Chapter Two.
“Don’t be so eager,” the small girl snapped, hitting my hand away from the tap. She met my glare. “You have to wait a few first, otherwise you could die.”
Her blunt confidence surprised me. I obeyed without acknowledging I heard her. In Before times, I would have made a snarky comment like, ‘A few what? Seconds, minutes, hours? Days?’ but the bomb seemed to have taken everyone’s sense of humour with it. I let the water run and grimaced at the orange that flowed out.
“See,” she said proudly. “I just saved your life.”
How come that didn’t happen the other times I had been here? Maybe something went wrong with the filtration system. I didn’t ask, not wanting to spike unimportant conversation. I spotted movement in the bush behind the small water tower, and instantly knew I was right. There was a man, watching. Even though I knew he was just protecting her, I shifted uncomfortably. For someone trying to hide, he was doing a bad job. I kept my knife close.
I jumped as the girl touched my shoulder. “It’s okay,” she assured, then whispered, “We’re trying to catch someone.”
I nodded. She was too trusting. Wasn’t it possible that I could be that someone? I had to ask. “How old are you?”
“Twelve,” she said happily. Whoa, she would have been about three or four when the war subsided, leaving us in grey. “You?”
“Nineteen, probably.”
“It’s okay, Dad,” she called. “He’s not the man we’re looking for.”
“Doesn’t hurt to be careful, sorry son.” The man was stocky and wore a tight thermal over grey jeans. His shoes were handmade. His hand stretched out toward me, and I traced the roughness of his cracked skin. “Will,” he said as I shook his hand.
“Rocko,” I replied carefully. This could still be a trick.
The little girl smiled but didn’t introduce herself. They trained her well.
“It’s been said there’s another out-of-towner amongst us. No one has been able to catch him.”
The image of the Hooded Man came into mind, but I shrugged it away. What business did I have dobbing people in when I didn’t know who they were or the situation they’re in.
“I hope you find him,” I said, filling my second milk bottle with water.
“Planning on going on the road again?”
I looked up. Will was watching me carefully with one arm around his daughter. His eyes moved from mine to the container. We listened to the different sounds as the water filled my container.
He elaborated, “I’ve seen you around here before, but you’re taking an awful lot this time. Are you heading out?”
I shrugged and tightened the lid. “Nothing more than usual,” I said, bending down to put both containers in my bag. My MP3 must be charged by now, I hated wasting time. After retrieving that, I’d have dinner at the restaurant like we used to. I shook Will’s hand once more. “I hope you catch the guy,”
“Good day,” the man bid me farewell.
“Good night,” I nodded at his daughter before turning to leave.
They remained silent as I walked up path toward the road, being led by the single lantern at the end of the path. The sun had set and the shop would be closing soon. I needed to hurry otherwise I’d have business to attend to in the morning and I was hoping to be out of Raglan at dawn.
