by Misty Vixen
From what he understood, there were three different kinds of people who did this. The first and most common were traders who knew about the other two types of people. The second were collectors, largely people who still remembered the old world, and apparently jewelry had been a sign of wealth and status. The third, and most rare, were those who still made technology, and needed certain rare kinds of metal to make such technology, some of which was in jewelry. So rings and earrings and necklaces were the kinds of things that could either be totally useless finds, or hugely massive windfalls that could help you for months.
David saw one of the rings that stood out, the one that no doubt Tyler was looking for.
“Well, shit,” he muttered. This put him in an awkward position.
“What?” Ellie asked, coming into the room. “Did you find something? Oh fuck,” she said as she came to stand next to him. “That’s...a lot.”
“Yeah. Which puts us in an awkward place,” he replied.
“What? No it doesn’t. One of those rings is what he’s looking for. We give it to him. We lay claim to everything else,” Ellie said.
“Some of these might be his girlfriend’s family’s, not to mention, he’s probably already in deep shit for doing this.”
“He should be.”
“He doesn’t seem like a bad guy. I feel bad just sending him back empty-handed.”
“We saved his fucking life,” Ellie replied. He stared at her. “I am not being selfish, David!” she snapped softly. “We have an entire village of people to think about, he’s got his girl and his own ass to think about. He did something stupid, he’d be fucking lucky to come back alive, unharmed, and with her goddamned ring.”
“So you found it?”
Both of them whirled around, and Ellie seemed particularly pissed, probably because she hadn’t heard him standing there in the doorway.
“Yes. You heard all that?” David asked.
“Yeah.” He looked uncomfortable. “I mean, I get it, you’re right. This was stupid, I was just...desperate. My girlfriend’s been really fucking miserable lately and it hurts so much watching her be miserable and I thought...this would help. And, I know I have no right to ask, but...yes, I would really, really appreciate it if I could bring something back. I’m going to catch goddamn hell for doing this, but if I come back with something useful, they’ll be a lot less angry. I’m not completely sure about all of that, what might have belonged to her family or might not, but I do at least know that the pocketwatch was her dad’s, and her mom had blue earrings...”
David looked at Ellie, who stared back at him. He waited. So did she. He remained silent, interested to hear what she had to say. Finally, she threw her arms up in frustration. “Fine! You get the ring, the earrings if they’re there, the pocketwatch, and two other rings, but nothing else and then we are dragging your ass back home!” she snapped.
“Thank you so much,” he replied.
She just marched over to the window and crossed her arms. She stood there, staring out it, tail twitching angrily. Tyler came over and he and David sorted it out. He took three of the rings and the pocketwatch, and then found the pair of earrings in question, the only blue ones among the set. He pocketed it all, then looked reluctantly at the jacket.
“Yeah?” David asked, following his gaze.
“I’m almost sure that was her mom’s,” he murmured.
“All right,” David replied, and handed it to him after double-checking the pockets.
“Thank you for this. Really,” Tyler said, accepting it.
“I’m just glad we could help. Let’s get you back home,” David replied. He glanced at Ellie. He thought she would’ve had another outburst at him giving up the jacket, it was a nice jacket, but she said nothing. Instead, as they began to head for the exit, she turned around sharply and marched across the room.
They left the abandoned farm in silence.
CHAPTER FIVE
“I’m sorry, Ellie,” David said about a minute after they had begun walking away from the farm, payout in hand. It was heavy and Ellie had let him carry it, as well as the suitcase. They’d packed a bag with a dozen cans of food, several cuts of beef and bacon, a loaf of bread, and a collection of a half-dozen eggs. He had two gallon glass jugs of milk in his pack.
This shit was fucking heavy.
They had made it back without a problem, having to kill a handful of zombies and a few more rippers that had showed up. The gate guard looked relived to see Tyler, and gave him a lot of shit, as did William when he came out to greet and thank them. David had asked him one more time to rethink his position on offering help with the assault, but William had steadfastly, though reluctantly, turned him down, again apologizing.
And, finally, off they had gone, back home.
“It’s fine,” Ellie said finally. Her tail was still twitching, and it sounded like it most certainly was not fine.
“Are you just saying that?” David asked.
She heaved an explosive sigh. “You did a nice thing. I think it was a little questionable, you’re taking a lot on faith, but ultimately it was a good move. Probably. I’m just pissed. I’m pissed that we had to waste time tracking down some idiot teenager with a hard-on who risked his, and our, lives. It’s frustrating, I’m pissed, I’m getting over it. I just need time for the anger to dissolve. So, it’s fine,” she explained.
“Okay,” David replied quietly after a moment.
He could understand that. He’d often found himself in situations where he was fucking furious, and he knew he was overreacting, but that didn’t help as much as it should. So he just shut up and kept quiet until they had made their way all the way back to the campgrounds. He saw Amanda up on top of the cabin near the front, on guard duty.
“Hello, Amanda,” he said.
“Hello, David,” she replied with some surprising sultriness to her voice. “I see you two had a successful mission.”
“Partially successfully,” David replied. “I take it everything is well here?”
“Everything’s perfect,” she replied, smiling beautifully at him.
He just nodded and headed inside with Ellie. When they were moving Jim and Amanda’s family in, Evelyn had said that Amanda was checking him out, and suggested that they might be in an open marriage. David thought it unlikely but...a lot of unlikely things had happened. And over the past two weeks, Amanda had been surprisingly flirtatious with him. He didn’t know if she intended to take it anywhere or if that’s just how she was sometimes. She was certainly attractive enough, and he would love to have sex with her.
He’d never fucked a married woman before.
But so far, it hadn’t been anything beyond suggestive glances and tones of voice, a few certain phrases that aroused his suspicions, (and his lust), and a few touches here and there. Nothing definitive. Maybe someday.
As he headed for the main office, he glanced back one more time and saw her standing atop the roof, facing away from him. Good fucking lord her ass in those jeans. She probably had like twenty years on him, which only made him want her more.
He heard Ellie laugh softly.
“What?” he murmured.
“I see you looking.”
“I mean...yeah. Who wouldn’t?”
“I don’t know. I know she’s married, though.”
“Yeah, but...okay, am I crazy or was she flirting with me?” he asked.
“She was,” Ellie replied. “I’ve seen her do it a few times. She likes you. But I can’t tell if she’s just teasing you or if she’s looking for something.”
“Evie said she might be in an open marriage...”
“Now there’s a pleasant thought.”
They headed into the main office, up the stairs, and into the dining area where Evelyn and Ashley were seated at the dining table with several pieces of paper set out.
“Oh good, you’re back, and apparently you brought a shitload of food,” Ashley said.
“That’s not the only thing we
brought,” David replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the remaining jewelry and set it on the table.
“Oh shit,” Evelyn murmured.
“Jewelry? You brought jewelry?” Ashley asked, frowning.
“If I recall, when we saved your sweet ass, you were looking for jewelry,” David replied as Ellie walked past them, towards the kitchen, to put up their food.
“Yeah. It meant something to me. It had personal value. Functionally speaking, it’s almost useless. So...”
“There are people who would give up twenty pounds of meat for one of those rings,” Evelyn said, taking one of the rings and holding it up, studying it in the sunlight.
“Are you fucking serious?” Ashley asked.
“Yeah. Collectors. Or technology-makers. It may take a few months, it make take a year, but we could make a killing off of these.”
“Well, cool then,” Ashley replied, and returned her attention to the sheets of paper.
“How are things proceeding?” David asked, setting his suitcase and backpack on the floor for the moment and sitting down at the table.
“Good. We just got finished going around and asking everyone what they’re good at and what they’re cool with doing. At the moment, we’re establishing a guard rotation. We’ve got myself, Ashley, Ashley’s parents, Jim, Amanda, you, Ellie, Benjamin, and Cait to work with. We’re aiming for six hour shifts, which means four shifts a day, two at night right now, so that means alternating days for all of us. Four of us on one day, four of us on the next. Although it’s difficult right now because you, Ellie, and Cait are running around, so I’m setting up a temporary schedule.”
“We’re also figuring out other schedules. The Walsh’s are going to take over snow-melting duty for the next however long. Mrs. Walsh is also great at sewing, so I’ve put her in charge of gathering up all of our spare clothes, breaking down the useless stuff and using it to fix the messed up stuff. It’ll be great to have spares, for us and to trade with. We’re also figuring out a wood chopping schedule and game hunting schedule. Ann knows how to make snares, to trap rabbits, and she also knows how to make fish traps, for the river. It isn’t too far from here. I figured we could set up a daily pilgrimage out to some fish traps eventually,” Ashley explained.
“This is excellent,” David replied. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Happy to,” Evelyn replied, smiling broadly. “I have a particular love of organization and lists and schedules. I’m good at it and I like doing it, honestly. So this is great.”
“I’m glad. Cait left, right?” he asked.
“Yes. She woke up about ten minutes after you left, and was out the door ten minutes after that, so she should already be there and doing whatever it is,” Evelyn replied.
“Okay, good. I’m going to go get this sorted.”
He got up and joined Ellie in the kitchen. They spent the next ten minutes putting away the food and making sure it was well-organized and secured, so that Frostbite, or any of his friends, if they were around, wouldn’t get into it. When that was done, Ellie said she was going to throw together some vegetable beef soup for them, and he thanked her and headed upstairs to sort through the clothes and other items he’d brought back from the abandoned farmhouse. He took a few of the clothes that he thought might fit him, (he didn’t have a whole lot at this point), and ended up putting the rest in a pile to be sorted through by April, Ellie, and Cait. Though he hesitated at that. Should they get first pick just because they were the ones ‘in charge’?
The idea made him uncomfortable, and he figured it would do to determine if anyone else in the campgrounds were hurting for clothes right now. They hadn’t mentioned it, but clothes might not necessarily jump to mind when you had things like food and medicine to consider. He sighed softly as he began hunting around for a place to hide the jewelry. He was so bad with shit like this, and that just made him appreciate Evelyn all the more. She clearly excelled at keeping all sorts of stuff in her head at the same time, or at least knew enough to be able to put together charts and lists and schedules on paper to keep it all in order.
And it was only going to get more complex.
David had the idea that he was more going to be a fighter and, at best, a facilitator. Evelyn would inform him that they needed something that was dangerous to get, and he would be one of the ones to actually go out and get it. He was happy to throw in and do the grunt work during the quieter, day-to-day moments: chopping firewood, pulling guard duty, making meals. But he got the feeling that everyone was going to have something unique to offer the community, something special, and his special thing was going to be walking out into the dangerous wilderness and procuring items or completing missions.
He never would have thought so, but he was surprisingly good at it.
Of course, right now a lot of that had to do with the fact that Ellie or Cait were with him almost all of the time, and they knew what they were doing several levels above him.
After storing the jewelry with the guns in their makeshift ‘armory’, which was little more than a dresser drawer, he returned to the kitchen and chatted with Ellie as she tended to the stew, stirring it occasionally. He still felt a little awkward after their serious conversations they’d been having lately. She seemed a little more subdued than usual, maybe a little more reserved than he was used to seeing her act, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On a whim, he walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Rubbing your shoulders...if that’s okay,” he replied.
“Yeah. That’s fine...um, thanks,” she murmured.
He began to massage her shoulders, and she immediately let out a long, satisfied sigh. “Shit,” she whispered after a moment, and he felt her tail drifting slowly back and forth between his thighs, “that’s really good.”
“You’re tense,” he replied.
She laughed softly. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“You should try relaxing a little more. I mean, I get it: you live a dangerous life, more so than most of us, and by choice to a certain degree, but...being by yourself all the time has to suck to a certain extent. You can relax around us.”
“Why are you so interested in my life?” she asked after a few moments.
“You’re my friend, Ellie. I care about you. I want you to be happy,” he replied. “I...thought that was obvious, at this point.” He paused. “Am I bugging you? I’m sorry, I’m not trying to pester you into doing anything. I know some people try to do that. They see something they don’t like in the way someone else lives their life, and they pester and bug and nag them under the guise of ‘worrying about them’ or something like that. That’s not what I’m trying to do. I want you to live the life you want to live, I don’t want to impose on you, but I also want you to know that...friends are available to you, Ellie. Having a place you can just relax, a safe place that has people you can trust in it, is available to you. You don’t have to solo every aspect of your entire life.”
She was silent for several minutes after he said that, and he continued massaging her shoulders, then her neck, waiting for her to respond. Her tail had increased a little bit in its swaying, but not much, so that was good, at least.
“Thank you,” she said finally. “I don’t undervalue your friendship, and the things you do for me. I don’t want you to think that. I just...I’ve learned the hard way that it’s often better to live without certain...luxuries, because they can be ripped away from you at any moment. Which is more true than ever now. I appreciate what you do, and what Evie and Cait and April and Ashley do for me. I really do. I just...need to live a certain way. I don’t know if that’s ever going to change. I’m pretty fucked up, and I don’t know if I can be fixed, but whatever happens, however I turn out...thank you. I do appreciate you.”
“Okay,” he said, and he hugged her from behind, holding her against himself. “I’m glad you’re my friend, Ellie
.”
She laughed softly. “So am I. You’re...very patient. It’s more than I deserve.”
“You deserve friends. And to be happy.”
“Maybe someday I’ll believe that,” she murmured. “But for now, the soup is about to spill over.”
“Oh, right. I’ll get bowls,” he said. He kissed her neck, then released her and went for bowls. Finding two of them, he set them out, then went and checked to see if the others wanted anything. Ashley said no, but Evelyn was hungry, so he went and got another bowl. They served the soup, and grabbed cups of water, and then sat down to lunch. As they ate and relayed what had happened at the abandoned farmhouse to the others, David couldn’t dissuade a growing sense of discomfort. Cait should probably be back by now, given how long they had been gone. It wasn’t that far of a walk over to the doctor’s…
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.
David realized that he’d fallen silent after finishing his stew. “Nothing,” he replied. Ellie stared at him. He sighed. “Is it that obvious?”
“Yes. What’s wrong?” she replied.
“I’m just worried about Cait. I don’t know why. I guess I feel like she should be back by now...”
“She did also have to track down Jennifer,” Evelyn pointed out.
“Yeah...I dunno, I just feel a little weird about it.”
“Hmm.” Ellie frowned, looking down at the table for a moment. Then she looked back up, met his eyes. “If it’ll make you feel better, we can go to the doctor’s outpost and see what’s happening for ourselves. At worst, we’ll run into Cait on her way back.”
He nodded. “Yeah, okay. If you don’t mind.”
She stood. “I don’t mind.” She hesitated, looking down at the meal. “Uh, would you mind...”
