Drabble- Discovered

All was quiet, all was soft, and all was generally peaceful as the sun slowly started its climb into the sky that morning. The dew covered Romanian landscape was empty, save for a few scattering winter-bitten trees, and of course the six fugitive children who were hiding behind a crumbling cement wall--the only remains of what was probably someone’s house decades ago. The fields showed no signs of the war going on across the globe though, no, it was untouched save for a few hastily constructed signs, pointing to the nearest cities and fallout shelters, along with the distances to travel to said places.

Seager had been content to stay for several days, allowing newcomers like Christiana to adjust to life on the run. The nights were warm enough to sleep comfortably with the absence of a fire, their food supplies were plentiful thanks to Levi’s last stupid stunt…A stunt that the poor boy was still recovering from. Currently Levi was slumped over, left arm dangling uselessly against the dirt, eyes glassy and unfocused. He hadn’t slept.

But that was none of his concern, no; Seager had bigger things to worry about than Levi’s near screw up. There numbers had just doubled since yesterday, and he now had to figure out how to KEEP feeding six hungry mouths instead of three. The blond haired toddler and Rosa wouldn’t eat much, but they would need to eat often.  Christiana could ration out her food stuffs fairly, but she’d require more calories since she was the one carrying the young ones about along with her promise of being their eyes and sharpshooter. In fact, she might end up being the most valuable, being the only one who knew how to work guns, and work them well.

Sighing, the teenage boy re-adjusted the whittled stick in his lap and crossed his arms. Eyes closing, he decided that maybe there was indeed a few minutes of sleep to be had in the pre-dawn.  They didn’t have to be anywhere in a rush. There was no immediate danger. Sure they were exposed, save for the crumbling wall and tarp above, but they were safe.

Quiet…peaceful…undisturbed-

“Ey! Tovarishchi! Prosnisʹ, prosnisʹ ya vizhu chto-to!”

Well, so much for THAT.

“Shut UP Artem.” Seager growled through clenched teeth. This was the third morning the Russian had started babbling around dawn. He just wanted to catch some sleep. Just a few z’s, was that too much to ask?

“No, LOOK!” the raven haired child cried out even louder, while kicking his feet against the crumbling cement in excitement. Well whatever it was, the brat was willing to use some of the questionable amount of English he knew so it must have been important.
“OR, you could just TELL ME.” Sleep…..glorious sleep…..it seemed the longer he argued with the child the easier it was for his eyes to remain shut.

“Smoke.”

Seager nearly jolted at the soft and unfamiliar voice, before realizing that it was the toddler they rescued near the Moldovan border. The tiny lad hadn’t made a sound the whole time, save to whimper for Christiana to hold him. The kid’s facial features hadn’t looked Slavic, and it appeared by his use of English that Seager was correct in guessing that he was actually from Western Europe.

Smoke though….smoke?!

He was on his feet then atop the wall with Artem in less than two seconds.
“Sh**.”

Smoke indeed, smoke from a large approaching body of what could only be soldiers. By that point, Christiana was peering out the window hole with the tyke while even Levi seemed more aware of what was going on.

“It’s not the militia, is it.” Levi wasn’t asking a question, he was making a statement. He knew that the ruckus he caused the other day would have attracted greater attention. Seager shook his head, sucking in a weary breath. The militia would have been welcome in the face of what they were currently about to deal with.

Christiana nodded next to him, her brown eyes hard and staring straight ahead.

“It’s the continental. They’ve found us.”