"I'm sorry," I apologized quickly, turning away. "You look very nice."
"Thank you," she replied genuinely. "I think I'm getting more used to your attention, Mason. You have been every bit a gentleman to me since I arrived. It's not fair of me to judge you by these feelings that I am sensing. Can I ask you about what you are feeling when you look at me? I think it could help us to talk about it. Do you mind?"
"Uh, I'm not sure."
"Well, when I feel in spike in your attraction to me it's like a warning buzzer going off in my head. As I said, you have done nothing to warrant my distrust, so I would like to better understand what you are feeling in that moment. That way when it happens, I actually know what is going on."
"It's embarrassing, Alexa," I said shyly, turning away. "It's not fair that you can pick up on my emotions and I don't get to know what you are thinking or feeling."
"Okay," she answered. "I understand. Well, I'm not a real open person about my feelings either. Let me just say that I like you a lot. You are very kind and protective. I also think you are a good-looking man. How is that?"
"It helps," I smiled.
"So, I already know that you like me, too. And that you find me sexually attractive. Just tell me something about what you are thinking when I feel that surge from you. Are you wanting to have sex with me? Is it an uncontrollable urge?"
"No!" I responded immediately, turning to face her. The blue flashed around her temples again as her expression looked almost apologetic. "I mean, yes, being sexually attracted to you does mean that I'd like to, you know. But, it's not like I feel like attacking you. It's more like being touched emotionally by something very beautiful. Like a great piece of art, or an amazing waterfall. Please understand that I could never harm you or force myself on you."
"I believe you," she responded with a tear in her eye, smiling anyway. "Thank you for explaining it to me. Your compliment backed up by the genuine emotions I sense are probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. I won't judge you wrong ever again, Mason. I promise. I truly appreciate you."
CHAPTER FOUR:
I awoke the next morning to the scent of fresh brewed coffee. Somehow, Alexa had gotten up before me without disrupting my sleep. Though having my new best friend prepare my favorite breakfast beverage was great, I was more than a little alarmed that I slept that sound. Waking easily was a critical requirement for survival in this dangerous new world.
Alexa's slender back was to me as she set an assortment of cookies from a package onto a paper plate, then poured two Styrofoam cups full of coffee. From experience, I knew that she already sensed that I was awake. As an experiment I decided to test her anyway. Hopefully, she would not be overly offended. Instead of focusing on her shapely thin calves or tight little butt, I visualized walking up behind her and wrapping my arms gently around her tapered waist, then lightly pressing my lips against her bare shoulder.
Instantly, she tensed up as if a rat snuck up before her. Was this test a bad idea? Luckily, one second later she let out a slow smooth breath and said without turning around, "Good morning, Mason." It sounded like she was smiling, maybe even laughing. That was good.
"Good morning, Alexa." I was definitely smiling, thankful that my experiment went well. "Thanks for fixing coffee. How is your leg?"
Alexa carried the hot drinks and the dish of cookies around to set them on the counter before pulling back the bandage to show me her boo boo. "I think it's healing pretty good. I'm a little embarrassed that I cried like I did over it. I thought for sure it was cut up worse than it is. I appreciate you caring for it as well as you have. I think I can keep it clean from here on."
"Cool, cool," I replied, like an idiot, never knowing what to say. "What would you like to do today?"
"Well," she said, handing me a coffee and the plate of cookies. "You might think this is silly, but I was wondering if you would be interested in doing some redecorating?"
"Redecorating?"
"Actually, it would be mostly rearranging the main room here, and probably adding some furniture. I know we might not stay here forever, but I'd like for it to more closely resemble the rooms of a house while we are here. The office and storage rooms are too cramped, I think. The area behind the sales counter should work well for a kitchen. We would need a table and chairs for the dining room. The tough part would be acquiring a sofa for the living room. Then, we could move the shelving around to form walls. The nice thing about that would be that we could see over those walls in a defense scenario."
"So, you have been giving this a lot of thought," I said.
"Not really. It just kind of hit me this morning, then my mind starting racing with ideas."
"So," I asked timidly. "Are we playing house, Alexa?"
She crossed her arms as she looked at me, trying to figure out how serious the question was before responding, I think. "Mason, I'm not ready to commit to anything but roommates for now. You haven't given me any reason to want to leave. And, honestly, I would be surprised if you did anytime soon. You are a good survival partner, for sure. And, if you must know, I am starting to grow fond of having you around."
I nodded, not sure what to say. It was well known that I wanted her around.
"So, what do you think?" she asked.
"Let's do it."
We spent most of that morning moving the bulky wooden shelves around after removing all the alcohol first, of course. Areas where we felt the need for specific pieces of furniture, we marked the floor with some sidewalk chalk I had taken from a house weeks ago. I had no idea how we would safely transport a sofa and a dining room table. It seemed like moving into a house would be a better idea, if it were not for how this place was much easier to defend and already stocked with supplies.
Alexa worked up another shopping list for us. Women, always with shopping on their mind. We would try to get any large pieces of furniture from one of the houses that were very close to the store. We should be able to carry them that far, while keeping an eye out for danger. Other items, like fake plants, might take more effort to find. Despite the increased vulnerability needed to obtain some of these items, I was eager to get everything she wanted. If I could be the man that takes care of her, and make my place comfortable for her live in, I had my best chance of holding on to her. And that was very much my plan.
I figured that it was maybe mid-afternoon when we headed northeast to raid some more homes. I brought the wagon, and several large plastic shopping bags to carry supplies we might stumble across as we searched for Alexa's comfort items. She grabbed so many throw pillows from the first house that I thought we should return to our place immediately. But Alexa said we could always leave half the pillows in another house if we find more valuable items. After three lengthy trips we had all the basics on our list except the sofa and managed to avoid any wandering predators. That's when I got an idea.
"Hey, Alexa? Do you think we could make do with a couple small church pews until we get the sofa? They'll be a lot easier to carry."
"Church pews?" she asked with obvious distaste for my idea. I felt a little stupid and uncaring after her response. Of course, she picked up on those emotions and adjusted her tone considerably. "Well, I'm not big on the idea long term, but if you prefer to do that for now, I can deal with it. We'll certainly need all those pillows and cushions then. Where is the closest church?"
I pointed at the steeple rising skyward in the next lot, casting its shadow over us. The church was directly behind the store on New Hampshire Avenue, facing the next street over. A chain link privacy fence with charred wooden slats stood between the two properties and the adjacent houses, so we would have to go out to the main street to get there. The sizable building for worship was made of multi-shade brown brick and looked to have survived the fires quite well. However, I never checked out the inside while I was here since it seemed like a poor source for the survival items I needed. Pews, though, they should have plenty of those if the fires never made it inside. I just d
idn't want to carry a twenty-footer back the store. Something six to eight feet long would be great. If they were light enough, we might be able to tote two of the them together. I used to move benches in physical education class using that method all the time. It just required a helper.
We stowed all our acquired booty so far and sealed our makeshift home entrance back up before heading over to the neighborhood church. I insisted on using extra caution getting this close to the main highway. As we did our recon a few shuffling skanks meandered through the neighborhood on the other side. They probably wouldn't even notice us at this distance. Then a herd of about a dozen deer sprinted across the wide asphalt strip, chasing after a dog. Deer. Chasing a dog. Perhaps the animals had gone crazy from hunger or virus, or both. Anyway, it was the first time I had ever seen that for sure.
Eventually, I gave the okay to go around the fence. The tall grass on the other side had dried up so bad that it was crunchy beneath our footfalls. It was more annoying than anything else, still I made haste to get to the parking lot and beyond. A double glass door on the back of the building was in view. We headed there quickly only noticing on arrival that the glass was missing from one of the doors, and the frame was slightly bent up. Someone or something had already entered this building forcibly. That was clear.
Before I could lean against the battered doorway and listen for any activity, Alexa declared that she was sensing people inside.
"I can't tell for sure, but I believe that there is one normal person in there scared for their life. And, I sense a lot of hunger. There must be a bunch of the skanks attacking. Oh my God!" Alexa exclaimed as the emotions became overwhelming. "Mason, we have to help them!"
"Okay, okay," I answered quickly. The best decision, naturally, would be to not get involved. A bunch of skanks? Yeah, we should undoubtedly turn and go, forget about the pews. But Alexa's gift must have made her overly sympathetic to the people she was sensing. Except maybe in cases when she sensed them to be assholes.
"Alright, stay here and let me have a look."
I gingerly stepped across the carpeted hallway to peek into the spacious sanctuary beyond. The rotting flesh odor was getting undeniably stronger as I went. Then I could see that there were at least a dozen stinkies standing, and more scattered randomly on the floor. Some of them were obviously dead with busted heads and limbs. Their skin being ripped open released even more of the unbearable stench. I did my best not to gag, remembering how Alexa had drawn the attention of the wild dogs yesterday.
Huge stained-glass windows allowed in just enough light to see the whole open worship area. There were plenty of pews that appeared to be in good condition, even some smaller ones. The skanks and skunks, there were at least two males, were struggling to get around them as they all faced a common foe. At first, I didn't see their victim, as she was in a shadow. Her medium brown skin and darker clothing also provided some concealment. Her back was to me as well, and a pillar blocked some of my view, but she looked to be quite fit from what I could see.
One of the skunks that was hovering close finally dove at her. A spear rapidly shot out from the woman to pierce the attacker's exposed pale chest, before being pulled back in. The skunk let out a howl as dark red blood ran down his belly, and the skanks around him all responded in kind. The noise and scent combined desperately tried to convince my body to leave this nasty place. That's when I remembered I was supposed to be reporting back to Alexa about what was going on inside. I had left her out there alone, defenseless. When I turn toward the door, I was surprised to see her approaching me in the hallway. I pressed my finger to my lips encouraging her to be quiet. Then, I pulled her close so I could whisper in her ear.
"There are a dozen of them, at least. They are attacking a woman. The odds are not good, Alexa. Are you sure you want to get involved?"
"A woman?" she whispered back. That in itself should have not been alarming since the vast majority of survivors were female. Instead, I saw that she connected to the panic that she was feeling and associated it with someone weaker like herself. "We have to help her, don't we?"
For months I had been trying to adjust my mentality in my new surroundings. I had been raised to always help those in need. Even as a child I always held the door open for strangers and assisted my elderly relatives. In the early days of this world going to shit I still clung stubbornly to those values. Regrettably, it placed me and others in harm's way repeatedly. I vowed to toughen up and did my best to put my survival above that of any others. So far, I was not doing well with that endeavor. I too felt compelled to help the woman. I had a bat. She had a spear. Maybe together we could fight them off. But how would I protect Alexa during the battle?
Looking into the sanctuary again I saw the muscular black woman swing the spear at two skanks that seemed to be trying to distract her as the chest bleeding skunk lunged again. I was expecting the battle to end then, making our decision for us. Instead, the woman swung a shiny hatchet down fiercely to split open the skunk's head. He fell to the ground without making another sound. The violent action not only shocked me it effectively caused every other stinky in the room to pause. I hoped that would be enough to scared them off, but the moment eventually passed, and they began to shuffle toward the warrior type woman again.
A plan began to form in my mind. The woman had two weapons, but she would be better off handing one of those weapons to a possible partner. Me. We could fight them off together, I believed. That way I could hand my bat to Alexa. Maybe that would keep her protected long enough for us to end this extremely unpleasant skirmish. When I handed the bat to my sexy friend, she already had her hand open to receive it. That made me question her abilities more, wandering if there was some mind reading going on after all. But now was not the time to focus on that. We needed to even up this battle fast.
I rushed into the large room yelling, "let me help!" Alexa was right on my heals but veered toward the area behind the woman as I had instructed. I wanted her protected during this unpredictable fight. The black woman turned to face us in a panic, obviously not registering us as helpers quick enough. Her agile body turned with precision as she whipped the small ax through the air in our direction. I felt my arms pulse with the ability that Alexa had claimed that I had, my veins likely turning orange. But the hatchet was not headed for me. It was somersaulting through the air toward my beautiful partner. Alexa's eyes got even bigger as she realized that she could not possibly dodge the weapon in time.
"NO!" I screamed, trying to alter my direction to block it from striking Alexa. I was nowhere near close enough to get in the weapon’s path, though. Fortunately, both of us must have badly misjudged the projected course. The hatchet's blade struck the wooden wall about three feet away from its target with a thump. “Awesome!”, I thought as I grabbed the handle and yanked it free. Alexa was still in shock, so I gently pushed her toward the safe area as I faced the numerous attackers. The woman turned the spear toward me, but I could see the beginning of relief in her eyes as she realized we were like her, full human.
"No," I said, raising my empty hand to her. "We're here to help." Surprisingly, all the decaying enemies just stood there and watched the whole scene play out instead of taking advantage of the distraction. When the two of us formed a uniform front against them they began to doubt, looking at each other questioningly. Finally, the other skunk, the lone remaining male stepped forward. After a moment of studying us he turned to face the others without fully putting his back to us as he spoke.
"Go," he said, more clearly than any other skunk I've ever heard. "Done," he said then, sounding exhausted. When he turned to see the other male dead on the floor, he said sadly, "Gone." With that, they all slowly shuffled their stinky asses out the main door of the church, obviously not expecting us to chase after them. Looking around the floor, I saw five dead attackers, and two more crawling out miserably behind their comrades. There were no other regular people that I could see, so that woman had done a competent job of defendi
ng herself even before we arrived.
"Thanks," she said, apparently still hesitant to regard me as a friend. She glanced between my face and the hatchet in my hand. I could now see her more clearly. Though not as young as Alexa, she was also a very beautiful woman. Her creamy brown skin and brown eyes were alluring. The woman’s curly hair was short and black, with red tips and streaks. The color matched her tight red t-shirt and sneakers. Skin tight black workout shorts completed the outfit and showed off her muscular build. She was visibly a fitness freak, but damn she looked sexy. Her bulging arms and legs tapered off to thin wrists and ankles. Her hands and feet were smallish, too. So, she was not big boned. Her intimidating appearance came from a lot of exercise.
I remembered my ability to dodge and considered it safe to return the weapon to her. It was also a calculated gesture of trust. I shifted the hatchet in my hand so that the handle faced her. She hesitated, then gladly accepted it.
"I'm Mason," I said. "And this is Alexa." My attractive blond companion slid over to stand closely beside me.
Dystopian Girls Page 4
