“So… what did you think?” Sharron asked. The kids had already e out, eaten some genuine syic meat, horsed around, theo bed, so it was just Jane, An, Sharron and myself left in the garage.

  I just shrugged, sinking further into the pstic chair I’d been sitting in most of the night. “I don’t get it.”

  “What?” Sharron just sat up straight and stared at me in shock. “You didn’t find the barbeque rexing? We had a good atmosphere, good food and good friends. What more do you want?”

  “All that was fi the end of the day it just seemed to be making dinner with extra steps. The kids e, so I guess that’s a good thing.”

  “I will admit, the food was way better than we’re normally used to. Thank you for cooking,” Ja in, while shooting me a harsh look.

  “I’m just being ho. I still remember the days when we had tle for every little scrap of food. I’m thankful we keep the kids fed these days, but I ’t say cooking ‘outside’ makes it any more rexing.”

  “How you be so thick?” An asked from across our makeshift circle. “It’s a new experience, something we NEVER would have experienced a couple months ago. ’t you just enjoy it?”

  “Enjoy, sure. Rex, not so much. Even though we’re safe ihe shelter, it’s still pretty open pared to most pces. My instincts are yelling at me to find cover. A small enclosed space where I ’t be ambushed. It’s hard to suppress, or relearn, sixteen years of survival instincts in a few weeks.”

  Even though I could see Sharron didn’t uand, I saw both Jane and An nod in agreement.

  “Well, at least I could feed you something nice,” Sharron said, grabbing a drink out of the cooler. “I don’t uand how you could still eat that tasteless slop after being a Samurai. You could have perfectly banced meals that taste great, for mere points a day. Yet I’ve seen you eating those nutrient bars, or paste, on a regur basis.”

  “It’s cheap, keeps forever, and Jane keeps it on hand for emergencies. I have no problem spending points on the kids, but I’m not going to waste the points on myself. I’ve grown up living on nutrient supplements, and I survive without the luxury. Just because I’ve bee a Samurai doesn’t mean I’m going to ge ht.” I paused, for a moment. “That being said, I am sloting. I like sleeping on a fortable bed at night, and I’ll occasionally splurge on something for myself. We don’t have to t every single credit anymore.”

  Sharron sat ba her chair and took a deep swig of her beverage. “I sometimes fet how little you guys used to have. I never saw your old digs, I’ve only really gotten to know you sinoved into the shelter, and you live a det, if frugal, life now.”

  “It’s all we really here’s no reason to splurge oravagances.” I drained my beverage, threw the taio one of the bears standing around the periphery, then stood up. “Anyways, you wao show us bames? I’m going to veto that movie idea. We don’t have a TV here, and you mentioned your favorite genre is horror earlier; That hive we burned earlier is already going to give me nightmares, I don’t need something else keeping me up at night.”

  “We could watething else, horror is just my favorite, but fair enough; We’ll py a bame first. I have a couple in the RV we could py. I’d describe them to you, but I know Evelyn would just stare at me bnkly then just tell me to choose one.”

  “You know her so well,” An quipped. I just ighe snarky bastard and followed Sharron back to her pce.

  At the side of her living area was a small et absolutely filled with boxes. As far as I could tell, most of them had never been opened. When I saw that I shot her a quick look.

  “Don’t judge me. I pyed them a lot when I was an IS, sihere weren’t many other activities we could do without putting ourselves deeper i. I picked a bunch up after I bought my RV, but this is the first ce I’ve had to py one.” She dug through the pile, pulling out a box from the bottom. “How about this o’s cooperative.”

  I took the game, and shrugged. “It looks as good as any of the other ones. I guess we give it a try. How bad could it be?”

  As it turns out, a game about trying to save the world from several world-ending diseases at the same time is not that chill. It’s actually kind of stressful. We barely mao survive, and at the end of it I just colpsed oable.

  “That was fasating… I never expected to require so much strategy to deal with a handful of cards and pstic cubes,” Jane said, iing a couple of the pying pieces. “Nor did I think that Evelyn would be so good at it.”

  “My brain hurts,” I pined, pulling my hood down further. “I think I might have been thinking so hard I triggered my distributed pnning impnts.”

  Both An and Jane looked at me in fusion. “What the hell are you talking about?” An asked.

  “It’s a Samurai thing that helps me ahe bears, and occasionally helps me think good,” I replied.

  “Well, it’s clearly not helping you now,” An shot back.

  “How do you ‘Actally’ trigger something like that?” Jane asked. She leaned over and pced a hand on my head, probably to check my temperature, before leaning back again.

  “You know me, if it was something I had to activate, or even remember that I had, it would never get used. I really didn’t think the first time I’d test it was a bame. Kinda expected it to happen during a massive siege or something,” I replied, before rubbing my eyes.

  “Somehow, I’m not surprised in the slightest,” Sharron said from across the table. “Although you’re very by the numbers when it es to the bears, every on a while you do something pletely unventional.”

  “Name oime!” I challenged her.

  “You stole the main on off another Samurai’s me order to shoot a hive from several blocks away.” Even with my head down I could see Jaurn and look at me. I guess I hadn’t mentiohat one. “Or when you started mounting antithesis lures into your IFVs, so you didn’t o clear every single building ile.”

  “In all fairhat st one was Angeline’s idea, but you’ve made your point.”

  I stood up, teetering on my feet a little, before steadying myself. “Thank you for all your assistaoday Sharron, but I think I’m going to head to bed.”

  “Sure, no problem,” she said with a smile. “I have a couple more ideas if you want some more help rexing tomorrow.”

  I winced, I didn’t really want to tell her that I didn’t find her rexatiohods all that helpful. In fact, most of them were quite stressful. Instead of disappointing her, I told her the truth. “Actually… I’d like to spend some time with the kids tomorrow, since I’ve either been busy, or away a lot tely. I know I actually should have made some time before now, so I o make up for it.”

  Jane g me surprised, “Really? I’m sure the kids would appreciate it, but I don’t mind watg them. Since you’ve provided some stability for us and purchased that teag bot, it’s actually an easy job these days.”

  “I could find you something more to do. That bot apparently teaches absolutely every job in the world. As crazy as it sounds.”

  Jane paused, and cocked her head to the side. “I’ll think about it, but ter.”

  “Sure,” I replied. “Tomorrow. I’m dead on my feet, so I’ll talk to you all in the m.”

  Everyone said their good nights, before I stumbled down the hallway and slid into my room. It was dark, which was absolutely fine for me, it saved me from reag for a switch. I just stumbled into my bed, and was cradled by the soft ess. This was my ideal way to rex, a cozy bed and pead quiet. It didn’t take long until I was drifting off to sleep.