Exodus The Epilogue

The Epilogue

We could hear the adults chasing us in their heavy leather boots and big black vests. They yelled back and forth to each other to keep contact and yelled at us to come back to the relocation center. We ignored them and ran, flinching or ducking as the spotlight beams of their flashlights wavered across us in the dark.

I could see Mildred Sanger's dead body laying on the table mind as we ran. I hated what the adults had become and hated most of all what my mother had allowed herself to become.

The air was cold and damp from the rain earlier, and the ground was slick- forcing us to be careful as we ran. If we slipped on a wet tree root, if we lost our footing on damp leaves, we would be caught and we would be going back.

As I stopped and crouched low under the bent trunk of a tree to catch my breath out of sight, Wolf stopped and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't stop. We can hurt later, when we're safe. You can do this bud."

I took several slow breathes and then nodded and took off again, Wolf keeping pace beside me. In the darkness I could see Owl in the lead, a swagger in his retreat I hadn't seen before. I could see Raven and Viper side by side, moving like ghosts through the forest.

But I could still hear the adults chasing. There were lots of kids in the woods tonight. We had made this as difficult as we could for the adults, but they still had most of the advantages. We had to run until they gave up, or we were going back to the relocation center, where we would almost certainly die the slow death of starvation and lack of hope.

And so we ran on in the black woods as the pillars of light from the adults flashlights danced above our heads and the shouts of adults accompanied us like a soundtrack.

I looked at Wolf, "We're family now, for real. Tribe against the world. Now, we are warriors. Win or lose, live or die- we are warriors."

* * *

So that's the start of our story. We were kids. We were just like any other kids that you know. If you are a kid, we were just like you.

Now we aren't. Now we are warriors. I wouldn't wish the events that we experienced on anyone, but it made us who we are. And I have to admit, that I like who I became.

Would I like us to get back everyone and everything we lost? I don't know. I would like to get back everyone I lost. But everything I lost can stay lost.

I didn't know it, but I didn't need all that junk then. And I don't need it now.

And I'll tell you what- neither do you. None of that stuff matters. What matters is what you can do and who you are.

I'm a warrior.

We are warriors.

Who are you?


"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh...
Beneath this mask, there is an idea, Mr. Creedy
...and ideas. Are. Bulletproof."
- V For Vendetta