Chapter 11

"You should give Chet a raise…or however you guys praise each other around here. He was very helpful today and taught me quite a bit. And I'm not tattling on him, I just figured you'd want to know where they were at."

"Mmmhmm…"

He dropped down behind his desk, eyeing the tray. Taker really hoped Stephanie took a damn breather. The woman had been kept on light detail during her first 12 weeks, due to the chance of miscarriage, now she was busting her backside like she had to play catch up or something.

"Sit down, Abigail." He gestured to the chair opposite him, watching as she studied the dagger, noting the thoughtful expression on her face. "What is it?"

"I really should get BACK…" With a wave of his hand, he planted her in the chair and Abigail felt as if she couldn't move for a few seconds, blinking. Her voice had risen against her will because of the shock of magic being used on her with that last word. "What the hell was that?!" She exclaimed once she could move her limbs again and saw the devious smirk on Undertaker's face, her own turning crimson. "Right, the magic thing. Stephanie and the girls told me about it, somewhat." That was extremely powerful; it felt like she'd been immobilized without the pain. "I've never seen a dagger like that before and was curious what it's made out of. The material is bluish-black, it's…interesting and beautiful." The moment she had touched the dagger, Abigail had felt a surge of energy course through her.

He wouldn't be doing that again, though usually a show of magical force once was enough. It drained the hell out of him. When in Wonderful, Taker was consciously exerting energy on his appearance, as well as maintaining the protective boundaries. Expending extra just to put her backside in a chair… he was sometimes a dip.

"A metal that is specially forged." He answered simply, flashing her a smile and then handed over a bowl of what looked like… soup. "Eat. Tell me what you learned today."

He wanted her to eat with him? Did he do this with all of the newcomers? Something told Abigail no. So, what made her the exception? The soup did smell delicious and her stomach rumbled, not eating since…this morning, actually. There was no time to stop and eat when they were outside of the gates in potentially mortal danger.

"Well, the cans for one. If they're bulged out or rusted, don't touch them. Diapers need to be ripped open, the packaging, because you fit more in a bag than if they are packaged. Medicine, although outdated, can still be used, though the doses need to be calculated beforehand." Amy had told her that one while they put the medicine in the backpacks and knapsacks. "Chet told me to grab teething rings and toys for the babies because it helps them not be cranky. Good call, by the way, on that one. Oh, this is something Chet didn't know, I don't think anyway. I told him about how you can use cornstarch for diaper rash. It works a lot better, generally than baby powder, so I grabbed all the boxes of that for the babies. Umm…" While she spoke, she took a couple of sips of soup and paused in between telling him all that she'd learned. "Oh, I also learned that if you roll clothing, including blankets, it saves room and you can fit more into a bag." That was a trick from Amy. She learned a lot from the redhead, but Chet was a major help too. "I think that's it…" Without realizing it, she finished half the soup and felt marginally better.

"Cornstarch, huh? Would it help with general rashes? Like heat?" When she nodded, he did too, taking a bite of the potato Stephanie had sent up, with plenty of pepper and not much else, which was the way he liked it. "Good. In the summer, it's blazing hot…" Summer was nice though, it meant they could run less electric. They had been toying with solar energy, something that had been making a big splash before the war, something renewable. "You book smart, Abigail?"

"Yeah, I love to read. I'm a book nerd. Before I left home, I had a whole bookshelf full of them and my Mom said I was crazy." Abigail chuckled, the lie flying out of her mouth, though it was only partial. Bray had been the one to call her crazy with all the books she read instead of her Mom, who she didn't know. "Any type of rash you have, cornstarch is the answer, but you'll have to try it out and see for yourself. It's not for everyone." Her eyes lit up at the possibility that just struck her. "Undertaker, is there a…library or some kind in Wonderful? Or maybe a bookshop?"

"Don't I wish…" He sighed wistfully, propping his elbow on the desk, chin in palm, looking reflective. "Before this war started, this DOV, when I was a boy, I lived a few blocks from a city library and it was huge." His eyes softened for a moment. "So many books…" But… that was the past and he cleared his throat, returning to his meal. "What books we did have… sadly, have been used in the absence of toilet paper, or for rolling cigarettes for those that smoke, as firestarter… you get the picture." He caught the disappointed look on her face and felt a bit… saddened too.

"I'm sorry…" Abigail whispered, not meaning to bring up a sore subject and felt her heartbreak into pieces over the fact they had no books here.

The apology was on behalf of the DOV for being so heartless and forcing people to the extremes they'd gone. To actually destroy precious books with information that should've lasted centuries…it was all gone. She understood they had to be used for other things, like wiping people's backsides and a firestarter, but the fact of the matter was, books were precious. There was a whole slew of them at the DOV castle, and she vowed to get every single one of them once the DOV was taken down to bring back to Wonderful.

"I have a few books in my bag that I brought with me. I've read them countless times, but if you need them for…kindle and whatnot, I'll give them up." Hiding those from him was pointless.

Green eyes widened, and he lowered his fork, staring at her. "No. You keep them. As long as you make it clear they're yours, no one will touch them and besides," He hid a smirk, taking a drink of his water. "Plenty of leaves, Abigail, people will make do." He was curious about what sort of books she read; if they were novels or textbooks… she had been traveling fairly light, maybe paperback. Standing, he put their bowls back on the chair, gesturing her up. "Now, show me where these lollipops are… there's to be a bonfire tonight, celebrating our good fortune on the run. The kids expect a few presents…"

"A bonfire, really?" Abigail wondered if she would be able to finish her chores in time to attend and stood up from the chair, doing it slowly just in case his magic hadn't worn off yet. "You didn't have to give me your soup, you know…" He pressed a finger to her lips and she merely smiled at him, understanding what he'd done. If he was eating, he wouldn't do it in front of her without her having something as well. "Thanks for making me eat and…rest for a few. Come on, I'll show you where the lollipops are, so you can spoil the kiddies." She really wished she had a camera, this was too good to be true.

When Abigail returned, with the Undertaker in tow, Stephanie smiled at the sight of the giant. He was wearing her favorite 'appearance', the black beard, long black hair… it was gorgeous. If she wasn't happy with her Johnny… well no, actually, Taker hadn't had a woman in years, not that she was keeping track of who may have slipped into his bed a time or two because a man did have his needs. His last steady woman had been murdered and he had sworn off relationships then, which was understandable. Being in charge, opening up, and then losing someone, but still having to go on because of all that weight on his shoulders, would suck. They had already cleared the evening meal and the rest of the work, so she was happy. "Bradshaw, Ron, Johnny and the rest came in. Jeff's finishing up the dishes, and Matt's been helping Chris haul wood." She said by way of explanation when Abigail looked surprised. Everything was done. The floors were mopped, the dishes were finished and the place looked spic and span!

"I'm so sorry, Stephanie. I know I promised to come right back, but…" The last thing Abigail wanted to do was tattle on the Undertaker, of all people, and swallowed hard. "I – um – got held up…"

She glanced up at the boss and then went behind the bar, where she knew Amy kept the lollipops and grabbed the huge bag of them. There had to be at least a couple months' worth in that damn bag! It was somewhat heavy, but she managed to bring it over to him.

"As requested, Amy outdid herself." Then her eyes looked toward Stephanie, feeling terribly guilty for not helping out. "I will work twice as hard tomorrow, I promise."

Stephanie was staring at Abigail like she had lost her mind. "Honey, on nights like these, the boys usually come in and help out, so we can all go celebrate." She said gently, waving a dismissive hand. "Don't feel bad, I should have reminded you. Why don't you go freshen up? In a little bit, we'll have that bonfire and then Santa Claus over there will be handing out things that we brought back." Because it had to be rationed.

"Santa Claus…" Abigail snickered, covering her mouth with her hand when he shot her a glare and hightailed it out of the eating area to the ladder that lead to her bed.

"Hey, maybe he can use his powers to change into Jolly Ol' Saint Nick like he did last year. Do you remember that?"

"Oh my god, yes! The kids were ecstatic and had no idea!"

Stephanie beamed brightly, placing a hand on her protruding stomach. The leader, along with his men, had gone to a toy store that was 3 hours from Wonderful in a town called Selmi. They raided the toys, bringing them all back and one of the storage houses in Wonderful now had toys upon toys for the kids during the holidays.

"He's such a softie…"

Amy snorted with a snicker of her own. "What was your first clue? The lollipops, the toys, or letting them beat him up whenever the mothers are at their wits ends?"

"All of the above." The women laughed.

"Hell, he actually ATE with the new girl too. That NEVER happens."

"Yeah…that is fishy." Stephanie eyeballed Taker, folding her arms in front of her chest and watched him walk out, wondering what was going through his mind.

"Well, no, I guess not…" Amy shrugged, not really caring one way or another. "We don't get many women coming in… mostly men." They shared a meaningful look, both knowing why many women didn't make it. They were caught by the DOV for breeding purposes or killed if they were physically disabled, or old. "He does it with the men who come in; it's how he starts feeling them out. I guess it just seems weird because… she's a vagina."

"How'd she do today?"

"Not too bad actually."

Cleaning up consisted of changing her jeans into shorts because it was in the middle of summer, leaving her tank top on and washing her face. The women didn't wear makeup because it wasn't a necessity, so they're natural beauty was all the men received. Bray didn't allow her to wear makeup either, so Abigail was used to it. The celebration commenced with Abigail sitting near the back, watching the children dance around Undertaker, all of them squealing at the lollipops he had. The babies were content with their teething rings, the ones that were teething anyway, while some of the others had rattles and whatnot.

There was so much life here, so much happiness and peace. These people had suffered, but nothing compared to what they could've at the hands of the DOV. The men toasted each other with beer while holding onto their women. Most of them were taken, though Abigail noticed Taker wasn't one of them. Taker was really good with the kids, picking a couple of them up, girls, so they could kiss his cheek and thank him for the candy. Now she understood why he did it, why he wanted to make the children happy, and smiled. It felt foreign to smile as much as she had the past 2 days because there wasn't anything to smile about in the DOV.

It was darkness and Wonderful was light.

As far as they were concerned, they had plenty to be happy over. It was summer, it was warm, they had restocked some of the food stores, and Taker had announced that they would try returning within a day to fetch the stuff that wasn't necessarily an essential at the moment. Come winter, however, any additional clothing or blankets they could find would be wanted and needed. Hell, they ought to dig out one of the old trailers and try salvaging materials too, if only it wasn't so damn far away. His eyes moved to Abigail, taking note of the way she was just observing everything, some confusion, some joy on her face. What kind of life had she left behind?

It was a bittersweet feeling to be here in Wonderful because, as much joy and happiness flowed through this place, she wanted that for everyone. She wanted her people liberated, feeling a responsibility to them to free them from Bray's tyranny. Sighing, Abigail became lost in thought while staring into the fire, not realizing someone sat down beside her... until she felt a finger tap her shoulder.

"Santa Claus done with his duty for the night?" She joked with a smile, laughing as he rolled his eyes and shook a closed fist at her playfully. "Hey, you can thank Stephanie for that one. But I do have a question. Does Santa Claus receive gifts because…" Pulling something out of her back pocket, Abigail placed the small paperback book in his hand. "I know this story inside and out, so I don't need it anymore and I want you to have it. It's my way of saying thank you for letting me stay here. But you have to promise me you won't destroy it. This is one book you keep and read it when you want to since you like to read as much as me. Will you do that for me?"