by L. B. Carter
She had no idea how Ace had managed five years in that university; she'd have ditched that mission in a hot second. Heck, even that "podunk town" Jen was from, as her current roommate called it, had coffee and running water—at least before the big storm hit. Without contact with the USGCS, she had no idea if it was even still standing or if it had eroded, sloughing off into the sea, the most recent victim of rising sea levels.
That town would have been more fun if she'd gotten to stay long enough to run into Reed. Sadly, Jennifer's father had ensured her quick departure when he saw through the genetic alterations, which made her appear like his daughter, leaning her true identity. He'd have recognized his offspring anywhere, he'd claimed. Yeah, right. From what Jen had told Val, he didn't look at his daughter often, instead doting on his students at the high school and his ex-wife, Professor Katheryn Tate.
The sun beat down on her as if scolding her past decisions. Valerie sighed, rubbed the dry contacts that she wished she could remove without revealing her facade, and pivoted on a heel to venture back inside for her daily half-portion of chocolate-flavored bottled water.
She hoped things didn't really come down to cannibalism. With her gag reflex, she wasn't sure she could stomach a second murder; she'd utilized the least invasive method of asphyxiating him in his sleep and fled quickly from Richard Tate's corpse. Otherwise, she'd have thrown up and left DNA behind, condemning her as the culprit.
She'd lost some precious fluids heaving when she accidentally consumed piss. She couldn't afford to get sick now.
Especially while she looked so hot in her underwear; it would ruin the aesthetic.
Chapter Two
In the absence of cold showers, baking in the heat, Reed had to get creative, finding an unconventional method for cooling the burn boiling his blood. Damn that girl. He didn't need more hotness in his current life. That's why Reed conceded to Jen's command to spoon feed Mrs. Juarez protein-powder porridge.
They were running low on water, so the ratio wasn't quite what the nutritional supplement's instructions recommended. The powdery contents of the gallon jug were getting sparse as it was, the scoop scraping along the plastic bottom. Reed shoved the cap on to keep out desperate bugs and rodents; normally the seal served to bar moisture. The air here was dry enough to make that feature overkill.
"Lunchtime, Mrs. Juarez. I am at your service." The offer was not delivered with the same wink he tended to reserve for Jen, enjoying the pink that bloomed on her cheeks in anger—and interest, which she'd deny even if offered a glass of clean ice water for her candor. Normally, he wouldn't differentiate the lucky recipient of one of his winks based on age—cougars were always so eager and complimentary. However, the extra effort on his exhausted body to maintain the mannerism was wasted on a blind woman. Poor Mrs. Juarez. She didn't know how good Jen had it, being able to see him in all his glory. Even Jen refused to appreciate her advantage.
"Oh, niño. Lunchtime? Did I miss breakfast?" The woman's eyebrows rose in confusion, crinkling the slack leathery skin drooping off her skull. She was clinging tighter than her Tio to life, but barely.
Reed's jaw tightened. "We all did, Mrs. Juarez. We have to ration; we don't have much left, and without Lindy..."
"My little Lindy will return soon. Don't you worry about that." Her face lifted, and she settled back into the couch, content.
Reed was envious of her assurance. Admittedly, she knew her daughter better than he did, having only met her when his Jeep ran out of fuel in the midst of an adventure across the country with Jen, his brother, the superhuman, and those two academic nerds. He hadn't liked driving his baby west, away from Father and home, even though that wasn't really a place he wanted to be either, broken and crumbled as it was. He didn't like stopping in the middle of the country even more. Especially when little Lindy took the only functioning transportation and most of their group to finish the journey without him and Jen.
"She'll be back soon." Mrs. Juarez nodded.
"I sure hope so." Reed glanced out the front windows, barely able to see the deserted driveway with the glass so caked in dust from the nearby barren fields. They used to be the source of food and welfare in the Midwest. Instead, Reed swirled the spoon through viscous protein goop. The Juarez family was almost lucky Reed stumbled into their abode with his post-workout drink of choice. After Henley almost scared the nearly dead woman into her grave. Jesus. And Jen still insisted women did things better.
Reed ladled a spoonful of the brown goo that looked too similar to what Jen was worried Mrs. Juarez's Tio might have released upon her. If she thought about it, she should be grateful she'd been doused in the other option. "Open up," Reed said to distract himself from the wet-t-shirt image.
She did, dutifully. The advantage to slop was that Reed didn't have to pre-chew anything since she didn't have teeth and hadn't before they'd even lost the nutrients to sustain dental health. The vitamins in the glob he deposited on her tongue could only do so much; it was meant as a supplement, not meal replacement. The loose skin on her neck wobbled as she worked it around her mouth and swallowed.
Reed gripped the spoon harder, flexing his muscles, relieved to see them still able to pop. It would take a while for the malnutrition to atrophy him to Mrs. Juarez's level, let alone the state of the man wallowing in waste and bed sores upstairs.
"Ahh." Mrs. Juarez's mouth gaped again, her milky eyes gazing at the ceiling as though waiting for the dentist.
Reed grinned at her eagerness and obliged but paused just beyond her lips. "A little wider to get it all the way in. I want you to swallow all of it, not dribble it on your chest."
There was a snort from the doorway. "Do you ever say anything that isn't an innuendo?"
Reed focused on the spoon, ensuring he didn't get anything on the woman's shawl. They wouldn't be able to wash it. "Nope." Reed grinned as he turned, the smile slipping as his nostrils flared. "Do you ever wear clothes?"
Jen was braced in the archway, hands on bare hips, still wearing only a bra and panties. So much for that shower alternative. "I'm not naked. It's like a swimsuit," she stated haughtily and swayed into the room, placing a knee on the couch on the other side of Mrs. Juarez and leaning forward to take the spoon and assist Mrs. Juarez herself. "Here you go, Mrs. Juarez. Nice to have a feminine touch instead of a giant man shoveling things down your throat, isn't it?"
Reed was fixated on the view in front of him, but he still registered the dis. "Actually, we were doing just great on our own, weren't we, Mrs. Juarez?"
Jen snorted again and slowly lowered her hips to the seat cushion, her blue bra disappearing behind the old woman.
If she didn't want to be ogled, Jen shouldn't have worn such a brightly colored bra. They could probably see it by satellite amongst all the brown on this landscape. Mother would tell him off for "victim blaming." Father would point out that Reed was just identifying distractions and potential obstacles that might reveal their hide-out. They were still on the lam from BSTU, who undoubtedly had their own satellites up there or ability to access the other satellites’ data.
Jen knew well what she was doing insofar as her closest audience. She enjoyed playing as much as Reed did.
"What beds are you using?" Mrs. Juarez asked randomly.
Maybe she wanted to nap? "No one except your Tio is using one right now, Mrs. Juarez. Would you like me to carry you upstairs to rest?"
"He just wants an excuse to flaunt his big strong arm muscles," Jen stage-whispered to Mrs. Juarez, her eyes dancing on Reed, a smile playing on her face. He tried not to envisage her lips so close to his own ear.
Frankly, it would be a good workout to keep him in shape, so Reed didn't refute Jen's claim.
Mrs. Juarez took another bite that Jen offered and then spoke as Jen scraped the remains of the bowl onto the spoon. That hadn't been enough food to build up such a shriveled woman. It certainly wouldn't be enough to sustain Jen or Reed. Hurry up, Lindy. Reed was hoping her provisions included more th
an saltwater.
Mrs. Juarez shook her head, unknowingly almost upsetting the final spoonful. "Not for me. You two need to sleep together. The tension crackles through the house like a looming rainstorm before lightning strikes."
Reed leaned forward enough to catch the shock on Jen's face and let out a loud guffaw. "I like you," he told Mrs. Juarez. "You leave nothing hidden beneath the sheets."
Mrs. Juarez held up a gnarled hand. "Just don't keep me awake."
Jen's mouth snapped shut loudly, and she stood, shoving the spoon and bowl at Reed. "I imagine you're quite capable of finishing up here. Especially if you're so confident about finishing." She stormed out of the room. The stairs creaked as she ascended.
"But you're already half-undressed anyway," Reed called after her, still laughing. "Here." He wrapped Mrs. Juarez's fingers around the container and utensil and stood, following the last glimpse of bare flesh. He ignored the old woman chuckling behind him. "I don't think Mrs. Juarez meant right now, but if you're already heading up to bed..." Reed left the sentence hanging as he followed Jen up the stairs.
He knew he wasn't going to get what his body wanted, but he hoped to witness the outrage. It excited him almost more than desire.
With Valerie, he'd felt treasured, appreciated, respected, and had reveled in her adoration.
With Jen, she sent so many prickly challenges that Mrs. Juarez was right; he felt like he was fully charged, over-charged at times, in Jen's presence. They were like opposing magnets being used as a generator. Didn't that kid, the Bus, say something about that? Opposites attract? Yet, he and Jen were so similar; it was more a case of identical personalities vying against each other ...with the most delectable friction.
"If you put one foot on these stairs..." Jen's bodiless voice left the threat open in the heavy summery air that was persisting well into autumn.
Reed grinned, his boot hovering over the bottom step, toying with temptation, flirting with danger. "What? Are you going to fight me again like you did in the forest?"
The voice descended the stairwell, unamused. "If you recall, I almost destroyed your most favorite body part that day."
Idle hands were the devil's plaything... And they were essentially in Hell. Reed slowly lowered his foot, his smile becoming sinister and wistful. "Yeah, but it might be worth that risk if, this time, we're wrestling while you're not wearing pants ...or a shirt."
Before the ball of his sole could add a print to the layer of dirt on the worn wood, Jen let out a cry.
It wasn't one of delight.
Reed sprinted up the stairs, vaulting over the weaker ones but ignoring the warning creaks of the others that informed him he was applying too much pressure in his haste. The ancient house was dwindling as rapidly as Mrs. Juarez and often groaned under any strain. However, it held, and his shrinking muscles propelled him onto the landing. He smacked right into Jen.
Reed's bulk and momentum sent her flying, and his hands shot out to catch her before she could land on her ass. Once she was upright, he searched her for injury. "What? What's wrong? Are you all right?" His fingers instinctively gripped her tighter, her shoulder bones crunching under his right hand. The other squeezed soft flesh that he wouldn't have expected with her thin frame. His gaze detoured from their inspection and zeroed in on the body part he clutched.
He'd missed her arm, which had likely been flailing as she tipped, and instead, he'd snatched right onto her breast.
He whipped his fingers off like the blinding bra was electrified and lifted his hand up. He regularly joked, but manhandling without consent was not something he ever actually supported. "Sorry," he said earnestly.
She wasn't looking at him... or the offending palm or victimized breast. Her head was twisted to the side, staring in shock that had drained her gaunt face of sanguine color. The bra stood out sharply in contrast. She had regained her balance from their collision, but Reed noticed a tremor and a slight wobble pressing her upper arm irregularly into his palm as though she might faint.
His head followed her sight line.
Through the door that they kept open to hear the bell, a dark stain was oozing across Tio's and Mrs. Juarez's bedroom floor.
"Shit." Literally. All over the floor. Reed shoved aside the joke he wanted to make about taking turns since he'd cleaned up the piss and, instead, ducked to peer at Jen. He'd thought she was just being a drama queen earlier, but evidently, she actually was grossed out by bodily fluids. They hadn't had any accidents as bad as this before now. Tio's condition was certainly deteriorating. "Go wait downstairs. Keep Mrs. Juarez company. I'll deal with this... mess and then bring you some water." He'd give her his daily ration if he had to. He felt off, seeing her so vulnerable.
Jen didn't react, so Reed adjusted his plans, bending to lift her into his arms.
She jerked back, her vision snapping into focus and settling on him. Her shock was slow to morph into indignation. "Don't touch me."
Reed raised both palms. "Sorry," he repeated sincerely.
She blinked a few times, still dazed, and then turned and drifted down the stairs like a zombie. Reed watched her go, making sure she didn't trip since she wasn't really paying attention. The stairs didn't cave under her slight weight.
They needed more sustenance.
He turned to face the sludge with a sigh. Sure, his job was to care for people but in the sense that he was more of a bodyguard from physical or mental danger. He was no nurse. And Green Solutions had separate employees who were cleaners if ever things did resort to ...mess. Well, they used to. He, Nor and Father, and a few others had been the ones to clean the disaster that wiped out their compound and the people he had cared for.
He shoved Val and his mother, his old friends and colleagues from his mind. He couldn't help them anymore. Now, he could only direct his attention on Jen and the Juarez family.
It was clear he wasn't doing a great job at that. He didn't know how to save people from their surroundings, their environment.
That was ironic, coming from the eldest son and heir of the founders of a non-profit company intent on protecting, preserving and promoting research on the environment and climate change.
But Mother had been on the science side. Reed had followed his ex-military father's footsteps into the security side of the firm. Mother's friends and colleagues would contact them if they felt that their work or they themselves were being threatened in any way by climate deniers, competitors, or the greedy.
With only a few universities left in the country after the academic crash, it was a dog-eat-dog world to get government funding. The money was already stretched, limited by the sheer number of people who needed financial assistance after being impacted by the global disasters.
What had Jen called it? Anthropogenic. Human caused. She insisted this was the first time in Earth's history the beings living on the planet were the cause of its change; Reed suspected dinosaurs had them beat but, in the end, had to assume she knew what she was talking about, being a student at Boston Science and Technology University and the daughter of a renowned professor of paleoclimate. Hell, Jen had helped genetically engineer a new type of human capable of a world more inundated by higher sea levels.
Reed sincerely hoped Sirena's capabilities could help his brother, Nor, and the rest of their group cross the new sea that had developed between this farm and their west-coast destination. He needed them to reach the safety of the government ... and then come back for him and Jen. Nor was more science-minded like Mother and Jen, and he'd been roped into joining Reed after their regular team were lost in the explosion. It was Nor’s first mission, and unprecedented since he had yet to complete the required training. And it was turning out to be the longest and most arduous mission green Solutions had ever had.
Reed tried to remain optimistic about Nor's abilities; Reed had trained him personally as much as he could. Secretly, he feared their recent loss made Nor distracted, weak.
Just like Reed.
Reed took a
deep breath, shoving Val and her death to the back of his mind where it belonged. He might not be the cause of the chaos this time, but he could do his best to ensure Jen and the rest of his current wards stayed safe. Even if they weren't part of his company's contract.
He owed it to Val's memory to do it right this time. To be the protector she'd believed he was.
Strolling into the bathroom, he grabbed one of the untouched ragged towels there. They'd started dwindling as their water store for washing vanished. But then they'd run out of water for which a towel might be used.
Lindy had better return with enough to tide them over until Nor came back for them.
There was a slight doubt starting to thread through his chest as the days progressed with no sign that any of them would come back. Lindy had her family here, but there was no guarantee BSTU wouldn't catch up to her, especially if Nor did manage to continue on and leave her unprotected on her return trip. And Nor himself? Well, if he did make it to their destination, Reed had been in love once. He knew it would be hard for Nor to leave Rena.
Reed had done nothing but nag and be a negative energy, a poor role model, dealing with his grief poorly and taking it out on his remaining family and friends. If he were Nor, he wouldn't come back for his sulky belligerent brother. And Jen hadn't been part of the contract. Once Sirena was safe, Nor was free to go home and help Father rebuild Green Solutions, letting Reed get himself out since he insisted on being left alone.
Reed headed into the bedroom and stopped beside the puddle that had cascaded over the side of the bed. He almost left the gunk. What did it matter? The house wasn't clean anyway, and carrying Mrs. Juarez upstairs was getting to be too much for him although he'd never admit that to Jen. There were only so many push-ups a guy could do without food.
