Journey for Jayda

Prologue

Nessa

  Like with everything awful that's ever happened in my life, I knew..

  The day they took her I could feel it.. They had been getting closer for some time.. But that day..

5 days prior

  I jerk awake suddenly. It's quiet around the campsite. As well as pitch black. My heart thumped in my chest at the thought of what might be hiding in the inky blackness.

Many thoughts as to why I woke suddenly ran through my head. But only one stuck out to me.

  It's them. They're close. Too close. LEAVE NOW.

  Trusting my gut, I swing my legs effortlessly out of my hammock with a small thump as my sock covered feet hit the ground. With great effort I find the lantern and matches.

  How many matches does it take to light a lantern in absolute darkness?

  All of them apparently.

  Luckily the last one was the charm.

  Once my eyes adjusted, I moved to where Jayda slept peacefully in her hammock. I smiled despite the imminent danger we are probably in. Being a whole 7 years superior to my sister, when our parents died I was who she had to look to.
 
  And I had no one.

  Here we are a year later. The people we have been running from are dangerously close and I'm sitting here reminiscing.

"Jayda," gently I shake her arm, "Jayda baby we need to leave." Slowly she groans in response. Growling lowly I threaten her, "If you don't get up in the next 5 seconds I'm flipping your hammock over."

  All at once she was out of her hammock smacking face first into me. Once she gains her bearings she looks at me with a questionable gaze.

  "Jayda come on, get your stuff together. Don't ask questions." I look at her very seriously, "Just do it."

  She gulps softly, I know she's put the pieces together. She knows I know something is about to happen.

 
  In under ten minutes we have everything we need packed and on our backs.

  We start off into the darkness. It was dangerous to travel at night, what with all the mutated wildlife. Specifically the bears. I shudder at the thought of coming face to face with one again. However,  I'd much rather chance it with a bear than who we're running from.

  My mother talked about them often. Mostly of how awful they were. She never actually told me why.

  We walked and walked. Forever trecking through the dark, then the sun began to come up. With it the birds, lulling the beasts of the night into their day time slumber.

   However, with the sun, came chaos.

   A few miles back I smelt smoke, thought it was some one else living in the forest. You know we weren't the only ones to find comfort in the solidarity.

   Then I hear it. The roar of a wild fire. It blazed high and mighty about 200 yards in front of us.

    Panic can't even begin to describe how I felt in this moment. Yet, I stay stoic, looking around to possibly find a way around it.

    People.

   I see them, silver packs on their backs, with black hoses leading into their hands..

   They're using flamethrowers.
 
   "Nessa what are they doing?" Jayda tugs at my sleeve, looking at my with her big bright eyes.

    "Watering the forest," I say with humor in my tone, deciding in my mind to investigate further. Quickly I grab Jayda's hand and move into the shadows of the dense shrubbery closer to the people.