“You remember I told you about Luther and his Stronghold?  Well, this dick named Evan and his guys were attacking the Stronghold.  They’d been starving out the group living inside for a week.   Stole almost all of their food and trapped them inside, killing several of them in the process.”  He watched her face as he spoke.  When she nodded her head ever-so-slightly, he added.  “So I shot Evan in the head, and with a little help, we killed most of his guys.  The rest ran away.”  He elected not to tell her about the artillery round George and Sam sent their way later.

When she still didn’t look convinced, he turned in his seat to face her.  “I’m not a murderer, Helen.   There are people left that seem to have chosen to survive by stealing and robbing others.   I’m not one of those, but if one of them comes at me or mine, I will kill them to keep us safe.  There’s no more government to protect us, no more judges.  In fact, Evan was an ex-cop, using his skills to gain power over others.  And I don’t have the resources, or frankly, the desire, to take and keep prisoners.  We’ve been pushed into a new society here.  Or rather, a very old one that’s much different than what we’re used to.  If I’m placed in a kill-or-die situation, I will kill.   I’m sorry if that is not acceptable to you.  We can turn around, and I’ll give you back the cabin.”  He paused for just a second, then grinned.  “But I’m keeping the park!”

She laughed, despite herself.  “Goofball.” Her face grew serious again.  “I understand that you did what you did to save people.  And I admire that.  I’ve obviously never had to kill anyone before, and hope that I never have to.  And you should know that if we come up against hostile humans, I’m not sure I could pull the trigger, no matter how much they might deserve it.”

This didn’t thrill Allistor, but he understood.  “Fair enough.  Good with killing monsters, not so much with the bad guys.  How do you feel about fluffy bunnies?  We’re growing a crop of them back at the Warren.”

“I’m no vegetarian.” Helen gave him a half-smile.  “If we gotta snap a bunny’s neck to put food on the table, that bunny is toast.  Rabbit is quite tasty.  But here again… try to get me to eat people, and we’re gonna have a problem.”

“Ha!  I think we can agree on that.  And speaking of meat, we’ll need to hunt quite a bit to feed the fuzzball in the back seat.  He’s just about wiped out my protein supply in twenty-four hours.”