Nathan Jones - Shortage

“Hey guys!” she said brightly. “Taking the little monsters out trick or treating?”

“Mandy,” Matt said, doing his best to keep any hostility out of his voice.

Surprisingly Sam looked even more hostile, the first time he’d seen an expression of dislike from her. Her tone was hostile too when she spoke. “Didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you’d be off enjoying your two weeks of reward food for ratting out someone who helped you.”

Matt supposed he shouldn’t be surprised at Sam’s reaction, since she’d been forced to put up with Mandy for almost two weeks while he’d been gone. Because of that at first the dark-haired woman hadn’t liked Trev at all and had been very vocal in detailing everything Mandy had claimed about him. When Matt refuted all of it and explained everything his friend had done for the family Sam had changed her opinion about him, which increased her dislike for the family’s former houseguest even more.

If the blond woman felt the slightest bit of shame for her actions she didn’t show it. “I haven’t been enjoying it, actually, since I haven’t even had to use much of it. I’m with Private Gutierrez now and he’s been taking care of me. One of the FETF soldiers, you know. He’s exactly what I’m looking for in a man.”

Gullible? Matt thought. Gutierrez was the soldier who’d helped them during the fight with Razor, and however he might feel about the FETF presence in town it was hard not to feel sorry for the man. Dating a viper would be more appealing than a relationship with Mandy.

But he kept that thought to himself. However he might feel about her, and whatever he might like to say to her after what she’d done to his friends and family, she’d already proven she could be trouble if you got on her bad side. And if she was dating one of Ferris’s men she’d just have that much more influence she could bring to bear in whatever petty retribution she might decide to enact.

His family had enough trouble to deal with already, and calling her out wouldn’t do any good anyway. Better to avoid stepping on the viper. “Excuse us,” he said coolly.

Mandy took another nibble of her chocolate. “Sure, I should go see how Raul is doing anyway. That’s his first name, you know.” She winked at Sam. “And I’m sure you’ve noticed his Latin good looks. It’s okay if you’re a little bit jealous.”

As she sauntered off he couldn’t help but notice Sam deliberately turning to fuss over the boys. “I really don’t like her,” she muttered.

“I don’t blame you,” April said, giving the younger woman a quick hug. “Ugh, she’s awful. I’m impressed you put up with her for so long. Mom said you were practically a saint.”

“And of course she’d land on her feet even after everything she’s done. Let’s just forget about her.” Sam picked up Paul and kissed his cheek. “Are you excited for chocolate?” He nodded solemnly.

Matt was only too happy to follow her advice, although he couldn’t help but notice Mandy and Private Gutierrez getting all lovey dovey near the door of the storehouse and handing out chocolate bars together. Luckily the arrival of some neighbors in line and their kids making friends with Aaron and Paul distracted him, and he let himself relax and enjoy the moment.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting the boys finally got their chocolate bars, and Matt and Sam helped them open the wrappers. They immediately began devouring the treats with obvious enjoyment, and Sam leaned against him as they watched. Matt put his arm around her.

“Cold?” she asked. She had that intent, expectant look he recognized from the few girlfriends he’d dated, and to top it off was leaning a bit closer as she stared directly into his eyes. It was a signal only a moron could miss.

“Freezing,” he said, then leaned down and kissed her. It was a moment he’d been waiting for, for far too long, and now that it had arrived it confirmed everything he felt for this remarkable woman he was fortunate to have in his life.

They were interrupted by April clapping and whistling behind them, and Matt broke away grinning, noticing that Sam’s cheeks were flushed as she grinned back at him.

“Okay you two lovebirds,” his sister said, ushering her sons away from the storehouse in the direction of home. “Were we going to head back to Mom and Dad’s for games or did you two want to get all PDA on us?”

Sam took Matt’s hand as she answered. “Well we have to be a couple before we can play couples Spades, don’t we?”

Matt let two banter as they headed home, content to enjoy the moment. There were a lot of things wrong in the world, but it was important to remember that there were a lot of things right with it, too.

Lewis’s leg had healed slowly but steadily over the last week.

The swelling had gone down, the bruises fading to brown and yellow, and his cousin removed the tape over the wounds regularly to let them drain, until eventually they closed and scabbed over. Although he could move around after the first few days he avoided doing so, giving his body a chance to recover, and when he did need to get on his feet he made liberal use of the crude pair of crutches Trev made for him and did his best to keep his weight off his leg.

As for Trev, he alternated his time between patrolling, gathering food, and building the outhouse he and his cousin had talked about. He also kept his rifle handy at all times, not only in case he needed to defend himself but in case he encountered another deer and the opportunity presented itself to bag more meat.

He’d seen no sign of the last two bandits since the gunfight on Halloween, and the refugee group they’d saved seemed to be long gone. He did glimpse other refugees heading along Highway 31, and just as Lewis had predicted the few groups he saw were divided into those heading northwest and those heading southeast. He wondered what the refugees said when they passed each other: no good news, he was sure.

He always watched the passing groups, but so far all had stayed to the road and traveled along it at the best speed they could. If there were any more bandits preying on the poor people he saw no sign of them.

In spite of his caution he never looked too closely at the refugees, unable to witness the constant display of human suffering. The guilt of wondering if he shouldn’t be doing something for them constantly warred with the knowledge that there wasn’t really much he could do, not for so many people. And anything he did risked giving away their presence on the mountain and could potentially put them in danger.

As for the bandits he and Lewis had killed, on the day after the fight Trev had taken the time to go out and bury them, noting when he did that the refugees had stripped them of any useful supplies Trev had left behind. Trev didn’t begrudge them what they’d found, and in a way almost regretted taking the weapons and depriving them of that added defense.

He and his cousin now had more firearms than they needed, especially considering Trev hadn’t found much ammo for them, and the refugees might have found better use for those guns. He had a hard time picturing that group of mostly women, an older man and teenaged boy, and a few children turning to banditry, while if better armed they could deter any more bandits they encountered.

Hindsight. They’d had a good reason for taking those guns, in case the other bandits came back. And while the refugees had been less of a risk to them, with Lewis wounded they couldn’t afford to take chances.

The burial had been an unpleasant task, reminding him of the lives he’d needed to take, but he couldn’t very well leave them sitting on the mountainside to rot for multiple reasons. Not that he necessarily thought they deserved to be buried: he’d contented himself with digging a big hole as deep as he could manage in the clearing behind the log, dumping the bodies into it, filling it in, and leaving it unmarked.