take on me, e.williams

eighteen

—campfire
tales—

———david started up a fire, odessa kept a tight grip on her gun. it was silent between the trio for a long time, no one wanted to speak first.

"you know, you really shouldn't be out here all on your own." david tried, his eyes glossed over with concern. odessa didn't buy his mister nice act, not for one second.

"yeah, well, from where i'm sitting, you shouldn't be out here all on your own." odessa scowled.

"fair enough." david sighed, rubbing his hands together for warmth by the flames. "what are your names?" he tried yet again. odessa merely shook her head at him, like a warning. "it's hard to trust strangers. i know. but i honestly mean you no harm... and for what it's worth, there's room for you in our group, if you want. " he offered the two teenage girls.

"you're inviting us to you hunger club? thanks, but no thanks." ellie scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"it's true, we're hungry. but we're still here. i'm a decent man, just tryna take care of the people who rely on me." david told them.

"you're a leader?" odessa raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously.

"their choice, not mine. and as we wandered, we picked up new people along the way until, we ended up here." david explained to them.

"well, your luck had to run out sooner or later. it always does." ellie told david bitterly. but odessa shook her head at hose words.

"in my experience, there's no such thing as luck." odessa muttered. david laughed softly at the young girls words.

                     "right you are. i believe everything happens for a reason." david agreed, adding on. ellie scoffed and shook her head. "it does. i can prove it to you." david smiled.

                    "okay, go on." ellie said to him.

                   "we didn't expect this winter to be so cruel. nothing will grow, game will be hard to find. so i sent four of our people into a nearby town." david began to explain. "so they could scavenge anything they could find. and only three of them came back." suddenly, odessa got a deep chill in her spine, one that carried through her body like a warning sign. "the one that didn't was a father, he had a daughter just like the two of you. her dad was just taken away from her." david sighed sadly.

                   "well, at least her dad didn't run away from what he had left of his family." odessa told david bitterly.

                    "he was murdered, unfortunately, by this crazy man. and get this, that crazy man was traveling with two little girls." david blinked at odessa and ellie with something in his eyes. blame? vengeance? it scared odessa. and then david leaned forward with a condescending smile, as if the two girls had fallen right into his trap. "you see, everything happens for a reason. james, lower the gun." david's eyes moved over odessa's shoulder.

                  ellie pulled odessa to her feet, away from both men. they stood shoulder to shoulder between them, each girl had a gun locked on each man.