Zommunist Invasion by Picott, Camille (ebook reader ink TXT) 📗

what it felt like not to be scared shitless. It seemed impossible.

They hustled away from the their sleeping place. At least they left behind no trace. It wasn’t like they had a fire or anything else to disturb the forest. It was the first time Amanda was thankful they didn’t have any gear when they went to sleep last night.

Dal led them at a quick lope through the woods. This part of the forest wasn’t as overgrown as other parts.

Unfortunately, that also meant there was less cover.

The buzz of the ATVs was like a drill in the back of her skull. She focused on keeping up with Dal and Lena, once again thanking Jane Fonda for her crazy workouts.

When she’d first awakened, her face, arms, and feet felt frozen. It wasn’t long before her body warmed up. Soon, she was sweating freely. She dimly noticed leaves and twigs still clinging to her clothes. Good. Maybe that would provide extra camouflage.

The hum of the ATVs were all around, like a swarm of buzzing flies. It was clear to Amanda they had split up to comb the forest for them. Man, the Soviets must be desperate to get their hands on the Snipers.

She did not want to think about what would happen if they got captured. Leo and Jennifer had seen a KGB agent at the Craigs'. Amanda had seen enough movies to know what that meant. If the KGB was in America, it would no doubt spell torture for anyone they captured.

“We have to hide. Everyone up.” Dal stopped beneath a tangle of bay trees.

In the middle of the cluster was a tree that had been felled in a lightning storm. The bark of the fallen tree was black, worn smooth after exposure to the elements for a few years. It was lodged firmly between three of the living trees, giving them access to the upper portion of the boughs.

Lena went up first, leading the way. At Dal’s gesture, Amanda followed her.

She leaned forward, gripping the burned bark with both hands. Digging the toes of her sneaker into the wood, she scrambled up the trunk.

Amanda had never tried to climb a tree before. It was easier than it looked. She shimmied easily up the side, climbing into the concealment of the pungent bay leaves. Lena scrambled out onto a limb and found a perch.

Amanda went past her, searching for a place to secure herself. Just ahead was a vee where the side of the fallen tree rested. It was surrounded by dangling bay tree branches. Amanda pushed through the leaves and found a seat in the vee.

She chanced a peek down at the ground, which was a solid thirty feet beneath her. With a start, she realized she wasn’t scared of heights. That was a surprise. She had always avoided heights because she’d assumed they’d be scary.

As Dal scrambled past her into a higher part of the tree, Amanda realized she’d spent her entire life making assumptions about herself that weren’t true.

She’d assumed she wasn’t strong simply because she was a girl, and in her mind girls weren’t strong. That was clearly not true

Because of her body, she’d assumed she wasn’t athletic. Another thing that wasn’t true. Here she was, bushwhacking through wilderness of West County with Dal and Lena. Not once had she had trouble keeping up with them.

And now she was perched in a tree like a bird. And it wasn’t scary at all.

Amanda made a silent promise to herself to stop living her life based on assumptions. She would start living her life based on possibilities.

As she listened to the whine of the circling ATVs, she became aware of her rumbling stomach. It felt like it had been carved out with a spoon.

A bay leaf tickled her cheek. As she brushed it aside, she paused.

She was in a bay tree. Her mother cooked with bay leaves. Granted, she only used them to season soups and stews. She always fished them out whenever the meal finished simmering.

But just because Amanda had never eaten a whole bay leaf didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. Maybe they were sitting on their breakfast. Literally.

There had to be a reason her mom didn’t leave them in the food. A memory tickled the back of her mind. Something about bay leaves being tough, even after stewing for hours on end. Maybe that was why they were plucked from food after their seasoning work was done. They were tough and hard to eat.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be eaten.

Possibilities. She had just promised herself she was going to live a life based on possibility, not unfounded assumptions.

She pulled off two bay leaves and shoved them into her mouth. The strong flavor almost made her gag. She paused, swallowed, and resumed chewing. After a few seconds, the strong flavor didn’t bother her nearly as much. The chewing even brought out saliva, which helped strip away the unpleasant feeling of cotton mouth.

“There’s an ATV coming in our direction,” Dal hissed down from his perch. He’d crawled nearly to the top of a tree. “Don’t move.”

Amanda stopped chewing. Her scalp prickled with fear. She rested her hands on her machine gun. It would be temping to shoot the Soviets, but that would just draw the rest.

She didn’t have great visibility in her position, but she did have a clear view of the ground. When the ATV passed beneath them, she held her breath, praying they wouldn’t notice their tree.

The ATV rolled out of sight, never slowing. She listened to the engine fade away into the distance.

Dal crawled down the trunk, stopping when he reached Amanda and Lena. “I had a good view from up there. We have another few miles of forest before we reach pastureland. Unless we go miles out of our way, we won’t have cover once we get to the pastureland.”

“We don’t have the supplies needed to go miles out of our way,” Lena said.

“Agreed,” Dal said. “But we’re not going to make it through