Nathan Jones - Shortage

Razor slowly held out his arms as if to demand the world acknowledge his innocence. “You’ve got this all wrong, uh…”

“Private Gutierrez,” the soldier barked. “You going to tell me your real name, Razor?”

The nondescript man ignored the question. “You’ve got this all wrong, Gutierrez. I was just talking to this cute girl here when that whackadoo tackled me out of nowhere and started hitting me. Is it illegal to talk to girls, now?”

“That’s not what he did!” Sam protested. “He stole from me and restrained me so I couldn’t leave, then started threatening me.”

“That’s not true at all,” Razor said reasonably. “While I was talking to her she threatened me with pepper spray, so my friend Curtis here took it from her.” His hands were back in his pockets and he seemed to be losing his patience. “Listen, man, I’ve got a deal with your boss. I haven’t broken it so get off my back before your boss gets on yours. Do you have any idea what happens if you decide to start trouble with the refugees?”

Gutierrez didn’t look happy about that at all, but the threat seemed to have some effect. He slowly lowered his rifle. “I’m going to get this sorted out, but either way you and your friends should stay out of town,” he warned. “If I see you on these streets again we’re going to have trouble, no matter what deal you claim you made with the Administrator.”

“Who am I to argue with the man with the gun?” Razor said sarcastically. He turned to them and in spite of everything Sam jumped in fright. She also noticed Matt’s arm around her tightened slightly. But it wasn’t her the refugee was looking at. “Hey I know you. Matt, right? You got Al arrested.”

“Get walking!” Gutierrez barked, raising his gun.

Razor held out his arms innocently again and started heading past them all towards the western edge of town, pausing only to retrieve his razor and shove it back into his pocket. “Looking forward to seeing you around, Matt,” he said. Somehow he managed to say that without the slightest hint of a threat in his tone, which made it all the more threatening. He left without waiting for his friends, leaving the thug who’d kicked Matt and was in slightly better shape to haul the first thug Sam had sprayed up to his feet and help him along as they followed

Once the three refugees were well away Gutierrez turned to look at her. “Are you all right?”

Sam nodded, slightly surprised that she was the source of his concern when Matt was the one who’d been hurt in the scuffle while protecting her. “Yes, thank you.” Reminded, she hurriedly turned beneath Matt’s arm and began fussing with his face, where an ugly bruise was already forming around his eye and across his cheekbone from the thug’s heavy punch.

Matt stoically put up with her ministrations, eyes still on the FETF soldier. “What did he mean?” he demanded. “He made it sound like you weren’t going to do anything to him!”

The soldier gave him a troubled look. In spite of his uniform and confident bearing Sam suddenly realized the man was probably her age, or maybe even a year or so younger. “We know all about Razor leading the group that robbed you, and he’s definitely in charge of some gang in the refugee camp,” Gutierrez agreed. “He’s trouble and we should be doing something about him.”

He fell silent, and Sam turned her eyes from Matt to look at him. “But you won’t,” she guessed.

“Maybe if he does something serious, something we can’t ignore,” the soldier said with an uncomfortable shrug.

“He just attacked Sam in broad daylight!” Matt nearly shouted. “I’m lucky I didn’t get my face sliced off trying to defend my girlfriend, but you can see the black eye his buddy gave me.”

Sam nearly jumped under his arm. Girlfriend? Where had that come from? She wasn’t necessarily annoyed at him calling her that, but he could’ve at least clarified their relationship with her first!

Gutierrez took a deep breath. “It’s like this. Ferris called Razor in to talk to him after you brought in those three of his men robbing people west of town. Since then there haven’t been any more reported robberies or other trouble beyond the town’s borders, and more importantly all the complaints we were getting from refugees in the camp stopped. Completely. Razor’s gotten the camp under his control, and as long as he keeps it that way we’ve been told to leave him alone and let him do his thing.”

Sam couldn’t believe what she was hearing, although she supposed it explained why things had been so relatively calm for the last week. Not that it excused anything. “He wanted to be my pimp!” she said heatedly. “And he didn’t sound like he was going to give me a choice. He threatened to do the same to Matt’s sister when he robbed them, so you know he’s probably forced other women to work for him!”

Gutierrez looked away. “No one’s complained. Until they do we can’t touch him, Ferris’s orders.”

“Anyone who complains has to know they’re going to get the business end of that nutjob’s shaving razor,” Matt pointed out. “Do you have any idea what you’re turning a blind eye to?”

The soldier’s jaw tightened. “You should take her home,” he said sharply. “I need to get back to patrolling.” Without waiting for a response he turned and headed the same way Razor and his thugs had gone.

Matt’s arm around her shoulder turned Sam back towards home, but she was angry enough that she shrugged free of him and started stomping down the street. “Can you believe that?” she seethed. “For all his faults I at least thought Ferris believed in justice and law. I never thought he’d make a deal with the devil, not even to keep peace in the refugee camp.”

After a few seconds Matt caught up to her. “Maybe he doesn’t know the devil when he sees him. Back when Razor robbed us outside of town he did an awful good job of looking friendly and harmless. He might’ve fooled Ferris into thinking he wasn’t so bad.”

“But you told him about Razor robbing you!” Sam protested. “You told him about Terry getting threatened with the razor and then getting sprayed in the face, and him and his goon robbing you at gunpoint, right?”

Matt hesitated. “I did. Ferris seems to have a problem with us “townies”, or at least a bias in favor of the refugees. Maybe he didn’t believe me.” He took a deep breath and glanced over his shoulder. “The important thing is that we got out of that in one piece. At least the FETF soldiers are doing something.”

“You saved me, not Gutierrez,” Sam said fiercely. “I don’t even know where you came from, you just swooped in from nowhere like a guardian angel.”

He flushed in embarrassment at the praise and hesitantly reached out to take her hand. “You have no idea how scared I was when I saw his thug holding you while he reached for his razor. I’d been sneaking up, trying to find a chance to get you out of that safely, but when I saw that I just bolted for him, and the next thing I knew I was tackling him to the ground.”

A tense silence fell between them as they contemplated just how dangerous the confrontation had been. To lighten the mood Sam nudged Matt on the shoulder. “Girlfriend, huh?”

He went pink with embarrassment. “Sorry, it just slipped out in the heat of the moment. Wishful thinking on my part.”

“Well we haven’t even been on a date yet,” she teased.

“I know. I shouldn’t have said it.”

Sam almost wanted to laugh, wondering if he was deliberately being dense. “That was a hint.”

Matt turned and looked at her, surprised, then smiled wide. “Oh. Well I can’t exactly take you to the movies, and much as I’d like to take you to a restaurant they weren’t really a thing in this town even before the attack.”