Unexpectedly, when Jack appeared, he wasn’t alone.

“Hayden! Cove!” Mattie shouted, popping out from behind Jack to wave.

“Mattie!” Cove exclaimed, surprised. We exchanged shocked looks, standing up to greet the two.

Jack gave us a lazy two-fingered salute. “Yo!”

They stopped a reasonable speaking distance away, just outside of arm's reach. Mattie was energetic, her ponytail flipping behind her shoulders as she moved.

“I heard you three know each other?”

I raised my hand and tilted back and forth. “Kinda.”

Mattie spoke over me. “We met a couple of days ago. I found these two idiots wandering the city alone. They didn’t even know about the robots!”

“They didn’t?”

“We’re not from around here,” Cove said.

“No kidding,” Mattie mumbled.

“What about you two? How did you meet? You look like you’ve gotten pretty close.” I interjected, attempting to derail the conversation by pointing out how Mattie stood less than half a foot from Jack.

As hoped, Mattie and Jack both were thrown off by the questions. They exchanged glances and took a not-so-subtle step away from each other. Mattie flushed. “We just ran into each other and got talking. He mentioned he was going to meet two people, and I thought, ‘Hey, what if he’s talking about Cove and Hayden?’ and asked to tag along.”

Jack put a hand up to his chest in mock hurt. “That’s why you came along?!”

“I mean, yeah.”

“I thought you liked me.”

She checked him, then Cove, out and shrugged. “You’re okay. I guess.”

Gross. “Shouldn’t you be more wary of strangers?” I couldn’t help but ask her. Her personality and ponytail reminded me a lot of my sister.

She planted her feet and dug her arm into the tender space above Jack’s hip bone, shoving him hard enough that he stumbled a few feet to the side. Actual hurt crossed his face as Mattie turned back toward us, flexing her arms. Once again, her eyes remained on Cove.

“I’m good.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Jack followed Mattie’s gaze, green with envy. Cove appeared a little guilty for stealing Jack’s love interest, and he stepped closer to me to dodge their gazes. It didn’t work.

I nudged Ani, who was sitting at my feet with my foot. Ever eager to cause chaos, Ani followed the path I laid out for him, trotting to jump up against Mattie’s leg, looking at her with shining eyes.

She melted, crouching down to cuddle his devious face. Jack smiled briefly at the sight.

“So, what’s your town like?” He asked, pointedly speaking to Mattie instead of us.

She babbled on about the town, explaining her fellow villagers despise technology. Jack nodded along as she spoke, but he didn’t look surprised by any of the information.

How much had the bear told him?

I was expelled from my thoughts when Jack asked us a question. “So, are you two taking me up on my offer?”

“Yes,” Cove said.

Mattie grew curious at the question, looking up for the first time from Ani. “What offer?”

Jack tried to stay serious and suppress his smile when she looked at him, but he couldn’t. “They were hunting, and I messed it up, so I offered to let them stay with me until I could help them again.”

Mattie’s eyes lit up with a curious blaze, her hand lingering too long in Ani’s face. “What’s your town like?”

Ani nipped lightly at her fingers, then butted his head against her hand.

“It’s a city. Our reconstruction efforts centered around salvaged technology, so in some areas, we are back up to pre-fall levels. Our nightlife is the best around.”

Mattie began petting Ani again. “Can I come?”

Jack looked at her fondly. “Of course. Now, about my offer--”

“We accept,” Cove said reluctantly.

“Awesome.”He looked at the group of us, then said, “It might take a while to get everyone settled in, so we should start heading back now. If we do, I think we can make it in time for dinner.”

The promise of food was enough to get both Cove and me moving without delay.

Jack took us through the city to his ancient car that sat alone at the end of a dirt road that stretched into the mountains. The car was a brilliant red, its fresh paint nearly completely covering the previous paint chips. Where its age really showed on the outside was the shape, and it was littered with small dents and cracks.

Mattie had never seen a car before and asked Jack a million questions as we piled in, tossing our backpacks into the trunk. The interior of the car was in about as bad shape as the exterior, with hole-covered and faded stained sheets having been used to repair the interior. It may have been old, but it was currently clearly well-taken care of.

Hanging down from the mirror was a sitting howling wolf, hand carved from wood and about four inches from snout to feet. In the front seat, Mattie reached her fingertips out, brushing against it gently. Jack caught the movement and proudly explained, “I made that.”

“You did? It’s beautiful,” she said, awed.

“You can have it if you want.”

Shocked, Mattie withdrew her hands. “Is that okay?”

Jack plucked it off of his rearview mirror, shoving it into her hands and curling her fingertips around it. “I can always make another one.”

Mattie gave a thousand-watt smile, cradling the wolf figurine gently in her hands.

I reached for my buckle, only to pull out a torn and shredded seatbelt. I looked over at Cove, who had the same issue. Quietly and nearly simultaneously, we pulled the handles down from the roof. Mine snapped off in my hand, and I flinched.

Cove looked at me sympathetically, his spare hand wrapped carefully around Ranch, protecting her. Up front, Jack and Mattie were in their own little world, so I shoved the broken handle into the seat pocket, braced my feet against the metal supports of the seat in front of me, and clenched the door tightly with my right hand as they continued talking.

When Jack pulled forward as Mattie was leaning forward, her seat slid back, crushing my toes. I cried out in shock. Jack slammed on the brakes, sending the flying back forward. Mattie landed on the dashboard with an oomph.

Everyone in the car stared at me, then at Mattie, who laughed. “Sorry!” she exclaimed, sitting up fully in her seat. “I didn’t know it would do that!”

“Please don’t touch anything,” I said venomously, pulling my feet up and my shoes off to check the damage one by one. My toes were purple and bruised, but they didn’t look broken.

“Sorry.” She said again.

Jack took off more slowly the next time, driving so gently that Cove dropped his hand from the handle, and I relaxed my grip on the seat. Mattie, who’d obviously never ridden in a car before, didn’t do as instructed and asked a million more questions about the buttons and inner workings of a car, even rolling all the windows down so the wind and her hair could smack me in the face.

I leaned deep into my seat, pulled her hair out of my face, and watched the woods and the mountains pass by.