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those stocks had to be getting low at this point.
    He called back over his shoulder. “Want a ride?”
    Kaden frowned. “Who are—”
    The woman from Brownsville stepped out of the tree line, eyeing the row of alligators. She took a seat on the end of the wagon, and Justin clucked to Shadowfax to get her moving again. “I’m just looking to trade,” she said.
    “Sure,” Justin replied, but he was already considering which of the empty houses might be best suited to her.

    One thing that had remained consistent since the fall of civilization was that if visitors were coming, it would be on a day the house was a disaster.
    Carly and Miz Marson were still washing dishes and cleaning up the canning mess when Justin got home, bringing with him an Outsider. The guys set to unloading the wagon, which left Carly to make the acquaintance of the newcomer on her own. All Justin said before he headed out to the barn was that the woman’s name was Pearl. Carly washed her hands and took off her apron, feeling frazzled and mussed and in no mood for socializing, but she smiled as pleasantly as she was able and said hello to the woman as she finished up.
    “Sorry to leave you in the lurch,” Carly murmured to Miz Marson.
    The old lady shrugged. “Kaden will help.”
    Carly grinned. “If you don’t mind having to go behind him and clean again.” If Kaden wasn’t such an excellent shot, Carly would suspect his eyesight was bad, since he somehow failed to notice he left half the dirt behind.
    Pearl stood near the open door of the pantry, staring at the rows of jars with something akin to awe. She was tall and slender, close to the point of being underfed, but her spare form was toned with muscle, like a ballerina. Her onyx hair was woven into tiny braids and twisted up into a bun, emphasizing the graceful arch of her neck, and she had the smoothest, most blemish-free skin Carly had ever seen. It was a warm, light brown without so much as a freckle to mar its perfection.
    No one should look that good after an apocalypse , Carly thought sourly. Her own skin was flushed and blotchy from the heat of the kitchen, and her hair was hanging in a tangle of sweat-soaked frizz. She tried to smooth it a bit as she approached the newcomer but knew it was futile.
    “You’ve got a nice store of food,” Pearl said. “It’s been a long while since I’ve seen so much in one place.”
    Carly smiled. “Thanks. We’ve been working hard.”
    Pearl cocked her head. “Is it just me, or is everything in alphabetical order?”
    Carly flushed a little and didn’t answer that. “Come with me and I’ll show you around a bit.” Sam, lying beside Dagny’s playpen, rose to trot after them, and Pearl jumped a little at the sight of him.
    “Is that a . . .”
    “A wolf, yeah, but he’s very well-behaved. Sam, this is Pearl.”
    Sam sniffed the hand the woman tentatively extended and then turned away, apparently uninterested. A good sign, Carly thought, because Sam tended to get tense around those he found suspicious and drop his head to stare at them with menacing amber eyes.
    “Did you have him Before?” Pearl asked as they stepped off the porch.
    “No, I found him as a puppy afterward. He looked just like a dog when he was little. I didn’t know he was a wolf until later.”
    “Just like the horses.”
    “No,” Carly deadpanned. “I knew those were horses.”
    Pearl shot her a startled look as if she wasn’t used to hearing jokes or she wasn’t sure if Carly was serious, but laughed after Carly gave her a grin. “I meant you found them, too. That’s what your . . . um . . . Kaden said.”
    “You can call him my son. Pretty much everyone does, but I’ve got to admit it’s kind of strange being mom to someone when you’re not even ten years older.”
    Pearl nodded.
    Carly scratched a mosquito bite. “You’ll see a lot of families like that here. There weren’t a lot of blood families that survived intact. Stan and Mindy