Well here is the next part of the story, sorry I haven't uploaded in awhile, I think every monday and friday I'll upload stuff. <<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>

Chapter 11
They had spent the rest of the day going through the town, apparently it had been deserted when Carla first got here, not surprising considering that only Olivia and Dashed were left alive in their town. She said that she spent only a year traveling around before setting down here, it’s not because she couldn’t get anywhere fast, it’s just that she was very picky on where she set up shop, she chose here because the best houses were here. Most were big enough to accommodate three, and few were too big, meaning it took too much would or coal or whatever she used for fire to heat the place up. The town was full of two-legged animal skeletons, for some reason she kept the skeletons, giving a creepy feel to the town, Dashed was just glad she wasn’t one of those people that would hang the skeletons off of lamp posts.

“So how long have you been here,” Dashed asked nervously feeling as if he was talking to some stranger in a bar.

“Oh, I’ve been here for at least two years, maybe more. Anyway we should head in for the night, I had a whole dinner planned for the first person to contact me, but I don’t have cake, I was running low on supplies so I only have ground beef from some wandering cow so it’s burgers without bread.”

“Carla?”

“Yes?”

“Did I hear the phrase ‘we only have burgers’ come out of your mouth?”

“You know what, fuck you. What were you before the bombs? Some kind of rich kid with a butler?!?”

“Nononono you misunderstand me, I’ve been living off of canned foods for several years and you tell me you ONLY have burgers? That’s like saying I only have a working helicopter with gas.”

“Heh, sorry about that I just hated the people that thought that girls were only for cooking and cleaning, not surprising given my background,…ah here we are.”
They reached the top of a long hill to Carla’s house, it was, incredibly, completely intact with lights on and everything. It was a moderately sized house with lights and he could tell that Olivia agrees with the house, she ran up to the yard and started to chase the poor squirrel that was stupid enough to still be outside.

“Carla, can I ask you a question?”

“No,” was here gruff reply

“Oh ok,” and with that Dashed was silent for a few seconds until Carla said, “Of course you can I’m just messing with you, god you’re gullible.”

“Oh, ok,” Dashed nervously said, “anyways, did it hurt?”

Carla’s hand immediately went to her side, “What do you mean?”

“You know when you fell from heaven because you must be a guardian angel or something!”

“Very funny, now you don’t get dessert of nutela and crackers.”

With this she opened the door and rested her gun on the side of the inside. Olivia rushed into the house squeaking past Dashed with a mouse in her jaws. Carla took off her jacket and Dashed could see the unmistakable sight of hard, lean muscles developed from years of hard work. He looked into the closet that was by the door and saw several types, models, and colors of rifles and guns. Dashed felt a little intimidated with all the rifles and shotguns that were hanging up on the wall.

Carla must have noticed and said, “Don’t worry they don’t bite and every five days I clean them.”

“They’re nice,” Dashed remarked with genuine awe.

The first one he picked up was a Winchester .50 muzzle-loader, he aimed the gun at his grey trench coat hanging on the coat rack, it felt heavy and he didn’t think he could hit anything with any accuracy at all.
“I think I’ll stick to my 9mm, with that I think I could actually hit something.”
“Your choice, anyways do you want to help me out here? I need some help with the burgers.”
“Sure not a problem.”

With that Dashed stopped aiming, put down the gun, and went into the kitchen, the kitchen was unlike anything he had ever seen before, it had fresh meat hanging in dried strips, there was a meat grinder, but most of all there was lights and a fridge. To Dashed it was heaven on earth the only thing that would have made it better was if Olivia was still alive.

“Hey, Dashed come over here and help me with the burgers.”
Dashed glanced over his shoulder and saw the four-legged Olivia resting on the couch and shouted back, “I’ll be right there.”
He walked over to Olivia scratched her behind her ears and said, “Thank you.” and walked over to Carla; by the time he got over to her she was already grilling the burgers and the smell was almost intoxicating.
“’bout time you showed up.”
“Did you need help with the burgers?” Dashed asked.
“Nah they’ll be fine but, I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Sure, anything.”
“How did you deal with it?”
Dashed stood paralyzed, the truth was he hadn’t, he had loved Olivia up to her death, when she died he almost killed himself so he wouldn’t be alone, and only through the thought of Olivia’s disappointment in him if he killed himself stopped him. Instead of admitting the pain that had flowed through him since day one of Olivia’s death he just stood there.
“I’ve always wondered how I would be able to survive without all the supplies I have access to right now.” Carla clarified.
“Oh!” Dashed exclaimed, “Ya that, um I guess I never really thought about it, travel during the spring and summer; once autumn came around I always gathered up for the winter and bunkered down during all the cold months.”
“That simple huh?”
“Not really but there are countless little habits you develop while traveling.”
For the rest of the time it took to cook the burgers Carla drilled him with questions about the wasteland, where to find water, how to travel, where to sleep, and countless others. Finally the burgers were done and she got out two plates and they began eating. Dashed expected her to quiz him more about the wasteland but nothing happened, she just sat there and ate. He, not wanting to break the silence kept eating, and while he was eating there was a big thing on his mind, “Does she want to ‘get together’ as well?" he thought, "Carla must be what, 20, 21 she must be having some of the same thoughts as me. I know that we just met but I wonder if we could eventually get to that point. God, it is making my mind explode.”
The problem Dashed was having was that when he was by himself he was able to control his… urges, but now that there was a woman present his hormones were taking over, he is only 19 after all.