The shelter couldn't be too far away now, the vans were pulling off the road and sloshing on a new path. Sera reached up and held on to the roof of the van to steady herself in her seatbelt-less seat. The van was rocking back and forth through the muck on the ground, and she silently held her breath, praying that the vehicle wouldn't tip over.
And then just as she was positive the van and its contents would be spilled, the van ground to a stop. Sera let out her breath in a sigh of relief and looked out the windshield.
The shelter was a large warehouse style building out in the middle of the boonies. There had to have been some use for it in the past, perhaps for some trade that was now obsolete. And for whatever reason, it was now abandoned.
As she looked out the window, she saw Carlos jump from the van and splash down into what had become water covered concrete. He pushed a stray lock of raven hair from his face and looked around at the vans with a satisfied smile on his face.
It took a long time to unload all the supplies into the warehouse. She had been exhausted when she had arrived; carrying in boxes laden with stuff through ankle deep water made it even worse. By her fourth trip in she was ready to drop.
Sera put the boxes down on the floor and rested against a stack of boxes that rose to chin level. She leaned her forehead against them. The gash across her eyebrow throbbed, and she was sure that any minute it would start gushing blood again.
There were footsteps behind her, and she slowly turned. Her feet were like bricks; her head was even heavier.
Carlos stood before her, his wifebeater stained brown from splashes of muddy water and his long sleeved shirt tied around his waist.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
She nodded, a tired nod that took away most of her energy.
He pushed her hair away from her forehead and inspected the long gash.
"I want you to lay down," he said after a minute.
"I'm a part of this now," she replied. "I can't lay down and expect special treatment."
He frowned now at her. "You'll be of no help if you can't walk." He paused and his face turned softer. "You took a hard blow and kept going. That in itself is impressive. You aren't getting special treatment, you're getting a warriors well-earned rest."
She nodded, happy that he didn't think she couldn't hack it. He pointed her in the direction of the cots that were set up in the corner, and she gratefully went to them.
They weren't the softest beds, but she hadn't expected them to be. She lay down heavily in one of them, always expecting someone to come and demand that she work, but no one came. So she closed her eyes, comforted by the sounds of murmured talking in the distance and the shuffling of feet.
Sera had only been walking. There had been nothing to make her look suspicious. But they had come anyway. She had tried to be inconspicuous, but they had come anyway. She didn't know what it was that she had done to incur their wrath, but they were pissed just the same.
First they had come for her at home. She was alone in the night, with her little sister and with her niece, babysitting. There was a new game on the computer that Emilia had wanted to play, educational, so she had said yes. Rosaline wanted to watch, so she said yes. She merely waited for them to play, then she would have sent them to bed.
When there was a knock at the door, her heart skipped a beat. Not knowing why she was terrified, she hushed the children and told them to go to the back room where mama kept her bottles of wine. A little secret room with a door that was hidden in design. Rosaline was scared, she started to whimper but Emilia quieted her after a quick glance at her sister's face. The two ran to the back, keeping low.
She waited in mock fearlessness. She herself stayed low, and ducked behind a couch when she saw movement near the window.
The knocking came again, louder and more persistant. Again her heart jumped in fear. Terrified now and not knowing why, she looked up and saw that the door was unlocked.
-or-
Run back?