Chapter Twenty-Seven The Things We Carry
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The Things We Carry
Night forced them to stop twelve miles from Blue Vault.
The road entered a field of pre-Burn mining pits invisible after dark. Eden refused to gamble eighteen vehicles on holes she could not read.
No one argued.
That was new.
The camp formed in a shallow quarry.
Dustline on one side.
Glass Road on the other.
Not mixed.
Not hostile.
A few shared fires appeared in the middle because fuel mattered more than history.
Rhett sat while Mina changed his bandage.
"You're healing badly out of spite," she said.
"Good."
"Don't encourage me."
Across the quarry, Eden worked with Pax over a hand-drawn route sheet.
She had stopped limping as badly.
Or hidden it better.
Rhett watched her.
Mina tied the bandage hard.
He winced.
"Subtle."
"You've been staring for six minutes."
"I was looking at the route."
"Her face is not a route."
"Could be."
Mina's hands stopped.
Rhett closed his eyes.
"Forget I said that."
"Never."
"Mina."
She smiled.
Then became serious.
"Do you know what you're doing?"
"No."
"Good."
He glared.
"Better than certainty."
Fair.
Mina packed the medical kit.
"Lyle would have hated this."
Rhett's chest tightened.
"Eden?"
"All of it. He hated long drives, salt flats, and emotionally complicated women."
Rhett laughed.
The sound hurt.
Mina continued.
"He also would have told you not to make him into a reason."
Rhett looked at her.
She held his gaze.
"You carry him like a law sometimes."
The quarry noise faded.
Rhett looked toward Eden.
She was laughing at something Pax said.
"What if I'm betraying him?"
"By what? Wanting her?"
"By letting Salt Narrows become complicated."
Mina sat beside him.
"Lyle is dead. He doesn't need you to keep the story simple."
The line cut deeper than comfort.
Rhett nodded.
Mina stood.
"Sleep."
"Bossy."
"Alive."
She left.
Later, Eden came to the lead rig carrying Caro's orange cloth.
Rhett had seen it wrapped around the blue key.
She sat on the hood.
"Esme told me something."
Rhett waited.
"Caro knew about Junction before it happened."
His body went still.
"How?"
"Not the attack. She knew Dustline had received false information. She was trying to reach you."
"Did she?"
"No."
Eden looked at the cloth.
"Esme found Caro's old radio log. She transmitted on an emergency band for three hours."
Rhett stared at the ground.
He had been driving toward Junction then.
Angry.
Certain.
Radio mostly off because he did not want Glass Road listening.
"What did she say?"
"That Hesk had been used. That Tollhouse was pushing both convoys. That no one should move until they verified."
Rhett breathed out.
"We didn't hear."
"No."
"Would I have listened?"
Eden did not answer.
He looked at her.
"Say it."
"I don't know."
He laughed without humor.
"Me neither."
She folded the cloth over her fingers.
"Caro spent years teaching me the right map could prevent disaster. Her last message didn't."
"Because nobody heard."
"Maybe because she believed facts were enough."
Rhett considered.
"Facts need a person willing to stop."
"Yes."
That was what she had done at Sunken Forty.
Stopped.
Tested.
Changed the route when the map failed.
Rhett touched the orange cloth.
"Keep it."
Eden looked at him.
"I wasn't offering."
"Good."
Silence.
Then she said, "I keep thinking about leaving after Blue Vault."
Rhett had expected the thought.
Hearing it still hurt.
"Where?"
"West."
"Alone?"
"Maybe."
He nodded.
Eden's mouth tightened.
"That's all?"
"What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know."
"Neither do I."
He looked at the dark road beyond camp.
"I want you to stay. I also know asking can turn into expecting if I repeat it long enough."
"That sounds like a problem for civilized people."
"Terrible."
She smiled faintly.
Rhett continued.
"I don't need you to join Dustline."
Eden looked at him.
"I don't?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"I want to know what happens if we reach the part after survival and you don't disappear before I can annoy you again."
Her face softened.
He had not meant to sound vulnerable.
Too late.
Eden slid from the hood and stood between his knees.
Rhett looked up.
She touched the scar beside his mouth.
"Where did this come from?"
"Engine fan."
"Romantic."
"Very."
She kissed him.
Slowly this time.
No chase.
No immediate gunfire.
Rhett put a hand at her waist.
She came closer.
The kiss deepened until the quarry, the convoys, the dead, and the pressure clock all receded without disappearing.
That mattered.
Nothing was erased.
Nothing needed to be.
Eden broke the kiss and rested her forehead against his.
"I don't know if I can stay."
"I know."
"I don't know if I can be part of a convoy again."
"I know."
She exhaled.
"I want to find out."
Rhett's throat tightened.
"All right."
Not a promise.
A direction.
For now, enough.
A horn sounded from the south edge of camp.
One sharp blast.
Everyone moved.
Tollhouse lights appeared along the ridge.
The night had ended early.