He rolled his eyes and shook his head “I’ll do that,” he said as he made his way down the ladder.
“Good idea.”
“Night,” he said from the bottom of the ladder.
“Night,” I mumbled.
I checked the rifle to make sure there was a round in the chamber, checked the safety and peered through the scope, panning it along the tree line. There was no movement, and I checked the rest of the perimeter of the property, all was silent. I settled down in my regular spot and prepared for several hours of cold, damp boredom.
Chapter 24
“Damn it, woman,” I growled.
“Stop moving,” replied Sarah patiently, grasping my head and holding it straight.
“I would if those damn scissors didn’t pull out as much hair as they cut.”
“Oh stop being such a baby,” she said, continuing to snip away at my hair.
“Yeah dude, you’re complaining just a little too much,” said Michael as he watched on in interest.
“Fuck you,” he said while trying to remain still.
Michael’s laugh ended quickly when Sarah said, “I wouldn’t be laughing. I’m sure Liz intends to trim that mop on your head.”
It was my turn to laugh as his face fell and his smile died. It had been three days since I had returned from the Safeway and I was currently sitting on a barstool in the kitchen while Sarah cut my hair. This impromptu grooming was a result of Sarah’s frustration. We were lying in bed that morning when she complained “Ok, I love you, but when your hair is getting in my mouth it’s too damn long. You’re getting a haircut today.” I had no objections since I had always liked my hair short, but now that she was just ripping out my hair with dull scissors I was beginning to prefer my hair long.
Another development that had occurred during those three days was that Michael and Liz had grown significantly closer. I don’t know if you could say they were together but they spent more time than was necessary together. Michael and I were sitting on the roof one of those nights when I gave him the same warning that I had given the others, but he surprised me saying “So you’ve given this little warning to everyone?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“And when you and Sarah got together who warned you?”
“No one, why?”
“Well don’t you think someone should have?”
I chuckled, “No I don’t think it was necessary.”
“And why’s that?”
I laughed again, “Because if I was ever dumb enough to hurt her, she wouldn’t need someone else to hurt me. She could do it herself and honestly if I was dense enough to hurt someone I love as much as her I don’t think I would stop her.”
“Regardless of how much she would hurt you I’ll take it upon myself to warn you,” he put an arm around my shoulder. “If you prove to be as dumb as I think you are and fail to treat that girl as a freakin’ queen then I don’t care how much faster or stronger you are, I swear I’ll make sure to beat your ass after she’s done with you.”
I laughed and then we sat in silence for a while, staring out at the night’s sky. I broke the silence, “Do you think dad would have liked her?”
“Are you kidding me? He would have loved her. He would have laughed his ass off that you’re so damn whipped.”
“I’m not whipped,” I protested. He just raised an eyebrow at me, “Yeah ok,” I submitted.
“And do you want to know another thing?”
“What’s that?”
“If he ever found out you hurt her he’d be in line to kick your ass too.”
I laughed, “That’s true. He’d beat me bloody.” We sat in silence again until I decided that my bed would be a lot more comfortable than the roof.
As I sat there trying not to laugh at Michael's face, I decided to worry him just a little more. I hoped Sarah would play along as I asked, “Can Liz even cut hair?”
Sarah was standing in front of me and was able to catch my quick wink, and she smiled, saying, “I don’t know. I don’t think she’s ever done it before.”
“Well this will be good practice then,” I said looking at Michael and trying to hide my grin.
“Hey Sarah, you think you might consider cutting my hair after you’re done?” he asked nervously.
“Oh, you wouldn’t want me to cut your hair. As you can see, I’m not that good,” I punctuated her statement with a soft groan as several hairs were pulled violently out of my scalp.
“Am I bleeding? I think I’m bleeding,” I told her.
“Oh shush. You’re fine.” she rolled her eyes, “He’s been shot, stabbed, poked, prodded, punched and kicked, but he can’t take a few hairs being pulled out.”
“You call that a few?” I said as they laughed.
Taking a step back from me Sarah studied her handiwork. After a few more cuts she declared, “Ok, I think you’re done.”
“You think?”
“Yep,” she said picking up the small mirror that was sitting on the counter.
I took the mirror and prepared for the worst. I was pleasantly surprised, “It looks just like how I used to get it cut.”
She leaned in to whisper in my ear, “You’re not the only one who pays attention.”
“Thanks. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“You should never doubt me,” she said confidently.
“I’ll make sure to remember that.”
“Well,” she said turning to look at Michael, “I’ll just go tell Liz I’m done with these,” she waved the scissors.
“Oh great,” said Michael lacking all enthusiasm.
Sarah and I laughed, and I headed inside to wash my neck and change my shirt. I could take pain just fine. I could be like Sarah said, poked, prodded, cut and struck and handle it, but you put some small prickly hairs in the collar of my shirt, and I will go insane. It was one of those sensations that I absolutely despised. After changing, I walked out to the kitchen to find Liz wrestling Michael onto a barstool so she could cut his. “Oh come on Michael, you look like a Beatle,” she said pulling on his arm.
“Well maybe I want to look like a Beatle,” he responded in a terrible John Lennon accent
She stopped pulling on him and pointed at the stool, “Sit.” Michael gave up and sat on the stool, accepting his fate. “Good boy,” said Liz, smiling as Michael frowned at her.
I left the two to continue bickering as Liz cut his hair. There wasn’t much to do around the house anymore. We had fortified the fence and finished the storage, having added shelves anchored deep into the clay. I walked around the house, watching the interactions between everyone. I watched as Jessica and Carrie played dolls with Michelle. As Jason, Matt, Justin, and Hannah played cards, alternating between go fish, blackjack and BS. I watched as Christina was sketching in a notebook. I glanced over her shoulder and saw what she was drawing in pencil. It could have been a scene from any mall in America, what made it remarkable was the normality it portrayed. Children were holding their mother's hands, people standing in line for food, and what looked like teenagers milling around. It was a scene of what had been and would probably never be again. “You’re very talented,” I told her.
She jumped a little and said, “Oh James, I’m sorry. My mind was elsewhere.”
“No, I’m sorry I scared you. Have you been drawing long?”
She smiled, “Since I was little, but I started taking it a little more serious when I got in high school.”
“Well like I said, it’s very good.”
“Thank you.”
Since everyone seemed to be occupied, I decided to get a little practice in, and I took Bear with me outside. Bear was completely content to sit on the grass next to me as I stretched my muscles before entering the first of the forms. I closed my eyes, confident in our fence to protect me and sound the alert if anything happened. I took slow, deep breaths as I moved easily from position to position. With my eyes closed, I allowed my attention to focus on my surroundings. I could he
ar the wind as it rustled the leaves, most notably the Quaking Aspen. I could hear Bear panting softly next to me and smiled when he paused for a brief second before continuing, “Hey, Sarah.”
“Damn it. How are you doing that?”
I opened my eyes and looked at her, giving up on the current form as it wouldn’t let me look at her, “Doing what?” I asked innocently.
“You know what.”
I couldn’t help but grin, “You were good at being quiet, and I almost didn’t hear you.”
“So what gave me away?”
I nodded to the dog, “Bear did.”
“What? How?”
“He was panting and, like most dogs, he stops when someone approaches in preparation to receive food or praise.”
“But that doesn’t mean it was me, it just means that someone was coming.”
“True, but everyone was busy when I left, everyone but you. And you tend to show up when I’m alone.”
“It’s so annoying.”
I laughed, “Sorry. What’s up?”
“I was just bored and wondering what you were doing.”
“Well, I was practicing.”
“Sorry, I guess I’ll leave you to it then.”
“No, it can wait. Sit down,” I said as I took a seat on the grass.
She sat down next to Bear and started to pet him. He nuzzled her hand before lying on his side. “I’m glad he ended up being ok.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine what it would have been like for Michelle if Bear had to be put down.”
“Just Michelle?” she said giving me a smile.
“Ok, so I would have missed him a little too.”
“A little?”
“Ok, a lot,” I admitted. She smiled at me, “What can I say, the big guy saved my life.”
“Awww,” she mocked, “You’re such a softy.”
“I take offense at that. I am not soft.”
“Oh yeah?” she raised an eyebrow and grinned, “I heard you know a little poetry.”
I smiled, “And who, I wonder, told you that?”
“I don’t recall.”
“I was just trying to be helpful.”
“Uh huh,” she was silent for a second before asking, “Do you know any more?”
“Poetry?”
“Yeah.”
“Um…”
“You do, don’t you.”
“Maybe.”
“What?”
“You’re going to think I’m lame.”
She laughed, “I already think that so you have nothing to worry about.”
“Great, that makes me feel so much better.”
“Come on, please?”
“Fine. I’m sure Liz told you about the other one.”
“She told me you memorized some poem that she was trying to remember. She didn’t read it to me.”
“I’ll tell you that one first then since it’s fresh in my mind.”
“Ok,” I repeated the poem by Kipling to her. “How do remember that?”
“Hours of memorization,” I laughed, “And I only got second in the competition.”
“So what else did you memorize?”
“I have part of The Raven memorized, but I gave up on that pretty quick. I have part of another one memorized, but I don’t think you’ll like it.”
“What is it?”
“Part of a poem called Liberty by…crap what was his name? Whitcomb or something. Anyways, it’s a really long poem, so I only memorized part of it.”
“Why?”
“I needed another one for a different part of the competition.”
“Let’s hear it.”
I took a deep breath and began reciting the section of the poem I had memorized.
She sat there smiling at me “What?” I said conscious of her silence.
“Nothing.”
“No, tell me.”
“You’re just…”
“Just what?”
She shook her head, “Surprising.”
“Alright, no more poetry,” I said getting ready to stand.
“No, please. Just one more,” she begged. I sighed. “Please?” she repeated.
“Maybe another time,” I said.
She huffed, “I hate you so much.”
“No, you don’t. You wish you did, but you don’t,” I said grinning.
“You’re right, I love you, but it’s more like a love, hate kind of thing,” she smiled, and I rolled my eyes.
“Ok then, now what?”
“I was going to practice, but we could spar if you want.”
“So you’re going to try and get back at me by beating up on a defenseless girl?”
I let out a snort, “Defenseless my ass.”
“Hey now.”
“What, it’s true. Fine, if you want you can go get someone else to help you.”
“Anyone, I want?”
“Yeah, sure.”
She smiled evilly, “Ok then.” She ran inside.
I watched her go, and then realization dawned on me, “What have I done?” I mumbled before stretching again.
I faced off against Sarah and a freshly groomed Michael. “Ready?” I asked. They nodded confidently. They had both kept up with their training, and I knew I had little hope of beating the both of them, fairly that is. My only chance was if I could distract them, throw them off their game. Michael would be easy. If we were ever playing a game or competing I could easily throw him off with a little teasing. Sarah, on the other hand, would be a little more difficult to distract.
I took a fighting stance and said “Begin,” but before I had even finished the word, Sarah had started her attack. It would seem that I wasn’t the only one planning on fighting dirty. With them both so close I had to be wary of an attack from the both of them, I needed some room to breathe. Doing my best to block the quick strikes from Sarah and the stronger ones from Michael I grabbed Sarah’s arm and threw her as far as I could, doing my best not to hurt her. I caught a glimpse of her landing before I turned my attention to Michael. “Wow,” I said blocking a kick “I’m surprised to see you out in the daylight.”
He hesitated in before his next strike, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, Your hair,” I said aiming a stiff hand to his neck, which he managed to block with a grunt.
“What about it?”
“It’s just…Nothing, never mind,” I said as I backed away when Sarah reentered the fight. I had started Michael thinking about something else, now it was time to start on Sarah. Sweeping Michael’s legs out from underneath him and forcing him to fall hard on the ground, I moved to get inside Sarah’s guard. With her next strike, I pinned her arms to her sides, careful of her legs and knees, and kissed her quickly. She was stunned for a second before recovering and stomping on my foot. I let her go and moved away. I smiled as she frowned at my little tactic and I prepared to escalate. Michael got slowly to his feet, the air having been forced from his lungs. Ignoring the smarter course and waiting for her partner to get his breath she charged me, eager to finish the fight. She ran at me, fist raised, and I quickly ducked under it, giving her a light smack on her butt as she moved past. She let out a little yelp at the unexpected strike, and I chuckled.
“I…hope…you’re not…planning on doing that to me,” gasped Michael with a grin.
“Oh don’t worry, I wouldn’t want to take that pleasure away from Liz,” I grinned back. He frowned. Now his mind definitely wasn’t in the fight, I had already beaten him. Sarah was just more determined to beat me. “Come on beautiful, let’s see what’ve got,” I winked.
She let out a snarl of, “Asshole,” and came at me, albeit slower than last time. We fought for a few minutes, trading softened blows and doing our best to block one another. Michael continued fighting, but it was obvious that his head was elsewhere. This became evident when a punch aimed at his throat that he should have been able to block almost made contact. “You’re dead, go sit down,” I said quickly, keeping my a
ttention on Sarah.
“Why should I?”
“Just sit down and shut up. I’ll explain later.” He wasn’t happy about it, but he sat down and watched.
The fight didn’t last much longer, what with Sarah losing her concentration due to my efforts. What I was doing wasn’t much, just a whispered ‘I love you’ when she got close, and smile and a wink, and a few gentle touches when she was expecting a strike. She finally tripped on her own feet when she became too eager to attack, and I said through my laughter “Stop. We’re done.”
“I’m not done yet,” she said frustrated.
“Yes, you are. Have a seat.”
“No.”
“Sarah, please just sit and listen.”
“Fine,” she huffed.
She sat next to Michael on the grass and crossed her arms. I sat down and ran a hand through my hair. “Ok, what do you think happened in that fight?”
“We weren’t ready,” said Michael.
“No, we were. We were distracted,” said Sarah.
“Bingo,” I smiled. “I was able to distract you pretty easily. Michael your mind drifted fairly quickly. Sarah took a little more work, but the end result was the same. The lesson to learn from this is that sometimes it’s easier to outsmart your opponent rather than outfight them. I wouldn’t have had a chance of beating you two without seriously hurting or killing you if I hadn’t played a little dirty.”
“A little?” scoffed Michael, “You talked about spanking me.”
“Actually, I talked about Liz spanking you,” I grinned. “And you know what? It worked, and that’s all that mattered.”
“Point taken,” he said getting up and rubbing his back, “but did you have to smash my body into the ground?”
“Oh don’t be a baby,” I said to his retreating form. “Hey, why don’t you ask Liz to kiss it and make it all better,” I called out. His only reply was to raise his middle finger. I turned to look at Sarah, “And what about you? Anything you want to add?”
“That was unfair,” she pouted.
“Hey, now. You didn’t even wait until I said to start,” I said in my defense.
“I needed the advantage.”
“There were two of you, how much more of an advantage did you need?”
She shrugged, “Whatever I can get.”
Survivors Series (Book 2): Heroes Never Die Page 30