Page 25 of All Your Days
“Fair ‘nough. I’ll get old Lucy ready and then I’ll make sure those boys don’t accidentally shoot ‘emselves in the foot in the meantime.”
I pat his shoulder in thanks and the man lumbers off to get himself sorted.
“You’ve been held up out here? More than once?” Eli’s voice is tight with restrained concern.
Heart in my throat, I turn to face him.
No one looks good after three days on the road. We’re tired, sunburnt and filthy, coated in a layer of sweat and red dirt our wash-downs at the basin aren’t sufficient in scouring away. I’m sure we stink as bad as the camels, but by this point, our noses have given up and quit.
But even disgusting, and grimey, and exhausted, Eli is still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in all my life.
I want to reach out and push the stray lock of hair that’s fallen over his brow back from his face, but it’s not my place.
“It’s part of the job. Nothin’s ever happened. Most’a the time, they don’t even have bullets in their guns.”
“Most of the time?” Eli’s voice isn’t concerned now. It’s high pitched and anxious. “They’veshot at you?”
I may have fucked up admitting that. But, I can’t deny it’s nice that he’s obviously concerned.
“Well, yeah. But I never actually got shot myself. Their guns are usually rubbish. It’s fine.”
One of the downsides of having kept mostly to myself is I’ve never developed the ability to reassure someone—something I didn’t know about myself until right this moment. Eli’s rising stress levels are visible. He gets closer and closer until I’m having to step backwards. He just keeps coming until I’m trapped between him and Sheba.
“How are you socasualabout this? What if youdied?”
Lines crease his forehead from the way he frowns up at me. His face is a burning red, and not just from the sun. He’s upset.Reallyupset. It shouldn’t feel good. But it does. Tentatively, I rest both my hands on his shoulders. Theoretically, to push him back, but I just squeeze them tight.
“I didn’t, though. I’m still here.” Brown eyes, fierce and angry andhurtbore up at me. His lips pucker tightly, like he’s holding back his argument, and I figure this is the perfect time forhissafety talk. “But the danger of the next stretch is real. I want you with me until we get to the outpost. And when we get there, you keep your mask on at all times, got me? My hat, too, if y’need it. But you don’t go fuckin’anywherewithout me, Lou, or one of the guards. You hear me?”
“You think it’s gonna be that dangerous?” His anger fades that quickly, replaced with even more worry.
About three years ago, Eli ran into a real spot of trouble at The Facility. He’s always been pestered by people wanting a piece of him, but that time a visiting unit of armymen took a real shine to him. I don’t know if he ever found out how serious their plans to kidnap him were.
I noticed them watching him as intently as I was. It made me suspicious, so I made sure to always be where they were, evenfinagling some changes in my roster to keep an extra eye on them. But it was Huey that overheard their plans to snatch him up before they left The Facility back for the small Union barracks on the western border.
It was pure luck I was coming back from Command just as Huey was heading there to make a report. I got to their little group just in time, kicking off a fight that would have usually seen me land in the cells on level eight for a short stint. It kept the armymen occupied until the rest of the guard could get there, and Huey testified about what he heard, and two of the six involved confessed in return for leniency from the Union.
I spent a week in the medical unit with a couple of broken ribs and a banged up face, but it didn’t matter to me, so long as Eli was safe.
And now I’m taking him to the kind of place where those sorts of men are as common as spiders in a scrap heap.
“It can be. The outpost is just a way-point. There’s a settlement buildin’ up around it, but you never know who’s travellin’ through. We just gotta keep our wits about us.”
Eli exhales slowly and nods, pulling himself back together.
“Can do. Let’s roll out, I guess.”
He’s brave. Braver in a way I’m not sure I could ever be. Eli straightens his shoulders and clips his emergency bag next to mine on Adeeko, who’s leading the train today. When I get his nod that he’s ready, I raise my fingers to my lips and let out a sharp whistle, and we’re off.
“Whoa. Would you look at that…” Eli breathes, grabbing my arm suddenly, pulling our train to a stop.
He’s pointing off to the distance where the sun is setting over the desert. We’re later than I wanted to be, having lost a decent chunk of the afternoon to a broken tire on the trailer. It took longer than usual to fix without my usual team here to give me a hand.
“It’sincredible.” He lets go of my arm, walking towards the beautiful view.
I can’t fault him—the day has been a relentless monotony of dry, cracked orange-red ground and rocks. There’s barely even been any scrub to break up the journey.
But this… I’ve never seen the land like this; we’re never here this late in the day.
