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“You think Cederna planned the outbreak?”
“No, not exactly.” Carly prodded at her food with her fork. “I don’t know anything for sure, but it seems like a good place to start looking for answers.”
Justin reached across the table and took her hand in his. “Carly, ultimately, it doesn’t matter. What good would it do you to know? We can’t punish the culprits.”
“People deserve to know what happened,” she said firmly. “I want to know why I lost my parents. I want to know if it was an accident somehow, or if it was intentional. And I want to know—” Her voice cracked and she faltered to a halt.
“Maybe, if we knew, we could keep it from happening again someday,” Mindy said. “I think Carly is right. I think people deserve to know if there are answers to these questions.” She gave Carly a timid smile and Carly grinned back at her, delighted to have someone in her corner.
Justin rubbed his forehead. “If it means that much to you, Carly, we’ll go.”
“Thank you, Justin.”
“Where is it, Stan?”
Stan cleared his throat. “That’s something we need to discuss.”
“Why?”
“Because, I won’t show you unless you take us with you when you go.”
“I’m not sure about this, Carly,” Justin said as they pulled down the blankets to climb into bed. It was very late, close to sunrise if Carly’s internal clock was correct, and they’d been discussing the possibility of Stan and Mindy traveling with them for hours.
Carly thought Stan had a very good point; they would all be safer in a group than on their own. A lone person might be willing to take on a couple, but a group of four—and Mindy was a crack shot—would be something entirely different. They would also provide extra sets of eyes to spot danger. The more she thought about it, the more Carly liked the idea. She thought Stan and Mindy were the kind of people to whom Justin had been referring when he talked about building a community of their own. While she acknowledged she didn’t know them that well, she had an almost instinctive reaction which told her Stan and Mindy would be assets on their travels.
“Sam likes them,” Carly said, as they curled up together. Stan and Mindy had insisted they keep the bedroom and had gone into the living room to sleep on the sofa bed. “He didn’t even growl at them when they came into the house.”
That got his attention. “Really? That’s interesting. Maybe their scent told him they belonged in this house.”
“Or maybe he knew they were good people.”
“They may be good people, but that doesn’t mean they’ll make good traveling companions. I’m having trouble finding food for the three of us already, let alone feeding Stan and Mindy.”
“He promised they’d get their own supplies.”
“Sure, and I’m convinced he’s sincere, but when they can’t find anything, are we going to sit at the campfire and eat our dinner in front of them? Do you want to share some of our medications with them if one of them gets sick?”
Carly knew that Justin was aware of the answer to that question; of course she would want to share. It would torment her to see their hunger. The eyes of that child near White Pass, who had peeked from behind the curtains while his father tried to barter worthless metal, still haunted her. While she knew Justin was right that they couldn’t feed everyone they encountered, it was still hard for her.
But it wasn’t only Justin and herself that Carly needed to think of. Dagny depended on her, and if Carly went hungry, so would Dagny. Her baby had to be her first priority.
But wouldn’t Stan and Mindy help to protect Dagny? Or help in getting her what she needed? Carly didn’t know Mindy well, but she seemed to see Dagny as something incredibly precious. Wouldn’t it be beneficial to have more people looking out for her?
A thought occurred to her. “I could have used their help when you were injured,” Carly said. “If there had been someone to help me... Wouldn’t their help defending us be worth some supplies? If it helps to keep Dagny safe, wouldn’t it be worth it?”
He gave her a rueful smile. “Somehow, I knew you were going to bring the baby into this.”
“It’s something that deserves consideration. And if something happens to us, I’d like to know there are people who would take care of her.”
“You trust them that much?”
“No, but it’s not like we have a lot of options.” Carly had a nightmare vision of Dagny wailing alone in the wagon, beside a deserted highway, with no one to take care of her, or, worse, falling into the hands of people like Jeanie and Mikey.
Justin rubbed his temples. “All right, honey. I’m all argued out. I suppose if it doesn’t work out later, we can always part company.”
Carly kissed his cheek. “Have I told you today I love you?”
“And I love you, too, Carly. I should have known once you started running out of animals to add to our menagerie, you’d graduate up to humans.”
