“This is my favorite part,” William whispered gleefully.
“Now, let’s get this celebration started!” the man with the buzzcut exclaimed, and everybody roared with excitement.
The next hour or two flew by in a flash. We all shared sips from a whiskey bottle as we sat around the flames shooting the breeze, telling jokes and riddles, and sharing stories about our travels.
Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t really tell anyone about my real life, so I had to make up many elaborate lies. On top of the story of my rescue, I told everyone I’d once killed a caribou with my bare hands and then brought it back to my igloo for the rest of my clan to eat.
I had no clue if that was really what people did in this timeline, but it seemed to be popular with the Scavengers.
Then there was the story I told about Doomsday… how I was just a little kid growing up in “The Tundra” when this all went down. How my parents tried to take me up into Canada, but they had been completely decimated by the nuclear blasts as well. Of course, that led to all three of us settling down in the backwoods with a few other families and trying to survive the winters. Already harsh winters that were, of course, made even worse from the Nuclear Winters that came along with the bombs.
The Scavengers hung onto every single word I said, and they ate my stories up hook, line, and sinker.
However, Natalie seemed a bit off. The blonde woman didn’t partake in any of the drinking or the storytelling or even crack a smile at any of the jokes. Instead, she just sat there with her arms crossed over her chest as she stared off into the flames.
Finally, she stood up, wiped the sand off her tight bottom, and then marched back toward her tent.
“She’s not really having any of it, is she?” I whispered to William as I watched her leave.
“Oh, don’t take it personally.” The drunken Scavenger patted me on the back. “That little Sheila’s never been one for festivities. I can’t say I blame ‘er on this one either since, well, you know… ”
“She’s doomed to be without a mate?” I finished the thought.
“Right, that.” William nodded, and then his eyes lit up with excitement. “Oi! Wait a minute here… How old are you, Hunter?”
I saw where this was going, and I really wanted to defuse the situation before he took it too far.
“Look, William.” I shook my head. “Natalie is a nice woman. Very beautiful and strong and all that. But—”
“But what?” William interjected. “You’re stickin’ around, right?”
My heart skipped a beat, but I continued to play it cool.
“Of course, I am!” I lied.
“Sooo?” the Scavenger slurred. “You’re the same age as her, and you’re the only one here who’s the same age. Which means by Scavenger law you’re the only one who is appropriate to be her mate and put some babies in ‘er! Now, you don’t have to be a Root Rat to see the golden opportunity here.”
“Are you sure you’re not Australian?” I narrowed my eyes and tried to change the subject.
“Oh, no, bloke.” William waggled his finger at me. “You’re not slippin’ yer way outta this one. Just go and talk to her. Ya don’t even have to have a root with ‘er right now. Put the feelers out and see if she likes ya back.”
“I don’t think that’s the best idea—”
Before I could finish my sentence, William scoffed loudly.
“Hunter, if ya don’t get over to ‘er tent,” he warned, “I’m gonna knock ya over the head with a stubby and drag ya over there myself!”
“Fine, fine… ” I conceded as I stood up. “I’ll go talk to her. Just talk.”
William threw up his hands and feigned innocence. “Hey, what you two ankle biters do in the privacy of your tent is your own business.”
Sly, William. Very sly.
As I turned, I saw Natalie walking off in the distance, so I guessed I should take William’s advice and go follow her.
She seemed a bit distressed and uncomfortable, and I didn’t know if it was something I said or just the general tone of the night. Either way, I wanted to calm her down.
I headed up the beach and watched as Natalie disappeared into a tent at the far end of the encampment. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I approached her dwelling and saw how it was set up.
Natalie’s tarp tent was covered from head to toe with the same sort of stickers you’d find on a Guitar Hero guitar. They were very rock and roll-esque, with a hand-drawn aesthetic that showed off strange looking figures and logos. There were people with mohawks giving the devil horns while they strummed a guitar, the outlines of squiggly skeletons whose eyes were small “x”s, and even the granddaddy of them all… A Rolling Stones logo.
A torn-up fabric patio chair sat next to the tent, and beside that was a tiny writing desk whose legs had seen better days.
This must have been where she came to sit when she didn’t want to socialize with the rest of the Scavengers. Probably on nights like tonight, where they were throwing their big shindigs.
I stopped just outside the tent.
What was the protocol here? I didn’t want to just barge in… Did I knock? Could I even knock?
“Hey, Natalie?” I finally announced. “It’s me, Hunter… Are you all good?”
I waited a minute, but there was nothing but the sound of the waves hitting the shore.
“Natalie?” I asked once more.
I knew she was in there. I saw her go in.
Was everything alright? Surely she wasn’t asleep already. Maybe if I just peeked my head in…
I slowly parted the flap of the tent and stuck my head inside.
Suddenly, I felt a hand grab me by the hair, yank me in, and then the cold metal of a blade against my throat.
I was now staring straight into Natalie’s blue eyes, and she looked deranged.
“Who the fuck are you?” she demanded.
“W-What do you mean?” I sputtered. “I’m Hunter. You know, from the Fallen Lands? The dude who comes from the Tun—”
Natalie pushed the blade of the knife tighter against my skin, and my heart hammered in my chest.
“Don’t feed me your lies, asshole,” she growled. “Those drunken fools out there might be falling for that, but I’m not. I’ve been suspicious of you since we met, but since you saved my life, I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. But after that bullshit story you just spun for them out there, I know you’re up to something.”
Well, crap. I wondered how long I could keep this charade up, and it looked like the answer was “not for much longer.”
Hunter? Karla gasped. I’m seeing a massive increase in your heart rate. Is everything okay?
“It’s fine,” I promised. “Natalie, can you please put the knife down?”
She’s got a knife to your throat? the woman on the other side demanded. Don’t do anything stupid.
I wasn’t planning on it.
“Why should I trust you?” Natalie demanded. “Apparently, you’ve done nothing but lie since you got here.”
“What have I lied about?” I tried to save face, even though I knew it probably wouldn’t work. “My name really is Hunter, and I am really from Minnesota.”
Natalie’s eyes narrowed as she tried to catch me in the nonexistent lie.
“And what about all that stuff you told them out there?” she continued. “About Doomsday and your parents?”
“Okay, that was a lie,” I admitted. “But if you could just put the knife down, I’ll tell you everything.”
“Who sent you?” she demanded. “Are you a spy from one of our rivals?”
Man… I was really getting tired of having beautiful women point weapons at me and call me a spy. This was the second time in a little over a day.