Page 74 of Wild at Heart

They stand there staring at me, hands raised to throw bottles with fire.

But they don’t move.

The little ones next to Garrick glance at him. The little ones are skinny. They are hungry. They don’t even know how to fight. I know them. Nelly. Marve. Dew. Kelly. Kelly is so little, her skinny legs shaking beneath the torn blue oversized dress, barely standing up, hair dirty, but she’s holding one of those deadly bottles, her wide blue eyes so bright, so hungry.

And I shake my head, tears streaming down my cheeks. “No,” I whisper. “Come with me.”

Suddenly, the ground shakes, and a bright flash explodes behind them. We duck. The trees shake above us. The birds fly out into the air with a screech.

They all turn to look back, their eyes wide.

I know what’s happening. The men from town want to kill them. But Garrick and them all don’t know that.

“Traitors!” I shout, pointing behind them in the direction of the town. “They are traitors! They tricked you!”

Garrick and the others turn toward me, alarm on their faces.

“I know where food is!” I shout. “Come! Come with me!”

Another explosion shakes the ground, this time closer.

“Put the bottles away!” I shout. “Leave them! Follow me! I know where the food is. A lot of food! Follow me!”

And I wave my arms as hard as I can for them to follow. Because if they don’t, they will die. And they can’t. There’s so much food. And good things. And movies. And clothes. And tigers. And rainbow marshmallows. I wanna tell them there are so many treasures, and I can give it all to them, but they just have to go with me.

“Cooooome!” I shout at the top of my voice, waving my arms, though they hurt so bad, so bad, so bad like they will fall off. “Follow me!”

There are Ayana guards in front, but they have guns and bombs and they can shoot. But I walk toward them.

The guards are with Raven. They can’t shoot. They are with Raven, right? They won’t shoot. They’ll help.

“Help!” I whisper to them as I walk toward the raised rifles. “Please, help,” I whisper in a voice that doesn’t sound loud. It’s broken.

I know the cameras. I saw them when Raven showed me at the Center a long time ago. Raven will see me, Garrick, and the others. He will get us.

Raven will help.

I look behind me and see Garrick and them, all slowly following me, their eyes wide with fear.

And I pray.

I pray.

Maddy said that when you want something so much your heart hurts, it comes true.

And I want Garrick and everyone to be safe and get food.

So I step toward the guards again, raise my arms in the air, and whisper, “Please, help us.”

25

ARCHER

“If any of the guards shoot, I’ll execute every fucking one of them. Personally,” I warn, staring at the screen.

All of us at the Center stop breathing.

The silence is deafening as we watch Sonny “Little” walking toward the guards, arms raised, a large group of children following.