Born 01 - Born by Tara Brown Page A

her.
    The day fades to night slowly. Spring is further along, and the days are longer. The cool air is still fresh and crisp, but the sun is getting warmer.
    Leo sleeps against me and Meg whittles a small piece of wood. She passes me the finished product. I don’t know what it is.
    "It's a rook," she says it like I should know.
    I raise an eyebrow.
    "For chess." She says it like I'm an idiot.
    "The game?" I ask.
    She nods and smiles. "I'm making the pieces for a board. I guess I have to start over. Mine were in our village."
    I look confused. "You have a village?"
    She shakes her head. "Nope. Had. The others came last month and burned it to the ground."
    "Life is hard, Meg. I'm convinced that the God that everyone talked about before hates us."
    Her brown eyes harden, and she pulls her dark brown hair back from her filthy little face. "Don't ever say that, Em. No matter what, we have to believe that he's going to help us. The evil is us."
    Leo jumps up but it's too late. As I hear the branch snap behind me, I see the black hood go over Meg's little face. I jump up but the guns are on me.
    "What have we got here?"
    The man standing before me is grinning. He holds a rifle at my face.
    Leo is ready to attack but I put my hand out. "No, Leo. No." He looks at my face confused. I can see it in his eyes. I shake my head.
    I look at the man. "We'll walk with you, but you can't put that over my head. If he can't see my eyes he's going to lose it and kill at least one of you."
    He nods. "You walk with the wolf. I will kill him if I have to." He removes the black hood from Meg, who looks like Leo. I give her a sharp look too. "No, Meg."
    I know the desperation on her face is trying to overtake. I feel the same way. But we can't win the fight. We can die like her mom.
    One of the other guys with a gun smirks at me. He's young and bold looking. He speaks to me and I can hear the smile on his face, "I'd ask if you were spies for the others but you're girls. What girls would help them out? So that leaves me with only one assumption." He grins and nudges me. "You're looking for a date."
    I frown at him. I don’t speak.
    Meg snorts. "You wish. No, we're looking for our friends. The others had us but we got away."
    I shoot her a dirty look. She scowls. "Don't give me that look, Em. Momma says we need to remember some ways of the world before and manners is one of the things we all seems to forget about."
    The man with the gun smiles. "Her Momma sounds like the kind of girl we are always looking for. Warm my bed, bake my bread, and say please and thank you like a lady should."
    Meg shoves him. "My Momma never warmed no man's bed. She weren’t no lady. She was a survivor. She was a fighter."
    He shoves Meg back. I catch her.
    "Easy, kid."
    The leader gets in my face with his gun. I look up into his dark blue eyes angrily, "Her mom just died creating a diversion for her to escape the hunters."
    He makes a face that surprises me, remorseful. "I'm sorry, Meg, is it? Never speak ill of the dead, unless they're one of the monsters who started all of this." He holds his hands out.
    She sniffs and wipes her nose on her arm. "It ain't no thing. She died the way she wanted."
    I know the pain Meg feels and the strength she hides behind.
    His eyes tell me he does, too.
    Leo nudges against me. He is nervous. He whines. I look as we enter a huge camp. The fires are lit, making the woods smoky and smell of food. My mouth waters as my stomach grumbles. I don’t remember the last time we really ate.
    "New recruits?" a man asks looking me up and down and nodding his head. Leo lunges at him. I seriously think the wolf can read minds, and that man's mind is not pure.
    He jumps back. "Holy shit, is that a timber wolf?"
    I laugh. I can't help myself. Leo is hovering over him snarling.
    The men who've escorted us laugh at the fallen man. I call him, "Leo."
    He snarls once more and runs to my side. He stands tall and proud with his chest out. He snarls at