Smith

by Wade Adrian

  She glanced up at him. His choice of words had been intentional.

  “Someone who knows those tools inside and out would be a real boon to creating more of them, too. Me? I know silly stuff like knives, bows, and armor. Impractical. But I know how to work steel, which is the important thing.”

  A smile was growing on her face.

  “So yeah, if you want to work here, I’d be happy to let you work here.”

  She hugged him so fast he barely had time to move the thermos of soup out of the way. It still splashed his hand a bit.

  “Okay, okay. You’re welcome.” He patted her on the back a bit. “That’s my opinion on the issue, but I don’t think it’s the only one that matters.”

  She looked up at him as she let go before nodding a few times.

  “But I’ll support you in those talks, if you like.”

  Mary smiled and hugged him again.

  He had to admit, if only to himself… it was kind of nice. He’d been avoiding anything remotely human shaped out in the world for some time. This place had kept him on edge with its sixty four permanent residents, but… kind of nice.

  Purely platonically, of course.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  Mary let go of Smith and took a step back.

  Miles limped the last few steps up to the door. “Hey, nobody to worry about here.” He shrugged. “Bishop was pretty sure you’d still be here, Smith.”

  “It’s my shop.” Smith took another sip from the thermos.

  “Touche. But he said to fetch you anyway. Something about a report from scouts and wanting your opinion.”

  Smith’s left eyebrow crept up a bit. “Say what?”

  “Don’t know man. I’m just here to fetch you with all possible haste. Which isn’t really much, but getting better.”

  “Huh.”

  Mary frowned.

  “Don’t worry.” He patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll tell him.”

  She shook her head and pointed at him and then at her.

  “Okay then. We’ll tell him.”

  Miles turned on his heel and started back toward the square. “Don’t care. Message delivered. Want to sit down and find something to drink.”

  “Thanks Miles.”

  Miles grunted.

  Smith tilted his head toward the door. “Guess we’re going, then.”

  She nodded.

  The walk back probably could have gone faster, but, well… Miles. It was a shady part of town at this hour. He might trip or something. Besides, Bishop had sent him to his room without supper. Rude. The old man could wait a few minutes.

  Smith made no secret of his liquid supper as he and Mary wandered over to a conspicuously empty table. Bishop was visible, as were Rawlins, Baron, and a few others, but with space for nearly ten more. Empty seats around supper time was quite strange.

  Bishop waved them over.

  Smith stopped and gave a nod. “Hey, what’s the hubbub?”

  “Take a seat, Smith.”

  “Right. Real quick first, Mary has expressed some interest in helping out around the shop. I’m alright with that. Could probably use the help.”

  A man at the table sporting overalls and a long gray beard made a sour face.

  Bishop shook his head. “We’ll discuss that later. Please, have a seat.”

  Smith shrugged at Mary and handed over the thermos. It was almost empty anyway. “Thanks.”

  She nodded and wandered to one of the other tables, her eyes falling back to the gathering every few steps.

  Smith sat down. “Alright, what can I do for you?”

  Glances were exchanged but Bishop just shook his head. “Smith, you know Rawlins and Baron. This is Wilson, head of our farming community.”

  Smith gave a nod.

  Wilson returned only a level stare.

  “And this is Ross, the head of our scouting division.”

  The man was dressed similarly to Baron, but lacked all of the extra layers of leather. He wore a similar cape of rags in various shades of green. “Curious how you got in here without us finding you.”

  Smith smiled a bit. “I waited for everyone to leave.”

  “You waited.”

  He nodded. “Usually in a tree. Learned to sleep in them.”

  Baron chuckled a bit. The hunter looked odd with his green hood pulled back for the first time Smith had seen. He had long dark hair shot through with gray to match his beard. “Always telling you to look up.”

  Ross gave the hunter an annoyed glance.

  Bishop set his mug down on the table quite a bit harder than necessary. “Lets be civil for now. Smith has been admitted and approved. You may consider him a member of our society in good standing, and a division head, once he has a division to lead. As such he is entitled to be here. He is also probably one of the most qualified to assist in this matter.”

  Ross leaned back a bit, but shrugged. “Fine. Since you’re new, I’ll give you some slack. My people run recon. Reconnaissance, if your not familiar with the short hand. We don’t bother with food or threats like Baron’s people, we are strictly observers and gatherers of useful things.”

  Smith nodded. “I might have some requests.”

  “Everyone does. But from what Bishop says, you’ll have an opportunity to make sure we get it right.”

  Smith frowned. That sounded rather ominous.

  Bishop rubbed at his chin. “They found a little town about two weeks out by foot. From the looks of it, the place is ripe for shopping. A pharmacy and a hardware store amongst other things.”

  “That… sounds too good to be true. It’s been, what, at least seven years now. No one has been there?”

  Ross shrugged. “We staked the place out for a week before myself and Jenkins double-timed it back here. There was no movement in or out.”

  Baron shook his head. “Don’t like too quiet any more than too loud.”

  Bishop nodded. “What’s why you’re going, along with any of your people you can spare.”

  Smith tugged on his beard. “I don’t get it. You just… happened upon this place?”

  Ross turned to him. “No. We’ve known about it. A lot of our people were local to this area. But we avoid remnants of civilization when we can on principle because they tend to be hotbeds of gang activity. They take familiar city walls over ground to farm or hunt, which is why they never have enough food. I’ve been over all this already…” His voice made plain that he wasn’t happy about that, “but we still have scouts skim outskirts of places like that because we like to know where threats are and what they are up to. We’ve gotten good at keeping an eye on things without being noticed. Occasionally we lead them away if they get too close to home. This place didn’t register as a threat, which caused our man to call us all in. We gave it a more thorough look. As of nine days ago, it was untouched.”

  Bishop was staring at his mug, his hands propped up like a steeple. “How thoroughly did your people inspect the place?”

  “We did circuits. Wandered some of the streets furthest out in the dark when we could avoid any eyes, moving in pairs. It’s not a big place. You can pretty much see end to end if you ignore some of the residential stuff that climbs into the hills. What we’d be interested in will be on the main drag, all of which looks like everyone just up and walked away. Some overgrowth, but none of the usual broken glass or burned out cars or anything. Pristine, but for the passage of time.”

  Baron scratched at the top of the table with an fingernail. “Winter is on its way. We can’t be at this long, even if what’s waiting there will help us make it through the winter.”

  Bishop rubbed at his temples. “Okay. This place has potential. Tools, medicine, untouched gear. If we send all the scouts and hunters we can spare, along with Rawlins and Smith who know what’s worth the weight, how long are we looking at?”

  Ross shrugged. “They don’t know how to move in the brush. Two weeks there, two weeks back. At least a few days of sorting and gathering.”r />
  Smith frowned. He didn’t like the sound of this, but Bishop wasn’t wrong. The shop was nearly bare. If he could find any useful tools, it would make life easier. And besides, he could get tools for others, too. Things for farming, ranching, or construction. “I can move pretty fast when I need to.”

  Baron didn’t glance up from the table. “And he is apparently pretty sneaky.”

  Ross looked irritated for a moment, but let that one slide. “Rawlins is still a townie.”

  The medic scoffed. “Not that out of shape.”

  “Fine.” Ross rolled his eyes. “But that still only shaves a day or two each way. There will be a lot of us traveling. That means moving slower. And we’ll be carrying stuff back, too.”

  Bishop nodded. “Alright. We’ve got our proposition, guess it’s time for a vote.”

  19

  Smith was the last one at the table after the meeting broke up.

  Perfect. Just perfect.

  He’d only just gotten inside the walls, made his case, gotten approval, and now he was on his way back out into the wild.

  Granted, it was for a good cause and it was to help these people. His people, now.

  Still… it sounded too good to be true. The world didn’t hold a lot of guarantees anymore, but that was still one of them. Too good was never true.

  But that was why they were going with people well versed in stealth and combat. Just in case.

  He argued back and forth in his own mind… not that it mattered. He had already agreed to head out early tomorrow.

  Smith looked up when the table creaked a bit.

  Mary was watching him.

  He let out a sigh. “Okay, well, looks like your first duty will be to represent the shop as construction continues.”

  She frowned and scribbled a quick note. “What?”

  He rolled his neck around his shoulders a bit, looking for a way to properly phrase it. Technically it was need to know. But he could certainly argue his second in command needed to know in his stead.

  “Scouts found some stuff. Want my opinion on tools so they don’t carry back the wrong stuff. It’s a ways out, though, so things here will be up to you. Don’t worry, nobody expects the place to be cranking out anything, you’ll just be overseeing the work.”

  She was still frowning… but nodded and slid her little sketch pad over to him.

  His diagram was still on the back page. He scribbled up a few more crude drawings and notes. “See if they can’t find a stump to put the anvil on. Two feet wide, and probably two feet tall as well. The anvil will add some height. Kind of like chopping a tree for use as a table.”

  She hopped up and sat beside him on the bench to watch what he was doing.

  “Beyond that, I guess make sure the second level is actually level, and then get some stairs up to there. Ideally I’d like them to start towards the back of the place and end up sticking out a bit into the room right at the top, rather than having stairs in the shop area itself.”

  She pointed at the diagram, her finger against the wall.

  “Yeah, I guess stairs would make sense there, though that might mess up their plans with the supports.”

  She shrugged and took the pencil away. She scribbled in stairs against the wall with a small landing in the back corner and new supports against the stairs.

  He smiled a bit. “Yeah, I should have thought of that. Guess my head isn’t in the game here.”

  She frowned and patted the top of his hand with her own before scribbling a note. “Don’t worry. They know what they’re doing. We’ll get this done while you’re gone.”

  He scoffed. “I don’t intend to be gone that long.”

  She smiled as the pen swished across the paper. “Done in a week.”

  “Pfft. Then make it more complicated. Add some half walls up top or something. Or an intricate banister for the stairs. I want the posts carved into the shape of owls.”

  She grinned and just shook her head.

  “By the way, with winter coming and all you’ll probably still spend some of your time helping on the farm. I assume they’ll need all the hands they can get. Especially ones that know what they’re doing.”

  She shrugged and nodded.

  “Cool.” He nodded as well, his eyes falling to the table.

  The pad showed up in front of him.

  “Be safe and come back quickly. It was boring before.”

  He smiled a bit as he lifted his head.

  She gave him a small smile in return.

  “Yeah, alright. I mean, I was planning to trip and drown in a puddle or something, but since you asked so nicely.”

  She punched him in the shoulder.

  “Oww. Everybody’s a critic.”

  She stood up from the table and waved for him to follow.

  Well, nothing better to do before he marched off the next morning. He stood and walked with her.

  She didn’t get very far, practically keeping lockstep though a bit ahead. He was a little surprised to realize they were almost back at the shop. In his defense, it was dark and he was rather distracted.

  He stared at the building for a moment. It certainly had some problems. What with walls that needed to be patched, doors that needed something that passed for locks other than the padlocks it had sported before. Maybe a beam to keep it shut while he was sleeping. The roof probably leaked in places. No way to know until it rained.

  And yet… he liked it. It was his shop now. And in time, if things went well enough, it would be his home. He hadn’t had one of those in awhile. Years. Sure, he had slept under several roofs, but none of them had been his roof.

  He was shaken out of his thoughts when Mary hugged him again.

  She held up a note. “Sorry about all this.”

  He shrugged. “Not your fault. Just…” He turned his eyes back up to the place. “Afraid I won’t see it again. Just got it, you know?”

  She took hold of his hand and lead him inside. It was black as pitch aside from a lighter square painted by the moon just inside the door. A few moments later a strange rattling sound started up, followed by a few flickers of light.

  Mary had a little flashlight with a hand crank held tightly in both hands. She spun the lever around and the light grew brighter.

  She nodded as she set it down on the work bench and hopped up to have a seat. She patted the spot next to her.

  Well, she wasn’t about to just let him mope, was she? Rude really.

  He sat down on the bench and plucked up the light. He spun the lever. Something to occupy his mind for a bit.

  Mary held out her notepad. “What do you want to do?”

  Smith tilted his head a bit, his hands still spinning the little turbine. “I think I need to go. They need my help on this thing.”

  She shook her head and scratched off the last two words. “What do you want?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  She underlined want twice.

  “You mean, like… in general?”

  She nodded.

  “Umm. I have no idea. For the longest time all I wanted was…” He pointed up. “A roof. Food. Some semblance of safety when I slept. Then I found this place, and it had all those things, and so I showed a few simple tricks I’ve picked up to get inside. I didn’t think it would be a… purpose, I guess. Does that make sense?”

  She nodded.

  “At this point I kind of feel like everyone has aspirations for me but me. Like I’m a charlatan. I can’t possibly live up to all of the expectations.”

  She picked up one of the bows still resting on the workbench and pointed at it with her other hand.

  “Yeah, but that was easy.”

  She grinned and shook her head.

  “Yes it was. I made two of them in a day.”

  She rolled her eyes and set the bow back down. A flick of her wrist saw her notepad opening with practiced familiarity. “Just do your best. You’re already great.”

  He smiled a bit. “You’ve got
the job, no reason to flatter me. I can’t exactly promote you anywhere in this two person outfit.”

  She scooted a bit closer, her shoulder touching his as they sat on the bench. She started scribbling another note, but turned her hand and concealed it from him when he tried to watch her.

  Apparently it was rude to interrupt. Made sense.

  She held it out, her eyes facing the other way entirely. “Should we talk about the ledger?”

  “Uhh…” Smith stammered a bit. “I’m not sure there’s any subtle way to do that. They sort of took that away when they made a spreadsheet.”

  She nodded, her eyes still cast away.

  And yet… would she have brought up the topic if she didn’t want to discuss it?

  Smith tugged on his beard a bit. “I’m not opposed to the idea. It’s just… I’m used to getting to know people, I guess. But that might be old world thinking.”

  She tapped the pen against the notepad for a moment before writing. “I’m not opposed either.”

  He smiled a bit. “Well, I guess that’s a start.”

  She frowned at him for a moment.

  “What’s wrong?”

  The next note read, “Be careful.”

  “That’s the idea, yeah.” He nodded a few times. “But I mean, risk versus reward, right? This can help everyone here and…”

  He trailed off when she kissed his cheek.

  Well, certainly not opposed.

  She hopped off the workbench before he could react. She was practically out the door by the time he caught up. It was her flashlight, after all. He didn’t want her stumbling around in the dark on his account.

  Yeah, that was it. Clearly.

  The walk back was quiet, though she kept close again, her hand brushing against his now and then. They stopped when they reached the edge of the square. There was plenty of light here for him to continue on his own, her flashlight returned.

  She scribbled up one last note, promising to see him off in the morning, before she turned for the farmhouse and started walking. She looked back and waved a few times.

  He stood there like an idiot, keeping an eye on her until she got to the door.

  His room was just as he had left it. According to Bishop, everything was already being handled. All he had to do was show up in the morning, not that the bloody roosters would let him sleep in, and they’d be underway. Time was of the essence. Winter was a problem, and it didn’t care about their scheduling.