Home - 2. Part 2

In the morning I was woken by Troy gently stroking my hair. I turned around and saw that he was already dressed.

"Good morning," I said, smiling. "Did you sneak out on me again?"

"Yeah, I brought the boys a couple of oranges for breakfast and then took care of Lucky."

"How is Michael feeling?"

"Better, but he still hates me, and so does Dylan by the way. He told me that I'm a meany."

"What did you do?"

"Why would you just assume that I did something?"

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'll talk to them."

We climbed out of bed and after I got dressed and had used the bathroom we went over to the house together. I knocked on the door to the boys' room and then entered, alone. Dylan was sitting beside his brother and was peeling an orange, with Lucky peacefully sleeping on his lap

"Good morning you two," I said.

"Hello," Dylan answered cheerfully and Michael waved, so I sat down on the bed.

"I need to talk to you, about Troy. Could you please give him a chance? I swear to you he's really sweet and loving once you get to know him. He's just extremely cautious and not very trusting when it comes to new people, that's all. So, what do you say?"

"I don't know, he's still a creep," Michael said.

"And a meany," Dylan added.

"He's not a creep, trust me. And he can be a little rough, but only because he had such a hard life. Please, it really bothers me that you hate him. He doesn't deserve that. So couldn't we just forget everything that happened and start over?" I said.

"Fine, but he can't curse in front of DJ anymore," Michael replied.

"Oh. Ok. I'll see what I can do… Thank you," I said and went outside, where Troy was still waiting.

"So?" he asked expectantly.

"They agreed to start over if you stop cursing."

"How the fu… I'm not sure I can do that, it's like a reflex."

"Just try, ok?"

"Sure, whatever it takes."

We went back inside together, but no one knew what to say, so there was an awkward silence for a minute or two.

"Hey, I have an idea," Troy finally said. "How about I carry you to the couch, so you can look at the ocean and Dylan has more room to play with Lucky?"

"I'm not letting you touch… I mean, no thanks, I can walk," Michael replied.

The boys got up and we all moved to the couch. Michael made himself comfortable on one side, Dylan sat down near him on the floor, with Lucky on his lap, and we took a seat on the other side. Then there was awkward silence again.

"Hey Troy, do you know any jokes?" I asked.

"I know a really amazing one, but it's a little dirty," Troy answered.

"DJ, cover your ears please," Michael said and his brother immediately did.

"Alright, here goes… A guy is eating out a woman's puss-hole. Suddenly he tastes horse semen. He looks up and says, 'Oh, grandma, so that's how you died.'" Troy started to laugh really hard, but then he saw our shocked faces and instantly turned serious again.

"Oh my God, that's what you call 'a little dirty'? It was the most disgusting and disturbing thing I have ever heard," I said.

"That was sick. You're sick," Michael said.

"Sorry," Troy sighed and looked down.

Michael signaled Dylan to uncover his ears and he did.

"So, boys," I said. "It must've been so scary living in this kind of world all by yourselves."

"Why would it be scary?" Michael asked.

"Because of the monsters of course. You must be terrified of them."

"No, why would we? Because they're ugly? Captain Sicko over here is really ugly, but we're not scared of him, are we?"

"You little…" Troy started to say.

"Troy. Please," I interrupted.

"Whatever," he answered, slightly annoyed.

"But they're not just ugly, they're extremely dangerous too," I said and the boys both laughed for some reason.

"Good one," Michael replied.

"I'm serious."

"How are they dangerous? Like, at all?"

"How are they not?" I asked incredulously.

"They're so slow that you don't even have to run to get away from them and they're also as good as blind and dumb as a brick."

"But what if there are a bunch of them?"

"We always carry around some fireworks and if there are too many of them we just fire a rocket in the opposite direction we're headed and off they go. Problem solved."

"So you never had any close calls?" Troy asked.

"No, not really."

"What about humans? Did you ever run into anyone?" I asked.

"There's a camp about an hour from here, but we decided that we're better off on our own."

"And what do you eat?"

"We have a garden with pretty much every vegetable there is. It has gotten so big by now that we're feeding like more than half of the stuff to animals."

"Where did you find the seeds to plant it?"

"We found some in a store, but a lot of our plants come from other gardens and orchards. We just dug them out and took them with us."

"And you stay in attics, right?"

"For the most part, yes."

"So this past year you've been fine?"

"Better than fine, we've never been happier."

"So happy," Dylan added.

"That's really unbelievable," I said, totally baffled, and looked over at Troy.

"I kind of feel like an idiot now," Troy said.

"You didn't before?" Michael asked, pretending to be surprised, but Troy just ignored him.

"Where is your garden exactly?" I asked.

"In my butt," Michael replied and Dylan giggled.

"Fair enough, but you said you have too much stuff anyway. Would you maybe be willing to share it with us?"

"And what would we get in return?"

"Well, we have lots of tools, meds, CD's, and a working shower and toilet. You're welcome to use all of it. And you can always play with Lucky of course."

"We don't really need any of that."

"No, Mikey, I need Lucky," Dylan said and Michael sighed.

"There's more. I'll be hunting regularly, so we'll always have fresh meat from now on," Troy said and Dylan's eyes widened.

"Mikey!" he squealed. "Do something!"

"Fine, we have a deal, but only under the condition that you'll never hurt any animals again," Michael said.

"Are you serious?" Troy asked.

"Yes, you got a problem with that?"

"Of course I do, meat is the most delicious food there is. I'd rather never eat vegetables again."

"We also have six kinds of fruit, including strawberries."

The thought of fresh strawberries immediately made my mouth water and I looked over at Troy with a pleading expression. At first he frowned, but then he seemed to get it and raised his eyebrows.

"Deal, no more meat," he said quickly.

"Good," Michael replied.

"What other fruit do you have?" I asked, somewhat shakily, because I was so excited.

"Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, honey melons and strawberries."

"Do you think we could have fruit salad sometimes?"

"No, we eat a lot of fruit, so we don't have that much to spare, at least not enough for a salad."

"Couldn't we have a really small one, just once?"

"I don't think so, sorry."

"Please, I'll do anything. Tell me what you want most in the world and I'll try my best to get it for you."

"A helicopter," Michael said without hesitation.

"Oh… Helicopters are incredibly hard to fly and I don't think you can start them with a jumper cable, so I'm afraid I can't get you one. But what about you Dylan, what do you want most in the world?"

"Giraffe!" Dylan blurted out.

"Well… Maybe if we look long enough we might find one. What do you think Troy?"

"You're kidding, right?" Troy answered. "What is it about fruit that makes you lose your mind? First of all, it would be a miracle if any giraffes had survived the apocalypse, but even if we'd find one, how would we get it here? And I bet a giraffe eats more in a day than the four of us eat in a week. So this is 100% crazy."

"Whaaat? All the giraffes are dead? Is that really true Mikey?" Dylan asked, alarmed.

"No, probably not, I'm sure there are still a bunch of them out there," Michael answered.

"Ok," Dylan replied sadly.

"Nice going Captain Sicko," Michael said and glared at Troy.

"Sorry," he sighed.

"And you know what? You just cost Cody his fruit salad, because I was about to change my mind, but now if you don't get DJ a giraffe there won't be any salad, ever," Michael said.

I lowered my head, completely disheartened.

"Come on Cody, let's find a giraffe," Troy suddenly said, determined.

"Seriously? But you just told me that it's crazy," I replied, really surprised.

"We'll see about that. Now, if we find a giraffe for Dylan, we will have fruit salad, right?" Troy said.

"Sure," Michael answered.

"Great. And could you take care of Lucky while we're gone?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Thanks."

After we had brought over the milk formula and everything else Lucky needed we headed out.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Down the coast, to LA."

"Do you really think we can find one?"

"No, of course not, it's more likely that we'll find a fucking unicorn."

"Then why are we going to LA?" I asked, frowning.

"To look for a Toys R Us. If we're lucky they'll have a stuffed giraffe."

"But Dylan wants a real one."

"He never said that and neither did Michael, so it counts."

"We shouldn't trick them like that, Dylan will be really disappointed."

"Are you kidding? We'll loot the whole store till the RV is brimming with toys. When Dylan sees them he'll be so excited that he'll hyperventilate and pass out."

"I guess it's worth a try."

"That's right."

"Do you think everything they told us was true?" I asked. "I mean, we barely managed to survive the past year, but they seemed to have had the time of their lives. How is that even possible?"

"They could be angels too, you know? Or at least Dylan. It would explain their luck."

"No Troy, they are not angels! And neither am I, ok?"

"Think about it. Despite the horrors around him Dylan is still pure and innocent and full of love. Like you. And what are the odds of two little boys surviving the fucking apocalypse on their own?"

"It is pretty astonishing, but that doesn't mean it's a miracle."

"It's possible though."

"No, it's not."

"Why are you so convinced that I'm wrong?"

"Well, I have a theory, but you won't like it."

"Whatever, let's hear it."

"But you have to promise me that you won't get mad, ok?"

"Alright, sure, I promise."

"Ok. As I said, this is just a theory, but I suspect that the angel-thing might be part of a defense mechanism of some kind. I mean, you were raised with nothing but violence and hatred and never caught a break. Maybe at some point you told yourself that life is hell in general and that all people are rotten, so you could accept everything you had to go through. But then you found me when you were at your lowest and the timing and the fact that you were immediately attracted to me was just too much for you to deal with, so you decided that I couldn't be 'real' and that I had to be an angel. It spared you from facing the incredibly painful truth and that's probably why you're still clutching to this belief so desperately. And now that I think about it, I really don't blame you."

Troy didn't respond.

"Are you mad?" I asked.

"No," he answered quietly and shook his head a little, but didn't look at me.

"I'm sorry Troy, I shouldn't have said all that. And maybe I'm wrong and I really am an angel, who knows."

"It's fine."

"Come on, I'll make it up to you. I'll do whatever you want."

"Could we just not talk for a while? Please?"

"Ok," I said sadly.

We stayed quiet for maybe twenty minutes. The silence was killing me and I felt like the worst boyfriend in the world. Suddenly Troy stopped the RV and turned off the engine.

"Do you love me less cause I'm this… damaged?" he asked with so much sadness in his voice it broke my heart.

"No, it makes me love you more, if that's even possible," I said without hesitation and he looked at me with a surprised expression.

"Why?"

"Because that's what you need."

"So you pity me. Is that what you're saying?" he asked, frowning.

"No, I feel nothing but incredible pride and admiration for you. And an endless amount of love of course."

His frown deepened and I could see the muscles in his jaw twitching.

"Excuse me," he said, then he got up and started to walk away, so I quickly grabbed him by the hand, got up too and took him in my arms. I just held him for a while and gently stroked his back. I could hear him sniffle a couple of times and he wiped his face right before we parted.

"I love you so much Troy and I always will, as hard as I can," I said.

"No, enough with that already. And let's forget this ever happened, alright?"

"I've told you before, there's no shame in breaking down sometimes. I mean, I cry all the time and you don't think less of me, do you?"

"I did not fucking cry!" he said indignantly.

"Of course you didn't," I replied and hugged him again.

"Cody!"

"I love you," I said dreamily, which made him laugh.

"I love you too. Now come on, that giraffe won't find itself."

"Ok."

We returned to our seats and continued our search.

Having a home and finally being excited about the future made me look at the world differently somehow. Driving through a town normally would've terrified me, because I only would've seen the danger lurking from every corner and I also wouldn't have been able to stop thinking about the countless people who had died there. But weirdly enough, now I could appreciate how peaceful everything was and the way nature was spreading its beauty all over the cold concrete. And we didn't come across even one monster. It was like we were in paradise. Our paradise.

Watching the scenery go by and thinking about our life made me completely lose track of time and before I knew it we were almost in LA.

We searched the outskirts for a few hours and around noon we took a break, refilled the gas tank and had lunch.

"Hey, do you think we should check out that camp Michael mentioned?" I asked while we were slurping our soup.

"Definitely. We need to know if they're a danger to us."

"What if they are? I don't want to move, the house is perfect."

"How do you feel about getting rid of them?"

"I hope you're not suggesting mass murder Troy."

"More like mass self-defense, but only if there's no doubt that they're evil of course. If we'd catch them eating children for example, then I wouldn't have a problem killing them."

"But for all we know there could be fifty guys in that camp. How are you planning to kill that many people?"

"I don't know yet."

"Maybe we could bargain with them. We could offer them the RV for example, in exchange for leaving us alone."

"You can't bargain with child-eating cannibals, we just couldn't trust their word, so that's not a solution either."

"They could be nice, you know?"

"I wouldn't bet on that."

"I guess we'll see… By the way, are you really ok with never having meat again?"

"Yeah, I mean, think about it, we don't know how to hunt properly and we only have a shotgun, a revolver and a very limited amount of ammo, so it wouldn't be a long-term solution anyway. And we have no idea how to plant and maintain a garden either. But now we won't have to worry about food anymore and we might even get you a fruit-salad, so the deal we've made with the boys is pretty great if you ask me."

"I'm glad you don't mind."

"What about you?"

"I'm ok with it too."

"Great."

We finished our meal and after about an hour we finally saw the big colorful letters of a Toys R Us in the distance. We figured that no one would live in a toy store, so we parked right in front of the entrance.

We went outside and tried to open the sliding doors, but they were too heavy. Thankfully Troy had an idea. He took our axe, pried the door apart with it and then squeezed in our car jack. Soon the opening was big enough for us to fit through.

Inside it smelled pretty stale, but everything looked untouched, which was kind of eerie. We walked around for a while and then we saw it. There was a seven foot giraffe standing on display and it was surrounded by a panda, a penguin, a zebra, a cheetah and a lion, all huge.

"This is amazing. Look how big it is," I said excitedly.

"That's right."

"Let's get to work."

First we carried the animals to the RV, then everything else that we thought might be fun to play with, like all the LEGO stuff, countless action figures, light sabers, a magic set, three remote controlled helicopters for Michael, board games, puzzles, water guns and hundreds of other little toys. On the one hand looting the store felt wrong somehow, but on the other hand it was also strangely thrilling, in a land of milk and honey kind of way.

After a few hours the RV was literally brimming with toys. There was only enough room left to get to the driver's cabin and to sit down.

"Do you still think Dylan will be disappointed?" Troy asked, smirking, when we were done.

"No, he'll hyperventilate and pass out for sure. But you know, spoiling them this excessively is not really good parenting."

"I don't think making your kids happy can ever be a bad thing. Besides, they deserve to be spoiled, even Michael."

"It guess that's true."

We climbed into the RV and headed home. I wasn't sure if Troy was doing this consciously, but he was driving a lot faster than on the way to LA, probably because he couldn't wait to see the boys' faces when we would show them all the toys.

About two hours later we arrived at our house and quickly went inside to look for Michael and Dylan, but they were nowhere to be found.

"They fucking left!" Troy yelled angrily. "All of their stuff is gone and so is ours! Son of a fucking bitch!... Jesus, they took Lucky! FUCK!"

"Troy, please calm down."

"Don't tell me to fucking calm down! We need to find them, right now!"

"They have a seven-hour head start. We'll never find them."

"They took Lucky Cody! So I will fucking hunt them down, even if it takes a year!"

"Listen to yourself Troy. They're not criminals, they're little kids, and they obviously didn't trust us, so can you really blame them for leaving?"

"Yes, I fucking can! They took my fucking kitten!"

"Hey, what's with all the yelling?" Michael suddenly asked from the top of the stairs. We looked up and there they were, with Lucky peacefully sleeping in Dylan's arms.

"We thought you left," I said.

"Why would we leave? This is our house, remember?" Michael replied.

"But all the stuff is gone."

"Yeah, we wanted it to look like no one's living here. It's called being careful."

"That's smart."

"I know. So, did you find a giraffe?"

"About that. Could you maybe wait upstairs till we call you?"

Dylan's eyes widened.

"Fine. Come on DJ."

They returned to the attic, so we went to work. We built a giant pile of toys in front of the living room, with the giraffe in the middle and the other animals around it. Over an hour later we were finally finished and Troy called the boys. The second Dylan saw the pile he froze and starred at it totally awestruck, then he quickly handed Lucky to his brother and raced down the stairs.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, is that really for us?" he asked, slightly out of breath.

"Yes, it's all yours," I answered, smiling.

"Oh my gosh, Mikey, look!"

"I know, it's awesome," Michael replied and put Lucky on the floor. Suddenly Dylan hugged me, then Troy, Michael and lastly the giraffe.

"Can I call her Betsie?" he asked, still hugging her.

"Of course," I answered.

"Here, check this out," Troy said, picking up one of the remote controlled helicopters and offering it to Michael.

"Cool," he replied and took it.

"You know, this was all Troy's idea," I said.

"Wait, there aren't any strings attached to this, are there? Because in that case you can shove every single toy up your butt," Michael replied defensively.

"No, of course not… Well, except…" Troy started to say, but I quickly poked him and then slightly shook my head at him. "…that we want front row seats to your magic show," he continued and pointed at the magic set.

"Oh my gosh, I always wanted to learn magic," Dylan said, amazed.

"So you're not expecting to get a fruit salad out of this? Because you were supposed to bring back a real giraffe, you know?" Michael asked, frowning.

"No, not at all. We just couldn't find one, but we didn't want Dylan to be disappointed, so Troy came up with this," I replied.

"Good."

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Troy asked, so we went outside. "What about the fruit salad? This was your best and maybe only chance to get it, why didn't you take advantage of that?"

"I don't want them to think that we only got them all that stuff for a salad. They need to know that we care about their happiness and that they can trust us, so we can be a family."

"That's very mature of you."

"Well, it's about time I grow up."

Troy grinned and gave me a kiss, then we went back inside where Michael was busy unpacking the helicopter, Dylan was hugging one animal after another and Lucky was rubbing himself against the cheetah.

"Hey boys," I said. "How about you come to the RV with us and pick out what you'd like to eat so I can start making dinner?"

"I have a better idea," Michael replied and hurried up the stairs.

"Mikey?... Wait for me," Dylan squealed and raced after him.

They were back about two minutes later and Michael handed me a pretty heavy backpack.

"How about we have this for dinner instead?" he asked, so I opened the backpack. My eyes widened when I saw what was in it.

"Why?" I replied, totally dumbstruck.

"DJ made me," Michael answered.

"Whaaat?" Dylan asked, but Michael quickly winked at him. "Yes, I made him. I had to tickle him for hours," he said and smiled proudly.

"But Michael, you should be resting, not walking around or carrying this much fruit," I said.

"I'm feeling a lot better already and we needed to water our plants anyway," Michael answered.

"Well, thank you, you have no idea how much I appreciate this," I replied and hugged both of them, then I looked inside the backpack again, held it to my nose and deeply inhaled the intoxicatingly delicious smell. I was so happy I even had tears in my eyes. Troy gently kissed my head and we smiled at each other.

"You did get batteries too, didn't you?" Michael asked.

"Oh, yeah, they're still in a suitcase in the RV," Troy answered.

"Can you get them, like right now?"

"How about a please?"

"How about you bring me the batteries and I won't helicopter you in the face later?"

"You come near me with that thing and I'll break it."

"I have three of them, but you only have one face, so I win."

"Enough," I said. "Troy, can you please get the batteries? And Michael, please don't helicopter him in the face, ok?"

"Fine," they both answered at the same time and then glared at each other, so I softly pushed Troy toward the door and he finally left.

Next I took the fruit, carried it to the kitchen and went to work. While I was busy Troy helped Michael with the helicopter and Dylan looked through the toys, smiling from ear to ear. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but at one point Troy said loudly, "No! Swear to me you'll never try that!" to Michael, who rolled his eyes at him. Soon the two of them were both controlling a helicopter and were racing each other from one end of the house to the other while Dylan was cheering on his brother. It was a beautiful thing to watch how they were all laughing and having fun together and it felt like we were already starting to become a family.

About twenty minutes later dinner was ready and the four of us sat down at the table, Troy and I on one side and the boys on the other. I divided the fruit salad evenly and then everyone dug in, except me. I had waited a long time for this and I wanted to savor it as much as I could, so I scooped up one piece of every fruit with my spoon and then put it in my mouth. I closed my eyes, slowly chewed and when the incredible taste spread across my tongue I moaned softly.

"This is the bomb," Troy said.

"Yeah, it's the best… I mean the second best thing I've had in my mouth in over a year, maybe ever," I replied, smirking, and winked at Troy, who laughed.

"What was the best thing?" Dylan asked and we turned serious instantly.

"Oh… I mean…" I started to answer.

"The candy bar I gave you, right?" Troy quickly said.

"Yes! Of course! The candy bar!"

Michael glared at us.

"DJ, cover your ears please," he said and his brother did. "How about you keep your disgusting sex jokes to yourselves when you're around DJ?" he asked sharply.

"You're right, I'm so sorry, it'll never happen again, I swear," I answered guiltily.

"I hope so."

"Hey, while we're at the subject," Troy said. "I've been thinking. You're a teenage boy and you must have certain… urges, right? So if you want we could watch Dylan for you sometimes and you could go do what teenage boys do, you know?"

"Oh my God, Troy, that's so inappropriate," I said, shocked.

"Let me get this straight, you just told me that you fantasize about me jerking off and you think I'd leave you alone with DJ even for a second?" Michael replied, outraged.

"I didn't fantasize about you, Jesus, I was only trying to help," Troy said.

"Whatever Captain Perv McCreepy," Michael replied.

"I swear to God and on everything that's holy to me that I'm not a pervert."

"Just stay away from my brother and me, got it sicko?" Michael said warningly.

"Yeah, I got it," Troy sighed.

"No, wait," I said. "This is just a big misunderstanding. Troy loves me so intensely that he would rather die than risk losing me. And if he were a pervert he would lose me for sure and he knows it, so it is pretty much impossible that he would ever even think about someone else in a sexual way, least of all two little boys. Trust me, I would bet my life on that."

"Fine, but I'm keeping my eye on you. One wrong move and I'll castrate you while you're asleep, got it?" Michael said.

"Sure, fair enough," Troy replied and offered his hand to Michael, who spat in his and then shook it. Next he signaled his brother to uncover his ears and we all started to eat again.

"Do you want to tell us a little bit about yourselves, maybe?" I asked the boys after a few minutes.

"What do you want to know?" Michael answered.

"Well, the most obvious question would be how you ended up alone. But you don't have to answer if it's too painful."

"No, it's ok. Our mother died a couple of years ago and they put us in foster care. They tried to separate us at first, but I refused to eat anything and Dylan didn't stop crying, so they had to let us stay together. Finally this guy took us in, but he only did it for the money and it was pretty rough living with him."

"He was bad, but Mikey protected me," Dylan said quietly and hugged his brother, who lovingly kissed his head.

"Anyway," Michael continued, "we had been gathering supplies for weeks, because we were planning to run away, so when the world suddenly changed we were more than ready."

"Troy was in foster care for most of his childhood and youth and had a really hard time too, you know?" I said.

"So? You want me to feel sorry for him now?" Michael asked, frowning.

"No, I just wanted to point out that you have something in common. Maybe you could swap stories sometimes."

"No thanks."

"How did your mother die, if I may ask? And what about your father?"

"She never told us, but I think she had cancer. And our father bailed after DJ was born."

"Oh, I'm really sorry."

"Are you dying too?" Dylan asked sadly.

"No, why would you think that?" I replied, surprised.

"Because you're sick, aren't you?"

"No, we're not, we're very healthy."

"But you're really really pale, all of the time."

"Oh, no, we're just not tanned yet, because we're not from around here."

"You didn't have a sun where you lived before?"

"Of course we had one, but it didn't shine as brightly as here and it was winter there."

"It's winter here too."

"Yeah, but in California it's always warm and sunny. Where we're from it was chilly and constantly snowing."

"Oh? Did you build a lot of snowmen?"

"No, we were a little too busy running away from monsters."

"That's not good. But now you don't have to anymore, because we'll protect you. We don't have snow though, but you could build sandcastles at the beach. I'll teach you, k?"

"Sure, that sounds like fun."

"Mm-hmm."

"Is that what you do when you're not taking care of your garden? Building sandcastles at the beach?"

"Sometimes."

"We mostly walk around and look for animals we can feed and watch. Before the world changed we went to the zoo at least twice a week. After a while everyone who worked there knew us and they let us in for free. On the weekends we were always the first in line in the morning and the last to leave in the evening," Michael said.

"You love animals that much?"

"DJ does. One time in the zoo I wanted to see what he would do if I didn't tell him to move on to the next cage and we ended up watching a bunch of sleeping tigers for three hours. We probably would've stayed longer, but he had to pee."

"They were so beautiful," Dylan said.

"Did you have pets too?"

"Yeah, when our mom was still alive we had two guinea pigs," Michael answered.

"I loved them," Dylan said sadly and looked down. His brother put his arms around him and kissed his head, which made him grin a little.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bum you out," I said.

"It's fine, but let's change the subject, ok?" Michael replied.

"Of course… By the way, we haven't seen any monsters since we arrived in California, do you know where they all are?"

"Yeah, we do, but we can't tell you, sorry."

"Why not?"

"It's a secret. You don't have worry about them though, they're far away, where they can't hurt anyone and that's all I'm going to say."

"Fair enough, but that reminds me, that camp you mentioned, what do you know about it and could you tell us how to find it?"

"Why?"

"We want to check it out."

"For what?"

"We need to know if they're a danger to us, so we can prepare for an attack."

"Just leave them alone and they'll leave us alone."

"How can you be sure about that?"

"I just am."

"We'd still like to check it out ourselves. Could you maybe draw us a map?"

"Fine, but you can't take your guns with you."

"Why not?"

"Because if they catch you sneaking around their camp with guns they'll kill you."

"Sounds like they're not very friendly people. All the more reason to be armed."

"Then good luck finding them, because we won't tell you where they are."

"You said it's an hour from here and it has to be close to the river, so it shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Do you have a death wish or something?"

"No, and that's exactly why we need to go."

"Then let Troy go by himself at least."

"I can't do that."

"Fine, it's your funeral. Just leave the keys to the RV."

We stayed quiet for a while and finished our delicious meal. Afterwards we watched the boys play till it got dark and then asked them if they'd mind if we'd sleep in the house. They agreed, so we moved into the empty room and made ourselves comfortable in the soft bed. Troy was lying on his back, as usual, and I had cuddled myself against him.

"Want to fool around a little?" I asked, smirking, and looked at him expectantly.

"Actually, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing something with the boys right next door, but how about we ask them tomorrow if they could sleep in the RV for a night, so we can have some fun? Can you wait that long?"

"I guess," I said, disappointed, and we didn't talk for a few minutes.

"Troy?" I finally asked.

"Yes?"

"What I said earlier, about leaving you if I'd find out that you're a pervert. I didn't mean it. I don't care what you are or what you do, I'm never going to leave you, for any reason, ok?"

"That's good to know and I feel the same way about you."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

I lifted my head and gave Troy a tender kiss.

"Do you still think we should check out that camp?" I asked.

"We have to. You heard Michael, apparently they're very dangerous."

"But he also said that they'll leave us alone if we leave them alone, so maybe we should listen to him."

"He's a little boy Cody, we can't trust his judgment."

"But what if it's true?"

"It'll be fine. We'll just be extremely careful, alright?"

"Ok."

"Good night."

"Good night."

I was pretty tired from looting the store, so I fell asleep quickly.