The end of the world as we know it

Part 7

Blake stared at me as I tried to eat the jerky.

“I’m sorry,” I said, swallowing the first bite with difficulty. “It’s just been a long time since I’ve eaten meat.”

“How long have you been a vegetarian?” Blake didn’t look like he was just making conversation. For some reason he really seemed fascinated by my dietary choices.

“Since I was twelve,” I said, taking another small bite of jerky. “But I had to eat meat on our camping trips every year until I left for college. My dad was pretty hard core about it. Live off the land, and all that. We just brought traps and fishing gear, that kind of stuff. No food. One year I tried to stay veggie on the trip, but after 24 hours of nothing but blackberries and lamb’s quarter, I gave up.” I made a face. “Even eating meat is better than living on that.”

“Eating meat is awesome,” Blake said, laughing. “We’re not rabbits, you know.”

“Speak for yourself, carnivore,” I said, setting down what was left of the deer jerky. I’d have to come back to it.

“So,” Blake said, smoothing his hands over his jeans, “I guess I owe you an apology. I really never expected anyone to come. I should have told Jag. This wasn’t the kind of welcome you were hoping for, I’m sure.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the cushions of the leather couch. “Honestly? It’s sort of the least of my worries right now. Being in a place with food and water, where nobody’s trying to kill me? That’s the best I could hope for right now.” My eyes sprang open and filled with tears. “Except…” I wiped my sleeve across my cheek, catching the tear that had escaped. “I did hope Julie would have made it.”

“She’s your sister?” Blake looked concerned. “I remember. Naia and Julie Cypher. Both signed up for five years. You were two of our first members.” He sighed. “It was just names, before. I didn’t think I’d ever meet any of you.”

“So why did you do it?” I shifted on the couch and tucked my feet underneath me. “What was the point of starting this whole compound thing and not even telling your boss?”

Blake looked embarrassed. “It was just a way to raise money. Jag is a good leader, but he doesn’t worry about the financials. He just told me to find a way to make the budget work. I don’t know what the thought I was doing. I guess he didn’t care. At least before this.”

“So you just figured, hey, we have this great place out in the woods, we can pretend it’s a survivalist compound and bilk people out of their money?” I was starting to get a little angry.

“No, it’s not like that.” Blake ran his fingers through his spiky hair. “I mean, we really are a survivalist compound, right? We’re off-grid, we’ve got the faraday cages, our own source of water, great hunting… what else could you want? That’s why your dad picked us,” he said with a touch of pride. “None of it was a lie. It’s just… I figured it was such a long shot, anyone actually needing to come here. I didn’t want to bother Jag about it when I didn’t think it would ever happen.”

“And now that it has, why is he so upset? Does he think there isn’t enough room for all of us?”