Dawn Of Rebellion Collection

18. Dawn

I haven"t eaten this well in years. They gave us venison, bread, and even fresh berries. I"m even drinking a cuppa. I still don"t know who these people are or why they"ve taken us in, but at the moment I don"t care. I"m content to just sit here and enjoy the fact that my stomach is full for the first time in as long as I can remember.

So far, we"ve only met two people that live here, but I know there are more. We heard Sam mention a few others. The room we"re in is very small, though, so if there are more people living here there has to be someplace else. I"m guessing there is a lot more that they aren"t showing us. I don"t blame them. They"re living in this hostile land; they can"t afford to trust us.

Ma clears our plates and heads out the door. Before getting too far she yells back to Sam, “They"re back.” Sam jumps up and rushes out.

“Should we follow him?” Drew looks at me and I shrug.

“Well, I can"t because of my ankle, but you go and see what"s up.” He follows Sam out the door. I try to hear what"s going on out there, but they"re too far from the door for me to catch anything. I"d expected Drew to come back right away, but instead, Sam rushes in.

“Up you go. We need you out there.” Unable to stand on my own, Sam bends down and picks me up, taking me by surprise. I don"t say anything though because his face tells me not to. He looks unsure of himself. In that instant, it hits me. He has no idea how the others are going to react to us being here. He took a major risk bringing us back here. This scares me. I"m just hoping these people are more civilized than the man that attacked me.

We head outside and a crowd of people has gathered. I don"t know where they all came from. Surely if they"d been here the whole time we have we would"ve seen them. Once we reach the group, Sam puts me down so that I"m sitting on a log. I notice there are many more logs around the open space and some of the people make their way to them and sit down. The majority of people, however, are still standing and staring at us. Most of them look uncertain of what to say or do, but as I look around I pick out the ones that look angry; the distrust evident in their eyes.

Finally, one of these angry looking people steps forward and speaks. “Sam, what have you done?”

“It"s OK, Lee, they"re not slaves. They don"t work for any of the governments. They"re just people, like us.”

“Like us?” someone scoffs, this time it"s a woman, “They"re English. I heard that one speak.” I look to see where she"s pointing and my eyes land on Drew. For whatever reason, he doesn"t even seem worried. He just shrugs, all nonchalant. Doesn"t anything ever get to him?

“Jesse, come on. They"re not all the same and you know it. These aren"t the people that shot Aaron.” Immediately Jesse lunges. Sam doesn"t even have a chance to get out of the way before she"s on him. Her first punch connects to Sam"s Jaw. I can tell he was trying not to have to fight her, but he can"t control himself any longer as he throws her to the ground. He pins her there, not letting her move, despite her best efforts. She"s still yelling at him, but the fight is pretty much over when Ma walks into the middle of the group.

“That"s enough.” Her words cut straight through the tension and bring everyone to attention. Sam lets Jesse up off the ground and even she is no longer yelling. “Now, I don"t agree with Sam bringing these two here today, but,” she holds up her hand, one finger extended as if she is scolding each and every person, “now that they are here, they are guests and will be treated as such.” Ma turns to me and says, “You have until your ankle is better, then you will be on your way.” With that she turns and heads back inside, leaving the entire group speechless.

Everyone starts to disperse quietly. I watch them go. No one has to go far; most disappear down a stairwell that I hadn"t seen before. There must be something underground here. Sam and Drew walk over to me. Drew takes a seat, but Sam stays on his feet.

“Hey man, thanks for that. We really appreciate everything.” For once, I can tell Drew is being sincere and not just pulling out the charm.

“If you two are gonna be here a few days then you"re gonna earn your keep. We need firewood.” Sam marches off without another word. Sensing he should follow, Drew gets up and does just that.