Willow
Limping past the animal paddocks, I followed the signs that would lead me to the garden—little wooden placards nailed to trees with small red flowers painted on each. I’d slept very little the night before, kept awake for a variety of reasons, the most pressing being the job I was beginning this morning—my very first job.
It was a week of firsts for me, actually. After an extensive discussion with Leisel, she’d agreed that it was time for me to move out of Doc’s cabin and begin pulling my weight around camp. Regarding living arrangements, I’d been given two options—living with Ella or living with Logan, the only two people in camp who lived alone. Having never met Ella, I’d chosen Logan—figuring the devil you knew was infinitely preferable to the devil you didn’t, and that maybe Logan was right—maybe we could start fresh. Next, we’d discussed my skills, or lack thereof, eventually concluding that I’d try my hand in the garden, tending to the crops grown in camp and I’d agreed. Working outside, doing a job that didn’t require a lot of human interaction, definitely felt like the best option for me.
The sound of bleating sheep and whinnying horses intensified my headache, the sharp smell of manure making me feel downright nauseous. Placing my hand on my stomach, I picked up my pace, hurrying past the barns.
“Hey, Willow—wait up!” Turning, I found Jordy jogging toward me, dressed in swim trunks and a faded Hawaiian print shirt, the open ends flapping as he ran.
“Hey,” I said, forcing a smile. “Wow, look at you—you’re actually wearing a shirt.”
Popping his collar, he flashed me a comically brazen look—wagging his brows while twisting his lips. “Sure am,” he replied. “You like?”
Taking a closer look at the faded pattern, I found the flowery print also contained turtles on surfboards. “It’s very you, Jordy.” I smiled again, a little less forced. “The turtles are cute.”
Jordy brushed a speck of invisible lint from his shoulder. “Just like the bloke wearing it, right?”
I burst into laughter, quickly followed by a pang of longing so sharp, my breath hitched. Jordy was silly in a way that reminded me of Lucas. It didn’t help that his height and build, and chiseled good looks were also so unnervingly similar.
“So,” Jordy continued with a sly smile. “Where’re ya’ headed this morning?”
“I’m supposed to meet Cassie.”
“Ahhh, so you’re on spud duty, huh? Did ya’ pull the short straw?”
Shrugging, I said, “I don’t think they knew what to do with me. I can’t build anything. I don’t know how to cook. I refuse to hunt, and—”
“You refuse to hunt? How come? Can’t imagine anyone surviving outside the wall without having to hunt once in a while.”
“Logan and Luke did that,” I said. “I did a lot of foraging. I don’t really like… killing.”
As I said it, I could hear the echo of distant screaming, the thud of angry fists, and then a series of gunshots—one tiny explosion after another, sending small clumps of lead tearing through the fabric of the atmosphere. Small, and yet capable of so many monumental alterations.
I blew out a slow breath, allowing the warm breeze to carry my nightmare away.
“Yeah, I feel ya.” Jordy flashed another grin. “Well, so, what’re you doing after work—you wanna hang out or something?”
Frozen in place, I blinked at Jordy. Was he asking me to hang out or was he asking me out on a date? The possibility that he could be interested in mein that waymade my stomach flip, and not in a good way.
“I, um, I told Doc I would eat dinner with her today, so, you know.” I gave an apologetic shrug.
“Great,” he said. “So I’ll see you and Doc for tea, then. Oh, and, you know where to find me if you want to cool off later.” Flashing another grin, he jogged off.
I stared after him for a moment, wondering if I was just out of practice interacting with people who weren’t Lucas, the only person who’d ever known me well enough to read between the lines. Or was Jordy just that pushy? One thing was for certain, I definitely wasn’t interested in anything more than friendship. With a short shake of my head, I continued on.
Four women and a teenage boy stood near the garden entrance, loading tools from a nearby shed into several large wheelbarrows. Cassie, who I’d been introduced to only yesterday, glanced up from her work. “Hello, Willow—right on time!” she called out.
Cassie was a curvy woman with dark, close-cropped hair. She wore large hoop earrings and rings on each finger; a floppy-brimmed hat hung around her neck, and a pair of dirty gloves had been stuffed in her pants pocket. Her pale skin was heavily freckled, and she had an intricate tangle of laugh lines around each of her mismatched eyes—one brown, one blue. She could have been anywhere between thirty-five and fifty-five, there was just something timeless about her.
“Hey,” I replied quietly, feeling inexplicably shy as I took in the curious gazes of the others.
“Willow, meet Avery, Ruth, and Ella.” Cassie pointed to each of the women as she named them. Smiles and waves were exchanged from everyone but Ella, whose crossed arms and cocked hip suggested I’d made the right decision to move in with Logan.
“And this is Ruth’s boy, Stuart.” Stuart, who had a vintage cassette player clipped to his jeans and a pair of headphones over his ears, didn’t even look up.
“Not many working batteries to be found anymore, so Xavi built Stuart a solar-paneled Walkman. That man’s a genius and a godsend, if you ask me.” Shaking her head, Cassie continued, “Anyway, you’ll be working with me today, Willow, so I can show you what’s what. Go on and grab that wheelbarrow for me.”
Pulling a long chain from inside her tunic, Cassie produced a key that opened the padlock on the garden gate. It was nothing like the impressive wall surrounding camp, just a stretch of chain-link fencing offering light protection to the crops inside. Holding the gate open, Cassie gestured for the others to enter, each of them pushing their own wheelbarrow.
