Two days.

It’s been two days since the one-eyed kid came and tossed a bomb into my home. My wife was found and safe, and he was taking my daughter from me. It’s been a whirlwind of emotions, and to block it all out, I’ve been disposing of the bodies that were rotting in my home. I couldn’t burn them because the scent would attract the creatures and send them into a frenzy, forgetting town borders. I meticulously stripped the meat from their bones, ground it up, and buried it in the two vegetable gardens along the side of the house.

It took all day, but I scattered their bones just past the treaty lines, leaving no doubt as to who would be to blame if an investigation occurred. Which it looks like it might. How can you explain away four missing people in the span of weeks? Not to mention, a few people watched as my daughter was dragged out of the town screaming for me to give her another chance. I’m going to have to face the people and be prepared for their questions and accusations.

I called a town meeting for today, knowing I would have to stand up at that podium and look out to the dwindling tribe. I’m either going to have to tell them that Bevie was unwell, and I had to send her away before she escalated, or she’s being married off. The thought of betraying my daughter leaves behind a bitter taste in my mouth. But I need to rebuild this home with Heidi. I need it to be safe for her, and I need our tribe to trust us.

The church bells ring, letting me know everyone is there and waiting for me. I straighten my crisp black shirt and gray slacks, running my hands over my slicked back hair. It’s time to show them the grieving husband and destroyed father.

I step out into the acrid air, wrapping a scarf around my nose and mouth to protect my lungs from the sandstorm that’s picking up. I look up into the smog coated sky and summon all the emotions I should be feeling, suppressing the ones I actually do feel.

I’m relieved someone else has taken over the responsibility of my daughter. As a father, I have failed her, and as a husband, I failed Heidi. When the kid came by to tell me she was found, there was no mention of her being pregnant. She’d be due to give birth in a month, and I can’t see him gliding over her pregnancy.

Would Bevie do something to her brother or sister?

The answer is yes. It would always be yes. Bevie clearly didn’t form any semblance of familiar ties with her parents, so what would trigger that for her brother or sister? Even so, I don’t blame my little girl for the things that have happened. Mine and Heidi’s genes just didn’t blend right, and radiation poison still runs in our veins. Bevie wasn’t physically deformed, but her mind was.

The church looms ahead, its tall steeple disappearing into the thick brown clouds. This building is the only one to still look pristine, not much damage, and the stained-glass windows send prisms of color across the dry, red earth. As if something or someone is making their presence known, as if to say, I’m watching you.

Well, my family and I have given this entity an eyeful this past year.

The large wooden double doors are left open, making me curse the simple minds of the tribe’s people. The sand blowing in there will only make a mess of the place. I hurry up the stone steps and rush inside, closing the doors behind me, the loud booming echoing in the cavernous place.

Their eyes are on me. I can feel the heat penetrating the back of my skull as I stand there, head bowed and my hands still on the doors.

I’m a grieving man, I remind myself.

I turn to face them, knowing they’re scrutinizing my every move, and trudge to the front. I hear a few hushed whispers, but for the most part the place is eerily quiet. My scarf is pulled off my face, my mouth set in a downward curve, and my eyes filled with unshed tears.

Three steps up to the podium have me praying to something—whatever it is watching us in here—to help me keep the rest of us safe. To help me bring my wife home. My fingers glide along the smooth wood surface of the podium as my eyes travel to the stained-glass.

Help me.

A throat clears from behind me, and I set my features as I turn to face my people. All of them are withering, growing frail, and fear shines through all of their wide eyes. We’ve been safe here for decades, no killings, no disappearances, and it’s all being shattered right before their eyes. We’re not a fighting tribe, never were. We’re a group of scavengers who came together when it was clear we were being hunted by something vile. The large numbers were necessary.

“Pollyx,” one man in the third row calls out. “What’s happening?”

“Where’s Hoyt and Canary?”

“Where’s Heidi?”

“Who took your daughter?”

The room fills with panicked voices, the questions becoming louder and more frantic. My hand raises as I look out over their fear-stricken faces.

“I will give you all the answers I have. Then we can make the best decision for us here.” My heart pounds painfully inside of my chest as I try to swallow through my dry mouth and throat. “Hoyt and Canary are missing. I’ve tried searching for them and have found nothing inside our territory lines. My guess is that Canary was taken by a breach of the treaty and then Hoyt went looking for her.”

“A breach?”

“The treaties were broken!”

“We need to call in the regencies!”

My hand rises again, and the place slowly falls to a hush. “If you want to call in the Four Regencies, I will let you do that, but I have a suggestion first. I’ve spoken to a few of you previously, but I will now tell you all what I’ve discovered. My daughter, as you know, loved the figures she referred to as dollies. She placed them around town and then dubbed it Dollywoodland. If you noticed, she made town signs out of a durable clay that hardens like stone. I propose we build a border wall with it.”

They begin to talk among themselves again and I can’t help but feel a trepidation from the looks they’re shooting at me from the corners of their eyes.

“Where’s your daughter, Pollyx?”

“We saw her being taken away.”

“Why did you send your daughter away?”

“Who was that with her?”

“He wasn’t one of us!”

“Beverly was betrothed to the man you saw with her yesterday!” I yell over the questions and the place once again falls quiet. “It was hard to let her go, but humanity needs to repopulate, and Beverly is ready to be married. I found a match to ensure they have the strongest offspring. It saddens me, but it had to be done.”

“I heard her screaming.” Cora stands, the blind woman who lives by herself. “It didn’t sound like a union she agreed to.”

“No.” I drop my head, willing tears to coat my cheeks. “No..” My voice shakes. “She didn’t want to leave us. She wanted to stay with her family.” I lift my face to a few gasps. “But you know how it is sometimes. She was forcibly taken for the greater good, to help humanity with the children she will bear. I will have to live…” A sob catches in my throat. “With my decisions and her pain.”

There’s a chorus of people telling me I’m a good father and that Beverly must be in excellent hands if I chose the man. To which I can’t be sure of. I don’t know who he is, but I do know my daughter can no longer be in this town. Her volatile behavior would only set this place ablaze and she would stand in the center of the inferno, laughing as we all suffer.

“He has one eye, right?” Cora’s lilting voice cuts through my thoughts. “The man who took Beverly, he has one eye?”

“Yes,” I say, my voice filled with uncertainty. How would she know that, being blind? Maybe one of the townspeople told her.

“No one else told me.” She shakes her head, answering my unspoken question. My heart ramps up as my already dry mouth gapes open. “I know things and I know Beverly.” Her milky eyes narrow on me, as if she can really see me. “She’ll be better off … much better off.”

My first thought is she knows. Cora knows everything, and the next step would be getting her alone to rid myself of the problem. My violent thoughts halt me as I stare down into her cloudy eyes. I can’t hurt Cora.

“Yes,” I clear my throat, “I agree.”

Because I do. I also believe my wife and I will be better off as well.

“That young man will be back.” Her head turns to scan over the surrounding people. “He isn’t just a groom for Bevie, he has a purpose.”

Again the voices rise in volume as I watch Cora retake her seat, her hands folding together in her lap. What does she know? Who is Colby?

“I will be leaving soon,” I call out to everyone. “It’s time to hunt and I may be gone longer than before. But I will bring back supplies for us. In the meantime, I will show the able men and women the clay so they can get started on construction.”

I wait quietly for their response. This would be where they agree and keep me as their leader or throw me out beyond the territory lines and call the Four Regencies to decide on a new leader. It’s the longest thirty seconds of my life, but finally I see the first head nod, and soon it rolls through the rest like a slow wave.

“Thank you for trusting me with your safety,” I tell them as I step back from the podium.

Now, I need to keep that promise.