August feels like they're burning in an oven. Miles says that it must be the hottest August in the Northeast on record, but Bass thinks that it probably just seems that way because there's no air conditioning. It's been three and a half years since the power went out and they still can't get over how much they miss air conditioning.
Charlie will celebrate her ninth birthday this November, and Bass hates to admit that it kind of makes him feel old. It certainly doesn't help that he'll be turning thirty-four in December. But he tries to focus all of his positive energy on his eight year old companion. Despite her young age, Charlie often shows the wisdom of someone who has lived a lifetime. Bass takes joy in her small smiles but regrets the rarity of them. In a perfect world, Charlotte Matheson would be starting the third grade and dealing with the pains of having a little brother. But instead she gets Uncle Miles to teach her how to shoot a bow and arrow. Bass wishes he could say that he doesn't do the same sort of things with her, but Miles had caught him teaching Charlie how to put someone in a choke hold just last week.
It's the reality that they live in now. As a pretty, young girl - who will no doubt grow into a beautiful, young woman - Charlie is constantly at risk. Just a few weeks ago, one of their men's daughters had disappeared from their temporary camp in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. They'd spent days looking for the eleven year old with no luck, only to find her body in a river a week later.
Miles and Bass started teaching Charlie self defence that very next day.
She's good at it too. Somewhere in her head she sees problems in ways that they couldn't possibly imagine. She uses the space around her to her advantage and turns the most innocuous things into viable weapons. Bass still has a bruise on his shoulder from when she attacked him with a pillow case filled with old Legos. Miles attributes it to the fact that she's the offspring of two geniuses, but he's more inclined to think that she's simply gifted. She's still young though, so her hand to hand combat skills aren't much, but give the girl an arrow to shoot and you're shit out of luck. Bass is glad that she's with them, otherwise they'd all be in trouble.
The world around them is wrought with terror. Gangs and war clans practically run the east coast. The boys have had quite a few run-ins with them, though they've somehow managed to always come out the victors. The southern half of Pennsylvania that they've been traveling through is the only safe place that they know of. They stop in each town that they pass and spend a few weeks training the men that live there. When they leave, a few of their own guys stay behind to help run things and a few of the townspeople join them on the road. Each town that they've left behind bears the circular 'M' that marks that it is protected by Matheson and Monroe. The war clans don't dare touch the protected towns after what happened to the first gang that tried it. Miles and Bass both still have nightmares about it sometimes.
Protecting the innocent has its own terrible price.
Charlie is all too familiar with the demons that plague her uncle and best friend. Bass frequently wakes up from a nightmare shaking and sweaty with her hovering over him and petting his hair.
"It's OK, Bass. The bad guys can't get you here," she whispers. And he's glad that it's dark because the tears of relief that slip from the corners of his eyes are a weakness she doesn't need to see.
Charlie has taken on the role of mother hen to he, Miles, and Jeremy. The three boys may run this little side show that they call a militia, but everyone knows that Matheson's cute, little niece is really the one in charge. She has a habit of displaying her power over them at the most inconvenient times.
Like when they're in the middle of training a fresh batch of recruits.
"Uncle Miles," she sing songs as she crosses the field, weaving her way through the lines of men doing sit-ups. Some of them turn to stare at her while others chuckle as they continue to work.
Miles focuses his irritation at her interruption on the recruits. "Don't look at her. Keep going, you've still got fifty more to do!"
Completely unconcerned with the boys playing soldier, Charlie skips over to Bass and her uncle with a smile. "Guess what I found?"
"Charlie, we're in the middle of training, this isn't play time." Miles scolds.
But she merely rolls her eyes at him and continues on as if he hadn't said a thing. "There's a big lake not far from here and the water's super cold," she tells them excitedly. "Now we can go swimming!"
A few of the recruits nearby hear what she has to say and nod approvingly, but Bass shuts them down. "Nobody's going anywhere, get back to work." They grumble under their breath but continue on with their exercises.
Charlie looks out over the thirty or so young men who are currently sweating in the August heat. "But it's hot outside, can't you guys take a break?" She turns to give Miles her best puppy dog eyes. "Will you take me swimming Uncle Miles, please?"
He looks away from her and Bass knows that it's because resisting those big, blue eyes is nearly impossible. "Not right now, Bug. We have work to do, maybe later."
Her shoulders slump and she turns to Bass. "Will you take me?" And she gives him one of those big, toothy smiles that could make anyone's heart melt. Bass sighs and looks away, too.
"I'm sorry, Charlie." Her brilliant smile wilts and she turns to walk away, breaking his heart. "But I'll take you later, OK? I promise," he calls after her.
She turns back and gives him a half-hearted smile. "OK."
Both Miles and Bass turn back to the training field and the boys who just watched the entire exchange between them and the little girl. Bass pushes away the nagging little guilt in his chest and shouts, "What are you looking at? I want to see a hundred push-ups, now!"
The recruits quickly get to work and he and Miles move to walk amongst them. On his second trip around them, he spots Charlie sitting beneath a tree not far away. She's got her knees drawn up close to her chest and her chin is resting on them as she watches on with a gloomy expression. Bass looks over at Miles to see if he's noticed their tiny, blonde charge and judging by the way that his brother is determinedly facing the opposite direction says that he has. He makes his way over to him slowly.
"You see her?" Bass asks quietly, jerking his head in Charlie's direction.
Miles rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I see her, you dick."
They move outside of the formation of young men and stand off to the side. "She looks so... sad," Bass says.
"I know that," Miles snaps. And Bass can see his brown eyes flitting in the little girls direction.
"You're gonna take her now, aren't you?" Bass asks with a grin.
Grumbling in defeat, Miles storms through the mass of new recruits and yells, "that's enough for today! Everybody go home."
Bass follows him over to where Charlie's loitering and watches with amusement as Miles tries to act annoyed and fails epically. "Alright, come on, let's go swimming."
She jumps to her feet excitedly and grabs one of their hands in each of hers. "Yay, yay, yay! This is gonna be so much fun!" They let her drag them away from the training field and through their temporary camp, ignoring the badly concealed laughter of their followers as they go.