by P. S. Power
It wasn't the way of her people, but it meant that she, Cam the thief, who'd had to make her way in the world of late by selling her ass for food, had to protect him. Even if it meant dying.
Her friends, Barb, Kim and Mary found her about then, each of them holding a small bundle. It was the sum of what they owned now. The one in her hand was similar, being just a few shirts and some jeans, stuffed into a ball, with a toothbrush. She didn't even own underwear anymore. Or socks. Or she did, at one of the homes or another, but they were all overrun with the dead, so she wasn't go back there again. The last time she'd tried, Cam had nearly been eaten.
Barb moved in until Cam's shoulder touched her arm. The other girl was taller than she was by about four inches, making her almost five-eight. It seemed too tall really, being that most of the women with them were shorter than that, but Barb was nice, and a natural leader.
"We need to stick together." This was hissed out, and seemed tense and tight. Like she was scared.
They all had been for so long that it almost seemed normal, but this was, Cam knew, a good place. If it wasn't, then the Dehist would have never let them come. Given what she'd seen of him so far, he would have fought the others to allow them, strangers, to escape, most likely. That he hadn't done anything of the sort meant that these people were all good, more or less. Enough to be deemed worthy of being in his presence.
Barb didn't know that however.
"These people might be cannibals or... Well, they won't be worse than the last place, I guess, if that isn't it. Still, keep your eyes sharp and pay attention. If we have to run we need to be ready. We should try to find some weapons or something." They hadn't been allowed any before, since they might just have decide to fight back if they had them. Some of the police women had tried that, at first. They were all dead now.
Mary, whose family was originally from Mexico, clutched her arm on the other side, moving just as close as Barb had. For regular people they were being clingy, but her folk were a lot closer that way than not. This was about right for her, personally. Kim turned almost halfway around, to watch behind them. That was her job in the group. Making sure no one snuck up on them. Not that there was all that much they could do if they did.
Cam nodded.
"I think these are good people. I'll look around though and see if I can find anything, just in case. Guns, or maybe knives? In case we have to protect someone." She had to go slowly with these three, she knew. She'd mentioned enough to know that they weren't part of the strange world. The secret peoples that live near and among the regular ones.
Mary shuddered.
"Be... Be careful. If they catch you, they might... you could." What she was going for was that she could be thrown to the zombies. Beaten or worse. That they all knew there was worse in the world than those things wasn't even considered now. They did. It was just a part of who they all were now.
Shaking her head, making the move big so that everyone could see it she forced a smile, even though she was afraid too. If not for the same reason they all were.
"No. The Dehist is here. That skinny guy, Jake? They have to be good if that's the case. Uh..." She blew out a breath of air, and started walking, making sure to signal Kim, so that she knew to follow. It was done with a pat to the middle of the back. It was too cold to stand around, and everyone was heading in already, carrying what they had. It wasn't a lot. Not even by regular people standards. She didn't get loud, but tried to explain, not caring who heard her.
"These people... They're not all regular. Some of them are different." The others gave her funny looks, but she kept on, since it needed to be out there. "That doesn't make them bad, but if you see strange things, just assume that it's good, for now. Try not to be afraid of them for it."
Barb pushed against her again. She kind of liked her, Cam knew. In a real way. That was fine with her, since the girl was pretty enough, and about the same age. She was thirteen, but looked older, so lied about her age a bit. Barb said she was sixteen, and that seemed about right, so it was good enough for her. The point was, neither was an adult, which meant that what they did in the bedroom was between them.
They were led by a pretty blonde woman down some new looking stairs into a very dark hallway. The lights were just enough for them not to all fall over on the rough and uneven floor. It was made of logs, she thought. The ones in the room were smoother, though not sanded down or anything. The woman in front cleared her throat.
"Like I said earlier, I'm Vickie. As your young friend was just telling you, most of the people here are a bit different, but good enough. That really doesn't change anything. We all need to keep to good noise discipline all the time, especially up top. If you have to throw a fit, do it down here. Otherwise you probably won't survive it, one way or the other." The voice seemed nearly playful, though it was about a strange subject.
Cam thought she got it though. It was clear really. This woman was a fighter. Disciplined and hardened.
"Are you from one of the warrior tribes?"
The voice came from where the door was. She really couldn't see much other than an outline, so focused on her second vision, closing her eyes tight. That allowed her to see nearly as well as if it were full daylight.
The fit looking woman nodded.
"Yes. I'm a Valkyrie. Who are your people?"
This part could get tricky, but there was no use lying about it. She had bright red hair and orange eyes. They were going to figure it out. Even those that didn't learn the way of others could get that one.
"Sh'elle'erid."
She waited for the derision. For the Val in front of her to call out that she was a filthy scalliwagga, then cast her out into the cold.
That didn't happen at all. Instead the woman tilted her head, and smiled.
"Really? We could use one of you around here. I'd recommend not stealing any weapons though. If you really want one, get with Nate, our political leader, and see what he says about it. If you have a good reason, he might just say yes. We have a Killgrade that walks around with a side arm most of the time. You'd have to learn to use them though. I also think that you should keep them in the armory. At least until a threat presents itself. Having weapons down here in the dark is foolish. Can you say friendly fire?"
Cam didn't get that last bit, but the rest made some sense. She'd need something, if she were going to protect Jake from zombies and raiders.
It was Barb that spoke, being the one that led their little group. That way, if there was punishment for it, she could take it for them. If Barbara couldn't, then it was up to her, then Kim. Mary was the weakest of them, and didn't handle being hurt very well.
"Ma'am? We can have weapons? I mean, without having to steal them?"
"Oh, sure. If you go hunting or are on guard duty, or become a Cleaner, you have to be armed. Right now I'd suggest hunting or guard duty. Cleaning is the most dangerous job we have. Worth doing though, if you have the nerve for it. Get with me in the morning and we can set something up? Not that you won't have other jobs too. There are some mattresses in here. I'm afraid you'll all have to fit yourselves in. This room needs to hold about twenty people for sleeping. The bathrooms are all upstairs. I can take one of you with me to show you how to find them. Then you can show the rest." She waited for a volunteer. Cam felt Barb tremble, fearing a trick or trap, but she was about to say she'd do it anyway, when Cam spoke up.
"I'm up then. I'll be back in about twenty minutes? I want to see if I can talk to Nate, the leader. I might as well set things up right now if I can."
That got a gentle smile from the woman in the door, who moved to help others get into place.
"It won't take that long. We have dinner coming soon, too. We'll all eat in the main room upstairs. Come on, I'll give you the quick tour and explain the rules, Then you can teach everyone else."
She turned to leave, with Cam handing her little faded blue pillow case of clothing off to Mary.
"Save me a good spot! I'll be right back then, I guess?"
She made her way with her eyes closed the whole time, until she was at the top of the stairs, then she went back to normal vision. It was darker that way, but she could see, and it was easier. Second vision took practice to use well, even if you were strong in the talent. It was worth it, for scouting purposes, so you knew where what you wanted to steal was, and when it was left unguarded.
At the top of the stairs the Val, Vickie, put her hand out to stop her.
Now it would come. The subtle, or perhaps not so delicate threat. Telling her they knew she was a thief and acting in an unfriendly fashion. It was like these others had never noticed that her kind didn't take things without permission from friends. The quickest way to protect your property was just to be nice. The Sh'elle'erid didn't steal from their own, just the outsiders.
So she was ready for the woman to swing around and pin her to the wall.
Again, it didn't come.
"The first bathroom is down here through that door. We have flush toilets, but the rule is that we conserve water when we can. So, if it's urine, just close the lid and leave it, unless it's starting to get too full. There's a line inside the bowl for that. The other one is up the stairs. Follow me." She didn't run, but the walk showed that she was a lot faster than Cam thought of as normal. She moved lightly and with an ease that forced her into a slow jog.
"Back here are bedrooms. The first one is where Nate and Jake sleep. So they can guard the rest of us if anything gets in." Then she looked at her sideways. "You caught that about Jake, earlier?"
She nodded, getting what was meant.
"Yeah. He's a Dehist. I..." She went quiet, making her face passive, as to not set the warrior next to her off. Vals weren't bad people, but they were tough, and in a fight with one, she wasn't fast enough, in any way, to survive, much less win. "I should try to get him to a better, safer place, but... This is it. As far as I know of, there's nothing else. I mean, there are other places, but not for people like me. I'm not a member of one of the ruling families. My parents weren't poor, but they were just people, you understand? So I can't take him away with me. That's why I need a gun."
"To protect him?" There was no smile on her lips when she said the words. Not even when Cam nodded her red head back at her.
"If I can. I'm not very quick yet. Traveling. It takes me about ten minutes to go from one place to another. So I'll have to do it like one of your people." Even if that was insane. Sh'elle'erid weren't great fighters by nature. They ran, as a rule. By instinct, too. Nothing in them told her kind to stand their ground.
She had to though. For the Dehist.
"I see. Well, learn how to do it, and practice first. It's a little more than just pointing the dangerous end at people and yanking a trigger. Not a lot more, so you can probably learn. Get with Nathaniel, after the meal. One word of warning; he reads minds. If you have anything else planned, I wouldn't go near him. Not that I wouldn't get you to take Jake away from here if you had anyplace. Even if it meant the rest of us stopped being, to make it happen."
There was no reaction to that on her part, mainly because Cam understood the thought.
"Then I just have to try and get better and stay close to him somehow. Do you think I should sleep in here with him?"
There was a head shake.
"Not this night. He's warming my bed. Jake has another home, about three miles from here. A secondary base of operations that he uses for hunting and provision gathering. You may be able to use that to get closer to him. He goes into town regularly, which means miles of walking each way."
That news surprised her. She knew that the Dehist left the safety of this place, even though it was good and strong, and that he could fight. Even do it well. The rest...
"You let him go out... alone?" That couldn't be what was meant, could it?
"We're working on that one. Things haven't been going well for him in certain ways. It's been hard for him, in ways that you and I can't imagine. A ten minute trip to town and another coming back would be much faster. I suggest you try it. I'll see to training you, if we can."
Then the woman clapped her on the back, like they were old friends and they went back down the stairs. "This is the dining room, and the kitchen is through there. We'll need more people for that duty. Can you cook at all?"
"Oh, of course. I'm going to be married some day. My mother taught me. A wife has to prepare food for her man." Before whatever had happened to her mother and father had taken place, Cam had practiced cooking almost every day.
What had happened to her parents was something bad, she thought. If it wasn't they would have met her at one of the emergency places. If anyone could survive though, it would be them. They were both fast and powerful, able to collect a lot in each trip.
It was a thing to cling to, at least. For most people being missing like that would mean they were dead. Now. For one of her people it almost certainly meant that they were fine and had found a new place, far away. One that she didn't know about.
That would mean that they thought she was the dead one. It had been closer than she liked more than once. When the undead had first come she could just barely move herself, and had been given only the most basic of lessons. Even those had come years earlier than for any of her friends. Most girls couldn't do it until they were about fourteen, and she'd still been twelve.
Back then it had taken her about half an hour to frame the location properly and feel herself being there strongly enough for anything to happen. She'd been with her mom and dad one day, in Paris, when things were just starting. They didn't live there, but had thought it would be safe. That was wrong. After getting separated, she'd ended up being trapped on a catwalk in a department store with people being killed and eaten by zombies below her. They couldn't reach her, but the thing she'd been on was flimsy, meant to hold only a few pounds of advertising banner or something.
So she left.
Honestly, she wasn't certain how that had happened. It couldn't have taken more than thirty seconds though. Maybe a lot less than that.
The big problem was that she ended up back home, not with her mom or dad. Then she started through the checklist in her head, going from location to location. Searching for weeks. Nearly dying every time. She barely slept and didn't eat. Water was a thing she managed, but when she remembered her Grandpa Castor's farm she decided to try there.
To find it over run by murdering rapists.
Luckily they were dumb ones, that didn't realize that an extra cute redhead had suddenly shown up one day. No one really had, as far as she knew. If anyone had gotten it, they didn't tell on her. That was actually possible, she knew. A lot of the women had kept things to themselves to protect the others. Not all of them. Some had told the cops about every wrong word and small slight, to try and protect themselves from harm. It hadn't really worked, but people would do a lot in order to try and avoid pain. She'd done a few things she wasn't proud of herself that way. None that harmed any of the others that had been there, though.
That meant she had food, a warm place to stay and clean water. Also that she'd had to pay for it, by doing things that weren't allowed until she was an adult. Really, that made it sound almost equitable. That she traded her behind for food and water almost made sense. For a regular person at least. Barb, Kim and Mary... They really couldn't have done better for themselves that way. Even if they got away, they'd starve in a few days. She nearly had, so knew that one first hand.
In a world where safety was the most valuable thing, that place had it. She could have taken their food, and getting water wasn't that hard. As long as you weren't going to have some undead person try to eat your face off every time you went to the watering hole. So... She did what she had to. Like they all did. Most of it wasn't that bad, really. At least if the men washed and didn't just grab her and start going. Most didn't though. It let her pretend that she was just trading a service for what she needed.
Part of the time.
She made her way back into the d
ark hole that was her new sleeping chamber, and closed her eyes again. Practice didn't hurt, and second vision was so much better for this that she'd be a fool to try and stumble along blindly.
When she got to the back room, the one on the right, she found her friends easily enough. They were about ten feet back from where she'd left them. Sitting on a mattress that had a fitted sheet on it, and an extra body. Colleen.
She was a nice enough woman. A little older than any of them, but she looked right to be in their group. They weren't normally that close, but for some reason Barb had her arm around her shoulders. Smiling, Cam wondered if she should feel jealous? They looked pretty cozy. Rather than be a bitch about it she sat on the far side and put her arm around the short lady from the other side.
"Hi Colleen. I see you finally decided to join up with the mean girls?" That was a joke. They were all far too nice for that kind of name, but it helped them feel better about themselves.
"Um..." She looked at the voice, but it was clear that the single tiny LED hanging from the ceiling wasn't even nearly enough for her to make out who was groping her shoulder and back.
"It's Cam. I was just learning where the bathrooms are, and where we'll eat. Also, that lady? Vickie? She talked to me about getting a gun."
The others were all listening, but Colleen leaned into her a bit.
"Why? Are you going hunting with us?"
She'd been running the hunting group for them in the last week. Every day they went out, and so far had managed to kill two things, one deer, and one old looking cow. Which was about a million times more than what the police had managed to catch. Other than crabs, she didn't think they'd gotten anything at all. It was weird, since at least half of them had probably been hunters before, but they just didn't think it was important or something.
"Maybe. It's really so that I can um... Protect people. In case anything happens. Like a guard."
"Oh. Cool. We should all try and do that, if we can. It wouldn't be right for us to just let these other people do all the work. Even if it is terrifying."
