Project Airborne

by Johnson, Cassandra

  Swallowing, Kaige laughed nervously before she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and kissed him again, this time her arms moved around his shoulders and held him close as his lips slowly moved against hers, melding together as their tongues met briefly before they parted.

  “I’m sorry.” Logan breathed out, his voice thick and hoarse, his hazel eyes painting the details of her face in his mind.

  “Don’t be sorry. I always wanted to kiss you, I just never thought you liked me, not like that and then with everything that happened...” Kaige trailed off, her heart was fluttering quickly as she stared up into his eyes.

  “I wish you’d said something before.” Logan exhaled, but his smile was permanently etched on his face as he quickly pecked her lips again. “We need to tell the others.”

  Catching her breath, she’d completely forgotten about what they were supposed to be doing when they kissed and that was all she could think about doing again, suddenly remembering their mission.

  “You’re right, we need to get back to the apartment and tell them. We’ve all got to start packing.” Kaige said, almost as if she was reminding herself of all the things that were to come.

  “Let’s go inside for a second longer, I want to check something. When we went in before it was colder inside than it was out here.” Logan took her hand again, squeezing it gently as they went into the house and he began to look for the thermostat, eventually finding it, Logan stood there looking at it for a moment before he turned it off cool air to heat. Listening as it clicked a few times.

  Little ticking noises tickling the tiny hairs in his ear canals before air began to blow from the vents in the walls and the smell of heat escaping them filled his nose.

  Standing next to one of the vents, Kaige leaned forward, holding her hands out, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

  “It’s warm. There’s actual heat coming from the vents.” Kaige said with glee as she straightened up again and looked around the house. Running back to the hallway that lead to the garage, she grabbed a set of keys and began to lock all the doors in the house before she came to the main door and started testing the keys to figure out which one would unlock the door.

  “Come on, let’s go get the others. I’ll take the Tahoe and you follow in the truck.” She smiled, clutching the keys.

  “I think we can fit everyone in the two vehicles.” Logan said, walking with her into the garage and turning on one of the overhead lights, finding the button that opened the garage door. “We can work on getting all of our supplies here in the next couple of days.” Logan said helping her into the Tahoe with a smile as she turned the engine over, taking a few tries before the engine finally caught. “I’ll be right behind you.” Logan said as Kaige gave him the keys to the truck and began to back out of the drive way.

  “See you there.” Kaige smiled quickly, backing out of the driveway and waiting for Logan to pull up behind her, turning the heat on in the vehicle, her eyes almost drifting shut as the warmth washed over her.

  Spotting the truck pull out of the drive way, Kaige drove home, parking along the side of the road this time so that both vehicles were close by at the bottom of the hill, practically running as the got closer to the apartment.

  22.

  “You will never believe what we found,” Logan said as they burst into Tom and Megan’s apartment.

  “You found a house?” Tom asked, cocking a wry smile since that was the entire reason why they had left the apartment to begin with, or at least so he thought.

  “Yes, but even better than that.” Kaige smiled brightly as she took a seat at the table and took the offered cup of coffee Megan placed in front of her. Eagerly drinking it down, the chill in the air outside was getting colder and she wouldn’t have been surprised if a storm was headed their way.

  “It’s already hooked up to solar panels.” Logan said, lighting a cigarette. “It has electricity. We turned the heat on before we left so that it would start warming up in the house.”

  “You’re shitting me.” Brian said, walking in the door behind them, catching part of what they said.

  “No, I am telling you my friend, I am absolutely not shitting you. And there is enough room for all of us and probably twenty more people if they want to park a bed on the floor.” Logan laughed, standing and clapping Brian on the shoulder quickly.

  “Everybody should start packing. We can come back for the rest of our things but grab what you will need for the night.” Logan told them.

  “We’re leaving?” Tobey asked, coming from his bedroom with Charlie closely following him and Blake taking up the back.

  “Yes. Pack your things, we’ll be back tomorrow for the rest of our stuff, but tonight we are going to our new home.” Kaige looked up from her coffee, struggling to get her cigarettes out of her pocket in her excitement.

  “Where are we going?” Blake asked, her arm resting around her sisters’ shoulders as she leaned against the wall looking around at the adults.

  “There’s a house in the neighborhood that you found us in, we checked it out. No one has been there since the zombies rose up, it has electricity. The owners must have been highly invested in alternative power because the house was outfitted with solar panels that power the electricity.” Kaige explained.

  “Are there lights and running water and heat?” Charlie asked excitedly.

  “I don’t know about the water, we forgot to check that.” Kaige said, glancing back at Logan. “But there are lights and heat.” She grinned, getting up from the table, her cigarette clamped between her lips. “Come on, I’ll help you get your things packed.”

  For the moment, her other mission was forgotten as Kaige helped the children pack their things, Tom and Megan disappeared into their bedroom to grab clothes, stuffing them inside of a duffle bag while Logan and Brian did the same.

  Once they had made a few trips to the vehicles, they went back inside, gathering the food into boxes that Kaige brought up from the basement. Anything else that was needed, they would be coming back for in the morning, but until then tonight would be like staying in a five-star luxury hotel.

  IT TOOK THREE DAYS for the seven of them to clear out the apartment and move everything to the new house, but they were all adjusting to somewhat normal living conditions again. They even watched movies in the evening once it was dark and they couldn’t go out anymore.

  Kaige and Logan took the apartment on the lower level of the house while Brian wanted the bedroom on the first floor. He felt that because he had military experience, if anyone came into the house that they didn’t want there, he was their best first line of defense. Tom, Megan and the kids all took the second-floor bedrooms.

  Life was beginning to feel as normal as it ever did, the only difference was that they didn’t leave the house to go to jobs or school and it was high time the children began their education again, here, even Megan felt safer about leaving the house and Tom began to go on scouting missions with Brian as well as teaching them all gun safety and how to actually use them without shooting their feet off.

  If anyone came near them with the idea of hurting one of them, they’d be ready.

  “It’s Thanksgiving.” Logan said one morning as they all met at the long wooden table in the kitchen and sat down, scrubbing sleep out of their eyes.

  “What?” Megan looked up from pouring water into the coffee pot, they’d all spent half the night watching the box set of The Office and had slept a total of maybe three hours before the sun was coming up and their bodies told them it was time to get back up.

  When they got to the house and began to inspect the bedrooms they were taking, Logan found a cell phone still on its charger and began to look at the calendar. He couldn’t bring himself to read the old text messages, whether it was private or just the news of the zombies attacking reading someone’s old text messages just didn’t feel right to him, regardless of the fact that they had just taken over that person’s home, that they were claiming it as their own
. Maybe they would come back, maybe they were dead, but that was the last invasion of privacy that he could force himself to commit.

  “It’s the third Thursday of November,” Logan said, holding up the phone's calendar, but there was no way that Megan could see it from the kitchen sink.

  “I would have thought that it was already past that.” Tom said, taking the phone and scrubbing his hand over his eyes briefly to take a closer look at the phone.

  “I did too, but that’s what it says.” Logan replied, getting up from the table and moving over to the coffee pot, getting a mug down from the cabinet quickly. Kaige and the children were still sound asleep, the sound didn’t seem to carry as easily through this house as it had in the apartments. Maybe it was the carpet or just better construction, but he could hear her snoring softly from her bedroom door when he came upstairs.

  “I wish we had a turkey.” Megan sighed gently as she poured cream into hers and her husband’s coffee.

  “I’m sure we can put something together for a little feast.” Tom said coming up behind Megan and rubbing her back gently.

  “You think so?” Meg asked.

  “Yes. We literally have everything except for the meats, but we do have canned meat that can replace the turkey.” Tom supplied with a quick smile.

  Footsteps began to slowly ascend the ground level, as well as the sound of a toilet flushing from the hall bathroom.

  Kaige and Brian both had swollen puffy eyes from lack of sleep as they forced themselves to walk on tired, stiff legs toward the kitchen.

  “New house rule,” Kaige mumbled. “Bedtime is midnight at the latest.” Sniffing, she scrubbed her hands over her eyes as Logan made her a cup of coffee, quickly coming to sit beside her.

  It was no secret to most that there was something happening between the two, but no one said anything.

  “Do you still want to go check out that library today?” Megan asked, laughing somewhat as she sat down at the table.

  “Yeah, for sure.” Although how committed Kaige was to the plan was debatable as she took a sip of her coffee and leaned her elbows on the table, holding her cheek in one hand. It had been a long time since she’d stayed up all night watching television and she had forgotten how much it could take out of you.

  “Today is Thanksgiving.” Tom chuckled, sipping his coffee.

  “You’re shitting me.” Both Brian and Kaige said simultaneously. This earned the whole table a laugh.

  “Maybe it’s the art of persuasion, but I swear I feel like my feet already hurt.” Kaige snorted, shaking her head as she grabbed the communal pack of cigarettes on the table and lit one to finish waking herself up.

  “My mom always made her enchiladas on Thanksgiving, and tamales.” Brian sighed, looking like he could almost taste them.

  “Your mom was Mexican?” Tom asked, while it may have been stupid of them to assume, but they all thought that Brian was black.

  “Yeah, second generation American. She met my dad in high school, they were sweethearts.” Brian explained, smiling as he thought of his parents then slowly his eyes drifted to the surface of the table and he grew quiet.

  “Tamales sure do sound good.” Kaige said softly. “So, we’re going to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, sans the turkey?” Kaige asked Megan.

  “Looks like it, we’d better get to the library and back, so we can start cooking.” Kaige said, forcing herself to stand up, taking her coffee with her back down into the basement to her bedroom to get dressed.

  “How about I get the cornbread cooking for the dressing? There won’t be any chicken in it this year, but maybe this was the universe's way of getting us all to go vegan?” Tom laughed a little bit before he finally stood from his seat and kissed Megan’s cheek.

  “You think they are okay to go out on their own?” Brian asked Logan, scratching his brow slowly.

  “I don’t know.” Logan replied, combing his hand through his hair, it would take some time for him to get used to his hair not being greasy. “Think one of us should go along with them just as an extra precaution?”

  “It wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Brian said, cocking his brow somewhat while he flicked a piece of sleep crust from his eyes.

  “Don’t let the two of them hear you talking about them like they are helpless. I thought Meg was going to rip my heart out and eat it the last time I asked her if it was a good idea for her to go out. She stayed in the apartment, and boy did I wish I’d never opened my mouth.” Tom told the two other men sitting in the kitchen while he dug around in the cabinet looking for the corn mill to make the cornbread with.

  “We’re only trying to protect them.” Logan countered, but he also knew how fragile a woman’s ego was. Just because you wanted to protect her didn’t mean that you necessarily thought that she couldn’t protect herself. That wasn’t it at all, but goddamn it, when there were zombies roaming the streets couldn’t a guy be just a little overprotective?

  “I’ll go.” Brian volunteered. “They aren’t my women, at least it’ll keep you two out of the dog house.” Standing and stretching he went back to his bedroom to throw some clean clothes on. Brian never imagined that he would find something so mundane and simple as having clean clothes would feel like such a luxury, but it did and they had all taken turns throwing on loads of clothes right along with letting the water heat back up as each of them took hot showers and truly washed their bodies for the first time since summer.

  “I’m not in the dog house.” Logan said almost indignant for a second before he realized that he and Kaige’s relationship wasn’t exactly a secret, but they weren’t hiding how they felt about each other anymore either.

  “And you’ll have me to thank for it.” Brian called as he disappeared into his bedroom, the door clicking shut, signaling that he’d gotten the last word in.

  “BRIAN WHY ARE YOU WEARING your gun holster?” Megan asked, walking down the stairs with her coat on her arm as Kaige was also walking up from the basement. It was going to take some time to get used to the layout of this house, while it had plenty of room it was a bit oddball in certain areas that none of them were able to explain.

  “Because I’m going to come along and pick out a few of my favorite crime novels. I don’t suppose that I need to worry about returning books late, now do I?” Brian smiled; he had such a sweet, charming nature that neither women seemed to question. And partially that was because Brian was telling the truth. He didn’t honestly believe that the girls could get into that much trouble driving to the library, but he was a firm believer in whatever could happen, would happen and if that something did occur, he was going to be there to protect them.

  Glancing in Logan’s direction his eyes were following Kaige as she stood in the entry way and looked in the mirror, pulling her hair back into a pony tail, her long copper red hair always looked like flames whenever the sun caught it in the light just right.

  He should have asked her to go out with him a long time ago, who knew where they might be now if he had. Maybe it would have worked out or maybe it wouldn’t, last night as he lay in his bed and listened to the sound of the heat, filling the rooms of the house, he couldn’t help feeling guilty wondering how much time he’d wasted.

  23.

  The trio came back from the library without incident, it also looked as if they had completely cleaned out the Maumelle branch of the Central Arkansas Library System or CALS as it was called.

  It took twenty minutes to unload the flat bed of the truck.

  “Did you three even look at the books themselves or did you just start clearing shelves?” Tom asked as he and Megan carried in the last arm load and stacked them with the others on the table in the living room.

  “We looked at some.” Megan laughed, wiping sweat from her top lip. “It smells great in here, what have you and Logan been cooking?” She asked and followed Tom into the kitchen where the two men had enlisted the help of the kids with some baking after they found canned milk in the pantry and some stick butter in
the back of the freezer that didn’t have a freezer taste on it.

  “We’ve got the cornbread dressing in the oven, a green bean casserole, there’s corn on the cob boiling away in that pot and the kids said we had to have sweet potatoes, also, Tobey found a chocolate cake mix so that is in the oven as well. We’ll see how good it turns out, without the eggs that the box called for.” Tom mentioned that last part under his breath as not to upset the boy too much since Tobey was feeling so proud of himself.

  “It smells amazing in here, from now on you are forever in charge of Thanksgiving dinner.” Megan smiled, kissing Tom’s lips softly as she complimented the many cooks in the kitchen.

  “We’ve got chocolate cake mom!” Tobey smiled, his lips stained by chocolate cake batter.

  “I heard, and sweet potatoes too.” Megan said, dampening a rag and wiping Tobey’s mouth clean, followed by his sticky little fingers that had been dipping into the batter bowl to eat some more of the chocolatey goodness that was left on the mixing bowl.

  “Why don’t you three go play in the living room and I will help finish up the food?” Megan gave Tobey a playful swat on the butt before he ran out of the kitchen with Blake and Charlie.

  Luckily, the previous owner had a gaming addiction and the kids had quickly discovered the gaming consoles that were hidden behind the cabinet doors of the massive entertainment center in the living room.

  “Most of the work is already done, babe. Unless you want to get started on the instant mashed potatoes, but I figured I’d whip those up last so that they didn’t get cold while we were waiting on everything else.” Tom told her, looking around the suddenly empty kitchen.

  Closing the distance, Megan wrapped her arms around Tom’s waist and kissed his lips quickly.