Роберт Уилсон - Days Since... - Jenny - Day 986

Matt and Danny’s footsteps sounded behind her, and quickly, she produced a halfhearted smile. The likelihood of them believing it genuine was doubtful, but they didn’t opine either way.

“Great shot, kid.” Danny patted her on the shoulder. “Now what do you do?”

Her head drew back in thought. “Well…” Jenny took a moment to further compose herself while she puzzled over the predicament. Circling round the doe, she bounced her attention from the body and the top of the hill. “I figured we’d just drag her back, right?”

“Go ahead,” Danny offered with an almost mocking grin across his face, making no indication that he planned to include himself in this “we” she had mentioned.

Now knowing she’d be alone in this effort, Jenny took to the deer’s hind quarters and steadied her boots in the snow. She pulled, only managing to drag it an inch or two before she slipped and fell to the ground. Damn! It was heavy, much more than she would have guessed. Again, she tried, and again she found herself on her ass—her pants covered in snow—her legs quickly catching cold. What the hell? Come on!

Only three more fruitless attempts before the last one left her sitting in the snow, exhausted.

Matt chuckled but offered her a hand up. “Come on—”

“She’s got it,” Danny interrupted. “Let you finish what you started, right Jenny?”

Jenny slapped Matt’s hand away and stood. She glared at Danny, determined to move the damn deer on her own, despite her failed attempts thus far. He can be such a…

With his arms crossed, Danny simply raised his eyebrows, waiting.

Give it all you got, damn it. Again, she took the deer within her grip. Move, okay? Just move this time. She surged up, straightening her legs, lifting the deer from the snow. Heat filled her face. Beet red. A groan escaped her gut, and she released the deer—its backside fell exactly where it was before. Her chest pumped with shallow breaths as she hunched over, resting her hands upon her knees, light-headed.

“You ready for some help now?” Danny asked.

“Just—just a sec,” Jenny managed between breaths. “Gimme a sec. I’m not—not feeling well, but I’ll get it up there.”

“Maybe it’s time to take a step back now that you’re—” Danny stopped himself.

Jenny knitted her eyebrows and looked to him, nervous. How could he know? Her gaze didn’t break from him.

“She’s what? What is—”

“Nothing,” Jenny puffed, eyes still on Danny.

“Seriously, what?” Matt’s attention switched back and forth between their faces. “Shouldn’t I know too?”

Danny’s expression went blank. He sat on the stump, taking himself from the awkward standstill, leaving Matt and Jenny to sort it out.

She scoffed. “It’s nothing, Matt, can you just help me with the deer?” Matt gave pause, glancing over to Danny. She rolled her eyes. You don’t need permission to help me.

Danny’s silence seemed answer enough, so Matt sidestepped the deer and took hold of its front legs.

“You going to tell me what’s going on?” Matt asked.

“There’s nothing going on.”

“Seems like there is…”

“Are you helping me or not?”

“I’m here aren’t I?”

Jenny bent down but was immediately flooded with another wave of dizziness. Her knees went to the snow. Her hands followed. “Hey!” Matt’s words were garbled as if he were speaking underwater. “Jenny!” She tried to find him, but her head felt heavy—the trees were fading—blackness closing in from around her.

“I…” Longer breaths, deeper. “I…”

Thud!

“Jenny…”

She blinked several times through the soft glow of a lantern—her mind a haze—her eyes catching nothing but black and gray around her. Where am I?

“Jenny, you okay?” A gentle hand came from the void and took hold of hers. She accepted it, not moving a muscle, not retreating from its warm touch. “You’ll be up in no time, girlie.” The man gave her hand a squeeze. “Toughest little thing around here. I guess I can get away with sayin’ it while you’re sleepin’.” He let out a familiar chuckle. Jenny lolled her head toward the lantern. Her eyes adjusted to the light, revealing the dark figure the hand belonged to. “Thought maybe I’d get away with the compliment, but of course that’s what wakes you up.”

“Grant…” She groaned as his familiar face came into focus at her bedside. Is this my tent? Not completely certain of her circumstances, she asked him, “Where… Where am I?”

He offered a weak smile. His hand still held hers, both resting on her stomach. “You’re safe. All you’re needin’ to do is lay there.”

“But…” Still weak, Jenny found forming her thoughts into words tedious. Instead, she heeded Grant’s advice and relaxed, allowing her stiff body to sink further into the deck lounger she lay upon. She slipped her hand from underneath Grant’s and ran a finger down the stitching of the cushion. A break in the seam. A rough spot. Yeah, this is definitely mine.

Grant sat hunched forward in a metal folding chair, watching over her. Both of them silent, listening to the rolling of zippers, small scrapes, indistinct bangs from the other tents propped nearby in the middle of the Home Depot—this small community of convenience. A pit stop. Somewhere to hold them over until they could find something better—all she’d ever be able to think of it. Convenience…

Here, in her assigned tent, it never felt like home. It felt empty, impersonal. Jenny relied on strangers’ homes to remember the past. Everything she had from before the virus, any personal item was locked away in River’s Edge. Someday… My pictures. My keepsakes will be mine again. I just hope they’ll still be there.

Longing for reassurance, she crept her hand back to Grant’s.

“Damn, you’re still freezin’ cold, girlie.” Grant shook his hand, exaggerating his surprise. From beneath the small, patio table beside Jenny’s lounger, he collected another blanket and floated it down across her. “This here’ll be better for you. Need layers to help keep you insulated from that air.”

Jenny nodded, prompting Grant to begin working along the cushion, tucking in the extra blanket. “No.” She took her hands from underneath. “Don’t.”

“Just tryin’ to help you get comfortable.”

“I know—” She coughed to clear her throat. “I know you are, but I don’t need you to do that. I’m gonna get up here soon anyways.”

“With what strength? Pretty sure if you try standin’ right here, you’d be tippin’ back over into that little thing you call a bed.”

“You think so?” she sneered before trying to wriggle her way out of her blankets.

Grant snapped his head to the side, diverting his eyes. “Whoa-ho-ho. Cover up.” Her bare thigh had been exposed—the cool air bit into her skin. She drew back onto the lounger, and Grant desperately pushed the blanket to cover her. “Alright, alright. I hear you. You ain’t gotta prove nothin’ to me. I believe you.” He shook his head. “And just so you know, ain’t nobody tryin’ to see all what you got goin’ on under there.”

She scowled at him. It better have been Matt that undressed me. “You weren’t the one that, well, you know…”

“Hell no. Ain’t no pervert. Not my type anyways.” Grant cracked a smile. “Too immature.”

Jenny scowled at him again but managed a snicker once she realized he was only kidding. “You tease too much.”

“Life’s too serious to be serious anymore. Nobody knows what’s gonna happen. I learned that lesson too many times now, and I don’t want to be remembered as a damned fool for bein’ let down all those times. So, hell with it. I’ll be serious when I need to be, but here in this tent, just you and me like this, I’m gonna cut up a bit. Why the hell not, right?”