Born by Tara Brown Page B

thought they were
here."
    Leo doesn’t like the struggle going on.
He leaps in between us and knocks Will to the ground.
    He has him by the scruff of his shirt and
is making a noise I've never heard before.
    "Leo."
    He ignores me. I sit on the ground and
make a whistle sound. He tugs once more on the shirt and backs away. He turns
and saunters to me. He's overwhelmed. I am overwhelmed. He curls up in my lap.
I stroke his ears. He trembles.
    Will stands up and walks to me. Leo
growls and snarls in my lap. I look up at Will, "I wouldn’t move if I were
you."
    His dark eyes play in the dim light of
dusk, "They're alive?"
    "Last time I saw them."
    His jaw tenses.
    I turn to see a ruggedly handsome man
walking up to where we are. "Will I need to go over some things with
you."
    The white haired boy sees the man and
starts his tirade all over again. He is stamping his feet and pointing at Leo
who trembles. I wrap my arms around him and glare at the young boy. I hate
children.
    "Stop that you little brat. You'll
get us all killed." I hiss at him. The noise will no doubt draw the others
or worse.
    Will laughs at me, but his expression is
lost.
    Meg walks up to me in a clean dress with
patches. Her hair is slicked back and wet. Her face is stark without the film
of dirt she has been covered in since I met her. She is holding a platter of
sorts covered in meat and something white.
    "Em thith ith cheeth. You have to
have thum." Her mouth is near bursting as she speaks. I grimace watching
her stuff her gourd, as my granny always said.
    She sits beside Leo and I. He raises his
face instantly and starts eating from her plate. She doesn’t even bother to
fight him for her food. I suspect she brought it to share with him. His body
vibrates as his jaw reaches for the food.
    The man beside Will has picked the boy
up. He's crying and reaching for the brown haired lady with the doe eyes.
    "You little monkey." She twirls
him around. She loves him so much. I can see it on her face. I think she loves
everyone, in the whole world.
    Meg sits cross-legged with her skirt
hiked up. I laugh seeing her tanned legs and underwear.
    The dark haired lady scowls, "Megan
sit like a lady."
    Meg looks up with a drumstick of a bird
hanging from her lips. Leo makes the same face with a large chunk of dark meat.
    Will bursts into fits of laughter.
    Meg frowns at me, "Wha?"
    I shake my head, "Nothing." She
brings levity that no one can resist.
    "I can see your under garments
Megan."
    Meg looks up at her and frowns,
"Then give me back my pants. Or stop looking."
    I snicker at her saucy ways.
    The doe eyed lady frowns, "Those
pants are being burnt. We will have new pants for you in a bit. Until then try
to act like a human being."
    Meg blushes and pulls her skirts around
her knees, "Yes mam."
    She glances up at me with a hidden smirk.
    Leo is making his weird wolf noise that
he makes when he's happy. It nearly sounds like a cat purring but it's lower
and deep inside of him.
    The platter is empty and I've had
nothing. I can't stop looking up at Will, who is talking with another man. He
glances at me every now and then. I can see he wants to talk to me.
    "The people I'm looking for, Anna
and Jake. Will is their brother." I point to him subtly.
    Meg raises an eyebrow, "You think
that’s why Leo brought us here?"
    I shrug, "Maybe. I think he smelled
the food."
    Meg grins with food in her teeth,
"Thank god for Leo and his belly."
    "I'm worried about where they are
though. If they're not here where could they have gone?"
    "The farms." She says it
nonchalantly, even though I know she fears the idea of it whether she has met
them or not.
    My skin prickles thinking about them in
the farms. Anna is old enough to be put to "work" and Jake is strong.
He will be made to work hard labor.
    I look up and see people eyeballing us.
They pretend to be working near us, but they watch Leo eating. It makes me
smile. If only they knew what a pussycat he is.
    I feel fingers bite into my