Now
Jeremy

As I was walking back to the bus I weirdly couldn't stop rubbing my now smooth cheeks. It had been such a long time that shaving hadn't been much of a problem for me. I hadn't even cut myself. A smile made its way on my face and happily I made my way home.

Everything seemed to be alright with the world at that moment.

As the bus started coming into sight I could hear fighting noises but even that didn't change my mood much. It wasn't anything unusual to come home to and Kyla could handle herself.

Leisurely I strolled towards the bus my thoughts still on the how many inconveniences I could avoid now that I had shaving cream. Of course I could have grown a beard but it was hot and itchy and neither Kyla nor I liked the way I looked with my face hidden in hair.

I arrived at the back of the bus shielding me from whoever wasfighting in front. That way I couldn't see anything either, but atleast like this I wouldn't be too much involved.

I appreciated a good fight as much as anyone else, but right now I wanted to continue to revel in my new-found cheerfulness.

Still, as I climbed up the bus, I kept lying on the roof for a few seconds to assess the situation.
I considered my weapon arsenal. I had one knife on me, which ordinarily would have been enough, but there was a chance that someone had visited, who I didn't necessarily need to meet today.

The fight seemed heated and messy and it was hard to tell who was fighting whom. It seemed to mainly consist out of men.

For a moment relief flooded me. No matter how strong Kyla claimed she was, if she'd been in a fight alone with Jack and Jill I would have come home to find her dead and the bus taken.

I had seen enough of the fight to know I wasn't needed and so I let myself fall through the hole in the roof, onto the floor.
Two little shrieks welcomed me and suddenly I was looking into the eyes of two scared kids.

I wasn't easily surprised or dumb founded but for a moment I just stared at them.

They were eating my birthday present. Great.

Kyla would use this as another reason why she needed to return to the Lost City. That was just what I needed today.

For a while both parties simply looked at each other in silence until I said, "I hope you know she'll gut you for this."
With that I moved towards one of the windows and looked outside.

My mood had a visible dent in it now and my worry-free attitude had vanished. I sighed. With the two brats in here I couldn't even relax.

Kyla was fighting about estimably ten big, muscle-packed men.
She was grinning and I rolled my eyes at how easy it was for her to enjoy a fight in which she was clearly outnumbered.

"Boys, boys", I could hear her say, as she thrust her knife into one. "The bus is way too small for all of you! You're going to have to fight each other for it, afterwards!"

I didn't yet know whether her intention was to kill or or just incapacitate them, but from the look on her face it was probably the former.
They were definitely out to kill her and if I was honest I didn't know what we would do with ten hurt men lying in our front yard.

Kyla moved swiftly and as I looked at her I could see her dancing. This wasn't a fight. It was a dance.
And Kyla was leading.

Kyla ducked under one of the men's swords, pulled out her knife and quickly killed him. The next man came running towards her but she dodged him easily, as well.

"Don't you want to go help her?", the girl asked and I looked at her. Her blonde hair was filthy and both of them looking emaciated. Somehow they reminded me of Kyla and me a few years back.

"She'll manage", I told them. Right in that moment one of the men slashed out and cut Kyla's cheek. She stopped just a millisecond in shock and pain but in the next she was fighting again.

"Apparently, she doesn't", the boy said now.

"Alright", I said with a heavy sigh, stood up and grabbed one more knife. "Maybe I'll join in on the fun. Just don't eat any more bread."

They looked at each other as if they were communicating whether they should do what I said or not.

"Listen, if you behave I'll tell her not to kill you, if you eat one more thing I'll personally make sure you know why there are ten men out there to fight one girl."

Now they looked scared. More scared than hungry. Good.
I slid one more knife into my jacket and climbed out of the bus to stand on top of it.

"Need some help, my lady?", I asked grinning and bowed a little as Kyla looked up.
Quarter of her face was full of blood but she returned my grin with ease.

The cut must've been deep. It must've hurt like hell. How could she still be grinning?

"No, thank you", she said. "I can manage."
I jumped down, stabbing two men in the process. We moved back to back.

"How many did you already kill?", I asked, serious again.
"About half", she said, taking out one more.
"Great", I told her and threw one of the bandits on the ground."Less work for me."
The man spit out blood.
Kyla threw one of her knives and it pierced one of the men's eyes.

"We're gonna have to get rid of the bodies afterwards", she said,warding off an attack.
"That's the job of the little twerps back there", I answered and pointed at the bus.
"Good", Kyla answered and nodded. "Are they behaving themselves?"

"They ate my birthday present", I said.
"They shaving cream?", she asked and made a grimace. "Ew."
I rolled my eyes. Kyla could never be serious. Not even for an instant. "No, obviously the bread."

Immediately she let go of the man she was killing.
"They did what?!", she raged, already storming towards the bus.
I held her off with one hand, stabbing a man with the other. "Calm down", I told her. "They're just hungry and afraid."
She could be so dramatic sometimes.

"I don't care", she answered, concentrated on the fight again.
Someone landed a light hit on my arm and I flinched. Blood dripped out of the wound. "I was hungry and afraid, too, and look where it got us!"

She seemed to consider this. "I'm not going to befriend them!"
"You don't have to", I answered killing off the last guy. "Promise you'll be nice!", I added as I followed her back to the bus.
"I can't guarantee anything", she shouted back.

~

"You little bastards", she said as I came through the opening in the roof. "I saved your lives back there!"

"What she means is that it's not nice to steal other people's food. Admittedly a lot of people would kill you even for asking, but Kyla already saved our lives. If she'd wanted to kill you, she already would have."

They both nodded, although it was probably more out of fear than understanding.

"You're lucky enough I just killed enough people to appease my blood thirst for now", Kyla said, ignoring my comment.
The two kids just stared at her, frozen from shock and fright. Kyla never had been good with talking to other people. Especially when they were weaker than herself. I sighed.

"Why don't we eat breakfast first and then dispose of the fifteen bodies lying outside?", I suggested.
Kyla and I had already eaten but after the fight I was as hungry as before. On some level I felt slightly bad for the two kids. Even though it had been a long time ago, I could remember what it was like to be all alone with no means of survival.

"We'll also need to patch up your cheek, Kyla! The blood is getting everywhere and otherwise it'll get infected."
"It's not my blood", Kyla said, but still reached for her wound and looked at her bloodied fingers. "Oh", she said. "I hadn't even noticed."

I just wanted to look for some clean cloth and bandaids as Kyla let out a little gasp.
"Jeremy! You're hurt!"

I looked at her disturbed. "You're really worried about that? You're whole face is smeared with blood!"

But she wasn't even listening to me anymore. Hectically she rummaged through the medicine supplies, trying to find bandages.

The whole pile fell in on itself as she pulled out medicine after medicine. Supplies rolled onto the floor and I just knew that it would be me who would have to clean all of this up.

"Kyla", I said angrily. "You're blood is spluttering everywhere! I personally don't want to eat food with your filthy blood on it!"

It didn't matter. Kyla just ignored me and pulled out some clean cloth, which wasn't bandage material but what I had searched for to clean her cheek. Then she grabbed my arm and started wrapping my arm with the improvised bandage. I grabbed her hands and snatched the fabric away from her.

"Enough, Kyla", I told her. "I'm fine! The wound's already healing. Let me just clean your face!"

Kyla didn't answer and looked pouty away from me, but at least she was holding still for a moment. I damped the cloth with some water and carefully wiped the blood off her cheek. I knew that Kyla was playing tough because I noticed her flinching now and then, every time I moved the cloth across the cut.

"You're not going anywhere", Kyla suddenly said and reached behind me. I turned around to see that she was holding the foot of the girl in her hand. She pulled slightly and both, the boy and the girl, fell back into the bus together with about five apples and two slices of bread, which clattered onto the floor and rolled off somewhere.

"I said we'd have breakfast together, not that you could just take whatever you want and leave", I told them and concentrated on Kyla's wound again. The cut itself was small and looked deep but not deep enough to leave any permanent damage. In the worst case she would get away with a light scar.

It wasn't such a big deal. Both of us had enough scars than any of us could count. One more or less didn't make a difference.

"Do we still have disinfectant?", I asked her and she shook her head. "Fine. I'll just put a bandaid over it. It'll heal."
Kyla groaned and let herself fall onto one of the seats. "That looks super dumb", she said.
"You are wearing a disgusting, mouldy scarf full of holes, Kyla! I think you've already gone past what looks dumb!"

I wish I would have gotten rid of it when I had had the chance. Now it was too late.

"It's not disgusting, it's cool!"
"Just leave the bandaid on for a few days until the wound closes!", I told her.
"Fine", she groaned and lay down. "Now go and make me more breakfast. I don't care if the two get anything but I'm starving!"

I sighed and retrieved the apples and the bread from under the seats. Why was I the one doing all the work while Kyla just lazed about?
I cut up some of the bread and threw one slice onto Kyla's stomach.
"Thanks", she called back.

I looked down on the two kids. Each of them had an apple in their mouth. I sighed.
Today I had nothing to do but to take care of three little children. I hadn't signed up for any of this. I hadn't even signed up at all.

"As you've already eaten", I said to them. "Let's go and get rid of the bodies."

Before any of them could complain I shooed them out of the bus, leaving Kyla alone to sleep or to listen to music. I actually didn't care either way.

"How are we going to get rid of them?", the boy asked once we were outside. "All of them weigh ten times more than more than both of us!"
"Now, don't be so overly dramatic!", I said. I almost would have wagged my finger at them but then decided that that would be a little overkill.
"What are your names?"

"Tyler", said the boy.
"Lily", answered the girl.

"Great", I said nicely. "I'm Jeremy and both of you are going to take one man at a time and bring all of them to the river. That way any others won't be able to track them here."

"We don't know where the river is", Tyler said.
"I'll show you", I told him. I wished they would talk less. Kyla wasn't very good at communicating with other people but just because I was more skilled in the subject matter didn't mean I liked it more.

"Why don't you carry some of them. I bet you're strong", the girl suggested.

I came up to her until our noses almost touched and smiled a friendly smile. "Well, because you brought them here; Kyla saved your lives, and we gave you food. There should be something in it for us as well, don't you think?"
The girl gulped and nodded. I took a few steps back.

"Alright", I said. "Now that that's clear, get to work!"

To my surprise Lily and Tyler actually bent down and picked one of the dead men up. I had expected them to argue and/or groan again, but apart from the visible disgust I could see on their faces, they were actually behaving themselves.

I lead them to the river, where I had shaved this morning.

It was funny to imagine that they had only met me shaven until now. I probably looked a lot more wild and terrifying with the stubble.

I watched the two as they were carrying the body with great effort.

Tyler seemed old enough to grow some facial hair, but his cheeks were as smooth as a baby butt.
I hoped for him that it would stay that way. I certainly wouldn't teach him how to shave with a knife.
No one had ever taught me, either.

The whole disposal would have been a ten minute work but they acted so clumsily that it took twice that long. On the way the two kids let the body fall thrice and stumbled on every other stick that was lying around. I sighed.

This was going to take all day.

"Come on! Don't be so slow", I shouted at them. I'd already reached the river and waited for them.

They were still far away and from the likes of them they wouldn't reach the river any time soon, so I made myself comfortable on the grass and enjoyed the cool breeze.

It was calm here. I was only surrounded by the sounds of flowing water, the chirping of the birds and the grunting from Lily and Tyler.

I usually tried to come here alone, without Kyla. It was a break from her that I often desperately needed. If I would spent my whole time around Kyla I would probably go insane.

I meditated until the two kids finally arrived.

Their arrival was hard to miss. Both of them panted uncontrollably and were covered in sweat.

"Now throw it into the river. It'll drag the body down the stream and even if someone finds it, they won't know where the fight happened. That is important because if you have a good hideout, you'd want as few people as possible to know about it."

They somehow managed to let the body drop into the water and we all watched it float downstream.

"Alright", I said. "Let's get the next body."
Now they did groan. I grinned. If I had to suffer they could suffer too! It was bad enough that Kyla got to stay home and relax.

We walked back to the bus and while Lily and Tyler got the next body I went to collect some empty water bottles. Kyla waved me and I stuck my tongue out, since she was sneering, which made her only laugh more.

We went back and forth for a while. From the bus to the river, from the river to the bus and back again. With every corpse Tyler and Lily got less clumsy. At least a little bit.

"Great, guys", I told them as we arrived at the river yet another time. Both of them had slumped onto the ground and sat now on the grass, leaning against each other, trying to catch their breaths. They looked exhausted and I could see how both of them wanted to do nothing more than close their eyes and fall asleep.

"Only half of the men are left", I added cheerfully, fully knowing that it would annoy them.
This was a good for them. You didn't live long around here without being able to do some physical labour.

"Slave driver", Tyler mumbled towards Lily, who nodded.
I turned around. Tyler immediately looked away, avoiding eye-contact.

"You two", I told them. You should be happy as long as I'm doing this! Do you think I like two whining little kids on my back? Additionally to Kyla? I could just as well kill you, so up you go get the next eight bodies. Comeone. Don't be lazy!"

They did as I said without another word of objection and I followed them. If they never learned the hardships of life, they wouldn't survive out here.
It was a miracle that they were still alive, anyway.

As we arrived at the bus, Kyla was standing next to it, awaiting our return. She waved me. I didn't wave back.
She wouldn't have returned the gesture if it had been the other way around.

"I can't understand how you took so long to get rid of them", she said as we were within reach. "I got bored so I took care of the rest!"

"You took care of the rest?", Tyler asked, the disbelief visibly written over his face. "We were away for half an hour! That's not humanely possible."

"Well, I'm not humanely possible", Kyla said proudly, which was probably true. "I'm also not a human, but don't let that bother you." She laughed in triumph.

Now this was most certainly wrong. Kyla was as much human as anyone of us.
She also was one big liar.

"What'll happen to the blood?", Lily asked, unimpressed by Kyla's claims, and pointed at the stained grass.

"It'll wash away with the next rain", Kyla said. "I wouldn't worry about it."

She gave me a grin. "Now Jeremy, up you go and enjoy your remaining birthday present! I'll take care of these kids for you."
I looked at her distrustfully. "Why?"

It was hard to believe that she would do anything nice for me twice in a day. She would never give me something like a free day. Normally she would just moan and complain and leave everything to me.

"It's your birthday, obviously", she said as if I needed reminding. "Dummy."

"Ok", I said, still more than a little suspiciously and climbed up towards the entrance. Just before I vanished into our home she called up to me, "Oh, there might be less of the bread than there was since you left. I might have gotten a bit hungry!"

Of course.

I still heard her laughing as I slid into one of the seats to see what the hungry bastards had left.

Kyla

Satisfied I stopped laughing. Jeremy needed this kind of joke from time to time, even if he didn't know it yet. One day he'd start to appreciate it. I was sure of that. He definitely would.

Some day.

Probably.

"Alright", I said and turned back to Tyler and Lily. "Let's do this."
"Let's do what?", Lily asked and I threw two knives in front of their feet.

They'd belonged to the men Jeremy and I had slaughtered. I had collected all of their weapons. A few stuck in my belt now, the rest of lay in the weapons pile inside the bus.
Even though the fighting style of the men had been extremely sloppy I couldn't deny that they had owned formidable weapons.

"What're we supposed to do with them?", Tyler asked, dubiously looking at the shining blade at his feet.

"Well, isn't it obvious?", I asked.
They both shook their head.

"Attack me."