The Cellar: A Post-Apocalyptic Novella by Richard Dela Cruz Page B

watching.
    “Are you sure you’re fine?” she murmured in his ear.
    “Yes, Mom. Honest .” He gritted his teeth. “You can let go now.”
    When his mother finally released him, she turned to Logan and scowled at him. Logan drew back slowly, but before he could brace himself, she curled her fingers into a fist and punched him in the face. Daren winced when he heard a solid crunch. Logan staggered back and nearly fell over. He pressed a palm against his cheekbone.
    “How dare you lay your hands on my son!” She drew her fist back for another blow.
    “I’m sorry, Arianna!” Logan raised his arm to shield himself. “I didn’t know. I mean, look at him.” He gestured to Daren. “He’s a walking cesspit.”
    “A cesspit, huh?” She spat out the words. “Maybe you’d like to dig us a new one. You’ll start at first light tomorrow.”
    “But the last shovel broke apart two days ago,” Logan protested. “We haven’t had any new tools in weeks.”
    “Use your hands then.” She pointed to the far end of the village. “Now get out of my sight!”
    Scratching his head, Logan picked up his knife from the ground, wiped the dirt off the blade, and slipped it into a sheath on his belt before making his way over to the south end of the settlement. As soon as he disappeared from sight, Arianna turned back to face her son.
    “You look like you crawled through a mud hole.” She brushed some dust off Daren’s shirt. “Why did it take you so long to get back? I was going insane imagining all sorts of things.”
    “I know I should’ve come back within a day like you told me,” he said. “But there was so little game in all the usual areas that I had to go farther than before.”
    “You know better than to go outside our hunting territory on your own.” She frowned. “I hope you brought something home that’s worth the risk.”
    Daren sighed when he felt the weight of the rats in his pack. If he had found a raccoon or two then he wouldn’t feel like he’d wasted his time. But anything raccoon-sized had become a prized rarity. He opened his pack and showed the rats to his mother. The frown lines on her forehead felt like daggers to his chest.
    “I’m sorry, Mom.” He bowed his head. “It’s all I could find.”
    Arianna reached in and took out the rats to examine them in the torchlight. She squeezed and weighed them in her palms to check how much meat each one had. Then she placed them back in the bag and looked at Daren. He could see her trying to force a smile.
    “It’s all right.” Her voice sounded strained. “We’ll make do with these somehow.”
    “Gordon, Troy, and Rima probably came up with more kills.” He tried to keep the emotion out of his voice. “Between the four of us we should have more than enough for everyone.”
    Arianna’s features were impassive save for a slight twitch that caught his eye. She could hide her emotions well when she wanted to. This gave her an advantage in delicate negotiations with nearby villages. But he could tell that his mother was keeping something from him.
    “Is something wrong, Mom?”
    She let out a heavy sigh.
    “We were attacked earlier today,” she said in a flat tone. “A huge raider clan—around thirty members—tried to breach the wall.”
    “What?” Daren looked around to check the village for any damage. “Was anyone hurt?”
    “Everyone inside the wall remained unharmed. We managed to repel their assault.”
    “You said everyone inside the wall.” Daren could feel his heart rate go up. “Was anyone outside the wall?”
    Arianna paused as if trying to hold back a blow as long as possible. Daren already knew who was caught outside. He just wanted to hear her say it.
    “After we broke the siege, the raiders retreated back into the forest,” she said. “A half hour later we heard screaming. It was around the time Gordon, Troy, and Rima were due back from hunting.” She hesitated for a moment. “By the time we got out there they