Waterproof by Amber Garr

seem suspicious. The area had patches of green trees and chirping birds. We should have known that the mercenaries would be nearby. They rarely strayed far from productive areas.
    “Did I ever tell you how Max and I met?” Sasha’s sudden change in topic caught me off guard.
    “I thought you knew each other before the war?”
    She sighed. “Oh, no. We met at a deserter camp. The one your parents brought you guys to in the beginning. Remember?”
    How could I not? Rumor had it that camps like ours were all over the country and in a short amount of time, the carnage would clear and we could all return home. My parents and Vee’s parents had somehow found the place, but I didn’t remember seeing Max there.
    “He didn’t really talk to anyone,” Sasha said. “In fact he and I s poke maybe ten words the entire first two years we knew each other.” She chuckled again. “You know how he is.”
    I smiled. “A man of few words.”
    “Exactly.” Sasha shuffled her feet along the floor and made her way to the kitchen. “I didn’t know anything about him, but I watched. He’d often sneak away from the group and work on his fighting skills. Usually a poor tree got the brunt of his punishment, but one day I saw him kicking and punching Josh.” She looked up at me. “Do you remember Josh?”
    I nodded. He’d been one of the original members but had died many years ago. N ot from mercenaries, but from sickness. Probably pneumonia.
    “After Josh’s face had no undamaged areas left on it, I finally stepped in and told Max that I wanted to spar. He looked at me as though seeing me for the first time, and…that was it.” Sasha swallowed loud enough for me to hear then cleared her throat. “He never practiced with anyone else after that.”
    “He was a good trainer,’ I said and she inhaled sharply. “I mean is , Sasha. He is a good trainer and a survivor and I’m sure the mercenaries would rather have him alive than dead. He’d be a good asset to the factories.”
    I shoul d have shut up while I my foot was only partially in my mouth. Sasha’s tears fell in uncontrolled streams.
    “They’ll kill him if he fights,” she whispered.
    “Yes, but Max is too smart for that. So is Vee. They’ll hang on so the sooner we rescue them the better.” As I said these words, I suddenly believed them to be true.
    I think Sasha believed in them too. “We can’t waste any more time.” Switching back into leadership mode, she continued. “Grab wha t you can and let’s see what that little bitch has to tell us.”
    “Sasha?” I’d rarely ever heard her curse before.
    She smiled in a way that made my skin crawl in fear. I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that look. “We don’t have time to waste, Zach. She will speak to us.”
    I nodded and walked out the front door to look for any of our packs that may have been left behind. The mercenaries fled just as fast as we had, so I hoped they neglected to steal our supplies.
    Just as I made my way around the fire pit, I caught the sound of someone sobbing. “Jackson?”
    My friend stood and wiped his face before turning around. I looked down at the ground to see Carrie’s body lying under a pile of leaves Jackson must have placed on her.
    “You okay?” I asked.
    Jackson shrugged and ran his hands over the crossbow in a familiar gesture. “I’m tired of this shit.”
    “Me too,” I said. “Let’s get our friends and go south. Maybe we can go to one of those islands you’re always talking ab out?”
    He smiled. “That sounds good.”
    But we both knew the islands were gone or at least uninhabitable now. Something about salt water intrusion. A colony wouldn’t survive more than a few days without food and water in the harsh conditions the tropical climates now provided.
    Trevor yelled something we couldn’t understand, so Jackson and I jogged to the other side of camp to join him. When we got there, he was crumpled over in pain clutching his precious