"I can see that because our friendship is doing the same. Without the distraction of jobs, schedules and cell phones, it's much easier to get to know each other quickly. However, there are still things I don't know about you guys. I talk all the time about my kids, and occasionally my husband. But I don't know anything about your families."
"Well," I replied with a heavy breath. It was true. We didn't really like to talk about all the people we lost. "My mom and dad were hard working people. We lived just up the road on Flannery Lane in Colesville. My dad worked for the federal government. I'm not sure exactly what his job entailed. My mom worked as a unit secretary at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. That's where I watched them both pass away. I don't have any brothers or sisters. My parents would come out to watch me when I was involved in high school sports, like basketball and wrestling. Otherwise, they were home bodies. They had friends come over for a card game night every Wednesday. They played a team game called Column Master, and they absolutely loved it. I didn't have any uncles, aunts or cousins that lived in the area, so that's all there was to my family."
"What about your friends?" Jada asked, sincerely interested.
"I had a few buddies that I hung out and played video games online. After graduation we didn't stay extremely close, though. They moved out of town for college while I just went to Bowie."
"What about your girlfriend?" she inquired.
"I didn't have one when the comet hit. I was dating, but nothing real serious. Okay, that's enough about me. Your turn, Alexa."
"Alright," Alexa said. "I'm from Hagerstown, Maryland. It's a small town compared to DC, but we had plenty of shopping and even a night life scene. My parents still lived there with my two younger sisters, Avery and Madison. Unfortunately, none of them survived long after things went bad. I was at school in College Park at the University of Maryland when the comet hit. I stayed with my friends after classes were canceled. The last one of them died over a month ago. I've been on my own since then, until I found Mason."
"Boyfriend?" Jada asked.
"I had a couple different boyfriends since I went away to college, but they didn't last long. I was dating a guy named Ian, but we had only been on like three dates so far. He stopped answering my calls a while back, so I'm assuming he didn't make it either."
"Well, it's possible that his phone battery died, and he couldn't recharge it." I said, almost hoping that her old boyfriend did pass away. I didn't wish anyone harm, but I didn't need the competition for Alexa's affection.
"I did consider that," Alexa replied. "However, he never came to visit me even though he knew where I would be. I checked his dorm room a week after our last contact, but there was no one around that knew where he was. Even if he is still alive, and I hope his is, he'll never find me now. And I don't need him to because I have a new and better boyfriend."
I leaned over to place a kiss on Alexa's lips. I had no interest in rekindling any relationships from the past, and I was glad she felt the same. It was her and I from here on. And maybe Jada, too, depending on how that worked out. But I doubted that Jada could ever take the place in my heart that Alexa was quickly filling.
Jada's hand was still on Alexa's belly when I leaned over her. She then moved it to rest on my back until I sat back up.
"I can't wait until I get a kiss like that," Jada said slyly.
"What do you think?" I asked Alexa. She looked a little shocked. Then I said, "do you want to kiss Jada?" Both girls laughed at my joke. But the truth was, I would enjoy seeing the two of them kiss. I was never into girl on girl stuff before. However, I was in tight with both of these lovely women. If they kissed each other I believed that would certainly make progress in our three-sided relationship.
Then Jada spoke up, "You know, I think I'd do it."
"Do what?" I asked, trying to mask my enthusiasm.
"I'd kiss Alexa if she offered."
"I've never kissed a girl before," Alexa told Jada. "Have you?"
"Uhhhh, maybe once at a party way back when I was in college. It was a drinking game thing. It didn't mean anything. So, no. Not really. Would you like to kiss me?"
"I would have said no immediately before. But now, I'm not sure. I'm a little scared."
"Scared?" Jada asked. "Of me?"
"No. I'm scared of what it might mean. Or, maybe of what it might mean to you. Or, more likely, what it might mean to Mason. His heart is racing as we talk about it."
"Mason?" Jada feigned surprise effectively well. "Is the thought of us two kissing getting you horny? You dirty boy!"
"I can't help it!"
"Okay, okay," Alexa said as she sat up. "Let's stop. We're not doing it. This is getting me uncomfortable. Let's talk about something else."
We all three continued to sit on the couch, but we weren't making any body contact. Alexa wasn't even reaching for my open hand. I shouldn't have encouraged things, I guess. This might be a step backwards instead. I needed to put this behind us quickly.
"You know what we need is reading material. Some good books, some magazines. It's a shame we can't watch movies now that we have this great couch."
"I was just thinking about that," Jada replied. "Can't we get a generator or something?"
"If we searched long enough, we could find one, but we would need gas to run it. I'm not sure how much gas is still left in the pumps at the stations, if any. Siphoning from abandoned vehicles would probably be a regular thing. I think there would be some serious exposure risk trying to get gas all the time. Maybe we should find the gas before we go looking for the generator. What do you think, Alexa?"
"I don't know. You told me it was too risky when we talked about it before. Has anything changed?"
"Just the couch," I said. "Let's think about it for a day or two before we decide. Books, though, will be easy to find."
"They had a library at the church," Jada told us. "There had to be hundreds of books, and plenty of DVDs, too. So, we wouldn't have to go far for movies if that's what we decide."
"I think it should be Mason's decision," Alexa said. "He's our leader and he knows what is best for us. I'll trust his decision. In fact, that should be the case in most things."
"You don't think we should do majority rules?" Jada asked. I could tell that she wasn't the kind of woman that let her man make all the decisions. "Two out of three makes it easy. That's the American way, right?"
"Well, I'll vote with Mason every time, so that's two out of three. We might as well just let him decide."
"Yeah, I can see that happening," Jada replied a little deflated.
"I think we should discuss any important decisions together regardless," I said. I already considered myself the leader somewhat, but I wasn't in a hurry to raise up as such. "Whatever makes sense to all three of us is what I would decide anyway. If we had a disagreement where the two of you felt differently than me, I wouldn't just ignore you. We don't need to make a formal declaration that it's got to be my decision.
"I agree," Jada said.
"What if we get a fourth person?" Alexa asked. "That could happen. What if it's two versus two?"
"Well," Jada conceded. "In that case, both the new person and me should have less of a say, since this is your place and you welcomed us in. I can accept that. Mason's vote should be the tiebreaker."
"And if we get a fifth person?" Alexa asked.
"Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves," I said. "It's just the three of us right now, and for all we know it could stay that way for a very long time. We'll talk about the gas and generator issue again tomorrow, as well as any other important decisions that need made. Now, I'm going to get cleaned up before dinner. I say we just chill out the rest of the day and come up with a new work list in the morning."
"Spoken like a true leader," Alexa whispered to Jada.
They both smiled and the conversation was over. We all three got our sponge baths and changed clothes. I rigged up a coffee table for in front of our new sofa using aluminum racks from the c
ooler and some plywood scrap. It would double as a large ottoman when needed. The girls worked together to make a nice dinner. I glanced over from time to time to see Jada casually touching Alexa. It was just simple things like placing her hand on the smaller girl's back or touching her arm while talking. Nothing too forward, but it was a noticeable increase of contact from the usual. I didn't know if it was just a sign of them getting closer, or if Jada was making a move on my girl.
Halfway through our meal we heard a noise that had been absent from our lives for quite some time. It was a combustion engine, probably from a truck. The sound only lasted for a few seconds, then it was gone. We all released a long breath that we didn't realize we were holding. Before we had a chance to talk about it another vehicle came through. We waited to see if it would pass through, too. It did not. This one came to a stop on the street beside the store, from the squealing noise made from the brakes. We could barely hear the engine slow to an idle. Then, voices could be made out. Human voices, of course. There were people out there.
We sat silently for a couple minutes waiting. Then, we heard another vehicle come to a stop. This one sounded like a big truck, maybe an eighteen-wheeler. We quietly made our way to the front entrance listening through the layers of debris that hid the door. There was no way we were going to go outside and reveal our presence to these intruders. We just had to hope these trucks lost interest in our region and moved on.
Then there was more shouting. They were probably just trying to communicate with each other over the engine noise. A little while later, two more trucks. I worried that perhaps if was a full fledge invasion. What would we do then? Fortunately, none of the voices came any closer to the store. We listened carefully for footsteps or any indication that they were headed our way. Nothing so far.
"There is a ladder to the roof in the back room," I whispered. "I could go up there to get a better look."
"I want to go, too," Jada replied quietly.
"Let's all go," Alexa said.
I guided the girls to the back room where the ladder led to the roof. Though I thought it would be sweet to follow them up the ladder, the view of course, I decided to go first so I could force open the roof door. The last time I went up there I had a hard time getting the hatch open. Thankfully, the rusted metal slab pushed up easily this time. I was careful not to make any noise as I rested the heavy hinged metal flap on the gravelly roof surface.
Crawling on the small white rocks that covered the large flat roof was too painful on our exposed knees, so we had to crouch down as we headed for the side of the building closest to the intruders. We could hear more conversations among them but didn't make out enough to understand what they were saying. Though cloudy, it was still daylight enough to be spotted. We had to be very careful.
On New Hampshire Avenue, directly in front of the store, sat four vehicles. The first was a big black pickup truck that had been modified. It sat a good bit higher than normal on its bulky tires, with a loud dual exhaust. Apparently, stealth was not important when you felt you had superiority. The second vehicle was a box truck, maybe a twenty-footer, with some sort of food delivery company logo on the side. Next to it was a small flatbed truck, possibly designed for towing. Black tarps covered whatever equipment or supplies it was carrying.
The final vehicle drew our attention the most. It was another flatbed, but larger than the first one. This truck had a large metal cage chained to the top of it. Inside the cage were at least thirty scraggly looking people. They appeared to be all skanks.
"What the hell?" I whispered.
"What do they want with all those rotters?" Jada asked.
"I have no idea."
We continued to watch as several women conversed beside the vehicles. Occasionally, they pointed in different directions. Both my girls ducked down when they pointed to our store, but I stayed motionless. The good news was that they didn't see us. All the women of this caravan were wearing cargo shorts and tight t-shirts tucked in like it was their military uniform. They were of varying sizes and shapes, but all young to middle aged adults. I had seen so few elderly people or children over the last few months. I didn't know if they were more vulnerable to the viruses or just had a poorer survival chance in this new lawless world.
A male's voice then cracked over a speaker. One of the white women, built a little like Jada, raised the walkie talkie up to reply. Again, we couldn't make out the details. The scene continued pretty much the same for a while. Then a dozen more vehicles showed up, including another skank cage truck. We couldn't make out the details of the last few as they were too far down the road.
"Shit," Jada muttered. I agreed. This looked bad.
The male voice could be heard over the walkie talkie again. This time it sounded like he said, "let's move out." All the women then made their way to cabs of different trucks and one by one they headed north on the main road. We continued to observe quietly from our hiding spot as each vehicle passed by. The second to the last truck had several cages, each with a different type of animal.
"Are they starting a new post-apocalyptic zoo?" I jested. No one laughed since there could soon be a chance that one or all of us end up on those cages.
Once the complete convoy was out of view we headed back down the ladder into the security of our home. Silently we walked with our shoulders slumped straight back to the dinner table and sat down. Our cold food sat there staring at us, but we all evidently had lost our appetites.
"What does this mean for us?" Alexa asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "Hopefully they just keep going and we never see them again."
"What if they come back?" Jada asked.
"It would depend on what they do. If they are going to be patrolling this road regularly, we are bound to get spotted. It's possible that they try to recruit us. I didn't see any men, though. The main guy might not be interested in me."
"Well, I for one don't want to be recruited," Alexa said. "I'm happy with my current situation."
"Same here," Jada agreed.
"We may have to move then. Perhaps we are too close to the highway. We could try to find a place more off the beaten path."
"But we just got this place looking nice," Alexa said with obvious disappointment.
"I'm sure we could do it again at a new place," Jada replied. "Maybe even find a mansion that is already nicer than this. No offense, but this is a converted beer store. I think we could do better if we tried."
"I agree. Let's be prepared in case we need to leave in a hurry. I think we should have some travel bags ready, with food and water. Any personal items should be kept handy so we can grab them last minute. What do you think?"
Alexa nodded and squeezed my hand. I could tell that she was very sad at the prospect of being forced out of our home. This is where we met, where our relationship had developed. From the few stories that she told us, her life since the catastrophe had been awfully rough. She had narrowly avoided sexual assault a few times. I wanted very much to provide stability for her, but I was no match for the army that had just passed through our neighborhood. My special talent wouldn't help much either against those kinds of numbers.
Jada nodded as well. "I'll follow you wherever you go," she said. "You two are my family now. I'll fight to my death alongside you to protect us, if I have to."
CHAPTER NINE:
The next morning, I once again awoke with Alexa asleep in my arms. I could surely get used to this, I thought. Ever since I entered high school, I dreamed of having a beautiful girl to love. Unlike my friends, I had no legitimate interest in having sex with a bunch of strangers, romping through life carelessly. That did seem to be what most guys wanted if I believed what the TV shows and movies portrayed. Deep in my heart, though, I figured real men wanted that one special woman to have the rest of their life. Ultimately, that woman to me would be Alexa. She was my complete package. The way she had opened her heart to me, I knew that I would do whatever needed to keep her mine.
The
n I started thinking about what happened the previous day. Just when we were getting comfortable, a serious new threat arrived on the scene. Hopefully, they kept heading north and never return to this area. But, if that group of people were forming a small army, who is to say that others weren't doing the same thing. Being this close to a six-lane highway could really be a mistake. In this new world, one mistake is all it took to get you killed, or worse.
When I kissed the angelic Alexa gently on the forehead, I accidentally stirred her awake. With her blue eyes peeping through the slits of her drooping eyelids she turned her head to kiss me on the lips and said sleepily, "I love you Mason."
"I love you, too, Alexa," I had no difficulty replying.
I held her close as she slowly ran her hand over my chest and firm belly. I was happy when she moved onto my broad shoulders. I had been putting on some muscle lately with all the exercise and furniture moving. She moaned into my neck as she continued to caress my bare skin. It was then my turn to moan when she moved on to the front of my shorts. I typically woke up every morning aroused, and today was no different. I rarely remembered my last dream, but it had to always be something exciting to get me this way. It was the first time that Alexa touched me there for any longer than one second. This time, she didn't just giggle and move on.
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