“So you’re coming with me?” Peaches asked, raising a smug eyebrow. Aby suspected that Peaches had known she would all along, or at least since she mentioned the possibility of finding Jake. Aby sighed.
“Yes…but I want us both to be prepared.” She showed Peaches the knife strapped to her ankle. “I want you to do the same, just in case we get into a bad position. That’s my condition for coming with you.”
“And what on earth am I supposed to do with a knife? I’m not stabbing anyone. Especially not a nice young man like him. It’s just not in my nature,” Peaches said, folding her arms. Aby sighed.
“You’re going to have to get used to this. You’ll thank me if things turn nasty. Just do it.”
Peaches rolled her eyes, but obliged. As Aby taped the knife to her ankle for her, Peraches used the opportunity to complain.
“Your insistence on thinking the worst of everyone is exhausting,” Peaches declared. “Poor Tex. If he could see us right now…”
“He never has to know if he behaves himself,” Aby insisted. “On the surface, it looks like we trust him if we don’t take any weapons. But this way, we’re prepared.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Tough,” Aby said bluntly. She felt like she was acting as Peaches’ mother, but she knew it was with good reason. She didn’t want to risk either of them getting hurt. Besides, Peaches should consider herself lucky that Aby wasn’t trying to take the shotgun.
Aby made preparations for them to leave the house. She ensured all of their supplies were secured and that the house was near impossible to get inside without brute force. She closed the curtains and bolted the back door. By the time she and Peaches were both standing on the driveway, waiting for Tex to pick them up, Aby was a bundle of nerves. Something just didn’t feel right.
But it was too late to turn back now.
When Tex appeared, driving with his arm casually slung out of the window, he was smiling a little too brightly. Aby never trusted a stranger who was overly friendly. But like a gentleman, he parked up and opened the passenger doors for Peaches and Aby to climb in.
“You both decided to come? Excellent,” he said cheerily. Aby felt like a child as he closed the door behind her and she sat on the musty backseat, waiting anxiously. Tex seemed eager to get off because he started the engine without even strapping his seatbelt in. Aby watched the safety of the house disappear behind her and wondered if they’d ever make it back.
“You girls are in for a treat!” Tex shouted over the roaring of his old engine. “The neighbors around here are lovely. I really think things are going to work out with this trade deal. And hey, it starts out with trading, but maybe someday, we can all trust each other enough to gather together and make some kind of community. We can build up our defenses so it’s safe...we can invite women and children there so that they can be safe…”
“Women and children?” Aby said, an edge to her voice. “Don’t you think that’s a little old fashioned? Women can take care of themselves.”
Tex met her eyes in the rearview mirror and grinned at her. His smile seemed too wide, too fake, too wrong. Or maybe it was her paranoia getting the better of her again.
“Sure they can,” he said. “But it’s biology, right? Men are built stronger...they’re made to lead the way.”
“I sure agree with that,” Peaches simpered. “Every woman needs a strong man to guide her way.”
“I don’t,” Aby muttered, even though she’d been pining for Jake for days. But that was different. She didn’t need him to survive physically. She just missed him.
“You don’t have a man, hmm?” Tex asked Peaches, ignoring Aby. Peaches shook her head.
“He up and left me.”
“What a foolish man,” Tex replied, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. Peaches blushed and giggled like a schoolgirl, leaving Aby to roll her eyes. She couldn’t believe that Peaches was falling for his act. She felt like she saw right through him. There was something sinister about him...she just couldn’t put her finger on it. They hit a bump in the road and Peaches giggled again, gazing at Tex like he was the only man in the world. Aby felt sick. The more trust Peaches gave him, the more danger they’d be in. But how could she stop her? She couldn’t admit aloud that she didn’t trust Tex or things could go south very quickly. She kept her mouth firmly shut, even though she was desperate just to leap out of the car and take her chances to get away from Tex.
“I really think we’ve got a bright future ahead of us,” Tex called to the women in the back. “If the compound works out...well, we might just pave the way for the next generation. There ain’t no going back on the damage done by the EMP, but we can learn a new way of life. If we get ourselves some useful people...people who know how to farm the land, a doctor and midwife, perhaps, some fighters to defend us...then there’s no reason we can’t create a new normal, right?”
“Right,” Peaches breathed, hanging on to his every word. Aby couldn’t deny that Tex’s vision of the future uplifted her a little. Wouldn’t it be so much better to have someplace safe to call home instead of running all the time? It had been less than a fortnight since she’d left Pittsburgh, but she already missed that sense of having somewhere safe and ordinary to reside every night. She wanted a place to live where she could lay her head down and rest easy. Was Tex really interested in that kind of future? Did he really have such a vision for them? It seemed like he did, but Aby still felt so uncertain.
“Hey, Tex?” Peaches hollered. He tilted his head
