Page 84 of Serpent In White

It’s been just us for so long out here. I’m not complaining, but sometimes I wonder what’s going on outside this little bubble of safety and undying happiness.

“I wish I knew what you were thinking,” Drake whispers, nuzzling behind my ear.

“It wouldn’t be hard to guess,” I murmur. He picks himself up, gazing down at me for a moment. “What?” I ask when he says nothing for a solid minute, just staring.

“Nothing,” he answers definitively and presses a chaste kiss on my chin. “I’m going to make you dinner.”

He pulls out of me, slowly, though it still feels strange enough to make me grunt. Then he gets up, grinning at me over his shoulder before grabbing a cloth to clean me up.

We take a quick shower, then head outside to build a fire and get ready for dinner.

I’m sort of amazed at what we’ve done out here in only two years. We’ve grown a small garden, built a hunting shack where we skin animals we’ve killed. I’m decent, but Drake has shot a couple of deer for us so far, which according to him makes him a master hunter. He tried hanging the antlers of the buck on the wall inside our trailer and it fell down and almost maimed me.

I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was pissed.

We have a small boat too, which we use for fishing. We’re basically like two Davey Crockett’s, or some shit. We live off the land, and the land has been good to us.

To be honest, I don’t miss anything about the outside world. We have a cell phone, but the service out here is shit and we rarely use it. We use our battery-powered radio more, for music and CD’s. The way we see it, if we could make it through that first winter without freezing to death or eating each other, there’s nothing we can’t do.

We’re invincible, and more important than that… we’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.

We make occasional runs, not necessarily into the nearest town, but to a cabin a few miles south of here. There’s a guy who lives there, Chet, who trades with us. If there’s stuff we want or need, like books, medicine, or clothes, he’ll get them for us and trade. It’s amazing.

Getting back to the roots of civilization. No money, no taxes, no goddamn capitalism.

We’re like frontier men, and it’s the best kind of bliss.

Drake and I have marked out spots on the land based on how far we get before seeing other people. We joke around and call it our territory. I know it doesn’t reallybelongto us, but that doesn’t matter. Out here, we make the rules.

As far as we’re concerned, these woods are ours.

I get the fire going while Drake grabs us some leftover venison. I’m setting up plates and forks as he starts shouting at me from inside the trailer.

“Dude, please come out here so I can actually hear what you’re trying to ask me,” I bark, lips curling into an amused grin as I shake my head.

He pokes his head out of the trailer door. “I’m asking if you want corn or tomatoes, or both, deaf ass.”

I chuckle and look up at him, ready to answer when I see him glaring over my head, eyes narrowing at something behind me. Turning quickly over my shoulder, I make out the form of what looks like a man, wandering through the woods a few yards out.

I glance back at Drake, and he already has his shotgun in his hand, stomping down the steps.

“Drake, chill!” I whisper-shout, jumping up and scurrying over to him.

“I’m not going to shoot him,” he huffs, eyes locked on the figure. “I’m just being cautious.”

“Why would you assume he’s here to attack us?” I stand in front of him, blocking him as he tries to maneuver around me. “It’s just a hiker, Drake. It happens.”

“Yea, not often,” he grumbles. “He’s on our land. I won’t let anyone threaten my family.”

My family. Meaning me.

Swoon.

I push away the warmth at his protectiveness and straighten up. “He’s hiking. At least wait until he actually threatens us before breaking out the shotgun.”

“If I wait for him to threaten us, then it’s already too late,” he grunts, aiming the scope toward the hiker. “I’d move if I were you.”

I sigh and step out of the way, distracting myself with cooking dinner, while Drake watches the hiker. He says it’s a man, probably in his late twenties, and he seems to be alone. He watches him as long as he can until the guy disappears out of sight.