"Not much of a plan, but if it works for you." Josh called back. He continued walking down the road a ways without saying much. The trees thined quite a bit becoming very open and in the distance he could see the neighboring town. It was still night and he wanted to wait for day to explore it. It was supposed to be a ghost town now, but raiders need a place to stay too. He turned aside and went into the woods a little ways, slid his pack off began to rummage through it.

Jinny saw another small town a long way ahead. She knew she'd have to go around it. The last thing she wanted was for some well meaning adult to take her freedom away. She was lucky enough that the strange guy who'd fixed her bag was helpful, but didn't care enough to stop her. She parked herself beneath the sturdiest tree she could find, set her pack on the ground and settled down. Sleep was going to be even harder to come by- she already hadn't been getting much rest since her dad died. Now she'd have to be alert, so maybe it was good to not need sleep.

The child dug into her pack, pulling out a can of pork and beans, and a multi-tool knife that she'd stolen from an unlucky townsperson. It took her a bit to find the right tool for getting the can open, but soon she was scooping out food with her bare hands and eating it.

After digging through his pack that seemed to be bottomless Joshua pulled out a self-setup sleeper tent and stood up with a stretch. Walking a little ways from where his pack was he tossed the ten out a it unfolded with a *zzzzwump.* The tent was just big enough for him to sleep in but instead of getting in he just left it there, and went back to his pack. he picked it up once more and walked about 10 yards from the tent and set down near a small group of ferns. letting out a sigh he put his bow on the ground and laid down under the ferns with his knife in hand and pack as a pillow. He wasn't really sleeping but just resting when he heard some slurping that made him look to the girl sitting by a tree eating something out of a can. He chuckled a little and laying back down and said quietly but loud enough to reach her.
"Makings of a high class woman, huh?"

Jinny heard the strange guy setting his things up, but didn't pay him a whole lot of attention. Her stomach was more important- somehow she was always hungry. Until he spoke, she concentrated on eating. The sarcasm was ignored. She didn't even know what 'high-class' meant, to be honest.

"I forgot my fork and my spoon." She shrugged her slim shoulders and went about licking her fingers. She tilted her head as she looked over, frowning slightly. There was a tent, but he was nowhere near it. So why bother?

"Uh... how come you're not sleeping in your tent?"

"Well then..." Joshua replied to her forgetting a spoon and fork. He shifted on his large pack un comfortably wishing the contents were softer. Then the little girl asked about his tent and why he wasn't in it. He lifted his head and looked to the tent then layed back down. "It's a decoy. If you have any other questions your going to have to come closer so other people won't hear us." He said looking up at the stars. The sky was partly cloudy and the moon was bright giving the woods a majestic silver gleam.

Jinny thought about what he'd said, before she shrugged again and carefully picked up her pack. She stepped several feet closer to the man before settling down again. This time her voice was dropped to an almost whisper. "What's a dee-coy?" For all she knew it was a word that meant 'empty tent'.

"A decoy" Josh began to explain, closing his eyes getting ready for sleeps warm embrace. "Is something you set up for someone or something to look at and go to instead of whatever you are protecting. Myself." He paused a moment turning his head and looking at the tent. "A tent is the first place a person will look so I set one up as a 'decoy'" Josh's voice began to trail as he nodded off while he spoke.

"Oh..." Jinny looked at the tent as he explained. That was a really good idea, like making a big noise somewhere else that you weren't and then making everyone go there... then you could take their stuff while they were gone. She looked back at the man, wanting to ask another question. Why set up a decoy at all, why not just hide? The decoy meant there was someone who had to have put it there, but if you just hid... they wouldn't know you were there at all, right? But she realized he was sort of asleep, and she didn't want to bug him. Sleeping people could be mean when they woke up, and he was holding a knife. So she cuddled down against her pack, curling into a tight little ball. She shut her eyes and lay there. Not asleep, but wishing she could.

(Bugs)

(Bugs)

The night passed with no disturbances to wake Joshua as he was used to sleping like this from when the scavenger groups didn't have nifty trucks to use. The as the moon began to trail low in the sky the sun was peeking it's light over the horizon slowly but steadily lighting the world below. Joshua began to turn this way and that to keep the light from his eye, ever wanting just five more minutes before getting up.

Jinny was somewhere between sleep and waking by the time the sun started to rise. Once the light hit her eyes, she grumbled a bit and rolled over to get away from it. But she was awake, more or less. With a sleepy sigh, she got up and wandered deeper into the thin forest. She went to the bathroom under a tree, then returned to her pack to carefully dig out breakfast. It was bread, carefully wrapped with a thin cloth. It had been warm, once, but now it was dry around the edges and starting to get hard. She tore it into pieces and started to eat them one by one, watching the sun come up and keeping a close eye on her surroundings.

Josh heard the young girl rustling about as the mornigh came to dawn. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. Looking to where he set up the tent he saw it was still there, and breathed a shallow sigh if relief seeing that the young girl was still around as well. He wasn't sure why but it made his mind satisfied to know she was okay. 'Why do I care' he thought as he wondered into the woods to relieve himself. 'She is not my problem.'
He returned to his pack and removed a jar of jelly and a package of crackers and began eating. He sat but four feet from the girl and he asked her. "So... where do you plan to go from here?" His voice was dried and cracked as he had not yet had anything to drink. After hearing his voice that sounded like his throat was made of sand paper he grabbed a water bottle and began to drink.

Jinny watched the stranger wander a bit after he got up, and eyed his jelly jar with interest. She'd never eaten that looked so... bright before. She could even smell it's scent from here. Some sort of fruit. The closest they had to fruit in town was tomatoes, and those didn't really count, someone just said they were supposed to be fruit.

When he asked her what her plan was, she had to stop and think. To be honest, she hadn't planned because she figured a plan would just go to pieces. Better not to plan, better to think on the run. Life was unpredictable. People woke up and didn't know they were going to die... She shook her head slightly. "I dunno. Find a nice place to camp, I guess. Haven't planned too much, really, 'cause I figure it'll get all screwed up anyway."

Joshua nodded and put away his crackers, but handed his jelly to thr girl. "Here, I saw you eyeing this so go ahead and try some." He said holding out his hand. "Use the knife, none of that finger scooping." He added plainly rearranging some things in his bag. The sun was cresting the horizon and he needed to get moving if he was ever to reach the freeway by night fall again.

Jinny's eyes lit up with delight, like the child she was. She dipped the tip of her eating knife into the gooey red jelly. She licked the knife clean and smacked her lips appreciatively. "It's... some sort of berry, right? It's real sweet. I like it." She carefully replaced the lid of the jelly jar tightly and stood up, carefully handing it to him. "Thank you." She paused, wondering what she could offer in return. "Uhm... I stole some deer jerky from the kitchen. A whole lot of it." She poked around in her pack before handing him several long strands of thick brown dried meat. "It's sorta salty but you can chew it forever."

"Yeah, it's Strawberry" Joshua replied taking the jar and putting it in his pack before zipping it up. He put his pack on and watched the girl sort through her things as she explained that she had some jerky. Once finished she produced several strips and handed them to him. "Thanks." He replied to her warning of them being salty. "Thats how it always is." He took a bite and shoved the rest into a pocket. "If your impromptu plan includes getting past this town then you may want to stick with me for a while. I know that most of the people moved to our town, but raiders need a place to stay too." He said walking over to the tent, foling it and placing in the back staps of his pack.

"Raiders?" Jinny went very quiet and still, as if the bad people could be called to their location just by saying their name. "...I don't like raiders." Her black eyes went from calm to stone cold. She wondered, briefly, if the same raiders who'd killed her father last year were still around.

Being a child, she'd been inside for a great deal of the attack. But a few had broken through, and with no one to look after her during, little Jinny had slipped from her father's house. She didn't get far, really, because a raider was fighting her daddy. Her daddy! That big mean ugly man with red fuzzy hair and a nasty looking scar. Like someone took a knife to his face and yanked hard.

Before Jinny knew it, she was pitching rocks at the ugly redhead, rocks that did little but annoy the man. It gave him just enough of a bother to turn and look at Jinny, and her father took that brief lapse to stab the man in the back. That usually killed people. But not this one- he yelled horribly and turned back to Jinny's father, and... and....

The sound of the gunshot would echo in her ears forever.

Jinny didn't realize she was clutching her ears, in real life, and was shaking. It wasn't even cold outside. There were tiny tracks of tears on her face, now, cutting through the layer of dirt. "..." She let out a tiny whimper, her mind stuck in the past.

Joshua stood up from where the tent was and put his pack back on with a thud on his back. "Yeah I dont like-" he started, but stopped short as he turned and saw the little girl with her hands on her ears, beginning to cry. 'She must have one hell of a past.' He thought to himself as he slowly walked over to her. "Hey, you okay?" He asked looking around. He wasn't sure what to do or how to deal with a young upset girl. He was a man with his own problems and shattered past, what was he to do or say?

Jinny came out of it, blinking rapidly and looking around. "Wh-" She looked up at him, and frowned. Then she wiped her face with both hands. "...Sorry. I don't sleep, so the bad dreams come in the daytime to get me." She faked a smile, even though her face was still slightly wet and her eyes still watery. "I'm okay. I'm tough." Not as tough as she liked to be though.