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

“What do you think, boy?” She scratched along his back, up to his head, which now lay in her lap. He looked up at her, eyes heavy. “I know…” Her voice wavered. “You’d think it’d get easier.” The tears swelled inside, wanting nothing more than to break loose, to glide down the features of her face to show the world her loss. That she was hurting again. Another friend gone. Another death that didn’t have to be. She choked it back down and forced a smile. “Here,”—she leaned over and unclipped the flap to the ruck—“let’s take your mind off this. You hungry?” Sherman perked up at the can of dog food dangling in front of him. “At least you still have your appetite.”

He nudged against the can, his tongue hanging with anticipation. Jenny opened the can and flipped it, letting the meat slurry plop into the snow. She wretched at its smell. “Not the greatest is it?” She couldn’t bear to watch him tear into it. Instead, she raised the binoculars toward the ridge once more. “They can’t be too far yet, right?” Her eyes pursued the trail of footprints running up the face of the ridge until they disappeared. “This is going to be a piece of cake for you.” He looked to her, satisfied—the food gone from the snow. “What do you think?”

He cocked his head sideways.

“I know you know more than just German,” she forced a chuckle that went nowhere with her canine companion. “You’re gonna need to start talking back at some point.”

Sherman brought his head back into her lap, and Jenny traced her fingers through his fur. Calming. She took the moment to decompress, leaning her head back against the tree behind them. Through the branches, she lost herself in the sky. A good long gaze.

The S.A. owes me for everything. For Danny. For Xavier. Sam. Anyone else they’ve taken from the world that didn’t deserve it. I know finding them isn’t going to be the problem. Sherman’s too good. But it’s what to do once we get there. I have to be smarter than them, patient. Wait for a mistake. It isn’t impossible. Only four of them. One’s a Soldier, though. Shit… Maybe I should’ve gotten some others to help. But who the hell knows who was in on it? Maybe all the higher ups knew about the plan for Matt and Grant. Better to work alone. At least I know where my loyalties lie.

Jenny tousled Sherman’s head. “It’s me and you, boy. That’s it.”

Smoke billowed from a chimney—the fireplace providing warmth and refuge from the cold outside. Jealous, but not stupid enough to follow suit, Jenny shivered in a vacant house across the street, surveilling the porch where two Second Alliance Guards stood watch. How the hell’s the S.A. made it this far? That’s basic stuff right there. Don’t give your position away. “Right, boy?” she whispered, turning her attention from the window. She heard the bed’s comforter rustle but couldn’t make out much more than that in the shadowy upstairs bedroom. All she knew was he’d claimed the bed already and lay somewhere sprawled out across it. “Rest up. You’ve earned it.”

At the window, she sat wrapped in a blanket she’d found in one of the back room closets and considered grabbing another one. The single blanket proved insufficient with every gust of wind sneaking through the slightly opened window. Unfortunately, closing it wasn’t an option. During the Guards’ first shift change, she took her first and only attempt. It squeaked something fierce, then refused to budge any further. Luckily, anyone who could’ve heard her mistake was inside at the time and unable to. Now, the only sound coming from her position was the gentle clacking of the blinds against the wooden frame.

Diligently, she studied their movements, their habits, trying to establish a pattern, but more importantly, a true count of Second Alliance personnel standing in her way. But even with the burning fireplace helping to illuminate the muted figures passing by the front window, Jenny’s confidence in her mental tally was weak—each of them in uniform—all fairly the same build.

She sighed. So, maybe three in the front room, well, if those are even the same people every time. I know Matt and Grant are there too, but I really doubt they’re up walking around. They’re probably stuffed in a back room or something with another S.A. Guard watching them. So… let’s assume four inside. And with the two on the porch, maybe six of them total? I don’t know. There still might be others. Once that sun goes down, I’ll be free to move around a lot easier and hopefully get a better count. For now though, I keep watching, gather as much info as I can.

After another hour of surveillance, the shadows began to lay long across the snow. The black uniforms of the Guards holding post across the street began to blend in with the nightfall. She placed her chair closer and rested her chin on the windowsill between two empty cans from a meal eaten earlier.

Little else happened. Another shift change passed—the extent of the action. Her eyes grew heavy with boredom, with watching nothing.

“What’s the matter, kiddo?”

“Nothing… Just trying to get my work done.”

“Come on, Jenny… You’ve been in a funk for over two weeks now. I tried giving you some time to work it out, but I’m missing my buddy.”

“Dan—”

“You remember my buddy, right? This peppy, energetic girl that got here maybe a month ago, you know the one, she used to come around and play with Sherman all the time. You haven’t seen her around, have you?”

“I’m not in the mood.”

“Not even a smile?”

“I just wanna get my work done, so I can go to sleep.”

“That’s all you do anymore.”

“I guess I’ve been tired.”

“Too tired to eat?”

“I eat… not that it’s any of your business.”

“So? What? I can’t be worried about you?”

“You can do whatever you want.”

“Quit playing like this. Something happened, and I want to know what it is. I want to help you, but I can’t if you just shut me out like this. Everyone knows everything about everyone. This place is too small to hide anything.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Did someone do something to you?”

“No.”

“Matt or Grant?”

“Hell no. They’d never do anything to me like that.”

“Like what, Jenny?”

“Nothing. I didn’t mean to…”

“I didn’t come here to fight. I’m sorry, just worried about you, kiddo. I actually came here to try and cheer you up. Kinda failed, huh?…Well anyways, the—the good news is I ended up talking to Griffin.”

“Wha— Why? Why’d you do that? He’s got nothing to do—”

“Here, calm down. He came to me, told me Derrick wanted a break from scouting and asked who I wanted to replace him with. Asked me if I had anyone in mind. And, seeing how you’re a natural with Sherman and eager to learn, I brought your name up. Said he was good with it.”

“Really? You’re not messing with me?”

“There’s that smile… And no, I’m not messing with you. You start tomorrow if you want.”

“I do.”

“We’ll be training everyday away from the Depot, so you’d better get used to being out in the world. But don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you. All I ask is that you never give up. No matter how hard it gets. You earn my trust like that, and I’ll protect you with my life.”

“I’m not asking for all that.”