by Misty Vixen
Delilah still had a distant look, too.
“Can you, uh, handle things here? Just for maybe an hour, probably less. I have to go track down the third guy who was sniping us. I want that rifle and all his shit,” I said.
“Yeah...I can manage that,” Megan said, grimacing slightly. Probably even that was asking a lot of her right now, (fuck I hoped she didn’t have a concussion), but she could probably read it in my face that I really needed her right now.
We all needed each other right now, but Delilah and Elizabeth especially needed us to be the ones in charge, getting shit done, because they were down for the count.
“I’ll take care of the bigger stuff once I get back, just...stay with them,” I said.
She nodded, then winced again. “Yeah. Hurry up.”
“I’ll try.”
~
It had warmed up a little outside, which made the walk easier, at least.
I left the house and crossed the highway and got to the trees on the other side without any real problems. I almost slipped once on the road, but that was it. My memory was good, and my ability to visually map out an area quickly was apparently also good. Or maybe it was just boosted in times when someone was trying to murder my ass. Either way, I had a clear impression of where that sniper dick had been hiding and, sure enough, I managed to get to him inside of fifteen minutes. As I approached, I really began to appreciate Megan’s handiwork.
She had, in fact, shot the guy right in the face.
Right in the nose, I think, dead center, but it was hard to tell. His face was fucking ruined, the back of his head blown out in a hideous display of chunky brain matter and skull fragments. And a lot of blood.
Fucking shit, man.
Death could definitely be gross.
But my guess was on the money. I found three backpacks of supplies leaned around a tree just a few feet from the already freezing over corpse. The guy’s hat had come off and I saw the remains of long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail. Ugh. Don’t know what it was, but I never fully liked guys with long hair like that. I know it was a stupid way to judge and I did my best to never actually treat someone bad just because they had long hair, but it always seemed like the guys I ran into with the ponytails were greasy, weaselly assholes trying to rip me off or sell me something fucked up. Like used car salesmen.
I found his rifle and saw it was basically a copy of the one Megan had: bolt action, scope, thirty-ought-six rounds. Looked to be in decent condition, too. Well, that was fine by me. By my count, we were down to maybe a dozen bullets for the rifle. I picked it up out of the snow, dusted it off, and checked it over. It was almost empty, only a single bullet left. Was he a lousy shot or had he just been herding us into that house?
I guess we’d never know, one way or another.
After that, I worked quickly. One of the packs was almost empty, so I consolidated it and its contents into the others. I’d left my own pack behind so that I could carry anything I might’ve found out here. At a glance, I found food, medicine, some more bullets, and some clothes stuffed into the two backpacks. I also found a nice hunting knife, some more matches, some chewing tobacco, and a few other random odds and ends in the guy’s pockets. I stripped him down to his underwear and stuffed everything into the packs, then pulled the heaviest one on over my shoulders, slung the rifle, picked up the remaining pack, and then took off.
It was time to head in for the day.
~
When I got back to the house that was now ours for the time being, nothing had actually changed. Megan was still laying in bed, still awake, at least, and Delilah and Elizabeth were still in their same positions. I didn’t know whether or not to try and convince them to help me with the busywork or let them be, so I settled on checking Megan for a concussion. She answered the questions and I surmised that she probably didn’t have one.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Better now,” she murmured. “I hate laying here, being useless, but that really knocked the fucking wind out of me, especially after the storm and the river. My legs feel like jelly.”
“I know how you feel,” I replied.
She crossed her arms, looking irritable. “Yeah right, you fought that huge guy off and then walked around in the snow for an hour and still are going to do things. I’m fucking pathetic-” she began, her voice lowering in anger.
“Megan,” I said, firmly, putting a hand on her thigh. She looked at me, glared at me really. “You aren’t. You need a break, and we’re lucky enough to be in a position to where you can take on. Just…” I sighed softly. “You aren’t weak, all right? Don’t feed that. You’ll head down a dark path and be in a shit mood all night.”
She stared hard at me for a long moment, and I wondered if she’d dig in her heels and fight me on this, but then her shoulders slumped and she sighed softly. “Yeah, fine, you’re right,” she muttered, then she sat up suddenly. “But you need that cleaned,” she said, looking at my eyebrow.
“Yeah, I do,” I agreed. And because it did need doing, and she needed something to do, and I didn’t quite trust Elizabeth or Delilah to do the job in their current state, I got some medical supplies and let her at it.
“Damn, you’ve got a bad black eye,” she muttered, wincing slightly in sympathetic reaction as she pulled the bandage away. “Ugly cut.”
“No surprise there,” I replied.
I sat through the miserable experience of having a fresh wound cleaned up and finally she placed a fresh bandage over it.
“Probably won’t need stitches,” she said.
“Good.” I stood, looked around. I didn’t like how quiet and staring Delilah and Elizabeth were. Megan looked around as well, then back at me.
“Go on, I’ll take care of everything in here,” she said quietly.
I nodded and headed out of the room.
~
For me, at least, it was mostly calm and normal after that.
I did my stuff for the next few hours. I secured the house, then I got a fire going in the wood-burning stove that we were lucky enough to have and got some snow boiling, then I performed a thorough search of it. I only found a handful of items, nothing really special or important, stuff that might make for good padding to a trade.
Once that was all done, I got to work making our lunch slash dinner. I decided, in light of both our recent surplus and the events of the day, a good, hearty meal of comfort food would probably do all of us some good. I fried up half the deer meat and half the wolf meat, then tossed the wolf meat into a pot of the rest of our mixed vegetables and black beans. I doubted we’d eat all of it, but it’d get us through today and maybe even tomorrow with leftovers.
At some point while I was cooking, Delilah emerged and began searching the kitchen. I realized she was doing her own duty of checking the place over, and I thought to make conversation with her, but the look on her face and her body language said she really didn’t want to talk about it. Twice I checked on Megan and Elizabeth. The first time they looked the same as when I’d left them, the second time Elizabeth had finally laid down. I thought she was napping but it was hard to tell, as she was facing the wall.
Eventually, lunch was done and I served it out after washing some plates and silverware that I found leftover in the kitchen.
Nice little score there, at least.
I managed to get everyone out into the living room, where we all sat around a coffee table. Megan and I ate as normal, but Delilah and Elizabeth only picked at their meals. After about five minutes, I was going to try and strike up a conversation, but abruptly Delilah seemed to gather her courage and spoke up.
“Elizabeth,” she said, and Elizabeth almost dropped her fork as she looked over.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry,” Delilah said, and at once her eyes were filled with tears. “I’m sorry. I had to do it. I-I had to do it. I had to kill him!”
That was as far as she got before dropping her face into her hands and br
eaking down completely into tears that were extraordinarily painful to watch. I thought Elizabeth might follow suit, but something seemed to resolve in her and abruptly she got up out of her chair and sat down next to Delilah, wrapping her in a hug. Delilah immediately hugged her back, crying loudly, and Megan and I glanced at each other.
I could see the same pain I was feeling written on her features. Neither of us really knew what to do, but Elizabeth seemed to know how to handle it.
Probably this was where she was strong.
For the first few minutes, she just held Delilah and let her cry, murmuring to her, and I did see tears in her eyes as well, but she didn’t cry. I thought she would, before the end, but not yet. After awhile, Delilah seemed to wear herself out, but still hugged herself to Elizabeth.
“Delilah,” she said, and Delilah let out a muffled response. “I know this has been so hard, and I’m not mad at you. You did what needed to be done. I forgive you, if it makes you feel better. And I was going to apologize to you.”
That made her pull back, she looked incredulous.
“Why!?” she asked, bewildered.
“Because my shit of an ex-husband forced you to kill him, and that was horrible for you, and I’m so sorry you had to pull the trigger. He was a monster, I can see that now more clearly than ever before, and this had to go down this way. I hate it, I hate that it did, I wished he would have just gone away, but I knew he wouldn’t. I saw the look in his eyes...he would have captured and forced you and Megan and me into sex and God knows what else. You did the right thing, Delilah, don’t ever question that. You saved Chris’s life, our lives, but I’m sorry you had to do it.”
“I’m sorry too, Delilah,” I said quietly. She looked at me. “I should have been the one to do it. I tried, God knows I did, but it just didn’t work out that way...and she’s right. You absolutely saved my life. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she murmured, looking miserable and tired and bewildered. “God, I hate this so much. This is all awful...I can’t believe I killed him,” she whispered.
“I know,” Elizabeth said, hugging her again.
“How long will it take to get over, Chris? Megan?” she moaned as she hugged Elizabeth back.
We shared an uncomfortable look.
“I honestly can’t say,” Megan murmured.
“I think it’s different for everyone. For now...you just need time to process. You’re in shock. We’re going to stay here for today, maybe tomorrow if you want, hell, even three days or longer if that’s what it takes, but I’ll help you however I can,” I looked at Elizabeth, “both of you. I know he was a piece of shit, but this has to be hard for you.”
She sighed. “It is. I feel awful. I hate it so much. But...I think I’ve been preparing myself for this possibility for days now. Maybe even weeks. I think, at some point, I knew this would come to pass. I loved him, and there’s a part of me that still does, even now, as stupid as it is...or maybe I loved what we once had, but in my heart, I know this had to happen...it’ll take a bit, but I’ll be okay.” She laughed softly, bitterly. “I think we’ve all had practice getting over terror and tragedy and despair over the past two years.”
To that, we all murmured in agreement.
“I do want to stay here today,” Delilah said. “As for tomorrow? Fuck, I don’t know. I guess I’ll see how I feel.” She gave Elizabeth a gentle squeeze. “Thank you...for being kind. And for understanding.”
“You’re welcome, Delilah. You’re a great person, I hate seeing you suffer.” She looked around. “You all are, you don’t deserve this.”
“Neither do you,” I replied. “Whatever happens, I’ll take care of you while I’m around. I can’t promise that’ll be forever, but at the very least I will make sure the two of you are somewhere safe and secure where you want to be, and that you feel comfortable.”
“Oh but not me?” Megan asked.
“I know what happens when I offer to take care of you,” I replied, unable to keep from rolling my eyes, and that actually got a laugh out of the other two.
“You do seem really ‘I can fucking take care of myself’,” Elizabeth murmured.
“I can, that doesn’t mean I always want to,” Megan replied.
“Yes, Megan,” I said, laying a hand on the back of hers. “Obviously, I will take care of you inasmuch as you want me to.”
“Good,” she said.
Delilah’s stomach growled then. “I am actually really hungry…”
“Then let’s eat,” Elizabeth said, and they got back to their meals.
I considered the two women as I resumed eating as well. I didn’t think they were okay, not really, not yet, but they would be. And I thought Elizabeth was right, about our practice and abundant experience with despair and tragedy.
Whether they wanted to or not, they’d probably be back on their feet soon.
~
As unhappy as it was, there was no sex that night.
I didn’t push it, didn’t even hint, because clearly Delilah and Elizabeth weren’t in the mood, and I didn’t blame them. I thought Megan might have been, but she didn’t say anything either. We ended up relaxing for the rest of the day and well into the night. There was a lot of cuddling. All three of them came to me at one point or another to be held. That seemed to be something they all wanted, and I was sure happy enough to give.
We ate leftovers for dinner, and I ended up gathering some more firewood before sundown. After that, I really just laid around after taking some painkillers. I had a few bumps and bruises and scrapes, but all in all, I’d come out the other side okay. And I was overall feeling good about our new surplus of supplies. I wouldn’t call it a treasure, exactly, (they hadn’t been that well-stocked), but it definitely was going to be a boost.
When we got tired enough, the four of us just barely managed to squeeze into the queen-size together, beneath the blankets.
It was a tight fit, but that was fine by us.
Despite the bad shit that had gone down so far, I thought that this trip was going well, all things considered.
I hoped that kept up.
EIGHTEEN
“Chris, are you all right?”
It took me a few seconds to actually register the question, and then I realized I’d been just staring into the trunk of this car for almost five minutes without actually seeing a damn thing. I glanced to my right, where Megan was standing now.
“Yeah,” I murmured.
“Bullshit, something’s wrong. What is it?” she asked softly.
I held her eyes for a moment, then frowned and looked back the way we’d come, at a second car where Delilah and Elizabeth were searching.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
But she was right, something was wrong.
It had been about five days since we’d had the showdown with Jack. Although I thought they’d want to stick around another day, Elizabeth and Delilah had agreed to leave before noon the following day. I’d considered it, found the skies to be clear, and decided we could get some decent travel time in given the circumstances.
So we’d set out.
I thought that Elizabeth was working through a lot of stuff in silence, and that apparently translated to an almost ferocious pace on her part. Despite my concerns, she didn’t need too many breaks during the day, and during that day and the following two days, we made it a good twenty five miles along the highway. I knew some of it had to do with luck. There were no real obstacles and despite a handful of derelict cars and just a couple of small structures, there wasn’t much to hold our attention during that stretch.
When I’d made that initial two week estimate of travel time, that had been with a few days of rest thrown in there, and I thought that even with all that had happened, we might still actually make that window. Even if we didn’t, it wasn’t like it mattered, we’d get there when we got there. But up ahead, I could see a sign.
PINE LAKE – 29 mi.
We were definitely three
or four days out now.
But on top of her ferocious work ethic, Elizabeth also had a ferocious appetite. She seemed embarrassed by it, but we had all warned her, more than once, not to try to hide it. She couldn’t afford to be malnourished right now. And, she’d revealed at one point, she was one of those petite chicks that could put away huge meals. She had a high calorie burn naturally, and now she was doing something that burned even more calories.
Consequently, our food was going faster than I’d have liked.
The wolf and deer meat was gone, including the deer I’d killed and skinned day before yesterday. I was considering trying to hunt again, but there was nothing but plains around now. Apparently the forest-planters hadn’t quite made it this far, or maybe they’d just run out of time. Either way, I didn’t see a damn place to find food beyond the occasional car or truck still on the highway. And they weren’t yielding much fruit.
“I mean, did you see something?” Megan pressed.
I sighed and looked back into the trunk, rooting around in it. “I honestly don’t know,” I admitted. “Just...something.”
“Is it Tanner?” she murmured.
I’d had another bad nightmare the night after the assault, and had had to go through the whole spiel with Elizabeth, but it had been a one-time recurrence, thankfully.
“No, I don’t think so,” I said. “I don’t even remember having any dreams last night.”
I’d woken in a bad mood this morning. We’d stayed in a little dingy gas station some five or so miles back, lucking into a pair of dirty mattresses in a back storage room that had served us well enough for sleep.
I thought, maybe, it was the lack of sex.
I’d fucked Megan twice over the past several days, and that was it. I’d been right that Elizabeth and Delilah were having a lot of trouble handling what had happened. I didn’t blame them at all, and I helped as much as I’d could. We’d had several long conversations about it while walking, during meals, laying awake at night. There had been more crying, and I’d done the best I could to help. I wasn’t exactly great with this kind of stuff. But while neither Delilah nor Elizabeth had been in the mood, Megan and, especially myself, had been.
