Blood Moon by Gwendolyn Harper (books for students to read .TXT) 📕

“It’s me guys,” Max answered. “And I found some…” He looked back at the others. “Brave souls who’d like to talk with us all.”

One man, armed with a machete, stepped out from behind a tree. Staring at them all for a moment, he furrowed his brow as he turned to Max.

“You brought scavengers?”

Max shook his head. “They’re not like that,” he said. “They’re good people.”

Surreptitiously, Booker shot a glance at Caitlin.

Guess we look worse than we thought.

After a beat of obvious deliberation, the man nodded and stepped forward, untying a clothesline of tin cans and razor wire from one of the trunks to make an opening.

“Nice perimeter ya got there,” Booker commented as the guy motioned for them to come through.

“Keeps the rotters at bay long enough for us to hear them and take care of it,” he said.

Caitlin looked the man over, noting his cargo pants and olive green long-sleeved shirt. He looked a little rougher than Max, with darker hair and stubble, but he was still clean and well fed.

The man the other voice had belonged to was quiet now, eyeing them all suspiciously.

Not that she could blame him. She’d be wary of newcomers entering her camp too.

He was stocky and tanned, with thinning hair—at least fifteen years older than any of them.

Once they were all within the boundaries of the camp, the first man retied the line and faced them.

“I’m Edward,” he said with a nod. “This is Alonzo.”

Max opened his mouth, but Booker beat him to the introductions.

“I’m Booker,” he said. “This is Caitlin and Nicole.”

“Good to meet you,” Edward said.

Reaching down to pet Fancy, Max grinned. “I think you’re going to get a kick out of the reason they’re here.”

As Edward and Alonzo frowned, Max waved for Booker and the others to follow him.

“C’mon, I’ll take you to our elected officials.”

Caitlin arched an eyebrow at Booker as they started walking.

Elected officials?

With half a shrug, he smirked and fell in behind Max.

The trees abruptly disappeared, revealing the clearing Caitlin had caught a glimpse of.

Tents of all sizes were set up in two semi-circles to their left and right. In the center were small cooking fires, camping chairs, communal spaces for laundry and weapon cleaning.

As soon as they stepped into the meadow, the ambient noises of people quieted.

Max, however, didn’t seem perturbed.

“There’s about fifty-seven of us,” he said. “We stay on the move quite a bit to stay ahead of the Humvees. But we’ve got setting up and breaking down to a fine art now, so it doesn’t take long at all.”

“Where are your vehicles?” Nicole asked, looking around.

“Hidden off the main road,” he said over his shoulder. “We found out early on the exterminators look for the reflective lights on cars. So we park them just far enough away that they won’t be a flashing arrow pointing to us, and then we haul everything out on foot.”

Two children ran in front of them, playing tag, and Caitlin pulled up short.

Children. This group was able to care for kids too.

“What if your camp gets overrun with Geeks?”

Max turned his head. “We have a pretty good system that’s served us well so far.”

“Yeah, twine and tin cans sure are fool proof,” Booker said, sneer audible.

Chuckling, Max glanced at him. “That was only one layer. You’ll see the others later.”

Two women carrying compound bows passed them, greeting Max and smiling tentatively at the others.

Leaning in, Booker whispered, “We should getcha one of those. Bet you’d be a good shot.”

Caitlin smirked. “You’re just looking for more opportunities to make Katniss jokes.”

“That too.”

Just as they approached one of the larger tents, Max called out.

“Luna? Trish? I hate to bother you but—”

“Caitlin?”

The voice was distant—so far, in fact, she wasn’t sure she’d heard it at all.

“Caitlin!”

Frowning, she turned, scanning the groups of people who had all started to gather to watch the foreigners in their ranks.

One cluster broke apart as someone pushed through.

Nicole reached for her arm. “Holy shit.”

It took Caitlin too long to catch up, her brain unable to process everything at once. All she really knew was the blond wavy hair looked very familiar.

“Caitlin!”

Her feet rooted to the ground as realization crashed down on top of her.

“N…Nathaniel?”

He was running for her, making a noise that was half laugh, half sob.

Caitlin had barely sucked in air before she was being hoisted up into the most overwhelming bear hug of her life. Her shoes knocked together as he swung her around, strong arms wrapped completely around her.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Nathaniel gasped into her hair. “It’s you. It’s really you.”

Dizzy and shaken, Caitlin couldn’t form words.

“I knew… I’d hoped you’d survive,” he continued, setting her down but still holding on. “I prayed every day…”

Pulling back just enough to see her face, Nathaniel’s smile was blinding.

“I… You’re alive,” Caitlin murmured. “And in Missouri.”

He laughed, unshed tears glistening in his bright blue eyes.

Caitlin stared up at him, like a specter from a life she’d forgotten she’d had.

Rough, warm hands cupped her face and suddenly she was shoving at his chest just as he’d leaned down to kiss her.

With an undignified yelp, she squirmed out of his hold, backing up a pace and a half.

“Wait, no,” she exclaimed, arm extended with her fingers pressing into his chest, keeping him where he stood.

Baffled, Nathaniel froze, hands still raised.

Her cheeks burned as she looked from him to the growing crowd.

“Uh… Nathaniel, I…” She swallowed but her throat was desert dry. “Well you see…”

Heavy, familiar bootsteps strode up behind her at a slow gait.

Nathaniel’s gaze shifted over her shoulder.

“Nathaniel, this is my…” She