Genesis

Waterguns and Tampons

     "These are your knives," I told them, handing out the blades to their owners. Each looked happy with theirs as I thought about how it was possible for Colt to know which one they would love. But then again, it could have been that they were happy holding any shiny, stabby object.

     "Wait a minute," Lucius started, "Shouldn't we get everyone knives? You know, empower the people?"

     I paused for a moment, before saying, "No, I think we've learned enough from the national weapon crisis coming to a violent end in the 2030s."

     Lucius thought for a moment, before turning to me and nodding his head, "True, true."

     "Okay, so, obviously, not everyone has the best intentions with knives. That's why there's going to be a system of sorts."

     Dorian crossed his arms as he leaned casually against the side of the truck, "System?"

     "Yes. So, you might have noticed that every knife is different from the next, right?"

     When they nodded, I continued, "That's how we know whose knife is whose. The knives are yours, and you're allowed to lend them to others for hunting and stuff like that, and that way they'll be easy to track. Also because there will only be six knives to track. One for everyone here, since we know we can trust each other."

     Lucius raised an eyebrow at me, "So you're saying that you trust Colt with a knife?"

     "Yes, I do."

     He leaned slightly closer to me, "You shouldn't. He's a lot more dangerous than you think."

     "What are you so worried about?" I asked him, raising my own eyebrow in defiance.

     He held his arms up in surrender at my interrogatory tone, "Nothing, nothing at all. Just that I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night with a dagger in my back."

     Dorian unfolded his arms and took a step closer to us, "Well he did have that makeshift bone-knife until now. He could have just killed you with that if he really wanted to. Changing topic, we should think about heading off soon since we're all done with the boxes."

     "So, tell me again," I said, "You've packed everything?"

     "Yeah," Dorian began, "We have all the canned and boxed non-perishables, blankets, coolers, more tents, sleeping bags, blankets, kitchen stuff, all sorts of summer and winter clothes, socks and shoes. Uh... first aid kits, toilet paper, deodorant, dental hygiene products, water containers, flashlights, and batteries. Also portable lamps, and then there's a little more space for whatever Colt is bringing. I forget anything?"

     "Nope, nothing," I replied with a smile, before turning my head to see Colt dragging two shopping carts behind him, filled to the brim with stuff.

     "Hey, Colt," Danny waved to him as he approached us.

     "Hey," he replied in a surprisingly non-aggravated tone, "Here's everything we need."

     "What's in there?" I asked him.

     He walked to stand in front of the carts as he replied, "A few electric generators, portable showers, some grills, bunsen burners, cookery, fishing and hunting tools."

     "What kinds of hunting tools?" I asked.

     "Just wires and hooks for traps. No other knives, per the system," he said as he noticed Lucius eyeing him, at which he gestured from him to the carts, "You're free to check if you don't believe me."

     Lucius smiled at him, "Why wouldn't I trust you? Now, let's get these things loaded into the truck," he suggested, before picking up a box from the cart and going to place it in the truck.

     It didn't take as long as I thought it would to pack everything from the two carts into the truck. When we finished, I noticed Dorian smirking at the space we had left for just a couple of boxes. I knew immediately what he was thinking.

     "No," I told him, "No water guns."

     "Come on," he grinned at me, "Why not? It's not like we have anything else we need to take."

     I thought for a moment, and then the thought hit me.

     "You sure about that?" I asked him.

     He raised an eyebrow, "What are we missing? What is so much more important than water guns? I mean they're water guns for God's sake. What could we possibly need more than that?"

     "Tampons, maybe."

     His face cringed slightly at my mention of them, "Okay, yeah, but they're not more important than water guns."

     I crossed my arms in front of my chest and cocked my eyebrow with a sly smirk, "Huh. That's very funny. It's also funny that you think this is a negotiation. The fact is that you don't have a choice in the matter. Unless you want every girl in camp to detest your very being."

     He looked as if he was about to speak, but then abruptly closed his mouth and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another.

     "Piece of advice," I started as he brought himself to a stand-still, "Never say what you just said to anyone but me," I smiled at him before leaning slowly towards him and whispering in his ear, "Who knows what they'll do to you then."

     I laughed when I saw the puzzled yet startled look on his face, "I'm kidding. Sort of. Just come with me and help me find some boxes of them."

     I started to walk away as he half-jogged to catch up with me, and we began our search.