Safe Hiding

Jasmyn stuffed several wads of assorted clothing against the closed closet doors; fumbled in a side pocket of the duffel bag, fished out a folding solar light lamp, and punched the activation button. Cool white light flooded the once elegant walk-in closet. Noticing the condition of what remained, she guessed the building had once been a fortress of a local big wig, a food dealer for the area. The lower floors of the building were probably used as barracks for gang, or soldier warriors. Like any other clan organization, a soldier could if he or she were smart and good at doing their job, climb up through the lower ranks to live on different floors of the building. The higher the floor, the higher the rank in echelon, thus the top floors were reserved for the elite. The elite were those who knew how to play the game of staying alive.

The concept was hard for Jasymn to understand although her mother had come from such a clan. Where money and power ruled there was always the need to fight to keep what was owned, or fight and steal more, even if it caused others to suffer and die. Growing up in the Free North West, Jasymn learned early that barter and sharing was the key to her survival. It was her father’s teachings before his death that had kept her alive so far. “Find a need and fill it to the best of your ability.” he would say, “…and you will always have a place to live, and friends who love you. People who need people will always help you if you’re lucky.”

Opening the drawstrings of the duffel bag, the calico kitten sat for a moment licking her paw and cleaning one ear as if he had been casually napping. Jasymn fed him a 3cc syringe of protein and vitamins that had cost her more than she normally paid for her own food. There were six syringes remaining and they had to last until they reached the border crossing. She remembered the first dog she had rescued. Gritting her teeth she cussed, vowing to fight even harder to find and store the precious life saving drugs the rich took for granted. Her food supply was running low: four packets of dehydrated apples and pears, and the rest a various assortment of dehydrated vegetables she had bartered for.
Each sealed packet held the equivalent of five to six pieces of fresh fruit. Even the elite did not enjoy such good food. Knowing the truth of where most food came from, sent a shiver down her spine. "Predigested" had been printed on a label of food cans she had seen in a glass cases of a building called a store museum. No wonder the plagues of illness came to wipe out most of the Americas population. They were eating processed shit with tons of poisonous chemicals to mask the product sold as food. Officials before the plagues came were selfish, uncaring and heartless. The Body Snatchers were called hospitals. In the many years of plagues that occurred between 2188 to the present date, many people died asking for forgiveness from what they called, " the sins of the far-there." Jasmyn's teachers said man-his-story was evil. She wasn't sure if the stories her teachers had told her were true. The one thing she knew, her animal teachers never lied. They always told the truth, and for that she was grateful.

Quickly counting her blessings while munching on a dehydrated ripe pear, the girl opened her laptop, entered the code numbers for the secret under ground channel and typed in a progress report, giving her location as, "The Hot Zone Central California." The keyboard had been damaged so typing wasn’t easy. Struggling, she finished the report and returned the laptop to the duffel bag, then covered herself with a black leather jacket she found in the corner of the cedar closet.

Sleep fell like feathers from the sky, Jasmyn dreamed of laughter with her friends, riding mountain trails on her horse, Stanford Major. Dreams of good times, when living was easy, and all the gentle animals that were her spirit teachers met in green fields of the magic flowers of long ago California were real enough to refresh her.

A tap, tap, tap from somewhere in the wall woke the young girl. Tap, tap, tap then silence, tap, tap, tap tap, again silence, tap, tap, tap. She put her ear to the cedar panel while holding the kitten. Not being fully awake yet, Jasmyn listened carefully. Standing up she started running her hand up and down the wall panel feeling for vibrations. She starting in the corner and working her way to the center of the closet where built-in drawers and shelves blocked the back wall. Switching the solar lamp to high, she stooped low looking at the carpeted floor. There, on the right side of the closet, the carpet seemed to have barely visible markings as if something had been slid across it and had snagged several carpet fibers. Getting on her hands and knees, she looked closely at where the built-in drawers met the back of the cedar panel. She could smell the faint order of fresh air. Then she saw it. A flash, a sparkle reflected back from the light of the lamp. Something was tightly wedged behind the wooden draws and the wall.