The Archer

Chapter 5

The girl was pretty badly bruised and definitely covered in grime, she would definitely need a shower. She was very young, probably 5 or so, she had long straight black hair, small eyes, probably Asian, and she was wearing a hospital gown. I took her inside to warm her up, I sat her down on the couch and turned on the static-filled television for her to watch. She wouldn't say a word to me for about an hour. So, I just sat on the large recliner next to the small couch and thought.

What's her name? Where is she from? How old is she? Did those pilots know she was in the helicopter with her? As all of these questions raced around through my mind, the little girl started humming. I had no idea what song she was humming, but it sounded sort of familiar. After, awhile I finally summed up the courage to ask her the questions that had been racing through my mind. "Hey so, what's your name kiddo?" I asked, barely looking over at her. "My name is Elizabeth," she answered reluctantly.

"That's a very pretty name. My name is Carolyn, but you can just call me Carol, OK?" I said, trying my best not to throw so many questions at her that she can't take it. "You don't have to be afraid of me...I'm not one of them..." Elizabeth said, quietly. "What do you mean, of course, you're not o-" I started. "You think that I am an outlaw...one of the ones that have escaped from the facility. But, I'm not!" she started, to strengthen her tone. I was confused for a moment, I had no idea what facility she was talking about.

Then the realization hit me, she was talking about the government facility that the president launched before the world was thrown into complete chaos. The facility that took possibly infected kids in, so that they could trap them before the virus had really affected them. The facility that contained them, so they wouldn't be able to ever get out, Warren's Side. "I didn't think you were from that place, Elizabeth. I just thought that those pilots were rescuing you." I said slowly, trying not to upset her.

"So what if I'm from that place, so what if I escaped and hitched a secret ride with those pilots? That doesn't mean I'm infected! I just wanted to get out of that awful place!" she screamed, her face red now, tears streaming down. I lightly put my hand on her shoulder, as she cried in her hands. I patted her and told her about a thousand times it would be okay, she didn't listen. Soon after she had slowed her crying a bit, I began to ask her some questions. Apparently, her name is Elizabeth Lee, she lived in Japan, but her father taught her English, she is 5 years old, in kindergarten, and she loves colouring, just like me.

We got to know each other very well throughout that night. After a while, I told her that it was getting sort of late and that we should get to bed. I showed her where she would be sleeping, it was a smaller room, with light pink wallpaper, with white baby bunnies spread across it, a small blue mattress, and a closet with a mirror on the door. It was no use showing her that room though. Only five minutes after I got her to bed she heard lightning and she crawled into bed with me. She reminded me of someone I knew, but it was someone that couldn't be replaced. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it, so I just went to sleep.