She didn’t sleep that night. Instead she lay awake on her bed, planning what to do tomorrow. There was so much that had to be done. Only so many hours in a day, and now that she was alone, she would really have to organize all tasks carefully so that she got them done. Garden didn’t need watering, thank God for small mercies. But weeds would try to take over it now. There was a huge pile of dirty clothes waiting for washing up. Roof of the cabin was leaking. She had noticed a dark, moist patch on the kitchen ceiling. There was a huge pile of leathers and pelts left at the storage, enough to keep her occupied next winter, but she would need to take care of those. Moist summer air did all kinds of damage to them if she wasn’t careful and aired them out every now and then. She would have to hunt for meat and make jerky. And it looked like at least one more trip to settlement was in order. She didn’t have any nails left to fix the roof. When morning sun greeted her through the window, she finally fell asleep out of pure exhaustion. For one minute she was wide awake, next she was dead to the world.
She woke up several hours later, to an uneasy feeling of being watched. She blinked her eyes several times and strained her hearing before finally sitting up. Small surprised gasp left her lips when she saw Logan, sitting at the doorstep of her room, back leaned against the doorframe, and feet propped up to the opposite side of it, half hooded gaze fixed upon her.
“Morning…” He muttered.
“What… What are you still doing here? The truck is finished. Isn’t it?” Marie whispered, dragging the quilt tighter around her. Logan yawned.
“Yeah. It’s done. Just came to tell you that I gave Sam a ride to the settlement.”
“When did you get back?” How long had he been sitting there?
“Couple of hours ago. You were sleeping. Didn’t want to wake you.” Logan yawned again and rubbed his eyes.
“I’m kind of tired. Do you mind if I sleep for a while before I leave?” He asked.
“In my truck, of course,” he added hastily when Marie didn’t answer right away.
“No. I mean no, I don’t mind… Are you hungry?” She asked. After all he had slaved his ass off with her truck even when Sam kept bitching and hitting him. Logan scratched his stubbled jaw and stood up slowly.
“More tired than anything else. But I guess I could eat…”
She eyed her handiwork with doubtful gaze. Homemade bread, thick soup made of mashed vegetables and dried meat and some dried berries and nuts for dessert. Well, it had to do. It was the best she could whip up right now. She set the table for two, sudden pang of sadness clouding her mind when she realized this would be probably the last time there was somebody else eating with her. She pushed that feeling back. She wasn’t going to turn to a blubbering and sobbing little girl in front of Logan.
“Better go and get him…” It had taken her two hours to make the meal.
“Oh…” Logan’s truck was a mess. It hadn’t been pretty earlier, but now it was so banged up that one hardly could call it a vehicle. It looked like it had taken a trip through hell. Literally. There were dents and holes in the armoring. One machinegun and flamethrower were missing. Searchlight that had been mounted in front of it was broken. It was covered with dust and scrapes. Driver’s side door was decorated with a series of small holes and window was broken. There were dents and jagged tears on the sleeve that covered the tires from the attacks from the sides.
“Logan!” She called him. Soft grunt, little shuffling and his head emerged to the broken window.
“Dinner’s ready… Or it’s more like a supper, I guess…”
“Fine. I’m coming…” He grunted, opened the door and staggered out little groggily, squinting his eyes against the brightness of the sun.
“What the hell happened? Is Sam…”
“Sam’s okay. Got in to trouble with bandits when I was returning from the settlement.” She walked to the truck and reached for the door that Logan was closing. She opened it.
Holes on the door went through it. Cab was splattered with blood, and there were small jagged tears on every surface. Logan slammed the door closed.
“How bad?” Marie asked. Now his exhausted state made perfectly sense to her.
“It was nothing…”
“How bad?”
“Marie…”
“How bad were you hurt? And what the hell did they use?” Logan had armored her truck with same plates he had used to armor his.
“You don’t have to worry about them anymore. I took care of them. I doubt anybody else has same shit that they used…” Logan said.
“What do you mean?” Marie asked.
“They were mutants. Old Destroyers. One of them had a machinegun mounted to his shoulder, and some leftover armor piercing ammunition. But I took care of them. You don’t have to worry about them.” She could only stare at the truck numbly. When she had been pondering over weather to fix a leaking roof, or maybe take care of the garden first, Logan had been driving around, cleaning out possible threats and gotten hurt. Gentle nudge against her shoulder brought her out from her stupor.
“You were talking something about food? I’m kind of hungry…” Logan said.
She scooped generous amount of soup for him, trying to stop her hands trembling. She was shivering so hard that Logan took the kettle and the spoon from her.
“Sit down.” She sat on her seat and watched when Logan poured rest of the soup to her bowl and placed the kettle to the sink.
“Eat.” She lifted her spoon mechanically, down to the bowl, up to her lips, down, up, down, up… Barely tasting what she was eating. Logan ate quietly, finishing the soup and wiping the bowl clean with a piece of bread.
“Like I said, there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore. At least not for a while. I took care of those bandits. New ones will be coming, but at least for a while the road should be safe.” She didn’t answer, just kept trembling.
“Did you hear? It’s safe,” Logan said.
“I’m not afraid of those fucking bandits!” She screamed, closing her eyes and squeezing her temples.
“I’m afraid of myself…”
“You are not all right, are you?” Logan asked, observing her with critical eyes over the table.
“Yes… No… I don’t know anymore. I was all right. Then you showed up.”
“Sorry.” She could hear from his voice he was being honest.
“I’m not afraid of you. I don’t hate you. But it was safer to think that way. I would have gone nuts all by myself if I didn’t have a good reason to not to go back and search for you. It was easier to believe that you hurt me too bad. I have tried to believe it even now, but it isn’t fucking working! Now Sam’s gone, you’re leaving, and I’m alone again!”
“What the fuck is keeping you here? Move in to settlement, or come with me,” Logan said.
“I already fought this over with Sam, thousands of times! I’m not going to abandon my life in here just to move to some crummy little hut… With you?”
“We are not built to be alone. No matter what happened, we both need some human company. You’ll go nuts if you stay out here alone. I’ll help you move over to settlement, find you a nice place to live from there, or you can pack up your stuff and come with me. Deal is still on…”
“Stay with you… Talk with you…”
“And I’ll keep you fed and clothed.”
“What happened to ‘safe’?” She asked.
“I think you got it covered by yourself. So, how about it? Which is it going to be?”
She looked around in her tiny cabin, taking in every detail, breathing deeply. She wasn’t sure of what to say. Of what would come out when she opened her mouth. She closed her eyes and swallowed.
“I think… I think I’ll take that deal.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Might take a while to start the next part, but I think I might have something worth to post tomorrow.