Post-apocalyptic

Stuff goes here

Elise went through her backpack as she absorbed the warmth of the fire, taking inventory of her meager supplies and worn equipment, pausing occasionally to eye her companion with suspicion through the flames of their campfire. A bottled water, two tins of canned cat tuna, 6 bullets for a caliber she didn't have...3 batteries, only one of which she knew had full charge...She wished Silas had let her stay a short while longer. She could have found a way to turn a profit from the wrecks around his old apartment. If he'd let her do that, this whole awkward and unfair situation would never have happened!

"I hope you aren't doing this in expectation of payment," she muttered just loudly enough to be heard over the crackle of the fire. "Cuz I've got nothing for you."

Kevin sighed as he tended the fire the girl was so busy enjoying. She acted like he was so unwelcome but he had yet to see her show a single survival technique it was always him building the fires, finding the shelters or building them if that was required.
"You'd be dead without me." He grunted, "I'm not here because I want to be. If I didn't owe Silas a favor you'd be on your own to freeze to death."
He checked to see how the rabbit was cooking, there was no seasoning unfortunately but it was almost cooked it just tasted bland but most things seemed to these days.

"I didn't ask you to build the fire," Elise said, offended by his presumptuousness. "What the hell makes you think I can't make one on my own? I made it this far and didn't die, and that's a hell of a lot more impressive for someone that looks like me than someone that looks like you."

She immediately regretted the amendment to the end of the statement. She hadn't meant to imply he was ugly, she didn't care either way. Still, she wouldn't have regretted the addition at all if she were able to walk away from the conversation. But the trees around them were cold and wet tonight, and Kevin had the only working gun between them, setting aside the alluring warmth of the campfire.

"You have a point there, if I looked like you I'd have a much harder time selling my body for supplies from greedy people." Kevin said, reversing her insult back on her.
Without saying another word he got up and walked to his pack which he was keeping dry under his make shift shelter, just a poncho hung on a tree with rocks pulling on the corners to make a small makeshift tent. He dug around in his pack and found two empty canisters. Walking back to the fire he poured the rabbit soup into each and went to hand her one.
"Or you can have cat food, your choice." He said harshly. "I've been feeding you, providing shelter every night and warmth. That's hard enough to do with one person now a days. Where as you've been little to no help for most of the journey so far. Try to figure who is the burden for who."

"If I were willing to sell myself I'd have a working gun by now and we wouldn't be having this conversation," Elise gritted her teeth and felt her hand slip around the grip of the useless pistol in her backpack. Why was he so goddamned difficult?

"You have a hell of a selective memory," she added, eyeing him with unconcealed scorn. "I didn't ask to be here, I don't have a choice. Despite what you seem to have convinced yourself, not every woman is looking for the opportunity to be a slut." She pulled her hand from her pack and turned to face him fully. "AND, I wouldn't be useless if you weren't so afraid of having a girl help you with something. I've offered to help hunt and set up camp more than once, but you refuse to let me do anything."

She'd learned enough about him to know her gender had nothing to do with not wanting her help, but she didn't really care. If he wanted to act like an asshole, she'd treat him like one.

"So is that a no on the rabbit then?" He asked as he was still holding it out for her to grab it. He set it down by the fire so if she decided she did want it she would be able to grab it.
"I'm no afraid of a girl helping me, I'm afraid of an incompetent person helping me. If you hate me so much, I know I hate being a babysitter, I haven't been holding you against you will. You've had plenty of chances to just pack up and leave. Yet you've chosen to stay by my side. And you have the stupidity to say you aren't a burden? You're all bark and no bite." He said disdainfully. He looked up at the sky, to see how the weather was looking. Seemed like the rain would be picking up here soon.

Elise smirked darkly at him. She wanted to suggest he give her the rifle if he thought she was all talk, but she bit her tongue and the smile quickly faded.

"I am only here because I don't want to die," she explained curtly. "I have no weapons besides a hunting knife, no combat training, and no way of getting either of those things. A wolf I can take with a knife, but trying to shiv assault-rifle-wielding raiders doesn't tend to work out so well." She eyed the rabbit reluctantly, fighting with her pride silently before she finally reached out and wrenched off a leg with a snap.

"You must have some other problem with me, unless everyone but you is automatically incompetent, because I haven't done anything to indicate that I am in any way incompetent," she glared at him meaningfully before finally stopping to take a bite of the grilled rodent. "I can shoot, cook, trade, and build camps. And yet somehow I'm still totally incompetent simply because I don't have a gun and don't fancy getting shot dead or worse."

(rabbit was in a stew smart one)

"Silas asked me to take care of you for the favor I owe him. It is a big favor so if you can take care of yourself he kind of wasted it. And I know Silas isn't a dumb man, therefore you must be incompetent. And if my memory is selective so is yours. I asked you to gut the rabbit on the first day and the first thing you do it puncture the gallbladder so we can't eat the liver. You are incompetent. Stop pretending otherwise and just be happy that at least one of us here knows what we're doing. You may be a scavenger, but Elise I am a survivor." He drank the bland broth of the soup before starting to eat the lungs of the rabbit.

Welp, Imma noodle brain)

"Everyone alive today is a survivor, dipshit," Elise rebuked, her temper gaining ground on her better judgement. "I fucked up because I'm used to catching things actually worth killing, like deer. Things you can actually get food AND trading supplies from." She spooned out a bit of meat and only just stopped herself from commenting that his cooking was shit when she bit into the tasteless chunk of meat. He'd cooked most of the flavor out of it.

"And, if you'd paid attention, you'd know that Silas never asked you to take care of me." She pointed at him accusingly with her travel spoon. "He asked you to help me get back on my feet, because that's all I needed. If you had actually been set on doing what he asked I'd have been able to leave by now. You have avoided all three trading posts on the road to wherever the Fudge you have in mind as our destination. I've got enough bullets that this--" she snatched her colt from her bag and held it up. "Would be enough to get me a new gun, and then I'd be gone." She snapped her fingers and added "Poof. Easy as that. But you seem convinced that I'm completely incapable of doing anything at all simply because Silas was giving me a place to stay."

(There is no flavor in rabbit what so ever, that's not cooking the flavor out that's just not cooking any flavor in. There is little fat on rabbits to make it taste good. It just taste like stringy chicken.)

Kevin couldn't help but laugh at her idiocy, half of what just came out of her mouth right now was complete and utter bullshit. "Boy, you really do have no idea what you're talking about. Come from a privileged life before this I'd guess." He commented, shaking his head sadly.
"First off you weren't there when Silas asked me to repay his favor so you know jack as to what he asked me, I don't give a damn what he told you. Second we haven't passed any trading post, not unless you fancy trading your head as well. Third, deer might be good for large groups of people or someone who has settled down in a place but it is almost never good when traveling alone or in a small group. But if you want to kill one and drag around 100+ pounds of meat and skin where ever we go I won't stop you, but don't expect me to help you or slow down for you. You're just proving to me just how incompetent you really are. I actually though you were more competent before this conversation. That's for letting me know otherwise."

He looked up and saw the storm was pretty close now, "But here if you want to show me you know how to survive..." He said as he got up and destroyed the shelter he had made for her, "Go ahead and stay dry."

Ive actually had pretty tasty rabbit, but I guess that was cooked in much better conditions, considering they'd be lucky to have salt)

Elise sighed and went back to sorting her equipment, quickly losing the will to keep up the argument. "I don't get it," she said, more grumbling than actually speaking. "I don't understand why you keep me around if you hate me so much. You pretty clearly don't seem to care if I live or die...So why do you put yourself through that."

She slumped slightly and glanced at him before continuing with her sorting. "You're wrong that I'm incompetent, but that doesn't matter, because I think you'd hate me no matter what I did, and I don't get it. I don't get why you hate me, and I don't get why you're willing to repay a favor so half-heartedly and think that's enough. If you really wanted to take care of me like I was incompetent, you'd try to teach me. But you don't. If you didn't care about the repayment, you'd just try to ditch me. But you haven't. So, what? Are you waiting for me to get myself killed? Save you the burden on your conscience, so you cpuld convince yourself it wasn't your fault?"

"You should build your shelter before the rain hits, looks like it will be a pretty nasty downpour. If you don't finish it in time you can have mine, I'll build a second one again." Kevin offered her as he snuck under his shelter to watch her. He didn't catch most of what she was saying since he was too far away.

Elise waited for a moment longer before moving, expecting him to reply. When he didn't, she sighed again and dragged the tarp from the bottom of her pack. Setting it down near a likely looking branch, she began searching for stones to weigh down the edges if the plastic cover, silently windering how much of her previous questioms she should repeat more loudly.