud laugh, and it's like glass against my spine. I stay low, out of sight, waiting. I don't look to Emmett or Alice, because I know they will be doing the same. I've taught them well.

The Racers linger, poking around some of the rubble, but mostly just slacking off by the looks of it. It takes what feels like forever until they are moving on to half-ass inspect the next pile. I wait until five minutes after I stop hearing them, then let out a low breath and climb out of my hiding hole. Alice appears beside me, her small face showing her worry. "Those are the third pair of Racers we've seen this week," she whispers.

I nod. The area is starting to crawl with them. Soon, no place will be safe, which is sort of their point, I guess.

I shake the thoughts off. "Get Emmett and let's go," I tell her. Alice nods, turning to scamper over the debris. She's quick and stable, like a little goat.

I turn to the pile I've collected, pulling it into a bag and slinging it over my shoulder before I turn to catch up with Alice.

We all meet up at the base of the second rubble pile, and I motion with my head south. Emmett has his own bag over his shoulder, full of his own finds. Even Alice is weighed down tonight.

We set south, each of us alert and silent as we move. A few years ago, this area was so destroyed, you wouldn't find anything living out here. That's why we ended up here. The Racers didn't come out here. No one did.

Now, things are changing. Factions are getting stronger, and claiming more power and land. The areas where we are safe are diminishing every day.

We don't run into any more Racers on our way back, but we're still on high alert, moving silently in a single file line, all of us vigilant.

When we finally make it back to the well-hidden hole we've been squatting in, the tension does not ease from my body.

Alice and Emmett both let out little breaths though, and I'm grateful they are still young enough to let go of worries.

"Go clean up," I tell them. "I'll get some dinner going."

There's not much in the way of food. There never is. We have two cans of food we managed to salvage, but I have no way of knowing what is inside, and if whatever it is is still good.

I pull out one dented, dark tin and sigh. Whatever this is, it'll have to be good enough for the three of us tonight.

My knife makes quick work of the tin, and when I finally pull the top open, I'm relieved to see it looks like beans—and that they haven't gone completely rancid. Tonight is a good night.

I set to work, heating the beans up over a small fire. The hole we're living in right now is mostly constructed of rubble from some sort of building. I don't know what kind, but a few salvaged mattress parts suggest it might have been a hotel.

I didn't even know what hotels were. Not until…

My fists close as I lean over the small fire. It is still painful to think about her, even after almost two years.

A tightness grows in my chest at the thought of her; a hollow ache that resonates so deep, I feel cavernous and empty.

I could have gotten through anything for her.

"Ed?"

I glance up to see Emmett standing in the makeshift doorway. He's grown a lot in the last two years, and not just physically. He's taller than me now, almost stronger too, but it's his spirit; steady, calm, reliable. He has stepped up to lift the heavy mantle that sits on all of us.

"Yeah," I say, clearing my throat and standing upright. His blue eyes track me.

"You okay?"

It's such a loaded question. Have I ever been okay?

"Everything is fine," I say instead. He catches my phrasing, but he doesn't push me. "Food is about done. Will you plate while I get Alice?"

I move before he answers, but out of the corner of my eye I see him nod.

Alice is curled up on her mattress fragment, something cupped in her hands as she stares down at it. Whatever it is, it looks like she's been hiding it from us.

"What have you got there?"

Alice jumps off her bed, and I know immediately whatever it is, she doesn't want me to know about it. Her face is guilty, her eyes wide with fear.

I step toward her, crouching down on the edge of her bed. "It's okay," I whisper, urging her to sit down again. "Remember, we're a family. We trust family."

She swallows hard and nods, sitting beside me. "I do trust my family," she whispers. "I just have a secret."

I smile, even though I've had so few reasons to smile lately. "We all have our secrets," I tell her, rubbing her back. "It's okay. Whatever it is, you don't have to show me." I pause. "I just want to make sure you're still safe and okay."

Alice's eyes fill with tears as she turns her head back to her cupped palms. Slowly, she unfolds them and pulls out a paper. "I didn't want to show you," she whispers. "Because I thought it would make you too sad."

She hands me the torn strip of paper—some sort of very old newspaper clipping, and my pulse spikes. There staring up at me from the page is her. Just how she used to be. Except on the page, in black and white, her eyes are still alive with joy and so full of life, it causes the hollow ache in me to triple.

"I miss her," Alice whispers, her eyes swelling with more tears. I look at her and pull an arm around her shoulders.

"I know," I whisper, resting my chin on the top of her head as she cries gently against me. "I do too."

She hiccups. "It's not fair," she whispers. "We were supposed to be together forever."

I don't know how to answer her, because my heart still doesn't understand it either.

"She loved you so fiercely," I whisper, my throat tight. It's true too, not just words to placate Alice. She had loved Emmett and Alice with a ferocity that was unmatched.

I stare down at the page. Before the world collapsed in on itself, she had been famous, adored. Her parents were important, and she'd known things none of us could dream of. The comfortable life she'd lived had only made her stronger somehow when the world exploded and left us scrounging for life in the rubble.

She had been the strongest person I'd ever known.

And now she's…

"We saw too many Racers today," Alice whispers, disrupting my thoughts. I look at her.

"I know."

"What are we going to do?"

I swallow hard. "I'll figure something out."

She's at an age where she wants to ask a million questions, to find answers to all of life's mysteries, but I don't have answers, and I think she knows it.

I think she knows how I'm failing.

"Come eat," I tell her, because right now, that's one thing I can do for her. Alice looks up at me and lets out a soft sigh.

"Edward…" she starts. I look at her.

"Don't worry about it, kiddo. I'll figure something out."

I give her a smile, though it's weak and mostly fueled by doubt. Alice reaches out for me, her skinny arms wrapping around my waist.

"I trust you," she whispers.

My eyes squeeze shut. Those are the same words she spoke to me, right before I got her killed.