The Ashen Wrath (Watty's SHORTLIST recipient 2018) CHAPTERED VERSION

*15

       

Annie directed a series of sour faces at me while we walked. I began to feel bad about snapping at Marta as we arrived at the big crimson tent.

"Marta, give me your cards. I can handle these trades on my own. There's no need for both of us to waste our time."

"Really? Are you sure?" asked Marta, as Annie bounced on her shoulders.

"Yeah. I'll drop off Annie with Alice. Go have some fun for once."

"It would be nice to find Maggie. I didn't get to see her last time."

I smiled. "Do it."

Marta seemed to perk up as she transferred Annie to my shoulders. "Thanks."

"No problem." I looked up at Annie. "Can't you walk?" I asked with a grunt.

"Nope," said Annie.

"See you at home," said Marta before disappearing into the crowd.

After dropping Annie off with Alice and her children, I moved to the open field beside the tent to start trading. Swapping rations was never fun. Villagers always rushed to finish their trades so they could get inside the tent, leaving the grounds densely packed with impatient people.

Wary of thieves, my hand was always firmly on my satchel. I had a weeks-worth of rations to trade and losing them would prove disastrous. The airdrones turned a blind eye during IP, which could be good or bad depending on your perspective. Thankfully, most denizens of the zone were extremely intolerant of ration theft.

After two long hours, I finally finished trading. I managed to get every card I wanted and more, including an extra ration of beef, which was exceedingly difficult to acquire.