by Cassie Power
“Well… As long as we have a plan. A warm soak really does sound kind of nice.” There was a tiny smile about it, in the white light that came through the window.
Then, together, they moved out to the quaint little bathhouse.
Chapter six- Dan
There was enough light in the bathhouse for him to see what was going on but Dan really didn’t think the same was true for Meredith. The large things would be there for her in the light that came through the curtained window making some things clear enough. For instance, she didn’t stumble, as she stripped off her clothing. There was a little bit of shyness in the motions, which he could understand. Not that he felt that for himself any longer.
That kind of thing, being worried about being nude, had faded a long time before in his world. His people had taboos about being naked, since losing your clothing was a good way to be cold, out on the ice, even for them. His life had been spent in the warm world though, for the most part. Over the course of decades, the early ones, he’d adapted to wearing a lot less.
The humid air and the scent of cedar hung in the air. That was mixed with the pine smoke that came from the little fire that was going in the metal stove below the water. It wouldn’t leave a hot spot in the wooden tub, since it was off to the side, so that no one would be cooked. The thing was large enough for them both and had been filled a little over half way up.
The metal handled pump worked well enough for that. It had taken some work, but only that. There was an old fashioned wooden bucket that had been filled with an old sponge and warm water. He went first, scrubbing himself, uncertain if his new friend knew to do that. Bathing like that was an old-fashioned thing, after all. Being who he was, Dan had done that kind of thing before. Tens of thousands of times. Otherwise they’d end up soaking in water that was filled with the sweat of their labors.
She waited her turn however, instead of just hopping in and started to wash immediately as soon as he was finished. He waited then, for her to be done. The air was still cold in the space, so he moved from the stone floor portion to the wood. It wasn’t much warmer, but it trapped the heat from the soles of his bare feet better, which was more comfortable. Not that the slight chill was a problem for him.
Damp, he waited, watching the woman closely enough that it would be rude, if she could understand what he was seeing. Her body was a wonder however. Slightly padded, and curvy, rather than stripped of what she’d need to survive in the real world, for instance. Her breasts were rounded correctly, meaning they were real. Attractive, but there was more to that than he’d realized before. She wasn’t so vain that her world had led her to make vast changes to herself. It was good to see.
Alluring, really.
She had slightly broad hips, and an hourglass shape that caught his attention. She did, as was the custom of the western world now, shave her legs, and as she scrubbed he could tell that she also did under her arms. That wasn’t horrible, just being the way things were done now. Her pubic hair was dark, and while tidier than it might have been, she hadn’t stripped it all off. That probably meant that it wasn’t her normal pattern to be seen naked by men, since according to the internet, many women tended toward that kind of thing now.
It was clear that she was watching him, even if her view wasn’t as good as his own. Her nipples hardened, which was probably about the sudden temperature change rather than how he looked in the dim light. That part was fine enough, he thought, but not the kind of thing that would have caused her to do that in a darkened room.
There was only the light through the window, which gave the whole thing a cozy look. The snow had stopped, and while his original plan had been to stick her in the water and then go run a search pattern, it was kind of nice that she was strong enough to go and try to do something useful. Oh, it would reduce what he could do, true. She wasn’t one of the people, after all, to run for hours without stopping in the deep snow.
That wasn’t a real issue though. He could just help her find a good spot to speak on her cell phone, if one existed, and then get her back inside. Then go back out and range outward further on his own. As things stood, he was starting to wonder if the storm had really just been a fluke.
That kind of thing really did happen after all and almost all things that seemed like magic in an overt sense turned out to be happenstance. Global warming and climate change might be responsible, after all. Having been around as long as he had, that kind of thing had become apparent to him about fifty years before. Things that used to be snow covered most of the year just weren’t now, for instance.
So, he’d tried to learn the science behind the whole thing. That it pointed at humans as a cause just made sense to Dan. They’d done great things in the world, over the last two hundred years or so. From making trains, to ripping through the sky at tremendous speeds. They’d even landed on the Moon, which had really shaken him at the time. It was the kind of thing that he’d never even suspected could happen. It should have occurred to him, but it never had, in his entire life. Not as something that people might really get done.
There they were though, flying into the void, landing on the great sky rock.
It made sense to him that they might impact the world, too. The signs were there, but what he didn’t know was if this storm could be related. It was possible, since the world was, as far as weather went, a giant heat exchange engine. If that was the case, then it wasn’t being all that bad of him to take the time to bathe with his friend.
He helped her into the water, brushing her hip with his hand, not even pretending it wasn’t on purpose. She was lovely, on a level that he’d forgotten a woman could be. She was clean, but added a scent to the room at the same time. It was a female thing. One that he hadn’t noticed as acutely for a long time. In fact, she was so central to the moment that he had to force his gaze away, even as he helped her up the steps.
They were made of wood and had been built by the man that had lived there he thought. The fellow liked to slightly overbuild, which was a good trait. It meant that there was no give to the wood when he climbed the thing himself, following Meredith into the very warm water.
She gasped as she settled in, the water level rising, but not covering her chest yet. As he got in that went up, rising to just above her breasts. Those were ample enough, without being too much of a good thing. The ability to do work was more important than simple appearance, after all.
Her words were gentle though, as she settled in.
“Okay, warm.”
It really was, so he explained his reasoning, not wanting her to think it was just a lack of skill on his part. He had used the tub before, so knew how to control the temperature, if only roughly.
“It should help with the sore muscles. At least so you can relax for the time being. It will aid with blood flow too, which can’t hurt on the healing side. Are you certain you want to go and try to walk with me? It will be cold and wet again.” Not that he really wanted to talk her out of it. There was power in being willing to do the hard things in life. Not everyone had that kind of willingness.
It would have been a shame if she backed out, even if it was the smart thing to do.
“I know, but I need to get in touch with someone, or they’ll all be worried about me. Thinking that I’m dead on the side of the road, frozen in a funny pose.” To illustrate she pulled her arms up and wrapped her breasts with her arms. It actually just showed her assets off, rather than being what a person would really do to maintain warmth.
So, he smiled, happy for more than one reason. It was mainly about how strong her mind was.
“All right. I think we can go up the hill out back. There’s a trail, and even if we’re up on the snow, we don’t want to fight through the trees and bushes, if we can help it. At the top there might be a straight shot to Copperton. They have towers, so maybe a connection can be made?” It would work better if he had a shotgun antenna to focus on the right area, but if he were going to build one of those he’d need equipmen
t that he simply didn’t have with him. In short, either luck was with them, or not.
Meredith very carefully kept her hair out of the water, letting it flow back onto the wooden deck section behind her. That was a good plan, if they were going out soon. His own hair was short, but for a long time he’d had the same kind of thing going on himself. That meant he knew that wet hair didn’t dry in the cool very easily. If it were cold enough, then it would freeze and at times become brittle enough to break off. The temperature had climbed, so was too warm for that. That would mean they trekked through slush and damp, which was harder than powder, in its own way.
He was about to ask if she knew how to use snow shoes when she stretched, her arms going up and back, displaying herself to him.
Dan grinned.
“Nice view.” It really was, but she blushed, which he could see happening, even as she smiled.
“Hmm. Perv.” She brought her hands back and put them in the water, not covering herself really. There was a bit of pretense toward that, which was adorable. Probably meant to be, he knew.
Nothing was as attractive on a woman as her being attracted back. Her words pulled away from that subject however and she sounded serious, rather than flirtatious.
“So, the Dark Web? I’m not about to eat, so I take it that you found out that there are a lot more cannibals, and wanna-be’s, that way than anyone would have suspected?”
Sighing, he nodded.
“It’s worse than that. I…” He paused, and remembered his act. He was his own grandson, for the moment. “Granddad sent me to check some of them out. About three quarters of them are about what you’d think. People that wanted to scare others, or really wanted to try it out, for some sick reason, but haven’t yet. Honestly, even if they aren’t right inside, they’re pretty harmless. The rest…” He nearly didn’t explain it all.
His plan had always been about finding the others, or invaders coming in. That hadn’t really taken place. What he’d located instead was as bad. Worse, in a way.
“We located two bone yards. There were tool marks on the remains. I also got to see about three hundred hours of people being eaten on vid that didn’t seem fake to me. Not that I’m the world’s expert on that kind of video verification… Grandad hired that man for the task and he said it didn’t seem to be props or CGI, so…” He shook his head, then rubbed at his short blond hair with a wet hand. His would dry soon enough, so it didn’t matter that much. “My guess? Out of every hundred or so people you meet, one of them has eaten human flesh in their lifetime. One out of every thousand or so eats humans on purpose.”
It was clear that she was about to call him on the math, so her words weren’t shocking after that.
“So, nine out of ten are fed human… Meat, without knowing about it?”
He nodded, not really loving the subject matter.
“Possibly more than that. A lot of the stories being told by the Dark Web denizens seems to point toward a lot of the freaks getting off on the idea. They get jobs in restaurants and food packing plants just for that reason. The only saving grace that way is that there aren’t that many people going missing each year.”
“About twenty to thirty thousand? That’s a lot.”
Dan was a bit surprised that she knew those numbers off the top of her head, but she was intelligent, so he nodded. They weren’t the official ones at all, but no one kept those really. It was nearly impossible, though a decent shot in the dark number wasn’t.
“More than that, worldwide. Closer to two hundred thousand. Most are killed, probably for other reasons. Sexual perversions and all that.” Then he wrinkled his nose at her, trying to seem playful. “Now don’t you feel bad for calling me a pervert just for looking at you? Trust me, that part is totally normal.” He didn’t go into the rest of the stuff he’d found on the hidden part of the web. The uncatalogued portions of it.
He was splashed for his trouble.
“Great. So now I have to wonder if my neighbor is planning to just kidnap me to rape, or if he wants to eat me. Ugh. That’s… Not a happy thought. You were searching for your nomads? Do they use the internet? You wouldn’t think…”
Dan smiled then, and nodded. She really was bright. Even without having all of the information she’d worked that part out. It had been his point at the time, after all.
“I know, but people can adapt. Really, it’s kind of the same thing, more or less. There are societies within our own that we barely know about. Killers, and… Well, that kind of thing. It isn’t the best topic in the world, considering we’re actually just here to see if Bigfoot is hanging around, right?” It was him trying to change the topic, back to something that was a lot less intense, but she wasn’t having it. That dedication to finding things out was a big part of why she was good at her job.
“Child porn, drugs, killers for hire? What else is there that I don’t know about? I do get what you mean though. If there are groups of people that eat others out there, hidden amongst us, that is similar to what has to be happening with those nomad legends. Wendigo, too. Only, those are more about people kind of just losing it in survival situations. Going so mentally off that they just… Keep doing it. Hunting people for food.”
Which happened. Dan didn’t try to explain all of that though. His friend was innocent enough that it felt wrong to expose her to things like that. Not that she shouldn’t realize what reality held. Feeling safe when you weren’t, was a good way to end up dead.
With that in mind, he made a hard face and reached out to take her damp upper arm. It was soft and slick under his hand. Warm.
“Why do people do things like that? Insanity, cultural training, simply thinking that it will give them power, even if it can’t really do that. Though, there is power in being willing to do anything. That’s a broken and scattered kind of thing, but a lot of fringe dwellers are like that. They push so far toward the edge that it really does allow them a sort of… I don’t know what to call it. Is there a word that talks about the strength of just not giving a damn about anything?”
Meredith nodded.
“Crazy. Still, that won’t be what’s going on here. Not like that.” There was a certainty to her voice, which got him to sit a little straighter. She went on without him asking her to explain. “Think about it. We’re investigating strange sightings out here. Regular hunters, even ones coming after people, would probably try to look like people, if they were seen at all. A man with an orange vest, or a funny hat, seems like he’s trying to poach deer, not grandma. If you dress like a lizard man, or a bear, people notice. I suppose that it could be some kind of camouflage suit, but… Those would be green and brown for out here, wouldn’t they? Not that it couldn’t fit with what people were seeing. A bit of fluff and camo being seen as… I don’t know, Bigfoot, I guess.”
That was probably just the case. Plus, most of those wouldn’t have been noticed at all. He nodded then.
“Most likely. So, it’s probably either a funny shaped bear, imagination, or a shape shifting cannibal nomad. Well, we could have some kind of magician, as well. That storm was weird.” He looked at her, trying to sound playful, since she tended toward doubt of things, he thought. That was her part on the show team, after all. Science, and fact.
Splashing him a bit again, she snorted.
“Let’s hope for Bigfoot, then? I can go all day without being eaten. Well, not in a frying pan kind of way.” She flushed again, but didn’t take it back.
Dan nodded. It was a stronger bit of flirting than she’d done so far, but they were both naked and her culture kind of told her that sex was on the table, given that. It wasn’t like the idea bothered him, either. Part of him wanted to do it with her right there, in the warm water. It was only that he had work to get to that actually kept him from trying it. That realization shook him for a bit, since it wasn’t his plan.
Normally he was very good about following his goal of the moment.
“Agreed. Now, we should get out soon, or we’
re going to end up cooking in here. I can leave the coals going, which should keep this warm for later. Once it gets dark, we aren’t going to have a lot to do. I should have brought my guitar, but you know…” He shrugged. “A radio might work, too. There’s an antenna here, so I bet there’s at least some reception.”
He moved and let the water drip off of himself, taking one of the large and fluffy towels that he’d brought. He dried quickly, stopping only to hand the other one off to Meredith. After a bit, she looked at him, and took a deep breath.
“Um, turn around and I can get your back?” There was an audible swallow then, as if she figured that he might say no, and reject her.
Which wasn’t going to be happening. She was truly wonderful, and as close to perfect as anyone he’d met in his entire life. Smart, pretty, and just the right level of flirtatious for him to not feel bad about wanting her.
“Sure. Then I can do yours?”
The sad part was that they didn’t have time for things to turn into something more. It wasn’t late in the day, being about one-thirty or so, but that meant the light would fade in a few hours. The clouds weren’t bad, which would help, but in the hills the day ended early.
The towel hit his back, and after a bit his behind, which she rubbed a bit longer than he really needed, having dried that bit already. Then he took her towel and returned the favor. Not that he spent as much time going that low. Her shoulders were very pretty, after all. Pale in the soft light. After he pulled back, they both dressed with fair quickness, not wanting to stand there nude for too long. The lady was, clearly, feeling the chill of the room and he didn’t want to lose all the light.
Yes, it would be possible for him to go out in the dark, if he shifted. That would be kind of hard to explain however. A normal man wouldn’t even try it. So, having something to see by would be useful, even with all the snow on the ground. That part really did make things a lot easier for him, personally. Night time on the snow was a thing that could be navigated even in his regular shape.
