“About two miles or so that way. Got ourselves a pretty nice setup. Solar panels, wood-burning stove, we even have a fence around our property to keep the infected out.”

 

Tom’s eyebrows went up. “No kidding? Damn, we might have to pay you a visit sometime.”

 

I smiled. “You’d be welcome. We haven’t had any visitors in…well, ever. It’d be nice to hang out with someone other than this guy for a change.” I jerked a thumb in Gabe’s direction.

 

Brian brought over a plastic bag with the cans of beans and strips of dried venison inside. I took it from him and stashed it in Gabriel’s pack.

 

“Listen folks, I appreciate the trade, but we have a lot to get done today.” I said. “We’re going to be heading over to Marion to hunt down some medical supplies in the next day or so. We’ll come by and check in on you tomorrow afternoon, if that’s alright with you.”

 

Tom smiled and nodded. “I’ll look forward to it. Maybe I can bring down some game with one of these here bullets and have supper waiting for you.”

 

“That would be awesome.” I said. “If I hear any gunshots tomorrow, at least I’ll know where it’s coming from.”

 

Gabe nudged me on the shoulder with one oversized knuckle. “Why don’t you go get your stuff so we can get a move on?”

 

“Oh, right.”  I pointed back up the mountainside. “Is my pack still up the hill where I left it?” 

 

“Yeah, I didn’t touch it.” 

 

I turned and trudged back up the steep hill to where I stashed my rifle and my pack. I heard Gabriel talking to the family behind me as I left. Tom and Sarah asked plenty of questions, and it seemed like they were genuinely curious to learn more about us. I found myself looking forward to the prospect of having dinner with the little family tomorrow night. I knew it was probably not a good idea to be too trusting too soon, but I was tired of only having Gabe around for company. Don’t get me wrong, he is a good and loyal friend, but anyone gets tiresome if you have to spend too much time around them.

 

I made the mistake of hiding my gear a little too well, and it took me a few minutes to find it in the thick patch of foliage where I had stashed it earlier. When I returned to the camp, Gabriel was showing Tom and Brian how to tie their tarp full of food up in the boughs of a tree to keep the multitude of brown bears in the area from getting into it. Sarah stiffened a bit when she saw the high-tech assault rifle hanging from my chest on its tactical sling. I hadn’t really noticed it before, probably because I was distracted by the rifle she was pointing at me, but Sarah was actually quite pretty. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, with bright red hair, blue eyes, and cute little dimples in her cheeks. Tom was a lucky man.

 

We exchanged a brief round of goodbyes and handshakes. Some of Sarah’s suspicion of us seemed to have waned a bit, and she even managed a smile as she bid us a good day.