The Walled Cities

Chapter 7

Setting out for home with a companion by my side was something I had never imagined. Let alone the fact that said companion was a woman, my senior, and single. Thankfully I had only allowed my eyes to stray once since we had started walking, but even then I had been overcome by her beauty. Despite being in damp, semi wrinkled, muddy clothing, Kaelyn was beyond compare to all of the girls and young women I had met. Before I had never looked at women in the way that I did now towards Kaelyn. Why now all of the sudden I was I guess attracted to her was beyond me. I knew I liked girls and not boys, but I had never been interested in one like I was with Kaelyn.

My thoughts and observations of her brought an unexpected flush to my face, and I distracted myself with her clothing. Her clothing made my well used but sturdy outfit seem like rags, as she wore what appeared to be fine wool and cotton. Such a material was not cheap and had taken weeks to stitch by hand or if they had one, a sewing machine.

Even though she wore such fine clothes, her shoes were sturdy boots meant for the type and amount of traveling we would be doing. They seemed broken in but otherwise were new. A good pair of boots lasted me two years, Kaelyn would no doubt be the same.

Mile after mile we walked, silently taking in the noises from the surrounding countryside. Twice we stopped so that I could search cars that were covered in vines and had not moved in decades or centuries. Perhaps at one point the cars could have been driven, but not anymore. Their wheels were little more than thin metal plates, buried almost completely by grass, dirt, and decaying plants.

Neither stop produced anything small enough for me to consider worth taking, but it gave me the opportunity to show Kaelyn just a small part of how I and now she made a living. For her part, Kaelyn did not seem to mind these stops and asked questions not just about the cars, but of the land, the sky, and of all the animals she saw. I delighted in answering her questions even if she remembered none of it, though I had a feeling she would not easily forget. Perhaps later I would test her on some of it, to get a understanding for her learning style.

During my searches of the cars, I had to set down the pellet gun. While I could have asked Kaelyn to hold it for me, I knew that it would be uncomfortable for both of us. Even though I had asked her to come with me, and had every intention of treating her as an equal, my hasty exit from Notredram had rattled me and I was wary of giving anyone any form of weapon, even a pellet gun.

There was a slim chance she knew of the shots I had fired but I needed time to trust anyone after having nearly been hurt in Notredram. Besides I knew that she was dealing with enough as it was and I did not want her to be conflicted about this right now. Her customs and traditions were all that she knew and all that she really had outside Notredram. I was not about to take those away from her, not even if it made things easier for me.

Because I had reminded myself of the disaster I had left at Notredram, I was constantly aware of her by my side. To say that I was being distrustful would have been wrong, but I was wary. Occasionally I shifted my new pellet rifle from hand to hand, as it became uncomfortable every few miles. Kaelyn did not seem to notice or chose not to comment about it or the old military AK-47 I carried. Perhaps I would never be able to get her to carry a firearm, but at least she was not telling me to keep them away from her or out of her sight.

No rather than comment about my choice in protection, her current interests lay in the surrounding countryside. It made complete sense, being how it was a rare day in history when anyone from the Walled Cities left their city. Kaelyn made that quite clear as her questions were about things that anyone who passed through this area multiple times would understand.

Personally this area was uninteresting at this time of year, as most everything was dead. Animals were still plentiful enough, but the land itself was a dull brown as most of the plants that had been so colorful and alive just a few months ago were now dead and rotting into soil. Trees naked without their leaves stood in clumps and alone, stark reminders that winter was coming. I much preferred the Deep Woods where things were different, with plants blooming even in the dead of winter.