Chapter21_500

Chapter 21 / West.

The kid woke me up at dawn. We crawled out from under the bushes we were using for cover and I started the climb up the next hill. He asked me where I was going and I said “west.” I don’t have a great sense of direction, but west was hard to miss at sunrise. He started in again about how we shouldn’t go too far from Merridew’s pool, we had to wait for his brother Danny. He’d kept that up all night. I almost slapped him. I almost told him about finding Danny’s body just to knock some sense into him. Just to hurt him. That’s what Mom would’ve done. The little shit took us right into a Hunter camp and cost me a car, two gallons of gas, my water, my whole fucking backpack! Dad’s watch was in my backpack. If I’d hit him, he’d have deserved it. Instead, I told him that Danny was never going back to that place and that I knew somewhere that we’d be safe and supplied until we could look for him. The kid may have even believed me because he stopped whining and started climbing up the hill, too. Then he asked me where this safe place was. From the fear in his eyes, I could tell he’d heard of Andersonville before.

21 girl, kid