Page 59 of When the Living Fall

Her eyes dart around, then settle on me. “I was passing by.”

“Do you want to join us?” I offer.

She thinks it over for a moment, then shakes her head. “No, I can’t. I have to get back.”

“What’s your name?”

“Autumn,” she says after hesitation.

“Emily. I promise I’m not as scary as I look.” I give her a soft smile.

“What are all of you doing over there? Are you…are you in trouble?”

I sit down on the ground in front of her and get comfortable. “No. Well, not anymore. My old colony burned to the ground, so we’re traveling to another one to start new.”

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” Zoey joins us and sits next to me. “Are you a friend of Emily’s, too? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“I met her on the way to the colony this morning. Wow. It’s hard to believe all that’s happened in a day.” I shake my head. Maybe tomorrow will be easier.

“Oh yeah? Are you going to join us? We’re headed to a new town to start over. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.” Zoey wraps her arm around my shoulders and grins at me.

“No, I already have a home,” Autumn says.

“What are you doing out here, then?” I ask. Something feels off. “Is there something we have that you need?”

Autumn chews on her lip for a moment, then breathes out a heavy sigh. “Okay. I was going to wait for an opportunity to check out your medical supplies.”

Her honesty catches me off guard. “We really don’t have a lot.”

“What sort of medical supplies?” Zoey asks.

Autumn shakes her head. “I don’t know. Anything.”

I lock my gaze with Zoey’s, and we have one of our unspoken conversations. We must be really out of sync, because I don’t expect her to pull her back from her back and open it up in her lap. “I have a few things. We’re out of bandages, but there are Band-Aids, some ointment, gauze…and a few other things.”

Autumn’s eyes light up. “Can I have some of it?”

Zoey shrugs and holds out her bag. “Sure.”

Autumn picks out a few items. She smiles and opens her mouth to say something, but then she looks at something behind me and disappears into the trees.

“What was that about?” Griffin asks, kneeling next to me. His gaze is fixed on the forest in front of us.

“She wanted some medical supplies, then she ran when she saw you,” I explained.

“She seems nice, but something felt off,” Zoey says, still watching the spot where the girl disappeared. “I hope she’s alright.”

“Maybe you’ll see her again,” Griffin says. “Give her some time. Did you eat?”

“Yes, Max made sure I ate.”

Zoey laughs when I roll my eyes, then rests her hand over her wound and whines. “Oh, laughing hurts. No laughing for a while.”

The look on Griffin’s face can only be described as eager when he looks at the wrapped wound on her side. “Be careful.If you make a wound worse, Emily will never let you live it down.”

“Yes, I will,” I huff, then I reach out my hands and let Griffin pull me to my feet.

When everyone’s finished eating, we gather around the fires, sharing stories of the past and imagining the future in the new town. There’s something in the air that I never experienced before. We all feel hopeful here. I can feel it more strongly than I ever did before inside the colony. They’re actually…happy.

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