Across the Deadzone

Chapter 7: Ophelia

After almost twenty minutes of stomping through a sea of people, I finally spotted the bake stand. 'Can't miss her' my ass. I broke into a jog, wanting to get to work as soon as possible, when my leg struck something and I went tumbling to the ground, jolting my shoulder.
Shaking out the wrist that I'd landed on, I turned to see what I stumbled over.
A yellow lab sat at my feet, its head cocked to the side and its tail wagging. I blinked and it hopped up. Its tail hit a few people as they walked by.
I held out my hand cautiously, just knowing somehow that it was friendly. It came up to me and sniffed my palm, probably just looking for food. When it found nothing, it yelped unhappily and I snatched my hand back reflexively.
I had seen other dogs around the cavern. A few had even ventured toward me, but none of them had been overly friendly like this one. 
I reached out and patted its head. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth and its eyes closed.
Getting to my feet, I tried to shoo the dog away. It clung to my side like glue. "Great," I muttered, continuing my journey toward the bake stand with the dog in tow.
The lady running the stand was ancient, although stress and almost dying every day for years tends to make you look a lot older than you are. I speak from experience. I'm barely twenty three but I look closer to thirty. Still, Cleo had smile lines etched deeply into her face, which put me at ease that she'd be willing to pay me the steep fund of thirty five dice. As long as I worked for it, of course.
She was pounding dough with a kind of vengeance, like it had tried to stab her and now she wanted to exact revenge.
"Excuse me?" I called over the din of the Main Cavern. She lifted her head, looking around for the source of the noise. Her eyes locked on me and she gave a kind smile.
"What'll it be, dear?" Cleo asked. She had a strong accent, though I couldn't put my finger on what kind. Scottish, maybe? "The farmers brought in fresh raspberries for the tarts. How they managed that in this heat, I'll never know." The dog's tail slapped against my leg and I reached down and patted her again.
"Oh, no, I already ate, ma'am. My friend Wystan said I would be able to find work here. I need to hire an Uber but I don't have enough dice."
"Well, if Wystan sent you, I'd be happy to help. He's a sweet boy. Comes here so often I say that he's the only thing keeping me in business." I laughed softly. "And since Timber here seems to like ya," she said, gesturing to the dog clinging to me, "I say you've got two things goin' for ya. You're hired."
"Really?" I asked, not expecting it to be that easy. When you looked for work in towns you had to do a lot of haggling, and even then they usually shortchanged you. I guess having connections really did help.
"Yes, little miss, really." I grinned at her and squeezed under the table. Timber tried to follow me but I pushed her back, not wanting to get in trouble already.
"Oh, no, she's fine. Even got a dog bed for her in the back," Cleo told me. I let Timber through. She sniffed around for crumbs before getting bored with that and heading toward the back where there was a fuzzy pink dog bed that looked older than I was.
She showed me some things to get started with, then went back to kneading the dough. "So, how much you have to raise?"
"Thirty five dice. Fifty in all."
Cleo whistled under her breath. "Hefty. Their prices keep gettin' higher. I swear to you just last week they were only thirty."
I nodded, measuring out some raspberries for the tarts. They were beautiful, fat, and bright purple. I was practically drooling. Cleo noticed.
"Go 'head, lass. Take one. My, you're all skin and bone. I'll send ya home with a little something extra."
I popped one in my mouth and chewed happily. "Oh my God," I groaned, my eyes fluttering shut. After savoring the entire thing, I turned to look at her over my shoulder. "You don't need to do that, ma'am. I already have enough rations."
She let out a hearty laugh as I mashed the berries in the mortar until they were reduced to a rich, red paste. "No wonder you're so skinny. Stuff like that 'as nothin' to get ya strong."
"Well... thank you." I didn't see any way around it. Old people were stubborn, especially now.
"How do ya know Stan?" she asked after the tarts were over the fire and we had moved on to the loaves of bread.
"We were best friends when we were younger. Then I moved away and we lost touch. After... everything I thought he was dead, or that I'd never see him again. I mean, it's been nine years. I don't even know how he recognized me."
"Fate is a funny thing. Has a way of bringing people back together when you least expect it." I didn't tell her that I don't believe in fate or destiny, only surviving.
"I think it'll be good for him to have a friend from the Old World. Ever since he broke up with that healer girl he hasn't been right."
I stayed silent, not knowing how to respond. Or how to tell her that I was leaving again in just two days.
So his ex was a healer, I thought. Maybe it had been the one I'd seen before I had blacked out. Was the breakup the reason he was taking those pills, or had that just been the stress of life in the apocalypse? Or both?
I made small talk the rest of the day, and Cleo responded the way old people do: with way too many details. I didn't mind, though. It just meant I didn't have to talk as much. I could be alone with my thoughts and Cleo didn't even notice.
The day went by in a flash, although my arms were a bit sore from kneading dough, which went all the way up to my aching shoulder. Before I knew it, the end-of-the-day bell was ringing.
Just as I was about to leave, Cleo called out to me. I turned to see her with an entire loaf of bread in one hand and twenty dice in the other. I gaped at her.
"You really don't need to do this," I told her as she shoved the bread in my arms. She tsked, grabbing one of my hands and pressing the dice into my open palm.
"It's the least I could do, lass." She smiled kindly at me. After a moment of silent debate, I sighed.
"Thank you," I said sincerely, my voice quiet. Cleo patted my arm.
"Be here tomorrow before the second bell goes off, yeah?" I nodded. "Want to start before the real rush comes."
"Yes, ma'am." I ducked under the table. There were considerably less people out now. There came a whine from behind me and I turned, seeing the yellow lab following me. I bit my lip. Wystan probably wouldn't appreciate having a random dog in his flat.
"No, stay here with Cleo," I told her. The dog just cocked its head and I took an experimental step back, seeing if she would follow me. When she didn't move, I let out a sigh and made my way to Wystan's flat, bread and dice balanced in my arms.