The Varkari

Ambiance

Apparently, he did not dodge fast enough because in the next moment he was letting go to twist around when two more loud thuds stunned and then had him limply sliding off of me, fingers twitching. A hooded figure stood over him with a baseball bat, a hand reaching up to reveal my savior.

"What in the hell are you doing on the roads, girlie?" An angry female voice greeted me in the dark which was probably the best possible thing I could hear, but all I could make out was her bulky coat and giant hair.

"Oh, thank you baby Jesus," I panted.

"Come on, we need to get out of here asap since he called in support," she muttered. "Leave the bike."

"But how will we-"

"Hurry!"

I forced my worthless legs to get up and staggered behind her as she set a grueling pace behind the house. We passed through two back yards until we came to a golf cart. It was the perfect apocalypse vehicle because it did not have a loud engine to give up our location. As soon as we sat down, she turned it around and we sped off in the opposite direction.

I couldn't help but notice that she had gathered a duffle bag of supplies throughout the night, which made my puny grocery sack look like a single nut collected by a squirrel to get me through the winter. My stomach growled in response.

She drove across an overgrown golf course, sticking to the paths where she could to hide our trail and eventually stopped at a storage cabin tucked against the woods. "This is where I've been hiding out. We are far enough away from the city that I don't get the drones very often."

I heard a Bic lighter clicking before her face was finally revealed. Her skin was a deep brown, framed by a mass of tight springy curls, with soft dark eyes and plush lips.

"Have you been out here this whole time alone?" I whispered.

She lit a candle, illuminating a counter packed with others. I noticed that the curtains had been pulled tightly shut and taped to the walls. There were bi-fold tables set up on one side of the room covered in nonperishables and a couch pushed right up next to a fireplace with sticks piled next to it. I made a mental note on the firewood supply.

"Yes. My dad and I used to run the restaurant on the golf course," her eyes became a bit distant as she paused to remember what I knew must have been a terrible day. "But I have a strict set of rules that keeps me safe and you will have to follow them too if you want to stay here."

I nodded vigorously. "Trust me, I don't want to go back."

"You escaped?"

"Yes."

Her eyes dropped down my body. "Were you a...? Did they, you know...?"

I told her about the lucky pair I had lived with and the events that allowed my escape. "I think they get so crazy about females that they just stop thinking straight and attack anything," I finished.

"So you think this Admiral is out looking for you?"

I shrugged. "Definitely. But since he is a First Token, he could take any woman he wants by right. He doesn't need me necessarily. It's just a matter of time before he thinks I died out here and gives up."

The distrust in her eyes was noticeable. "Rule number one, always have a weapon. Rule number two, look before you go. They are usually moving, driving, or flying. Stop and scan before moving into the open. Three, don't go out at night. They hunt more at night and have the advantage of being able to see in the dark."

"Why were you out, then?"

She cocked out a hip and frowned at me as though mad at the insinuation that she would break her own rule. "A hunting party was in the area yesterday and I laid low. They have been going through all the houses around where I found you, looking for your ass. I couldn't move until right when I saw that one get you."