“Don’t you think we have enough to last the rest of the winter, Colby?”

I shrug my jacket on before I cast a smile at Lillian. Her tiny voice is annoyed and concerned at the same time, but she only ever means well.

She’s about five years old and extremely intelligent for her age. I found her when I was out hunting one day about three years ago and named her after Mom. She reminded me so much of her with her light blonde hair, sleepy brown eyes, and the dimples in her cheeks whenever she smiles or scowls.

“Lils, when you get old enough, how would you like to come out with me and see the big, wide world?” I ask her, my smile spreading into a grin.

“Really?” she asks excitedly. Her little bare feet begin to dance wildly in place on the floor, and I laugh as I lean over and ruffle her hair.

“Really,” I affirm before I pull up the zipper on my jacket. “I could use a good hunting partner, and who knows? You may be better at it than I am.”

“Maybe,” she replies as she reaches forward and tugs on the hem of my jacket. “Okay, the air can’t get in there now.”

I roll my eyes fondly as I lean down to give her a quick hug, then head for the front door. “Lock up behind me, Lils. I’ll be back just after midnight.”

She follows me dutifully, so damn excited about having a big girl task. I wouldn’t be surprised if her small feet start their little dance again sometime soon.

“Be safe!” she calls out as I step through the doorway, then start down toward the street. I turn slightly to give her a wave, then linger for a moment until she’s secured the planks against the entry.

As I pull the collar up around my neck, I try to tell myself not to let Lil’s words follow me for too long, because she’s right. We have more than enough for the amount of people I’ve hidden in my home, but … the nagging feeling that I haven’t seen Bevie since that night has been bothering me.

I’ve spent enough time making sense of the situation.

The man is her father.

The woman is her mother.

And she’s destroying their marriage with childish love, unaware of the fact that there’s someone that wants to take care of her.

I wouldn’t take her back to my home, not with how volatile her emotions seem to be, but I can find somewhere she can be safe. I can split my time between the two places and care for everyone equally, even though with her, I would do everything in my power to take care of her needs. The ones she’s so carelessly indulging in with a man who doesn’t seem to have any self-control for stopping her.

I wonder if her touch is so goddamn magical that even her own father craves it as desperately as I do.

As I look around, I clear my throat and stop walking. I’ve checked the wastelands and the mountains, but haven’t seen them since. I won’t go back to their home because I hate feeling like a goddamn spy, even though I’m merely only studying them for the time being. I have to know what I’m up against when it comes to approaching her father, and how to soothe her mood swings when she has them. The only way I’ll ever be a good enough husband to Bevie is to understand her wholly before I make my intentions known to either of them.

I rake a hand back through my hair and decide that I’ll take a different route today. I’ll more than likely find a rabbit or two to take home to Lils, so she doesn’t interrogate me like the last time I came back empty-handed. That kid is a hell of a lot smarter than I give her credit for, and my secret worry is one day she’ll follow me out under the toxic sun.

Because of that, I’ve gotten better at waiting for daylight to die its slow death every afternoon, then sit and let her read to me before it’s almost completely dark. I would let nothing happen to her, but there are things that drop out in the afternoon sky sometimes that even I’m not fast enough to see before they fall. Some of those things are acidic drops of ruined clouds, some of them can be scavengers. Either way, I know I’d do great harm to anything that ever went after Lils and that would take me away from any task I’ve set out to do.

So for now, I find it best to leave her at home, and if the world lasts another ten years, I’ll take her out on her first hunt.

Then she can protect the pack, I muse as I roll my shoulders and glance to my left. My head tilts slightly to the right as I squint my eye and peer into the distance.

Dollywoodland.

In all the time that I’ve lived on this venomous patch of land, I’ve never once seen that. It makes me curious.

Is there a new settlement that I don’t know about?

Are they dangerous?

Do they need shelter?

Is that their way of calling for help?

Only one way to find out. Cracking my neck, I turn toward the newly settled Dollywoodland sign and start my trek toward it.

If whoever lives there is going to be a danger to anyone in my home, I’ll run them out of town. Straight to the shore of what used to be the Pacific Ocean, where the volcanoes erupted so long ago and filled the water with molten lava and ash.

Then I’ll stand there and make sure that they choke on whatever toxic wonders the ocean holds for them before I’m satisfied that my little family is safe.

 

 

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