Blood Supermoon

26. Survive

There was a train that brought cargo into Khalstone. It had a route that went through most of the west, including Cedar. After leaving the border, they trekked into the outskirts of the forest and hid in the bushes to meet the train. Upton was the one that knew about it, often sneaking into cars to go and sleep with women in other towns. When Zaria received word of this, he took away Upton's weekend privileges, but Upton still remembered the schedule.

The train didn't arrive until early next morning. Josandra was the first to wake up, feeling the earth rumbling underneath her.

As the workers were busy unloading the shipments into the factory, the group ran across the grass and towards one of the cars. At first, Upton tried to just pull back the door, but it was locked. Lue eyed him and pushed him away, cutting through the lock with her sword. The train car was filled with livestock, chickens and goats locked up in cages.

It took an hour for the train to get moving. Jackson spent most of it trying to run after the few chickens that were free. He kept laughing over it, grinning from ear to ear like he was a child. And Josandra realized that technically he still was one. Sixteen was pretty young to be joining the military and now storming into the palace. She felt as though he shouldn't be putting his life on the line like this, but Jackson was determined to do anything for Zaria. She sat nearby him on a large plastic crate, fighting the urge to join him in his game. When she noticed Lue watching her, she jumped a little in her seat.

"What?" she asked.

"You look like you want to join," Lue said, amused.

"I'm too old for that," she frowned.

"Oh, okay..." Lue said. "I didn't get to ask you but...are we okay?"

Josandra's mind veered back to last night and her eyes widened. Sharply, she looked down at her knees. So much had happened in the last few hours that she didn't have time to think about last night and what happened. There were some things she couldn't believe she said and did last night. Thinking about it now made her jittery. She avoided looking at Lue's lips.

"Yes...are you okay?" she asked.

Lue paused, "Yes, look at me."

Josandra did and saw in Lue's eyes a peace that made her calm too. Her shoulders relaxed and slowly, she smiled at her. Lue returned the smile.

Upton was watching them with furrowed brows, slouching on the floor with arms around his rifle.

"What are you two talking about?" he asked.

"Nothing," Lue said.

"You have too many secrets," he said.

"Don't we all?" Josandra argued.

"Hey, look!" Jackson said.

Stuck to his face was a few white feathers. In his hands, he was holding a chicken and grinning ear to ear. Lue rose from her spot and motioned that she was about to smack him.

"Will you stop being so damn loud before someone comes and checks this area?" she loud whispered before sticking her hand into her pocket. "Here, for the both of you."

They were identical black scarves to the one Josandra and she were wearing. The boys tied it on and then the group sat around, facing Lue who still stood. As the train propelled on, her body swayed to the side.

"When we get to Khalstone, we've got to stick together," she said. "There's only four of us and hundreds of guards. We won't make it if we're on our own. No matter what you do, do not stray from the group. Try to stick together."

"That's the first thing they're gonna go for, separating us," Upton said.

"I know. So we're going to try to minimize our time in there. Once we're actually inside, I want to be in there for no more than 10 minutes. We get Zaria and then we get out. Nothing more to it. Understand?" Lue said.