by M. J. Haag
“Chicken!” I called after him.
Mom set her hand over mine.
“Be careful today. Come back to me in one piece.”
I stood and kissed her cheek.
“This is just guard duty, Mom. I stand on the wall here all the time. It’s just a different wall. Besides, I’ll be safe on the wall in daylight.”
“That’s what we thought last week.”
I gripped her hand and nodded. Nothing was ever safe anymore. But, that didn’t mean we should just stop trying to live.
After leaving the house, I jogged to catch up to Zach. We followed the sidewalks in the pre-dawn light, heading for the north section of the wall. There were almost a dozen humans already gathered there and even more fey.
Ryan, Mya’s brother, noted our approach and waved us over to the human group.
“I’m glad to see you two here.”
“Thanks,” Zach said. “We’re happy to help out.”
“Let’s hope we still feel that way when we’re done today,” Ryan said. “I heard things aren’t going very well at Tenacity. Our reception may not be as welcome as we think.”
“After the way they acted here, I’m not expecting much,” I said.
There was a reason Mya and the fey created Tolerance instead of staying at Whiteman: the Whiteman survivors hated the fey. It was an insane prejudice, just because the fey were different, and one I couldn’t understand. The fey weren’t just nice. They were nice to the point that it would be easy to use them for self-gain. Which is what some of those people had tried doing.
Ryan grinned at me and nodded in agreement.
“If we stick together, we shouldn’t run into any problems,” he said.
“Brenna will not have any problems,” a familiar voice said behind me. “She will remain here.”
Even as my throat dropped to my stomach with dread, I pivoted to face Thallirin. This was just like two days ago when he told me to get in the house. I’d listened then, and because of it, he seemed to think he had some kind of control over me. He needed to be set straight.
He strode toward the group, each step accentuating the domineering confidence that had been a pain in my ass since the moment he first saw me. I’d already told him, in no uncertain terms, last night that I wasn’t interested. Why wasn’t that enough?
“Will I stay here?” I asked. “I don’t remember making that decision for myself.”
Thallirin’s gaze flicked to me. Not a hint of what he was thinking or feeling showed in his expression. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He looked as deadly as ever.
“It is not safe outside the walls. You take an unnecessary risk leaving.”
“Since the earthquakes, everything is a risk. That doesn’t mean I should sit in a house and stop living.”
“You will not sit in a house. You will guard the walls and live here.”
Unable to believe what I was hearing, I glanced back at Ryan. He raised his hands, a clear sign he wasn’t going to get involved.
“Do you see any other females in this group, Brenna?” Thallirin asked, reclaiming my attention. “There are no females because no male would allow that risk.”
“I heard that you learn words the moment you hear them,” I said. “Here’s a word for you. Chauvinist asshole.”
“That was two words,” one of the fey bystanders said.
“Your anger due to the facts that we are stronger, faster, more agile, and resilient is misplaced. I do not think less of you for your weaknesses. I only seek to protect you because of them,” Thallirin said.
“He doesn’t get it,” Zach said.
“Obviously,” I said. I shook my head and turned away from Thallirin. “Whatever. I’m going.”
“No one will take you,” Thallirin said.
Ignoring him, I looked at Ryan.
“I can run a six-minute mile. I’ll meet you there.”
A growl rose behind me, and I felt a rush of cold fear. However, I knew better than to freeze because of what I felt. Turning, I glared at Thallirin.
“Animals growl, not intelligent people capable of communication.”
“I am communicating, and you are choosing not to listen. It is dangerous for females outside the wall. You will remain here.”
“Communicating means that both parties speak and listen. It doesn’t mean giving orders and expecting the other party to obey. You’re not my parent. Stop trying to tell me what to do.”
He took a menacing step toward me.
“Sorry I’m late!”
Thallirin paused at the sound of the female voice. We all looked at Angel jogging our way. Although I’d heard the news that she was about six months pregnant, she didn’t look it. But, it was hard to tell with all the layers she wore.
With a smile on her lips, she stopped beside Thallirin and looked at me.
“Hey, Brenna.”
“Hi. I’m glad you’re here. It’ll be nice to have some female company.”
I looked pointedly at Thallirin.
“I’m so relieved. When I heard you might be going to Tenacity, I didn’t think teaching a pregnant lady archery would be as adventurous.”
“What?”
She glanced at Thallirin.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Oh, he told me plenty, but nothing about archery lessons. Let me guess. This is an excuse to keep me safely inside the walls where Thallirin can continue to stare at me like a creepy pedophile stalker?”
His face darkened, and I knew I’d struck a low blow because all fey were super sensitive about this underage thing. However, I couldn’t bring myself to care. The fey were the ones hung up on my age, not me.
“I think we better go,” Ryan said. “Maybe next time, Brenna.”
“I’m going,” I said firmly. “I’ll be home by dark, Angel. If you want to stop by my house, I’d be happy to teach you then. Although, I’m sure any of the fey would be able to teach you just as well.”
I didn’t miss the way she caught Thallirin’s arm as I turned to go. Her soft words burrowed into my head as I followed the group to the wall.
“You’re not protecting her; you’re alienating her. If you want to keep her safe, then you go with her. No female wants to be told what to do. She needs to be able to make her own choices.”
Shaking my head, I stuck next to Zach as we climbed over the wall. On the other side, each fey paired up with a human.
“What’s your carry-style, Zach?” I asked. “Princess, wild game, or backpack?”
He made a face at me.
“Why do you have to ruin it?”
I chuckled and walked up to a fey.
“I’m Brenna. Thanks for taking us.”
He glanced at someone behind me.
“You’re welcome, Brenna. Would you like Thallirin to carry you?”
“No, I would not. Thank you for thinking to ask instead of assuming. Are you okay with carrying me? Or are you too afraid of hurting Thallirin’s feelings?”
“His feelings will not be hurt if I carry you. He knows I understand you belong to him.”
“I think I’ll go princess-style,” Zach said. “How about you, Brenna?”
My brother’s attempt at distracting me from my anger did more than that. It helped put things into perspective. I didn’t need to address my very large problem right then or solve it alone. I had Zach and Mom. Using a wheelchair had only increased her mama-bear tendencies. Thallirin wouldn’t know what hit him.
“Carry me however works best for you,” I said to the fey watching me.
He grunted and picked me up.
As soon as he started running, I turned my face into his chest. Over his shoulder, I saw Thallirin. He ran directly behind us. Our gazes locked, and the undeniable urge to growl at him had me closing my eyes.
Several minutes later, the fey landed with a soft thump on the other side of Tenacity’s wall. He immediately released me and stepped away.
Ignoring him, I looked around at the expa
nsive neighborhood. Like Tolerance, the wall extended farther than I could see. House after house lined the roads inside the wall. The sidewalks were snow-free, and narrow golf cart tracks marked the dusted road.
A large group of people was already gathered just inside the wall. Before I could wonder why, Matt stepped forward. He shook Ryan’s hand then addressed the rest of us.
“Welcome to Tenacity. We’re glad you could make it.” He turned to his people. “The volunteers from Tolerance will fill some of the day shifts on the wall so more people can go on today’s supply run.”
Matt began calling out names for wall assignments, and a few people grumbled when they stepped forward. He looked at the remaining people.
“Anyone can go on the supply run. Remember, the fey are not on this run to gather for Tenacity. However, they’ll help keep you safe while they gather for Tolerance. You keep seventy percent of what you bring back; thirty percent goes to the community for redistribution.
“A party is also going out to Whiteman Airbase to secure a plane to look for more survivors and new areas safe for supply runs. So don’t let the sound of something in the air distract you from what you’re doing. Stay safe. Stay alive. Come home.”
With that, the humans Matt assigned to the wall took their positions, and a trickle of people started climbing over the wall on the waiting ladders. But not as many as I expected, given the number gathered. I couldn’t tell if Matt was disappointed more weren’t going, though. Instead of focusing on the people staying, he watched the people leaving with the fey.
While the humans used the ladder, the fey neatly scaled the wall made of vehicles and other big machinery. It always amazed me how the fey could clear the barrier in seconds, their feet finding footing while their hands remained free.
The running engines outside the wall sounded so loud and out of place in the otherwise quiet neighborhood. I itched to get up there to see if they drew any infected. I hadn’t heard a single call on the way here, and that wasn’t normal.
“We have marks on the wall,” Matt said, drawing my attention. “Climb up the ladder and pick a section to patrol. Someone will come to relieve you every two hours for a fifteen-minute break.”
I started for a ladder but noticed Thallirin still standing inside the wall. I wished he would have left with the others.
“Want me to stay close?” Zach asked.
I loved my brother for his protectiveness, but he knew as well as I did that there wouldn’t be much he could do about Thallirin.
“No. I’m fine. Go where you’re needed. Not that I think we’ll see much. The infected seem just as quiet here as they do back home.”
“For now,” Zach said. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
He climbed up the ladder, his bow over his shoulder. I shouldered mine and did the same. It was such a part of me that I didn’t even notice I had it. It felt just as normal as a hat in winter.
“Thallirin,” Matt said. “I can’t stop you from going up there, but you do know that Mya doesn’t want you to help guard the wall, right?”
“I am not guarding your wall. I’m guarding Brenna.”
I rolled my eyes as I reached the top and walked to an unmanned section much farther away. Even though I didn’t hear Thallirin, I knew he followed me.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” I asked when I took my position and saw him several yards from me, staring out at the trees.
“No.”
“I find your constant attention smothering and would like it if you left. I’ve guarded walls before, without you standing ten feet away, and can manage again.”
“But when you needed me, I was close enough to protect you.”
I knew he meant the day the infected breached the walls. If not for Thallirin, I wouldn’t be alive, and I was big enough to acknowledge it.
“Yes, you saved me. And I’ve saved countless other people. That doesn’t give me the right to force my unwelcome presence on them or try to tell them how to live their lives.”
He grunted and crossed his arms, not looking at me but watching the trees.
This was going to be a long day.
“You should eat something,” Thallirin said when my stomach growled yet again. It wasn’t delivered in a nice, considerate way but in an angry, impatient tone he’d been using on me every time he spoke.
“I will when I get home. You should go away.”
“I will when we get home.”
I breathed through my nose. He’d been like that all day, annoyingly present and unbothered no matter what I said. I wasn’t trying to be rude, just like I was sure he wasn’t trying to be a pain in my ass. Why couldn’t he understand not all human women wanted a man in their lives? I’d made my opinion pretty clear when I told him I wanted to shoot every arrow in my quiver at him. The ass had opened his arms and told me he would hold still…as if I needed his cooperation.
“I still want to shoot you.”
“I know.”
The distant sound of engines drew my attention to the road. Three trucks drove down the center of the unplowed lane, escorted by fey on all sides.
“Are any missing?” I asked, knowing Thallirin’s sight was far better than mine.
“No.”
I believed him, but that didn’t stop me from adding, “Are you sure? Maybe you should go check.”
He grunted and remained where he was, ten feet away. That was the maximum amount of distance he’d maintained all day even when I was given a break to go to the bathroom, which is why I threatened to shoot him.
The trucks rumbled to a stop in front of the wall. The back of one of the trucks opened, and humans jumped out, moving toward the other two trucks to help the fey unload the supplies. Boxes and totes filled with clothing, blankets, and food were carried over the wall and taken to a large storage shed. The bay door stood open, and I could see long tables set up inside.
Matt watched over the proceedings, directing where things should go.
“You and your grey monkey can go,” a man said as he climbed up to join us on the wall.
I put my foot on the ladder and shoved it off balance. The man gave a startled cry and clutched the rung as he started tipping sideways. Thallirin caught the end of the metal rail and righted the equipment, his cold gaze landing on me.
“Brenna, no tipping ladders.”
Chapter Four
I looked away from Thallirin to see the man cringe at the sound of Thallirin’s deep, angry tone.
“Did you hear him?” I asked the man. “Even after you insulted him, he’s sticking up for you. Learn some respect or next time, it’s an arrow, not a ladder shove. Got it?”
The man glared at me, but remained mute as he climbed the wall.
“And for the record, he isn’t my anything.”
I climbed down without fear of retaliation because Thallirin remained on the wall until my feet touched the ground. How could that fey be so smart about some things and so annoyingly stupid about others?
“What was up with the ladder drama?” Zach asked, jogging up to me.
“Darwinism.”
Zach laughed.
“Looks like you survived your day well enough. Was your section of the wall as quiet as mine?”
“Not a single infected. Kind of weird, given the noise of the trucks.”
“Take it as the blessing it is,” Ryan said, joining us. “Come take a look at how Tenacity does things.”
We followed him to the shed and watched as all of the scavenged items were laid out on the tables. Meats were separated from veggies, and all of the other home goods were stacked on shelves. The food was counted then thirty percent of the total was removed to the community pile. What was left was divided among the people who had gone on the supply run. By the time it was divided, each person was walking away with maybe two days’ worth of food for a family of four.
Those gathered outside the building started shouting offers.
“I’ll take your next guard duty for t
hat frozen roast.”
“I’ll double that.”
More than half the people ignored the trading going on and rushed to form a line in front of the community supplies. Volunteers took down house numbers and what was being given, which wasn’t much.
“We should aim for Harrisonville tomorrow,” Ryan said. “It hasn’t been picked over like Warrensburg.”
“I agree. But there aren’t many who will be willing to go that far, and those who do go will be in danger here, once they get their share,” Matt said.
“Danger?” I asked.
“Despite the rule that people will get kicked out for stealing, someone will try. And, someone will be hurt,” Matt said.
“I’ll talk to Mya,” Ryan said.
Matt shook his head.
“There is no easy solution to this. The people here need to change. They need to figure out how to put their fears and biases aside. Until they do, the amplified frustration with those of us who don’t agree with their fears and biases will only make them more volatile.”
“Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but no one should ever disagree with it,” I said.
“Hypocrisy at its finest,” Zach said in agreement.
“Tenacity could really use more level-headed thinkers,” Matt said. “Your family is welcome here any time. There’s plenty of room.”
“I’ll let my mom know you offered,” I said even though I already knew that living in Tenacity would be a hard pass for my family. We’d lived with these assholes for over a week. It had been enough to realize we never wanted to do it again. Yet, what I’d said to Mya the day before hadn’t been a lie. If she or the fey thought I was there for the fey dating game, I’d take Matt up on his offer.
“Thanks. If you’re willing to come back tomorrow, we could use the help again. It’ll take a while for us to regain the supplies we lost.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Ryan said. “It’s been quiet enough for a few days that I should be able to convince Drav to send a bigger group of fey for Harrisonville, too. Maybe that’ll help convince more of your people to tag along.”
Matt agreed, and we climbed over the wall to join the waiting fey. The supplies they’d gathered for Tolerance were already divided into boxes, which the fey carried. Some of the boxes were filled with random things like movies and books. Others had kitchen gadgets and clothes. Very few had food.