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By now, Colt was dead tired as well, but he couldn’t allow himself to pass out just yet. He changed the twins’ diapers, then laid a plastic sheet down before feeding them. As expected, they made a mess of their simple juice and hash meal. He cleaned up after them and left the television on for the reapers while he finally drifted off to sleep.

Bohwanox woke him up in the middle of the night.

“Ugh--what is it?” Colt rubbed his face and sat up. “Are we about to be attacked or something?”

‘Nah, we just wanted you to change the channel,’ said Garovel.

His face flattened. “What.”

‘We’re really sick of watching the news,’ said Bohwanox.

“Don’t--you--” It took him a moment of deliberation, but Colt decided against killing them. “What the hell did you do before television was invented?”

‘Follow people around,’ said Garovel. ‘Or read. If you’ve got any interesting books on you, then feel free to stay up all night and turn the pages for us.’

“Pass. Why don’t you do some scouting? Make sure we’re safe here?”

‘We did,’ said Bohwanox. ‘Five times. There’s nothing around here. This town is way too peaceful.’

“Share your life stories with each other, then.”

‘Shut up and change the channel,’ said Bohwanox.

“I’m tempted to refuse on principle alone.”

Bohwanox bobbed his head at him. ‘Okay. Then no sleep for you.’

‘You can stay up and entertain us.’

Colt grabbed the remote control and flipped through channels until the reapers stopped complaining. It took a while. There wasn’t much on at two in the morning. They settled on a program about the kilometers of underground caves near Gray Rock.

He checked on the kids again, but they were asleep as well, so he drifted off again.

In the morning, Colt was the first to wake. Still feeling yesterday’s soreness, he fetched some breakfast for everyone from the nearby gas station.