A/N: Ok first time I posted this chapter it was the wrong one. I'm sorry. The one before is actually chapter 38. I'm really sorry for the confusion! It's my fault and I hope this will help straighten out the story again.
Ronnie and I head up stairs taking our bags of stuff. We decide to head outside so we don’t wake Jama. I adjust the straps of my backpack on my back. Before we head outside in the snow.
“Jama will see our footprints!” Ronnie says coming to a halt.
“Remember, we’ll be long gone before Jama ever gets up. Now let’s go.” I grab her wrist and pull her along to the front of the house. “Do you have everything?” I ask sitting on the front patio in the turnaround circle.
Ronnie takes her bag off looking inside it. All her weapons ware around her with enough bullets for the guns. “Yeah, I think I got everything.” She says slipping the bag back over her shoulders. “What about you, did you bring money?” She asks.
“I think I swiped a few thousand. It’s all I could get.”
“That will probably work!” Ronnie says sarcastically, like it’s a lot. But I know better. A few thousand isn’t that much now, with all the food and medicine we’ll probably have to get on the way, our money will be gone in a few weeks. I don’t know how long it will take to get Logan back, but I know it will be more than a week if we travel at the rate I’m believing we will go at.
Jason can’t drive forever, we’ll need to stop at some hotels and, if we can’t, we’ll have to camp out in the truck our find our own place to sleep in the woods.
“How do you think we’ll get there?” Ronnie asks taking a seat next to me, wrapping her scarf tighter around her neck.
I grin pulling out a little note book. I open up to the first page and date it. Day 1, I write. I hand the book to Ronnie. She looks confused as she takes it. “Thought we could calculate the number of days we were traveling and what we were doing on each day. Everyone can write in it.” I say warming up my hands. “I brought another just in case. You can do the first entry if you want.”
She examines the journal by flipping the pages until she gets to the end. She sighs and hands the book back to me. “Your journey, you start it.” She says.
I take the journal back and open up to where I wrote the day.
Day 1 24:51 hours,
Well guess this is it. I’m leading my family into the great unknown as we start on this journey to rescue our Commander, Logan, from the clutches of the Unions. I don’t know what awaits us out there, but I pray to God we all come back alive. I do not want to die out there knowing we snuck away not telling anyone. Hopefully, if we return, they will understand. They have to. It seems as though the world is upon our shoulders. And it shouldn’t be like that. We’re kids for God’s sake. We shouldn’t have to worry about war. But I have to keep telling myself that we aren’t just kids, but Outcasts. And Ronnie and I are not just kids and Outcasts, but Assassins. And maybe when we return, we’ll have a better understanding of what we’re truly up against.
~Kimberley
I close the journal and slip it back into my coat. Ronnie turns her head towards me and looks up and down. “What?” I say.
“Can I read it?” She asks holding her hand out for the book.
“You can read it when you do an entry of your own.” I say. She raises her lip in anger and slouches a bit, folding her arms. Like a little kid. I grin a little and feel an uneasy feeling.
I want to tell Jama where we’re going. I don’t want to upset him, I don’t want him to worry. I have to make myself keep seated and not go running back in and telling Jama we’re leaving.
While Ronnie and I wait we make sure we have enough supplies in our packs and I tell her the food I brought. Ronnie turns to me and takes something out around my neck. It is the eagle necklace I found in Mom and Dad’s room. I see her face turn sullen. “Do you think mom will be with us?” Ronnie says running her fingers over the pendent. I give her a soft smile. “Yeah, I think she will be.” Ronnie lets the pendent go and I stuff it back into my shirt so the pendent isn’t showing. I feel its weight around my neck. I sigh hoping she is with us. And that she forgives me for what I’ve done and what I’m going to do. Then I notice four figures coming up from the hill.
Jason is leading them. Blake, Ivan and Saige stand behind him or next to him. Ronnie and I get to our feet. “Ready?” I say. Jason looks between Ronnie and me. He wears a blue military coat with black gloves and black boots. Blake wears a black coat with brown cameo pants and boots.
“Are you sure about this?” he says again making me think about my decision. But I take the bags I placed on the ground and swing them over my shoulders. “I should ask you the same thing?” I grunt as I take on the extra weight.
Jason hesitates for a minute but then grins. “You need help carrying those.” He asks taking the food bag.
“Thanks.” I say. I look at Saige and Ivan as they greet Ronnie. But Ivan makes his way back over to the boys and me.
Ivan wears a blue coat with fur in the hood and black pants. Saige wears a white coat with fur in the hood and black pants as well. Both wear brown boots with black gloves.
“What do we do now, Kim?” Jason asks. I look amongst the group and see everyone start to turn their attention to me. I start to freak out. I’m leading this group, this was my idea. I have to do this.
I swallow hard waiting for minute. “Anyone got a map.” Jason makes his horse come forward and stop right beside me. He takes out a map from his pocket and hands it to me.
I open it looking for the fastest way to get to North Dakota and across the border.
“I can’t see anything, it’s too dark out.” I complain. Blake pulls out a flashlight from his bag that he carries over his shoulder. He walks over to me and shines the light in the map.
“Here,” I say putting the mad in my coat. “Let’s just get away from here. Then when we’re far enough away we can search the map and mark a quick route to Canada.”
“Alright guys, follow me.” Jason says, heading back down the hill. We all start to follow, but I take one last glance at the house, hoping this wouldn’t be the last time I see it.
It takes us about twenty minutes to get down to the hill, sneak into the garage, and grab keys for the truck, pile in, and head out. I allow Blake to sit in the front with Jason while the rest of us sit in the back. The car is like the one we drove to when we first arrived here, five and half years ago. We put shades down on the window the only light is coming from the front window and rear window.
But I move some of the curtains and watch the Lodge getting farther and farther behind us.
Jason smiles at me. “Are you afraid?” He says. I see him looking at me through the review mirror. I grin back at him and answer, “Just taking it all in. After we get to that lamp, we’re on our way.”
He nods looking back at the road. Ronnie, Ivan and Saige have already positioned themselves so their laying on the seats to try and sleep. Blake sits sideways, pressing his back against the car door.
We come to the main road and make a right. I don’t look back.
***
I wake to my stomach growling at the thought of food. I can tell everyone else feels that way as well. Saige, Ronnie and Ivan are up, but still looking exhausted. I check the car clock on the dashboard. 700 hundred hours. I yawn. “Anyone hungry?” I ask stretching out my back from the uncomfortable sleeping position. Almost everyone moans in agreement. I grab the burlap sack full of canned food and start to pass it out to everyone. “It’s all I could grab in a hurry.”
I take off the sack with the food and take out bagels I packed. I open the bag and pass around a bagel to everyone. Only two were left so I reclose the bag and stick it back into the sack. Saige and Ronnie split one while the rest of us have a whole one. Jason eats while driving, which I don’t approve of, but I trust he knows how to eat carefully and not make the whole car crash.
“Hey, where are we headed?” Ivan asks curiously.
I put up a finger telling them to hold on for one minute. I swallow and pull out the map and unfold it. “I think we should go down to Indiana across to Illinois then across Minnesota to North Dakota leading us straight into the enemy’s gate.”
“Why can’t we just enter from Minnesota?” Blake asks. “It’s quicker.”
“Well, I did some research on Canada. Turns out they have a security gate that is being worked on in Minnesota. The gate blocks from anyone from coming into their country. Sadly I don’t know where that ends or begins. If we go any farther then we’ll be in enemy territory. We have to enter in North Dakota.” I say. “Anyone have a pen?”
They search through their coat pockets before Blake tosses me one from the front. I uncap it and trace our travel route on the map. I sigh looking at the route. “There’s only one flaw with this plan. I really have no idea where the CM Experiments Facility is? Anyone look it up perhaps?” I look around to see if anyone did. It is a long shot. “Okay, guess we have to find out where that is.” I say standing up.
“Next town we find let’s ask someone in there.” Jason suggests.
“Good idea, let’s get going then.” I say folding back up the map and start to open up the windows to allow sunlight in. “Jason, shouldn’t we be out of Michigan now?
Jason doesn’t answer straight away but I unbuckle and kneel behind his seat, trying to get the answer out of him. He finally sighs, beaten, and says, “I got really tired in the night so I had to pull over in the night and take a nap. Blake was the one who finally woke me up. So really, we’ve only been on the road for about forty minutes.
I don’t know why he didn’t just tell me. I’m not mad. How can I be mad? If Jason was tired he by all means should have stopped someplace to rest. If he didn’t I would find myself looking into a bright light rather than staring at a snowy highway.
“You did the right thing.” I say.
“I know I did, but I think I might need to pull over again pretty soon.” He states. “I only got about two hours of sleep.”
“We need to stop somewhere anyways to ask for directions.” Blake says. “I can take over if you want.”
“I can just take a nap while you guys look for directions.” He says. I stare at him for another second before taking my seat and eating the rest of my bagel.
“Who wants to play a game?” Ronnie says. No one answers but Ronnie turns around and looks outside. “I spy something white.”
“Snow.” Saige guesses.
“Okay, your turn.” Ronnie says. Saige turns her head to stare out the window.
“I spy something, cold.”
“Snow.” Ronnie says. “I spy something bright.”
“Snow.” Ronnie and Saige go back and forth saying what they spy. All the answers were snow.
“I spy two people who won’t shut up.” Blake says looking back at Saige and Ronnie. Both look at one another then grin and laugh.
I smile, glad their having a little fun. But this isn’t a vacation. It’s a quest. And whether or not I make it out alive, I’ll make sure all of them do.