Carmen played dominos with Hatchet, Tony Banjo, and George, while Fat Jack sat with them as he wrote in a notebook.
Carmen was happy to see him return, “How was your meeting?”
“They think that man and the head will come to their senses eventually, so they are working on that. Kevin says it could be months before the sample he needs will be ready.”
The news that Critias could not leave for months was especially good in Carmen’s opinion for she had no desire for him to leave ever. “Jack is getting ready for the next Forager run,” she told her master. “He wants us to go to an industrial manufacturing area to forage pumping equipment that Bob and Kevin need for the fresh water supply.”
Critias told her, “You are a good person for that. I wouldn’t know a sewage pump from a garden sprinkler. You can identify the right things that people send you for.”
Fat Jack put aside his pen, “You can forage any food you encounter out that way while you’re there. The chemical factory you’re going to with the pump we need is in a town we have never searched so you may get lucky and find some stores untouched by Outbreak looters, though I doubt it. The copper products factory with the pipes we need is right next door, but you won’t be able to move that on your truck. You can scout it for us, package it up, and hopefully move it close enough to the river so we can take it away with the Thunder Child’s crane.”
Critias questioned Jack, “So what do we normally do when not foraging? I’m not used to having free time on my hands.”
“You can help anyone do whatever job amuses you,” Jack suggested. “I won’t assign you any scheduled work shifts though. You have to get your rest and be razor sharp for commanding your truck. There is no room for even small mistakes, especially if you’re going to command a crew. All their valuable lives are your responsibility and so is the equipment. You need to be thinking about that, studying maps, and making backup plans to your emergency plans. You and Carmen are aces. Your rescue in the Rhino with Jim proved that even before your cakewalk through Houston. Even the best knife dulls from overuse. Enjoy the rest time you get while it lasts. Times will come when you will be missing it sorely.”
Carmen yawned sympathetically after Critias did it first. She did it with a sort of magnetic attraction that caused her to lean closer in his direction.
“Maybe you two should get some sleep,” Jack advised. “You’ve been out for twenty-four hours and still up.”
Critias confessed, “I am exhausted. I could sleep until dinner.”
“Take a shower first,” Carmen commented not meaning to be rude.
He sniffed at himself, “We both showered just a little while ago.”
“You smell like a scoundrel,” she assured him. “You positively reek of it.”
Tony had to laugh, “That’s a new one on me. What’s a scoundrel? Is that like a smelly pirate?”
Carmen played a domino and was about to clarify, but she lapsed into uncharacteristic confusion not knowing herself what she meant.
Critias saw her discomfort and it made him worry that the upgrade was harming her, “Are you feeling alright?”
“I don’t know a word for it,” she answered in deepening confusion. “I’ve never been at a loss for words before. You smell rapscallion,” she decided. “The scent is inviting yet with a hint of danger behind a mischievous smile. I don’t know why I never noticed it before. You stink like a man.”
Tony Banjo chuckled more, “Unless it suddenly got cold in here, I would say that Critias’ new cologne is working wonders.”
“I am not wearing any cologne,” Critias said before he finally caught Tony’s meaning that led him to noticing that Carmen’s dress did little to disguise the proudly jutting points of her hardened nipples.
“It seems so familiar to me,” she said leaning over to sniff at his neck.
He offered her his hand to go, “You will have plenty of time to figure it out. I really need some sleep.” He yawned again to prove it and that triggered Carmen’s own yawn and a compulsion to take rest.
“I’m sleepy too,” she took his hand to get up. When she held it for a moment, the texture also perplexed her, “Your hand is so rough compared to mine.” She seemed to complain before she smiled and brushed his hand against her cheek, “How do you get rough hands wearing your armor?”
“Scoundrels are like that,” he pulled her up to come along.
“Nice job on your cow,” Tony Banjo said as they were leaving. “Now I’ll need a whole herd of goats to win some respect around here.”
“Goats or no goats,” Critias told Tony, “you’re still the best damn Forager Captain that ever snarfed a can of pork and beans. I heard that sang about you somewhere.”
“I did when we first met,” Tony reminded him. “That’s irrefutable truth just the same.”
Critias held Carmen’s hand as they walked home. She was silently thoughtful so he did nothing to interrupt her. Once they were in their small apartment, Critias undressed for sleep genuinely exhausted.
“I know you don’t need to sleep,” he told Carmen while she stood at their door lost in her confused thoughts. “That’s all I am going to do, so if you prefer to do something else, I will understand.”
“I do want something,” she replied with a frown. “Something must be wrong with me because I want to do something bad and it scares me. I think I want to force myself upon you in a bad way.”
Critias guessed that there was a problem with Kevin’s upgrade that allowed her to decide for herself what she liked. It seemed to torment her and perhaps was on the verge of serious problems. He chose to hear her out before he would tell Kevin to remove it so she could be at peace. “What do you think forcing yourself in a bad way means?” He hoped she was just confused and didn’t know what she meant. In truth, he preferred what she said over having her tell him that she wanted to leave him or go to another man.
“I don’t want to share a bed with you,” she admitted sadly because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “I want to hold you down and correct you by force, without taking pleasure in it though.”
“Any particular reason why?”
“Your fingernails are ghastly,” she accused with a staunchly pointed finger. “I have this overwhelming urge to hold you down then clip them by force.” Carmen admitted her intentions with distress, “I would not enjoy it at all. I want to force you because they make me hate you.”
Critias laughed in relief because no android under directives would ever dare complain about their master’s hygiene. “You don’t have to hold me down. My fingernails are fit for a ghoul. I will trim them right now.”
“Don’t you see that it means I don’t love you anymore?” She sighed, “How can you have irritating defects that disgust me?”
“Bring me my clippers, please. I have many imperfections. Just because you see me for who I really am doesn’t mean you don’t care about me anymore.”
She brought him his nail clippers from his shaving kit, “I don’t like your haircut either, see the barber about that.”
“I will do that the next time I’m out,” he pledged while he trimmed his nails short and sprinkled the bits in a trash bin. As his nails diminished, so did the distance that Carmen kept away from him.
Once he was finished, she sat down beside him, “Do you really not mind if I go out while you sleep?”
“I mind,” he answered honestly. “For a while now I have been looking forward to sleeping with you close beside me, but I understand. I didn’t want anything else and I won’t be awake for long. You could just indulge me and then sneak away.”
His sentiments brought back her smile and she got up to turn off the light. She undressed then crawled into bed against him. Critias had no intentions on Carmen besides her company. She fell asleep with her usual contentment even faster than he found it himself.
Book Two: Executive Decision
Chapter 1: Conquest of Kingdoms
A knock on the door of his small a
partment in King’s Tower awoke Critias. It was afternoon, a few hours before suppertime. He had to push off the contentedly sleeping Carmen so he could get up. Critias opened the door on Jim who waited out in the hallway to hit Critias with a most unanticipated invitation, “Do you want to come with me to assassinate the President?”
Gravewalkers: Dying Time Page 28
