The next week was hard. Even with a shop, the family’s flat was ill-suited to accommodating ten people. Space seemed at a premium as the partisans were always lounging about in every corner of the house. To Chloe’s dismay she had to sleep in her parent’s room. After one day, Vida became exasperated with trying to clean up after them. Soon enough, food supplies were quickly consumed by the partisans. Fortunately they were able to readily restock from the nearby grocery store, though this became increasingly difficult.

As Chloe went outside, she saw that her own flat was not the only occupied building. All along the street, and indeed the town, she saw the same dusty farm trucks and pickups parked all over. She noticed similarly dressed people sitting outside on the stoops with their guns or milling about in the other shops. Always they seemed to shadow somebody, as if keeping an eye on them. The grocery owner seemed to understand as he was in the same predicament, and frequently undercharged for food.

Chloe still had to go to school, though her mother closely accompanied her on the way. However, the class sizes shrank and the teachers struggled to keep order. It wasn’t just the school. The streets became increasingly empty as more people stayed indoors. The friendly and placid atmosphere of their small town turned to one of constant fear and apprehension. Chloe could feel it in the air and it started to get to her too. She didn’t want to go outside anymore. Even people she would never expect succumbed to the tension.

One day, as the grocer handed Darius his goods he looked around to see if anyone was listening, turned to them both and said,” You know, you better leave while there’s still a chance. I hear they’re starting to prevent people from leaving.” “But why? What would they want?” “I have no idea. Maybe they want hostages.” Darius tried to respond but the grocer cut him off. “I know you don’t want to uproot, but it’s not safe anymore. They’re getting into fights with the police over it. And that’s assuming there’s somewhere safe nearby to go to. Fighting’s broken out all over the border. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I don’t want to find out.”

Darius seemed to ponder this. When they went home he whispered something to Vida, who gave him a confused look. “But we don’t have any money to...” Darius panicked and gestured for her to keep her voice down. He whispered something back and she suddenly understood. He left again and didn’t come back until later that evening with a defeated look on his face. He looked at Vida and said. “Maybe tomorrow.”

They both froze as the lead partisan, who was just in the other room, shouted over the TV. “I know what you’re doing. Don’t think you’re going to get bus tickets. You’re not going anywhere.”

That startled everyone, including Chloe. “This place is yours. You can have everything. We just need to get to safety.” Darius said. The leader laughed. “Safety? You’re fine. Nobody’s going to hurt you.” “Either way, we’re leaving.” The leader walked into the hallway. “And have three informants tell the government about our location? ‘Yes sir, we’re from the flower shop on the east side of town, which, by the way, is full of partisans.’ Can’t have that.”

“You’re being paranoid.” said Darius. The leader took exception to this. “Hey, don’t blame me! If you have a problem, then maybe you want to take it up with our captain?” He smirked.

At that point Vida snapped, stomping to the partisan and pushed her finger in his face. “You’re crazy if you think you can just keep us here like prisoners. You break in here, act like you own everything, eat us out of house and home! All you do is lie around, getting dirt all over the place and putting our family in danger. I’m going to tell you right now, I don’t care about your little freedom fighting crusade. You are NOT keeping us here against our will! We are NOT your servants!”

For a moment it looked as if Vida were about to punch the partisan in the face. She almost looked taller than him. Chloe simply looked on in shock, afraid something was going to happen. He just glared at her and laughed. “I like your wife Darius. The woman’s got spunk, that’s for sure!”

Now Darius began losing his patience and moved to protect his wife. Her father never lost his patience. The man whipped out a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at him. “But seriously, though, I would cool my temper before I did anything else.” The other partisans, hearing the commotion, rushed to his side. “Is something wrong, sir?” The leader just smiled. “No, everything’s fine. We just had to clear a few things up.” He turned to Vida. “Isn’t that right?” Laughing, he went back into the den and motioned for the others to come and join him. “Come on, let’s all get something to eat. We’re all one family now. Let’s put it behind us.”

~

Although she was scared of them at first, Chloe gradually came to know each of the partisans. Some of them were quite rough, and she stayed away from them. A few however, were nice and she sometimes tried to talk to them. There was a large man who often took walks around the neighborhood and liked to chat with fellow partisans in the street. Sometimes he would tell her old folk tales as she was coming back from school, which she actually enjoyed.

Another was a skinny dark-haired man who sat on the bench of the flower shop cleaning his gun. He would sometimes look up at her when she walked by him, and would shake his head. “Sorry to put you through this.” He said with a sigh. “Someone your age should be outside playing. I don’t know why we always do things this way. Sometimes our leader can be a little…” He started tapping his head with his knuckle.

As for the girl, she never talked to Chloe. When she wasn’t with the leader, she lay on the sofa watching the news. She appeared sullen most of the time. To Chloe she seemed the most mysterious. Once, Chloe tried to sit next to her as she tried to light up a cigarette. The girl glanced at her briefly but otherwise didn’t notice her. Then as she was about to inhale she rolled her eyes, extinguished it, and flicked it into the trash. “Okay kiddo, what do you want to watch?” And for the rest of the afternoon they watched cartoons.

The others spent most of their time out and stayed up late playing cards. The leader, though, she stayed away from. There was something about his boisterous nature and aggressive posturing that frightened her. He yelled a lot and brandished his gun whenever he went out into the street. Her parents seemed to share her sentiment. They grew increasingly protective of her and when they didn’t keep her by their side, one of them was always in the same room with her.

Near the end of the week the family went out of their flat less frequently. Chloe went with her father to the grocery store only to find the door locked and the windows smashed. On their way home, they noticed a police officer chasing down a man in a partisan uniform. Darius dragged her into an alley and tired to find another way home. Neither wanted to see what happened, but they heard gunshots and could only guess.

After that incident, the family never left their flat. Nor did they speak to the partisans about what they saw. The event scared Chloe and she stayed up at night wondering what could have happened. She wondered if the grocer met with the same fate. Food also became much scarcer. By the next day there was almost non left, and the partisans started to scavenge the neighborhood looking for scraps. Chloe became much hungrier even though her parents frequently gave her their food. They also looked much more tired with the circles under their eyes becoming more pronounced. Darius’ stubble shaded his face and Vida’s cheeks became gaunter. The smell of filthy bodies drenched the room. Chloe also went to the store to check on the flowers only to see that some of them were dying. It made her sad to see her father’s beloved shop to go to ruin, but Darius couldn’t really find the resources to tend to them anymore, as there were no more customers.

As a result, the atmosphere became increasingly tense. Shouting matches among the partisans became more common. Even more worrying was the way they began talking about how “they” were coming. “What!? We had the raid planned for next week. We’ve only been here for a few days! How could they get here so quickly?” the leader shouted at the others. “That’s what I saw in the news. They’ve begun a major push into the Badlands. This town is near the front.” said the girl.”

“Surely they can’t be that fast. Dammit, and we weren’t even close to finishing preparations.”

“Maybe that’s why…”

“Shut up!” roared the man. He could be heard clearly through the walls.

“Don’t yell at me like that! Look, they’re almost here. Just look at the TV. It’s nothing but public safety warnings.” The girl seemed to panic now. “Forget about the raid! We’ll have to fight them where we stand.”