The Bargaining Path

by T. Rudacille

  ***

  I helped him drink water, and then I laid against his chest while he fell asleep.

  “Promise me you’ll wait until tomorrow to go after them. So I can go with you. Okay?” He said sleepily.

  “I will.”

  “That’s not a promise. I know how you like to worm your way out of making promises.”

  “I do. I solemnly swear that I will get up to no mischief, alright?”

  He chuckled softly and kissed my forehead.

  “Good enough. I love you, you badass motherfucker.”

  I laughed somewhat obnoxiously, covering my mouth when I snorted.

  “You and Violet, and your mutual obsession with calling me that word!”

  “Well, you’ve become more profane than both of us, so that has to be your moniker.”

  “Well, regardless of the ridiculous moniker you have given me, I love you, too. You poor, pathetic damsel in distress.”

  Despite his exhaustion, he laughed one of his raucous laughs that he reserved only for me in response to that.

  “I am going to go in just a minute.” I said, more to convince myself than to convince him.

  I was lying beside him on my side with my hand resting on his chest. Even though he was awake, talking and joking with me, I was still comforted by just the soft rise and fall of his chest beneath my hand. His own was rested over top of mine, and every so often, he pulled it to his lips to kiss.

  “You're going to go out and fight them, aren't you? Or at least, you're going to go out and keep watch?”

  “Yes. It is just newly midnight now, as you can see by the color of the sky.” I beckoned to his open window. “If you saw the state of everyone else, you would not question my decision to keep watch. They are all probably lying restless yet dormant and in pain from their injuries, recovering very slowly from what was the most natural biological attack this world has probably ever known.”

  “That was action movie jargon.”

  “I know.” I grinned, “I use it frequently these days.”

  We were silent for a moment, and he and I both knew that what I said next was going to be something grave.

  “They are very smart, James.”

  He was quiet, but his good arm came off of my back so he could reach up, rest it on my head, and use his fingers to peel my hair back away from my face.

  “I know they are, baby. We underestimated them, which was stupid. It was our second biggest mistake.”

  “What was our first?”

  “Trusting Adam and his people.”

  I looked up at him, awaiting further explanation on that, but as I suspected, he was very tired and had closed his eyes.

  “If anything happens, wake me up. You promise?”

  “Yes. I promise.”

  I laid my head back down for a moment, counting the seconds in my head. I was allotting myself ten seconds to lie with him and forget the troubles of the world. Just a few uninterrupted moments of silence and peace, and then I would be back to the constant stream of movement. Soon, I would be out of his warm embrace and into the cold night, touting a gun over my shoulder and knife on my belt, to light torches, tend to the wounded, and bury the dead. I would also be awaiting the arrival of the Old Spirits, whom I realized were back on track and even closer than before.

  After kissing James one last time and responding to his mumbled, “I love you” with the same words, I left him to finish the fight I had started.