"They"re not trophies, mister. We wear them to keep warm. To forage for food and supplies. People usually scatter if they see us coming. You were the only one ever dumb enough to follow us."
The nomad shrugged, "You shouldn"t have stolen my coach."
"Whatever. We"ve got to eat. And we"re a little sick of living in a cave."
Chewy ran up first and placed herself between her master and the boy in the bear costume. She began to growl.
Alex stepped back.
"It"s okay, Chewy. He"s okay."
All sense of fierceness left the dog"s face. Her growl turned into a large yawn and she wandered to sniff the area.
Erica arrived a moment later. "f.u.c.k me. They aren"t even bears? We"ve been leaving food outside the town for years to keep them away."
"Thanks for that, by the way," Alex said.
"You little s.h.i.t."
Jerry began to chuckle.
"What"s so funny?"
"You"ve got a really foul mouth."
"f.u.c.k you, d.i.c.k. Can we go now? You"ve got your precious Winnebago back."
"It"s not a Winnebago."
"Whatever. C"mon, Chewy." She slapped her leg lightly. The large dog stopped sniffing the edge of the clearing and joined her new friend at the stairs of the coach.
Jerry turned back to the boy in the bear suit. "You know that Vita Nova was razed to the ground?"
"What"s that mean?"
"It means no more food for you and your brothers."
"No, what does razed mean?"
"How far did you make it in school?"
"Eighth grade, but I wasn"t very good at it."
"Razed means destroyed by bad people. Ruined. Gone. Burned."
The news didn"t faze him. "We"ll get by. We always have. Our dad taught us to hunt and survive."
"I"m taking the girl with the potty mouth to a town a few days south. It seemed nice."
"Good for her."
"That"s my way of saying you can come, too."
"Oh," he looked around the clearing in the woods. The loud speakers roared again. They had known no other home for seven years. This stranger was the first person he had spoken to outside of his brothers since his parents died.
"Look, this is your home. If you want to stay, I understand."
The young man stared up at him.
"It"s a d.a.m.n forest, dude. What are we going to miss about that?"
"I just thought ..."
"We sleep in a cave. On rugs made from other bears."
"Okay, but ..."
"These have never been washed." He pulled at the neckline of the bear costume.
"Right."
"You are dumb. Brave, but dumb."
"Fair enough. Why don"t you and your brothers get dressed and we"ll go?"
"This is dressed. We"ve outgrown everything else. The good folks of Vita Nova never left clothes in the food pile. And we couldn"t very well leave a note."
These kids had put up with a lot. They had grown up without parents in the worst possible world. Still, they had forged a respectable existence. These were good kids.
"Get out!" Erica screamed as a headless bear flew out the door of the coach. The boy tumbled to the ground as Erica came storming to the door of the coach.
Jerry and Alex ran to help the boy to his feet. Trent had a crude bandage on his hand and tried to push up off the ground with his one good arm. Jerry grasped him by the elbow and lifted him to his feet.
"What"s going on here?"
Erica yelled from the doorway, "The little b.a.s.t.a.r.d asked to see my b.o.o.bs."
The nomad looked at Trent. The boy could only blush. Trent shrugged in response to the accusation.
Jerry chuckled again.
"It"s not funny." Erica stomped her foot for emphasis.
"Oh, come on, he"s a bear. He doesn"t know any better."
She stormed back into the coach.
Trent rubbed his head. "My dad used to say it never hurt to ask."
Jerry tried to brush some of the dirt off of the bear suit. "Well, in this case you should have listened to your mother."
"She"s really mad," Alex said as he examined the wrap on his brother"s hand.
Jerry smiled, "Wait till you see this."
"What?" asked Trent.
"Erica?"
She was red in the face when she appeared back in the doorway. "What?"
"They"re coming with us."
Trent lit up. Erica went off-screaming and swearing. Chewy got into the pa.s.senger seat and put her head out the window.
"We"ll head out in the morning. You and your brothers can get cleaned up in the coach. And you get to sleep indoors tonight."
Alex couldn"t suppress a smile. He grabbed the nomad"s hand and shook it frantically. "I don"t know how to thank you, d.i.c.k."
"My name"s not d.i.c.k."
"But, she keeps calling you ..."
"Jerry. Okay, my name is Jerry."
"Thanks, Jerry. I ... I don"t know what to say."
"Don"t say anything. Just get cleaned up and try to find some clothes that fit. There should be some in the closet in there. We have to make you presentable to the people of New Hope. They"re kind of judgey."
FIFTEEN.
"You"re a genius, Logan."
"Please."
"No, really. I"m the guy in this town who can build anything out of anything and I couldn"t build a system of flamethrowers."
"I couldn"t have done it without you, Carl."
"Where did you figure this out?"
"A delinquent childhood filled with adventure and a touch of arson."
The short man laughed. "I know what you mean. I nearly burned my eyebrows off when I was ten. I"d tell you how, but then I"d have to kill you." Carl slapped the warrior on the shoulder and burst with laughter.
Logan winced, more at the laughter than the slap. "The old WD-40 and a lighter bit, right?"
Carl shook his head. "Insurance fraud. I helped my dad torch our fishing boat."
"Oh, well ..."
"We needed the money."
"I see."
"For a new fishing boat."
"Well, people do what they have to, don"t they?"
"I don"t know if we had to. Dad was a dentist."
Logan was silent.
"Fun though. And, it brought us closer. And, like my dad always said, you gotta have a boat." Carl began to laugh again. It grated Logan"s ears.
A young woman stared at him from across the courtyard. It wasn"t the good kind of stare. He could tell she didn"t trust him. It was in the way she looked at him through smoldering eyes under a furled brow. It was in her posture, clenched arms crossed, not for warmth, but for defense. It was in the way she gave him the finger, perfectly vertical, hyper extended joints for emphasis.
"Would you excuse me for a moment, Carl?"
"Anything for you, Logan."
"Uh, okay."
Sarah was leaning against his Mustang as if examining the vehicle. She turned away as he approached. Peering into the windows, she pretended that she did not see him approach.
She was beautiful. Jet-black hair and dark skin set off fierce blue eyes and made him wonder if he had ever so noticed a person"s pupil.
"Are you checking out the car or me?" he asked.
"Excuse me?"
"I saw you giving me quite the look."
"I don"t know what you"re talking about."
"I saw you give me the finger."
She shrugged.
"You"re still giving it to me."
She retracted the offensive digit and clasped her arms tight across her ample chest. "I don"t trust you."