“Guess you found something?” Nick asked, finally releasing his grip on Alex’s hand.
“We did, yeah,” Selina said, jogging in place for a few seconds. “Foot fell asleep.”
“How are your patients?”
“Well, good news is that Hannah is up and about, but she has been feeling woozy again these last couple days. I’m keeping Liz away from her—”
Nick stopped mid-sentence, clearing his throat. Alex stared at him wondering what he was going to say just then, but did not pursue it. He remained silent and let Nick continue.
“But one of your ‘rescue-ees’ didn’t make it. The Indian woman, Mira, she had a seizure in the middle of the night. We think, anyway. And…well… she choked on her own vomit. I'm sorry, man.”
“Well, that sucks. At least she died here and not out there, I guess,” Alex said, watching Shadow head into the outer courtyard. He could see the zombies still reaching hungrily through the bars of the gateway in the distance. It seemed unreal to him as he stood there, shaking away the sickening feeling.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Selina agreed. “Can I see Hannah?”
“Talk to Liz first,” Nick said, waving her in and bowing low. As Selina began to head into the inner courtyard, Alex saw Liz approach, give Selina a hug, and the two walked away, talking in animated gestures.
“You sure you wanna go?” Nick asked him again, trying to maintain eye contact.
“I'm sure. We found a Forester in really good shape. Less than twenty thousand original miles. Just changed the oil, too. You guys keep the rig.”
“So, there’s that, there ya go, eh? What about if we brought the wolf inside?”
“What about Ben’s cat?”
Nick shrugged.
“Nah, man. I appreciate the offer, but I don’t wanna put you guys out. It’s cool.”
“All right, man. Suit yourself. We’ll be here if and/or when you ever wanna come back.”
“And I appreciate that. More than you know. But she—no, scratch that—we want to head south. Gonna try to make it all the way down to the Carolina coast. Besides, I’m tired of dressin’ in layers.”
“Carolina’s eh? You aren’t from around here then, are you?”
“Originally? No. I was born in the Carolinas and I moved up here in my teens. My parents moved us for a job. Years later, when they were goin’ back, when I was in high school, I met…her. Then my life changed.”
“Your wife,” he stated more than asked. “So she had family up her in Pennsy? That’s pretty far.”
“Yeah. Sara had family here, I didn’t get along so well with mine, she loved the change of weather, and I made my peace with it for her sake. Eventually I even kinda liked it, too. But since Selina brought up headin’ down south again, I kinda liked the idea. I do kinda miss the warmer weather, too. Hardly any snow at all.”
“I gotcha, my friend. It’s all good. It might be really hard to get all the way down there, but I wish you the best of luck. Sincerely.”
“Thanks, Nick. You guys have been great. I can’t thank you enough.” He held his gaze and shook nick’s hand firmly “Lemme get in there and say goodbye to everyone else before I start to get all misty.”
“Hah! Sure thing, kid. Get outta here, you’re burnin’ daylight.”
Alex headed into the castle and then stopped and made his way right back to Nick and stood staring at him in silence for a long minute.
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to say that I’m truly sorry about Ben, Bryan and the rest of your losses.” He slapped Nick on the shoulder and the man nodded somberly, saying nothing more. Alex turned and headed back inside the castle, finding everyone gathered around the table in the Great Hall with a feast of sorts spread out across the table.
“They made a going away meal for us!” Selina said, excitedly holding hands with Liz.
“Where’s Hannah?” Alex asked.
“She turned in. not feeling well,” Liz said. Phil, James, and Laurie, who appeared to be in better shape than when he’d last seen her, sat on the opposite side of the table. There was the distinct smell of chicken permeating the air. Alex glanced inside a pot, then another and another, seeing the succulent-smelling chicken, mashed potatoes and corn, along with a few other vegetables and beans in more pots.
Alex turned around to see Nick standing behind him. He was smiling and shrugged sheepishly. “Couldn’t let you go without a party, could I?”
“I guess not. You didn’t have to….”
“And Kelly’s tossin’ a fresh chicken over the side for Shadow as we speak,” he added, taking a seat at the head of the table.
“That should keep him out of trouble,” Alex said taking a seat across from Selina and filling up a plate. He felt the steel of the Glock in his back and removed it, placing it in his pack and then putting that on the floor under his chair. The scent of the chicken made his mouth water. He hadn’t realized until that very moment that he hadn’t eaten anything substantial in days.
“Do you sleep with that thing?” Liz asked Alex, pointing to his chest. Alex felt the compound bowstring across his back and shrugged.
“I don’t even know I have it on most of the time. Guess I got used to it,” Alex said, running his thumb along the inside of the leather strap that kept the quiver on his back, too, which was set on the opposite side of his back. He removed them both and placed them on the floor too.
“I don’t even know I have a sword strapped to my hip either until I go to sit down,” Selina added, removing her belt and scabbard.
The group proceeded to enjoy the meal, and each other’s company, sharing similar stories about wearing medieval armor, and carrying weapons, and how it had become matter-of-course these days. They continued to converse about that, which then led them to discussing how much simpler life was before the virus outbreak, Kelly eventually joining them and partaking of the meal and conversation.
Kelly was, of course the only one to have the slightest complaint about the meal, citing words and phrases such as ‘overcooked’ and ‘spiced all wrong’. They each took turns laughing at the absurdity of his self-deprecating diatribe.
You’ll be able to take us tomorrow to our car?” Alex asked Nick, stuffing a piece of chicken into his mouth.
“Sure, man. We’ll all fit in the boat? The three of us and Shadow?”
“Should, yeah,” he answered, savoring the mashed potatoes and really enjoying the food. “Thanks, Kel. This was amazing, my friend.”
“Well, it turned out better than our boat,” he said, once more using a belittling tone.
“Always the pessimist,” Liz commented through a mouthful of food.
“Well, it’s still on the riverbank there. Just needs the side repaired where I yanked it off. It was my—“ Alex stopped his explanation mid-sentence, seeing that Kelly was laughing. “You’re fuckin’ with me. Okay, cool.”
“You guys gonna stay the night? If so, I got a spot for you inside with a bed and everything.”
“Bryan’s old room?”
“Yeah,” Nick said with a shrug, “but you’ll have to spend the night with Buster.”
“Right. The cat. Sure,” Alex said, wiping his face.
“Cool. Cause we found a bottle of Bacardi Rum,” Kelly said, standing up and heading over to a cabinet along the wall, retrieving the rum and a 2-liter bottle of coke. “This is probably flat, but it’ll do. And I've got a pot of tea cooling for iced teas.”
“Wow, pullin’ out all the stops!” Selina shouted, clearly swept up in the excitement.
“I'm in, just lemme spend a little time with Shadow and I’ll be back,” Alex said, standing and heading out of the room. As the sounds of the laughter faded, he was somber in the fact that he was leaving.
These are really kind folks. I'm gonna hate leavin’ here more than I thought.
Minutes later, he found Shadow lying near the chapel where they’d been spending their nights. The zombies, relentless in their pursuit of flesh an
d moaning to get at them, were ignored by the wolf. Alex stood over the resting wolf and eventually lay beside him as the two shared a long bout of silence until Alex’s heavy eyelids got the best of him.
“Alex,” called the sound of Nick’s voice through the cloak of darkness that had encroached upon them. He had been asleep for a little while, he realized, sitting up and looking for Nick in the gloom.
“Yeah, Nick. What’s up?”
“You seem a bit more brooding than usual. Thought I’d check in on you.”
“Well, I’m a grown man. I don’t need you checking up on me,” Alex said through his abrupt awakening, a bit harsher than he intended.
“I know I'm not your dad, man. Just was concerned is all.”
“Well, if you must know,” he said sarcastically, trying to defuse the sting of his prior comment, “I’m a bit concerned about the future. Mine and Selina’s I mean.”
“Not just the future of mankind, huh?”
“Well, that too. But I mean, carryin’ on with our species. Ya know, killin’ the fuckin’ undead completely; startin’ a new generation of mankind, raisin’ kids even,” he added, staring up at Nick who still stood over him. “You know, that kind of thing.”
“Well, I know I’ll be doin’ my part. We all will here, I guarantee that. We’re gonna beat this zombie-virus.”
“Ya think so?”
“I know so. And I’m gonna make sure that my son or daughter knows, too.”
“Liz is pregnant?”
“Yeah, man. It’s why I’m trying to keep her away from Hannah, too. I’m not completely sure she’s a hindered percent rid of whatever she had.”
“Which is what you were gonna say earlier?”
“Yep. But either way, we’re naming the baby Alex.”
“Really?! Well, that’s’ cool.”
“Yeah, you seem to have made a lasting impression on my wife. Although naming a daughter ‘Alexis’ was a bit hard on her.”
“Yeah, she wasn’t very fond of her, huh?”
“No, but she died a hero, so it wasn’t that hard a sell suggesting a variation—namely Alexandra. Anyway, just thought you should know that the future is what you make it. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“I got it. I think we’ll be okay,” he said, looking to the skeptical face of Nick. “Look…you’ve got another mouth to feed with Laurie, your wife is pregnant, and we’re not even certain that Hannah is really better, right? I’m sure you can use the extra food and meds without us for the winter, right?”
Nick stared at him in silence, clearly pondering that reasoning and shaking his head. “Time to get back to your woman,” said another, much softer, feminine voice from the darkness. “And we better get inside before we need a flashlight to make our way, tiger,” added Selina, holding an outstretched hand to Alex, interrupting the conversation he and Nick were having.
“We’ll maybe talk some more later, okay?” Nick said, starting away from him and then stopping. “I wish you the best of luck, Alex.”
Alex took Selina’s hand as Nick strode off again, and they came together in a hug before Alex released her and bent low to rub the top of Shadow’s head playfully. The wolf barely moved, apparently exhausted from the day’s activities.
The pair eventually made their way into the castle, gathering up their gear. A smiling Liz showed them to their room for the night. It was complete with a worn-in mattress that looked very comfortable to Alex, who was more than exhausted. There was a single fold out table where many candles had been used and subsequently had twisted into one giant assembly of wax and wick on a large porcelain dish. The candlewick was burning. A dresser occupied the center of the opposite wall, and a rather large orange cat sat atop it quietly, barely regarding the two of them as they entered. Beside the rather large cat was a lantern.
“He won’t bother you,” Liz said to them with a smile. “And Brian horded matches. There should be tons of them in that top drawer.”
“Thanks,” Alex said, pulling open the dresser drawer and finding dozens of matchbooks. “And congrats, by the way.”
“Thanks, Alex,” Liz called back to him as she exited
He removed one and lit the lantern, turning it up to add another light source. “Doesn’t even look like he’s alive,” Alex said, drawing a spiteful slap from Selina as the door closed behind them.
“Don’t say that!” the cat shifted slightly on the dresser top at Selina’s outburst, but ultimately closed its eyes again.
“Well, you excited about spending the night in a bed with me?” Selina asked throwing back the covers and placing her backpack on the floor. She unstrapped her sword belt and sighed at the relief that afforded her.
Alex dropped his pack, too, and then removed the bow and quiver, placing them on the floor before unlacing his boots.
“Does this feel weird to you?”
“Not at all, tiger. Do we have to go over the whole ‘live-for-the-moment’ principle again?” Alex smiled at her question and shook his head. Then his smile disappeared slowly as she removed articles of clothing.
First, she unbuttoned her shirt, dropped her shorts and kicked off her boots, pausing to allow Alex to drink in the image of her shapely body in black lace undergarments.
Her bra was next and it fell to the floor with the release of a snap in the front. Then she slowly inched her underpants down until gravity took charge and they slid to the floor. She stepped out of them and lay on the bed. “Would you like this?”
Alex was unsure if he nodded or not, as he stiffened beneath his own clothing.
“You are beautiful,” he said matter-of-factly as he hastily removed his own clothing and climbed on top of her in less than a few seconds, kissing her neck and breasts softly. He was going further down when she stopped him and pulled him back up to eye level.
“No need for that,” she said modestly, guiding his hand to inspect her claim. Alex nodded and then moaned as he slid inside of her. He was quick to understand that she was already exceedingly moist with anticipation.
The pair made love for a long time at a very slow pace, switching positions and eventually ending up back where they had started before sharing an intimate and simultaneous climax to their evening session.
“I could use a smoke after that one, tiger,” she said to him, which made him feel satisfied.
It wasn’t long before the relaxation of the orgasm, and the comfort of sleeping on something as soft as a mattress overwhelmed him and Alex fell fast asleep.
***
The next morning came fast and Alex was roughly roused by Selina.
“You conked out on me pretty quick last night,” she said, sitting up on her elbows.
“I'm sorry, hon. Good news is I have the rest of my life to make it up to you,” he said, winking at her.
“You’re lucky I put up with you at all,” she said, winking back at him. “It’s okay. I totally get that you were exhausted. And to be honest, I haven’t slept that soundly in a long time.”
“So you collapsed right after me?” Alex asked, rolling over and onto his stomach.
“You bet your sweet ass I did,” she said with a minor snicker, slapping his rear-end. “We should get up and get moving, though.”
“You in a hurry?”
“No, not really, but I kinda don’t wanna stick around too long. It feels right to go now.”
“I know. I feel the longer we stay, the harder it will be to say our goodbyes.”
“Rip off that Band-Aid,” she agreed, sliding out of bed and pulling on her clothes. When she noticed Alex staring at her, she slowed her movements to allow him the time to drink it all in.
“You remind me of Halle Berry, specifically in a scene from Swordfish.”
“Stop it,” she said modestly, embarrassed by his comparison.
“Specifically that scene when she was in her skivvies, angel-face, ya know when Jackman catches her with the wire—”
“I know the one!” she shouted, cutting him off.
“I’ve seen it. Like fifteen years ago!” She continued getting dressed in a somewhat bashful way that seemed out of place with the other side of her he had come to know—the sexually assertive side—and when she finally finished, she sat on the edge of the bed and stared at him thoughtfully.
“Angel-face?!”
“You bet,” he replied, not missing a beat.
“Your turn,” she said with a silly smile. “C’mon now,” she teased, winking at him and rocking back and forth. “I showed you mine, now you show me yours.”
Alex climbed out of bed and did not cover himself at all. He figured he would appease her and do what she asked even though he felt like a complete ass in doing so. He began slowly pulling on his own clothing, one article at a time as Selina made some catcalls and whistles in that same vein.
“Happy now?” he asked, as he put the finishing dressing, tying his bootlaces.
“I am!” Selina said excitedly, gathering up her belongings and heading toward the door. Alex did the same, staring toward the cat that was, at the moment, sitting on the floor, eating from a bowl of cat food. “See ya, Buster,” he said with a slight hint of melancholy.
“Should we wake anyone?”
“Nah, let’s get Shadow and get everything loaded into the boat. I’ll wake Nick right before we’re ready to go.”
The pair picked their way through the castle and back into the Great Hall that guided them into the inner courtyard and toward the moat.
As they exited the castle, Alex saw a figure standing on the drawbridge in the distance. As he got closer, he could see that it was Nick.
“Thought I’d wait here for you,” he said, as Alex and Selina got within earshot. Shadow was also on the drawbridge lying down at the far end, as if he anticipated what was happening.
“Did he…?”
“Bother me? No. He was eating a bird or something when I first got out here, but when he saw me, he headed over here and just plopped himself down in the shade.”
“You okay, buddy?” Alex asked, kneeling beside Shadow and rubbing his head in a playful manner.
“This is for you,” Nick said, handing Alex a rather heavy duffle bag. He opened it and found a good deal of his belongings inside. There was canned food, flashlights, batteries, duct tape, and an assortment of other things, including his extra arrows and broad heads.
Wake the Dead 2 (Wake The Dead Series) Page 16
