Chapter 31: Finally, Some Good Food
“Shit. I already felt bad about hitting you after Amber told me what was going on. But, hearing about the hell your family’s been though in the past few days? Now I feel like a total scumbag. I’m really, really sorry Eli. ” Andrea, Amber’s mother, said remorsefully after they’d all gone inside and explained the situation.
After doing guard duty for the loggers upriver, she’d come home to see what she thought was a crazed, half-naked man assaulting her daughter. Eli couldn’t fault her actions, though. He’d likely have done the same, or worse, if he was in her place. She shot a pointed look at her flaxen-haired daughter. The warning glare of a mother prepared to berate their misbehaving child.
“Me too.” Amber, who sat next to her mother at the large kitchen island that doubled as a bar, complete with four high-backed wooden stools, said, looking thoroughly scolded. “Sorry, Eli.”
“No worries. It’s no big deal.” Eli waved off their concerns with a reassuring smile. “Actually, I have an offer for you. Both of you.” He gestured to Amber and Cait, “If you’re interested, I can teach you combat techniques; train you the same way I trained Vivi and some of the other militia members back in Lancaster.”
Cait was in the process of helping her mother prepare dinner for everyone, and, at Eli’s offer, she laid aside the kitchen knife she was using to chop stalks of fresh celery. “What kind of training?” She asked.
“All kinds.” Eli shrugged. “Strength, tracking, hunting, fighting, weapon handling, shooting, tactics.” He rattled off a quick list. “Basically, everything I know about survival and combat.”
“Is your training difficult?” Dierdre, Cait’s mother, asked. Dierdre worked as a lumberjack….lumberjill?….and she had the stocky physique of a woman who’d spent many years cutting down the massive trees of the surrounding forest, every day, with nothing but axes and hand saws.
“Very.” Eli answered flatly. “It’s designed to break normal people down to nothing, then build them back up as hardcore, lethal soldiers. And since we’re in a forest instead of the Wastes, I have even more to teach. It’ll be extremely exhausting, grueling, and, at times, dangerous. But I can promise you this…” He addressed Amber and Cait, “If you follow through until the end, it’ll save your life when things get violent. You won’t just be good, you’ll be the best. Mist Haven’s elite guards.”
They didn’t look convinced.
“You should do it.” Vivi chimed in. While they talked, Eli was sat on one of the bar stools and Vivi had been standing next to him, but when she offered her opinion, she slid onto his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world and draped an arm over his shoulders. “Sure, it’s hard work, like, ridiculously hard, but it’s actually a lot of fun.”
Eli supported his sister’s back by wrapping his arm around her slim waist, breathing in the pleasant floral scent that clung to her wavy hair. In a moment of self-observation, he realized he was treating her like a girlfriend rather than a sister. And he liked it more than he originally thought he would. Much more.
Amber and Cait locked eyes with each other and had a silent conversation with exaggerated eyebrow movements and facial expressions. A moment later, they apparently reached a consensus.
“I’m in.” Amber said.
“Same.” Cait echoed her sister.
“Great. We start at dawn. Wear clothes you’re comfortable running in. And don’t eat anything before before we start, unless you want to get sick on the roadside.”
Vivi giggled at the sister’s rising trepidation over what they’d gotten themselves into.
Andrea and Dierdre asked a few more questions about what their daughters would be doing, and the girl’s faces grew paler and more hesitant with each answer Eli or Vivi provided. But, to their credit, they remained firm in their decision, never trying to back out of what they’d figuratively signed up for.
Chicken soup and freshly baked sourdough bread was the night’s menu. Dierdre repeatedly reminded everyone that Charlotte was the chef of the family, so they shouldn’t expect anything too fancy, but it smelled infinitely more appetizing than the pre-packaged Lancaster militia meals Eli’d been surviving on for the past two months while his dickhead captain ran his team ragged with back-to-back missions.
“Cait, go fetch Phi and Julie.” Dierdre carried the large cast iron pot full of soup, which smelled good enough to make Eli’s stomach growl in anticipation, to the adjoined dining room.
“Are we not waiting for Charlotte and…I don’t think I caught your husband’s name.” Eli asked when Cait left the kitchen.
“Greyson.” Andrea informed him. “They probably won’t be home before everyone’s asleep.” The confusion on Eli’s face must have been easy to read, because she elaborated without needing to be questioned. “People who’ve committed heinous crimes like murder, rape, and slavery are only allowed to be buried after dark. The previous governor thought an evil life shouldn’t be rewarded by laying them to rest under the sun’s warmth, so he made it law to bury them at night. You’re not supposed to publicly mourn their deaths either, but Equoni was a close friend of Charlotte’s father, so I’m sure he’ll allow them to attend the burial.”
Eli didn’t know what to say. The cynical, vengeful part of him understood the rationale of Lauren not deserving to be honored with a proper burial. That she didn’t deserve to be treated with the same respect and dignity as everyone else, even after death. But he was more empathetic for Charlotte and Greyson, and his heart broke at the idea of parents not being allowed to publicly mourn the death of their child. Even if that child did horrible, evil things. After all, being bereft at the loss of their daughter didn’t mean they approved of her crimes, it just meant they were human. And humans should have the right to freely express their emotions.
His internal struggle with the morality of the situation continued even as he joined everyone at the large oak dining table. He was dragged out of his philosophical musings when Julie placed a steaming bowl of soup in front of him and softly kissed his cheek.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” She asked quietly. “You look upset.”
“It’s nothing.” Eli shook his head. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
Dierdre had seriously downplayed her culinary skills. Or maybe the abundance and variety of readily available fresh herbs resulted in Mist Haven having a higher standard of flavor than Lancaster. Whatever the case, the soup was damn good, and he made sure to voice his appreciation and thanks to the curly haired cook.
Across the table from him, Cait and Amber were engrossed in betting who would do better at which parts of Eli’s training, and discussing the stakes imposed on whoever lost each bet. True to form, it didn’t take long before they became loud enough to be reprimanded by their mothers. Julie sat with Andrea and Dierdre, and the three moms shared stories about their children that they thought were adorable and cute, but their kids found deeply embarrassing and inappropriate at the dinner table. Baby-shitting-in-the-bathwater type stories.
With Vivi to his left, and Sophia to his right, Eli was an unintentional obstruction to the conversation they were having.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Sophia listlessly waved a chunk of bread at Vivi, “I’m grateful for the help, but I’d rather have someone else change the bandaging next time.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Vivi nodded. “Mom’s just not cut out for medical care. She means well, but she’s too rough about it sometimes.”
“Mhm.” Sophia agreed with a coy smirk directed at Eli. “What about you, Eli? Do you think Julie can be too rough sometimes?”
“Personally, I like it when she gets rough.” He winked.
“Is that the only way you like it?” It must have been her first time trying to tease someone that way, or tease a man that way, because she couldn’t look him in the eye for more than a second or two before quickly turning away.
“No. I also enjoy when it’s slow and gentle. Sometimes it’s better to take your time, use a soft touch, and do it with more than just your hands.” He lowered his voice and spoke slowly, enjoying the way she awkwardly fought against her embarrassment.
“More than your hands? What…” She quietly cleared her throat. “What else would you use?”
“My mouth.” Eli stared into her emerald eyes with a predatory grin.
“Mouth?” Sophia breathed. “H-how does that work?”
“Delicately, at first. But it can get pretty rough too, sometimes.” His words made her cheeks turn a vibrant shade of rosy pink.
“And you warned me not to tease her too much.” Vivi rolled her eyes at him. “Hypocrite.”
“Sorry, sorry. You’re absolutely right.” Eli held his hands up in mock surrender. “In my defense, she started it.”
“Hey, Eli.” Cait interrupted.
“Shut up!” Amber hissed at her sister, her face beet red.
“Do you like younger girls? Like, ohhhh, say, sixteen years old?” Cait asked sweetly.
“Aha!” Vivi belted out a laugh and clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle it.
Sophia openly laughed without reservation.
“Well…” Eli glared reproachfully at Vivi. “No, I don’t like younger girls. But sixteen isn’t younger, since I’m the same age.”
Both girl’s eyes widened and their eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Haaaaah. Yup. That’s exactly the reaction I expected. Maybe I should just tell people I’m twenty and avoid this happening with every new person I meet. The novelty of getting this type of reaction wore off a long time ago. He sighed to himself.
“No fucking way. You’re the same age as us?” Cait asked.
“Mhm.” Sophia giggled with a sideways glance at Eli. “It’s shocking, isn’t it?”
Cait and Amber looked back and forth between Eli and Vivi, their eyebrows furrowed, trying to grasp the implications of his statement, and probably about to say something that would undoubtedly annoy Vivi.
“We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Eli steamrolled the conversation in a different direction to avoid letting them say anything that would make Vivi pouty for the rest of the night. “You’ll need to be well-rested for what I’m going to put you through. We should all get to sleep soon.” He shoveled the last few spoonful’s of chicken soup into his mouth.
“Can I join you tomorrow?” Sophia asked.
“Sure.” Eli pointed to her hip. “If you’re okay with that tearing open and me stitching you up again.” He turned in his chair to face her directly. “Give it at least ten days to heal up, alright? If it’s scarred-over enough by then, you’re more than welcome to train with us.”
Sophia pouted. She actually pouted. And it was the cutest thing he’d seen from the beautiful long-eared woman since he’d met her.
“Seven days.” Sophia bargained.
“Ten.” Eli shut her down. “This isn’t up for negotiation. I didn’t arbitrarily choose that number, that’s just how long it takes the body to heal a wound that size.”
Sophia deflated at his solid reasoning. “Fine.” She grumbled. “Ten days.”
With their meal finished, Eli helped clear the dinner table. He started to help clean the dishes, but Andrea put a stop to it, insisting she leave that job to her and Dierdre since he was a guest in their home. Amber and Cait, taking his advice about going to bed early, headed upstairs for the night. Julie opted to hang out in the kitchen a little longer to continue talking with the other mothers. She was making new friends, and Eli hoped their budding friendship would continue when Andrea and Dierdre learned about his, well, non-traditional relationship with Julie.
Traveling hundreds of miles all across the Wastes. Sleeping in shifts every night. The constant threat of feral attacks. Actual feral attacks. A high-stakes infiltration and rescue operation behind enemy lines. Constant paranoia. Attacked by a giant fucking wolf and it’s pups. Ambushed by human traffickers. All the events of the past nine weeks, including the non-stop clearing of feral hordes with his sweeper team, seemed to catch up to Eli all at once.
He finally had a chance to drop his guard, relax his built-up tension. And, after a hot shower and a good meal in a safe house, his exhaustion was overwhelming. He was in a drowsy stupor, barely able to keep his eyes open by the time he’d found his toothbrush, brushed his teeth, and shuffled his way into the spare bedroom at the end of the hall.
“Smells nice in here.” He murmured, kicking his boots off to the side. “Like red cedar.”
The bed, which was centered against the wall at the back of the room, below a brown-curtained window, was all he could focus on once he spotted it. His clothes fell to the floor like a trail of breadcrumbs as he stripped his way toward the bed’s sweet, sweet promise of comfort and rest. He fell face-first onto one of the pillows, sprawled out at an odd angle across the bed. Honestly, in that moment, he couldn’t move his body even if he wanted to. His muscles no longer obeyed his commands, stubbornly remaining limp and useless. Something, probably a hand, gently touched the bare skin of his back. That was his last conscious observation before sleep overcame him.
