BLUE IRIS

Colt

AROUND HUNDREDS of vehicle, including bikes, four-wheeler trucks parked in the area of Greenebach, and probably thousands of people inside the parameter.

It reminded me of a 90's Woodstock Concert my dad used to tell me about.

"Wow! I never thought Greenebach would be like this." Iris got her head out of the car window. "This is unbelievable. A lot like a Katy Perry Concert."

I jumped out of the car, opening a door for Iris. I fixed her clothes and hid her necklace under her shirt. I didn't want those people to recognize her since her true hair color started to show off. I let her wear an extra shirt-my plaid, to make her look bigger than her size.

"Just act like we're going for a grocery shopping, okay? And stay beside me all the time, can you do that?" I looked right into her eyes.

She smiled and nodded. "I can."

I kissed her on her lips. "All right."

Gael was already out, on alert mode, carrying the deer he took from the back of the car.

I checked my gun and grabbed the duffel bag for our trade.

"Twig, your gun?" I gave her the backpack.

"Here." She pointed at her back and grinned. "Chill out. You're a lot more nervous than me, Colton."

"I just feel anxious," I admitted. "I don't know what's in there."

"We're gonna be fine." Her assurance didn't shake the unsettling feeling in my stomach, but we had to do this.

"Colton!" Iris called out, looking at Gael's direction who was now in the middle of the commotion.

"Shit! What happened?" I grabbed Iris and dragged her with me toward the crowd. "Don't ever let go of my hand." My pulse raced as we hurried closer.

"Attention! No trading outside the gate!" A man's voice echoed from the megaphone repeatedly, making us stopped.

"We should go back," I told her as we turned around to walk away.

"What about Gael? We can't just leave him there." Her worried voice made me stop.

"He'll be fine. We stick to the plan no matter what." When I turned my head, the commotion started to scatter away, and Gael with his deer was fine. He then signaled, heading first just as part of our plan.

We followed Gael by a few meters apart, just in case someone would recognize him, or he would recognize the men we were looking for.

I just hoped Cora's descriptions were accurate, otherwise, we would be looking for faceless men.

The place had barbed wire fencing about ten feet tall from the outside and containers from the inside. From my vantage point, there were concrete barriers and guards on the checkpoint.

The gate had two ways-the entrance and an exist separated by barriers. Two heavily armed guards were in fancy dark blue military uniforms. Another three guards were inside the fence at the top of the containers and one each on the two towers.

The line was about ten yards long, but it moved quickly. Aside from that, piles of people were waiting at the front yard.

After a couple of minutes, I squeezed Iris' hand as Gael lifted his left wrist to the man and got it stamped.

"Definitely a cheap concert. Follow my lead," Iris said.

"Iris, don't," I whispered firmly.

"Trust me."

"Iris," I groaned, squeezing her hand to resist.

Damn it! Can't she ever follow a simple order?

"It's getting hot in here, sir." She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand while the other was on her hip. "Thank you, Lord! I thought I have to stand here for another hour."

Iris got the attention of the first guard. "Ma'am, your name?" His named was Martinez on the name tape.

"Hope Danger, sir. And this is my husband, Colton Danger. And we're having our first baby!" she said gleefully in Southerner accent.

He scribbled on the clipboard. "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Danger! Ma'am, you may show your wrist for a stamp, then you're good to go." He patted the man's shoulder who stamped Gael and mentioned that Iris was pregnant. "Left wrist." The man quickly pressed a stamp on Iris' wrist, and then on mine.

The stamp was somewhat like a globe, a key or looked like a spacecraft held at the center. At least three dots on both sides, or seemingly stars that connected to the tip of the key. The black ink was smeared, and it was hard to recognize. "Come here, wife." I gripped her arm to walk faster away from the guards. With my chest was heaving, I stared at her. "What was that for? I told you not to pull any stunt, yet you still defied me."

I was holding my breath when she pulled that stunt in front of those men. The good thing was, they didn't confiscate our belongings especially our weapons, and if they ever did, I might force myself to back out, and it would look suspicious in their eyes and our cover would be blown.

Iris was just staring at her stamped wrist with furrowed brows. Her pale face had twisted my stomach.

"What is it, Iris?"

Her eyes narrowed at my mine. "I had to do that so that they won't check me!" she snapped. "Turn around if they're not checking everyone especially their eyes."

"Why the eyes?" I turned around, and she was right.

Iris shrugged, still wearing her sunglasses. "I don't know, but I noticed only on women. You're the police officer, why don't you tell me?" I could feel her eyes rolling behind the dark shades-she was pissed at me. "And we're having a baby, huh?" I joked to lighten her mood. Finally, I was able to breathe.

Having a child in a world like this had never crossed my mind, and it would be an awful idea. If she ever had it right now, I would never put her life at risk of taking her with me the thought alone was dreadful. I would rather keep her in a small farm somewhere far from the harm brought by this new world.

"Yeah, Mr. Danger. And don't ever use your real name around here."

"That thought had crossed my mind, but I was pretty caught up in inspecting the guards and those people surrounding us." My hand was still holding hers as I was reluctant to let it go.

"Is everything okay?" Gael came closer, still had the deer over his shoulder.

"Yeah. My wife is pregnant, can you believe that?" I laughed softly, still terrified.

"Very well then. Let's go, pregnant wife. I can't believe the Greenebach is actually huge. How are we going to find those bastards?" he said as he wandered his gaze around.

Gael was right. This place reminded me of the county fair. The presence of many survivors seemed overwhelming that I had not seen anything like this lately.

"I wanna trade this damn animal right now."

"Good idea because you smell like a corpse right now. That side looks like the farmer's market." I pointed to the left.

"Man, anything to trade with my moonshine?" A greasy man with bloodshot eyes and rumpled appearance approached with a liter bottle of colorless liquid. He looked like he didn't blink too often. "With what?" Iris asked.

"Five revolver bullets."

Iris stared at me with a dazed look on her face.

"Sorry, but we don't have what you're looking for," I dismissed, and the greasy man left hurriedly.

"Really? A moonshine for bullets?"

"This is an open black market, twig. He probably stole it from a stall around here. Don't ever mention what we have to anyone. I already think twice if we should trade our bullets. We could still scavenge for food, but I bullets are hard to find." "I'm sorry about earlier," she muttered and squeezed my hand. The warmth of her words and our hands was a comfort that I could not still believe it filled the empty and ache inside my chest.

"It's alright. I think what you did back there is your instinctive decision, and it was brave. You saved us both from trouble." The moment she pulled that stunt, my emotions in total shambled. Right now, the urge of pulling her into my arms and let her stayed there until I realized she was mine was stronger than anything I ever felt before.

We checked around-instead of the food trailer trucks selling the common food like corn dogs, pretzels, and candies, what they had were used clothes, used textiles, shoes, furniture, and kitchen utensils.

"I'm afraid these are stolen," Iris mumbled.

From the other side were the farm market stalls, selling almost rotten fruits and vegetables surrounded by bugs and flies. There were jars of jam and jellies, packs of flour, small sacks of rice, sugar, and different kinds of can goods. "Afraid so, and probably most of them were expired. Let's go there." That place at the corner was more crowded, it suddenly piqued my interest.

"Oh, God!" Iris let go of my hand and ran back to the corner.

"Jesus Christ!" I strode to follow her who just thrown up. "Are you okay?" I rubbed her back as she wiped her mouth clean.

She grabbed a bottle of water I offered, emptying it. She then held up. "A roasted dog, seriously? And lizards."

"A few people from the Middle East eat Uromastyx lizards."

"Really? How about rats, and what was that the other one?"

Before I could answer, Gael appeared with hands full of plastic bags. "Guys, I got seeds for Iris, a box of protein bars, a few packs of dried eggs, and three cans of chicken soup. How about you?" "We got a roasted fucking dog," I answered.

"A what?" He gave me a confused look and eyed Iris.

"That crowd over there? They're selling dogs. As in woof woof kind of dog," Iris answered, still looking pale.

"Is that why I got a lot for one deer?" He snorted.

"You'll probably get one RPG for a deer," I sighed deeply. "I'm not trading the ammo, probably just guns. I'll check if we can exchange these with gasoline or your medicine."

"What medicine? Are you okay?" Iris asked Gael.

"For my Diabetes, Iris. Good idea, Colt, but I don't know if we can find anything here. We have to look around." He looked at Iris one more time. "You okay, Mrs. Danger? You seem pale."

"Yeah. This is just from the furious hormones and morning sickness." She took a deep breath, then grinned at Gael. "You should check that out, old man." Iris pointed at the lines of containers painted in fuchsia pink with a woman silhouette logo in black.

"Tempting, but we stick to our plan. I don't want distractions right now," Gael said.

"Come on, Gael. And I can check out a few things around while we're waiting for you. Unless Colton wanna join you," Iris insisted.

"That sounds pleasing, pregnant woman, but I am faithful and loyal to my hand." Gael's answer made us looked at each other, then burst into laughter.

"You didn't just say that to me, Gael," I shook my head, amused.

"I just did, and my answer remains the same. Our plan comes first." He tipped his head to the other old trailer van with bar signage.

I almost trembled at the thought of a cold beer running through my throat. I fucking missed the taste of it. Whatever kind of booze they were serving there, I didn't give a shit, and I was going to have a taste of it no matter what. "I would love to have a bottle, Gael."

"Fine by me," Gael agreed. "Let's go."

"Oh, my God," Iris muttered. Before I could ask, she was sprinting toward the crowded of people, leaving us perplexed and unsettled.

"Twig! Hope, wait!" Damn it!

We raced toward the crowd and followed her, but she was gone so fast, and judging by her size, she could easily slip through the packed of people.

I was furious to even think of a plan. My chest was heaving as I thought of something worse outcome if we could not find her faster.

We had to press against the stinky crowd to move past them.

Abruptly, a violent array of emotions flooded through me. "Gael, let's separate. If you find her, wait for me at the roasted dog stall! If not, meet me in fifteen minutes!" I yelled at him. "Okay, I'm going right!"

I spun around, but I couldn't see someone that matched what she was wearing.

Where did she go?

Who was she following?

I checked people one by one on the crowd, but I couldn't still find Iris. With all the fierce of emotions raging inside me made unable to concentrate-unable to think straight. What if she was already taken by them?

What if they'd been watching her since we got inside?

What if this was a death trap?

God, no!

Breathing hard, I walked forward and heaved a sigh when I spotted her. "Thank, God!" There she was. I slipped my hand through the bunch of people and pulled her to me. When she turned, it surprised me. "Sorry." I released her hand quickly. They had the same hair, but it was not my Iris.

My next move was to ask the traders. I spotted a female vendor who looked kind.

"Ma'am, have you seen a woman who ran over here? She has short brown hair, wearing a plaid shirt, and sunglasses. I got separated from my wife, and she's pregnant." I smiled sadly.

The woman gave back a sad smile and shook her head. "I did not notice someone by those descriptions, young man. I'm sorry."

"Thanks, ma'am." I walked away, defeated.

I asked a couple of traders, but none of them had seen her. My hope had gotten thinner.

I found a lot of flyers on the wooden post; pictures of wanted people from stealing, murders, rapist, and lost and found children. I pulled one black and white flyer with a picture of a woman that looked very familiar. My pulse raced as I took a closer look at the picture.

WANTED ALIVE

Name: Blue Iris Clayton

Age: 24 years old

Hair color: Natural blonde

Eye color: Rare Blue

Height: 163 cm

Body type: Slender

OFFENSE: Stealing West Colony's property

REWARD: Ten cartons of goods. Protection and be a citizen of West Colony.

CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY

"Fuck!" Dread bolted through me.

"Have you seen that woman?" I stiffened and my hand tightened the hold on the poster.

"Excuse me?" I eyed the man beside me.

He had thick dark blond hair. Shorter than me in a few inches, but had a few pounds and had deep brown eyes, and there was something in those orbs that gave me unsettling chills. He was wearing a clean shirt for someone who came to trade.

"The woman on the flyer."

"Oh, this one? Nope." I shook my head and played cool though I was burning with rage inside. "But I am up for the reward. Not the reward from the West. How can I contact them?"

I balled my free hand into a fist and fought hard the urge not to break this asshole's face. I mentally prayed Iris or Gael would not come and find me because this man did not come here alone, and someone was watching me right now from a distance. I could feel it as the hair rose at the back of my neck.

And there was only one thing I was sure of, they didn't have Iris. Yet.

"What reward do you want?"

"Ah, you're in a military."

"Who are you?" Hyper-vigilant, I asked, pinning my gaze to his.

"What made you say that?"

"Your posture, cautious, and interrogative. And you wanted another reward instead." He looked down at my fingers. "Not married and no family."

"Damn right." But that's where you're wrong, motherfucker!

"She must have stolen something very valuable to the West."

"You could say that." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I want weapons."

His brow rose. "Weapons? How many?"

"Five AK-47 with two magazines each, ten grenades, and one crossbow."

He laughed. The fucking asshole laughed at me. "What made you sure you know how to find that bitch?"

Fuck you!

I kept my expression stoic. I didn't want this asshole to see that I wanted to splatter his brain to the ground.

I squinted. "I won't ask if I don't know what to do. I'm an ex-military and a bounty hunter."

"You'll get the prize once you bring the bitch to me. I'll be here every day. You tell the security guard you want to talk to Otis Wise, and he will bring you to me."

"How can I assure that you won't double-cross me and put a bullet on my head once you have the girl?"

"I only want that woman. Alive."

Motherfucker, I will skin you alive before you have a hand on her. That's a promise.

"We have the deal then."

"Untouched." He stared at me intently. "And unharmed, Mister?"

"Rule number one: No name. I'll deliver the package, get my reward, then our business is over." Yeah, that's Frank Martin, asshole.

I left before I could kill him. I folded the flyer and slipped it into my pocket.

An odd feeling rippled down my spine. My gut never lied to me, when I looked around, two thugs from three o'clock averted their gazes, and on the left, a man lifted his chin as recognition.

Shit!

It was time to meet Gael. I was hoping he found Iris before they could. The crowd thickened, despite that, I found Gael, then he quickly squatted down, probably his signal. Striding toward him, I sat down and played along to tie my shoelace. "We're being watched. The flower is safe somewhere. Meet me at the car. We're leaving now."

"Copy that." I stood up, straightened my spine.

In a fast-paced, I headed toward the gate.

"Sir!"

Fuck!

"Mr. Danger."