This Lullaby ( Kaylor )

( the war outside )

You all are going to hate me for this.  That's all I have to say.

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Karlie leaned down to press a kiss to Taylor's temple, lightly shaking the older girl's shoulder.  Taylor stirred with a startled jolt, nearly headbutting Karlie as she moved to sit up.  Gently, Karlie breathed soft shushing noises between her teeth to soothe the blonde, running  a hand through her hair, "Hey, I just wanted to tell you I'm going hunting."

"Hunting?" Taylor murmured, rubbing at her eyes like a sleepy little kid.  They'd actually only been asleep for about two hours, but Karlie wanted to go out while the morning light had only barely started cracking over the trees.

Karlie nodded gently, going to tug on her boots and lace them, "There's a rifle in the kitchen pantry.  We're running low on food so I thought I'd go and get something that'll be a little more substantial.  I promise I won't skin it inside of the house where you can see."

"'Kay.  Be safe, sunshine," Taylor murmured, already almost asleep again.  Karlie felt herself smirk a little.  She'd really worn the other girl out last night, obviously. 

Gently, she leaned down, pressing a kiss to droopy, sleepy lips, "I will.  I'll be back in a couple hours at most."

Taylor hummed in response, and Karlie left one of the handguns on the nightstand in easy reach.  She smoothed Taylor's hair, then left, flipping the interior lock on the doorknob as she left the bedroom so the room would be a little more secure.  She set the pile of wood in front of the door, where she'd be able to get in and not hit it when she got home, but where any intruders (living or dead) would knock it to the ground and cause a noise loud enough to rouse Taylor.

Karlie bundled herself up as warmly as possible before grabbing the rifle from the kitchen.  She dry fired it once, checking that it worked, then loaded bullets into the chamber.  Satisfied, she slipped past the woodpile and out the door.

The morning was crisp and cold, everything dim and coated in a thick mask of grayish fog.  Somewhere off to her right, the sun was breaking above the trees like a giant egg, oozing yellow-orange light that cast strange shadows in the fog.  Karlie was uncomfortable with the fact she couldn't see very far, but the rifle she held and the hunting skills she knew she had made her confident.

Her mother and sisters had always been too squeamish to go on these early morning ventures.  So it became something she did with her father, one of the rare times he paid more attention to her than work.  Of course, they hardly talked at the risk of startling game, but it had been nice to be close to him.  They'd started when Karlie was ten, and they'd still traversed into the woods near their house whenever she visited in her 20's.

Karlie found a tree that overlooked a clearing, lined with freckles of flowers and summer grass that still clung just weakly to life.  It was a perfect place for deer to graze.  Throwing the rifle over her back, she climbed up into a fork in the branches, where she could see the hollowed out areas but where she couldn't be seen due to the leaves and the fog.

For a long time, there was nothing.  Silence except for a few birds chirping and shrieking as they flew past.  The silence was surprisingly peaceful, and after about half an hour, Karlie rested her head against the tree trunk.  It wasn't long before sleep crawled into her muscles, thickening her blood and latching on to her eyelids to pull them down.

When she woke again, maybe an hour later, the fog had fizzled into smoke.  And there was the rustling sound, familiar, slow heartbeats of steps on leaves.  Karlie shifted, just barely, so she could settle the rifle stock in the hollow of her shoulder.  There was a deer in the clearing, young and with ribs stabbing at its sides.  But it was food.