Miller let out a long sigh, “You can watch us the whole time. We’ll be right out there. Nothing is going to happen. Luke does it all the time.”
Vaughan didn’t look like he was going to say yes, but Tyler leaned over and whispered something that made him change his mind.
I wondered if she could see how grumpy Miller looked. She didn’t like it when he got mad. I didn’t either.
“Stay close to the house,” Vaughan told me. “I’ll watch you out the window. If you think there is any danger out there, come inside. Do you understand?”
I smiled at him, “Yes. Promise.”
“Love you, Pagey.” Vaughan smiled at me and I felt all warm inside. I was so happy to have my brothers back that I could barely stop smiling to rest my cheeks. They hurt from how happy I was.
“Love you too, Vaughan.”
“Hey!” the rest of my brothers yelled at me.
“I love all of you too. Even King.” I didn’t always love King. He was my most annoying brother.
King stood up and looked like he was going to say something to me, but Miller tugged on my arm first. “Let’s go,” he pleaded.
I gave my family one last smile and followed Miller to the backyard. The sun was hot back here, but the fresh air felt good on my bare arms and face.
I loved the smell of this place. It smelled so much better than any place we had been lately. Even the cave where those people wanted to eat us had smelled funny.
Luke stood in the middle of the garden swinging a long stick around. Miller walked right over to him, picking up his own stick as he went. I followed behind, but walked slower.
I couldn’t get over the garden and all of the things Joy had made grow here. I had never seen anything like it before.
Or maybe I had… I just couldn’t remember.
I carefully touched some of the plants. It was pretty cool how some of them were soft and others rubbery, some of them had pretty flowers on them and some were prickly and hard. I didn’t know there were so many things to eat that grew straight out of the ground.
My brothers told me stories about what food used to be like and Reagan and Haley sometimes played a fun game with me where they talked about what the world used to be like. But usually we ate out of cans or bags.
Or we didn’t eat at all.
I was mostly happy that all of the plants weren’t like the ones Adela had found for us. I had been too hungry to care what it tasted like, but that cactus was disgusting. I never wanted to eat it again.
“So what was it like?” Luke asked. It sounded like he was asking me.
I turned to face him and noticed that both he and Miller were watching me. I played with the petals of a pretty pink flower and tried not to feel nervous.
“What was what like?” I dropped the flower and made myself go stand by them. I didn’t need to be afraid of either boy. Miller wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me again.
He promised me.
And I believed him.
“The plantation. My dad says that man is bad news. He said you’re lucky to be alive.” Luke looked like Miller in some ways only his hair was darker and his eyes were blue. He had freckles over his nose too that made me think he would be nice, but I wasn’t so sure now. He hadn’t talked to me very much since my brothers brought me here.
“It was bad,” I told them truthfully. “I hated it.”
“What did they make you do?” Miller asked. I looked over at him and tried to guess what he was thinking.
“Clean.” My hands started sweating from the way he stared at me. “I had to clean a lot.”
“What else?” Miller walked over to me and wrapped his hand around my wrist. His grip was strong and tight. “You can tell me, Page. I want to know.”
I looked at my shoes and tried to figure out what he wanted me to say. I had already told him everything and I didn’t want to make him madder. “They didn’t let me eat,” I finally admitted. “Or drink.” Miller’s fingers tightened on my arm and I pushed at his shoulder, trying to get him to let go. “Your mom’s a really good cook,” I told Luke. Miller let go of my wrist.
“Thanks,” he grinned at me. “She makes really good chocolate cake too. You should try it.”
My mouth started watering. I wanted her chocolate cake.
“We’re leaving soon,” Miller announced. “They’re talking about it inside. Once we kill my dad, we’ll be going. So we probably won’t get to try the cake.”
We were leaving this place? My stomach sank. I loved it here. I hadn’t been here for very long, but it was the best place we’d ever been. Nobody tried to kill us here. And I hadn’t seen a Feeder the entire day.
I thought Andy might keep his army in the backyard like the rest of the places we’d been, but I couldn’t hear or smell any Feeders nearby. Haley had told me that these people didn’t keep Zombie armies and that we were safe here.
I knew I should have believed her, but I didn’t right away. The people we’d met already were just too… bad. I didn’t think any of them knew how to be good. Except Luke and his parents. They seemed nice.
Maybe they weren’t as bad as everyone else.
“You’re going to let them kill your dad?” Luke didn’t sound very nice when he asked Miller that.
“His dad isn’t like your dad,” I told him quickly. I didn’t want Miller to get mad at Luke. “He’s a really mean guy.”
“He has to die,” Miller added. He didn’t sound mad at Luke, but he stood so close to me now that I almost tipped over.
“Is he the guy that everyone is afraid of?” Luke picked up his stick and hit a tall flower with it. He smashed the pretty petals to pieces. That wasn’t very nice.
“Yeah,” Miller answered. He didn’t sound proud like most kids would be of their dads. He sounded sad and it made me sad.
I lay my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his stomach. “Maybe they’ll kill him this time,” I said hopefully. “Maybe you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Miller didn’t say anything but he didn’t feel so angry anymore. He felt softer than he had a minute ago.
Luke pointed his long stick at me and asked, “How old are you?”
I stood up straight again and looked up at Miller for help. Miller wasn’t looking at me. He was watching Luke and he looked mad again.
“I’m nine.” I pushed my hair out of my face and asked, “How old are you?”
“Eleven,” Luke told me and this time he smiled. His freckles looked better on his nose when he smiled.
“Miller’s twelve,” I added so Miller wouldn’t feel left out.
Luke rolled his eyes, “I know.”
Miller tugged on my shirt. I looked over at him and smiled. He didn’t smile back. He was watching me again.
“Page, you would tell me if something bad happened at that place, wouldn’t you?” he asked.
I pushed him, but not very hard. He was annoying me. “Something bad did happen! Hello! They kidnapped me! I’m so glad you guys found me this morning. I didn’t know how I would stand being there for another day. They were awful.”
He looked even angrier. “Did you think we wouldn’t find you?”
I shook my head and my hair whipped me in the face. I growled at it and shoved it behind my ears. “I always knew you would come. My brothers would never leave me.”
“I won’t either.” Miller looked so serious that I believed him. “I’ll always take care of you, Page.”
“I know.” I didn’t know why my words came out in a whisper.
Luke grunted and it made me remember that he was still here. “I like your house,” I told him. “I wish we could live here forever.”
“You can,” Luke smiled at me. “You can have it. We’re leaving.”
“You’re leaving?” Why would anybody ever leave this place? It was amazing. “Where are you going?”
He shrugged and hit another flower with his stick. I wanted to rip the stick away from him and hit him
in the knee. Then he would know what it felt like.
Luke stared at his feet when he said, “To wherever you guys came from. My dad says we have to go back there and rebuild it.”
“We came from a really bad place,” I told him. “Feeders are everywhere. Bad men are everywhere.”
“She’s right. My dad rules the country and he’s made it a really horrible place to live.” Miller put his arm around my shoulders. He kept touching me today. Ever since I got back he kept putting his arm around me or his hand in mine. He had always done that stuff before, but today it was more than normal. I wondered if he was afraid someone else would steal me again.
“My parents want to fix that,” Luke told us with another shrug.
I guessed he wasn’t very afraid of Matthias then. It was probably because Luke had never met Matthias before. If he had, then he would care more. He would be as afraid as me.
“Well this place isn’t any better. People are always trying to kill my dad. They either want to kill him or make him fix them when they’re sick. Your country has to be better than that.” Luke scratched his nose and waited for us to tell him a worse story.
I had too many. I didn’t know where to start.
“We’re not going to stay here,” Miller answered for me. “We’re going some place safe. We have a plan.”
Luke smiled again. “That sounds boring. I wouldn’t want to live somewhere safe.”
I smiled with him. It was hard for me to understand boring, but something inside of me liked what Luke said. Did I want to live somewhere safe? Did I really even care?
I just wanted to be with my family. Nothing else mattered.
That wasn’t entirely true though. Something bothered me but I couldn’t put words to it. My skin suddenly felt itchy.
“You’re stupid,” Miller told Luke. “It’s stupid to not want to be safe.”
Luke shrugged one shoulder. He didn’t seem bothered by Miller’s insult at all. “Maybe. But we’re going to rebuild a whole country. My dad says that’s the best thing there is to do in this world. I’d rather be doing the best thing than the safe thing.”
My heart beat picked up until it felt like it was running in my chest. I felt like I was being chased by Feeders and I didn’t have a weapon to protect myself.
“Page, don’t listen to him, he’s an idiot,” Miller grumbled.
“Where are you guys going? Where is it safe?” Again Luke ignored Miller and turned his eyes right on me. I thought Luke must have the most patience in the world to put up with Miller and all of the mean things he was saying.
I liked that about Luke. I liked that when he smiled at me his eyes sparkled. I liked that when he talked to me, he looked right at me and made me feel like I was the only person that he wanted to look at. He was nice.
“South,” Miller answered for me.
I finally saw Luke get angry. He shot Miller a look and said, “I was asking her. Besides, you’re already south.”
“We’re going farther south,” I said quickly. I didn’t want them to start fighting. I had seen a lot of fighting over the last week. I was tired of fighting. “There’s a place with doctors and scientists. We’re going to see if we can help them.”
“Help them do what?” Luke turned back to me and the angry look disappeared. I smiled at him. He smiled back.
“Page, don’t tell him.” Miller squeezed my shoulder and made me stand right next to him. I didn’t argue or pull away. It felt like forever since I had been this close to Miller. I missed him.
“Why not?” I whispered.
“Yeah, why not?” Luke stopped sounding nice again. I guessed that Miller was really getting on his nerves.
Miller leaned down until his nose almost touched mine. “We’re not supposed to tell anybody. It’s dangerous.”
I glanced over at Luke, he was smiling again. He seemed to always be smiling. “I like dangerous,” he said.
I shook my head. “Miller’s right. We’re not supposed to tell anybody.”
The back door opened and Tyler leaned out. “Miller, I need you to come inside. I need to talk to you.”
“Come on, Page,” he tugged on my arm.
“I guess, I have to go,” I told Luke.
“You could stay outside with me. She said she needed to talk to Miller, not you.”
That was true. I ignored Miller telling me what to do and turned back to Tyler. “Can I stay outside for a little bit longer, Ty?”
“Sure, Sugar. Just don’t go any farther than where you are now. Vaughan’s watching you.”
I figured he was. My brothers always watched me. I knew they were mad that I had been taken. If they could have stopped it, they would have. They would do anything to protect me.
I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to protect them too.
“Page, you don’t want to go inside with me?” Miller demanded in a quiet voice so Tyler couldn’t hear him.
“I’m going to stay outside for a little longer. It’s nice out here.” I scratched my ear and tried to look anywhere but at Miller’s eyes. I tried to remind myself that just because he looked mad didn’t mean that he was. He looked at me a lot like this, but he told me he wasn’t mad. He said he was just thinking a lot.
He dropped his head to talk right in my ear. Now I knew he didn’t want Luke to hear either. “I told you I’m not letting you go, Page. You’re supposed to go with me.”
My heart hurt at how sad he sounded. I threw my arms around him and hoped that made him feel better. Sometimes he would get really upset, but if I hugged him or played with his hair, he would calm down. “I am with you. I just don’t want to go inside right now.”
Sometimes I said things I didn’t completely understand to make him feel better. I hated it when Miller was sad. His dad was such a mean person and his brother had died. I couldn’t imagine if one of my brothers died. I didn’t think I would ever be happy again. But Miller tried really hard and I wanted to help him.
I also never talked about his mom. When we had to leave my mom, I thought I would die. It hurt so bad. But I had my brothers to help me keep living. Miller only had Tyler and he was always mad at her. I tried to love him enough to help him like my brothers had helped me.
And because I was the reason his mom was dead. Even though Miller said he didn’t like his mom, I didn’t believe him. I decided a while ago that I would spend the rest of my life trying to make him happy.
He wasn’t just my friend, he was Miller. And that meant something very important to me.
“Miller!” Tyler hollered louder. “Let’s go! Page will come inside in a bit.”
Miller whispered so quietly that I had to press my ear to his mouth to hear him. “I don’t like this kid, Page. Be careful.”
I turned so I could cup my hand over my mouth and whisper back. “I thought he was your friend.”
Miller pulled back and finally started walking toward Tyler. “Not anymore,” I heard him mumble.
I wondered what had changed. When I first got here, Miller told me who Luke was and said that we could trust him. Now Miller hated Luke? What was different?
“He’s moody,” Luke declared when the door to the house shut. “Is he always like that?”
“His mom and brother died. He’s sad.”
Luke laughed at my explanation. “He might be sad because his family is dead, but that’s not why he’s moody.”
I didn’t know what that meant so I decided to stay quiet. “You won’t like it in the Colony.”
His attention returned to me and he smiled again. “I bet I will.”
“No, it’s scary. There are Feeders everywhere. And Miller’s dad is a really bad man.” I stepped closer to him. He needed to believe me. He made it sound like he was going to have fun fighting Miller’s dad. But it wasn’t fun. And it wasn’t fun running from Feeders either.
“We call them the Dead down here. Does everyone call them Feeders where you’re from?”
I nodded. “Or Zombies.”
/>
“We call them that too.”
We stared at each other for a minute before I reminded him, “You should really tell your mom and dad not to go. Something bad could happen to you guys.”
“Would that bug you?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“What?”
“If something bad happened to me?”
I smiled at him. “Of course it would bug me! I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. You should come with us. My brothers can kill anything. They would protect your family too.”
“How do you know they would let us come with you?” He started drawing circles in the dirt with his stick. I thought he might have been embarrassed to ask me the question because he didn’t look at me.
“They’re really nice,” I told him. “They let Reagan and Haley come with us. They let Tyler and Miller come too. And I think we’re going to keep Adela. I think she wants to come with us too. They like to protect people.”
“They like to protect girls.” He looked at me again. “I like to protect girls too.”
“That’s nice.”
“I could protect you.”
“Not like my brothers.”
I don’t think he liked my answer, but he didn’t argue with me. “You should come with me. It’s going to be way better than going to live with some boring doctors.”
“I can’t leave my family.” I felt guilty after I said that, so I told him the truth. “I would never leave them.”
He looked at me funny. “Even when you’re older?”
“Why would I leave them when I’m older?” Luke was nice, but he was strange too.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Maybe you’ll get bored.”
Luke really hated to be bored. “I don’t think I will.”
“Well, if you do, you should come with us. By then we’ll have done what we wanted to and we’ll be in charge. I might be in charge by then.”
“You want to be in charge of the Colony? Why?” That place was horrible. I couldn’t believe anybody would want to go there. I especially couldn’t believe someone as nice as Luke would want to be in charge of it.
“Well, it won’t be the Colony when I’m in charge. I told you, my dad and me are going to rebuild it. We’re going to make it something better and kill all of the Dead. When you’re old enough, you should come see. You’ll be impressed.”