by Boyd Craven
“See, our first date went rather well,” Jessica said, pushing her plate back.
“Our first date?” I asked her.
“A candlelit dinner, some drinks,” she said, pointing to the pitcher of Grandma’s doctored lemonade, “a walk down a country road together…” she said it wistfully, and I snorted.
Baked beans, rice covered with some home canned venison in brown gravy, a wedge of cornbread and some hooch that I’d made in the barn. I wasn’t sure how to take things, especially with her. She was right about the candles; we’d used those instead of the alcohol lamps.
“Sorry our first date couldn’t be… fancier.”
“Come on,” she said, taking my hand and pulling me to my feet.
Raider had been snoozing under the table, but as soon as my chair moved, he shot upright and was sniffing at both of us as Jess grabbed our glasses and shooed me out onto the front porch. She indicated my chair, and I took it. She sat in Grandma’s, right next to me. Raider looked uncertain, then jumped up onto the rocker Grandpa loved. He wobbled a bit, then turned in the chair before sitting down, watching us.
“There will be no shenanigans,” I said, pointing at him.
“Is that a statement or question?” Jessica asked out of the darkness.
“You like watching me turn red all of a sudden,” I said, changing the subject subtly.
“No, I just… Oh hell. I was a tomboy growing up, then I joined the military where it’s mainly the men’s club. When I’m with you… I am just me, and you always treat me like a lady, not like one of the guys.”
“You are a lady.”
“That’s why I like you,” she told me, getting up.
I was about to take a sip, but she pulled my cup out of my hand and set it on the rail behind me, putting hers beside it. I watched, wondering if I’d somehow screwed things up. She turned and straddled me, then pulled me in tight. The kiss set off fireworks inside my head and heart. Raider whined in the background, annoyed, but I ignored him. I was grimy, smelly, sweaty, yet she was softly pulling at my shirt. I found my hands making similar tugs at her clothing as well as the kiss deepened, changed.
“The barn?” she asked me, panting, her voice hoarse and excited.
We could lay out our clothes in the shine room. It was the cleanest of all the barn. A bale or two of hay with our clothing over the top… Her shirt now untucked, I started on the buttons. She pulled mine over my head between kisses, her hand reaching down to my inner thigh. I couldn’t help but groan as she started moving her hand up.
“Yes,” I said, gasping as her teeth bit into my neck.
I stood, scooping her up in my arms, her shirt falling open. “Raider, stay here, stay watch,” I told him.
Raider laid down in the chair, putting both paws over his snout as I carried Jessica into the barn. It was dark, but when I got to the shine room I turned on the light. The battery-powered LEDs came on. We both squinted, and I put her down. She finished removing her shirt, tossing it on top of the hay bale we used against the back of the stall for a table, and turned away from me. She snaked one hand up and undid the catch on her bra, letting it fall to the floor.
My mouth was dry. We wouldn’t need the clothes after all, the old moving blanket I’d washed before the power went out was still in there, folded neatly. I had planned on letting Raider use it as a bed while we ran shine, but there it sat, forgotten. Jessica turned to face me.
“Turn off the light,” she said.
The sun seemed to be searing my eyes through my eyelids. I woke up, my arms and legs intertwined with… Jessica! I remembered the night before now as the cobwebs cleared from my brain. I tried to untangle myself, but she cuddled in harder, pressing her nude form tight against me. That did all sorts of things to the suddenly raging hormones I thought I’d quieted a decade earlier and pulled off half the blanket we’d used to cover up.
She pulled me tighter, burying her head in the crook of my neck. “Not yet,” she said quietly.
I wasn’t about to argue and covered us back up. She kissed my neck, then my jawline. My body shivered at the pleasure, both remembered and yet to come, when I heard the barn’s main door open slightly and pawed footsteps running to the closed stall door, then sniffing.
“Raider, go away,” I said quietly.
“You in here?” Grandma called out.
“Oh shit,” Jessica said and pulled the covers over her head just as the door to the stall opened.
Our arms and legs were sticking out, but I managed to pull the covers down, so I could see out without uncovering anything important.
“Grandma…”
“It’s about damned time,” she said, then left, slamming the stall door behind her. “Come on, Raider, time to get eggs, and if you give my baby anymore guff, I’ll feed your carcass to Foghorn.”
“Did she really just…” Jessica said, giggling.
“I think so?” I said.
A tone went off near Jessica’s pile of clothes. She pushed the covers off and untangled herself from me, shooting me a smile over her shoulder. I watched her as she picked through things and found her radio. She put the ear piece in and then spoke.
“Jessica here. Yeah, sure did. No, not that we can figure. If they don’t, it’s on them. I know, but there’s at least seventy-five at the camp. No. That hasn’t changed, has it?”
I watched, almost lost for words. It had been mostly dark last night. I’d gotten a glimpse of her before the lights went out and as our eyes had readjusted to the dark, but now I had sunlight spilling in through slots between the beams and I could make her out clearly.
“Keep me posted. Yeah, good idea. Yager and Diesel will work. No, don’t. Mom doesn’t need to. Dad, listen here…” I grinned at hearing those words, she had let out a big sigh.
“…No, I stayed the night. The couch? No, I slept in the barn. Oh, he offered me his bed all right,” she said, shooting me a grin.
I felt like a giant target had just been painted on my back.
“…Yeah, Dad. No, everything is good here. We need to add another spotter near the camp, so we can see when they roll out tomorrow. Yeah. Need to make sure we’re ready in case the farm is a diversion. We can’t let them surprise us again.”
I listened in shock, but her side of the conversation was all I could hear. Or was it? I looked around for my clothes and started putting them on. Had I left the radio in my pack, or was it clipped to my pants? Was she telling her dad what was happening? It could go either way by her words. It was maddening. Then I thought of her dad, and my blood ran cold. If he knew, would he care? I shook my head, pulling my jeans on. The radio wasn’t here. I pulled my socks and then boots on, sitting in the old ottoman on the other side of the room as Jessica walked around, finding her clothing.
She put the radio down and turned to me, a bundle of clothing in her arms. “Time to work.”
I looked at her standing naked, looking at me hungrily, but knew she was right, “You going to fill me in on the plan?” I asked her.
She started dressing, and I could hardly look away, but I couldn’t find my shirt.
“The plan is to watch Lance’s gang. I guess ten more came in last night.”
“More hostages?” I asked her, shocked.
“No, more men on Harleys. There’s some kind of search going on, but our scouts have been able to stay hidden. Their men aren’t very good so far.”
“I forgot to tell you over the radio,” I started, “Marshall, his little cousin?”
“Yeah, barely nineteen? Skinny kid?”
“Yeah, that’s him. The guys on bikes mentioned that the boss was looking for him, and not to let Lance find out they lost him.”
“Who is the boss?” she asked me seriously.
It was hard to be serious right now, so I closed my eyes a second, so I could focus on her question. What was it again?
“I don’t know,” I answered, “but I’m willing to guess he’s with the bikers I saw.”
&nbs
p; “Military?”
“I don’t know. They were part of ‘Blue Team’, whatever that is.”
She finished and walked over, lightly slapping me on the chin playfully, then used her hand to push my chin aside. She laid her hand across the sore side of my face, her eyes narrowing. “Which of the ladies hit you?”
“I think it was Laney’s mom. A blondish lady, why?”
“Because I want to scratch her eyes out after I punch her in the boob and bust her kneecaps,” she said, rubbing the bruise.
“First date then a roll in the hay, and you’re already wanting to defend my honor?” I asked her, teasing.
“That’s just a start. That’s how girls fight dirty. I can fight like a man too.”
“I believe you,” I told her, opening the stall door, “and I like it. But… let’s make sure they get out of there first. I don’t—”
“Let’s get cleaned up a bit, and we’ll talk more. Maybe I’ll head out there with you, and we can see if we can talk them into getting out if they haven’t already?”
“I’d like that.”
Grandma, Grandpa, and Raider were just outside the barn’s roll-away door. They were too far away to have heard anything, but they were waiting. At least Grandpa and Raider were; Grandma had the chickens all around her feet as she spread scratch feed from her coffee can.
“I heated four pots of water for your bath,” Grandma said without turning to us when we walked up.
“Thank you,” I told her.
“Wasn’t for you, it’s for Miss Jessica,” Grandpa said, turning and shooting me a grin.
“Pigs waller a bit, they get hosed off outside. I expect a couple buckets of cold water would do you good,” Grandma told me with a snort, finally turning.
Jessica and I both chuckled, and she gave me a playful shove as she jogged to the house.
“Let’s see your face in the light,” Grandma said.
I let her look, brushing chaff off my arms as she turned my head side to side. “Your woman do that to you?”
“You didn’t notice it last night?” I asked her.
“Somebody else walloped you?” Grandma asked.
I nodded. “One of the kid’s mothers. You sure didn’t stick around long last night. You feeling ok?”
“I saw the way you were looking at each other. I figured a couple stiff drinks, some cotton in my ears… then this morning your bed was still made, and you were nowhere to be found.”
“I… well…”
“At least you had the good sense to clean up after yourself after dinner,” Grandma said, then turned and followed Jess into the house.
“I didn’t do the dishes…” I said, my words trailing off as Grandpa held a finger over his lips until Grandma was out of earshot, then he held out a hand.
Confused, I shook with him, watching Raider’s tail start wagging.
“I did. I waited until I knew the shenanigans wasn’t going to happen on the front table or porch. When I heard the barn door open, I snuck out and did ‘em up. Your grandma’s pretending to be grumpy, but when she saw Jessica coming down the driveway with you, she told me she was happy for you.”
“She didn’t exactly come to the house to, uh…”
“Oh, I know, I know,” he said a little too quickly.
We turned to the porch and I saw something hanging over the rails. My shirt! I reached over and took it.
“Well, the porch was almost shenanigan free,” I said ruefully.
“Buckets are by the hand pump.” He grinned as he said it. “And don’t drop the soap; the chickens are likely to nibble on any hanging bits.”
“Come on!” I protested, finally getting frustrated.
He just cackled.
7
I was sore in places I hadn’t been sore in for a long time. Walking with Jessica was helping work those kinks out though. I wore plain clothing, and she’d had a change of essentials in her pack as well. When she’d come out of the bathroom wearing one of my button-up shirts, I’d about fell out of the chair, but Grandma and she had somehow colluded. I didn’t know what it was about, but I was sure it was nefarious. Seeing her in my shirt had my heart doing all sort of flip flops. We’d decided to walk up together, though not unarmed. We’d come in the way I had, but as soon as we saw things were safe, we’d approach openly.
We figured a man and a woman, even armed, wouldn’t be as intimidating as two men in camouflage, like Carter and I had the other day. We had our packs and rifles, she had a pistol on her belt as well, but she had claimed my white cotton button-up for herself and had the front edges tied, showing her flat, tanned stomach, with the sleeves rolled up. Grandma and she had fussed with her hair, and in the end, she had given Jessica a straw cowboy hat from her own collection. It was old, worn, but it looked fantastic on her.
This time we’d taken Raider.
He barked once, sharply, when he saw the area where I’d first hidden with him. I shushed him and pointed out the lay of the land; where I’d first seen the girls, where Carter and I had figured out where each other was. Without breaking cover, I pointed out the landmarks while she used field glasses to look around. When she was happy that the place wasn’t being attacked, we went out into the open.
We talked about the camo, but her wearing a bright white shirt was deliberate. After yesterday, people were going to be jumpy. They might also be really angry, which would make her an extremely easy target to find. With no way to gauge their moods, we approached, but from the tree line cutting through the field as I had done before. I saw a flash of movement and pointed. A face peeked out from behind a tree almost thirty feet away.
“Mary?” I asked the little girl who walked out into the open toward us.
“I’m Laney, Mary is my cousin,” she said. “Can I have another candy bar?”
“You remember me from yesterday?” I asked, handing my rifle to Jessica so I could get my pack off.
“Yeah, the little boys aren’t crying because their tummies hurt. You brought more food after the first two foods you gave us,” she said.
She was cute, not very old, but I could see the lines of hunger had aged her, made her a little more… mature? I pulled my pack off and dug into a side pocket. I found the candy bar I’d packed as a just in case. Her eyes went big as she saw it, then her smile disappeared.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Jessica asked her, putting my pack down and taking a knee.
“There’s only one. My brothers didn’t get candy and I did, yesterday. I can’t take it.”
“Then take it for your brothers, give it to them,” I told her.
She bit her lip then nodded and took it from me like it was the most precious thing on earth.
“Are your moms still mad at us?” I asked her.
“My momma cried herself to sleep. She seems better today, but we’re busy packing.”
“So, you guys are leaving?” I asked her, relieved.
“Yes, Mary’s momma said there are bad men coming to take us, and we need to go and hide. That’s why when I saw you two coming I hid. Then I saw it was you, and you gave me chocolate when I really needed it.”
Her words were solemn, but they choked me up a bit. Raider must have sensed it because he grumbled, then sat at my feet, looking from her to us.
“Your families are all leaving today?” I asked her.
“I think so. I’m sorry your face hurts,” she said, changing the subject suddenly. “My momma was having an ‘episode’. Aunt Emily says, she shouldn’t have hit you. Does it hurt?”
I knelt and started digging in my pack. Laney walked up and touched my face, startling me.
“It hurts, just a little bit,” I said, hoping the hard candies I’d packed for emergency energy were still in there.
“It hurts me just to look at your face,” she said seriously.
Jessica snorted, and being the mature individual that I was, I flipped her off behind the girl’s back. Laney turned to see what I was doing, but Jess had resorted
to gnawing on a fist, my rifle cradled in her other arm, butt on the ground.
“Should we talk to your moms and grandpa?” I asked her.
“Please don’t,” Laney said just as I found the candy, “I don’t want Mom to cry that hard anymore. She’s not on her medicines, and she’s not nice when she’s not on her medicines.”
I pulled the candy out and gave her a large handful out of the baggie I kept for emergencies. Her eyes got wide, then she looked at me and her eyes narrowed. It wasn’t poisoned; in fact, I used it for a quick burst of energy. Same reason I kept things like caffeine tablets from the dollar store in my prepping supplies. It just plain worked.
“Why are you being nice to us?”
Jessica stood up and turned, facing the barn.
“I…”
“I know what happened to my daddy,” she said, looking at the ground, her hand still on my cheek. “I heard him talking to my uncles about using their guns to scare people into giving them food. You’re just giving us food. We didn’t even scare you.” Her eyes were piercing as she met my gaze.
“Does anybody need a reason to be nice and compassionate to some kids who looked like they needed chocolate?” I asked her.
She’d opened her mouth to answer, when I saw two figures step out of the tree line. It was two of the moms, Laney’s mother, and the one who’d come out last, yesterday.
“Laney,” she said, her voice even, “you can’t take off like that, with us getting ready to leave.”
“I thought I saw someone, and I did,” she said, her voice carrying.
Both women had seen us, and either I was recognized, or we were deemed to not be a threat. Either or was fine with me as long as it kept us out of Grandpa’s crosshairs. He’d proven yesterday that, walker or not, he was a fair shot.
“Come back to—”
The smaller woman poked Laney’s mother with her elbow, and they both came to a stop in front of us. Both wore men’s shirts and had their hair severely tied back under old ball caps probably belonging to the farmer. They eyeballed Jessica and I, and Raider eyeballed everyone, especially the food in the little girl’s hands.
