Free When Gods Fail by Nelson Lowhim

killed
them."
    "Are you certain they're dead?" She leaned
back to take in my face. Again she studied me, like she was looking
to poke through my mind.
    I nodded, suppressing a smirk. "Before I
killed one he said as much."
    "You didn't say that before."
    "Sorry. They're dead." It was better I said
it now and wait for her to get over the loss. I glanced her over.
Her cleavage peaked through the top of her dress.
    She cried for a few more minutes. Let her
face rest on my chest. I felt like it was the best that I could get
out of her. I took her hand, led her outside, and sat us down on a
rock with a vista of the land that was ours.
    The sky had managed to outdo itself this
time. It bled orange, red and amber, over a sheet of cracked glass,
each separate pane a slightly different color.
    "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
    She looked at me, curious, then nodded her
head and rested her head on my shoulder. Her hand came down on my
other side. I felt calm and collected as the panes in the east
slowly turned dark purple then black and spread to the west. When
it was done an evil blackness came over the land, and I felt cold.
I held her closer, and she hugged me back. We went back inside, and
I made us food. After dinner, I laid out some other clothes for a
makeshift bed and lay beside her.
    "We'll have to get some work done. You're
going to have to help. All right?" I said.
    She nodded her head and buried it in my
chest. I pulled her tight, felt her curves with my hands.
    "How did you kill those two men?" she
asked.
    The question seemed out of place. Her voice
was filled with a certain hunger I couldn't quite understand. "I
shot them."
    She looked me in my eye then studied my
face. It was an uncomfortable feeling. "How do you feel?"
    I shrugged. I could still see Bill's face.
Feel his presence in the room. I could feel Big Lee's words in the
room too. Please... Don't. Why burden her with that? "Nothing. They
were bad men."
    "Have you killed men before?" she asked.
    Your Family.
    "No," I lied.
    Again she scrutinized my face. Could she
tell in the small pauses, the fact that I took a nanosecond more to
think, that I was lying? No, she was too young.
    "They were our only neighbors," she
said.
    "How can you be certain?" I said, trying to
change the direction of the conversation.
    "Pa said so. He said there was no one around
for miles."
    "Well we can't be certain, there is a lot of
exploring to do," I said.
    I had the plan in my head. Each day pick a
direction and walk. I had to find soft soil. I had to find a way to
live. The rations around us wouldn't last more than a year, if we
were lucky. I wanted to find a place that was well hidden, better
protected. I also wanted to find people.
    "And you killed them. The only other
people." She finally held eye contact with me for a few seconds
before she shifted her gaze somewhere behind me.
    What was she getting at? I wanted to dig
into her mind. Now. Now. Now. "What are you trying to say?" I
nudged her. "That I shouldn't have defended myself?"
    "You were defending yourself?" she asked.
Her voice strained with doubt.
    "Yes. Do you think they gave your family a
chance?"
    "One man can't kill two people unless he
surprises them."
    She stayed silent. I did too.
    "I did." My voice cracked as I said it.
    She moved her body away from me. Though it
was only a few inches, the distance scared me. As if I was on the
edge of a cliff, wind whipping on my back. How could I possibly get
to her? Did she know the lie about her family? Could she sense the
killer inside me? This wasn't fair. She had to be on my side. We
were the only two people left. We had nothing but each other. Why
didn't she see that?
    "Listen," I waited for her to look at me.
"Could you please tell me what's going on with you?"
    She looked at me. "I don't know," she
said.
    "Please understand that I am trying to help.
Would you rather I leave?"
    Nothing. But her eyes seemed to jump at the
thought.
    "Is that it? What will you do? Who will
protect