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CHAPTER TWO

GYRIK

“How does it look?” Will asked.

Crouched low, I studied the group waiting at the snow-covered crossroads below. After days of broadcasting on the shortwave radio, a man had finally responded that his group was running low on supplies.

Since humans didn’t trust one another—too many would hurt their own kind for supplies, no matter how meager—we’d arrived at the meetup place he’d designated early enough to observe the group for a time.

“One near the car is moving like he’s anxious. The others are calmer. I don’t see any weapons.” I paused as a car door opened, and a person wearing a dress emerged.

“What?” Will asked. “You just did that blink thing you do when you’re confused.”

“I…” I didn’t know what to say. My brothers and I had lived thousands of years without understanding what a female was because we’d had none of our own. However, since coming to the surface and discovering human females, we saw and appreciated their uniqueness. Each one had their own version of beauty. But the one warming her hands below was…

“We’re leaving in two seconds if you don’t say something,” Will said.

“Do males wear women’s clothing?” I asked, finally tearing my gaze from the group to look at Will.

We’d been together for weeks, searching the northern Midwest for survivors. So I was used to Will and how he grinned at me when he found my lack of knowledge entertaining. It didn’t bother me. I knew I still had much to learn.

He grinned at me now. “Some men did before the world went to shit. Not sure how many still would now. The world outside of our sanctuaries seems even meaner than it was. Why are you asking?”

“I think a male is wearing a dress to pretend he is female. He looks pretty, but…not?”

Will laughed and clapped my back.

“This sounds like another trap. Let’s head down and see if they’ll trade information for food. No getting shot, okay?”

We crept backward until we could stand without being noticed by the group below, and I stayed near the trees while Will jogged back toward the vehicles parked along the side of the snow-covered road.

He grabbed the radio as he closed his door, and I listened to him tell Zach and Bram to stay where they were. Bram gave me a thumbs-up from his vehicle as Will started the engine and left to head toward the meetup site.

Watching the group in the valley below, I tried not to feel the disappointment and hopelessness that wanted to consume me. We’d been looking for survivors for weeks, and although we’d made contact with several groups like the one today, we hadn’t found a single female.

Were the only surviving females in Tolerance and Tenacity? I hoped not. I’d already spoken to those females more than once, and none of them had any interest in me.

I rubbed the ache in my chest and reminded myself of the maps Bram had shown me. The North American continent was vast. It would take us years to search it and even more to explore the other continents.

Patience, I reminded myself. You will find the perfect female eventually.

When I knew Will was getting close, I waved to Zach and Bram and ran down the hill.

I reached the trees alongside the group as Will’s vehicle approached.

“Get ready,” the one wearing the dress said in a deep voice. “Don’t shoot until we know where the supplies are.”

I sighed at hearing the confirmation that they had weapons. Too many humans were like that now. Angry. Demanding. More concerned about taking than contributing.

Will cut the engine and threw the keys on the dash. Then he got out of the vehicle and raised his hands up, palms out.

He insisted we give each group a chance to prove their worth. I understood why—there were so few humans left—but I also hated that Will, a good man, risked his life to test the worthiness of others.

“My name’s Will,” he said. “Who did I speak with on the radio?”

“Me,” a man said. “Adree. What did you bring?”

Will smiled. “Help if you want it. We have a community farther south. Greenhouses. Self-sufficiency. Cows. Chickens. Hell, they even found some goats. Not sure what we’ll do with those yet, but they’re pretty entertaining to watch.”

A few of the men exchanged glances.

“So you didn’t bring supplies,” Adree said.

“We’ve found that traveling with handouts only gets us robbed,” Will said.

One man swore and reached behind him for the weapon he hid there.

In a blur, I sprinted into their midst, disarming and knocking them out with a light tap to their heads until only the person in the dress remained standing. Although I’d taken his weapon, I hesitated to make him sleep like the others. Mom said that women could grow facial hair, but she’d said it usually was very light. My gaze dipped to his-her chest. Not all females had discernible breasts.

“You’re going to need to get undressed,” Will said, standing beside me as I stared at the person.

“Why?”

“Because you’re confusing him,” Will said. “He needs to know if you’re actually a woman.”

He-she glanced at me. I could see the revulsion and fear but also the anger and hate. Emotions I often saw when both males and females looked at me.

“What the fuck is he?” the person asked.

“He’s one of the guys who helped kill most of the infected a few weeks ago. Might want to be nice and listen.”

The man stripped, and I knocked him unconscious once I saw his penis.

“Sorry he wasn’t a she,” Will said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Maybe this group has a bigger home base like we do. But even if these guys don’t have some single ladies tucked away somewhere, I’m sure we’ll find one eventually.”

He moved off and started tying up the unconscious men. I lifted the naked one and tugged his dress over his head before tying his hands and tossing him back into the vehicle so he wouldn’t get cold.

When I faced Will, he had one man propped up and was tapping his face as our second vehicle came rumbling along the road.

“Time to wake up, sunshine,” Will said.

When the man didn’t respond, Will reached into his pocket for one of the vials that smelled so bad it woke unconscious humans. The man coughed as he came to.

“There you are,” Will said.

The man’s dazed gaze drifted to me. His eyes went wide, and he screamed at the same time he tried to climb over Will to get away from me. Will slapped him hard. He claimed it was the best way to shake a person out of their shock. I didn’t think it left a better impression of me.

With my grey skin, pointed ears, and yellow-green eyes, I’d not yet seen a human welcome one of my kind the first time they saw us. My extra height and bulk didn’t make me any less intimidating to new people.

The man froze and stared at Will as he gasped for breath.

“You have a choice to make here,” Will said. “You can tell us about your base and receive a week’s worth of rations, or you can say nothing, and we’ll find your base on our own, and you get nothing.”

The man’s fear-filled gaze flicked to me again. Then to Bram and Zach, who joined us.

“Wha-wha-what is he?” the man stuttered.

Zach grinned at me. This part of meeting new people amused him. He said it was better to be the one scaring people than to be the one scared.

“He’s our friend,” Will said. “And we’re interested in making more friends, not enemies. You understand me?”

The man nodded.

“After pulling guns on me when I was clearly unarmed, we’re not off to a good start.”

“Wh-what do you want to know?” the man asked, his gaze shifting between me, Will, and Bram and Zach. “I’ll tell you anything.”

“How many of you are back at your camp or base, or whatever you call it? Are there any women or children? Are they being mistreated or kept against their will?”

How many times had I heard Will ask these questions now? Six? Seven times? The ache in my chest returned, but I didn’t rub it now. I focused on the frightened male watching me.

“Everyone you see here and three more back at the homestead,” he said. “Adree’s grandma is still with us. She’s not doing well, but she’s not mistreated. It’s why we need the supplies.”

Grandma was a term humans used to address aged females like Mary. I liked Mary. She was kind and washed my clothes for me and liked to pat my thigh. It saddened me that another grandma like Mary wasn’t doing well.

“What’s wrong with her?” Will asked.

“Age. She was forgetting things before this all started. She’s been getting weaker, too. Doesn’t like to get out of bed. Adree takes care of her.”

“What does she need?” Will asked.

“Just more food. She doesn’t eat much, even when Adree mashes it up for her.”

“Any chance you’re lying to us?”

The male’s gaze flicked to me again. “I’d be stupid to do that at this point, don’t you think?”

Will untied the man’s hands and stepped back so Bram could hand him a box of spare rations. “If it gets too hard out here or if you just need help, head south toward Warrensburg. It’s a place East of Kansas City. Avoid the city. The bombs hit it hard, but infected still wander around in there.”

The man nodded, and we left him to wake his people while we followed their tracks back to their place in our vehicles.

I climbed a tree and watched the house for a while. Two people moved around, just as the man had said. I didn’t see or hear any sign of women or children.

Will was waiting for me at the base of the tree when I jumped down.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“I think he was telling the truth. I didn’t see any signs of women or children, and the house has been secured against infected.”

“Okay. Then we’ll mark the map. Any idea where you want to head next?”

I looked around at the trees and found my gaze drifting to the north.

“We should continue north.”

He nodded, and Bram took a map of the state from the truck and spread it out on the hood.

“This is where we are. Where’s your gut telling us we should go next?” Bram asked.

Over the last few weeks, we’d worked our way steadily from Tolerance just listening to my instincts, which they trusted. Although mine weren’t as good as Molev’s, our leader, they’d kept us from serious trouble so far. And because of them, we’d found several groups of people along the way. But no females. I was starting to doubt myself even as my gaze was drawn to another area on the map.

“Here,” I said, pointing to a town along the lake Will called “Superior,” even though it wasn’t the largest lake on the maps I’d seen.

“We should make it there before dark,” Will said. “Hopefully, we’ll find a place with the heat still on.”

“And a freezer full of steaks,” Zach said, hopeful anticipation adding an extra bounce to his step.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find either of those things in Silver Bay. However, we did find fresh tire tracks in the snow.

“What do you think?” Will asked as he rolled to a stop. "People looking for supplies or trouble?”

“They didn’t stop,” I said. “No footprints are leading away from the marks.”

“What does that mean?”

“If they wanted supplies, they would have stopped and checked the houses. I think they were looking for something else.”

I searched for any sign of what they might have wanted.

One of the snow piles in the yard closest to us moved then settled.

“Stay here,” I said.

I left the vehicle and jogged to the mound. The infected under the snow was still alive, but its clothes had frozen to the ground. I removed its head so that, once the weather warmed and it thawed, it wouldn’t be a danger to anyone.

Will turned off the engine and got out. “We might as well do a full sweep before we follow those tracks back to whoever left them.”

I looked up at the darkening sky.

“We need to hurry. It’ll snow soon.”