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Completely away with the fucking fairies but not a threat.
He had clearly been living alone for a long time.
“I like him,” Lucy said. “He’s funny.”
“You’re not staying alone with him.”
“Trust me, Sasha.”
“I do trust you, but right now, I’m having a few doubts.”
“Doubts are allowable.” Malachi took her hand. “He thinks you’re my wife and Lucy’s my kid. We may as well live up to it in case he acts wacky. You don’t want him coming on to you, do you?”
“No. I don’t.”
Malachi was happy to use it as an excuse.
He simply wanted to hold Sasha’s hand.
Lucy moved to his other side and took his hand. He wasn’t entirely happy about it, but Tree Man smiled and looked touched by the moment. “You look like a real family.” He clapped his hands. “This is going to be so much fun. I promise you.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction
They’d been walking for hours, with Tree Man humming and/or singing the entire time. It was annoying as hell, but he made Lucy laugh, even encouraged her to sing with him, so Sasha couldn’t complain too much.
“Can we rest?” Lucy asked. Although Sasha knew Malachi wanted to keep going—as did she to get to the next town—he ruffled Lucy’s hair and stopped. She stayed close to Malachi, which she was thankful for. Despite Malachi not being threatened by Tree Man, there was no way she was putting her trust into a crazy stranger.
It was clear he’d been out here alone way too long.
Lucy leaned against a tree, with Malachi sitting right next to her. Tree Man was on the other side, talking about the planets and stars and how they were the ones roaring around them. What he talked about made no sense the majority of the time, but he seemed very confident about this safe haven.
“Tell me more about this safe colony up north,” Malachi asked Tree Man.
There was a moment of silence before Tree Man lifted his hand and pointed to the canopy of trees. “Up north. Yes. Up north is where safety is.”
“Where up north?”
Tree Man looked at Malachi. “As far as the sun will take you.”
Sasha snorted and shook her head. “Malachi, you can’t possibly think he knows anything about a safe haven.” She heard the shock in her voice. She was at most half of Malachi’s age and even she could see insanity right in front of her.
“Oh, I know all about the place where the stars and the sun meet, the place where you’ll never be scared again.” He started laughing then, pointing to the sky, telling Lucy how the stars shine brighter during the day.
Sasha looked over at Malachi, saw him staring at her, his expression guarded.
This is fucking insane, she mouthed to him.
He shook his head slowly, and she didn’t know if he was agreeing with her or shutting her down. He was a strong, tough man, gritty and dangerous, and she knew his life before all of this was anything but pleasant.
But could he really be that naïve to think this would work, that they could trust a stranger?
Or maybe he was doing this for them. Maybe he wanted so badly to make them safe that he’d go to extremes like this to make it their reality.
Sasha knew that he kept his gun in his hand at all times, that he was on alert and ready at the drop of a hat. But still, this all seemed like a situation ready to turn bad any second.
“Tell us more about this place up north,” Malachi said again in a harder voice.
Tree Man got serious all of a sudden. “It’s a place that’s safe with food and water, shelter and protection.” His voice was calm and collected, frighteningly so.
Shivers raced up Sasha’s arms and she lifted her hands to rub her skin.
“It’s a place where the little one can run without the worry of getting sick or hurt, of anything bad happening to her.” He looked at Lucy and smiled, a genuine and sweet one. “It’s where the new world can start and grow.”
Everyone stayed silent for a long moment, and Sasha processed his words, not sure where this would go, how it would end. But it was clear Malachi wanted to follow through with this, to see if what Tree Man said was the truth.
“Where were you from before all this happened?” Sasha asked and cleared her throat when all eyes landed on her. “What was your life like before this? Who were you, what did you do?” Although she wasn’t hopeful that he would give her a straight, lucid answer, she’d seen moments of clarity in his expression, and thought maybe he’d show them that side once more.
“I’ve been here. I’ve always been here.” He grinned, his teeth discolored. “I’m the air and the wind. I’m the rushing water and the towering mountains.” He held his arms out, his eyes having this crazy look. “I’m bones and cells and DNA. And the sequence of all of us. I’m the reason for it all. I’m the cure for it all.”
