all god's orphans

Sarah stood beside the RV, staring back down the road towards the last little town where she had hoped she might find her friends, but they had found no one. The entire place had been abandoned. Her father sat in the driver’s seat watching her in the mirror. What the Hell was wrong with her? He honked the horn.

“C’mon, Sarah!” He called. “We’re burning daylight.” Sarah didn’t move a muscle, not even to turn and look at him. She wanted to find her friends. Find Millie and tell her what a d-bag her dad was being. That she hadn’t wanted to leave, especially without saying good-bye. It wasn’t her fault. She hoped Millie wasn’t mad at her. She knew Millie would understand if she could just tell her the truth. That her dad had basically kidnapped her and was forcing her to go with him to his next stupid idea.

The door opened and Raymond got out. He knew she was mad at him. She’d made no attempt to hide it, but she was just a kid and needed to get over it. There were adult problems ahead of them and she needed to know that.

“Sarah?” He tried to sound sympathetic. “I know this isn’t what you wanted, but we need to go.” Again she made no sign that she had heard him. She listened to the birds in the trees all around them. A slight breeze was blowing from the West and she thought about how nice it would be to have a picnic in the woods. It would be like a fairytale. Subtle hills were rising up in the distance and she wanted to climb to the top of one of them and see what she could find up there. Anything was better than listening to her father make excuses for what he was doing. She was tired of it. For his part, so was Raymond. This needed to end. Now. He changed his tone to something more granite. “Sarah. That’s enough of this. Get in the car and let’s go.” She still didn’t move and he was getting impatient. He grabbed her elbow to turn her around but she jerked free from his grasp.

“Leave me alone.” She said, feeling the freedom that children feel when they first disobey their parents.

“What did you say?” This time she turned to face him.

“Leave me. Alone.” Her tiny frame seemed incapable of holding the amount of anger that was simmering behind her eyes. Raymond could see that more tact would be needed.

“Where is this coming from?” He asked his daughter. She gave a mirthless chuckle.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She asked, and when regret threatened to sting her, anger swatted it away like an insignificant insect.

“Watch your mouth.” Sarah squared her shoulders toward her father.

“Or what?” Raymond backed away from her and took a moment to calm himself.

“Sarah, I’m just trying to keep you safe and make you happy. Why do you think I’ve been letting you look for your friends even though...”

“Letting me?”

“Yes.” He said. “Letting you. You are twelve years old. You are not an adult. I am still your father.” She folded her arms.

“Yeah, some father.” Without thinking, he slapped her across the face. Not as hard as he could have, but enough to get her attention. He expected betrayal to glaze her eyes, but she wasn’t surprised. In fact, it only seemed to make her angrier. He stopped and counted to ten, focusing on the world around him. The engine was idling quietly. The sky was bright and blue. A thin ribbon of asphalt cut through the tall pine trees all around them and the road led away to a better future. A safer future. If he could just convince his daughter of that, everything would be fine. “I’m sorry.” He finally said. “I didn’t mean....” But he didn’t know how to finish that sentence. “It’s just that you’re all I have left. I don’t want to lose you like I lost your mother. And your sister.”

“You didn’t lose, Alice, dad. You fucking killed her.” Sarah’s face was carved out of fire and her conviction stunned Raymond. He was lost and had no idea what was happening anymore.

Before he could collect his thoughts, Wes burst out of the forest, running as fast as he could. He stopped when he saw them and then sprinted towards Raymond.

“Come on!” He screamed, his voice filled with panic. “We have to go! Now!” Raymond pushed him back.

“I don’t know you, fella.” He wished he had brought his gun out of the cab with him. “Stay away from us.” Wes’ eyes were wide and his face was white.

“You don’t understand! We have to leave! You’re in danger! Let’s go! They’re gonna kill us! They’re killing everyone!”

“Who is?” Raymond was now taking this more seriously. “What are you talking about?”

“We don’t have time for this!” Wes begged. “Let’s go!” He was pulling Raymond by the arm towards the front of the RV. Raymond pulled back.

“Listen, until you tell me who you are and what is going on, we’re not going anywhere.” Just as he finished speaking, the staccato echo of gunfire rang through the forest. It was coming from the south. Wes’ head jerked back in that direction and then to Raymond.

“Do you want to die?” He asked as the firefight grew in volume. “We have to go.” Raymond didn’t move. “Now!” Screamed Wes, snapping Raymond back to reality. He nodded his head.

“Ok. Yeah.” He grabbed Sarah by the arm and this time she let him lead her back into the RV. “Let’s go.” As Wes tried to follow them in, Raymond put his hand on Wes’ chest to stop him. “How do I know you’re not one of..whatever that is?” He asked. Wes looked him square in the eyes.

“I am one of them.” He admitted. “And if you don’t want to run into them, you’ll need me to guide you out of here. But we need to go right now.” Raymond listened to the sound of the guns for just a second more and then finally let Wes inside. He hopped into the driver’s seat and steered the RV west as Wes kept a panicked lookout. When they had gone a few miles, he collapsed back into the passenger seat.

“That was close.” He said to Raymond.

“What was going on back there?” Raymond all but demanded. Wes rubbed his head.

“Just give me a minute.” He pleaded. “I’ll tell you in a minute.”