Inhaling, Booker stared down at their hands clasped together.
“Maybe.” He nodded. “Maybe.”
“I love you, Jack. Please don’t lose yourself to this.”
For the first time since she’d knelt in front of him, he held her gaze for longer than a second.
Those brown eyes sure did carry a lot.
With a shaky breath, he nodded—hardly a move at all unless you were watching.
Whatever happened, Caitlin wouldn’t let him slip away.
She had the bullet wound scar to prove that.
* * * * * * *
Calling for everyone’s attention, Luna and Steve moved to stand in front of the large group of Rejects.
“Morning, everyone,” Luna greeted, smiling as she tucked her black curls behind her ears. “I know half of you already know the drill, but since the rest of you are new and still acclimating, we wanted to remind everyone of the rules of conduct. After that Steve is going to announce duty changes and shifts.”
Caitlin held Booker’s hand as they stayed back, keeping to the triangle of shadow one of the larger tents cast along the dry earth.
“Common sense is our rule of thumb,” Luna continued. “If it looks dangerous, it probably is. If you have a question, ask it. If you’re concerned about something or someone, come to us. We value honesty and transparency, so it doesn’t matter what you’ve done or what’s happened as long as you talk to us about it. Other ground rules: Buddy system on scouting trips and supply runs, or if you’re going further than a few yards away from camp. No violence against the living. We settle our disputes with words, not our weapons. Save the ammo and your strength for the rotters.”
Caitlin scanned the crowd, looking for any indication some of their new members would take issue with the rules.
Everyone seemed eager to comply.
“Other than that, be good to each other. We’ve survived hell. Let’s remember that takes its toll on us all, so try kindness first.”
Moving to the side, Luna offered for Steve to step up.
Giving a nod to everyone and a smile, he glanced down at the sheet of paper in his hands.
“Okay, we’ve got a few things that need to be taken care of. If you were on patrol last week, you’re on cooking duty this week. Make sure to get some rest. If you were scouts or runners, you’re on perimeter set up. If you’re new and want to come talk to me about your skill sets, I’d love to chat. Also, parents, Sister Agnes is our resident teacher. She hosts lessons every day from noon to four, all ages, in the big yellow tent. Feel free to go introduce yourselves and your little ones. Just because we’re fighting zombies now doesn’t mean they can’t keep up on their times tables and social studies.”
A soft ripple of laughter trickled through the group, and Steven smiled.
“That’s it,” he announced putting his paper down. “Stay safe, stay breathing.”
As the crowd dispersed, Caitlin furrowed her brow. “What if we weren’t on any of those work duties? Then what are we supposed to spend our time doing?”
Booker shrugged, still drained but coming back to himself. “Guess we get t’go chat with Steve.”
She didn’t move.
Instead, she watched everyone split off into their allotted groups, heading for wherever they were expected to be.
Over a hundred people, most of whom had barely spent any time in the new, broken world. They were scared, ill-prepared, and Caitlin felt utterly responsible for all of them.
“I don’t want to stay here,” she whispered.
“Huh?”
She blinked, shaking her head. “I meant I can’t sit around doing the bare minimum. I can’t just join the cooking shift and pretend I’m content there. I can’t dig post holes for a few hours and call it a day.”
“What’re you sayin’, Cae?”
She glanced up at him. “We’re a great team—you, me, Nicole. It’s a waste of our skills to just fall in line with a work detail.”
“What, you wanna jump up the ladder?” He started to smirk. “Be an elected official?”
“God, no,” she said. “I was thinking we could be some kind of… recon team.”
Booker stared at her, half disbelieving, half intrigued.
“A group this size can’t be nomadic forever. We won’t survive.” She looked over at the clusters of people wandering about. “We already don’t have enough places for people to sleep. We’ll need food and supplies—”
“That’s what the other scout teams are for,” Booker said.
“They’re just band-aiding the problem. We need a place we can build on. Somewhere we can fortify against Geeks and goon squads, if they happen to find us.”
As Booker looked like he was about to fall back into uncertainty, she gripped his hand tighter.
“Be honest. Do you really want to spend every day rotating between supply runs, patrolling, and cooking? Or do you want to be out there—” she gestured to the wide-open horizon. “—using your finely tuned skills, searching for a place we can all call home?”
Ever so slowly, a grin spread across Booker’s face and he held her stare.
“Yeah, I never was much of a home body.”
Caitlin beamed just before lifting onto her tip toes to kiss him.
“We should talk to Steve.”
Booker nodded, hand warm on her waist.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter Four
Oklahoma/Kansas border
Two weeks later
With a mouthful of granola bar, Caitlin propped her feet up on the dash, scribbling notes on the legal pad Max had given them.
A light swat at her knee only made her giggle.
“Show some respect, would ya?” Booker tapped her with the back of his knuckles again. “She ain’t a footrest.”
“I think she likes it,” Caitlin countered, teasing grin curving her lips. “Like when a dog lays its head on your lap.”
“I can’t tell if you’re callin’ her a dog, or yourself, but either way…” He pushed the heel of her Nike sneaker with two fingers.
“Fine,” she sighed, taking her feet down with a noisy thunk in the floorboards.
Caitlin stared out at the landscape ahead of them, frowning in thought.
“How far is Wichita from here?” She asked, pen hovering over her paper.
Brushing crumbs from his hands, Booker snatched the map off his side of the dashboard and read it quickly.
“Forty… maybe fifty miles, give or take,” he said.
“Hm.” She finished writing her note. “That’s close.”
“Yeah, but the soil’s good,” he said. “And that high school we found could be cleared. It’d make a good place to hole up for winter.”
“Trish won’t like risking lives like that,” she told him, glancing over as she took another bite of granola bar. “She’s a path-of-least-resistance kinda gal.”
Booker hummed in agreement, uncapping his water.
Automatically, he looked behind him to the back seat and paused.
“Keep expectin’ her to be back there,” he murmured.
Caitlin mirrored his action, staring at the worn upholstery.
“Yeah,” she said. “But Nicole promised she’d come on the next trip with us.”
When they’d announced to Steve and the others they wanted to go on the hunt for a more permanent place to live, they were met with a flurry of mixed reactions. Most were worried—they didn’t like the idea of them being gone for long periods of time without any way of communicating. Luna was appreciative of their initiative, but she wasn’t thrilled with the implications that they had to find a permanent homestead.
Booker had simply nodded to the flimsy tents and the group of fifteen children and said, “If you want them to survive winter, we’d better find a place quick. Or groaners won’t be the reason we’re diggin’ graves in a few months.”
That had sobered everyone immediately.
Nicole had initially been excited
to put herself to work, but Scott’s response had been… stricken at the very least.
They’d just found each other again. He couldn’t bear to have her go off for days at a time, unsure if she’d make it back.
Caitlin understood implicitly. And if Scott wasn’t the Reject’s first and only licensed doctor, she would have suggested he come with them.
But that was a risk no one wanted to take.
Booker shifted in his seat, rolling the tension from his neck. “A’ight, we found three, maybe four decent places over in Kansas before the groaner population got too thick. We could keep goin’ west…”
“Or south,” she said, glancing over. “Texas is still an option.”
He smirked around the lip of his water bottle. “Ain’t really that homesick, Meadows.”
She laughed. “Yeah, and I guess all the good barbeque places are long gone.”
“Best barbeque in the state was made by my dad and Uncle Tim,” he said, chest puffing out with pride. “And if we ever get t’raisin’ cattle, I’ll prove it.”
“You have the recipe?”
He grinned at her, tapping his right temple. “Sure do. Up here, along with mama’s potato salad and German chocolate cake.”
Caitlin’s mouth watered. “Goddamn I hope we find a place with a kitchen. I want you to feed me until I’m stuffed and bloated and miserable and then I want to eat some more.”
Booker’s laugh filled the Jeep. “Damn, that almost sounded dirty.”
“It felt dirty,” she said with a smile. “But I liked it.”
Leaning across the center console, Booker nosed at her cheek before kissing her fully.
“One good thing about Nicole stayin’ back,” he murmured. “Got as much privacy as we could want.”
Caitlin pressed her thighs together, electric thrill running through her. She still ached from the night before, but she couldn’t complain.
Not when memories of Booker bending her over in the back seat, grunting and panting as he fucked her until she was screaming, flooded her memory.
He nipped her bottom lip and soothed it with his tongue. “Liked that, huh?”
Caitlin wanted to roll her eyes. His ability to read her was bordering on preternatural.
Instead she tossed her pen and legal pad onto the dash and pushed him back, climbing over the gearshift to straddle him.
Booker’s chuckle vibrated through her chest.
“Ain’t had enough, huh?” He asked against the column of her throat, kissing a trail up to the hinge of her jaw.
“Never,” she told him, need adding tension to her voice.
Broad, warm hands skimmed over her legs to the meat of her ass, kneading just the way he knew she loved.
Just to tease him, Caitlin sank down, grinding against the growing bulge in his jeans.
Booker’s hiss and muttered curse as she swung her hips filled her with pride.
“Looks like you can’t get enough either,” she told him, gripping the back of his headrest for support.
The angle put her cleavage directly in his face, and Booker immediately nuzzled into her sternum, licking and kissing across every inch of exposed skin.
It wasn’t often they got to make out like this—unconcerned with prying eyes and ears, delighting in the sounds the other made with every touch.
Caitlin swiveled against him once more, smiling as he involuntarily jerked upwards, and then reached between them for his belt buckle.
Leaning back to gain access to his fly, she bumped the steering wheel with her ass, hitting the horn.
“Whoops,” she giggled, kissing his stubbled jaw.
Booker smirked, tugging up his shirt to help in her attempts to free him.
She’d never tire of the muscular ridgeline of his abs or the line of coarse dark hair that disappeared beneath his boxer briefs.
“God, I wish I’d thought to give you head first,” she blurted out, nails raking down under his navel.
Booker swallowed around a moan. “Next time, darlin’.” He fisted a handful of her hair, hauling her closer for a deep kiss. “Y’can have me however you want.”
Biting her lip, Caitlin smirked. “That’s a dangerous promise, Booker. You might never get dressed again.”
“Won’t see me complainin’,” he said, snaking a hand between them to pop the button of her jeans.
She’d have to take them off soon, but she couldn’t pull herself away from her perch in his lap. Not when she’d finally tugged his jeans and briefs down enough to spring him loose.
Caitlin groaned low in her throat, wrapping her hand around his base.
Her blood burned with lust and desperation to have everything he could give her and more.
“Shit, Cae,” he sighed against her cheek.
“One of these days,” she started, pumping her fist at a steady pace. “I’m going to lay you out and watch you do this to yourself.”
Booker’s grip in her hair tightened as he whimpered.
Taking the tip of his ear between her teeth, she gave him a love bite before whispering, “I’ll sit on your thighs, kinda like I am now.” She rolled her hips, denim scraping denim where their legs were pressed together. “In just my panties. Grinding on you a little…” She swiped her thumb over his tip, gathering the pearl of wetness and spreading it. “Watching you jack yourself off.”
“Fuck,” he gasped, burying his face in her neck. “That’s…”
She smiled. “You like that thought, don’t you?”
His mumbled agreement was more of a vibration against her collarbone.
“You’ll be so perfect,” she told Booker, continuing to stroke him. “Ears pink, chest heaving, cock leaking all over your stomach and fist… I’ll get so wet watching you, I’ll have to slide my fingers under my—”
His hand suddenly grabbed hers, forcing her to halt her motions.
“Cae, stop, I’m…” He looked up, pupils blown wide with arousal.
He blinked, stare shifting past her.
“Shit,” he hissed, tone sharper than before. “Groaners.”
Whirling her head around, Caitlin saw ten lumbering Geeks heading straight for the Jeep.
Once upon a time, she would have felt panicked. Would have wanted to run fast and far.
Now she was just irritated.
“Oh, come on,” she exclaimed angrily, hurrying to get off Booker’s lap. “Cock-blocking sons of…”
She redid her fly and grabbed the revolver from the backseat.
Booker made quick work of stuffing himself back into his jeans and zipping up.
“Cae?”
My rifle?
“Left.”
Behind your seat, to the left.
Nearly throwing the door open, Caitlin hopped down from the Jeep, aiming at the first Geek within range.
Its head blew apart like a rotten cantaloupe with one squeeze of her trigger.
Booker aimed, lining up his shot and taking out two with one bullet.
Swinging around, she scanned the surrounding area to make sure more weren’t coming up from behind. At the moment it looked like they didn’t have anything to worry about, but she wouldn’t let her guard down.
Firing again, Booker took down another.
Caitlin followed suit.
“Coulda done this with our knives,” Booker called, ejecting the spent casing.
She aimed at a particularly mangled corpse in a tattered sundress, and barely flinched at the thunderous clap of her revolver.
“Yeah but then we’d get Geek-slime all over us,” she said, turning her attention to a male missing half his face.
Booker chuckled just before firing again. “Nothin’ keeps you from gettin’ what you want.”
“Better fucking believe it.”
They both fired their weapons in unison at the last two Geeks several yards away.
In the resounding silence, Caitlin spun, double and triple checking the dusty plain around them.
The sounds hadn’t brough
t more out of hiding.
She held her breath, listening for any hint of a larger herd stumbling towards them.
Nothing.
She waited, just to be sure, counting the seconds.
Booker stepped around the back of the Jeep, slinging his rifle over his shoulder, seemingly anticipating the same thing she was.
A full minute passed and not a single Geek could be seen.
Turning on her heel, Caitlin grabbed Booker by the front of his shirt, kissing him hard. They fell back against the left passenger door, his hands wrapping tightly around her waist.
Pulling back, she started for her side of the Jeep, dragging him with her.
“Now, where were we?”
* * * * * * *
The buses and tents were just dots in the distance, but they announced something Caitlin hadn’t felt in a long time.
The sensation of home.
Booker drove them over dry fields and uneven ground, doing his best to avoid the larger dips.
She still felt like she was on a poorly designed rollercoaster.
“Jesus, Booker,” she muttered, bracing against the Jeep’s frame as they bounced.
“Don’t blame me, blame the damn wheat fields,” he said, turning the wheel.
A crowd had already started to gather near the front of the camp, waving as they approached.
“Guess they missed us,” he commented with a grin.
Caitlin found herself smiling at the thought.
Rolling up in front of everyone, Booker threw the Jeep into park as Caitlin hopped out.
Galloping footfalls were the only warning before she was enveloped in a massive hug, nearly tipping over.
The red hair in her face was a big hint.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” Nicole said, squeezing her tight. “I hated not going with you.”
Caitlin turned, doing her best to return the hug. “I know.”
“You were supposed to be back yesterday,” Nicole said, finally releasing her. “What happened?”
Climbing out of the driver’s side, Booker scratched the back of his neck.
“Yeah, we uh…” He glanced at Caitlin. “We lost track of time.”
Caitlin smirked.
Lost track of how many times they could make each other fall apart, was more like it.
Bloody Sunset Page 4
