by Leela Ash
She pushed his hands away, trying to give herself some room to move. He smiled at her and she tried to make her own smile reach her eyes. The last thing she wanted was for him to touch her, but it was what had to be done.
Gathering her courage, she started to pull her pants down, her hands searching for the knife that was strapped to her thigh. It was the only thing that made her feel safe and when her hands closed around it, she let her pants fall. The man’s attention was on her panties and not on the gleaming blade in her hands. Before he knew what had hit him, she had plunged it deep into his neck.
His eyes were wild, searching for her before settling on her face in surprise. “Did you really think I was going to let you touch me?”
He groped for her with one hand, while the other tried to stop the blood pouring out of his neck. It wasn’t what he had thought would happen. It was poetic in a way that he would be taken out by some weak women. It seemed fitting to him and he started to give up the fight. It was over. Caston fell from the chair with a thud and she was left to listen for sounds outside. The man was losing his fight with life and she wanted to make one thing clear to him before he went. Jessa wanted him to know that she had won.
She bent down and whispered in his ear. “I told my son to go wait in the woods until I killed you bad men. He will come out when I kill you and your friend. Do you really think I haven’t met men like you before? You are not special and there is no place left in the world for you.”
Jessa saw his eyes get smaller and she knew that he wished he could kill her, wished he could warn his friend that she was loose. But he couldn’t manage to breathe, let alone to speak. She smiled at him, that time it reached her eyes, happy that there was one less creep in the world to deal with.
Looking out the window, she saw Mike still being held by the other man. He kept looking towards the place where she stood and Jessa wondered if he could get away. There was still the matter of Carin and Jason who she could no longer see. There were too many variables.
Then she heard shouting and had time only to throw her shirt back on and make it downstairs. Jessa looked back at the monster one last time before leaving. There was nothing to be done there anymore. Racing down to where Mike was being held, she realized that he was in a tussle with Lee. That wasn’t the cause of commotion though. She was immediately worried about her son and peered into the bushes where she had last seen him. Jason came stumbling out, full of blood. For a terrifying moment, she was terrified that something had happened to Shane. Before the fear got to her head, Jason that fell. He had been shot in the back from the bushes.
The gunshot pulled Lee’s attention away from Michael. He whipped around just in time to see Jason fall, and then he stared with wide, surprised eyes at Jessa, who had emerged and was walking weakly toward the bushes where she had been afraid Shane might be hurt. The distraction was sufficient enough that Mike was able to wrap his arms around Lee from behind, putting pressure on the man’s neck until he fell. He held on until he was sure the man was dead before he moved back and got up. He looked at Jessa and thought he was going to lose it with relief.
“I was coming for you,” he said.
She gave him a kiss and then moved towards the bushes where Shane had run. Carin was still somewhere, but Jessa would let her go if she didn’t cross her path again. She was done and the last thing she wanted to do was chase down and kill an old woman. Her payment was with her grandson’s life and Jessa couldn’t think of anything worse than being in this world alone. She almost felt sorry for her.
Her eyes searched for Shane and she quickly found him in the bushes. He had listened to her and was waiting there just as she’d told him to. Milo was passed out beside him. He’d been seriously injured.
“What happened to Milo?” she whispered, afraid for the worst.
“He was shot,” Michael said, stepping beside her and taking her hand. Shane was still staring off into the distance, where Jason had fallen. He was holding a gun in the air with both fists. It looked huge in his tiny hands.
“Who gave you this?” she asked, taking it gently away from him.
“Milo did. He told me to that I might have to use it one day,” Shane said, his small body quivering. “He was right.”
Jessa never wanted him to have to do that, but she knew that the world was different and adapting was the only way that he was going to make it. She scooped him into a tight hug.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded and she buried her face in his hair, kissing the top of his head.
“I never wanted you to have to do that. But we have to keep going Shane. The bad men have friends and I don’t want to stick around for them to find us. Michael, tie your shirt around Milo. We have to get out of here.”
8
“I thought I had lost you Jessa.”
“Why did you leave?”
They were going back to where they were supposed to be in the beginning, back towards the shoreline, but the group had thinned considerably. Before, there was supposed to be more of them, and now it was back to the original four. Milo was resting comfortably in the small bedroom with Shane. Jessa had been able to patch him up. Thankfully the bullet had only gone through his arm. Although he wouldn’t be able to use it for a while, it would probably heal if they kept it easy.
Now that they were together in safety, Michael was finally lifted from the stupor he had been in for years. While he may not have gotten any answers, he knew that he would sleep better with Caston off the planet. Men like him couldn’t exist without hurting everyone they came in contact with.
“I left because I thought I had to. I didn’t want all of that to affect you and Shane. Jason told me what I wanted to hear, he must have known something and I played into it. I let my anger blind me to what was really going on. It almost cost us everything.”
“If you would have told me the truth, I could have helped you.”
She stopped because that wasn’t really true. Jessa had trusted that Carin would take care of her son and that had almost been a fatal mistake. They had both made the best decision they could with the information given. She couldn’t be mad at him for that. Jessa really didn’t feel anger. She just wanted them all to be safe. Jessa had been sure that she had lost him forever, so it didn’t matter. None of it did. The only thing that mattered was that they were safe.
“It doesn’t matter. We are still all together. That’s all that matters now. I thought I had lost you for good.”
He shook his head and lay down next to her. “I was afraid that they were going to find you. I never would have believed that Carin and Jason had something to do with it. They were not loyal like Milo. We’re lucky to have found him.”
She looked down and took her necklace off. It was the one from her late husband and she didn’t want the reminder then. Right then she needed Mike to hold her and convince her that everything was going to be okay. It didn’t feel like it. Sometimes it felt like the last thing that she could believe in was that everything would somehow turn out okay. She had thought before that her luck had changed. This time, Jessa really hoped that it was true.
“Without Milo, I don’t want to think about what would have happened. I just hope that we put enough distance between us and Caston’s men.”
Mike shook his head. “They will be too worried about who takes over than what happens next with us. We are safe. I promise that I will keep you safe.”
“I don’t want you to promise that Mike. Just promise me that you won’t leave me like that again. I can’t lose you too.”
He promised, sealing it with a kiss. She moaned underneath him and the sound drove him crazy. He knew he wasn’t supposed to want her. It was the wrong time. But he felt a surge of need go through him and she leaned down to get another kiss from him. She was facing him, her body pressing against him, feeling the same need run through her.
“You want me Jessa?”
Mike was surprised by her nod. There was nothing she wanted more
than to feel his touch on her, healing her of everything bad that had happened. She wanted to forget about the bad men and just focus on Mike’s healing touch. He was the only one who could ever make her feel like that. Mike made her feel like there was no new world, that everything was normal. Being with him was normal; the only normal thing that she had going in her life.
His lips moved from her mouth and then down to her neck. He was rougher than usual, biting her neck and then licking up the hurt spot. She whimpered and then moaned, her body grinding down onto his. Taking his hands, she pulled them away and leaned in, pushing her chest into his face. He obliged her by taking a tip into his mouth through her shirt and biting down gently with his teeth.
“Mike how could I not want you?”
“But you don’t like me like this.”
She tried to muffle the gasp that came out of her mouth when he grabbed her and flipped her onto her back, pinning her down with his hard body. “This is how you like me.”
Jessa could do nothing but nod her head. It was exactly how she liked him, in control and her body free to be his. His hips were as suggestive as his mouth and as he pulled her clothing free of her body, she was left trembling in anticipation. It had only been a day, but it seemed like forever. There was a time, hours even, that she had thought she had lost him. Jessa needed the reassurance that he was there and not going anywhere.
“No, this is not how I like you.”
His head came up and he had a question on his lips. It was left unsaid. Instead, she pulled his shirt up and over his head, his hard muscles bunching up as he moved. Running her small hand down his chest, goosebumps followed her touch and she leaned up a little to reach the waistband of his pants. “I certainly don’t like to see all of this on you.”
Mike stood up and stepped out of the pants way faster than she could have done it herself. She smiled back at him before he came back to the bed. She found him quickly in between her legs and he was finally in reach of her hand. She grabbed him lightly and stroked him as he became more excited. She pulled him closer until he was inches from her and her legs were over his. She was almost back on his lap, stroking him gently. She was hot and wet and so ready for him that she could have cried.
“Please, just another inch.”
He moved closer so that the tip was pressed between her wet lips as she rubbed him back and forth against her. Repeating her plea, he moved closer and she felt a little more of the thick head push her open. She whimpered with not getting what she really wanted. Jessa needed all of him inside of her, right then.
Lying back, she pulled her panties off and before she could get them to her knees, he had pulled her legs up and pushed forward quickly with his need. She cried out and he shushed her, trying to remind her that they were not alone in the house.
Biting her lip, she closed her eyes as he brought more of her to him, raising her legs higher to let him drill deeper. There was no soft beginning and rough finish, but constant stroking. He knew what she needed and he gave her exactly that, deep and fast inside of her, until Jessa started to implode from the inside out. He held her shaking legs up and finally pushed them down and to the side as he settled in against her for more.
Her wetness only made him slide in deeper, leaving less friction to slow him down. Jessa’s hands gripped the bedsheets underneath her and his hand covered her mouth to stop her from waking up everyone within a mile radius. It did little more than muffle her screams as he moved deeper to finish them both off.
Every time he was inside of her, it was never long enough and before he could stop himself, Mike was going headlong into his own wave of pleasure, trying desperately to not be completely overtaken. She clenched him hard as he pulled free.
“I always hate that part.”
“What?”
“When it’s over.”
He chuckled and kissed her. “Just give me a few minutes. You are trying to suck me dry.”
Climbing on top of him and giving him a kiss, Jessa let him know how much she liked his new idea.
9
“Mom do you see that?”
Jessa looked over to the sea where her son was pointing. They had finally made it to the coastline, and in record time. Although Milo was wounded, it seemed to make him that much more determined not to slow the others down, and ultimately they had been moving faster than they ever had before.
She smiled back at Shane, thinking that his comment was about finally seeing the ocean. It was about time; they had been hearing and smelling it for over half an hour. “It is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“No mom, look. The people.”
Jessa gasped softly, following her son’s gaze. There were several hundred people, coming and going along a beach. Behind them were tents and the smell of food. It looked like a small community on the water, just like she had been envisioning, whether she was too afraid to acknowledge her hope or not. Immediately, Jessa was filled with mixed emotions. There was the hope that they were nice people, just trying to make it like they were, but there was the nagging feeling of what-if. What if they were just like the others she had met?
“I see them baby. Well, it looks like we have finally made it.”
She squeezed Mike’s hand and he smiled back at her. “Are you ready?”
Jessa nodded. She was as ready as she was ever going to be.
Shane tugged on Milo’ good arm and the boys began running down the beach toward the settlement. She had never been able to show Shane the ocean before, and the sight of his excitement made her heart swell. It was almost as if they didn’t live in a post-apocalyptic world. She had always hoped that her son would be able to find a way to simply be a kid. Even though he had recently shot and killed someone, he was still a young boy, who was thrilled to be showing Milo the shells he was finding along the beach. She rested her cheek against Michael’s arm, and they continued forward toward the settlement.
***
Everybody watched in concern and bewilderment as the small troupe of people wandered down the beach. A tiny boy was beaming as he ran along the beach, followed by a taller, much older boy. His face was set in a grimace of pain, and his arm was bandaged. Behind the youngsters were two adults; a beautiful woman holding onto a rugged, powerful looking man.
“You suppose they’re friendly?” Andie said to her mother. Her mother shrugged.
“I’m not sure anyone with a boy that young could be all bad, but you never know these days,” she replied.
Soon the small group made it to the settlement, and stood awkwardly, taking in the scene.
“Welcome,” the matriarch of the village said warmly. She had been around as long as the hills, and everybody trusted her to judge the true character of the people who passed through. It seemed these people had her blessing, and so they knew without a doubt that they could trust them.
“What happened, child?” she asked, walking creakily to Milo. She touched his bandaged arm gently and Milo hissed in pain and fear, pulling it away from her.
“He was shot by a motorcycle gang,” Jessa replied, coming forward and laying a comforting hand on Milo’s shoulder. Milo relaxed into it for a moment, and turned his eye on the woman. She gave him a warm feeling; like someone he had known long ago but couldn’t remember.
“Did they follow you here?” she asked, frowning.
“No, ma’am. We took care of them. We protect our own,” Michael interjected.
“Good, good,” the woman said. “I’m happy to meet you. We’ve been building this community for years now, far away from the influence of other people. We don’t want their kind around here. And to be fair with you, if you turn out to be too much trouble, we’ll have to come to an agreement, if you catch my meaning.”
They did.
“That’s fair,” Jessa said, looking around at all the people. There was a large abundance of food. Livestock were roaming all around, being tended to and played with by groups of happy children. There were no signs of the deep worry lines that creased t
he faces of most of the other groups that they had encountered over the years. These people were relaxed and only worried about outside trouble coming in to ruin their happy homes.
“Good. Let’s say we give it a week to decide whether we’re a good fit for each other? And if not, we can part ways peacefully.”
“We’d like that very much, ma’am,” Jessa said, knowing in her heart of hearts that they had just found their new home.
Epilogue
“He’s going to be a fighter,” Michael said with a grin, stroking Jessa’s stomach. The baby had been growing rapidly since they’d arrived on the coast, where Jessa’s heart had been telling her to go.
“Actually, I think it’s going to be a girl,” Jessa said, beaming up at him. He grinned broadly.
“A daughter…”
“Yes,” Jessa said.
“It’s time for your fruit, Jessa. These help the baby grow strong,” Andie said. Andie was a young girl around Milo’s age. She was close to being an adult but not quite. Her mother was a very skilled healer, and had medical training that Jessa didn’t. She had been able to patch up Milo and take the shrapnel out of his arm. Jessa had feared he might never be able to use it again, but with the help of Andie and her mother, he was already getting some movement back.
“Thank you, Andie,” Jessa said, taking the fruit. “I think Milo was looking for you.”
“Oh!”
Andie hurried out of the tent in search of Milo.
“Young love,” Michael said, inhaling as if the idea were the most refreshing thing he had ever heard.
“It’s sweet,” Jessa agreed. “I didn’t expect them to hit it off.”
“Me either,” Michael agreed. “But then, I’m sure some would say the same about us.”
Michael took Jessa in his strong arms and started showering gentle kisses all over her body. He let his hands roam between her thighs and she gasped softly.
