"Please, please work." Jay mumbled to himself as he grasped the rusted metal facet again and pulled. He held his breath and willed water to rush forth, he closed his eyes and willed it with all his might. Jay sighed when only a single drop fell pathetically down the drain. He took his wrench and leaned down again.

"Jay?"

He flinched and bumped his head hard against the pipe before crawling back out from under the sink and looking up. His father stood above him, all large muscles and thin lines across his face.

Jay rubbed his head and squinted at his father. "Yes?"

"There's a girl here." His father told him.

Jay frowned from his spot on the floor. "Why?" He immediately regretted asking, as he knew his father didn't like to be asked questions.

His father glared down at him through half lidded eyes and grunted, "I don't know. Go ask her." With that he turned and was gone.

Jay sat up and self-consciously rubbed at the smear of oil on his cheek. He passed Riley in the kitchen and stuck his hand in his wild hair and ruffled it. Riley mumbled in protest and swatted him away. He was engrossed in a Grognak magazine and did not wish to be bothered.

When Jay stopped in the doorframe he saw the girl standing outside waiting for him. She stood in the sun examining the pipes near the house. She was tall, a bit taller than Jay and she had long spindly limbs that drifted smoothly when she moved. Her hair was wavy and short; it framed her angular face and looked like it had been cut in an anxiety ridden fit. It was Connie, one of the children who went to the nearby school. She reached out and trailed her hand across one of the pipes and followed it until it burrowed underneath the ground.

"Hi…" Jay said quietly, unsure of how else to start the conversation and ask her why she was here, as he didn't want to sound threatening.

Connie jumped and drew her hand away from the pipe guiltily.

"Sorry." She began with a nervous laugh, her laughter came out quick and abrupt, and it was easy to tell when it wasn't genuine. She cringed a bit as if she too could hear how disingenuous her belt of laughter sounded. "I was just wondering where it goes."

Jay wondered if that was why she was here, and feared whether or not he would have to go into a full explanation when he wasn't entirely sure himself.

"It's… for the water. For the house." He stated lamely.

"We use it for showers so we can get the sand off us." Came a voice behind him and Jay turned around to look at his brother, despite the fact that he already knew it was Riley.

Connie grinned at Riley, he was sitting on the railing of the porch even know Jay had told him not to. The last thing he wanted was for the wood to collapse under him.

"I wish we had that. We just have the well." She turned back to Jay and studied him and Jay felt the urge to shyly wipe the dirt from his face again.

"Did you need something?" He asked and looked back at Riley who was now tracing lines in the sun-bleached sand.

Connie raised a hand to shield her eyes from the beating sun, "Yeah, Farmer Carver asked me to come get you, he needs you to help find some tool."

Jay sighed; Carver was always losing his equipment.

"Alright. I'll be right back, Riley." Jay said and walked back inside to put down the wrench that he had forgotten he was holding.

"But I want to come with you!" Riley exclaimed, quickly abandoning the drawings he had made in the sand.

Jay thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay, but if it takes too long I want you to head back. I don't want you out after dark."

Connie stood at the end of the walkway waiting for them as the soft summer wind blew her skirt around her knees. She smiled with the glee of an adventurer yearning for her next task.

"You don't have to come with us if you have other things to do." Jay told her and Connie shook her head hurriedly.

"I'd like to help, if it's all the same to you." She answered. She crossed her arms behind her and rolled back and forth on the heels of her feet. Jay had never seen someone so excited to do what boiled down to another chore.

As a gust of wind flew by, Connie motioned to the boys to come closer. She leaned in conspiratorially and Riley quickly followed suit with wide eyes. Jay leaned back with a puzzled expression. "Just between us, farmer Carver says you stole it, but it probably just got buried under sand again."

Riley grinned and looked up at Jay, "You stole it?"

"No." Jay answered with a sigh and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles.

Connie giggled and the three turned and began to walk down to the farm. Jay looked over at Connie and tried to think of something to say. She was friendly and always smiling, but in less of a neighborly, joyful manner and more in a quick nervous haste as if she felt the world may collapse if she didn't keep smiling. He never knew what to say to someone who moved so fast and silence quickly filled the space between them.

"Are you working at the farm now too?" Riley asked Connie as they turned at the run down general store and passed a few houses. Large chunks of drywall were missing from their sides and each house had the scowling face of a wastelander peering out the window suspiciously.

Connie shook her head; "No, I was up by the schoolhouse so he sent me to fetch Jay."

At the mention of school she cast a sidelong glance at Jay but he avoided her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No it's fine." Jay responded almost too quickly. He nudged Riley with a gentle expression, "Not everyone works on the farm, buddy."

Carver was already waiting for them by the time they trudged up the sandy walkway. Frown lines had dug themselves deeper into his face than the slopes between the mountains nearby.

"I didn't say you had to come too." He commented gruffly with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Jay immediately thought he was referring to Riley but Connie blushed, "Sorry," she said quietly, sounding offended.

Farmer Carver raised an eyebrow but said nothing in return. The cigarette that hung from his mouth twitched. Riley had moved to the fence and was petting a Brahmin that had leaned one of its large heads through the space between the wood planks.

The Brahmins left head titled to the side as it leaned further into Riley. It grunted happily as his small hand rubbed against the side of its large weathered head, and its right head looked up toward the bright sky. Riley giggled and leaned further into the fence, his toes lifted him as high as he could go and his arm stretched out to reach the animal.

"You can pet them all day once we find it." Carver remarked. He began walking toward his tool shed and jerked his head forward, motioning to the children to follow suit. Riley jumped down and grabbed onto Jay, who was already waiting for him with his hand outstretched.

"Which tool is missing?" Jay asked and Connie giggled. She pursed her lips and raised her blonde eyebrows.

"Stolen!" She mouthed silently and skipped ahead of them. Her skirt twirled around her knees in jerky motions with each fold of yellowed cloth. Riley broke from Jay's hand and ran behind her, giggling along with her and matching her childish glee as the hot air whipped across his face.

"My pruning knife." He answered, his voice gruff. Jay watched Connie and Riley as they chased each other through the nearby cornfield.

Carver kicked the door of the shed open and it squeaked as it swung wildly back on its old rusted hinges. Thousands of dust particles were exposed in the light as they drifted to the ground. An array of old pre-war tools sat in wait inside the shed and Jay squatted down beside them.

"Maybe it was left outside? We'll have to dig for it if it was." Jay offered as he sifted through the unorganized tools. He frowned, there were more tools missing than just the pruning knife, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Just look kid, I didn't leave it outside." Farmer Carver responded. He tossed a rake to the side and scanned the area beneath it.

Jay reached for a heavier tool to search beneath it and Carver reached out a grabbed it. "Careful." He muttered and moved it aside.

The shed door swung open again and Connie burst in with a gust of warm air around her. Her face was pale and she held Riley's hand tightly in her own. "Well?" She asked, "Could you find it?"

"No." Jay answered and he tried not to look at Farmer Carvers accusing glare. The man crossed his arms and surveyed and shed with a huff.

All three children shifted under the farmers gaze in an uncomfortable silence until Connie broke it.

"It's getting dark," She began hesitantly, "We should all get home and come back for it tomorrow." She let go of Riley and they each shuffled out one by one. Jay braced himself to be called back, but he slipped out the rotted door successfully. He let the air he'd been holding slip back out of his tired lungs.

They crossed the large cornfield in silence, but they hadn't walked far before Connie began sending uneasy glances in Jay's direction and Riley started to fidget uncomfortably. When they had almost left the field Riley trudged to the side to walk beside Connie. He whispered something to her and she shook her head at him, casting another pensive gaze at Jay.

He frowned and stared at Jay, Connie shook her head again and Jay stared back at his brother. "What?"

Riley stopped short and balled up his fists, his face began to turn a brilliant shade of pink and his features turned to the expression he always wore before throwing a fit.

"Riley, please." Connie said quietly, she began to wring her hands together and she cringed when he stomped his small foot onto the sand beneath him.

"For Pete's sake, what is it?" Jay asked again, he took a step toward Riley but he stomped his foot deep into the sand again, as if he were trying to meld himself into the Mojave.

Connie moved beside Riley and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to shush his impending words though it was clearly in vain. Riley squeezed his eyes shut tight before releasing an angry shout up into the clouds.

"I wanna tell him!" Riley cried and Connie raked a nervous hand across the back of her neck. If she had the ability to fold in on herself she certainly would have.

"Tell me what? What's wrong?" Jay pushed, he glanced around nervously, none of them should be yelling this far from town.

"I found it!" Riley blurted out. "I saw the knife down in the fields!"

"You saw the tool?" Jay repeated, and he stared at Connie who avoided his gaze. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We don't know what we saw." Connie butted in, "It was just a shimmer in the light. It could have been anything." She wrapped her arms around herself and looked at her shoes.

"She wouldn't let me get to it," Riley continued, his eyes were wide with wonder like he was telling a story he had written himself. "But I know it was the knife! I know it and I found it!"

"The longer it takes me to find it the angrier Farmer Carver's going to be…" Jay began, he searched Connie's face and after a moment her eyes met his. They were grey and light and fuzzy like always but even more than that they were pleading.

"It could have been anything…" She repeated. "Let's just go home."

"I know I saw it!" Riley interjected with a frown.

Jay sighed and rubbed his face; he felt dirt and grime shift on his skin. The sun hadn't fully set yet, they would have time to go back and he felt a pit form in his stomach at the thought of going to work tomorrow with nothing.

"We'll have to go back then." Jay muttered and he stood back up. He ran a hand through Riley's nest of hair. His hair needed to be cut again soon and Jay made a mental note.

Riley beamed at him and grabbed his hand, "Let's go! I know where it was!"

Connie stepped forward desperately and grabbed Jays other hand. "Jay, wait…"

"It'll just be a minute." Jay told her and he began to pull away before he felt the warmth of her soft hand in his again. There was graveness in her eyes that snuffed out the excitement they'd held earlier, and Jay found himself wanting to see it again. "You can come with us if you want." He offered before he allowed Riley to pull him away into the stalks and they shut like curtains before her frightened expression.

"Come on!" Riley hollered, pulling Jay behind him as fast as he could carry himself.

Connie rushed behind them, wincing as long stalks of corn sling shot themselves back and whacked her freckled face. She fought the spindly limbs away and raced after them.

"Jay!" She called out through the plants.

The sun had dipped down further behind the horizon and the whole world was beginning to turn deep blue, like they were suspended beneath rolling waves of water.

Jay looked back in the direction of her voice and saw nothing but tall shapes of browns and yellows before him, no grey eyes. He held on to Riley and allowed himself to be pulled one-way and then another, deeper into the abyss of overgrown vegetation.

"Please, wait!" Connie called out again, the plants grasped at the hem of her dress and dug its fibers into her wavy hair, but she shook herself free and continued to run after them.

Riley slowed and stopped when they reached a brief clearing, he grinned up at Jay and surveyed the area around them before jumping into the air. "There!" He cried and pointed to a small slope in the ground.

Jay walked forward and bent down on his knees, he leaned over the curve in the sand and reached down. A soft shimmer caught his eye in the growing moonlight and he stretched his hand down to grasp the figure. His hand hit something wet, sticky, and slightly warm. It coated his fingers and sent a cold shiver through his spinal cord like an electric shock. Jay wiggled his fingers, pulling down further, trying to grasp the shimmer he had seen. The warm wet feeling continued, and he pulled his hand back.

He held the missing tool in his hand, but both his hand and the tool were painted a deep crimson red that dripped down from his skin and onto the earth beneath him. Jay stared in horror at the blood that covered him and he heard Riley shriek from somewhere far away.

Connie burst into the clearing with a terrified expression, "Oh, god." She stammered out before turning away abruptly and vomiting on the ground beneath her.

Jay gazed around him in confusion, only breaking from his daze when Riley stepped forward. "Stay back Riley!" He shouted and Riley stilled.

Jay shuddered with fear and tried to soften, he didn't mean to shout. "Please…" He added gently and tried to offer a reassuring smile that he was certain came off as a pained grimace.

Connie held a hand over her mouth and held Riley to her side with her other arm. They stood swaying in the cold night breeze, waiting for the next moment to come and tell them what to do.

Jay braced himself and looked back to the scene before him. The limp body of a man lay there in the divot in the earth, decayed and mangled. His eyes were wide and glassy as they stared right back at Jay. His mouth lay open, capturing the ever-present picture of a scream. There was a harsh cut down his stomach that had almost split him in two. The contents of his stomach lay spilled across the field, red blood coating every inch of the area it inhabited. There was a spot where the knife had lain there on the ground beside him, glinting in the moonlight like a beacon. Jay leaned down further and focused his eyes, and through the growing darkness he saw a deep red pattern drawn beside the man. It stretched out over the body and out into the sand. It looked like some kind of great horned animal, but Jay didn't know for sure what it was meant to be.

Jay dropped the knife and backed away from the scene, staring down at his hand and completely unsure what to do.

He stood in front of Connie, she held Riley close to her, his face tucked against her side so he could not see what lay before them. Tears began to flow down her face and she whimpered. She sobbed and Jay quickly grabbed her free hand with his clean hand and pulled them all out of the field.

Jay led the pair mindlessly to his house where he left Connie and Riley holding onto each other outside. He stumbled into the house and stopped short, he wished the harsh pounding in his chest would stop. "Dad?" He called desperately. He was met with no response. Jay rushed out the wooden back door to the farmland outside and called for his father again. His frightened voice echoed through the canyons and quieted. Jay spotted his father sitting on a barrel at the end of the field and he ran to him.

"Dad!" He called, he couldn't remember the last time he called out for his father so directly, but his fear had overpowered whatever had held him back before.

His father didn't turn around, even when Jay reached him and stood beside him. He looked out at the winding roads near the city with an angry, cold stare. He clutched a shotgun in one hand with a tight, white knuckled grip. Jay could never read his father, but his stare upon the roads looked accusing.

"Dad?" Jay asked, speaking a bit quieter this time as his heart still beat against his eardrums.

"Go away." His father hissed. "Don't bother me, I'm busy."

"But-!" Jay cried and his father finally faced him. His light eyes were red and each vein bulged uncomfortably. The veins in his forehead looked like they were about to burst from his skin.

"I said-"

"Wait, please! There's a man! There's a man in the field by Farmer Carver!" Jay stammered and he took a nervous step back. He felt a rock forming in his throat, his father didn't like to be bothered and he knew it.

"The hell do you mean?" His father demanded, he abandoned his seat and towered over his son.

"We found- we found his body. He's… he's dead." Jay murmured, he felt his knees weakening and he tried not to let any tears escape his eyes.

"You found a dead man in the field?"

Jay nodded meekly. "There was some kind of drawing over him."

"What drawing?" His father questioned. Jay hesitated and he shoved Jay a bit. "Tell me!"

"It was- I think it was an animal." Jay offered quietly, he didn't know how else to describe it.

"What kind of animal?" He asked and shoved him again.

"I don't know." Jay answered, a tear fell from his eye and he wiped at it angrily.

His father grabbed the shotgun and stormed off as if he had been waiting for this moment his whole life. Jay stood and looked out on the horizon his father had been staring at. He wrapped his arms around himself and stood still, staring for a moment, and then another, before he tore himself away.

"What happened?" Connie asked him when he rounded the corner and stood beside them again. Riley still clutched her hand tightly in his own.

Jay gave no response as he leaned down and held Riley for a long moment, before nudging him inside, telling him that he would be there in a moment. Riley trudged up the stairs and entered their house and Jay turned back to Connie. He was still holding his bloody hand awkwardly away from him so that it hovered in the air.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jay asked quietly, his insides churned within him.

"I saw…" She sobbed and dragged the back of her hand across her mouth. Her chest heaved as she took in a shaky breath. "I saw all the blood, so much blood. I didn't want either of you to have to see it. It scared me so bad and I just wanted it to go away, so I ran." Another cry wracked through Connie, and she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "I didn't see the body, I just saw the blood." She looked away from Jays face.

"I've seen the farmers slaughter Brahmin, I thought maybe that was all it was. I wanted it to be all it was. I thought if I didn't look closely it would go away."

Jay said nothing, he wanted to console her but he didn't know how.

Connie shuddered. "I didn't want Riley to see the blood."

She placed a shaky hand at her throat and fiddled nervously with the bone that stuck out there. "I didn't know what to do." She said quietly.

"I didn't either." Jay offered gently.

Connie looked up at him sadly. She studied him for a long time before they both looked down at their feet.

"I should go home now." She told him. Jay watched as she walked slowly to one of the old homes and disappeared behind the door. He then slipped back into his own house, where everything was silent and empty.

Jay went to the sink and scrubbed the blood from his hand. He leaned forward against the counter and watched blankly as the water turned red before disappearing down the drain.

Riley was already laying on the array of blankets when Jay entered the room they shared, and he watched Jay as he slipped out of his boots and settled on the floor behind him.

Jay gathered Riley in his arms and held him close, and they lay in the dark and listened to the hum of each other's breathing.

Riley reached out and grasped Jay's hand. Both felt as if they had been turned upside down and shaken violently, and they waited desperately for all their pieces to settle back into place.

"Riley?" Jay asked hesitantly. He knew he needed to say something, to explain to Riley what happened. He needed to make sense of it and try to help Riley understand, but it was hard to do when he didn't fully understand himself.

"Yeah?" Riley urged, he kept his back to Jay and remained still. He fiddled with a stray thread that stuck out of the blanket in several places.

"I'm… I'm sorry you saw what you did. I know it was scary. But it's going to be okay, we're all okay."

Riley wrapped his fingers around the stray thread and pulled hard. He was silent for a long moment before he spoke again. "You had a new face today." He commented quietly.

Jay was taken aback, "What?"

There was a rustle from outside and they both quieted instinctively before Riley continued.

"Your face, you looked so scared in the field. You usually look grown up but when you saw that man you looked like me. I've never seen your face look like that."

"…I was scared." Jay finally said after a while. "It's okay to be scared."

"I didn't know you got scared too. It scared me to see your face like that."

Long after Riley had drifted off to sleep Jay lay awake, Riley's words bouncing haphazardly off the walls of his mind.