“I’ll come with you. Don’t hurt me, I was just…”
“Don’t make excuses. Things have changed. Do you accept that?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go, we should get away from here.” Will suggested that they take whatever supplies and ammunition the could carry. When Sarah asked Kelly to join them she declined.
“I’m going to go with him if it’s ok.” She was pointing at Will. He shrugged,
“OK with me, but we need to move away from here.” The two groups moved off in different directions. As they went back up the hill to collect Will’s equipment he asked, “Why didn’t you want them to have my name?”
Kelly looked over at him in the dim moonlight. He was a cold killer, but still seemed so young. He looked like he didn’t need to shave.
“Because we don’t know how things will go or who might start making rules. You don’t want people knowing you killed four men.”
“You think that was wrong?”
“No! Hell no. You saw what they were doing to me? You understand?”
“Uh, huh. Sex.”
“Sex. Yes. Six men, against my will, for weeks. It was awful. I almost killed myself several times.” Now she started crying. “They were bad evil men. You did right, but not everyone may think that way.” Will was quiet as they climbed the hill. Then said nothing as they put everything together, then silence as they began walking, Will using the stars to navigate. Kelly was exhausted when some unknown miles later Will decided that they were ok to stop.
“We’ll be ok for a few hours until it’s light.” Kelly collapsed on the ground. “Not yet. Let’s make a small fire, then secure the area.”
Kelly wanted to complain, then realized she needed to carry her load if she was to live under Will’s protection. She wasn’t sure yet what else would be part of the agreement. When they had gathered wood, Will explained why some was better than others, mostly Kelly’s. He had a fire going and they had settled down under their own blankets. The last thing Kelly said before drifting off was “Thank you.” Will didn’t reply. He lay thinking about requirements for two people. There would be time to talk in the morning.
Kelly woke as sunlight began glistening off the frost on the trees. The smell of coffee brought her fully awake. Sitting up she saw Will stirring something in a pot. He looked up to see her staring at him.
“Just some left over stew. Not great but it should hold us over until we find the next town.”
“Thanks. Some of that coffee would be great to start.” He handed her a cup. She sat warming her hands holding the cup, looking at him over the rim as she sipped. “Can I ask how old you are?” He looked back at Kelly. She could see him thinking. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
He spooned stew into bowls. “17.” He handed a bowl to Kelly, then sat digging into his breakfast.
“Really? Damn. You know so much about”, She waved her hands around, “All this.”
“Been livin’ outside for years.”
“You must be pretty smart to learn this.” He looked up quickly. There was an odd expression on his face. “What’s the matter?”
“You’re not makin’ fun?”
“No, you’re very impressive for your age.”
“No one’s ever called me smart.” Now she was careful about what she said next. Kelly wasn’t sure how to respond. Will went to his backpack and looked around inside. He came back with a folded map. “Can you read this?” Kelly took the map. Now she wasn’t sure if this was some game.
“I’m not great with directions.”
“I know directions. I can’t..” Kelly thought. No.
“I can read the names of the towns and all.”
Will looked at her with sad eyes. This young man with shaggy sandy colored hair and gray-blue eyes was looking at her. Then he said simply,
“I can’t.”
Now Kelly had to ask, “You can’t read?”
“Some. Sometimes. The words jump around and I can’t make ’em out.”
“Dyslexia.”
“Dis-what?”
“Dyslexia. Lots of people have it. Some worse than others. It doesn’t make you dumb, your brain can’t see the words right.”
“Can it be fixed?”
“I don’t think so. But you can do things to learn and make out some words.”
“How do you know this?”
“I, um, read a lot. I’m studying, or was studying to be a teacher. We learn about difficulties students may have.”
“I didn’t go to high school.”
“You poor thing. They thought you couldn’t learn?”
“My parents took me out and taught me things themselves. Mostly survival in the world.” Kelly looked at the kid, now looking much younger than the hard man who took out Hank and his crew. “Can you teach me things?”
“When we find a town we can go into a bookstore. They’ll have books that can tell me what to try. And I’ll need books to read, for fun.”
“For fun. Ha. More like torture.” Now she felt more sorry for someone cut off from the joys of reading. “Would you read stories to me?”
This made Kelly brighten up. “Yes! I’d love to. What kind of stories do you like?”
“About the outdoors.”
“Sounds like a plan.” For the first time in ages Kelly felt like she had a purpose and a reason for keeping on. She had always wanted to be a teacher. Now she had a student. Every day would be an adventure in his world. Every night she would bring him into hers. They finished breakfast and cleaned up their camp. When they had loaded up their packs Will showed Kelly where he thought they were and where he wanted to go. “New Ashford”, she read from the map.
“OK, then New Ashford is where we’re going next.”
They walked quietly for the first hour, which seemed to be Will’s preferred way to take in all that was around him. Kelly wanted to ask a million questions but used the quiet time to explore her very mixed emotions. On the one hand she felt deeply indebted to this resourceful, brave and determined young man. He’d saved her life, literally or even if just saving her from a miserable degrading existence. Now she felt alive again, able to take in he world around her. It all made her feel something emotional towards Will. His stength was sexy in a way. On the other hand, although just a couple years younger, he seemed more than that. Inexperienced she expected, in many ways. Kelly felt much older, more mature than Will. More like she should nurture him. So many things she could teach him.
Walking quietly Will’s senses were attuned to the nature around him. His ears searched for telltale sounds. Animals in the forest, people on the prowl. Yes, he was more and more learning to consider other people to be a danger to avoid. Society, a society he barely knew, had broken down quickly and people were becoming another source of concern. More dangerous than a random bear or mountain cat. He was always on the lookout for food sources and clean water. You could never miss an opportunity. Still his mind wandered. The woman with him, was so interesting. Intelligent, worldly, at least in the old world, a source of information. And, interesting. He’d seen what the men were doing with her. He was confused. His thoughts kept going back to the previous night. They were wrong, evil as Kelly said. He had no regrets for what he’d done. Still, seeing her naked, seeing her breasts and the hair down below and her legs when she wore his coat. He had feelings, stirring. When they sat at breakfast, she looked so pretty. He felt so young next to her. He wanted to protect her from the dangerous people. But he also wondered what it would be like. He tried pushing those thoughts away. She’d been used. She probably thinks he’s a kid. But his cock, kept telling him something different. This was so conflicting.