Dani smiled, but not as broadly as Lynn had assumed she would at the knowledge of returning home victorious in her quest. Instead, Dani found and held her gaze for a few seconds, then leaned down and handed Lynn her shirt. “Here. We should get back. Richard’s body is outside.”
“I’ll hurry.” Lynn slipped her shirt on—the newly acquired cotton one—and pulled the wet rope from her previously worn pair of pants to secure the new ones after wringing it out thoroughly. Dani had cleaned the dirt and grime off her boots, which was both surprising and touching. She pulled them on and gathered the wad of wet clothes in one hand as she picked up her tomahawk with the other. Dani’s hand had felt better to hold, but Lynn was capable of carrying her own weight again. “Done.”
Her clothes left a drippy trail on the cracked concrete as they covered the distance to the camp. This time, Lynn paid attention to her surroundings. Her brain was much clearer, but she was tired, both physically and emotionally. She appreciated Dani’s foresight to stay at the camp another night. The thought of getting on the road right now was enough to make Lynn want to cry—and she didn’t do crying.
Lynn jolted as she realized something else was out of the norm. She checked around her. “Um, where’s Skeever?”
“Oh.” Dani blushed. “I locked him in. I figured you wouldn’t want an excited dog splashing around, you know?” She checked on Lynn from the corner of her eye.
For a moment, Lynn’s feathers were irrationally ruffled—who did Dani think she was to make decisions for her like that?—then she realized Dani was absolutely right. Peacefully soaking in ice-cold water was exactly what she’d needed, not sixty pounds of excited dog jumping all over her and splashing water every which way. “Thanks.”
Dani relaxed. “It was literally the least I could do. I owe you. It… it must have been bad. I can’t even imagine.”
Images flashed before her mind’s eye, but Lynn suppressed them as quickly as they came up. “It wasn’t fun.” There was no point in rehashing the experience. Dani had asked her to do it for a reason; she didn’t need the gory details now that it was over.
“Still. Thank you. I really am grateful.”
Lynn turned her head to examine Dani openly. “I wouldn’t have done it for anyone else.”
Dani looked up sharply.
Before she could ask for clarification, Lynn pushed on. “We should get him inside, out of the sun at least. He’s… The heat isn’t going to do him any good.”
Curiosity turned to pained disgust on Dani’s features. She bit into her lower lip. “You want to bring him inside? With us?”
Lynn cast a sweeping glance at her surroundings. In the distance, the dealership appeared. “You don’t?”
“No! I do! I just… I wasn’t sure you’d be okay with it.”
“Well, not into the bedroom.” She realized instantly that sounded weird and disgusting and hurried to explain. “There’s a garage in the back. If we can get the door open, we can get the cart in. The garage is a separate space. It should contain the smell at least a little, and he’d be safe. I don’t want to attract the local wildlife any more than you.”
“Yes. Thank you. Let’s do that.” Dani looked at her again. “Thank you.”
Lynn chuckled despite her exhaustion and soreness. “You really have to stop saying that. I did it, it’s done. It’s in the past. Time to move on, okay?”
When Dani responded, it was with hesitation. “Does it… make it easier for you to look at life like that? To just… relegate bad things to the past?”
Does it? “Yeah, I suppose it does. My dad used to tell me to look behind you only to make sure there is nothing there that might kill you. It’s smart. You focus on things that you can still influence—and that might kill you.”
Dani seemed to ponder that, even as she looked behind her reflexively, as if reminded of potential danger. “It is smart, yeah, but also jaded.”
Lynn frowned. “Why jaded?”
“Because there are good things in the past too. And those can keep you going when things get rough.”
“Hm.” Lynn shrugged. “Maybe.” There weren’t a lot of good memories in her past, and even those few usually ended in heartache she didn’t want to be reminded of. Like you. She glanced at Dani and quickly looked away when Dani started to turn her head toward her. Once we split, all of these memories will be tainted.
They turned onto the parking lot.
Skeever’s frantic bark formed a welcome diversion. “Let’s get Richard in before we let Skeever out. If he’s smart, he’ll stay away, but…” She shrugged sheepishly.
The attempt at levity fizzled. A smile ghosted across Dani’s lips, but her gaze was directed at the cart. Reality had hit again.
All worries about the future evaporated in a rush of sympathy. Lynn put her tomahawk away and gently took Dani’s arm. “Come on. Let’s get him somewhere safe.”
For once, everything pre-war cooperated: the garage door could be lifted with a hand crank mounted to the inside wall of the building. It was rusty, and the first few turns were hell on Lynn’s sore arms, but she persevered.
Next to her in the dark, Dani waited impatiently. Once the door was up high enough, she slipped under, retrieved the cart, and pulled it inside.
Lynn let go of the crank. The metal door crashed onto the concrete with a grating noise that echoed painfully loudly in her ears. “Dammit.” She squinted as the ringing subsided.
Dani stood by the cart, gaze glued to it. She didn’t seem rattled by the noise.
This is probably a good time to disappear for a while. “I’ll be, uh, around if you need me.” Lynn pointed to the door that led back to the showroom even as she walked backward toward it.
“Okay.” Dani didn’t look up.
Lynn turned and left the heavy atmosphere behind to free Skeever from the bedroom he’d been locked into.
He was excited to see her, of course, but mostly he needed to pee. She let him out and watched him hurry to the nearest patch of green to relieve himself. Before she headed out, she looked back at the door in the far wall, wedged between the two offices that had served a bedroom for them and a morgue for Richard. Dani was behind it, hurting, and Lynn’s heart hurt in turn. She was very familiar with the type of pain Dani was feeling. With a sigh, she let the front door fall shut behind her and allowed Dani to say her goodbyes in peace.
She poked up the fire and wrung out her clothes before laying them out in a half circle. She would have loved to burn them instead—just the thought of wearing that outfit again left her with palpitations—but that feeling would pass. They were good clothes, and she didn’t have too many of those.
Lynn made use of the quiet time to thoroughly coat her injuries with the ointment Ren had provided and to wrap them up again—just not too tightly, in case the swelling worsened. “Fucking mess.” Yeah, it worried her that the injuries weren’t healing half as well as she wanted them to, but there was nothing she could do about it. Resting the damn arm would help. Sadly, that wasn’t an option. Lynn sighed. Time to make tea.
Skeever explored around the building but returned often to check in. She scratched him lazily under the jaw or behind his ears whenever he did.
By the time Lynn was halfway through her tea, which settled the last of her lingering nausea, Dani returned. She sat down by Lynn’s side wordlessly and took the other tin Lynn had put out. Her hands trembled. She was also paler than Lynn was used to, and her eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot.
“I take it that was hard.”