I ran into the hallway and slammed the door behind me. There was an old chair lying on the floor under the stairs. It was cracked and looked like it might crack at any moment, but I grabbed it anyway. Then, I shoved it under the doorknob.
The men got to the door just as I placed the chair, and started pounding on it. I backed away in fear. I’d only ever seen the technique done in the movies, and I had no idea if it was actually going to work. The men kept pounding, and I began to wonder if the door itself would hold up.
I decided not to stick around and find out. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and then over to Stephen.
“Come on,” I said and tried to pull him up. When he only moaned, I said, “We’ve got to go!”
I managed to get him into a sitting position, but he kept trying to slide back down. Finally, I gave him a little shake and slapped him.
His eyes flew open in surprise and confusion. After a moment, his eyes focused on me.
“Did you just…slap me?” he asked.
“There are men downstairs,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m pretty sure they’ll kill us if they find us. Or worse. We have to get out of here.”
Stephen nodded weakly, and I helped him get to his feet. Then we stumbled through the apartment, trying to find the fire escape. Once we did, the window was stuck. By then, we could hear the men coming up the stairs, so I threw a chunk of debris through the glass and carefully broke out the remaining pieces.
Then Stephen and I crawled onto the fire escape. The only problem was that the ladder was missing.
My breath catches in my throat, and I reach for a weapon when I feel someone’s hand on my ankle.
“Hey. It’s okay. You were just having a dream,” a voice says to me.
I look up to see August standing at the end of my bed, a look of concern on his face.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I sigh.
He sits down on the bed, and I slide up next to him.
“Was it about when the dragons came, or the Before time?” he asks.
I nod, but don’t say anything for a while. Eventually, I say, “When the dragons came, I was a town dweller.”
“No? You?”
I chuckle. “Yep. Boston, actually.”
“Wow, you’re a long way from home. How’d you get this far south?”
“When things started getting cold, I just…figured south was better.”
He nods and looks at my scar. “It was hard for you when they came.”
A sad smile crosses my face, and I look away.
“Life was great before they came. I was very young and naive. That all changed very quickly.”
I look over at Charlotte, asleep with her head beside David.
“Everyone I knew was gone, just like that. The dragons attacked the cities the hardest.”
August nods in recollection.
“The only person left was my husband. If I got anything out of this, it was learning just how useless he was.”
“Is he dead?” August gently asks.
“I have no idea,” I reply as I get up to see if there’s anything left to eat. “He left me behind.”
When I finish digging around, I shake my head. “There’s nothing left to eat. I have to go hunting.”
“I’ll go with you,” August offers. “There’s nothing more I can do here right now. Rest is the best thing for him at the moment.”
I nod and shrug. “I suppose four eyes are better than one,” I admit. “Though that didn’t go so well for Stephen. Just remember, there are definitely bears out there.”
The two of us step outside into the cold again, and Dog immediately runs up to us.
“Well, six eyes, I suppose.”
It doesn’t take us long to run into some rabbits in the brush, along with some wild chickens. The meat won’t last that long, but it’s better than nothing, which is what I currently have in my fridge.
We pack up our kills, our breath frosting in the cold. True winter would be coming soon, and then the Migration.
We’re in no hurry as we walk back to my cabin, content to be outside, and satisfied with our kills. Dog runs around, playing in the snow, and barking at us to join him now and then.
“What about you?” I finally say, breaking the silence.
“What about me?” he asks.
“Where were you when the dragons came?”
His pleasant demeanor slips a little, and I can tell that things must have been hard for him, too. Then again, wasn’t it for everyone? He glances down at his feet and kicks at the snow.
“It’s okay,” I say. “You don’t have to talk about it.”
As we get near the cabin, Dog takes off running toward home. As it comes into view, I notice Charlotte and David sitting outside. I smile, relieved to see the man recovering, but then I notice that the two of them are eating.
