He presses a kiss against my cheek. It’s as quick as can be, with no time for me to react or return the sentiment. The man is there and gone in an instant. “Dental duty it is,” he says. “Be safe. I have watch from three a.m., so I’ll see you in the morning.”
SUNDAY
Wet weather makes for good cover. Nash and Dean head south to sneak up on Porter. Watch his camp for a while and see what’s going on in the vicinity. While Naomi and I take the opportunity to check out some nearby farms. According to the books, citrus, avocadoes, and asparagus could well be out there ready to harvest. More real live fresh food would be amazing. Fingers crossed. And some chickens or goats would make my day. We really need to build a coop and pens for them first, though. Otherwise, we’re just inviting chaos. Or more chaos.
Dean isn’t happy about me heading out without him. The frown appears in full force. But we both have things to do. Life post-apocalypse waits for no one.
Our hopes or dreams for the farms are far and away exceeded from the start. Cows are roaming freely at the first ranch. The doors to the barn have been left open and with a pond on the property, they’re living their best human-free life, so far as we can tell. Most of the farms in the area were organic and followed a sustainable philosophy. This seems to mean the animals have survived better than expected on their own. They weren’t left in a cage due to sad and sorry circumstances.
Something has been preying on the chickens and other smaller animals at some of the properties, though. Wolves or coyotes or dogs gone wild. It could be any or all three. We put out extra food and water for the animals where we can. But on thewhole, they seem to be nonplussed by the return of people into their existence. And honestly, who can blame them?
As for crops, we find some citrus. No one is going to die of scurvy. We mark on a map of the local area where apple orchards are to check later in the year. The farms also tend to trade in other useful items. Jerky, olive oil, and preserves, for starters. One farm we find has a bunch of strawberry plants in pots about to start fruiting. And another has blueberry and blackberry bushes ready to go into the ground. Most of them have died due to lack of water. I think I can save some of them, though.
By midday, we’ve hit five places. Which means it’s time for us to go shopping in a cool small town to the north of Santa Rosa. Just for fun. Nash said Porter’s people didn’t go this far, so we should be safe. Though we’re absolutely going to be as careful as possible. No idea what Cody the Creep was on about with saying towns up this way had been burned to the ground. Because the one we visit seems fine as can be.
“Pedro’s dick does this thing…” says Naomi, gesturing with her finger. Not sure she should be making lewd finger gestures while driving, but here we are.
“I didn’t know we were this close. That we like talked about this sort of stuff.”
“Shut up.” She laughs. “It like hits to the left sort of. Just amazing.”
“Okay.”
Naomi gives me all of the side-eye in all of the land and says, “So you and Dean finally did it. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“I could tell because of your behavior, by the way. His hasn’t changed in the least. Which is kind of comforting when you think about it. He’s always been all about you. The man is obsessed.”
“What do you mean? How have I been behaving differently?”
Her grin is so wide. “You watch him differently now. I mean, you always kept an eye on him. And you definitely appreciated the view no matter how deep in self-denial you were about it. But now you watch him like you want to write him bad poetry. Compare his eyes to the stars and his dick to something suitably phallic and momentous. Nothing is coming to mind for me right now.”
“The Leaning Tower of Pisa?”
She makes a choked sort of noise. “Sure. Why not.”
“You’re the one who introduced the concept of leaning dicks into the conversation.” I smile. “Am I really that obvious?”
“Oh yeah,” she says. “Everybody knows. Besides Charlie and the twins. But you know…their brains haven’t fully developed yet.”
“Huh. Sophie told us last night that we’re gross and weird and she knows where babies come from.”
Naomi sighs. “I mean, at least you don’t have to start that conversation from scratch…”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Do you think Avan knows how to do an epidural?” she asks.
The way my stomach falls through the floor. Or maybe it’s my uterus. “Shit. That’s a very good question.”
“He’s been studying all of these textbooks, trying to upgrade his knowledge to doctor level,” says Naomi. “Teaching Charlie how to become a paramedic as well.”
“Good idea. We all need to learn what we can. I want to start doing some research on what contraception methods are available to us when the expiration dates on medicines and condoms and things like that are up.”
“We’re sure as fuck not going back to the rhythm method, because it does not work,” says Naomi.
Our speed drops as we approach the town center and pull into a laneway. Everything seems quiet and still. We both haveour guns on our hips. I am also carrying a lightened version of my backpack just in case. Going anywhere without some basic supplies and a first-aid kit these days is just silly.
