After Grace

8. The Hornet's Nest

"Hey Halter, look what I found," the man who'd taken me said as he threw me down on the mud. My hands sunk down to the wrists in the dirty water. I looked up and saw the two men who had chased me and the children out of town. The thinnest of the two, the one who'd been carrying the hunting riflewas hunched over a firegrill. From the pale yellow flames rose the acrid scent of copper and sulfur; blood and hair.

"Tell the others to let the building burn," Halter said, looking down at me. "It was just a distraction, wasn't it?" he smiled, when I didn't answer, he turned back to the grill. The man beside him nodded and jogged toward the towering flames in the distance. "Where'd you find her?" Halter asked.

"Sneaking 'round, trying to get to the school," the man behind me said and wiped his runny nose with his sleeve.

"Good work," Halter commeded. "Mother will be proud." My eyes wandered to the pile of loose limbs by his feet.

"Should we keep her? Make her work like the others?" my captor asked.

"I wouldn't wanna take the chance. This one's a fighter." Halter dug a fork into the grill and pulled out a charred-black finger. He bit off a chunk of the skin and chewed. "Hungry?" he asked, lowering the fork to me. The hunger I had been feeling now gave way to nausea. "Tie her hands, we need a chat" he said, taking the fork away.

I was jolted up to my feet, the man behind me pushed his gun against the back of my head again. "Hands behind your back," he said, shoving the barrel into my skull. I obliged. He wrapped a piece of thin but sturdy twine around my wrists.

"The guy that came here yesterday, he was from you camp?" Halter asked, carefully lifting each piece of meat from the grill with his fork and laying it down on a tray beside him. He turned to face me, eyes shining blue. "Where you folks hiding out?"

I tried to concentrate on my breathing, knowing full well I was probably about to get punched in the gut or cut to pieces and thrown into the grill. All I could think of was the knife in his hand and how the blade would feel cutting into me. I couldn't help but tremble. "Where are the kids you were with?" he asked. I put my tongue between my teeth to keep them from clattering. I could see his jaw locking with frustration. Slowly the muscles in his face relaxed and he smiled again. "What's your name?" He asked. I don't know why exactly, but I wanted him to know.

"Grace," I said, raising my eyes up to meet his.

"Grace? Oh, you don't really belong here do you? Not with a sweet name like that. I'll make you a deal Grace... I know you have those kids hiding out in the woods 'cause there ain't no other place for them to go. And I know you gotta be hungry and thirsty by now since we took all your food. So how 'bout this- I give you food and water and let you get back to the kids. You take them wherever you want, disappear somewhere, no chasing, no killing. And in return you tell me where your camp is."

"So you can kill everyone I've ever known?" I said. He laughed.

"That man you were with, he tried to save one of our captives. Did he succeed?" I didn't answer. A simmering rage began to burn beneath my skin. "That's a shame," Halter said. "Devin was a good boy. But here's what I find fascinating. That man, he comes back here, after bringing a dead boy to your camp, and the only backup he has is you? No offense, you can hold your own, that guy you shot on the roof wasn't some mook, he was handy with a pistol. But still, weren't there some able bodied mud-diggers with your group?"

"Mud diggers?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know, farmers. There must have been. Ya'll don't just eat deer and duck, look at you, tall as a house. Must have some veggies where you come from."

I kept my mouth closed. My head began to throb again. "I get it, you don't want to sell your people out, it's admirable, but it ain't smart. Listen up here Gracie, I'm only gonna say this once," he said and put his grimy hand beneath my chin. He turned my face to his. "We're coming," he said. "You think this is all of us? This is nothing. The south's not doing so well, why'd you think we're moving north in the winter? We're coming, every last one of us. This land's ours now."

"What happens when you kill everyone?" I asked, "You'll starve to death."

"Who said kill? We're not very good at the whole farming business, we just need some advice," he said. I didn't understand what he meant, and then it dawned on me.

"You want slaves."

He dropped his hand from my chin and licked off the fat glazed over his fingers.

"You say potato..."

"You think this is winter?" I said. "You're not gonna last a month."

"Last chance," he said. "Tell me now and go, or... we make you tell us." A breeze passed between us, dead leaves rained from near by trees. The squad of men and women who had gone to investigate the fire now returned, their clothes stained with black soot. They gathered around me like hungry dogs encircling an injured rabbit. "Fine," Halter said. "Your choice... Ben, Jimmy, go to the woods, little Annie and Camden are waiting." I nearly broke my neck looking up to the biggest of the two as he went traipsing off into the forest. "Tamara, take her up with the others, ask her where her camp is, don't come back here 'till you have an answer."

The woman I had seen take the blankets from the bag earlier now came up to me, her face was marked with old scars, as if parts of her cheeks had been dug out with a carrot peeler. I had never seen anything like it.

She brushed the back of her fingers against my face. "Pretty," she said. "You didn't have to fend for yourself growing up, did you little girl?" she asked. I didn't say anything. She gripped the back of my head and closed her fingers around my hair, pulling the strands. "Did you?"

"No," I said through a tightly clenched jaw. She flashed her broken teeth at me.

"You will tonight."