I pick up one of the heaviest sticks in the firewood pile and heft it like a weapon. I’ve gotten lazy with Murr around— my spiked bat is inside next to my bed, along with my crossbow. I’ll beat a motherfucker to death with firewood if I need to, though.I gesture at Rabbit and she races to my side, huddling behind me. She’s got her utility knife, but I don’t want her to fight if she doesn’t have to. With my daughter safe at my side, I lift my chin and point the stick at the stranger. “Don’t come any closer.”
He stops his bike and puts up the kickstand. “That’s not very friendly of you.”
As if he deserves friendliness simply because he’s shown up? “What do you want?”
“Thought I’d come say hi. Been smelling smoke on the breeze and figured there was either a resident dragon or company nearby. Glad it’s not a dragon.” He smiles, showing a missing tooth underneath that bushy beard. It doesn’t mean anything— dental work is hard to come by in the After— but the sight of him still strikes me as vaguely menacing. Maybe it’s his too-friendly expression. No one’s friendly in the After. Everyone’s on alert at all times.
The fact that he’s trying to be chummy makes me distrust him.
Even though he’s mentioned dragons, I don’t bring up Murr. People have been kicked out of forts for being sympathetic to dragons, and I don’t want him getting curious and sticking around. “We don’t need help,” I say. “And we don’t have anything to share, so you can just keep on going.”
He ignores the warning in my voice, bending down to offer his hand to one of the calico cats. “Looks like you’ve been sharing with these little guys, or else they wouldn’t be so friendly.”
“They don’t have any food to share, either.”
The man straightens, and the smile remains on his face, but his eyes are cold. “Not very friendly of you.”
“No, it’s not, is it?” I keep my voice flat, dispassionate, even though my heart is racing wildly.
He glances over at the bookstore, at the tarps we’ve hung over the broken window up front, and then at our firepit. “This your squat?”
It feels like a loaded question. If I say no, what’s to stop him from deciding to move in? If I say yes, he knows exactly where we live and where to find us from now on…and that we’re two females alone. Women don’t travel alone unless they’ve got a protector or they’re desperate, so I decide to lie. “My husband is going to be back in a minute.”
The nomad grins, flashing that gap in his smile at me again. “Sure he is, darlin’.”
“I’m not your fucking darling.”
He tilts his head. “You’re kind of a bitch, actually. All I wanted was a little conversation.”
I will not show fear. I will not show fear. That’s what he wants. He’s testing us to see if we’re going to panic. “You’ve had it. You can go now.”
“Shame.” He scratches at his beard. “I wouldn’t mind a little feminine company. I can provide for you two if you need a man.”
“Like I said, my husband will be back at any minute.”
He blinks, unfazed. “Be a shame if I had to fight him for you.”
Instead of scaring me, his words piss me off. I’m so sick of men thinking that women are just things to be fought over. This is why we’re out here alone instead of in a fort. “Just fucking try it and I’ll cut your throat from ear to ear if you even get within six inches of me or my daughter.”
As if he can read my thoughts, he smiles again and gazes at the horizon, not moving an inch. “They sure are friendlier in forts. Don’t suppose you know where the closest one is?”
“Head east. Away from here.”
“That where you’re from?”
I don’t answer.
“Strange to me that a man would leave his woman and his daughter alone out here if there’s a perfectly safe fort nearby.”
I don’t reply. I can feel Rabbit’s trembling fingers lacing into the back of my worn leather belt, as if she can somehow get reassurance from touching me. I grip the stick tighter, reminding myself how I handle a fight with a larger opponent.Try to get a good strike or two. If that doesn’t work, pretend to faint and sag in his grip. It’ll allow me to get the advantage again. Go for the balls or the back of the knee. Above all else, try to do damage. Mark him up so others will see the proof.
The silence continues between us. One of the cats in the parking lot throws itself down and starts washing itself in front of us, the most absurd moment to choose, really. The nomad heaves a sigh and puts his hands up in the air. “All right, all right. I can take a hint. Nice meeting you two ladies. May we meet up again sometime.”
Over my dead body.
I know he’ll be back. He’s going to wonder about us and see us as easy pickings. He won’t be able to resist. We both know he’s not going anywhere near the fort. He was just testing me to see how I’d reply when he brought it up.
Both Rabbit and I stand in place, watching as he gets back on his bike and slowly pedals off into the distance. My hand hurts from gripping the rough branch so hard. I want to race in and get my crossbow, but I also know that if he sees me running, it’ll be construed as weakness, and then we’ll never get him to leave us alone.
