“Aaaw I wanna go to the beach,” whined Michelle.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be a perfect day,” I said putting my arm around Sarah, “Nothing’s going to go wrong today.”
Chapter 6
We drove the half hour to Seaside to reach the beach. We kept our regular clothes on to stay warm as it was still early and so it was still cold. We started to set up our tents and create a fire pit for later that night. After unloading our coolers filled with beer, soda, and water I filled them part way with cold sea water. This was the next best thing to ice and would help to chill the drinks. A lot of time was spent setting things up so that we were close enough to each other to stay safe but far enough that the couples could have privacy if they wanted it. We inflated several air mattresses using a car battery and a portable air compressor and put them in the erected tents. Instead of an actual fence, we strung string up around the campsite and hung some more Christmas bells on the line. It wouldn’t stop anyone, it wouldn’t even stop a Walker, but it would alert us if one did come stumbling around. I helped to set up a folding picnic table and some chairs near the fire. I took off my jacket and unbuckled my holsters, hanging them on the back of a chair. We had a clear line of sight for several blocks, and I was confident that if a Walker did show up, I would have time to get my guns before anyone was put in danger.
Liz and Michelle were already digging pits and making sand castles a short distance away from the campsite. It was still cold, but it looked like it would turn out to be a nice day. There was a light breeze and the early morning cloud cover was quickly beginning to burn off. I glanced around our camp and smiled. Even though the day had just started and we had spent most of it setting up camp everyone seemed happier to be out of the house, even the danger-hungry Justin was having fun throwing a Frisbee with Christina and Hannah. I took a seat, and after glancing around and seeing that Sarah had joined Liz and Michelle, I pulled out the carving I had started yesterday. After having done this same design over and over, I was beginning to move much faster while carving it. In the time that I had spent on the roof, I had more than a third of the small figurine finished, and I was hoping that I could give it to Sarah that night. I kept one eye on my carving and the other on Sarah. I marveled at how she handled Michelle, at how she was able to immerse herself in the little girl’s imagination and pay full attention to the stories that seemed to follow every path but the one that would lead to its end. I could deal with little kids for a while, I grew up with two younger siblings and helped to take care of my nephews and niece, but I couldn’t compare to how well Sarah was doing. I don’t know if I had been staring too long or if she had just sensed my gaze but she looked up and locked eyes with me. She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear and continued to help build a fairly large castle in the sand.
By the time I finished carving the sun had burnt off all the clouds and was beginning to warm the salty air. I put the final touches on the figurine by sanding out some rough edges and adding an engraving to the bottom of the attached stand. I stood and stretched, figuring it was warm enough I pulled off my jeans and put them and my carving in my tent. I walked down to where Justin was taking a break with Jessica. “Hey guys, having fun?”
“Yeah, it’s great to get out of the house,” said Jessica.
“What about you Justin? Having a good time?”
“Oh yeah. Nowhere I’d rather be.”
“Glad to hear it. You up for a little football?”
“Hell yeah,” he said enthusiastically.
“Great, think we can get the others to play.”
“Yeah. They should be up for it.”
“Anyone want to play some football?” I called out.
Soon enough we had a small five on five touch game going, guys vs. girls. It wasn’t really all that fair, but after I mentioned that we should make sure to mix teams evenly Sarah decided that the girls could do just fine by themselves. We faced off against each other, and after a short time it became apparent that they didn’t have a chance, but they kept going. We stopped keeping score after a little while, and our game broke down into absolute mayhem. The last play we ran ended up with me running for the end zone when I felt someone jump on my back and try to wrench me to the ground. I was able to hold onto the ball and stay upright but was forced to stop to prevent my momentum from forcing me down. “What the hell?” I let out. I felt small soft hands cover my eyes and heard Sarah’s laugh in my ear. “Alright, alright you win,” I said dropping the ball. She laughed again and let go, dropping to her feet. “I thought this was a touch game?”
“Well, I touched you didn’t I?”
“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t be a sore loser,” she said.
“Oh I didn’t lose,” I said wrapping my arms around her and pulling her down with me. I rolled over and pinned her to the ground.
“Hey!”
“Hey, what?” I said holding her arms above her head.
“I thought this was a touch game.”
I laughed, “I’m touching you aren’t I?” I kissed her and released her arms. She snaked them around my neck and kissed me back.
I heard a wolf whistle from nearby and broke the kiss to look up. Everyone was standing around us, grinning, “I take it that the game is over?” asked Matt sarcastically.
I smiled, “Yeah I guess so.”
“Who won?” asked Hannah.
“I’d say those two did,” Jason laughed.
I got off Sarah, and we stood together. “I don’t know about you guys but I’m sweaty and covered in sand, so I’m going to jump in the water.”
I pulled off my shirt and let it fall to the sand. I headed towards the water and heard Sarah call after me, “I’m coming too.”
She ran to catch up to me, and when I turned to look at her, I let out a silent gasp. She had been wearing a bikini underneath her shorts and t-shirt, which she had quickly shed before running after me. It wasn’t the same one as last time, this one fit her better. She must have grabbed it when we looted the Fred Meyer. Her new suit made it perfectly clear that she had been working out and perfecting the forms I had assigned her. “New suit?” I asked.
“Yep. Do you like it?”
I let out a little laugh, “How could I not?”
“Good,” she said smirking.
We stood at the edge of the water and gazed across the endless Pacific Ocean. Watching the waves roll in I felt a new and sudden respect for the power that the ocean held. It’s easy to forget, what with every invention designed to tame the natural world, just how small each individual is. We had no more ships, at least no one who could sail one, to conquer the seas, no more planes to traverse the sky and the majority of highways were silenced. I felt the water gently swell up over my feet and smiled, “You going to get in?”
“Only if you are.”
I scooped her up and carried her into the cold water. We gasped together as a wave took out my feet, and we went under. I surfaced laughing and watched as Sarah whipped her hair out of her face. “Feels good to wash the sweat off.”
“It feels good to be surrounded by water again, I miss baths,” she said smiling.
“Well, you’re in the world’s biggest bathtub.”
“Waters a little salty for a bath.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers.” She splashed me. “Oh I wouldn’t do that,” I said with mock severity. She splashed me again. “I’m sorry babe, but this means war,” I said before letting loose and splashing her with wave after wave.
“Ok, ok. I surrender,” she coughed, raising her hands.
“I told you, you shou…” She jumped on top of me and pushed me under the surf. Alright, I thought while I was still under, You want to escalate? Then let the games begin. I swam down and skimmed the sandy bottom, swimming a little further out. I surfaced, and once she caught sight of me, she followed.
She swam up next to me, “Now what shouldn’t I have done?” she said grinning.
&
nbsp; “Followed me out here,” I said returning her grin.
“What’s that supposed to…” I didn’t hear the rest of her question because I dove under the water and swam under her. I rose quickly behind her and pulled the string on her top. I quickly pulled it over her head as I surfaced and held it aloft in victory. She screamed, “Hey. Give that back.”
I grinned at her and glanced at the shore. Some of the others were getting in the water, “Why should I?”
“Because taking my top is mean. I wasn’t mean to you,” she said sticking out her bottom lip, pouting.
I held her top behind my back and swam close to her. “Has anyone told you how beautiful you look when you pout?”
“Yeah, some jerk told me that once,” she said pushing me away.
I handed her the top back, and she put it on, “I’m sorry. I was just playing with you,” I said honestly. She frowned and I’m sure she would have crossed her arms if she hadn’t needed them to swim. “Really, I’m sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Come here,” I swam in close. She looked like she was going to kiss me, but just before our lips met, she tried to yank my shorts off. Luckily I had tied the strings tight for football, and they only slipped a little.
“Hey, now who’s the mean one?” I said laughing.
I saw the mischievous glint in her eyes as she said, “This isn’t over James Ryan. I’ll get you back.”
“I know you will, but do you want to know something?”
“What?”
“It was worth it.”
She rolled her eyes and began her swim back towards shore. I followed her, still smiling.
We reached the beach and Christina asked, “We heard a scream. Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, James was just being a jerk.”
I raised my hands in defense, “She started something she wasn’t prepared to finish.”
“Oh it’s not over yet,” she warned me.
“I’ll be waiting,” I said as she headed to the tent we shared. “Man, between football and swimming I’m exhausted,” my stomach growled, “And I’m starving. Who’s up for lunch?”
We walked over to where our coolers sat in the shade of the tents and dragged them over to the picnic table. We rinsed off the slightly chilled drinks with some bottled water and pulled out the sandwiches. “These are pretty good man. What’s in them?” asked Justin.
I swallowed, “Ask Michelle, she’s the one who made them.”
“Michelle, what did you put in the sandwich to make it taste so good?” asked Carrie, giving Michelle a kind smile.
She glanced at me before answering in a conspiratorial tone, “Secret ingredients.”
“Oh, well I don’t suppose you’ll share the secret with me?”
“Nope, it’s only for chefs,” she said looking at me. I nodded to her and winked.
Justin looked at me with a puzzled face, and I just shrugged. “Hey Sarah,” I called to the tent, “come out and eat.”
“Be right there.”
A minute later she emerged wearing her shorts and the top, tied securely behind her back. She grudgingly sat next to me, and I whispered in her ear as she grabbed a sandwich “You’re not really mad at me are you?” She gave me her death glare which never worked on me. I grinned, “Can I make it up to you?”
“You can try,” she said before biting into her sandwich.
We ate lunch, played in the sand, threw the Frisbee and held a sand castle competition, which Michelle just happened to win. Soon enough we decided to build a fire and start cooking some dinner. We all took turns rinsing off the salt that had dried on our bodies with a few jugs of water we had brought. It felt good to get the gritty sand and salt out of my hair and off my face. I changed out of my board shorts and into a pair of basketball shorts and shook my shirt out before putting it on. We gathered around the growing fire which Matt had expertly started. The day’s light was only slightly waning, and it would be a few hours before we would need the fire to light our way. Sarah was standing across from me, on the other side of the fire. I motioned for her to come stand next to me and she did so after I repeated the gesture again. “What?” she huffed.
“Come with me.”
“Why?”
“Because I have something for you.”
“What is it?”
“Just come, please.”
“Fine.”
I took her hand and led her to our tent. Zipping up the flap I turned and faced her, “I didn’t want to give this to you as an I’m sorry gift. I wanted it to be a just because I love you gift, but I guess it didn’t work out that way.” I pulled out the small wooden carving that I had hidden in my pack.
“Oh James, it’s beautiful,” she said taking it gently from my hands. She was holding a small carved butterfly. Like I said, I had made several flawed copies of the same butterfly, but this one was the best I could do. The butterfly was perched on a flower which acted as a wide base. I had even gone as far as to make the needle-thin antenna that I had attached by making small holes in the head and securing the inserted antenna with a drop of superglue.
“Turn it over.” She gently flipped the carving over, and her eyes squinted slightly to read the engraving. As she read silently to herself, I said the words aloud, “No matter where I go, what path I take, I will always love you. You are my life, my love, my everything.”
She smiled, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I love you, James,” she said hugging me.
“I love you too.” We kissed, and she put the small carving in the corner of the tent.
“I have a present for you too. I was considering not giving it to you, but I think you’ve earned it.”
“What is it?”
“Take a seat,” she said pointing at the spread out sleeping bags on the air mattress. I sat. “Close your eyes.” I closed my eyes thinking that she might be trying to get me back for earlier but before I could raise an objection she said “Ok, open them” I did, and milliseconds later my jaw dropped and hit the floor. It seems that Sarah had picked up more than the essentials when we had gone to the Fred Meyer because she was standing in front of me wearing some of the best damn lingerie I had ever seen. “What do you think?”
“Ah…Um… Wow,” I stumbled over my words.
“That’s the reaction I was hoping for” she giggled.
“You look… amazing,” I struggled to find the words to describe the perfection I saw
“Good, now scoot over, it’s cold.”
“I can see that,” I said grinning at her.
“Oh shut up,” she said climbing into the open sleeping bag. I was quick to join her.
“I must be the luckiest man in the world.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
I kissed her and stared into her eyes, “No, really. If this is a dream, then I never want to wake up.”
“I can ensure you, this is no dream.”
“Good,” I brushed my lips against her temple, then her cheek, jawline, and neck. I would have kept going except for one thing, God is a cruel bastard.
“Hey, James?” I heard someone, Justin, call from outside.
“Fuckin’ A,” I growled, “What?”
“You need to come out here and look at this.”
“Fuck,” I said standing and redressing. “This better be good Justin, or I swear to God I’ll rip your head off.”
“Just get out here ok?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said glancing at Sarah, still under the sleeping bag. “Fuck,” I said shaking my head and unzipping the flap. Outside I was ready to go off on Justin for his stupendous sense of timing when he pointed to the distant skyline. Rising up from the ground was an oily black column of smoke, pointing skyward like a single burnt finger. “Why the fuck would Luke contact us now?”
“I have no idea, but we should probably respond, right?”
I glanced at my tent, “Yeah, we should,” I sighed. “Come on, you and I can go,” I went back to my tent and grabbed my
pack, guns, and jacket.
“What’s going on?” asked Sarah as she slipped on a pair of jeans.
“Luke’s signaling us that he wants to meet. Justin and I are going to go check it out. We’ll be back in a bit.”
“I’m coming.”
“Sarah, it’s probably nothing. Just stay here with the others, have dinner. I’ll be back in a bit, and we can finish what we started,” I grinned.
She tried not to, but she smiled back. “You better be back soon.”
“You make it sound like I want to leave.”
“So why are you?”
“Price of being the leader I guess,” I joked.
“Well go then Mr. Leader, and hurry back.”
“Wouldn’t dream of being away a second longer than necessary. Kiss for good luck?” She rolled her eyes but kissed me deeply, like she was scared she’d never get to again. “Be right back,” I said leaving the tent.
I climbed into my truck with Justin, and we drove off of the beach and onto the main road. I sped through Seaside and down the highway, stopping my acceleration at around ninety. “Why the hell are we going to fast?”
“I want to find out what Luke wants and get back to Sa… back to camp.”
“Yeah, camp. Right,” he said dragging the word out.
I just shook my head, “What do you think, should we go to their camp or to the Costco?”
“Might as well go to the Costco, wouldn’t want to leave whoever lit the fire hanging.”
“Yeah, that’s’ what I was thinking.”
“This better not be some bull shit,” I raised an eyebrow, “What? You’re not the only one with… plans,” he grinned.
“Well then, let’s get this over with shall we?”
Even going as fast as we were it still took us ten minutes to get to the Costco. As we pulled into the parking lot, I saw Z’s truck parked near the burning tires. We got out of the truck, and when I didn’t immediately see Z, I pulled one of my pistols and held it at the ready. As we walked closer to the column of smoke, I saw a body moving slowly on the ground. I pulled out a Maglite from my pack and directed its powerful beam onto the form. At first, I thought it might be a freshly turned Walker, but on closer inspection, I saw that it was Z, and he was bleeding, a lot.
Survivors Series (Book 2): Heroes Never Die Page 7