Tul awoke to a face full of Unicorn and Miri sitting on his chest. A huge yawn and a bone popping stretch. "Morning, Princess. How are you?" Another yawn accompanied by an eye rub.

Miri looked perfectly comfortable perched on his chest. Perhaps a bit sassy as well.

Tul grinned and asked in a teasing voice, "What are you doing sitting on me? Do I look like a sofa?" Without thinking about it, he started tickling her ribs. The next thing he knew, she wriggled a bit and then she giggled. Miri was laughing. She actually made a sound. She was smiling.

Tul was about to burst. He tickled her, wrestled with her and let Unicorn push him over as he pretended to fall with force. "Unicorn is too strong! Agh!"

He laid where he'd fallen. Smiling. Happy. He took a moment and really looked at Miri. Thirty lbs of survivor was trying to tickle Tul. Her smile was beautiful. Blue eyes sparkly, hair wild with the tussle. "Don't tickle me!" he laughed. "Imma tickle you!" Giggling, Miri ran for it with Tul right behind her. He chased her making monster noises.  He grabbed her and swung her around before growling on her neck as she laughed. It was a wonderful morning.

~~~~~

"Are you hungry?" Still no words but that was okay. He hoped it would come with time. She grabbed his hand and started pulling him to the kitchen. "Oh good! I'm hungry too!"

The sputtering gas lasted long enough to heat a pan of water. "Instant oatmeal coming right up!" He gave her two spoons to put on the table. She carefully put them in front of the chair they had shared last night. When everything was ready, he brought the bowls over and placed them next to the spoons. He sat and put Miri in his lap. Together, they enjoyed breakfast.

~~~~~

Tul was somber as he looked at the missing section of wind guard. Shit, that was close.

They needed gas and food. A sigh. Instinct said to run. Get Miri and himself out of this sea of buildings. Reality was the opposite. He had a better chance of finding tanks with at least some gas in them in the cars amongst all these buildings. More places to scavenge food. A glance at the wind guard. More places for shooters to hide.

"Okay, Princess. Today, we need more gas and more food so it's going to be a long day. Maybe we can find you some books, huh? That sound okay?" Miri gave him a small smile. "Okay then, we'll look for some story books! Maybe some kiddie vitamins too..." He scooped her up for a neck growl. "Cuz we want you healthy!" She giggled and he smiled at her.

~~~~~

Not surprising, it was a long day. Filling the tank and a small gas can he'd found had taken hours. Miri had been pretty good at staying close to him while he siphoned a gallon here and a gallon there.

The food search hadn't been any easier. He was almost at the point of just moving on when he saw a tiny, rundown, community grocery store. The kind that carried a bit of everything in a wild jumble. He pulled over, tucked the bike in the back of the store and pulled out his bat. He set Miri down and took off their helmets.
"Ready, partner?" Miri gave him a thumbs up.

The back door was locked. Tul gestured to Miri to follow him as he snuck up to the front door. Locked but this one was an older lock. He hit it with his shoulder. It gave but not much. After looking around for signs of people again, he kicked the door - hard. It was loud but it opened.

He pushed the door open enough to get himself and Miri in then waited. No sounds outside. He waited longer. Nothing.

"Well, that was exciting. Maybe we should find a crowbar and make this a bit easier. Ready to see if they have food?"

The place had been looted but not cleaned out for some reason. And who had locked it after it was looted? The goods were wildly eclectic. There was an honest to God bear trap hanging next to tampons and random automotive parts. Tul looked at it then laughed softly. If it was smaller, he would have taken it with them.

He cleared the rest of the store and then started gathering food. Again, a weird selection ranging from canned vienna sausages, to pickled beets (Tul gagged and kept going) to Twinkies (those he took). None of it made sense but, amidst the more interesting items, there were also things that should travel well and be easy to heat. He even found some Gatorade and an ancient crowbar. "Getting in the next place easier for sure." he muttered as he flipped the crowbar in his hand.

Tul looked down the aisle and grinned. Miri had found a section of kid's toys. Three small fairy dolls (with wings), a box of crayons and a sparkly rubber ball found their way into her backpack. Just to keep Unicorn company of course.

It was getting late and there wasn't room for anything else in the bag. Tul straightened up.

"Ready to go, sweetheart?" Miri looked at him and then the toys but she came to him.
"That's my good girl! Okay, we have to look first." He took his time and waited. Watched. Nothing.

"Let's get the bike and see if we can cook some dinner. How's that sound?" A thumbs up from Miri. He smiled back.

~~~~~

On par for the day, it had taken four tries to find a suitable house. Tul was exhausted. The day had been tiring and, while he had slept the night before, it had been restless with images of Max's tortured face. He'd kept repeating, "Not my Max. That's not my Max." like a magic incantation. It helped but the nightmares took their toll.

He had found 3 boxes of mac'n cheese with the real cheese packet. None of that powdered stuff. He was fixing 2 of them for their dinner with a can of green beans. He wasn't sure what Miri would think of veggies but it was worth a try.

He watched Miri sit on the floor and play with her little fairies and Unicorn. She flew the fairies around and Unicorn was apparently giving rides. She was focused on whatever little game she was playing.

It made him smile to see her just be a child but he wished Max was there to see it too. He missed him so bad it had settled into his bones. A dull ache that never truly left. 'Soon, babe. I'm coming.' he thought.

The sprint was coming up as soon as they left the city behind. An all out dash to reach Max. The highways he had avoided so carefully were their best bet once they hit the open plains. The rural area had a few roads to act as a back up if the highway was impassable but there were no buildings out there. No convenient place for someone to hide. Hide and shoot. He'd use the highways if he could.

Drain the pasta, mix in the cheese and dinner. "Ready to eat, Miri?" A quick smile and she was waiting by the table with Unicorn. Unicorn's new friends were left in a pile on the floor.

Miri had looked at the green beans on her plate as if they would crawl off and possibly eat her. It took some effort but Tul talked her into eating half of them. Full from dinner and clean from baths, they crawled into bed. Tul didn't know who had invented the hot water heater but that person deserved sainthood in his humble opinion.

They had found a Mercer Mayer book with 7 stories in one of the houses and Miri was all excited to have an official bedtime story. They settled in and as Tul let her decide on a story he realized all the stories had Little Critter's mom. Most had his dad too. He was worried. He had no idea what happened to Miri's parents but he assumed they were dead and Miri had witnessed it. Well, they'd walk through it together.

Miri picked a story and Tul began to read. He watched Miri as he read and every time the mom or dad was mentioned she went still, quiet to her core. When he paused, she looked at him and pointed at the book. Now what? Wait... He replaced the word Mom with Tul and replaced Dad with Max. Basically, he was spit balling but he couldn't come up with another idea.

By the end of the third story, the still, quiet moments had mostly stopped. He didn't want to invalidate Miri's parents but he wouldn't let her go back to the blank faced fearful little girl he had found. Not if he could help it.

"We should get some sleep. Tomorrow, we have a long ride. We'll leave the city and go sooo fast. It'll take us a few days but we should see Max soon. Pretty exciting, huh!" Tul kissed her forehead and hoped he hadn't made a major mistake putting Max and himself into the story. Miri patted his arm and yawned.

Crossing his fingers, he snuggled her into his side. "Sleep tight, sweet girl"

~♡~♡~♡~

Not sure about how this chapter will be received but several things happened that are needed later on. 🤔😊

Smiles and HUGS to all!
❤🍫🫖❤