The Badass Protector

COLT

AROUND HUNDREDS of vehicles, including bikes and four-wheeler trucks, were parked in the area of Greenebach, and probably thousands of people were inside the parameter.

It reminded me of a 90’s Woodstock Concert my dad used to tell me about.

“Wow! I never thought Greenebach would be like this.” Iris got her head out of the car window. “This is unbelievable. A lot like a Katy Perry Concert.”

I jumped out of the car, opening a door for Iris. I fixed her clothes and hid her necklace under her shirt. I didn’t want those people to recognize her since her actual hair color had started to show off. I let her wear an extra shirt-my plaid, to make her look bigger than her size.

“Just pretend like we’re going grocery shopping, okay? And stay beside me all the time. Can you do that?” I looked right into her eyes.

She smiled and nodded. “Of course.”

I kissed her on her lips. “All right.”

Gael was already in duty mode, carrying the deer he took from the back of the car.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

I checked my gun and grabbed the duffel bag for our trade.

“Twig, your gun?” I gave her the backpack.

“Here.” She pointed at her back and grinned. “Chill out. You’re a lot more nervous than me, Colton.”

“I just feel anxious,” I admitted. “I don’t know what’s in there.”

“We’re gonna be fine.” Her assurance didn’t shake the unsettling feeling in my stomach, but we had to do this.

“Colton!” Iris called out, looking in Gael’s direction, who was now in the middle of the commotion.

“Shit. What happened?” I grabbed Iris and dragged her with me toward the crowd. “Don’t ever let go of my hand.” My pulse raced as we hurried closer.

“Attention! No trading outside the gate!” A man’s voice echoed from the megaphone repeatedly, making us stop.

“We should go back,” I told her as we turned around to walk away.

“What about Gael? We can’t just leave him there.” Her worried voice made me stop.

“He’ll be fine. We stick to the plan no matter what.” When I turned my head, the commotion started to scatter away, and Gael, with his deer, was fine. He then signaled, heading first just as part of our plan.

We followed Gael a few meters apart, just in case someone would recognize him or he would recognize the men we were looking for.

I just hoped Cora’s descriptions were accurate. Otherwise, we would be looking for faceless men.

The place had barbed wire fencing about ten feet tall from the outside and containers from the inside. From my vantage point, there were concrete barriers and guards at the checkpoint.

The gate had two ways-the entrance and an existing one separated by barriers. Two heavily armed guards were in fancy dark blue military uniforms. Another three guards were inside the fence at the top of the containers, and one on the two towers.

The line was about ten yards long, but it moved quickly. Aside from that, piles of people were waiting in the front yard.

After a couple of minutes, I squeezed Iris’ hand as Gael lifted his left wrist to the man and got it stamped.

“Definitely a cheap concert. Follow my lead,” Iris said.

“Iris, don’t,” I whispered through gritted teeth.

“Trust me.”

“Iris,” I groaned, squeezing her hand to resist.

Damn it. Why can’t she ever follow a simple order?

“It’s getting hot in here, sir.” She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand while the other was on her hip. “Thank you, Lord! I thought I had to stand here for another hour.”

Iris got the attention of the first guard. His name was Martinez on the name tape. “Ma’am, your name?”

“Hope Danger, sir. And this is my husband, Colton Danger. And we’re having our first baby!” she said gleefully in a Southerner accent.

He scribbled on the clipboard. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Danger! Ma’am, you may show your wrist for a stamp, then you’re good to go.” He patted the man’s shoulder that stamped Gael and mentioned that Iris was pregnant.

“Left wrist.” The man quickly pressed a stamp on Iris’s wrist and mine.

The stamp was somewhat like a globe, a key, or looked like a spacecraft held at the center-at least three dots on both sides, or seemingly stars connected to the tip of the key. The black ink was smeared, and it was hard to recognize.

“Come here, wife.” I gripped her arm to walk faster away from the guards. With my chest heaving, I stared at her. “What was that for? I told you not to pull any stunt, yet you still defied me.”

I held my breath when she pulled that stunt in front of those men. The good thing was, they didn’t confiscate our belongings, especially our weapons, and if they ever did, I might force myself to back out, and it would look suspicious in their eyes, or we could blow our cover.

Iris was staring at her stamped wrist with furrowed brows. Her pale face had twisted my stomach.

“What is it, Iris?”

Her eyes narrowed at my mine. “I had to do that so they won’t check me!” She snapped. “Turn around if they’re not checking everyone, especially their eyes.”

“Why the eyes?” I turned around, and she was right.

Iris shrugged, still wearing her sunglasses. “I don’t know, but I noticed only on women. You’re the police officer. Why don’t you tell me?” I could feel her eyes rolling behind the dark shades-she was pissed at me.

“And we’re having a baby, huh?” I joked to lighten her mood. And finally, I was able to breathe.

Having a child in a world like this had never crossed my mind, and it would be an awful idea. If she had it right now, I would never put her life at risk by taking her with me-the thought alone was dreadful. I would rather keep her on a small farm somewhere far from the harm brought by this new cruel world.

“Yeah, Mr. Danger. And don’t ever use your real name around here.”

“That thought had crossed my mind, but I was pretty caught up in inspecting the guards and those people surrounding us.” My hand was still holding hers as I was reluctant to let it go.

“Is everything okay?” Gael came closer, still having the deer over his shoulder.

“Yeah. My wife is pregnant. Can you believe that?” I laughed softly, still terrified.

“Very well then. Let’s go, pregnant wife. I can’t believe the Greenebach is huge. How are we going to find those bastards?” he said as he wandered his gaze around.

Gael was right. This place reminded me of the county fair. The presence of many survivors seemed overwhelming, and I had not seen anything like this lately.

“I wanna trade this damn animal right now.”

“Good idea because you start to smell like a corpse.” I pointed to the left. “That side looks like the farmer’s market.”

“Man, anything to trade with my moonshine?” A greasy man with bloodshot eyes and a rumpled appearance approached with a liter bottle of colorless liquid. He looked like he didn’t blink too often.

“With what?” Iris asked.

“Five revolver bullets.”

Iris stared at me with a dazed look on her face.

“Sorry, but we don’t have what you’re looking for,” I dismissed, and the greasy man left hurriedly.

“Really? A moonshine for bullets?”

“This is an open black market, twig. He probably stole it from a stall around here. Don’t ever mention what we have to anyone. I already think twice if we should trade our bullets. We could still scavenge for food, but bullets are hard to find.”

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she muttered and squeezed my hand. The warmth of her words and our hands was a comfort that I could not still believe. It filled the emptiness and ached inside my chest.

“It’s alright. I think what you did back there was your instinctive decision, which was brave. You saved us both the trouble.” The moment she pulled that stunt, my emotions in total shambled. Right now, the urge to pull her into my arms and let her stay there until I realized she was mine was stronger than anything I had ever felt before.

We checked around-instead of the food trailer trucks selling the typical food like corn dogs, pretzels, and candies, they had used clothes, textiles, shoes, small furniture, and kitchen utensils.

“I’m afraid these are stolen,” Iris mumbled.

On the other side were the farm market stalls, selling almost rotten fruits and vegetables surrounded by bugs and flies. There were jars of jam and jellies, packs of flour, small sacks of rice, sugar, and different kinds of can goods.

“Afraid so, and probably most of them were expired.” That place at the corner was more crowded. It suddenly piqued my interest. “Let’s go there.”

“Oh, God!” Iris let go of my hand and ran back to the corner.