“You lived like this?” Mara asked.

  “Someone broke in. The door was open when I arrived, just like all the others.”

  “Fucking great.” She headed straight for the kitchen and dragged a chair over to the door. She tilted it, wedging it just under the knob. Nobody would be forcing their way in, even if they had a key. “Which one’s your room?”

  “The door on the right.”

  “You did alright today.” She very intentionally let her hand brush against mine just before disappearing into my mother’s room. I’m ashamed to say those little moments strung me along like a fish on a line.

  “It’s not your fault.” Ivy gently reminds him. “You were thirteen.”

  “I know.” Vince responds.

  I went straight into my room, grabbed the discarded blankets off the floor, and climbed onto my bed. As tired as I was, it still took me a long time to fall asleep. It was weird being back in my own room. If I closed my eyes I could pretend like nothing ever happened. I could pretend I’d wake up to my mother’s voice and the smell of eggs and bacon on the stove.

  I woke up to a loud knock on the front door. Rusty and I sprang out of bed. No matter how fast we reached our door, Mara was faster. We got out just as she was approaching the peephole, rifle in hand.

  She glanced at me, and at the pistol on my hip. I finally had the good sense to draw it then.

  “The fuck do you want?” She yelled through the door.

  “To welcome my new tenants!" The man replied, his voice filled with fake joy. “And to discuss the terms of your stay!”

  “The terms are fuck off and we won’t have a problem.”

  “Ah, come now. Don’t be like that. My associates and I are here to keep this building civil, and to provide amenities and security to our inhabitants, purely out of the kindness of our own hearts. Of course, even our kindness necessitates a small but reasonable price, at the risk of an accident if our attention lapses while getting the resources we so desperately need to keep you safe.”

  “I’m not giving you shit, so fuck off!”

  “Alright, I understand. Although I have to ask, how do you intend to keep your car safe? The black sedan with no wheels, parked on the fifth floor of the parking garage.”

  “Don’t you fucking dare touch my car.” Mara practically growled the words.

  “Oh we wouldn’t dream of it! Although the same can’t be said for the vandals in this city. If we can’t defend the garage without your payments, then we can’t be held accountable for what happens. It’d be a shame for such a beautiful car to have any damage come to it.”

  “Shit.” She whispered to herself. I could see the gears in her head turning, a plan forming. “How much?”

  “We’re very reasonable. Two gallons of water a week and a pound of food is all it takes to ensure no damage comes to you or your property. Of course, if you can’t pay, we are open to discussing other methods of payment. We are reasonable people, you see.”

  “You said amenities. What amenities?” Mara asked.

  “Why, everything you could need! The garage of course, and in addition the old lobby is open to everyone who pays.”

  “And where do I drop it off?” She asked.

  “We’ll come by once a week and pick up our due.”

  “I need to take stock of what we have.” She said. “What room do you live in?”

  “Floor 7 room 18.” The man on the other side said. “I expect the drop off by the end of the day.”

  Mara watched through the peephole and a few sets of footsteps walked away.

  Mara stepped back, her foot tapping against the ground. She headed to her room and began to dig through her supplies.

  “I’m not giving them shit. They need to die.” She said casually.

  “How?” That was all I asked.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “There were six men out there, wearing bulky vests. I can’t win a straight up gunfight.” From her bag she grabbed a bottle of lighter fluid, before putting it back. “Fire’s out of the question, I’m not ruining my new house. Barricade the door and let them starve? They’d just bust down the door or go through the wall. It needs to be quick and brutal. Have you ever made a pipe bomb?” She turned to me and asked.

  “No.”

  “You’re going to learn.” She pulls a bundle of fireworks out of her bag along with some metal pipe. “Get me nails, screws, broken glass. Anything sharp and small.”

  “Ok.” I got to work.

  In the laundry room we had a shelving unit that had long since been raided, but I found a few nails still sitting in the junk drawer in the kitchen. The pictures that once hung on the walls were already smashed on the ground, so I pulled the remaining nails out and collected the broken glass.

  “Here.” By the time I returned, she’d already screwed on an end cap onto half of the tube, and was in the process of packing in the explosives from the fireworks.

  She added in my fragments, capped off the other side, and drilled a small hole in the top to feed in the fuse.

  I’m sure I don’t need to explain to any of you how dangerous that thing was. We were lucky it didn’t blow up in our faces or bring the building down on top of us.

  “How are we going to use it?” I asked.

  “They think we’re just dumbass kids. They’ve already underestimated me, and they’re going to die for it. I need you and your mutt ready to fight, ready to kill. Got it? Chances are this thing isn’t going to kill everyone. I need you ready to finish off the rest. Either get that through your head, or fuck off.”

  “I can do it.”

  “You fucking better. Grab two gallons of water and some food. You’re going to hand those over to them, and I’m gonna light this thing, toss it in, close the door, and run the fuck to the end of the hallway. When it goes off we come back, and we finish them off while they’re dazed. Got it?”

  “Ok.” I’m sure I don’t need to tell you I was thinking about that coyote again. I wasn’t lying though. I’d do my job.

  I got the water and food and we headed upstairs, with Rusty at my side and her just behind me. Her rifle was slung over one shoulder, and behind her back she held the bomb and a lighter.

  They didn’t even have any guards outside the door. It was still the early days of the apocalypse, people were sloppy, the clever hadn’t replaced the ambitious yet.

  I glanced back at Mara when we reached the door. She nodded, and I kicked on the thing. The lock clicked a few seconds later, and Mara’s lighter clicked with it. The door squeaked when it opened, and Mara’s back hissed. The man stood in front of us. His armor was certainly civilian, not military or police, and the two armed men and three women behind him looked the same. They looked straight out of an apocalypse movie, half shaved heads and baring their teeth, fake and unprepared for reality.

  “Glad to see we’ve come to an arrangement.”

  “We sure have.” Mara rushed forward, tossing the bomb inside and slamming the door shut.

  She ran past me, and Rusty and I followed just a moment later. The door opened and she turned. A man stepped out, and she took a few shots. They hit the man square in his vest. It didn’t pierce through, but it knocked him to the ground.

  “I know how that feels.” Cassie says, glancing at me with a grin.

  “Sorry!” I quickly apologize.

  “You’re fine.” She leans into me, grabbing my hand. “Thanks for not making a habit out of it.”

  “There’s still time.” Ivy reminds us.

  Anyway, the man fell. Just a few seconds later my world shook and smoke clouded the entire floor. An explosion ripped through the building, knocking pictures off the walls. My ears rang and my body shook. Mara grabbed my sleeve and pulled me forward into the smoke, unaffected by any of it.

  I ran behind her. The man on the floor was still alive. She put a bullet in his head, turned the corner, and began to fire.

  I wanted to make sure I pulled my weight. I turned the corner too. The room was already being aired out by a broken window, and I shot my second person.

  A door opened up further in the apartment, it fell off the hinges as it went. A man was on the other side, no armor, but armed. I turned my pistol to him, but was too slow. Mara was the same. Neither of us could aim before he got a chance to fire.

  Only Rusty was faster. He leaped, latching onto the man's arm. The shot went wide, and I ran to support my dog. The two of them rolled on the ground, the man’s screams barely able to overpower the ringing in my ears. He was desperately trying to get his pistol pointed at my dog, but Rusty was good.

  It was the coyote once again. And once again I didn’t miss.

  Mara checked the rest of the room while we fought. Don’t mistake her actions as trusting me to solve the problem. She just didn’t care if I lived or died, and knew if I failed, the man would be too off balance to avoid being gunned down by her.

  Rusty had fresh blood running down his face, and he was staring up at me, his tail wagging a mile a minute.

  “Good boy.” No matter how sick to my stomach it made me, he saved at least one of our lives. I reached down and pet him. He earned it.

  I turned back to a violent scene. If you’ve never seen it before, Little Blue, there’s nothing good left behind after an explosion like that. The people caught in it were lumpy, bloody messes. Limbs were tossed around carelessly, shredded by the shrapnel that I gave to Mara. Debris was everywhere, more drywall and plaster, wood and cloth scattered around than I thought possible.

  I just stared, stuck in the moment.

  The thing that brought me back was my hearing returning. Mara had finished checking the entire apartment. She stood in the middle of the gore, a queen over her domain, and laughed.

  “I think I’m going to go back to my room.” I could barely get the words out of my mouth.

  “Huh?” She glanced back, forgetting that I was there. “Fine. But Vincent? You and your mutt made me proud today. Nice work.”

  I don’t remember what I mumbled as I passed her. I don’t even remember the walk down the stairs. Rusty grabbed my arm after we entered. He made sure we both ate and drank before I collapsed in my bed, still smelling of gunpowder and rusty blood.

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