Page 7

Gaze lowered from mine, he chews his food and licks grease from his fingers. “Snare traps.”

“You must be living like a king out here by yourself.” I trail my gaze over the camp, where woven mats hang from a line, and jars of what looks like fruit sit inside a crate just outside the small tent.

Items for which I’ll bet he’s traded his catches.

“Do you know where we might find water around here?” I’m certain my questions have begun to irritate him, judging by his exasperated huff that follows.

“There’s a creek up the path there.” He lifts his blade to direct, and I follow it toward the woods he pointed out earlier, up ahead.

“I can show them, Daddy.” Tessa scampers toward us again, her hands clasped in front of her belly.

“You ain’t going nowhere, girl. Now git back in the tent, and I’ll bring you some food.”

“The men can stay here. I’ll go with her myself.”

“Fuck that,” Cadmus says beside me. “You’re not running off to the woods alone.”

“Brandon can come, then.” I turn toward Brandon, whose significantly smaller build should seem less of a threat, and back to the girl’s father, who rolls his shoulders back, jaw shifting with his contemplation.

“I’ll be fine, Daddy. And I promise I’ll go back to the tent after.”

He waves his blade toward Cadmus and Titus. “These two stay. I don’t want them anywhere near my Tessa.” Pointing the blade toward her, he raises a brow. “Lips zipped.”

I twist to catch her nod, as she shuffles around the camp toward the other side. Pushing up from my spot, I feel a tight grip on my arm, and I turn to Cadmus.

“Anything weird, and you scream.”

“I’ll be okay.” I wrench my arm free of him and follow after the girl, with Brandon trailing after me.

The moment we clear the hill, I notice a small copse of trees ahead, and I slide one of the three canteens from across my chest and hand it to Brandon.

“Tessa?” I call out to her, as she scampers ahead of us.

With a quick glance over her shoulder, she smiles, before snapping her attention forward again. As if she doesn’t want to stare too long. Something isn’t right with this girl. She reminds me of one I knew back in Calico, Margo, who liked to rock back and forth all day, and often smiled and giggled during inappropriate times, which resulted in one guard beating her to death in front of everyone.

“You were going to say something back there. About the rebels?”

“No I wasn’t.” She titters and skips a few steps ahead.

“You were, though. Before your daddy interrupted you.”

“Nope! I just forgot.”

We breach the entrance to the woods, and the light streaming through the canopy of trees overhead dims just enough that I can only see a few feet in front of me. Tessa’s shadowy form trots gleefully over the brush, making the kind of noise I’ve come to learn as dangerous out in the woods this late.

“How old are you, Tessa?”

“Twelve. I’ll be thirteen in two months.”

The thought of a baby growing inside her small body springs bile to the back of my throat. “You’re just a child.” The words slip past my lips before I can stop them.

“Nuh-uh. My Daddy says I’m all woman. I started bleeding two years ago.”

A glimpse of Brandon shows him frowning, while the two of us walk side by side, trailing after the girl. Most blame the decimation of our species for girls like Tessa starting their menses so much earlier. Mother Nature’s way of offering up more breeders, as sick as that sounds.

Tessa looks over her shoulder, a flirtatious smile on her lips when she stares at Brandon. “You gotta girl?”

He slides his gaze toward me and back to her. “No.”