The Bag by the Door
Leaving the apartment turns into a checklist. Every item gets confirmed before anybody touches the door. Kimberly’s bag shows you who she is better than any description could, so I’m going to open it.
What Goes In
Food and water first. A first aid kit. Two MREs for trade, because on the street food opens doors that nothing else will. A map, folded small and tucked inside her jacket with a pen, because she marks what she finds. A pocketknife in her boot. Her father’s Beretta in her waistband.
On scouting runs she adds the scope she took off her father’s deer rifle. The rifle itself stays home. Carrying a rifle through the Upper West Side would invite exactly the kind of attention she is trying to avoid.
Nothing in the bag needs a battery.
Her Father’s Lessons
Kimberly can field strip the Beretta with her eyes closed, because her father made her practice until she was bored. She learned to hold a rifle steady, to slide it smoothly from one target to the next, and to control her breathing. When he taught her she didn’t want to be there. She rolled her eyes and sulked through all of it.
She absorbed every word anyway. She stored it somewhere she didn’t know she had until the world forced her to open it. I find that more honest than a hero who always knew what to do. Kimberly knows what to do because someone who loved her made her practice.
A Base, Not a Home
The apartment changes over the weeks. The kitchen table, the candles and the view of Columbus Avenue stay the same, but the place starts to feel less like a home and more like a base, somewhere to sleep and eat and plan between trips out. The photos and the books and a Game Boy with dead batteries fade into the background. The map on the table and the bag by the door move to the front.
Nobody says that out loud. Neither of them has to.
Natalie’s Version
Natalie packs differently. She makes a strong case for peanut butter. Her position is that she can live without electricity, hot water, her social life and her nails, but peanut butter is where she draws the line. Kimberly promises to put it on the list. The list is mostly theoretical, since nobody can buy anything on it.
Your Turn
Pick three things you would put in a bag by your door. You are heading out for the day and nothing you carry runs on a battery. Tell me what you’d pack and why. I’ll share my favorite answers.
The Severed City is out now on Amazon. To meet Kimberly before you start, read the prologue or visit The Characters page.
Next: A first look at Wild Space.
