After the Crash

Sam put on some music. I recognized the rhythm, but not the song; it was from the 70s and perfect for dancing. It’d been so long since I’d heard music play. Sam, who was already wobbling, dragged Sarah onto her feet to dance. It didn’t look great, but the two of them were laughing. Then Dale and Rosa joined, followed by E and Val, and eventually, everyone was dancing around the room, avoiding furniture the best they could. Sam knocked over an old picture on one of the end tables, but everyone else managed well. I got stuck dancing with all the girls. I indulged Jen for one dance, and then I had to indulge all of them. I finally escaped to the sidelines, after Jen smuggled her third dance. He took a sip of his drink, then raised an eyebrow, “thought you would’ve been outside by now, sneaking some alone time.”

“I couldn’t escape,” I took the drink from his hand, taking a sip, then returning it. “But I think I might just do that,” I smiled, “before Jen insists on another dance.” He just shook his head, but he waved me off in good spirits. I walked toward the front door, which was slightly cracked open. As I got closer, I could see Alex sitting on the porch. I shook my head, not liking this, but found myself amused when I pushed the door open. “What’s going on here,” I couldn’t help, but smile as my eyes moved between the two of them. He had his hands up, defensively, and Ky had her rifle pointed at him. She was glaring something mean. I looked at Alex, nodding, “maybe you should head inside?”

Alex looked at me. His expression was hard, then he looked back at Ky, with his eyebrow raised, “we’ll finish this conversation later.”

She kept her eyes on him the whole time, never dropping her rifle. He stopped in front of me, giving an unpleasant look, before pushing past me. I smiled again as he disappeared behind the door, his frustration amused me. Then, I turned my attention back on Ky, raising my eyebrow. She just exhaled, turning forward, and slamming her gun onto the wood porch. She put her head in her hands. “What the hell did I interrupt,” I took the seat next to her. She didn’t say anything, just shook her head. I shrugged, “must have done something pretty bad if you were pointing a rifle at him?”

She let out a breath, “like you’d object to me shooting him.”

“Just kind of shocking,” I shrugged, “few days ago, you were making a case in his favor.” Again, she didn’t say anything. Kept her eyes forward and put her hands to her head again. She pushed her temples like she was in pain. “Seriously,” I was now slightly concerned, “what happened?”

“Nothing,” she sighed, “just faulty wiring.” I raised my eyebrow, not quite understanding. She looked at me and shook her head as she let out a breath, “a man tells me I’m attractive, and puts his hand on me,” she shook her head again, “my first instinct is to shove a rifle in his face.”

“He put his hands on you,” I tensed.

She looked at me, let out a strained laugh, “down boy, he just touched my arm, that’s hardly a crime.”

I shook my head, “don’t know, sounds like he got off too easy.”

She raised her eyebrow, “what are you even doin’ out here? Shouldn’t you be in there dancing and romancing some beautiful, young girl.” She sighed, looking at me briefly, then looking down, “you look the part, go play prince charming.”

“Prince charming,” I raised my eyebrow, smiling. She blushed, keeping her eyes downcast, she managed to muster up one of those half smiles. I shook my head, letting out a breath, “there’s nothing in there that I can’t find out here.”

“Cept a pretty girl, who might actually smile at you,” she shrugged and looked at me.

“Sometimes,” I met her eyes, “not often,” I shook my head, smiling as I held her gaze, “but sometimes, you smile at me.” She shook her head, moving her eyes away from me. I shrugged, “you know I’m not interested in anyone in there.”

“Good,” she nodded, her expression hardening as she regained her usual composure, “interest is dangerous.” She took a breath, putting her hand on her gun, and then continued, “it could be detrimental to the entire group dynamic. It’s reckless, and should never escalate,” she let out a deep breath, glancing at me through the corner of her eye. I tried to stay steady, as she was gauging my reaction. “You should pass that message along to Eric,” she nodded, then looked forward, “or anyone else to whom it may concern.”

I raised an eyebrow, “and if there was interest?”

She looked at me, sustaining those cold eyes, “that person should bury it.”

“I’ll pass the message along,” I got up, angry, and moved inside. I let the door slam behind me. No one seemed to notice. I made my way back to Mac, who just raised his eyebrow. I shook my head, then I saw Alex, and for some reason, I was even angrier. I walked up to him; he was standing by the wall, talking with Dale. I pushed him up against the wall, “don’t you ever touch her again.”

“Whoa,” Dale said, pushing me back, “calm down.” I backed away, looking at Alex’s face, and then looking around, finding that I’d roused everyone’s attention. I just shook my head, I was angry at him, and I was angry at her. Mostly, I was angry at myself for caring so much. I found a room and tried to cool off.

----

I did what she said, to the best of my abilities I was burying it. Though I kept an eye on Alex, especially when he placed himself near her. For two days I’d kept my distance, and she’d kept her. We were moving tomorrow. I was out on the porch, getting some air when Whit came out. I turned around when I heard the door open but quickly returned to my previous position. I was watching her. She had forced Sam to spar and was kicking his ass. Alex was standing nearby, lurking. Whitney cleared her throat, but I ignored. “Dale wants us in the living room,” she said, “maybe you could grab Ky before you come in.”

“I think you can handle that,” I said as I got up.

“I don’t know what happened between you two,” she crossed her arms, “but this is getting a bit ridiculous.”

I sat in the living room, with Dale and his daughter Cali, waiting for Whitney and Ky to get in the room. It was quiet until Ky, Whitney, and Alex pushed through the door. Alex was holding his head. “Dale,” Ky looked over, “where’s Rosa or Sarah, someone should look at his head, maybe grab him some ice.” Dale raised his eyebrow, she shrugged, “I didn’t kick him hard, not my fault his self-defense skills are weak.” Alex looked at her unamused, and she sent back an equally unamused expression. Dale just shook his head and pointed toward the kitchen.

As he exited the room, Ky walked over and took her place next to Whitney. “Good,” Dale nodded, then turned, “Zack, get in here.” His son came running out of one of the adjacent rooms. “We need more protein,” Dale started, “it’s been a while since we’ve gone hunting. I figured Zack, Ren, and Whitney could do that, while Ky and Cali head down to that river we passed, maybe you’ll have some luck fishing.” Ky nodded and went into another room. I raised my eyebrow at Dale; he shrugged, “Zack’s useful, if you’ve gotta get up a tree, and he can carry a thing or two.” I nodded, and he let out a breath, “I feel safer knowing I’ve got one of my best guns with each of my children.”

I nodded my head, “I understand. You’re not sending another gun with Ky.”

“She’ll be fine,” he shrugged, “Cali’ll do all the fishing, while Ky keeps watch.”

“Sounds good,” I said. I went to grab my jacket and rifle before we started walking into the woods. Both parties started in the same direction. I was walking beside Ky, though we weren’t saying a word. After a while, I looked at her; eyebrow raised, “kicked him in the head?”

“Had it coming,” she kept her eyes forward, “doesn’t pick his words well.” I didn’t say anything. She let out a breath but stayed quiet until we approached the spot where we’d split up. We were well past our trip wires and traps, and thus far beyond the cabin. We would do all our hunting away from the camp, just in case someone heard the gunshots. There was no reason to unnecessarily put the whole party in danger. “You have a flare, right,” Ky looked at me. I nodded. She raised her eyebrow, “and you know what to do if anything happens?” I nodded again, then she continued, “send the flare up, and I’ll be there.”

I stopped and looked at her, “I know the arrangement.”

She nodded, as we continued walking forward. We were about to split, and she stopped, “be careful.”

I smiled, “you too.” I watched as her and Cali headed the opposite direction. Zack ran ahead slightly, and Whitney took to my side. I was glad to be moving in a separate direction and slightly concerned at the uneven gun distribution.

“Why’ve you been avoiding Ky,” Whitney interrupted my train of thought. I raised my eyebrow, “or is she avoiding you?” I didn’t say anything, just hastened my pace hoping to leave her behind, avoiding this conversation. She went on as she caught up, matching my pace, “what happened when you went out to talk to her.” I raised my eyebrow, and she continued, “you know, the night of the party?”

“Nothing happened,” I said simply. I thought I heard something in the bushes. I held my gun up and surveyed. She turned forward too, doing the same, but there was nothing. I put my gun down and continued watching.

“Did you want something to happen,” she pried deeper. I wasn’t going to answer, but then she shook her head, “I mean, you’ve got …”

I stopped fully in my tracks, stopping her before she continued, “I’ve got no interest in Ky.”

She turned forward, quiet for a moment like she’d heard something. She became suddenly alert but quickly receded back to the conversation. “Please, Ren,” she looked at me, “you’ve been making excuses to be around her since day one, you look at her all the time, and you jumped in a river to save her.” She smiled, “I don’t think it’s just cuz you’re good or heroic. You care about her.” I shook my head trying to ignore her, but she went on, “there’s interest.”

I took a deep breath, “listen, it’s been made very clear to me that interest in anyone here is dangerous,” I let out the very same breath, “so if I had interest in anyone, consider it buried.”

She looked at me kind of disappointed, “but there’s obviously something between the two of you.”

I let out a humored sigh, “yeah, miles of forest, a loaded gun, and a giant wall.” She exhaled a heavy breath, her next appeal on the tip of her tongue. But she saw something. She lifted her rifle, aiming across the small clearing we had entered, at some animal, I couldn’t quite make out. She took a breath, centering herself, and shot.

“Dammit,” she grunted as she missed the shot. The creature was moving in a panic, when She took three large steps toward it, before taking another shot. She took two steps toward her shot, not sure if she’d hit the animal. Then a shot came at her from that direction. She took two steps back, putting her hand up, “Zack, get behind Ren and me.” Zack moved behind me, and she took another hesitant step backward.

Then we heard voices, more than one. “It came from this way,” a man shouted. Whitney signaled for Zack to stay quiet. We couldn’t see the men, yet, so we couldn’t very well shoot. Whitney did anyway. After she took two shots, the bullets started flying in our direction. We were clearly out-numbered. We started running, every so often the two of us took shots to cover Zack, who was running ahead of us. There was a degree of adrenaline pumping through me, I knew I'd been hit, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until I went to take another shot and keeled over in pain.

Whitney stopped and leaned over, “shit.” She looked over, then looked at my wound, before helping me to a spot for cover. She tried to put on a reassuring face, but it wasn’t happening. She was cursing under her breath, she was overwhelmed, and it soon became clear that Whitney had never been on the receiving end of gunfire.

“You need to get Zack out of here,” I said, “leave me your bullets, I’ll hold them off so the two of you can get away.

“I’m gonna get help,” she nodded. She took the extra bullets off her belt, before taking Zack and running off. I held my gun in one hand, putting the other on the bullet hole. I tried to stand, for a second, I thought I must have been imagining the pain. But the blood had already soaked through my shirt and the moment I tried to stand I let out a groan of pain and fell back down. I had to be quiet, so moving wasn’t an option. I needed to keep the pressure on the wound, but that was difficult to do while holding a gun. I turned my head slightly, as I tried to steady my breath. I could see them through the large bush I was hidden behind. They were a loud bunch, who took heavy steps. They looked like looters, or maybe they were poachers.

“I hit one,” one of the men said loudly, “I found a little blood.” There was a short pause, “I think they went this way.”

“I hope you didn’t hit the dolly,” he said, “she’d probably be worth a pretty penny.” They were definitely poachers. They’d take women and children, and they’d sell them to the PCD. They were lower than the PCD, they were the assholes willing to make deals with everyone, and they were to be trusted by no one.

“Fuck,” one of them yelled, “they’re probably long gone, by now.” I hoped so. At least they could get to safety. I figured it’d be a while before they could get anyone back to me. If these men stumbled upon me, I was as good as dead. There was no money to be made off a man with a hole in him. There wasn’t much money to make off grown men at all. There were too many of those. They were a liability. They were better off dead. I heard them getting closer. I didn’t want to lift my head, they might see me. At the same time, I needed to know how close they were. I adjusted my position so that I could see through the bush, at least slightly. They were drawing closer, but they didn’t seem to know that I was anywhere near them. If I shot, I give up, my position, but they couldn’t get too close. I could probably take them by surprise at first, but there were seven of them. I couldn’t take down seven men while trying to keep pressure on my wound. I’d get one if I were lucky.

I was ready to take my first shot, when one came out of the trees to their right, hitting one of the gunmen in the leg. There were two more shots from that direction. One killed the man who had just fallen, and the other nearly missed one of the men. “Over there,” one of them said as they started heading that way. I took a deep breath. For the moment, I was saved. The next thing I know, Ky was sliding in next to me. “What the hell are you doin' here,” I choked out as looked her.

She raised her eyebrow, “did you think I’d just leave you for dead?”

“It’s too dangerous,” I tried to breathe, “get out of here.”

“Don’t strain yourself, and keep your voice down,” she sent a glance in their direction, “eventually they’ll start movin’ this way.” She lifted my hand and must have noticed the blood loss. She pushed my shirt up to expose the wound. She nodded, then gave me a reassuring smile, “good news, I’ve seen worse, if Sam and Dale don’t take their sweet ass time, then you’ve got a good chance.”

“Did you forget about the gunmen,” I winced at the pain.

“You leave that to me,” she looked over and then took off her jacket. “Now lay down,” she put the jacket behind my head. She pulled off her long-sleeved shirt, just leaving her undershirt, and then tied it around the wound. She moved my hand back on top of it and put pressure on it, “that’s the best I can do, Ren, so you gotta keep as much pressure as you can on the wound and please, whatever you do, keep your eyes open.”

I used my other hand to stop her, “Ky, please don’t go.”

She looked in the direction of the gunmen and then back, with a feigned smile, “believe me when I say I don’t want to,” she looked again and then back, “but I have to make sure that these guns stay off you.” I shook my head and opened my mouth, but just exhaled in pain. “Stay down and stay quiet,” she said before moving away from me.