"Well, I was thinking we could go looking for better food. I had already intended to do that. Now, with you here, I feel like it's a must. I'm kind of embarrassed that I don't have a better set up for you."
"I know," she replied sincerely. "But, it's okay. Honestly, this is so much better than what I've been dealing with for weeks. Maybe together we can focus on improvements. Is it okay if I start working on tidying up a bit?"
"Sure," I responded. "Did you want something to eat first?"
"I'm okay for now. What I could really use is a cup of coffee. Maybe we should raid an old Starbucks. You think?"
"I actually have some coffee," I replied proudly. I had rigged up a system where I could use a small flame to brew coffee. The beer store had cases of brew packets in the back, and a couple decanters. It didn't taste fantastic, but the hot morning beverage was a luxury these days. I would gladly brew some for my new friend. In fact, I would do almost anything to keep her around.
"Oh my God!" Alexa exclaimed with more enthusiasm that I expected. She stood up abruptly in her excitement. "You are my hero already. Show me how you make it. I can have coffee ready for us every morning."
I gathered the supplies and showed her the process I had been using to brew coffee, and we discussed some possible adjustments that could be made. I was standing just inches from her incredibly sexy body much of the time. I tried my best to control myself, but I couldn't help checking out the form of her small breasts below her t-shirt. Her skimpy black bra was clearly visible through the white fabric and appeared to be more like a bikini top. The couple inches exposed soft skin on her lower back was clear of ink. To me, that was a good sign.
Up close, her face was surprisingly beautiful. Especially those oversized bright blue eyes. She had me mesmerized briefly each time she looked at me. A tiny pointed chin completed the round face to give that anime goddess appearance. In the dim light there appeared to be blue streaks around her temples, and more just below her neck. Was it make-up, or dirt, or my imagination?
"What are you?" she asked. "Twelve years old? You're like a little school boy around me."
"I'm sorry, Alexa," I replied bashfully as I took a step back.
"Honestly," she said without turning to face me. "I'm flattered. But it is a bit too much. This extra perception that I now have is an overload."
"I understand," I responded quietly. "I'll give you more space until I get accustomed to having you around. Please don't let this scare you off. I assure you that you don't need to be scared of me."
"I believe you, Mason. But I'm still learning about this extra intuition thing. I really have too little experience with it to know if it is accurate. It could just be wishful thinking on my part. So far, though, it hasn't let me down."
The rest of the morning we found projects to do that kept us separated most of the time. Alexa worked up a shopping list for our afternoon supply run as we both made great progress in improving the condition of our habitat. I fortified the back door to prevent another Earl type from barging in. By the time we were ready for lunch I felt myself behaving much more calmly around my new roommate. I avoided looking at her more than needed. I'm sure that helped. Unfortunately, I still felt like she required some distance. I vowed to myself to be patient. It was extremely unlikely, I thought, that another beautiful young woman would want to move in with me. I had to make this work.
CHAPTER THREE:
I started peeling away the layers of various debris blocking the old store entrance. We were all prepared for our first foraging mission together. The plan was to gradually head east, selecting a few suitable residences to raid for supplies. I really wanted to get to some of the bigger homes that were way back in the woods. They may have been protected by alarms long enough to ward off intruders. Perhaps one of them would have exactly what we need.
"Wait," Alexa said softly. I stopped moving the bulky barrier pieces and listened for what she might have heard. She was staring blankly at the entrance.
"Did you hear something?"
"No," she whispered. "I'm just reaching out with my gift to see if I can sense anyone out there before we go barging out." That's when I saw the unusual blue streaks return to her face and chest. They were exquisitely coordinated with her eye color and resembled masquerade makeup.
"Are you aware," I said quietly, "that you have some blue coloring that comes and goes on your skin? Does that only happen when you are using your gift."
"I think so," Alexa answered. "Did you know that the veins on your arms and legs glow orange when you are fighting?"
"Bullshit!" I answered without thinking. I wasn't actually calling her a liar, but I thought she must be joking. Orange veins? My body? My favorite color?
Alexa stopped staring forward and turned to me. "No, really. They kind of pulsed orange while you were fighting those three assholes last night. I think you have an extraordinary power of your own. I would guess that it is your ability to dodge swords and bullets. I honestly don't know you survived. I thought for sure I was going to lose you before we even met."
"You may be right," I answered, considering it seriously. I remember being amazed during the fight that everything was missing me. Maybe Earl realized it, too. That's why he conceded so quickly. Well, that and me taking his gun. I looked down at my arms, but there was nothing to see at the moment, of course.
"We'll have to test it later today," she said with a playful smile. "I can throw dangerous shit at you and you can dodge them all."
"Why does it have to be dangerous shit? Can't you throw pillows first?"
"Maybe it has to be something that will kill you for your power to be activated. I don't know. We can start with safer stuff if you are scared that I might hurt you. I saw some beer pong balls at the counter."
"That sounds like a better idea to me," I replied unoffended. "When do we test your superpower?"
"We've been testing it all along. Just now when I mentioned throwing dangerous shit at you, I felt a mild trepidation for a second. Am I right?"
"Maybe," I answered. "So, is there anybody outside we need to worry about before we exit?"
She shook her pretty head and said, "Not as far as I can tell. But I'll keep my senses sharp as we go. Are the blue sections of my skin ugly?"
"Alexa, nothing about you is remotely ugly. "
Her sincere smile let me know that the compliment was appreciated, and that maybe I had made progress in keeping my emotions under control. Just to be safe, I continued to avert my eyes as much as I could.
We proceeded down Hollywood Avenue patiently dodging from one house to another and staying off the street. These small buildings had undoubtedly belonged to middle income families. That meant that they were more easily raided and probably had less worth taking. We skipped most of them completely as we started zigzagging through the crumbling neighborhood. Fires had apparently swept through every area that I had seen lately, causing many of the places to be unfit for entry.
The sun was high in the sky by the time we reached a dwelling that I thought would be worth our time. The front of the home was an elaborate combination of fancy wood and stone with large windows cut at steep angles toward the roof. The main entry was closed and to the right was a three-car garage that appeared to be secure. There was no debris in the front yard or any busted windows. I believed this could be the jackpot if we could find a way inside. It was highly unlikely that an alarm was still powered. I motioned for my new partner to join me around back. We'd be much less noticeable trying to open a back door.
Together we admired the plentiful bird feeders and wind chimes as we moved deliberately through the tall grass. Alexa looked moderately comfortable at my side and glanced my way when I briefly considered holding her hand. Maybe one day she would be my girlfriend, if I could ever get past that emotion tracker of hers. Perhaps a relationship with someone that acquired that gift would be much more difficult than normal. Based on her alluring appearance and delightful personality I considered it woul
d be well worth it.
We both cleared the corner of the large elegant house at the same time and stopped abruptly in our tracks. The gut-wrenching smell carried by the mild breeze hit us at the same time as the shocking sight. Three stray dogs were about halfway through devouring two dead skanks. When Alexa gagged uncontrollably all three beasts turned in our direction and growled.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, raising my baseball bat instinctively. Would it be enough to hold them off? It was the only weapon that I had, and Alexa was completely unarmed. I hadn’t thought to bring my recently acquired rifle. In the anxious moment that followed I could see that one dog was a black and white Collie with the fierce teeth of a wolf. Had it mutated? The Doberman looked normal, though still very much intimidating. The other was a German Shepherd with oversized claws and fangs. It had definitely been altered by the viruses, I surmised. I had seen mutant animals roaming the area before, but never came face to face with any until now.
When the Doberman returned to noisily eating the rotten corpse closest to it, I thought we might get lucky. Grievously, the ferocious Collie advanced and the German Shepherd followed its lead. We backed away slowly hoping that our body language would be correctly interpreted as an apology for interrupting their meal. Regrettably, it was not. They continued to steadily gain ground as we retreated. I knew that we couldn't easily outrun them. We would have to pick our best spot for a fight.
There was an alcove section of the house where we could at least avoid being surrounded. I backed us in there and readied my weapon. A rusty drain pipe painted the same dark brown as the wood siding stealthily climbed the corner of the alcove to a slight pitched roof that was maybe just eight feet off the ground. If Alexa could get herself up there, she would probably be out of reach of the crazed animals.
"Get behind me," I said as calmly as I could, applying the palm of my hand to her flat belly. "Try to climb the drain pipe." I thought she might object to attempting the physical feat due to her slight stature, but the fear in her eyes indicated that she was ready to do whatever it took to flee these predators. Her sudden movement drew in the Collie first. Before it could reach the lovely girl, I struck it hard in the shoulder with the wooden bat. It let out the desired and satisfying yelp as the blow sent it falling away from the house. At least the mutation didn't make them super strong.
Before I could swing the bat back into position to defend my friend, the German Shepherd successfully clawed Alexa's delicate ankle while she was halfway up the brown pipe. She screamed, of course, but did not fall. My next swing took the attacking beast in the back of the head with all the force I could muster. It immediately fell limp to the ground. The collie then looked at the motionless animal, then back to me. I couldn't immediately tell if it was angry at me for killing its friend, or more scared of me for what I had just done. Then the ferocious animal surprised me by jumping on the unresponsive dog and ripping it's flesh open with its own jaws.
Thankfully, Alexa had made it to the roof by then and frantically called for me to join her. I waited to make sure I wouldn't be attacked when I turned away, then followed her in a veiled panic. We cautiously backed away from the edge until we encountered a closed bedroom window. I used a fallen branch laying on the roof to break the plane of glass and clear the dangerous shards for safe entry. Soon we found ourselves inside a large bedroom with bulky furniture. Together we pushed the heavy chest of drawers in front of our entry point to prevent the dogs from possibly coming after us. It wasn't until then that we felt safe enough to check Alexa's leg. The animal's enlarged claws had scratched her pretty good, but it wasn't bleeding too terribly bad.
"Does it hurt?" I asked, like a fool.
"Yes, it hurts!"
"Sorry. Here let me get it cleaned up." I found a bathroom adjacent and soaked the green hand towel I found there to clean her wound. I didn't even realize at first that I had placed my hand on the back of her lower left leg to raise up the ankle for cleaning. I was actually touching the girl of my dreams. She didn't object, so I continued to care for her injury and wrapped it tightly with a flex bandage from the medicine cabinet.
"Thank you," she said with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry that I didn't get that dog before he could do this to you."
"I know," she responded. "It's not your fault. I think you did a great job of getting us out there alive. We're lucky I didn't get hurt worse. I'm sorry that I'm not much help in a fight."
"No, that's okay," I replied. "I guess your extra sense didn't pick up on the animals."
"No, I had no idea that there was anything in the back yard. I would have sensed the zombies if they were still alive, I think."
"They are not actually zombies," I replied. "Zombies are undead or walking dead. These extremely sick people are still alive. That's why they stink so bad. Even a human corpse doesn't smell as bad as these things."
"Okay," she submitted. "Skanks then. I can usually pick up their hunger and desperation, but it's less powerful than normal people."
Again, without really thinking about it, I picked Alexa up off the floor and placed her on the bed by putting one arm under her arms then the other below her legs. She didn't weigh much, but I didn't think that I could carry her all the way home. I waited a couple minutes for her to relax before deciding what to do next.
"Maybe you should rest here while I check the house for supplies," I suggested.
"Please don't leave me, Mason," she pleaded softly.
"I won't leave you, Alexa. Don't worry about that. Can you walk enough to join me?"
"I think so," she said, sliding to the side of the bed and raising one arm toward me for assistance. I placed my right arm around her slender frame to help her up. The injury was more painful than debilitating. By the time we left the bedroom she was capable of walking while leaning against the wall. That freed up my hands for collecting supplies and facing any obstacles that we might encounter. I grabbed a bunch of medical supplies from the bathroom and tossed them in her backpack.
The home looked like it had never been ransacked, just like I had hoped. We gathered lots of canned and boxed food as well as two gallons of bottled water. There ended up being enough good stuff that we decided to take a child's red wagon from the garage. We might even come back another time for the rest. I told Alexa to ride on top of the wagon full of stuff, but she insisted on walking instead. That was okay with me because it gave me the opportunity to have my arm around her much of the time. It wasn't long before I was comfortable being that close to her without getting overly excited. Even with the bandage and the limp she was gorgeous. Maybe even more so, in a damsel in distress kind of way.
The dogs were still working on their disgusting meals, so we left through the front door and locked it behind us. Again, we moved cautiously through the neighborhood on our way back to the beer and wine store that was becoming our home. We spotted a few deer along the way, some cats and dogs, and a handful of skanks. But none ever spotted us or considered us worth their attention. We happily made it all the way back to the store without another incident.
After moving the layered barricade from the entrance, I turned to help Alexa get safely inside. She totally surprised me by hugging me instead.
"Thank you, Mason," she said in my ear.
"For what?" I asked as I returned the hug with calculated restraint, placing my arms around her lower back. My muscles seemed a little bigger each week, despite a lack of disciplined exercise. I didn’t want to cause her discomfort.
"For not leaving me. I'm sorry for giving you a hard time about your feelings before. It was not fair of me."
"Don't worry about it," I said. "Let's get inside and have something to eat. Aren't you hungry?"
"Oh, yes," Alexa answered as she released the embrace. "I'm starving."
We spent the rest of the day organizing our supplies and cooking two enjoyable meals. I cleaned Alexa's wound a couple more times and was happy to see that it was beginning to heal. She no longer needed my as
sistance in walking, and the retained limp was minimal. I found some pain medicine for her, but she was hesitant to take it worrying that it would make her drowsy. She said that she had not taken any kind of medicine since she was a child. I found that unusual, but everyone was untitled to their own views on health. I read somewhere that those with the naturalistic approach lived longer anyway.
We were much more optimistic than before regarding our water supplies and decided to wash up a bit before our second meal of the day. I changed into my black sport shorts and orange stretch workout tee, plus clean socks. I tried the body spray I snatched from the house and figured its scent was much more appealing than my sweaty self. Alexa switched to her other pair of short shorts. These were black cotton and left most of her sexy thighs exposed. The light green ribbed tank top hugged her slender form nicely and was cut low enough to reveal a good amount of her modest breasts. Her fragrance was the same as when we met, so she must have a perfume in her bag. When she walked in with her new outfit, I felt a surge of testosterone run through me again. She briefly gave me a concerned look as the blue streaks flashed on her skin.
Dystopian Girls Page 3
