Without Law 13

by Eric Vall

  “Okay,” she said hesitantly, and she bit her lip. “But just one.”

  “Deal,” I told her, and I grabbed her hand and walked her over to the couch so we could sit down between Bailey and Paige.

  “Here,” the brunette said as she poured us drinks and handed each of us one. “It’s Tav’s favorite.”

  “I do love this stuff,” I remarked about the vanilla cupcake flavored vodka.

  “I would have taken you as a whiskey man,” Kimmy chuckled.

  “I like whiskey, too,” I agreed with a smile before I took a small sip of my beverage. “But this stuff is pretty tasty.”

  “I’ve always been fond of it as well,” Kimmy said. “But I never used to drink anything straight. I still think you all are champs for that.”

  “I never did before, either,” Bailey told her with a smile. “But it’s getting easier, huh?”

  “It is,” the dark skinned woman agreed, and she took a sip of the clear liquid.

  “So,” Tara said, and she smiled and leaned forward. “How was your first time with Tav?”

  Kimmy nearly spat out her drink, and she began to cough and turn red once more.

  “Tara!” Bailey hissed.

  “We literally just went over this,” Anna sighed.

  “I couldn’t help it,” Tara pouted. “I’m curious.”

  “We had a pleasant time,” I answered with a stern look. “Now leave Kimmy alone, she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

  “Ugh, fine,” the platinum blonde said with yet another eye roll. “But she’s going to tell me soon, I just know it. We’re gonna be like, best friends before this is over.”

  “I’ll make sure to wait until that’s the case, then,” Kimmy chuckled after she had caught her breath.

  I heard someone come down the stairs then and I turned to see Rolly and Winchester at the landing. I figured that everyone else had gone to bed after dinner since we had a long day ahead of us and I hadn’t seen or heard anybody else, but it wasn’t unusual for Rolly to get up in the night and let Winchester in or out.

  “Hey, old-timer,” I said with a smile.

  “Hey,” Rolly greeted me.

  “Everything okay?” I asked as I studied his face and found it to appear slightly downtrodden.

  “Oh, fine,” he said with a wave of his hand as he came and sat on the arm of the couch. “Listen, I know it’s a long shot, but I was wondering if you all happened to get the rings.”

  “We sure did,” I told him with a wide grin.

  “Wait, where’s Betty?” Tara asked, and she glanced around wildly. “She can’t see them.”

  “She’s upstairs sleeping,” the old man informed us, then he turned to Kimmy. “I checked on Anthony before I came down, too, he’s fast asleep.”

  “Thank you so much,” Kimmy told him, and she smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

  “I’ll get the rings,” Tara squealed quietly, then she jumped up and headed outside. The rings had gotten left in the glove compartment of the jeep since we’d been in such a rush to tell everyone what was happening when we got home.

  “Thank you all for doing this,” Rolly said. “I really appreciate it.”

  “It was our pleasure,” I told him.

  “You didn’t even do anything,” Anna laughed.

  “That’s true,” I chuckled. “The girls did all the work.”

  “Here they are,” Tara announced as she walked back inside with the little velvet bag in her hand.

  The platinum blonde came over to the coffee table, pushed our cups toward us with a glare, then very carefully shook the rings out of the bag. She set the bag flat on the coffee table then carefully set all the rings out facing herself before she stood up, stepped back, and looked at Rolly.

  “It’s all up to you now,” she said sweetly, and she gestured toward the coffee table.

  “Geez, if the world ever goes back to normal Tara would be the best jewelry salesman ever,” Paige said.

  “Right,” Bailey chuckled.

  Rolly made his way around the couch and hesitantly stepped toward the coffee table where all the rings were laid out.

  “Are you nervous?” Bailey asked when he hadn’t moved to look at the rings.

  “You know,” Rolly chuckled breathlessly. “I think I am. I just want to make sure she likes it.”

  “Whatever one you pick, she’s going to love it,” Tara said, and she squeezed the old man on the shoulder.

  Rolly smiled at her, then took a deep breath and knelt down in front of the coffee table to look at the rings.

  “Wow,” he said as his eyes raked over the selection in front of him. “I can’t believe you all found these.”

  “We ran across a little family owned jewelry shop,” Paige said. “It wasn’t even on the map, but Tara spotted it in one of the towns we went through today.”

  “And I don’t think most people were breaking into jewelry stores after the EMP hit,” Anna said with a shrug. “It looked like ninety percent of the supply was still there.”

  “Thank you, ladies,” Rolly said, and he smiled at each of the girls. “Who picked out what?”

  “Ah, ah, ah,” Tara said. “That doesn’t matter, just pick the one that you think Betty will love most.”

  “Alright, then,” the old man chuckled.

  I sipped my vodka and watched with a small smile on my face as the girls all eyed Rolly like a hawk while he looked through the rings. I’d never known the old man to be particularly picky, but he took his time and inspected each ring carefully before setting it back in its rightful place.

  After he’d gone through each one of them, he picked out three and brought them to the front. One was the blue sapphire ring that Bailey had picked out, another was one of the elegant ones Tara had found, and the last was one of the gold banded pieces that Anna had chosen.

  I saw Tara lean forward slightly as she watched Rolly inspect each ring once more. Anna leaned back with a smirk and took a sip of vodka, and Bailey just smiled, happy that Rolly was happy. I knew my hippie girl wouldn’t ever have her feelings hurt by Rolly not picking her ring, she was just excited for the old man.

  Rolly set the blue ring back in its place with the others, though. It came down to Anna and Tara, who side eyed each other across the room.

  I chuckled to myself and took another sip of my vodka as Rolly looked even closer at the rings. Finally, he set Tara’s back in its place and held up the one that Anna had picked out. It was a beautiful white diamond with a dainty gold band that created a lovely silhouette around the diamond itself.

  “I think I’ve found it,” he said with a wide grin.

  “Good choice,” Tara said with a smile.

  “You’re not disappointed that he didn’t pick yours?” Paige asked.

  “Not at all,” the platinum blonde said, and she lifted her chin up slightly. “I only want Rolly to be happy, and each ring is meant for one special lady. I think he made a good choice with this one. The one Anna picked out is beautiful. Besides, I made the top two.”

  The last sentence was said with a smirk and a shrug, and I had to chuckle at Tara’s delight in making it so far through the picking process.

  “The one you picked out was lovely as well,” Rolly told the platinum blonde. “It was a tough decision.”

  “I’m sure it was,” she agreed with a smile. “But I’m happy you found the one you like.”

  “I think Betty will love it,” Bailey said sweetly.

  “Now that that’s over,” I said, and I grabbed another glass and poured Rolly some vodka. “How about a quick celebratory drink?”

  “I’ll take that,” the old man laughed and let out a deep sigh. “I’ll admit, I’m still a bit nervous.”

  “You know she’ll say yes,” Paige told him.

  “I think she will, too,” the old man said. “Still, though, it’s not exactly the easiest thing to do.”

  “It shouldn’t be,” Tara said sternly. “Marriage is serious, and it should
be treated as such.”

  “When did she get so gung ho about marriage?” Rolly chuckled and pointed to Tara, then he shook his head and apologized. “I’m sorry. We’ve got a lot bigger issues going on than this. I really do appreciate you girls getting these for me.”

  “We do have a lot going on,” I agreed. “But a little break from feeling panicky isn’t so bad.”

  “To Rolly and Betty, then,” Bailey said, and she held up her glass.

  “To Rolly and Betty,” everyone echoed quietly, and we all clinked glasses and took a sip.

  Rolly hung out with us for a while longer while he drank his vodka, then we all decided it was about time for bed. We really did have a long day ahead of us, a long few days as a matter of fact, and we could definitely use the extra sleep.

  The next morning, I woke before dawn and looked out the window to see that Betty, Rolly, and several other civilians were already up and doing chores. It seemed that going to bed right after dinner the night before had helped them wake up a bit early.

  I gently woke the girls and threw on some clothes before I headed downstairs and out to the fire.

  “Hey,” I greeted everyone as I took a seat.

  “Hey,” Betty greeted me back. “Listen, Donna and Jeff went to check the traps. I know you said you were going to do it from now on, but they promised to be thorough and check the water line.”

  “I appreciate that,” I told her. “It’s not a big deal, I made a marker so we’ll know how low it gets day to day.”

  “We just figured we’d try to get everything done before you got up,” Jenny told me as she leaned on her grandmother’s shoulder.

  I looked around the courtyard and saw that the chickens had already been fed, and the horses as well. Henry and Joe walked up the driveway, and from the hay on their shirts it looked like they must have just fed the cows. So, it appeared that pretty much all the chores had been accomplished, which was nice because I knew I’d spend most of the day cutting down trees or helping with the fire lines. We only had the one working tractor at the moment so only one person could do that, and I figured it would be Rolly, so that meant I was going to be leader of the chopping brigade.

  As much as I didn’t mind chopping down trees, it could be tedious, especially out in the heat.

  “We should make sure we pack some extra water bottles today,” I said. “We can’t have anyone getting overheated.”

  “Already done,” Marla, our resident nurse, assured me. “And I’ve been making sure to keep an eye on everyone just in case.”

  “Thank you,” I told her.

  The sun was just up on the horizon, and the day was cast in a dingy gray with the early morning. I could smell fire and dew, and I sat and just breathed the cool morning air for a second.

  Just then the girls pushed open the front door of the dorm building and headed toward us, but the sound of a gunshot caused all of them and myself to swing our head toward the woods.

  Another shot sounded, and I quickly grabbed my pistol from my hip and ran toward the tree line.

  Before I could make it over there, Jeff and Donna sprinted out of the trees and collapsed onto the grass.

  Chapter 8

  What the fuck was going on?

  I didn’t hesitate, I just ran forward until I reached the two, and once I got there I realized that Paige was on my heels.

  The brunette crouched down and began to look over the pair, but I could see that they were breathing still, though their breaths were shallow and heavy.

  “What happened?” I asked, my weapon still in my hands.

  “Are you injured?” Paige inquired as she ran her hands over the two of them to check for wounds.

  “We’re okay,” Jeff gasped, and I saw that he had his pistol in his hand. He must have been the one who had fired off a round. The question, though, was why.

  “What happened?” I repeated.

  “Wolves,” Donna said through ragged breaths.

  “Wolves?” I asked, and my eyebrows pinched together with concern. We’d just taken care of some man eating wolves not long ago. Could they be back already? Was it possible there was another pack in the area? That seemed too close, packs usually had a much larger territory than that. Could this have been a random encounter?

  “We were checking the traps like always,” Jeff said. “And once we got to the one closest to campus we saw that there was a wolf there and it had the rabbit in the trap.”

  “It was just laying there eating it,” Donna explained. “The rabbit still had the trap wrapped around it.”

  “That’s odd,” Paige whispered, and she gave me a confused look.

  “You fired your weapon,” I said, and I gestured to the pistol in Jeff’s hand.

  “Damn thing snarled at us,” Jeff breathed, and he flipped over to sit down on the grass.

  “Then we realized there were a few more in the trees behind it,” Donna said. “We fired off a shot to scare them away and ran back here.”

  Wolves didn’t typically steal bunnies from traps, and while it wasn’t unusual for them to act aggressively if you stumbled upon them eating, usually they weren’t close enough for you to stumble upon in the first place.

  “Did they retreat when you fired?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Jeff said. “But we didn’t stick around very long so I don’t know how far away they ran.”

  “We just took out that pack of wolves over the winter,” Paige whispered to me, and I nodded.

  Just then it hit me.

  “Shit,” I breathed.

  “What is it?” Paige asked, and she looked at me with concern.

  “They’re fleeing the fire,” Rolly said, and I turned around to see the rest of our people had gathered behind us.

  “That’s right,” I agreed with a nod.

  “Well, what does that mean?” Tara asked. “The birds were fleeing, too.”

  “But birds aren’t carnivores that have been pushed out of their territory,” I explained. “These animals are going to be scared, which already makes them more dangerous. Plus they’re probably going to be hungry as well.”

  “What do we do?” Bailey asked.

  “There’s nothing we can do,” I said with a shake of my head. “They’re following their instincts and trying to get out of harm's way, we can’t stand in the way of that. We do have plenty of meat stored, though, so for now we’ll stop setting traps. That could just attract them closer to campus.”

  “Alright,” Anna said with a hard nod. “No more traps for now.”

  “Every animal around is going to be fleeing,” I added. “We need to make sure we’re particularly careful while we’re in the woods. Only go in if you have to, and make sure that you have a buddy when you do.”

  “Always keep your weapon on you,” Anna commanded as she looked around at the small crowd of people.

  “Right,” I agreed. “Jeff having his pistol on him probably saved his and Donna’s lives today.”

  There was some muttering from the crowd, and it was clear that everyone was a bit scared, so I put a soft smile on my face and addressed them all.

  “Look, this is only temporary,” I said. “Animals flee from fire, that’s just something we’re going to have to deal with right now. There’s nothing we can do about it. The good news is that their main priority is to escape the flames, so if we don’t get in their way, then they shouldn’t get in ours.”

  The group nodded a bit, but they didn’t appear to be fully consoled.

  “Breakfast is ready, everyone,” Betty announced. “Let’s get something to eat and head to the farm.”

  “Thank you,” I mouthed to the old woman as she pushed the crowd back toward the fire pit. She smiled at me in return, then continued to usher everyone in her grandmotherly way.

  “This is getting crazy,” Paige said after everyone else had gone.

  “We’re going to be fine,” I assured her.

  “I don’t know,” Tara said. “I totally thought Donna had sh
ot Jeff for a second.”

  “Why would that be where your brain would go?” Anna laughed.

  “I don’t know,” the platinum blonde said, and she cocked her head to the side as she thought. “Probably too much true crime TV.”

  “That makes sense,” Anna said dryly.

  “The animals are just trying to get to safety,” Bailey said with a small frown.

  “Right,” I agreed. “And as long as we keep our distance then there shouldn’t be a problem.”

  I led the girls back to the fire pit, and we all grabbed plates of food and found Kimmy, Rolly, and Betty sitting at a table by themselves, so we joined them. Betty had made eggs, toast, and potatoes, and there was fresh coffee brewed as well, courtesy of Rolly. I took a long pull of the black liquid first to clear my head, then I dug into the rest of the food.

  Kimmy smiled at me when I caught her eye, then she went back to feeding baby Anthony. I thought about our time together the night before, and about how strangely attractive I found her mothering ways. There was something about seeing a woman be a wonderful parent that made them seem that much more attractive. My bet was that it was more biological than anything, but who was I to deny my male instincts.

  I leaned over and kissed Kimmy on the cheek, and she blushed slightly, but then baby Anthony began to giggle, so I did it again and he laughed even harder.

  “Oh, my gosh, he’s so cute,” Paige chuckled.

  “Baby laughs are so contagious,” Bailey added, and she was right. Every time baby Anthony decided something was funny, everyone around decided the same thing. He really was absolutely adorable, and it was amazing to see how much he’d grown up in the few months that Kimmy had been with us.

  The small child could now eat some solid food, he was able to play and reach and grab things, and he had grown to be an incredibly happy and easygoing baby. I felt bad for any woman who had to give birth or raise a child in the situation that we were all in. Especially since I was sure most mothers hadn’t planned on not having electricity or the ability to run to the store for more diapers. But Kimmy made do, and with the help of the other civilians, baby Anthony was thriving.

  Once we finished breakfast, I had the girls help me go through Rolly’s shed, and we gathered up every single axe and saw that we had, as well as some pink spray paint that we found hidden in one of the corners.