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“You’ve seen horror movies where they shoot the bad guy and then turn around to gasp in relief, and he stands up behind them to chase after them one last time?” She had giggled, but he was glad to see she’d taken it to heart.
The woman lay in front of the cars. Justin scooped up her crossbow from the road beside her and yanked off the quiver of arrows she wore. He tossed them into the wagon for trade goods before circling around the cars to their campsite.
A pitifully small fire had been built but had burned out before it consumed the wood. It told him all he needed to know; they were ill-equipped to survive in this new world, so the couple had turned to preying on others. He wondered if the burned-out house had belonged to one of them. It would make sense. They could have set it on fire accidentally with a candle or cooking fire and moved out here to steal from those who traveled the road.
There was a small selection of cans in a red Radio Flyer wagon and a few boxes of ammo, though no guns for it. He supposed it was possible someone had come by and already taken them, but it was more likely the crossbow had been their only weapon, and the ammo had been scavenged or stolen from another unwary traveler.
He picked up Carly’s bike, put it in the wagon, and left the bodies to the buzzards. Creatures like that didn’t deserve a burial. He’d seen their kind before—too many times—in Rwanda, Somalia, and Darfur; places where the ugliest side of human nature had been unleashed when law and order had fallen apart.
If he could have one wish, it would be to protect Carly from this, to ensure she never knew the staggering evil of which human beings were capable. Her sunny optimism and belief that people were fundamentally good at heart were things he loved about her... and things he feared would change in this brutal new world.
He mounted his bike and started the ride back to the house, deep in thought.
Justin returned with her bike lying in the back of the wagon and Jeanie’s crossbow lying beside it. Carly had to swallow back nausea when she saw it, but she understood the wisdom of taking it. It had proven itself to be a good weapon, after all. He brought with it a quiver of arrows, each with a four-blade, razor-sharp tip. Carly shuddered when she saw them. Thank goodness the arrow had gone all the way through. She couldn’t imagine having to dig that out of his body.
“I’m proud of you, Carly,” Justin said. “You remembered what I told you.”
Carly nodded. “That’s how I found the creek, too. I remembered what you said about following the land to its lowest point.”
“Smartest woman I know,” he said, and she flushed a little at the pride in his voice.
“Good teacher.”
Justin pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair back from her face. “You saved my life, you know. In some cultures, that means I’m bound to you for as long as I live.”
She tried to smile. “That sounds fair.”
He lowered his face to hers and brushed a feather-soft kiss across Carly’s lips. “I love you, Carly. You own me, you know. Heart and soul.”
She smiled at him through the tears glistening in her eyes. “And I belong to you, so it’s an even trade.”
Carly helped Justin reload the wagon, gathering up the things she had strewn over their campsite in her temper, and blushed a bit when Justin teased her about it. “I just worry about you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
She wished he could promise she’d never have to find out, but it wasn’t a world where that was possible.
They headed south. Justin’s chosen route followed the highway, but Carly convinced him to take the small side roads instead. They’d be much less likely to run into trouble that way. She liked North Dakota’s layout—very simple and straightforward—its roads and streets laid out in grids.
Their travel was slow. Justin still didn’t have all of his strength back. Carly tried to get him to exchange bikes and let her pull the wagon for a while, but he flat out refused.
By lunchtime, Carly could see he was exhausted, so she complained of leg cramps until he suggested they find a good place and settle in for the night. She feigned reluctance, but agreed, trying to hide her smirk.
There was a little house, tucked back off the road in a small patch of trees. Justin went to investigate while Carly lingered at the end of the driveway. She was a bit irritated he had insisted she stay behind; she wasn’t sure he was fully up to strength to face any trouble on his own. She knew he did it to spare her, in case there were bodies in the house, but it was dangerous to approach the house alone. We’re a team, aren’t we?
He came back around the side of the house and motioned her forward, and Carly rode her bike down the gravel driveway. They parked the bikes around back and entered the house from the back, as well. It was small, one story, and simple. In the yard behind it, a windmill turned lazily in the breeze. The house’s sternly plain façade was covered with white painted clapboards and its windows were plain rectangles, devoid of any ornamentation. The interior was a surprise, lovingly decorated with lush fabrics and the kind of bold color schemes on the walls she’d seen in magazines but would never be brave enough to try in her own home.
As she often did when they entered a home, she wondered about the woman who had chosen this décor. She had painted one wall of the living room a bright red, and the color was echoed in the throw pillows on the plump, padded furniture. The effect was warm and cheerful, and Carly wondered if one’s environment reflected their personality. Her own home had been strictly well-ordered, with plain white walls and color constrained to items affordably switched out when the mood took her. Simple, practical, neat.
“They have a propane tank,” Justin said as he came back into the living room. “The stove is hooked up to it.”
Carly smiled. “Cooking on a stove? That seems downright weird after all this time.”
There was a small barn out back, not much larger than a tool shed, but there was still some straw in the mow above, and Carly spread a layer on the floor for Shadowfax while Justin unloaded the things they’d need for the evening from the wagon and wheeled it inside to conceal it from any passers-by.
Shadowfax had discovered the vegetable garden behind the house and was in horse heaven by the time Carly had finished and headed back into the house. Though they always checked gardens for anything edible, after months of being untended, the vegetables were usually rotting or half-eaten by bugs and animals. Shadowfax, who was less particular than the humans feasted happily.
Sam was a little nervous at being indoors and preceded Carly into every room, sniffing intently. In the bedroom, she stopped to change the sheets, using a folded set she found in the linen cupboard. Sleeping in someone else’s bed felt strange enough, but it also seemed unhygienic to trust the sheets were clean.
She went back into the kitchen and down the stairs into the basement. She shined her flashlight around and hollered up to Justin, “You’re gonna want to see this!”
