After the Crash

As soon as the vote was over, we began helping the girls move out of the small tent. Once they were out, Mac followed them until they were out of earshot. He then looked at me, “fuck man.” The two of us began moving into the tent, "in just minutes you managed to make an enemy. It's incredible." Eric was already posted on the first guard shift and everyone was turning in. We set up three places to sleep. Then he continued, “I'm serious, I’d be surprised if you make it through the night.” I laughed at the thought. He shook his head, “man, we’re lucky that hormones are more compelling than logic, because honestly I would have voted against us." I raised an eyebrow and he just shrugged, "she’s intense, but she could give you a run for your money.”

“She was fear mongering,” I said simply.

“And she was right to do so,” he said.

I nodded, “I took the shift with her to try to smooth over the gun incident. It’s clear that I’ve made an enemy of her and the sooner I can get on her good side, the better.”

He looked at me, “and of course, you’re curious.” I looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He let out a slight laugh, “I know, you didn’t expect her to be strong, and if you tried again you could easily disarm her, blah blah.” My expression did not change, and he continued, “but you’re dying to know how she managed. Where she was trained? What’s her story?” He shrugged, “you're curious, and I get it. She’d probably be a real looker if she smiled,” he looked at me, “don’t you think?”

“The thought hadn’t crossed my mind,” I laid down and he laid down next to me.

“Sure, and I suppose you haven’t noticed any of the women,” he said.

“I have,” I nodded, “and it’s dangerous to be walking around with all of them, for more than one reason. They’re vulnerable. They definitely attract attention." I let out a deep breath, "we might be taking on more than we can chew.”

He turned his head, slightly raised his eyebrow, “that’s all you think of when you’re surrounded by this many women." He laughed, "I don’t mean to prove their leader right, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking at a few of them as perspective companions." I shook my head, giving him my disapproval. There is no way we could afford to pursue anyone in this camp until we proved ourselves valuable members of the group. I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth because of some baser desires. He shrugged, "Ren, we may be traveling a long time. Hell, we've been traveling a long time. It's only natural to seek companionship.”

I shook my head, “I wouldn’t pursue it until we’ve gained all of their trust, their leader included." I shrugged, "unless you want a bullet straight to the balls.” He nodded, and then I closed my eyes to rest them briefly before my double watch shift. Soon I made my way out to relieve the previous shift. I sent Eric back to the tent. Soon she came over, tossing me what looked like an old Winchester rifle. I caught it, and examined it. “What’s this,” I looked at her.

“Winchester, 1905 model, .35 self-loading," she said before tossing me a bag of what I assumed to be ammo. "We're low," she sat down, "try not to waste bullets." I didn't say anything. I just raised my eyebrow, she was holding my gun. She turned toward me, "I’m keeping yours.” She turned forward, “wouldn't trust you with an automatic weapon, but I figured you need something.” She kept her eyes steady on the black forest before us. She held her gun right, like a pro. She scanned the scene with focus.

"You're going to need more ammo," I said. She looked over and I nodded toward the gun, "I know I'm low." I nodded toward the bag she had given me, "and that's not gonna last long."

She nodded, "I can get more." I raised my eyebrow. She turned forward again, "there's a guy not far off, runs a small store. Far as I can tell it’s PCD approved, so no raids, but not PCD run, so its safe. I’ll go stock up on ammo and supplies before we start moving.” I looked at her closely, but she didn't budge. "I wanna move the day after tomorrow."

I raised an eyebrow, "and tomorrow?"

She eased her shoulders just enough to shrug, "I get supplies."

“You’re gonna go alone,” I raised an eyebrow.

“The people in Liberty don’t take kindly to strangers,” she kept her eyes forward, “and they’re friendlier toward women.” I looked at her unsure, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me. I couldn't figure out if she was crazy or dumb. It was dangerous to go anywhere alone, but more so for a woman. She cracked her neck, still not giving me an eye, “I’d take Whitney, but its too dangerous. Best I go by myself.” She then turned to look at me, “I tell you this, because I’m leaving you alone with my people. It’s a day trip." She looked at me with her severe grey eyes, "I will hunt you down if you take my absence as a free for all.” She raised her eyebrow, “do you understand?”I put my hands up defensively. She held her gaze, until I confirmed my understanding. She turned glance forward, "good."

For some time we sat there in silence. There was nothing out there, probably few animals at this point. I moved my glance from the forest to my partner, then back again. Every so often she'd look at me through the corner of her eye. I couldn't trust that she wouldn't shoot me, and she didn't trust me. I sighed after a long silence, “it’s Ky, right?” She said nothing. I continued, “I understand your concerns, and I admire your loyalty to your people, but I’d like to break the tension. We’re allies now and …”

She whipped her head in my direction, “we are not allies.” She turned forward, “you’ve done nothing to earn my trust. As far as I’m concerned, you’re all suspect until proven otherwise. If it comes down to one of my people or one of yours, I will choose mine, every time.”

“And if it came down to me or you,” I asked. She looked at me for a second, with that hard expression. She sighed, then looked away. “I guess you’d be lucky,” she spat. Then shook her head, and mumbled under her breath, “I should have left them in that field.” The rest of our shift was spent in silence, a tense silence. I tried a few times at conversation, but soon gave up. There was no use. Finally, Sam came and relieved her. She stood up, looked back at me, and then to Sam again. “Keep your eye on him,” she said bitterly.

He just laughed as he sat down, pulled out a bag of jerky and opened it. He started chewing on the end of one. Sam had curly hair and looked Jewish, but he also had Asian eyes making his ethnicity rather ambiguous. He ate loud. He didn’t even hold his gun. He kept it lazily at his side, giving most of his attention to the bag of jerky. “Want some,” he pushed the bag toward me. I shook my head, then he continued, “it’s no use trying to talk to Ky. She’s not going to open up, not to you or your friends.” I raised my eyebrow. He shrugged, “call it a general mistrust of men," he laughed, "I’m surprised she didn’t shoot you on sight. You can probably thank the children for your life. She’s ruthless, but she tries to preserve their innocence if she can.” He took another piece of jerky, put it in his mouth, and continued as he chewed, “she took Dale in because he had a family, and I doubt she’d have taken me, but I knew her before the crash.”

My ears perked up, “before the crash?” He nodded, not noticing my interest. I looked around to assure that we were alone. I wouldn't even contemplate asking my question if she was anywhere near. But it was clear. So I looked at him, “if you don’t mind me asking, what was she?" He raised an eye, and I shrugged, "you know, before?”

He started laughing, “PhD student, literature, worked as a student teacher and wrote grant proposals for a nonprofit on the weekends.” I was speechless. He laughed again, before nodding, “yeah, Dan and I were pretty shocked," he shrugged, "and a little terrified, when we found out how good she was with a gun, but I've never asked.”

“Dan,” I raised my eyebrow.

“Her boyfriend, my roommate, we were both pediatric residents,” he shrugged.

“Where is he,” I asked.

He scowled, “he left us for dead a couple years ago. Joined up with the PCD, led us straight into a trap, and after we refused his generous offer for cushy positions with the PCD elite, he told his men to kill us.”

“What happened,” I asked.

“We escaped,” he said. I pushed for more, and he shrugged, “It was all Ky, she got us out, but she hasn’t been the same since. The girl doesn’t sleep. She does eat,” he shrugged, “she has a stash of chocolate covered coffee beans, eats 'em when no one's looking. Sometimes she lets Sarah force an actual meal on her, but usually she just turns it over on her plate. She's really only living for these people. It’s good that she has them around,” he shook his head, “she needs them as much as they need her.”

“Is it safe for her to go off on her own,” I asked.

“To Liberty,” he raised his eyebrow. I nodded. “The people in Liberty don’t take kindly to strangers, especially male strangers,” he shrugged, “I went with her once and they started shooting at me as soon as we were within shooting distance. Course, Ky shot one of them off the guard tower and they knew it was her, so they stopped shooting.” He took another bite of jerky, “it’s a saloon town, rough crowd, got a deal with the PCD to be there. Ain’t a place for the faint of heart, a few women work there, and they ain’t doing anything worth doing. They’re worn, used, and abused." He shook his head, taking another bite, "I wouldn’t let Sarah near the place.”

I raised an eyebrow, “but Ky.”

He shook his head, “Ky wouldn’t let Sarah near there either, she wouldn’t even let Whitney go with her.”

I raised my eyebrow, “but she goes, alone?”

He laughed, “Ky can take care of herself. Besides, she’s the only person they’ll negotiate with. The man who owns Liberty is under the impression that if he offer’s her deals, she’ll return the favor, if you know what I mean.” I looked at him unsure. He just laughed and leaned back, “idiot’ll find a bullet in his back before he touches her.”

“Maybe I should go with her,” I said.

“She won’t have it,” he shook his head. That didn’t matter, I had already made up my mind to go. It wasn’t safe to be taking day trips alone, not for men and especially not for women.
The next morning, when I woke up, I was informed that she had started about twenty minutes earlier. After being warned by Dale, Sam, Sarah and Whitney not to follow her, I coaxed the correct direction and eventually caught up with her. We were walking through heavy woods, when she turned ever so slightly toward me. She then turned quick, pointing my gun at me, “what on earth are you doing here?”

I looked at her, “I can’t let you take my gun and not make sure it’s okay.”

“I told you yesterday that I was going alone,” she glared at me, “that wasn’t an invitation to join, it was a warning to behave, while I was gone.”

“Wouldn’t you rather keep an eye on me,” I smirked.

“I’d rather shoot you in the foot and pick you up on the way back,” she said, lowering the gun. She continued moving forward, “you’d thank me for doing so, they won’t be so nice in Liberty.” I didn’t say anything, and she just shook her head. We walked in silence for a long while and then we came to a clearing and I saw a large gateway some ways out. She stopped me and turned toward me, “that's liberty.” She reached behind her back and pulled out a Victory Pistol, “they don’t allow weapons in the saloon." I opened my mouth, but she stopped me, "you will willingly surrender your rifle at the door, but I don’t think they’ll pat you down, so keep this on you.”

“And you,” I raised my eyebrow.

She let out a humored huff and shrugged, “they’ll pat me down." She rolled her eyes, "and they'll have a right good time doing it.” I looked at her unsure and she shook her head, “they’ll probably shoot at you, when we get close. I've found that if you hit one of their men, they stop.” She was right. We managed to get a few meters out, but once we were near enough targets the shots started flying. She took one shot. A man on the gates went down, then the shots stopped. "Stay behind me, and let me do the talking," she said before leading me into the gates. Once we got in town everyone was just staring at us, as we made our way to the saloon. The town was full of vagabonds and looters, I could tell by their clothing and demeanor that this was not PCD regulated. She got through the door and everything stopped. She nodded toward the bartender, “Jay,” and then looked toward a man with a cigar and a hand of cards, he stood up and gave her a smirk. “You gotta tell your men to stop shooting at me, Gabe. I hit him in the knee this time, but next time your guys may not be as lucky,” she looked at him.

He kept his smug look, “Ky, my men would never shoot at you, but they are ordered to shoot at strange men.” He nodded at me, “where’s your other escort, the small curly haired one?”

She shrugged, “kept shooting at him, had to find a disposable one.”

“You know the rules,” he walked over, “we negotiate without weapons.” She nodded and put her rifle on the table. I did the same. She took off her jacket, she had a cropped navy-blue shirt underneath, and a belt with two-gun holster, she took off the belt and then leaned down and took the knives out of her boots. I leaned down and took the pea shooter out of my shoe and also tossed my jacket on the table, I was sure they wouldn’t see the pistol. “That it,” he looked at me.

“The guy’s harmless, had him on the ground with a rifle pressed to his face within two minutes,” she said, “if he tries anything, you have my permission to shoot him in the foot.”

The guy came closer and looked down on her, “I know you’ve got more on you.”

She rolled her eyes, “where could I possibly put it?”

“You know the drill,” he said with a cocky grin, “hands on the table, legs apart.” She uncrossed her arms and did as she was told. He kicked them further apart, which provoked narrowed eyes and a scowl. He then moved his hands up her legs, to her inner thigh, where he found another knife and then did the same with the other leg. He then worked on her upper body. I didn't like this set up. I didn't like it one bit. If I wasn’t surrounded by his men I would have done something, but for now I just watched as he patted her down. I swallowed as he moved further up.

“You won’t find anything there,” she threw her elbow out.

He caught it, “just being thorough.” She pulled her arm away and glared at him, “aw, come on Ky, where’s that pretty smile?”

She crossed her arms, “let’s get this over with.”

He nodded and then they started moving toward another room. I followed, and he put his hand on my chest, “hold it there, pretty boy." I raised my eyebrow, then he looked at her, "she didn't tell you?" He looked back as I shook my head. He smiled, "I only negotiate with Ky.” She nodded, gesturing toward the seat.

"I don't ..."

"You'll sit," she looked at me hard, "and you'll keep your mouth shut." I held her gaze, equally displeased. I didn’t like being benched. After a long while, I crossed my arms and gave in. I shook my head, moved toward the bar, and ordered a Whisky.

The bartender poured the drink and then raised an eyebrow, “you hittin’ that?” I looked at him as if he were crazy and he nodded, “course not, you'd be crazy to get in bed with a tiger." He pushed the glass toward me. I took a sip. He continued with his eyebrow raised, "you are gettin’ some, though?" I said nothing. He leaned in, "I hear Ky’s got a dozen dollies that she’s protecting, primo pickins. Am I right?" I only offered a hard expression. "If Gabe thought we could get within a thousand feet of Ky's party, we’d all have our pick of the lot," he looked over, "replace our old models with some new." I followed his gaze to one of the women, sitting with a man on the other side of the saloon. He let out a slight laugh, "course, Gabe's got dibs on Ky.” I slammed my empty glass on the counter and the bartender looked at me. He laughed, "don't worry, there's not a man here who ain’t afraid of that woman.”

“Smart men,” I nodded.