CHAPTER THREE

Trust

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'She's legit,' Maria said to Joel. 'She told us exactly the things we broadcasted on the radio yesterday, asking for survivors and telling them to arrive to the town.'

'What?' Joel looked at her incredulously. 'Why would you do that? There are bandits out there waiting to get in!'

'And they're getting fewer by the day,' Maria shrugged. 'Point is, this town was made to be a safe haven for lost people. What's the use if nobody can reach it?'

Joel shook his head once, still dismissive about the idea. Maria poured him a glass of old whisky from the bottle. Ellie had gone with Angelica again, who was apparently taking her fishing. Joel could feel the fear rising up in him again, and he looked at Maria, sharply. 'Do you trust this Angelica woman?' He asked, turning the low ball glass in his hand.

Maria looked at him for a second, appalled. 'Of course, Joel. She went to school with me. I've known her since my childhood.'

'Well . .' He muttered with a shrug, looking out the warehouse window at the twilight sky. The wooden structure was located on top of a slope, about a mile north of the ranch houses near the dam. It served as a resting place for the workers and guards, once they were relieved of their duties for the day. The ceiling was dark, with metal chains hanging down at the edges. Broken engine parts and repaired machinery sat below brown shrouds at the corners, and the whole place smelled of sawdust, of freshly cut wood.

'You can't be with her all the time, you know,' Maria said, catching him off guard. Joel looked at her, eyebrows scrunched. He never took others opinions on his and Ellie's relationship lightly. Not just anybody could understand the gravity of the situation, of the lengths he had and would go to keep her safe.

'She's just fifteen Joel,' Maria continued, recognising the slight offence he had taken, visible in the crease between his eyebrows, and the frown. 'She's a teenager. Remember how fucked up that age is?' She took a sip of the alcohol, and looked out the window, at the setting sun. 'She needs some time alone to herself, she needs change. She might not tell you everything now, but she will when she's ready. You can't force things out of her.'

Joel finished his drink in one gulp, and put the glass back on the wooden crate. His eyes fell on his watch, caught the holes in its surface, the hands halted where they had ten years ago.

'She can take care of herself,' Maria reminded him. 'She's the toughest kid I've ever come across, to be honest. Strong, ruthless - kinda like you.'

'Not too proud of that,' he mumbled, rejecting any more of the whisky she was offering him.

'She'll learn things her own way,' Maria shrugged. 'Meanwhile, I think you gotta loosen up. Go hunting, find a woman. How long has it been?'

'Uhh . .' Joel tried to shrug the question off, but Maria was persistent. He knew he couldn't keep her curious for long, once she was interested in something. 'I don't know . .' he simply muttered, annoyed.

He remembered Tess - her dark hair, her voice. It was fresh in his mind, like he had just seen her today morning, just watched her walking toward him, talking to him, giving him that blazing look of hers. Her confident gait, her fearless eyes.

'Was she special?' Maria asked, ignoring his annoyance. She poured herself another glass, looking at him once in a while, waiting for an answer.

He said nothing for a few seconds, eyes on the window, observing a lonely dragonfly, buzzing on top of a shrub.

'Yeah,' he finally mumbled, his voice meek, soft.

'Well,' Maria eyed him, a slight hint of pity in her eyes. 'Hope she's in peace.'

The dragonfly disappeared among the shrubs, and the sun sunk into the hills, leaving behind a palette of orange, pink and blue.

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Ellie held a box with a freshly caught fish, it's stench filling her nose from all the way down. She was excited to show it off to Joel, maybe tempt him into going fishing once. Although, she doubted if his ham hands could pull of the subtlety of the act.

Angelica walked by her, her grey hair pulled into a ponytail. She was an old woman, nearly fifty-five, but was stronger than most people her age. She lived alone, and always had something interesting to tell or show Ellie.

'Next time, don't break the fishing rod, you got me?' she said to her, and Ellie flushed. 'Sorry,' she mumbled. Angelica muffed her hair and pulled her into a brief sideways hug.

They walked through the main Street, under the lamplights on the footpath. A few people lingered on the road, talking, walking back home. Ellie heard horses in the distance, and looked ahead to find two familiar figures trotting in her direction. She recognised Tommy, who stopped in front of her as he passed, and behind him, she saw a worker, with the same woman seated before him on the horse. Her shoulders and hands were bandaged, blood was cleaned off of her skin. Tommy greeted her and Angelica.

'Where you ladies off to?' He asked, smiling.

'We just got this!' Ellie exclaimed, opening the lid of her box to show the fish, proudly. 'It took me three tries to catch this baby!'

'Impressive as always, Ellie,' Tommy grinned. 'Why don't you strut along. I'm just showing this girl you saved her new home. I can drop you off on the way.'

Ellie looked at Angelica apprehensively, who nodded at her. 'Go along, I can find my way back.'

Ellie smiled and got onto the horse behind Tommy. 'Take care, Tommy,' Angelica wished, and went along her way. Tommy nodded and sent the horse trotting again. Ellie looked at the woman on the horse beside hers, a curiosity building up in her. She still looked delirious, her eyes groggy, her head resting against the torso of her rider. The bandages around her head and fingers had patches of soaked blood, and her neck was slick with sweat.

'Is she alright?' Ellie asked Tommy in a hushed voice.

'She'll be fine, Ellie,' Tommy said, looking halfway back. 'Just a few wounds that will heal with time.' They passed through the residential area, where houses lay on either sides of the road, small and big, all with sloping wooden and tile roofs. Ellie saw a few kids playing in front of the orphanage, a few teenagers sitting on a bench user a lamp, an old couple walking on the footpath. Some of them smiled at Tommy, and stared at her curiously.

'You did a fine job today, honey,' she heard Tommy say. 'The poor girl would've been dead by now, if it weren't for you. I know Joel would've left her if you hadn't helped.'

'Surprise, surprise,' Ellie rolled her eyes.

'Where are you keeping her?'

'That's the thing here,' Tommy shook his head. 'We could leave her at the tents, but last month a runner found its way in there, being on the edge of town and all. The empty houses and apartments were voted to be left for bigger families that could move in. For today I'm leavin' her with George here,' he motioned towards the woman's rider.

'Doesn't he have like five kids?' she whispered, and Tommy shrugged.

Ellie looked at the woman's limp body, the scars on her collar bones and her dry lips. She knew Joel would be mad at her for this, but she went ahead with it anyway.

'Joel and I could keep her,' she suggested. 'Until you find her a place, that is.

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'Jesus,' Joel grumbled under his breath as he saw Tommy carrying the woman towards the house, Ellie walking along behind him.

'What's this s'posed to mean?' He said louder as they walked past him, entering the hall. 'I thought this house was just for me and Ellie, Tommy.'

'Ellie here,' Tommy grunted, placing the woman gently down on the couch, 'still has some hope in this world, brother, unlike you. She's keepin' this lady in here, takin' care of her until we find a home.'

Joel looked at Ellie, slightly confused and bewildered. 'You didn't run it by me before?' he asked, and Ellie rolled his eyes at him.

'Whoa now,' Tommy raised his hands halfway. 'She owns this house just like you do. In fact, I think I'm gonna put it in her name instead o' yours. You'd like that, wouldn't you?' He grinned at Ellie, fist-bumping her.

Joel shook his head at both of them, containing his irritation. He gestured Tommy into the kitchen, and gently closed the door halfway behind him.

'Joel, we've cross checked that girl a hundred times. Trust me, she's just a survivor,' Tommy explained. 'You ain't got nothin' to worry about.'

'How do you know?' Joel asked, looking at him.

'The north patrol found a dead body of a man near the highway today, after you returned,' he explained. 'T'was the same guy in the picture the girl was carryin' around. Her story checks out. Look, all she is, is a fortunate girl that escaped the bandits and found her way to the town. We find survivors like her often. Trust me.'

Joel looked at Tommy's earnest eyes. He'd known since their childhood, that Tommy was the better of them both. Joel had had a nasty habit of getting into fights with other kids at middle school, breaking jaws and bones, while Tommy was always the empathetic one, intervening and stopping him from doing further damage. While Joel was frequently out cutting wood and doing other odd jobs to support them both and Sarah, Tommy had continued his schooling, as was expected of him. He was the golden boy, the one with the heart. Even all those years they had spent as hunters, Tommy would always let the travellers go, sometimes offer them some food or supplies, while Joel did his part and left them to their fate.

Now he looked at his little brother's honest face, his genuine eyes. There were only two people in this entire world he would ever trust his life with. Ellie, and Tommy.

He sighed, giving an exhausted nod. 'Alright,' he replied, and Tommy patted him on the back, grinning.

He returned to the hall, and saw Ellie sitting by the woman, who was now looking at her weakly.

Tommy left, and Joel joined Ellie, sitting opposite to them on the edge of the broken coffee table.

The woman slowly turned towards Joel, her deep blue eyes boring into his. She looked defeated, weak, and yet her eyes had an ember in them.

'Her name is Vera,' Ellie said. 'This is Joel,' she smiled at the woman. Joel nodded at her, and Vera simply blinked.

'You need to get some rest,' Joel said.

Ellie gestured with her eyes to Vera's legs, and Joel saw that the left foot was bandaged. He sighed, got up and gently lifted her, one hand under her knees and the other carrying her back. He carried her to the spare bedroom upstairs, and Ellie followed. When he laid her down on the bed, she looked at Ellie and him, and faintly mouthed, 'Thank you.'

Her lower eyelids welled up.