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“What’s worth stealing?” Carly replied.
Mindy shrugged. “I just feel like we’ve landed in Mayberry.”
As if to reinforce the image, their neighbor, Mrs. Sutton, brought over a basket of vegetables for their dinner, with a few eggs tucked inside from the chickens she kept. Carly almost cried as she thanked her. Had she become so changed by life in this new world that neighborly kindness was an oddity?
That evening, after a delicious dinner of fresh vegetables, canned chicken and eggs made into a stir-fry with rice, Carly took a shower. The water was cold, but it felt like heaven. Those quick wipe downs at camp and occasional dunks in a creek or pond didn’t do the job. It was the first time she’d felt clean in weeks.
She sat on the bed, brushing her hair, and watched in puzzlement as Justin re-dressed in dark clothing. “Where are you going, honey?”
“Exploring,” he said. “Carly, this place seems too good to be true. I’m going to try to find out if it is.”
Carly hid a smile. That was her Justin—ever-cautious, ever-suspicious. Of course he would want to go scouting, but she couldn’t resist teasing him about it a bit. “What are you looking for? Bones of other travelers they’ve lured inside to their doom?”
“Ha ha.” Justin took off his guns and laid them on the dresser before he replaced them with knives.
“Justin, if their intent was just to rob and kill us or something, they could have done it easily. Why feed us and loan us a house if they meant us harm?” She had to admit, the normalcy of the place was disconcerting, but she didn’t think they were in any danger.
“I don’t know.” Justin rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a slightly sheepish look. “But I can’t trust them. Not yet. Keep Sam in here with you and Dagny, all right? I locked Storm and Shadowfax in the barn and secured it with one of our padlocks, so they should be safe.” He bent and pressed a gentle kiss to Dagny’s forehead and smiled when she cooed.
“Please be careful,” Carly whispered as he pulled her into a hug. Even though she didn’t think the residents were aggressive or meant them any harm, they might react badly if they found a man dressed in black lurking around in the bushes.
“I will.” He lifted a lock of her caramel-colored hair and tucked it behind her ear as his eyes grew soft. “You know, I still think your hair is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.” He kissed her and called for Sam, who’d been lying out in the hallway with Tigger curled up beside him. From there, he could look down through the railing at the top of the stairs and keep an eye on the foyer. Justin shut him inside with Carly after giving him a scratch behind the ears. Sam jumped lightly onto the end of the bed and turned around in circles before plopping down with a contented sigh. Tigger paused to rub up against Carly’s legs before she hopped up beside him and snuggled down against Sam’s belly.
“And so we wait,” Carly said. She sighed. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to it.
It was an excellent night for spying. The overcast sky hid the moon and the town lay silent in the darkness, the only sound the chirping of crickets and the croak of the bullfrogs from the swamp. Justin slipped silently from house to house, pausing to listen, to watch, to wait.
He stopped beneath a window. The room inside was lit by a lantern, and its warm, yellow glow spilled out to pool on the ground outside. His breathing was slow and even, and he crouched, resting lightly on the balls of his feet, perfectly balanced and motionless.
A man and a woman were talking inside, discussing the options for planting their winter garden this year. A child’s voice interjected and asked his father if he could help with a math problem. Justin was surprised, but pleased; apparently, Colby had a school.
He listened for a bit more and then continued on his way. An ordinary family with ordinary domestic discussions. He shook his head. It was difficult for him to accept that the place might be exactly as it seemed, an untouched remnant of the country he thought was dead and gone.
He heard voices and ducked back among the shrubbery. The owners of those voices drew closer, and soon enough, he could make out the words.
“... kinda cute.” The speaker was young, male, late teens or early twenties, Justin judged. “She can’t be more than twenty or so and that’s only a couple of years older than me.”
Carly.
Another young male voice replied, “Yeah, but she’s married. And she has a kid, too.”
The first young man scoffed. “He’s old. She probably just shacked up with him for protection or something.”
Justin flinched. Having similar doubts deep within him was bad enough, but to hear them voiced with casual cruelty by an outsider was much worse.
“So, what are you gonna do? Ask her out? I’d watch my ass if I were you. That guy looks pretty fuckin’ mean, and if he finds out about it... Well, let’s just say I’d rather not get on his bad side.”
That drew a laugh. “Might be worth it. Besides, Uncle Clayton’s on the council. He wouldn’t—”
“You think that guy gives a damn about our council? He...” The voices trailed away as the young men rounded a corner and went down another street.
Justin realized he was clenching his teeth and forced himself to relax. His gut burned with fury, and he had to fight the temptation to go put the fear of God into them.
He turned around as he rose and found himself looking right into the face of Tom Clark.
To say Justin was surprised would be an understatement. No one had managed to sneak up on Justin in decades. He had to admit, he had been concentrating on the conversation so intently, he probably wouldn’t have noticed if a buffalo strolled up behind him.
“Hello,” Tom said pleasantly, as though he had run into Justin in the parking lot after church services.
