Blog#13: Erin Holbrook

Instead of a regular blog, here is a third installment to my Nanowrimo novel. Apologies to anyone reading, for it is again minimally edited.

Both girls slept under the stars that night, and woke when the sun kissed their faces. They ate quickly and packed their things, taking off in silence once again. If a search party caught up with them, they would have no excuse for trekking through the forest like vagabonds. Jenine pretended she was a Puma as she crept through the forest, making no sound despite the heavy load of provisions and equipment on her back.

Two days later, the girls reached a clearing in the middle of the giant forest. A great meadow unfolded before them, gated by a fortress of trees on all sides. With one glance at her sister, Jenine knew that Sal was on the same page. Instantaneously they broke out in laughter and dropped their bags, running like schoolgirls out into the meadow. Sal danced gracefully, spinning this way and that. Jenine fell into the tall grass and flowers, letting them swallow her up. Maturity was overrated when there was fun to be had.

No one should have been there for miles around.  “Should” being the operative word. When Jenine stopped giggling long enough to listen she froze in place. She could hear more than Sal’s distant laughter. Gentle footsteps were edging their way across the field. She froze, listening. The footsteps froze too, hiding from her. She jumped up in a flash and saw a man, just 50 yards away. She sprinted towards him. Can’t be seen. She thought. If he got away and told anyone what he saw…

He ran as fast as he could, which wasn’t very fast. Jenine was on him in a second. He tried to fight his way out of her grasp, and failed. Running wasn’t all Jenine was good at. She could also handle herself in a fight. The boy wasn’t very strong, and Jenine had him pinned in seconds. Jeninie examined him closely. His features were fierce. He had very large ears and a wide nose. To mention it, all of his features were large. He had large eyes that seemed to see right through Jenine. His prominent cheekbones could still be seen under a light beard. His hair was dark, shaggy and unkempt, and he shifted uncomfortably from where his backpack cut into his sides.

“Who else is with you” Jenine said furiously. She fixed her features into what she hoped looked like a mix of desperation and insanity.

“Just me….a-and my brothers. We, uh…are all three out ca- camping. They’re just behind me.” He squirmed, terrified.

“You’re lying.” Jenine spat. She twitched her eye sporadically, and his eyes opened even wider.  “Who do you work for? Did Michael send you?” The boy was perplexed. He should be, Jenine had made up the name.

“Michael? Uh, yeah. Yes, and he’s sending his men now, so you had better run!” The boy stammered. Jenine smiled. He would have contradicted her had he been telling the truth. Instead he was lying through his teeth, because he knew that he was no threat to her. She could destroy him if she so chose. She wouldn’t of course, not that she could let him go either. 

“Oy, Sal! We’ve got company.” Jenine hollered. Then, to the boy: “sorry about that, I had to make sure you’re alone.  There is no Michael, and I’m not actually crazy. I ought to win an award for that acting though, don’t you think?” She winked, and helped him up. She saw him glance at the forest edge. “Don’t. You won’t make it ten feet. I’m Jenine, by the way.” She stuck out her hand. He didn’t take it.

“I know who you are. Please, just let me go, I promise I won’t tell anyone where you are!” He said. Jenine frowned, puzzled. Sal bounded over to meet them at this point.

“Oooh, isn’t he cute!” Sal said delicately. “Have you already done the thing?” She asked, not taking her eyes off the boy. He gulped.

“Yeah, he’s alone. We’re safe to talk.” Sal looked a bit disappointed. “So come on then. What’s your story? What are you doing here, and how do you know who we are?” The boy didn’t speak, glancing frantically back and forth between the two girls.  Sal smiled mischievously.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. I won’t bite.” She stepped a bit closer and brushed her hingers through his hair. “Not hard anyway.”

“Sal.” Jenine snapped, rolling her eyes. Sal grinned wider, but stepped back. “What’s your name?” Jenine prompted.

“I’m called Fox.” The boy said surely, seeming to find himself.

“Why?”

He looked down at his feet. “Got good ears is all.”

“And where are you headed? You running away or to?” Jenine asked. He hesitated, and then seemed to decide on honesty.

“Both. I’ve left the city, and now I’m going to find a man on an island who says he can send me to Taurus. I’m going to join the army there.” Jenine nodded.

“So are we, one day. Viva la Tierra” She said smiling. He jumped, astonished.

“Really, you? You’ve got to be joking.” He laughed once, hard. “You blow up the prime minister and then you think you can just waltz over to Taurus like it’s nothing?” Jenine’s jaw dropped, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Sal’s hand fly to her mouth.

“The prime minister can’t be dead.” She said to herself quietly. “I voted for her… Wait, what do you mean we killed her?” She exclaimed suddenly. “That building was empty, the street closed for construction. No injuries, no deaths. Just a fireworks show.” She grew furious. She had double checked-triple checked. No one could possibly have been in the building they destroyed. She was willing to kill for her cause, but never the innocent.

Fox looked at her skeptically, and then explained. “That’s the big question. What was the Prime Minister doing in an empty building on an abandoned street all by herself? But the cameras show her going in, and what’s left of her body is a 100% DNA match. The police kind of just assumed that whoever set off the bomb must have lured her there. It’s not that much of a leap to make. Your pictures are posted all across the city. $100,000 reward for any information about you two.” He paused. “You’ve been sentenced to execution, no trial.”

“The building was empty!” Jenine gasped. “She couldn’t have been in there.”

“She was, though.” Fox said.

“They’ve got no evidence, though. They can’t execute us with no evidence.” Sal said.

“Who cares about evidence? The Prime Minister has been assassinated. We left a calling card. They know it was us. They don’t need proof anymore.”

“Why’d you do it?” Fox blurted, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“We didn’t! Well, we did, but…” Jenine began. “We want to join the army of Taurus, but Taurus doesn’t just take any Taylor snob who applies. Even if they did, they would do it reluctantly. To get there you have to fail the personality test or commit a crime and complete a jail sentence. We passed our exams years ago, so that leaves crime. But if we commit a big enough crime to get ourselves sent to Taurus, the Jail sentence would be at least 5 years. We can’t wait that long. Earth is dying now. We want to fight now.”

“The bomb was my idea.” Sal said. “it was genius. If we committed a large crime that they couldn’t pin on us, they would want us gone but wouldn’t be able to give us a Jail sentence. We would be sent to Taurus as criminals, but not punished. And the army of Taurus, having heard about our particular skill-set, would surely accept us into the training program. So we planned to set off a massive bomb where no one was present. No casualties, massive destruction. No evidence, but a little calling card: two intertwined roses. It’s been my signature for years, every act of vandalism they couldn’t prove was me.”

“We announced a plan for a road trip as an alibi. We would go hiking in the mountains of Calsurek, and when we came back to the capitol in a few months they would send us away. We could fight when the war finally breaks out. What the hell was she doing in there.” She sighed.

“I don’t know.” Fox said. He decided she was telling the truth. “I’m sorry, but you can never go back.” He said, studying her. She was uncomfortable under his gaze. “look, I’ve got to go. I won’t tell anyone I saw you. No matter what else, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble, I’m on a schedule.” Jennine nodded.

“Good Luck.” She said meekly. He began to walk across the clearing. She watched him go, and about fifty feet away he stopped suddenly.

“Damn it,” she heard him cuss quietly. He ran back to where she and Sal stood, pulled off his pack, and started rummaging around for something. “Look, I can’t travel with you. I won’t take the risk, your faces will probably give you away in a second, they aren’t hard to recognize.” He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, holding it against his pack, he scribbled down a name and an address. “Go to this location, and buy Jim Heck a beer. Slip the word frog into conversation, that’s the password for the next three weeks, so make sure to do it by then. When he asks you what a frog is, say ‘Something beautiful we left to die a long time ago.’ Say that exactly. He’ll ask you to hand him a napkin, and when you do slip whatever money you have inside of it. If it’s enough, he will ask you to come sailing with him. He’s the captain that can take you to the island I mentioned. The man on the island will take you wherever you want to go, and make sure that you’re taken care of once you get there.” He wrote down the word ‘frog’ and the proper response.

“Thank you.” Jenine said, stunned.

“Taurus needs strong fighters like you.” He said solemnly. “I didn’t give this to you. We never met.” He handed her the paper. She nodded and took it, and without a word he put his pack on and walked off, disappearing into the tree line on the other side of the meadow.