Page 3 of Dustwalker

Gary swore, dragged the door back into place, and moved in frontof Lara. He grasped her arms with strong, rough fingers, and bent down to her eye level.

“No one can know, Lara,” he rasped. “No one!”

Heart hammering, she shook her head. “I-I’d never tell anyone.”

“Mommy?” Maggie’s groggy little voice called from the back room.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Kate said quietly. “Stay in bed. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Lara stared at Kate’s belly as the woman approached. “How…are you going to keep this secret?”

“We don’t know.”

Gary swallowed, throat bobbing, and released Lara.

“It’s getting harder to conceal, and we aren’t earning as much with me having to stay hidden. Maggie doesn’t even know, but she’s been asking questions.” Kate grasped Gary’s hand. “We can’t let the gearheads find out, but we have nowhere else to go.”

“We couldn’t tell anyone, not even you,” Gary said, his frown making the lines on his face harsher. “Kate and the baby need all they can get. We can’t spare anything more, not even in trade.”

Lara studied Kate and knew he was right; the dark circles under her eyes were in stark contrast to her pale skin, and her cheeks were hollow.

Gary dropped his gaze to the floor. “We’re sorry, Lara. We wish we could, but…”

“I know,” Lara said, nodding. “I understand.”

She was numb as Gary released Kate’s hand and slid opened the door. Two times in as many months, Lara’s world was falling apart.

Passing through the doorway, she paused and turned to look at Gary and Kate. They’d helped Lara in her time of need, selflessly, and likely at great cost to their little family. It was more than anyone else would’ve done. More than theyshouldhave done.

Lara held the pitcher out to Gary. “Here.”

His thick eyebrows rose. “No. We can’t accept that.”

Behind him, Kate covered her mouth with her hand.

“Please, just take it.” Lara’s grip tightened on the handle. There were at least a dozen other people on the street who were likely to trade food for the container, but who needed it more than these two? “As a thank you. For all you’ve both done for me.”

Kate’s eyes watered as Gary hesitantly accepted the pitcher. Lara ignored her pang of regret as she released it, busying her hands bydrawing the strap of her bag over her shoulder and tugging the cloth back over her mouth and nose. “Be safe.”

“And you,” Kate said, voice thick.

Lara walked away, feeling oddly heavy despite her empty hands.

Her home wasn’t far from Gary and Kate’s, positioned on the northern edge of the human slums. Only a wide dirt and gravel road with long, rusted rails jutting from it like the bones of a forgotten world and the wall bordering it separated her from the bot district, where bright white electric lights were already turning on.

If they’d had the means, she would’ve convinced Tabitha to move as far away from the wall as possible a long time ago.

Would’ve convinced her to move as far away from Cheyenne as possible.

But they’d barely had enough to survive right here. They’d never stockpile the extra food necessary to make the journey to another settlement, especially since they had no idea where the nearest town was.

Like all the others, Lara’s shack was constructed of various materials. The base was brick, scavenged from a building that had collapsed nearby when Lara was young. The wood boards that formed the walls had come from the same place. It was topped with a piece of sheet metal. She’d always enjoyed the pattering of rain and sand on the roof during storms.

The chime hanging near the entrance jingled in the wind. She’d used thin but durable lines—fishing line, Tabitha had said, though Lara didn’t know of any fish nearby—to hang a mismatched collection of spoons, forks, knives, and keys from a metal ring. The music they created was random, but there was nothing else like it in the settlement. She was surprised they hadn’t been stolen for scrap; it was likely because no one wanted to be in the wall’s shadow for long.

She slid the door aside and entered, tossing her bag onto her pallet. She left a wide gap when she closed the door. A bit more airflow would help release some of the pent-up heat.

Removing her head wrap, she dropped it into a pile of spare cloth and moaned at the feel of cool air on her skin. She pulled the pin from her hair and let her long braid fall free. Working her hair loose, she ran her fingers through the strands, closing her eyes as she massaged her scalp. Dirt had worked its way in despite her coverings. If water weren’t so precious, she would’ve rinsed her hair out.