“I liked her, but she wasn’t the one for me.”
“Oh! You could have fooled me the way you two flirted.”
“Flirting isn’t love” Tom replied.
Granny B hugged her grandson. “I’ll be with you when you tell Lucy.”
“Granny, there’s a spy in our group. That’s how Carlos found us. We need to figure out how to smoke them out.”
Granny B said, “To catch a rat, you set a trap. We need some juicy cheese for bait.”
Lucy went into a crying fit and then shock when Tom explained that her mom was dead. She wanted to see the body, but Tom told her they had to bury her mom in Ashland. He promised to take Lucy to her mom’s gravesite once it was safe to travel there. Tom tried not to cry with the grieving girl, but tears formed in his eyes. She fell asleep with Duke by her side, and Granny B stayed with her. Tom composed himself and joined the others.
Tom told them the story and kept his emotions under control. “We need to hunker down and make this place safe. Only the men will go foraging in the future. Sorry Jackie, but women are in too much danger with these perverts and criminals running the cities. I have vowed to kill the people responsible, but I’ll make sure we take care of our people and our bunker before striking out. We have much work to do here.”
Tom was surprised to see Kate cooking breakfast while Granny B tended to Lucy across the room. She looked up at him and smiled. “I escaped my chains.”
“I see you have. I also saw Greta walking around with a gun strapped to her hip.”
Kate shrugged. “We made peace. Anyway, I hope she means what she says.”
Kate then pulled a knife from under her shirt. “Just in case she didn’t. You don’t seem to be alarmed. I guess I could just walk away from here.”
Tom was surprised that he wasn’t mad or had a thought about Kate being free to wander around. “Your attack on us was a mistake. You apologized, and I accepted your apology, but I can’t let you leave on your own. I can arrange to blindfold you and drop you off wherever you want.”
Kate looked up at Tom, and their eyes met. “I don’t know where to go. Can your people forgive me enough to let me stay with you? Even with having to keep an eye on Greta, I haven’t felt this safe since the shit hit the fan.”
Tom felt the tingling, he could feel his heartbeat in his chest, and he gazed into her heart through the gold flakes in her eyes. “Uh … You’ll have to stay in the bunker for a month or so until I fully trust you. Then we’ll decide on a long-term arrangement. So, if you behave and contribute, I would vote for you to join the team.”
She continued the eye to eye contact, grinned, and then hugged Tom. “I’m sorry, but this made me so happy. One thing I can quickly contribute is training your crew on how to shoot a bow and arrow. ”
“Brenda was our best archer, but she didn’t get a chance to train anyone. Crap! I didn’t mean anything by that.”
Kate’s smile disappeared, “I haven’t had a chance to give you my condolences. I’m sorry for your loss. I know this won’t matter to you, but I tried to talk my uncle out of attacking your group. He was filled with hate and blood lust. I failed.”
“Thanks. That does matter to me. Give Rick and the others a chance to grieve. We’ll all have to toughen up to survive this disaster. I have to work harder at keeping my people safe from the chaos.”
“Amen to that.”
Tom turned to walk away then turned around. “I want you to begin archery training tomorrow. We need the ability to silently kill … uh … protect ourselves. Jackie, Rick, and I will be your first pupils. When you get done with Granny B, look me up. I’ll have Rick set up some targets and have the bows and arrows ready.”
“Will I have to be blindfolded?”
Tom thought for a quick second. “Yes, coming and going. We’ll take it off once we get to the range.”
“You already have an archery range?”
Tom snickered. “No, it’s a gun range that’s about to pull double duty.”
Granny B caught Tom after his discussion with Kate. “You seem okay with allowing Kate some freedom. We’ll lock her in at night or when we don’t have a babysitter for her.”
Tom smiled and took his Granny’s hand. “I trust your judgment. She can’t be the spy because she wasn’t with us when we met Sam or with us on the trail. She’s been in our custody since the attack. No, I think we know the person, and somehow the gang turned them against us. We’ll catch the rat. Just watch Greta and Kate to make sure they don’t kill each other.”
“I am. Go get some sleep.”
Tom replied, “I’m wide awake and need to do some powerful thinking, as Grandpa used to say.”
Tom sat on the roof of the barn, watching the stars while pouring whiskey in his glass. The sky was black and free of clouds that night, making the stars stand out like diamonds on a black cloth. He reflected on the past several years, smiling at the good memories and grimacing more than smiling. He knew Gwen hadn’t loved him enough to stay at the ranch. She just died before she could leave him. He then thought about Brenda and made himself only think about the good times he’d had with her. Dark thoughts kept trying to creep into his train of thought, but he pushed them away.
His
