Marked

“We’re gonna get into so much trouble if we get caught,” Rachel whispered.

When the others had come to get her, she’d been so eager to get away from Ruth that she surprised herself by how quickly she’d gathered the courage to leave the compound but now, out here in the real world, all she wanted was to go back.

“No one is going to find out,” Hector said. “They’re all too busy fighting over stupid things while we’re out here actually trying to do something useful.”

“Yeah,” Juan replied. “I can’t believe it. Here we are, trying to find out about a fake mark that could possibly save their asses if they ran into a poacher and they’re in there arguing about some crazy dude!”

Simone, her, and the Hernandez brothers were all clad in black clothes good for camouflaging into the surroundings and each carried a gun they’d smuggled out of the weapons room in case the mark maker turned out to be crazy.

She tried not to linger on the worst-case scenario: running into poachers. She thumbed at the gun tucked into her belt.

If they ran into poachers, they'd be prepared.

At least, that’s what Hector had said.

They were working their way down the mountain on the east side, where there had once been a highway. All that was left now were twisted metal bumpers and old Transition model cars which the group wound around quietly.

“We’ll show them,” muttered Jose. “All those times they’ve ignored us telling them about the fake mark...when they see they’ll have no choice but to thank us.”

“We’re not doing this for the fame, we’re doing it to protect our families.” Hector chastised, voice serious. “You’d do good not to forget that.”

Rachel turned away to look into the forest, where the shadows were thick and looming. She was nervous about going back in there, especially after what had happened the last time but if there was a chance, even a small one, to help keep her people from being killed or captured right on the spot then it was worth it to venture back into the woods.

Even if it was one of the scariest things she’d had to do in her life.

For the millionth time that night, Elena’s face burned in her mind, tormenting her. Carl, the baby- they were both there too. She felt as though they would come crawling out of the shadows at any moment. They couldn’t really be gone, not the way that they had, with so much violence.

Rachel couldn’t imagine dying that way but based on the heartless look in the eyes of the marked ones, she no longer doubted the rules of the compound that they should never venture out into the forest alone.

Then what are you doing out here now, crazy?

Twigs cracked behind them and Rachel jumped.

Hector gave a sort of breathy chuckle, a glint of amusement in his eyes.

“I promise you, bunnies look more vicious than they really are. We've got you. We'll protect you.”

This made Rachel smile a little.

She didn’t particularly like the Hernandez brothers but at that very moment, she had to admit that she felt a little safer knowing they were there.

They at least, knew how to wield guns

“How much longer?” Simone asked.

“A little ways more. He lives in a cabin near the river. S’got the place all booby trapped for poachers.” Jose explained.

The boys led the way with Rachel and Simone following closely behind.

“How did you guys even find this guy?” Simone’s voice was a crude noise cutting through the silence of the night.

“We heard rumors in the compound and we thought: What if we could get everyone in the compound to get a fake mark? That’s gotta confuse the poachers even a little and that’s all we’d really need to catch them off guard and be the first to shoot.” Hector explained.

“We tried tracking down a guy that’s supposedly related to the Mark Maker but turns out he was long gone.” Juan continued. “So then we went to our missing guy’s pop and he told us the kid had run off to the city.”

A small, sharp pain twisted within Rachel.

So Jed hadn’t been the only runaway. There’d been others yet she’d never truly noticed until it came to someone she loved.

She wondered, not for the first time, why anyone would want to live in a city full of monsters. Perhaps to some, the prospect of clothing, unlimited food and security outweighed the cost of your freedom.

But not to her.

“Then what happened. After that, I mean.” Rachel asked.

Jose shook his long, curly hair out of his eyes.

They’d finally made it down the mountain and the youngest Hernandez brother pushed a tree branch out of the way for the others to go through. “The pop told us that we were stupid to even look for the guy. There’s no way to imitate the mark, not really, he said. He called us lunatics.”

“Yeah,” Juan chimed. “We caught a wild rabbit and offered it him and that’s what really got the old fart singing. He told us all about the mark maker.”

“But how do we know we’ll even find him? He could be gone already for all we know.”

Simone had a point.

In Rachel’s mind, that was even more reason to turn back now and forget this crazy search.

“Because we already found him,” Hector turned to look at the girls and shot them a confident grin.

Rachel had more questions-lots more and the Hernandez brothers seemed eager to answer them but suddenly there was the sound of an aircraft overhead.

On instinct, they rushed behind a grove of bushes.

To the unmarked, an aircraft meant city people and city people meant danger.

A large, white aircraft buzzed by and Rachel noticed all the lights were off.

It droned on nearly invisible and silent as a ghost.

She felt a knot form in her stomach.

They’re almost past the compound, she thought. Almost. And then they’ll be gone and we’ll be okay.

“We should go back,” She said uneasily.

“Look,” Juan pointed in the direction of the mountain. “They’ve stopped. Why are they stopping, Hector?”

Hector’s tanned skin paled and for some reason, the look on his face prompted Rachel’s worst fears to rush to the front of her mind.

They were all still, not one of them daring to even breath as they waited to see what would happen next.