Page 15 of Before Their After

“You’re clean,” I observed, taking note of the lack of overall grime over her body. Even underneath her fingernails was absent the usual caked clump of both earth and flesh.

“So observant.”

Smoke and ash filled the air around me, yet the truth was evident. “No smell.” My eyes narrowed. “You don’t stink.”

“How kind,” she surmised, hand falling to her chest in feigned flattery.

“What do you want?”

There was no denying the woman before me was a force of nature. While she appeared a few years younger than me, a pinch in my gut set off the warning bells in my mind. The way she stood there—a mixture of defiance and vulnerability in her stance—I found myself intrigued. Still, I wouldn’t ignore my gut. Not again.

The tension between us hung sharply in the air. I edged to the side, sizing her up. Shifting my weight, I glanced around the cavern walls. In this confined space, every move mattered and an advantage could be the difference between life or death. Her gaze was unwavering as she met my eyes. Everything about her seemed calculated.

“For you to come back with me to Monterey.” The woman’s round lips curled into a smirk, a hint of the wild in her wide eyes.

Frustration flickered through me. The emotion was so fleeting, it caught me off guard. There was something innately trustworthy about the woman standing before me, yet her choice to lie made it wane. “Monterey burned to the ground.”

“Odd thing to tell someone who literally passed through its very gates this morning. You know something I don’t?”

I struggled to maintain a facade of disinterest, but could sense my uncertainty lingering beneath the surface. We stood there, locked in wordless curiosity. She closed some of the gap between us with a few purposeful steps. Her head tilted, a curl popping free in her bun. I looked down at her, though the command in her presence made it feel as if we met eye to eye.

“How long have you been on your own?”

“I’m not alone,” I lied.

She scanned the cave in a dramatic display before smirking. “Oh, come on, don’t lie to me. Not a great way to establish trust.”

“Ninety-two days.”

While my focus remained locked on the micro-change in her body language, the quickness of my response shocked even myself. Maybe it was loneliness. Maybe it was because I was so damn tired. But I wanted to tell her my story against my better judgment.

Don’t. Remember what happened. You’ll fail her too.

“That’s very precise. You count the days like that often?”

The fire crackled in the empty air. Embers floated around the cave as the flames dimmed. She took a deep breath, tapping her fingers against her pants in contemplation. Looking toward the gray smoke trickling out of the cave, the fire erupted back to its original state. A firecaster then.

“Well, that explains a lot,” she continued when I offered no response. “You’re misinformed. Sad reality of leaving behind a group.”

“I don’t leave people behind,” I hissed, angered by the insinuation.

I would never leave someone behind. That wasn’t an option for me. Once a team, always a team. No matter what, no matter the costs.

I would not fail.

She took two steps forward, closing what remained of the gap while carefully avoiding the critters on the group. Placing a hand on my shoulder, she swallowed a gag as the ants at my feet crawled up my leg toward my arm. “Didn’t peg you for the kind of guy that did. Just making sure.”

Backing away, she kept her steps even paced. Her foot backed into the bag she’d dropped at the entrance. Slowly, she pulled it up and opened it. Wide brown eyes held steady on mine as she pulled out a canteen and a pack of nuts. A piece of jerky wrapped in cloth landed on top, causing my mouth to water. It’d been a long time since I’d had any meat that didn’t come from the sea.

“Sorry, it sucks. We’re just now getting into the whole quality food stuff.” Her eyes flickered as she gauged my reaction. “Name’s Amaia. I’m from a group over in Monterey. We’re putting up walls, rebuilding. Ya know, trying out the whole civilization idea again if you’re into that kind of thing.”

“You’re inviting a stranger to come stay in your home?”

It didn’t make any sense. So far, all the groups I’d come across had been nothing but trouble. My sister was right, staying to ourselves had been the best course of action. If only I had followed the path. There weren’t many good people left in this world. Weren’t many good people to begin with.

“Well, it’s a community, not a house, and you’re not a stranger if I’ve spent the last day watching you. I know enough.” Mischief sang in her tone as she spoke of her antics, leaning her body against the wall of the cave. “Followed you back from the Pacific. It’s not that you’re bad at covering your trail. Actually got me lost a few times before I picked it up again. You just aren’t good enough to keep away someone looking for a guy likeyou.”

Who was protecting this woman? Who had her back?The work she was doing was dangerous. Not because she was a woman, but because she was alone. Amaia’s mindset was risky.Taking in strangers, accepting the unknown would end up with her hurt or worse. Flashes of London’s last moments sauntered around my mind, teasing me with pangs of guilt. If no one had Amaia’s back, then I would. Someone had to look out for her.

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