Semblance

Chapter One: They Can Suck My--

I pulled a knife out of an outer pocket of my bag and turned it around in my hand. Guns weren't allowed. They were strictly forbidden from use except by government officials. Knives were in the gray area, though. Not quite legal, but also not illegal. 

A loud bang came from somewhere downstairs making my chest tighten, and I quickly shoved the knife underneath my mattress before leaving my room to investigate where the sound had come from. 

I shut the door quietly behind me when I left. Outside of my room was not insulated or heated, so it was significantly colder, but it wasn't too bad. Looking around, nobody else seemed to have come out of their rooms, but maybe they were already out and about since it was already quite late in the morning. 

As I cautiously walked down the stairs that were just to the left of my room, the tractor that I'd seen in the field came into view, the farmer's son working to scrub some of the dirt off of its side. A tattoo inked the entire length of his right arm, a confusing network of black lines that seemed to have no purpose other than intricate decoration. His dark brown hair was slicked back, and dirt spotted his white t-shirt. His muscular composition made his shirt wrap tightly around his toned body, an attractive feat. 

Attached to the waistband of his dark blue jeans, I noticed, was a holster with a pistol in it. 

"You're not allowed to have one of those, are you?" I called out as I neared the bottom of the stairs. He whipped his head around, standing up from his crouched position on the floor of the barn. 

"Have one of what? A tractor?" He asked in a slightly accented deep voice. 

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I meant your gun." 

He instinctively touched the place on his hip where the gun was resting. Standing up, though, it was concealed by his t-shirt. "Oh, right, my gun. Out here, people don't really give a rats ass about what those changers think. They can make 'em illegal, but that ain't stopping me from protecting myself. They can suck my --"

"Got it."

"You got something against it, miss?" 

"No, no, really, I agree with you. They think they're doing something progressive, but they surely haven't figured out a good way to do it." 

He nodded his head, and the slightest bit of a smirk came across his lips. "You got that right." He tossed the rag that he was holding onto the hood of the tractor and leaned his back up against the side of it. "How'd a pretty girl like you end up all the way out here anyway?" 

I sighed, sitting down on the bottom step of the stairs. I was already covered in dirt, so I figured that sitting down on a dirty stair wasn't going to do much more damage. "Long story short, Changers found out me and my fiance were leading a rebellion against them and were trying to eliminate us and anybody we'd interacted with." 

"Where's he, then? Your fiance?" 

I swallowed hard, emotions making my chest tighten, and I fought the urge to cry, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of this random stranger. "Dead." 

He averted his hard gaze, looking instead at someplace outside of the open barn doors. "Sorry about that." 

"No worries, we knew it was coming either way, and only one of us was going to live, so he sacrificed himself when we were trying to escape." 

He nodded, his face emotionless. "Nice guy, then, yeah?" 

"Yeah." 

An uncomfortable silence fell upon us, and I could feel him staring at me, but I chose to look at my feet instead. His presence was intense, something I hadn't noticed upon first meeting him last night when I arrived when he had shown me to my room. 

"There's some food in the main house," he finally said. "Free of charge for the first week. After that, you've got some options." He grabbed the rag that he had put on top of the tractor and stuffed it in his back pocket. "There's some jobs down the street a ways, but if you're lookin' local, right here on this very farm is your best option. The work's tough, but we pay well. And food's free. Think about it a while, yeah?" 

I nodded my head as I stood up from my place on the step. 

"Alright, good, I'll see you around then," he smiled, and I could have sworn I caught him wink at me, but it was too quick for me to process whether or not it was real or if it was just in my imagination. He walked out of the barn, and I listened to the sound of his retreating footsteps in the dirt before making my way out of the barn towards the large white house where I could already smell bacon cooking. 

A/N
Hey, readers! Long time no writing! I've been on a long break thanks in part to both school and writer's block, but I'm hoping to continue to write more from now on. I can't promise any consistent updates, but I'm on break right now battling a cold and am confined to my couch, so I should be able to get up another chapter soon. 

Thanks for reading!

-Megan

Word Count: 1708