Don't Be The Hero

Twenty Six

Nina pov.

Everything was fine as I jogged up the street. Trees were green, I could hear water somewhere, birds chirping, the occasional car that passes me. The smells of nature and car flooded my nose. Seven miles later the road trails off to a dirt road. I stop to ponder which way to go when a truck passes me. It stops abruptly and backs up. "Nina? What're you doing out here?" A man asks from the drivers seat. "Cory?" I asked coming up to the side of the truck. From what I could see, his pale brown hair was peppered with grey, from what you could see with his buzz cut. He had some stubble around his jaw, and his eyes looked tiered. "I almost didn't recognize you there. Have you gotten taller?" I laughed. "Maybe a little. How've you been?"
He shrugged. "Still hanging in there. Running out of workers though. They all keep getting crushed by trees. Is your dad here?" I shook my head. Why does everyone ask that? "He's in Texas. Just me and Jack, and my uncle Victor. But if your looking for people to swing axes, I don't doubt that he could, but he's not very good at it." That made him laugh. "We would appreciate it if you two could come down and help out sometime. We're getting a bit behind..." I nod. "Yeah, sure, I leave on Saturday, but I bet we could fit it in. I'll come by tomorrow?" He nodded. "Thanks, we appreciate it. Any time your around and have nothing to do, come on over and take a few swings."
I nodded and stepped back so he wouldn't run over my toes. He smiled at me and drove off down the dirt and gravel road. I turned around and started running back.

When I flung open the door. Jack was on the couch waiting for me. "What took so long? You took five more minutes than normal." I unlaced my shoes and set them by the door. "I stopped to talk."
I walked down to the bathroom and he followed me. "I ran into Cory. You remember him, right? He works at the lumber yard? Yeah I talked to him a bit." I walked into the bathroom and peeled off my socks, and then my sweaty shirt. "Hope you don't mind but they needed help, so I said tomorrow we could come over and help?" He nodded. "Yeah that's fine. Sounds fun."
I reached over and closed the door. My shower was faster than normal, but I felt clean. Dressing in some jeans and a T shirt I was met by Jack in the kitchen. "We gotta go. Johnny has a piano lesson in twenty." I was still searching for food when he grabbed my arm. "But I'm hungry."
"I'll buy you something later. We gotta go." He dragged me to the door. I peeled his hand off my wrist. "Ouch."
His face falls. "I'm sorry." I shrug it off. "Next time you do that I'll punch you." He didn't doubt me for a minute. I let him drive. First we went to a few small stores, and I bought a few things. A few shirts, a pair of shorts. I even found a nice casual shirt for semi formal occasions. It was a ruffled grey lacy thing, and when I tried it on it felt soft, and it wasn't too annoying... Plus Jack said it looked good on me so I bought it.

Around lunch time, we went to the bar, partially to check to see if Victor killed anyone yet. I sniffed him out, and he was tucked away in a corner, near a poker game. When I walked in, half the people looked at me, and out of them I remember a few of them because they talked to my dad at some point. Half of them started begging me to do a cage fight. I politely refused. Can't risk loosing my brain and killing some random guy. I went to sit by Victor while Jack ordered food. "What's up?" I asked. He shrugged. "Did you sleep last night?" I asked. He shook his head. "I don't sleep. Why are you here?"
"I was hungry and wanted food. This is the only good place in town." Jack came over with two burgers for me with fries, and a soda for him. I inhaled my food. Victor sat emotionless as I chowed down. "Want some?" I asked him, pushing over some fries. He nudged it back. "I'm good."

After I finished eating, a nice looking waitress came over with a beer and set it down in front of me. "It's from the guys over there. Good luck." I nodded a thank you at her and took a drink. I looked around behind me to the men she nodded to. With a glance, I looked at the three of them. There was a frail looking old guy, a teen with too much eyeliner, and some macho dude with a mustache. It was one heck of a mustache. I turned back around. And spoke quietly to Jack. "I knew people know who I am, but I didn't expect them to acknowledge it." He stuffed another fry in his mouth. "Ok. Eat up." I ignored him and got up. Walking calmly over to the men I stood in front of them. "Thank you for the drink."