Chapter Nineteen
Thankfully, our spring went by peacefully. Well, as peaceful as it did. But we’ll take any drama any time of the day than the thought of the army finding us again. We had created another little world in this house. And none of us wanted to see it go down in flames again.
“Mornin’ beautiful,” James greeted flirtatiously as he gave his girlfriend a sweet, long kiss on the lips.
I smiled at them as I munch on the nuts that was placed in front of me in the counter. Tash was on the other side as she and Coleen prepared lunch. I was only there because of the nuts. And I was pleading Coleen and Tash to cook my favorite dish. They aren’t planning on cooking it but since I wasn’t stopping, the two gave up and started to prepare it. Though, Coleen looked at me strangely before she surrendered.
“Hey, handsome,” Tash purred as they stopped kissing.
“Ewww,” I groaned, throwing them a nut each and it hit them squarely on the head and they whipped towards me. “Get a room people!”
Coleen laughed at us and the two love birds in front of me crossed their arms and stared at me. “What?” I asked, feigning innocence.
“You and Zoi can get lovey-dovey but not us?” Tash inquired with her left brow raised.
I rolled my eyes at them, “We never kissed like that. And I don’t purr like Tash just did.”
This time, the two threw a nut each at me and it hit me in the forehead. My hands flew to the spot they hit and I stared at them wide-eyed. Then, I gasped at them. “That hurts, yah know!”
The room was silence for a few seconds before we all burst out laughing. Then, after stealing half of my nuts, James excused himself to go on a scout around the place before lunch time. He met his brothers on his way out the kitchen door and the two winked and waved at us.
Lily entered the kitchen and took a glass of water. She was wet with her sweat due to the work she had at the farm. I offered to help her but she turned me down saying that she and Rose could take care of the farm since it was the only thing they could offer in our little group. I assured her that their farm is what is keeping us alive and it was a great help than any other. Lily and Rose took pride in their farm works. Resting as little as they could just to make sure their plants were growing smoothly. Sometimes I wonder if they were overworking themselves but they would always turn the offer down of me helping. And I suspected it had something to do with the fact that I once killed a plant when I was trying to help.
“You should rest, Lily. We have enough stock as it is. No need to overwork yourselves,” Coleen stated as she put a hand on Lily’s shoulder. But Lily only smiled at us and told us not to worry.
“It’s where we feel at ease. So, for us it really isn’t working,” Lily answered with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Lily, would you be kind to call everyone?” Tash interjected. “Lunch is ready.”
Lily nodded with a smile before she went outside to call everyone. Lunch was serve and everyone was lively as we ate. Coleen told everyone that the dish was my request. She even told them how I sulk for it.
“Hey! I didn’t sulked!” I protested.
“Nah uh. You did,” Tash pressed with a grin.
Coleen laughed, “Yeah, the thought of you craving even entered my thoughts.”
I choked on my food and coughed. Everyone on the table laughed at me. “Can’t it just be because I miss it?”
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It was my turn to make the rounds around our home. Taking a bag of nuts with me, I started to jogged away, bypassing the traps laid around. I decided to start by the highway since that was the most likely place a person would appear from. I didn’t run. But instead, I savored the fresh warm air of the season.
I arrived by the highway. There was a huge tree by the side and I quickly climbed it. There were cars speeding by but none was looking towards the direction of our hide-out. I looked at it and realized that it wasn’t even noticeable if you were in a car or was just walking by but I could definitely see it in my position up in the tree.
I sat down on the tree and the house vanished from my sight. I grinned at the thought. The location was place in a blind spot of most people. So, we would likely never be found unless we did something to gather attention or someone managed to come across our house. Thankfully, none have did.
After a minute, I jumped down the tree and ran my speed away from the highway to avoid anyone to see me. Then, I made my full rotation at the perimeters of our home before I was confident that none have yet breached our safety.
I stopped running and I started to walk back to the house and took the bag of nuts in my pocket. I started eating it as I looked around, smiling to myself. My life may have always kicked me from behind but things started looking up and I wouldn’t wish for anything better.
“Hey, Katra,” Carlos and Annie greeted as soon as I passed the traps.
I stopped and waved at them, “Hi, kids!”
The two of them walked side by side with me ‘til I was stopped by Lily, Rose, and Tash by the farm. The two kids waved at us and ran inside the house, laughing as they did. The four of us chatted as Rose and Lily took their break. Tash smirked at me when she saw me munching at some nuts.
“Craving them, aren’t you?” she asked, humor written all over her face.
I nodded, “Since we can’t create chips, nuts took their place,”
We talked and laughed as our topic moved from time to time. Sometimes it was about me and Zoi. Sometimes about Tash and James. Most of the time about Griffin and Lily. And then, Lily and Tash started to drill into Rose. Asking her if there was someone in our group that interest her or if there was someone making a move at her.
Though, Rose turned their curiosity down when she shook her head. She told us she wasn’t interested at anyone at the moment. The two’s smile turned upside down. But then, Rose said that someone was definitely making a move at her.
The two quickly lighten up at the words and started asking her who it was. I furrowed my brows as I tried to think if I noticed someone hovering near her for the past few days but nothing came to mind. But then- it’s only one of the two possibilities; either they are good at hiding it or she was just playing Lily and Tash.
From my peripheral vision, I saw Saori staring at us. I turned to her and gave her a smile. Just as I was about to lift my hand to call her towards us, she glared at me and turned away. I furrowed my brows as I looked at Saori’s figure walking away from the house. I tried to think if I did something wrong but then, she had always been like that since Zoi and I got closer.
Suddenly, a hand snaked around my waist. I looked up and saw Zoi looking down at me. I heard Tash and the others squealed. I playfully slapped his hands away but he only held on firmly. Then, he lifted me. My feet aren’t touching the ground as he spun us around. I was trying to wiggle free but I couldn’t deny that I was also laughing the loudest.
Zoi put me down on my feet and I turned to face him to scold him but before I could speak, he held me on my waist and held me in place. He rested his forehead on mine and gave me that smirk of his that never cease to send my heart palpitating.
He started to close the remaining distance between our lips. But before he could, Carlos and Annie came running towards us as they called my name. He groaned and didn’t let me go. I wrinkled my nose at him and laughed before I gently removed his hands on me to face the running kids. The others laughed at us as Zoi slumped behind me.
“What is it?” I asked them. They stopped to catch their breaths first before Carlos opened his palm for me to see what he was holding. My eyes widened in shocked as Carlos proudly showed me the thing he was holding. My breathing hitched uncontrollably as I snatched the little black box in his hands.
I asked him where he found it and he told me Annie found it in our room and thought that it was mine so that they brought it down. The others with me, by now have noticed my panic expression and asked me what was wrong. But I couldn’t answer them. I couldn’t answer them as I stared at the small box in my hand.
“Katra!” They called to get my attention.
“They found us,” I answered as I looked up from my palm and faced them. “They found us!”
The others gasped at me and asked if I was sure about it. I showed them the black box and Drew took a look at it before he confirmed what I just said. Panic, fear, and determination were swirling in each other’s eyes.
For I don’t know how many times, we would be fighting for our lives.
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