Here is a novel I will, potentially, write sometime in the future. This is all I have written on it, though I have a loose plot in mind for it. What is it? Just look at the title.

Seriously.

Look.

At.

The.

Title.

She tossed the papers to the side and rubbed her brow, sighing. She glanced up at me, giving a slight whimper. I crossed my arms.

“No.”

She frowned, crossing her arms in return. After a moment, she stuck out her tongue.

“I said no,” I growled out, something I had been known to do. “You’re not changing my mind.”

“Sis, we need the-“

“We don’t need anything. Hunting animals is easier than humans. I can find us food.”

She rolled her eyes. “You know there’s not any animals left.”

“Not true,” I pointed out, “I saw a squirrel yesterday.”

“That was three days ago,” she corrected with a sigh.

“Oh.” I stopped short, racking my memory, wondering how I had forgotten that. I shook my head, sending the confusion away. “The point remains, Sarah. I’m not taking this job.”

“We,” she once again corrected, “are taking the job because we need food. Look at you. You’re getting skinny.”

I snorted, uncrossing my arms and resting my hands on my hips. My massive bulk hadn’t lessened since we’ve moved to the ruins, but hers, however, had. I could run two days straight and only add to the staggering amount of muscle that wrapped itself around my arms. Sarah, on the other hand, was small and frail. I knew if I didn’t do something soon, what little muscle she could hold on her would soon fade away. Then she would shortly follow.

I gritted my teeth, “We’re going into town first. Maybe I can find a different job.”

“We,” she countered happily, grinning as she gathered the papers and proceeded to my side. I knelt down and she leapt onto my shoulders. She put her hands atop my head that held a small amount of naturally spiked, black hair. She drummed my skull with her fingers as I navigated our way out of the crumbled wreck of fallen metal beams and rusted chairs. Glass had remained scattered over the ground and I had to be careful about where I stepped. Who knows who could’ve been watching us.

Trees were suffocated by the toxic air and the smell of blood continually lingered in our oxygen. Swallowing deeply, I forced myself to ignore the taunting hunger. Grinding my teeth, I attempted to stomp out my sisterly worry for Sarah. If I could simply think logically, I would be able to find myself a job that didn’t get me killed. I was the only family she had left. As I ducked under the broken, bent beams of what, at one point, had been the skeleton of a building, I broke into a slow jog. I jumped highly over small twigs and pretended to stumble, throwing Sarah over my shoulders and catching her in my arms. She squealed and cackled as I grinned broadly down at her. I threw her up in the air and allowed her to fall back down into the safety of my arms. She giggled, swatting playfully at me.

“Sis! Don’t do that!”

“Do what?” I chuckled, pulling part of her shirt up and blowing a lungful of air onto her underbelly. She squealed louder, trying to push me away. I swung her up and around to my side as the sounds of the outpost started to deafen our ears. I ruffled her hair, smiling.

“Ready, little warrior?”

“Ready when you are, boss.” Giving a displaced sigh, I pulled away from her and steeled myself to the outside world. We ducked through the brush and low hanging branches, having moved to a place that had no path carved out. We never liked be disturbed.

We walked out of the bush into the insanity that served as one of the many dotted outposts for civilization. Most people migrated to these areas after the collapse, but some lost faith in the human race and fled into the shadow of the trees. Sarah and I stuck close only because it was the last way we could find food.

Those who saw us coming went out of their way to stand aside, murmuring quietly to one another. I suppose with dark blue, bloodied armor cast around my body and two, small guns buckled to my hips, and a small, twelve year old child at my side, most people would be intimidated. My reputation wasn’t the friendliest piece of knowledge either.

Disregarding the stares and bitter whispers, we strode up to the board for hired help. The rewards were decreasing. I frowned, crossing my arms. When around others, I did my best not to speak, so instead I grunted with annoyance. Sarah snorted in response, “You’re the one who wanted to check the boards. I told you I got the best one on here. Unless you want to find a lost cat.”

“Food.” I growled, smirking in her direction. Sarah laughed, “You wouldn’t get an award for a half-eaten cat, Boss.”

I shrugged, turned on my heel and paused. I pulled my features up in a scowl, my jaw locking. Sensing my tension, Sarah turned around. She assumed a pose much like mine.

“What do you want, scum?”

“You two looking for a job?” The man before us was unwashed and slight in build. He was tall, but had nothing in the means of muscle. He wore little more than rags and his finger nails were not only bitten off, but stained with black and red substances.

“Not from you.” The two of us started to head away, when the frail man leapt in front of our path. He spread his arms out wide.

“Wait! I’ll offer food and ammunition.”

“No, we don’t work for you.” Sis started to move out, but a placed a firm hand on her shoulder. My eyes locked on the slimy man before us. Sarah looked up at me in horror.

“Boss, no, we said—“

“Speak,” I growled out, interrupting Sarah. She didn’t look all that pleased with me, crossed her arms, and glared at the man with greasy black hair. His dull eyes brightened, “Good, good! Well, you see, there’s this woman—“

“We don’t kill women or children.”

“—and I sort of need her silenced.” He ignored Sarah completely and talked specifically to me, which not many people did, considering I didn’t talk much. I huffed out a sigh, shaking my head. He waved his hands before him, his palms out towards me, attempting to stop us before we turned tail and left once again.

“That’s—that’s not the only job I have for you! There’s one other. A man. He’s male. You can kill men, right? Any—anyways, he stole from you.”

“Like Robin Hood,” Sarah murmured, smirking up at me. I placed a heavily hand atop her skull and ruffled her knotted hair. She giggled and pushed my hand away, realized who was watching, and grew serious again.

“Yes—no! No, not like Robin Hood.”

“You cheat people.”

“But not this time, ladies! It’s a simple job, please, I just need you to do this for me right quick. I’ll pay you with four cans of beans and a water filter.”

“We know your stockpile,” Sarah hissed, “you have thousands of cans. Give us twenty.”

“Twenty!?”

“And we have enough water filters. So make the total forty.”

“I can’t—“

“Do it, or we will kill you and take it for ourselves. Then we’ll talk to the guy you wanted us to kill and let him do whatever he wishes with your body. And people are pretty sick these days.”

My hand fell on my hip where a holstered weapon lay peacefully. I gave a cunning, toothy grin. He was weighing his options, visable within his eyes, and at last he heaved a sigh.

“Fine. Forty cans of beans.”

Sarah beamed at her negotiating skills, or lack thereof, and stuck out her hand.

“Pleasure.”

“Payment.” I growled, my hand still on my gun. He swallowed hard and his Adam’s apple bobbed.

“I’ll get it to you.”

“Treachery.”

“She means to say, if you pull anything, we’ll come back for the rest of your food. In fact, why don’t you make a down payment now?”

There are probably a ton of errors. Yay, rough drafts! 😀