Red Rock

Chapter 15: A Lack of Power and Noble Intentions (Part 2)

Daire finished gathering the traps from the forests and was excited to see that the coyotes hadn't indulged on the rodents' corpses. The walk back was nice and brisk. The warm wind of summer was blowing through his hair as he ran his hand around his face. 'I need a shave,' he thought, feeling the hairs recoil against his fingers, reminding him of the amount time he had now spent on the red planet. He missed the familiarities of seeing the only two faces he ever really cared about, Ed and Kurtis. It seemed like forever since he had confronted their two different personalities. He wished things had never come this far.

"Daire! Daire!" Sam shouted, skipping toward him at a ferocious pace. "I have the most wonderful news!"

Daire put on a fake smile. Good news to Sam probably meant somewhat of a recovery for the injured man back at camp. "What is it?" Daire humored her.

"We have eight more newcomers!"

Daire's jaw dropped, he hadn't expected this many people so soon. "Eight?" he repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah!" Sam said, jumping up and down. "And one of them said they know you!"

Daire's heart lit up. "Where are they?"

Sam shot her finger out toward the nearest forest. "Over there! Jacob put them on building duty with Nick!"

Daire had mixed feelings about the location of the new cabin. It made sense that the structure should be built next to the main source of supplies, but sneaking the rations back to home base just became that much harder. It didn't matter at the moment. He had a hunch he knew the person was that claimed they knew him. And if it was this person, she would know what to do.

Daire sprinted by Sam with no regard for the growing concerns of the one armed man. 'Could it be?' he thought, rushing into the construction site, darting his eyes around to find a familiar face. He was right, after only a few seconds of searching he found his eyes settling on the short haired brunette woman he wanted so desperately to see. It was Sasha.

Daire ran up to Sasha who was not aware of his presence and gave her a gladiator-like hug. Sasha turned around startled and smiled when she realized it was Daire. "You nearly scared the shit out of me," she smiled, embracing him properly.

"I can't believe you're alive!" Daire said excitedly, squeezing her.

"Neither can I," she laughed.

Daire let go and looked her in the eye. "You have to tell me what happened!"

Sasha laughed again, appreciating how much he had missed her. "She will later," Jacob said, putting a freshly cut log down on the ground. "Right now she has a job to do. She'll fill you in tonight."

Daire nodded. "That's probably for the best."

Sasha smiled. "Besides, you got some leader things to do anyways don't you?"

Daire chuckled. "Yeah, something like that." He turned to Jacob. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Daire and Jacob separated from the workers to talk in private. "You like the progress?" Jacob bragged about the cabin. "This thing should be finished in the next couple days."

Daire nodded in approval. "I love it," he said. "But what are we going to do about the rations. Now that Sasha is here, she can help us with this."

Jacob's business face came back on. "I was going to suggest that we move them to this cabin early in the morning instead of the other one. It would be a lot less work and would be easier to conceal. I already ran it over with her and she's on the same page."