Side Story #1 - Colt - Page 39

Colt tried to relax and let the rest of the day proceed on normally from there. He mostly got his wish.

They soon had lunch together, but today, it turned out, Alice had brought food with her.

"It's only fair, right?" she said with a light laugh. "You've been feeding me, so I should return the favor. And I can't very well let you go on eating snakes and rabbits all the time. You'll hunt the poor things to extinction, and then what will you eat?"

"Fish. Fruit. Veggies. Seen some deer and antelope around. Some duck and quail, too. And they might not be my first choice, but maybe an occasional squirrel or frog--"

"Okay, you've proved your point. You'd be fine. I believe you."

He smirked. "You have a fair point, too. I try not to hunt the same thing every day, but some days I'm more pressed for time than others, so I just catch whatever I find first. Which is actually not the worst strategy to avoid overhunting. Typically, the first prey you find is the most abundant, and therefore, the least at risk. Plus, it's just me and the kids out here, so it's not like we can put that much of a dent in the local ecosystem by ourselves."

His gaze had drifted over to the twins, and he was waiting for Alice to respond, but when he realized that she was taking a while, he turned to look at her again.

"I think that's the longest I've ever heard you talk about anything," she said with a raised brow.

"Hrm," was all the response he could come up with as he scratched his faint beard.

"I guess you're pretty passionate about hunting," she said.

Passionate? Not really. It was necessary for survival. Being a fucking moron about it would put the twins at risk. He wasn't quite sure how to articulate that to Alice with sounding like an absolute dick, though, so he didn't try.

With all that said, the meal she'd prepared for them was pretty fucking spectacular, Colt thought. He still remembered that breakfast she'd made for him, and somehow, this was even better. Turkey, ham, bacon, mayo, and lettuce on toast--and cut into perfect triangles, as well. A bag of ranch-flavored, store bought chips that he hadn't tasted in months or perhaps even years. And lemonade that tasted freshly squeezed--or pretty damn close, at least.

Okay, so maybe his standards weren't exactly the highest they'd ever been in his life, but still. He was only too happy to partake. Perhaps a little too happy, even, because before he knew it, it was all gone, and he was licking the chip dust off his fingers.

Alice was looking at him with slightly widened eyes. "I didn't you would finish the whole thing by yourself..."

He eyed the crumpled up bag of chips in front of him. "Ah..." And he found himself in a rare occasion where he felt as though an apology was owed. "Sorry. Got a little carried away, I guess..."

"No, it's fine! I'm glad you liked it." And there was that damn smile again.

"Hrm. You're a hell of a cook."

"What? Oh, no, it was nothing special. And those chips were store bought."

"Sandwiches weren't."

"Well... y-yes, but anyone can make sandwiches."

"Not like that." That bacon had been perfectly cooked. Again.

"Ah--well. You're too kind."

He definitely fucking wasn't.

Afterward, she checked on Brick again, who just sat there and let her touch him like it was no big deal, as usual. She'd even brought some treats for him this time, which Colt really didn't understand, because he was already way too nice to her, but whatever. The furry bastard sure seemed to appreciate it.

Brick had been moving around more and more each day, even wandering around outside the cabin.

Colt had been a bit worried that Brick would just leave and never return, but then he realized that he didn't give a fuck about that and just wanted to make sure the dog wasn't shitting indoors. And in fact, it might've been useful for the investigation if Brick found his way back to his owner, but thus far, the dog had decided to stick around.

Colt had crafted a little bed for him out of chopped wood, straw, clay, and rope. For the first couple days, Brick hadn't used it at all, perhaps because he'd see Colt building it, but when Alice invited him over to it by simply patting on the bed, Brick had of course gone straight over.

Now Brick was sleeping on it all the time. He didn't seem to mind when Thomas or Stephanie climbed into it with him, either.

Colt kinda did, though. He supposed it was fine for now, but it was only a matter of time before Brick started to stink, and he didn't want the kids smelling like dog. Which meant he'd have to either forbid them from napping with Brick... or give the fucker a bath.

Neither of those options sounded particularly appealing to him.

Eh, Brick wouldn't be around for that much longer. At least not here, anyway. If Malcolm Beaumont really was Brick's true owner, then Colt might be able to return him soon. Assuming Malcolm didn't get himself fucking killed, too.

Agh.

Alice stuck around for a while after she was done checking up on Brick, so Colt decided to use the opportunity to go do some early hunting and gathering for dinner while the kids had a babysitter. It felt weird to admit, but he actually did trust her to look after them. For an hour or two, at least.

In the middle of his little hunting trip, however, he began hearing footsteps in the underbrush behind him. Or pawsteps, more like.

He turned around and saw Brick there, staring right back at him.

"The fuck do you want?" said Colt.

Brick turned his nose up and sniffed the air a few times.