The Resistance, Jenna Marie [books to read to get smarter TXT] 📗

over his shoulder. It was full.

The instant his eyes met Jen’s, his hardened expression faltered. His uncertainty could be read on his face like words on a page. An instant later his stiff appearance returned. “Who are you?” he asked. His voice seemed so foreign to her, so alien. She hadn’t heard a voice other than her brother’s in weeks.

Jen’s eyes flickered to the right. Brian was still lying on his back, hopefully fast asleep. “I’m—no one,” she said.

The stranger pulled back a bit more on the arrow, confident that it would not fly until he was done interrogating her. “Why are you here?”

“We have nowhere else to go—” The metal-tipped arrowhead glistened in the sunlight.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “We couldn’t stay in our town anymore. No one was left.”

He watched her steadily and then nodded in Brian’s direction. “Who’s he?”

There was no point in lying to him. He was holding her life in his hands, dangling it in front of her like bait for a fish. “My brother.”

“Asher!” A shadow jogged up beside the stranger, cast by another young man who was about the same age. He wore dark jeans and a black T-shirt, and his dark brown hair brushed his shoulders. “What’s going on here?”

“I went out to get supplies and I found these two asleep out here,” Ash said, never lessening his hold on the bow.

The newcomer looked down at Jen. “Where are you going?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Anywhere other than where we came from.”

“Are you with anyone else?”

“No,” she said.

He glanced around, almost as though he were suspicious someone was preparing to ambush them from behind. He checked over his shoulder, sunlight glinting off his rectangular glasses and blocking out his eyes with a white glare. Suddenly he pushed Ash’s tense arms down and started, “You know, why don’t you come with us?”

“Jay—” Ash protested.

“Why not? We could use the help.” Jay extended his hand to Jen. “We’ve set up camp not too far from here.”

Jen looked uncertainly at his hand. “And why should I trust you?”

“What other options do you have?”

He had a point there. She and Brian didn’t have anything other than her backpack and a pocketknife. Imagine Ash had shot first and neglected to ask questions. “Okay,” Jen agreed, grabbing his hand and helping herself up.

Jayden was struck by how tall and thin she was. Her jeans hung loosely around her waist and bunched up around the knees. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a long ponytail and a bad sunburn had developed on her freckled nose and cheekbones. He couldn’t tell if she had always been that thin or if she had lost a lot of weight since the breakout.

“I’m Jayden, by the way. And this is Asher.”

“I’m Jenna. That’s Brian.”

“He’s asleep I guess?”

“Yeah.”

Ash slung the bow over his chest. “You both look exhausted.”

“We’ve been walking for days,” she told them. “Probably around two weeks by now.”

Jayden asked, “Did you have anything to eat?”

“Yeah, we caught rabbits. I caught rabbits,” she clarified.

“You’re lucky you even got that much,” Jayden said. “Everything around here’s been raided.”

“There isn’t a crumb that someone hasn’t found,” Ash grabbed Jen’s backpack and handed it to her. “Sorry, I moved it away just in case.”

“It’s okay,” she said.

Jayden stepped out from under the tree and checked the Sun’s progression across the sky. “I want to get back to camp before it gets too dark. Go wake up your brother,”

“Okay.” She made her way over to her brother. In hushed voices, the two boys argued.

“Why are you trusting them?” Ash asked. “They could be spies.”

Jayden gestured toward the girl kneeling over her brother. Dirt was engrained in their skin and their hair was in desperate need of a wash. They both moved slowly for a lack of sustenance, as though they were each in a haze. “Look at them, Ash. If they were spies I think they’d look a little better than that.”

“You’re really going to base it on how they look?”

“That’s all we’ve got right now—that and her word.”

“She could be a good actress.”

Jayden sighed. “Then we’ll get the kid alone and talk to him tonight. See if their stories match up.”

“I’m sure they will,” Ash shook his head. “She’ll talk to him at some point.”

“Then we keep them occupied until we can talk to him. Introduce her to Mesha and the rest.”

Jen made her way back over to them and swung her backpack onto her back. Her younger brother stayed close behind her, occasionally flicking his eyes toward Ash and Jayden. Jen and the boy had strikingly similar features.

“We ready to go?” Jen asked them.

“Yeah,” Jayden started walking back the way he came and the rest followed. “Camp’s not far.”

He led them across the field. The light summer breeze danced across their skin and blew dust into Brian’s eyes, making them water. No one spoke until Ash broke the silence an hour later.

“The breakout feels like it was forever ago,” he said. “We’ve been out here since then . . . . Started in one place with a large group and then broke off.”

“Why? You didn’t want their help?” Jen asked.

“Well, it wasn’t just that,” Jayden said over his shoulder. “We weren’t exactly welcome there anymore.”

“Yeah,” Ash continued, “then we moved out here.”

Jen stepped around a large stone. “Are you guys alone?”

“No,” Jayden shook his head. “We met up with a group of girls a day or so ago. How many of them are there, Ash? Three?”

“Four,”

By the time they were in sight of the camp, the sun had sunk another hand or so lower. Near the start of some trees were three tents, set up in a triangular pattern around the charred remains of a campfire. A tall pile of supplies was stacked haphazardly near the lightest colored tent, squared off by thin logs. Another log was laid nearby, and seated upon it was a girl slightly younger than Jen and the rest; she had tanned skin and dark hair that was woven back into a loose braid. When she heard the gravel crunch beneath their feet, she looked up.

“New recruits,” Jayden announced, heading over to the light-colored tent. “Just picked them up off the plain.”

Ash introduced them. “Jen and Brian, that’s Daniela. Where are the rest of them?” he asked Daniela.

“Kiara, Mesha, and Mackenzie ran off to get more water,” Daniela explained. “They’ll be back.”

Ash gestured toward one of the tents. “You can put your stuff down over there.” He walked over to the pile of supplies and took off his quiver. “Hey, Jayden!” he called.

“Yeah?” came Jayden’s voice from inside his tent.

“Do we have another tent?”

“Uh, probably on the bottom of the pile.”

“Of course,” Ash muttered, shaking his head. “Can you guys give me a hand with this?”

“Sure,” Jen said.

“Okay,” Daniela agreed. They each grabbed some bags and started chipping away at the pile of supplies. Ash grabbed items off the top and handed them to Jen, who then put them on the ground behind her. Daniela, working alone on the other side, pulled on a bag that was lower in the pile. Like a landslide, pots, pans, blankets, and sleeping bags came rolling to the ground at their feet.

“Shit,” Ash groaned.

Jen looked down at the mess. “Well, at least it’s spread out now,”

“Ha, yeah,”

“I’ll organize this stuff,” she offered. “You guys keep looking.” She started picking up items that had rolled to the ground and dusted the dirt off them. After another few minutes of work, Ash called out.

“Found one!” Its pieces were zipped inside a heavy gray canvas bag that had indeed been buried at the bottom of the pile. He heaved the package up onto a log. “I was starting to think you’d be sleeping on the grass tonight.”

“That’s what we’ve been doing anyway,” Jen said, rising to her feet. “Where do you want to put it?”

“Somewhere over here. You know how to set up a tent?”

“No,” she said.

“Alright, I’ll get Jayden to help.”

Jayden called out from inside his tent. “What are you volunteering me for?”

“Setting up the spare tent. I need another set of hands.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll be there in a second.”

While Ash got a head start on unpacking the tent parts, Jen and Daniela sat down on the log. “What’s he so busy doing in there?” Jen asked. “It’s not like he’s hiding a TV from us or anything,”

“He’s making maps. At least, that’s what Mackenzie said that Asher said.”

“Making maps? Why?”

“I don’t know.” She pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. “Guess it’ll help us find supplies more easily if we know what’s around.”

Jen scratched at her sunburn. It looked much worse than it was because it strikingly contrasted her pale skin. “So how did you guys wind up with them?”

“We were looking for supplies in a small town nearby. Turned the corner of a building and Jayden and Asher were coming up the street toward us. Jayden asked us some questions before telling us we’d better stick with him, that a group of girls shouldn’t be out there alone. And he’s right, we don’t know where we are or who’s out there. And if we did run into someone, we didn’t have any weapons to protect ourselves with.”

Brian walked up to them. “Where’s the water bottle?” he asked Jen.

“Bottom of the backpack,” she said. “Do you really need it right now?”

“Yeah,”

Daniela turned to Jen. “Don’t worry about the water. Mackenzie and her sisters are filling up a bunch of containers at a stream nearby.”

“Oh, okay. Go ahead, then, Brian. Big pocket on the bottom.”

Brian ran off to grab the backpack, nearly slamming into Jayden who suddenly exited his tent. The kid apologized but Jayden didn’t say anything.

Daniela continued, “So Jayden said you guys were out on the plains somewhere?”

“Yeah, we’ve been wandering around.”

“Where did you guys sleep?”

“On the ground without blankets or sleeping bags. And we had some at home, too. I thought we’d find somewhere to stay and wouldn’t need them.”

Daniela looked at the small backpack that Brian was rifling through. “So that’s all your stuff, then?”

“Yep. And there isn’t much in that bag, either.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing they found you guys. Brian’s your brother, right?”

“Yes.”

“How old is he?”

“He’s ten. His birthday was right before the break.”

“So, two months ago?”

“About that.”

“How long have you two been out?”

Jen shrugged. “Two weeks, maybe? I lost track. We left once we were out of supplies.”

“That’s what happened to us, too. Mackenzie, Kiara, and Mesha are sisters and they met up with me. We hadn’t been out for long before Jayden and Asher found us.”

“Were you alone?” Jen raised her eyebrows.

Daniela fell silent. Her eyes drifted to the side and stared distantly beyond Jen. “Well, uh, I was with a friend of mine. We knew each other from school. But he, um, he died.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Jen said. “I’m really sorry I mentioned—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Daniela smiled. “It’s okay.”

From behind them, a new voice sounded. “Jayden! Where do you want these?”

Jen looked over her shoulder. Three girls about her and Daniela’s age were walking out from the edge of the forest, each carrying one or two water jugs. All three girls had long, striking blonde hair and similar features. Two of them were twins and the third must have been a younger sister.

The girl who had called out was one of the twins, and when she walked up to Jayden and Ash, both busy erecting the tent, she placed the heavy containers on the ground.

Jayden considered the campground. “Uh, how about over there by your tent?”

“Alright,” she picked them up. She and the other two made their way past Jen and Daniela.

Daniela stood. “You should meet them. Wait here.” She followed them over to the other side of the camp. Jen stoop up and looked around. When she caught Brian’s eye, she gestured for him to come over to her.

The sisters made their way to the newcomers with Daniela trailing close behind.

“Hi! When did