“There’s no way,” I whispered. Jack stood beside me, as confused and shocked as I was. We took one look at each other and darted towards the cabin. Sure enough, the sounds were coming from within his old cabin.
We snuck up the front steps of the cabin. Not that we would have been heard, over the loud sounds coming from within. We edged up underneath the main window. “Is Billy seeing anyone?” I asked Jack. He shook his head. If he was, he needed to be careful. The last thing we needed was the commander getting wind of it.
Jack pulled himself up out of his crouched position to peak through the window. He stood staring in for a several long seconds before he dropped back down to my side. He wore a glazed look of shock. I waved my hand in front of his face to pull him out of it. But he didn’t move. I was just beginning to pull myself up to look when he snapped out of his haze.
“Trust me, you don’t want to see that.” The sounds of pleasure grew louder, telling me that whatever was going on was reaching its peak. I shoved Jack’s hand away and pulled myself up.
I stared for far longer than I should have. It wasn’t like I’d never seen my sister naked. And I’d certainly heard her moans when she was with Andy. But I was unprepared to see my sister straddling the one man in this village she professed to loathe. Jack had to pull me back down to snap me out of my fog.
We both sat there on the snow-covered porch, trying not to laugh. “How long do you think that’s been happening?” I asked.
Jack shook his head, a broad smile on his face. “I guess underneath all that aggression was some wild sexual tension.” I covered my ears as my sister cried out. A few moments pass by and then Jack laughed, “It’s over,” as he pulled my hands from my ears.
I sat there in confusion for a moment. “What are you thinking?” Jack asked as he pulled my hat back down to cover my burning ears.
“It’s just that…April isn’t one to take risks.” Jack looked at me confused. “She’s lost so many pregnancies, that she’d never risk unprotected sex.”
I watched as Jack processed what I told him. The humour on his face died as his cheeks flushed with anger. He jumped up, moved to the door, and began pounding on it loudly. “If you two are quite done in there, we really need to talk.”
I heard my sister cursing and then some shuffling around as clothes were gathered. A couple minutes later my sister answered the door with her shirt on backwards and her hair sticking out at odd angles. She clung to the door frame looking exhausted.
“You guys are here early. I was just taking a nap.”
“Sure, you were,” I laughed. “You must have been having quite the nightmare with how loud you were screaming out.”
Red splotches burst upon April’s cheeks as she stammered. Jack pushed past April and headed straight to his brother. “Where are they?”
I rushed inside and April closed the door behind us. The bed was still a mess. And Billy was busy trying to look innocent as he sat on the couch, one leg crossed over the other knee. “You’re here early,” Billy reiterated. “Hey what happened to your hand,” he said pointing at Jack.
“Where are they,” Jack repeated.
“Where’s what?” Billy asked.
“Stuff it, Billy. I know you have some. Summer said there’s no way April would risk unprotected sex, so where are you hiding them?”
“What…we weren’t…we can’t stand each other,” Billy tried to lie. Jack just stared him down.
“You really think I’d have sex with this Neanderthal.” Billy pretended to be offended but it was half hearted. The two of them looked way too happy to not have gotten lucky, even if we hadn’t just seen them doing the nasty.
“April always was a fan of cowgirl,” I replied letting out a chuckle. Billy’s grin gave them away. April looked mortified as she hit Billy’s shoulder. “April, your shirt’s on backwards.” She looked down and again her cheeks flushed as she quickly fixed her shirt.
“It was just two people blowing off steam, no big deal,” April said.
“I’m not judging you April,” Jack said, trying to calm himself down. I wasn’t sure what was bothering him. I personally found the situation freaking hilarious. “I am pissed at Billy.”
“Why me? We’re two consenting adults,” Billy stood up and placed another log on the fire.
“You two…whatever’s happening…I don’t care,” Jack sputtered. “But Summer and I are in love, and we’ve been dying, not being able to be with each other like that,” he pointed towards the ruffled bed. “And all this time you’ve had condoms.”
Billy ran his hands through his disheveled black locks. “Fine,” he huffed as he moved back towards the bed and lifted a loose board from beneath. “This is half. Don’t come asking for more.” He tossed a hundred pack of condoms to his brother. April covered her face in her hands, unwilling to look at any of us.
Jack had a satisfied grin on his face as he saluted his brother with the large box of condoms. He shoved the box under his coat, and then waved to Billy and April as he took my hand in his. “We’ll reschedule the meeting for tomorrow night,” Jack laughed as he rushed me out the door and back towards our cabin.
Chapter Thirty
Winter had grown even colder, making me realize how desperately we still needed this village, though the clock was ticking. Another month and the commander would force us apart if we stayed. We could only hope that spring came early. Next month we would leave. We had a good stash of supplies beyond the wall, and our plan for travelling to D.C was pretty well mapped out.
I felt a lot better about our chances of making it there with Billy and Jack’s help. They were much more used to navigating with maps, by the stars, by compass, you name it, and they knew how. There dad had insisted on survivalist training for the both of them, despite Jack’s aversion to a military career.
The closer we drew to leaving, the more the nightmares reared their ugly head. I felt awful, waking Jack nearly every night with my screams. He never complained as he pulled me close to him and soothed me.
He didn’t have the same memories to haunt him, but he was just as nervous about leaving. Here in the village, or out in the world, there were so many ways we could be separated. It only made it that much more important that we clung to each other while we still had the safety and security of our cozy little cabin. Hardly a day went by that we didn’t make love. Out on the road we would not be afforded as many opportunities to be like this together, so we sought them out while we could.
Jack was always making a point of doing something sweet for me every day, so that I could know just how much he loved me. He often left me little love notes, or some hand made gift. Two days ago, he’d gifted me a bracelet that he’s made from odd bits and ends he’d found left over from the construction site. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it meant so much to me.
It didn’t surprise me, with it being Valentine’s Day, that he’d come up with something sweet to do. He hinted that he had something special in store for the two of us tonight, but he wasn’t spilling the beans, no matter how hard I guessed. I loved all his little surprises, so I knew I’d love this one just as much.
After a long day spent, huddled near the woodstove of the quilters’ cabin, I’d braved the cold to reach our cabin. I’d been hoping Jack would be home waiting for me. There wasn’t much for him or the other construction crew to be doing, seeing as the ground was completely frozen, and the temperatures outside were deadly if anyone was outside too long.
When I reached my cabin, I was disappointed to find that there was no smoke coming from the chimney. At least I’d be able to warm the cabin up him. The door to our cabin was open just slightly…it had been hard to close properly with the temperature. Jack had fiddled with it a bit, but he still hadn’t figured out a better solution than the indoor lock that he installed. It didn’t do much for us needing to keep it closed from the outside.
I sighed as I walked into our frozen home. A bit of snow had collected near the front door, that I
quickly brushed it outside. Stepping up on my tippy toes, I managed to secure the indoor latch and quickly moved towards the fireplace to begin warming our cabin.
I pulled off my mittens and placed them on the sofa as I bent down to the fireplace and struck a match against the kindling. The kindling fought with me a bit to catch but eventually I was able to coax a little flame to life and get it to catch to the larger log.
I went to sit on the sofa and huddle under the blanket I had knitted for Jack and me. I was so focused on trying to stay warm that I nearly sat on the poor frozen rose that had been left for me. I moved over and reached for the flower, pricking my finger on one of its thorns. Drawing my finger into my mouth to suck of the little drop of blood, I sighed at the sad little flower.
Jack sure had tried. There were only a few flower plants in the greenhouse. We didn’t want to take up too much space that could be better used for edible plants. I’d only been in the greenhouse once when I’d visited April, and she had complained about the flowers…but I thought they were a nice touch. I wondered how Jack had managed to sneak one out.
I placed the poor, dead, rose back on the couch as I pulled up the note that had been left beneath it.
Dress warmly my love.
Meet me in the greenhouse.
I’ll bring dinner.
Jack
I smiled to myself as I went and did as the note had instructed. Before putting on one of my coziest sweaters, I might have slipped on one of Jack’s favourite lingerie’s underneath to surprise him. I made sure to put on an extra pair of socks before I left the cabin. I left the note and rose on our bed before I headed off to me my husband. It had been nearly two months and I was still getting used to the word.
Heading towards the greenhouse, it was fairly empty along the paths. These days people tended to stay in their cabins right up until the dinner bell rang. I could have waited a little longer to meet Jack, but I was eager for my surprise. I only hoped Jack had snagged an extra space heater so we could enjoy our time in the greenhouse.
While the greenhouse was kept at temperatures that prevented the plants from freezing, the temperatures outside were a constant threat. Finding the perfect balance had been challenging, according to April, and they were draining a lot of their energy reserves on the greenhouses.
The greenhouses were located all the way at the back of the village, with how dark it was, and with few lanterns to light the path, it made it feel ominous. For some reason, as I approached the only greenhouse with flowers in it, I felt a strange foreboding feeling.
My sister and I both shared the same inane instinct when it came to danger. I’d only experienced the feeling twice before in the village. Both times involved the infected. It was silly to be feeling this way. The infected weren’t in our village and I still had a month until I truly had to worry about them again.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling as I opened the door. The space inside was brightly lit for the plants. It was warmer than outside but still an unpleasant chill seeped into my bones. Ignoring it, I moved towards one of the few tables with flowers on it. There was one with daisies, another had snapdragons, that April said they used for spices. I moved over to the pot that had a missing rose and leaned down to smell the flowers. They smelt so fresh, reminding me of my mother’s flower garden back home.
I went to pick a fresh one from the pot but just has my hand was about to pluck it from its place, a sudden bang drew my attention to the front of the greenhouse. The smile I had on my face vanished in a second, when I realized that it wasn’t Jack standing there, but rather Michelle.
She had another one of those smug looks on her face, though the rest of her looked dishevelled. I was used to Michelle looking amazing. Her blonde hair was always perfectly smooth, no matter what the weather. Her clothes were normally the newest and cleanest in the village.
Tonight, she looked practically wild. Her hair was coming out in tangled whisps from her not so pretty, messy bun, and her clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed, or pressed, like she liked them. Even the laces on her boots were coming undone.
The look in her eyes was the most disconcerting of all. She was not right in the head. Whatever was going on with her, I knew I didn’t want to be alone with her. Especially all the way out here.
“Michelle,” I sighed with exhaustion, “can we just not do this today. I’m so tired of your drama.”
That only angered her further. Crap. I was not handling this situation well at all. “Fine, just say what you came to say already,” I said as I leaned against the table of plants, with my arms crossed in front of me.
“You think you’ve won, don’t you?”
“I’ve never seen this as a competition. I love Jack and he loves me. I’m truly sorry if our feelings for each other have caused you pain, but there’s nothing you can do to change what Jack and I have between us.”
“You really think that don’t you,” she huffed as she paced in front of the door. “Before you came, Jack and I were on the way to trying again. I rushed him before, he needed more time, was all. If we had more time together, he’d be with me now, instead of you.”
Even though I knew it was a losing battle, I couldn’t help but try to find the reasonable part of her mind. Surely, she couldn’t be that far gone. “Michelle, Jack never felt that way for you, and he was never going to feel anything close to romantic for you. What Jack and I have, wasn’t anything we ever had to try for. It’s natural. Like an instinct coming to life. We love each other.”
“Well, that doesn’t matter anymore,” she spat out. “If you’re not knocked up in the next month my dad will pair him with me and I can promise you, that I will make quick work of getting knocked up.”
I pulled my hands through my hair before throwing them up in the air. “Then fine. Wait one more month to have him all to yourself. Why confront me now?”
“You think I haven’t noticed your secret meetings you’ve had between the four of you? My dad may think you’re not a threat, but I see the truth. You’d rather get Jack killed on the outside than let me have him. I’m not going to let that happen,” she said, sounding strangely calm for once.
From inside her coat pocket, she pulled out a syringe filled with what looked to be dark red blood. I instantly backed up from where I’d been standing. Moving around to place a full plant table between us. I tried to reason with her.
“Michelle, put that away. Jack is meeting me here any moment. You know that if he sees you threatening me, he’ll report it to your father. You’re already on his bad list. You don’t want to make things worse for yourself.”
A slow creepy smile wormed its way up her face. “Jack’s not coming.”
Idiot, that’s what I was. A complete idiot. The note had looked like it was in Jack’s writing, but then it was shorter than his usual and I knew she had access to his writing in her father’s cabin. Not that I probably would have been able to notice the subtle differences between their writing. But Jack wouldn’t have left the rose to freeze. He would have lit a fire for me, just to keep me and the flower warm. Jack wasn’t coming.
I didn’t know what was in the syringe, but whatever it was, she was sure it would separate me from Jack, once and for all. “Michelle, you don’t need to do this.”
“Oh, but I think I do,” she replied creeping closer. I moved around the table to keep space between us. “I gave you so many chances to back off, and you just wouldn’t see reason.”
“Michelle, listen to yourself. You know you sound crazy right.” That was the wrong thing to say. She lunged at me across the table, though she couldn’t reach.
I used the opportunity to make a mad dash for the door, and I just grabbed the handle when Michelle got a hold of my ponytail and yanked me to the ground with her. The door to the greenhouse swung open as my hand pulled away, bringing in the night’s bitter cold wind.
I quickly rolled to the side to avoid the needle that Michelle was now swinging down towards my shoulder.
She stopped just shy of plunging it into the ground beside me.
“Stay still,” she shouted in frustration as she scrambled after me. I stopped trying to squirm away from her. I wasn’t going to win this that way; she was too fast.
As she swung the syringe over head again, I reached out to hold her arms back. It was taking all my strength just to keep the needle away from my neck. She was driving down with all her weight. Even if she wasn’t stronger than me, she had the advantage of position. She was going to win. She saw it to. The moment I realized that it was over. The look of glee on her face is one I’ll never forget. She looked almost as menacing as the monsters we hid from behind our wall. Maybe the monster is already hiding inside us. The virus only unleashes it, I thought sadly.
A single tear fell down my face just as she was about to push through the remaining space between us. That’s when I heard Jack shouting as he burst through into the greenhouse. I felt Michelle’s hold loosen, just slightly, but it was enough. I used the distraction to maneuver the needle away from myself as I pushed Michelle off me.
She screamed out in pain as I managed to squirm away from her body. Jack was there in an instant, pulling me off the ground. His arms wrapped around me tightly as he looked into my eyes. “Did she hurt you, are you okay?” I could only nod, as the tears streamed down my face, and I fell into Jack’s shoulder sobbing.
I vaguely recall hearing another sobbing sound coming from a distant. It might have been Michelle, but before I could look towards her, my attention was dragged back towards the greenhouse door where my sister and Billy came running in. They took one look at the scene and my sister was ready to draw blood.
April started to move towards Michelle, but Billy quickly pulled her back. “She’s hurt,” I managed to sob out. Jack looked at me and then Michelle. “She had a syringe filled with blood…I don’t know what it was, or what she wanted to happen to me.”
Seeking Hope: Book 2 in the Seeking Saga Page 28
