Alvin watched her go, covered in blood and bouncing happily as she walked down the hall. Shaking his head, he followed. His own smile was broad as he wondered if maybe, just maybe he should thank Jarvis and company for letting him meet Becky. He caught up to her as they reached the front door. They opened the double doors in tandem, his arm around her waist.
“It’s dead,” Alvin called out as the others all lowered their guns. “It took a stupid amount of damage before it fell, which is another complication that we do not need.”
Alvin looked down to see Ramone, missing a chunk of his head, “Stood back up?”
“Yes,” Bill grunted. “We good to go? I don’t think we can handle the snake right now. Moving its body is going to take the rig.”
“Deal with it tomorrow,” James added. “What should we do with Ramone’s body?”
“Scrap him,” Alvin said bluntly, getting frowns from the others. “Dead bodies are not a good thing. We could bury it, but with giant scorpions and worse around I’m not sure burying things is a good idea.” The others looked at each other for a moment, then finally nodded. Alvin picked up Ramone’s body and got him stuffed into one of the vans. “Okay, let’s go.”
Alvin covered the seat in the second tow truck since he would be driving it. Becky and Megumin both climbed in with him. They followed their usual procedure of dropping a person off at each drivable car. As the sun started to sink towards the west they finally rolled into the yard. Alvin looked at the thick gates as well as the turrets on the towers, the steadily improving defenses bringing a smile to his lips.
Alvin checked the fuel gauge when he parked the truck, seeing that it had less than a quarter of a tank left. He gathered up the bloodied seat coverings and tossed the bag in the Scrapper, along with corpses from the minivans. Susan began to crank the door down, with everyone including the new family watching as she pushed the button. Alvin went to Bill, “The trucks are getting low. We need to fuel them.”
“We can do it after dinner. The truck stop you appeared at is just a few hours out and back. Becky and James can ride shotgun for us when we go.” Bill looked around at the group watching the Scrapper beginning to send up smoke and produce blocks of scrap. “I’ll let Susan know after we clean up.”
“Works,” Alvin replied, taking Becky’s hand and heading towards the Inn.
Terry looked them over when they entered the Inn. “Found a whole mess of zombies again?”
“A big wave of them, plus a giant snake that killed Ramone,” Alvin told her. “Is the big room still open?”
Terry sucked at her teeth for a second, seeming to stare off into space before nodding. “Yes, it is. Where are we burying Ramone?”
“In the Scrapper,” Becky replied while Alvin purchased the room. “With things like the fifty-foot snake we killed and the giant bugs and mutated dogs and cats, we figured burying people is not the best idea.”
Terry blanched slightly, “Is it dead?”
“It took a lot of damage, but we killed it,” Alvin reassured her. “We need to get cleaned up for dinner, Gran. See you in a bit.”
“Of course,” Terry went out into the yard looking for James as Alvin and Becky headed upstairs to their room.
Dropping their gear inside the door, the two of them headed for the shower, intent on getting clean. Afterward, they sat on the sofa together. Becky rested her head on his thighs and he was stroking her hair gently. “We’re leaving tomorrow,” he told her. “After dinner tonight though, we’re going out to fuel as many vehicles as we can. They should be able to finish clearing the road and getting the signs set up on their own. We’ll head towards Nevada to check on James’s family. We can swing towards Salt Lake to see about your mom if you want.”
“I don’t care. It would be nice for David, though. You have to know how empty I feel about almost everyone else besides you. She left us as kids in the hands of our abusive father to save herself. She only tried once to regain custody of us, then abandoned us for good. She can rot for all I care. She never sent a single card during all those years.” Her voice was calm, but Alvin could hear the anger buried in it.
“Maybe your father intercepted the mail?”
“No. I checked the mail every day when I got home from school. No letters, no cards, no phone calls, she did nothing to contact us.”
“We’ll head west then down I-70. Take the back way into Nevada, bypassing Vegas as well as Provo and Salt Lake. That should put us north of the town James said his folks live in. There’s a route that only goes through smaller towns, so it should be safer. Need to upgrade Ruffian before we make that trip, get at least one upgrade on fuel to make the mileage better. Possibly rank two so we can use any burnable fuel, instead.”
“That’s a good idea,” Becky replied as she captured his hand with hers, pulling it to her bountiful chest. “What do you think we’ll find out there?”
“Death, destruction, horror and adventure the likes of which this world has never seen before. But we’ll face it all together,” he leaned over and kissed her gently, letting his lips linger on hers.
“Are we going to be eating in tonight?” Becky asked, her voice low as she squeezed his hand.
“After we get back from fueling vehicles, sure. Let’s go get actual food now, though.” He shifted slightly, encouraging her to get up.
Instead she rolled over, nuzzling his thigh, “Maybe a light snack first?”
Laughing, he twined his hand into her hair, then pulled her firmly up making her back arch, which had the mostly unintended effect of causing her chest to thrust out in a most distracting manner. “Later, Gothy.”
She whimpered even as her eyes blazed with lust, “Fuck, you’re so mean.” Her legs clenched together as she met his eyes. “I’ll pay you back for this tonight.”
Chuckling he got to his feet, dragging her with him firmly but as gently as he could. Once they were standing he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her passionately. Their tongues dueled for minutes before they pulled back, panting. “I’m sure you’ll try, but in the end I’ll be the one who pins you, slut. I’ll hold you down and ravage your body at my leisure.”
Becky squirmed, biting her lip as a moan escaped her. “You are a bad man, Hero.” She went by him, her hips swaying, “I’m going to use you like a fuck toy later.”
Laughing, he joined her outside the room, “I’ll return the favor, Gothy. If I recall, a good spanking gets you wound up quite easily.” He swatted her round posterior with a resounding smack as they got to the stairs, “Something like that.”
Her breath caught as she paused, “Oh, you fucking evil man.” She met his eyes, her hands shaking slightly as she gave serious consideration to dragging him to the floor right there. “I won’t stop myself if you do that again.”
“Noted,” He held out an arm to her. “I shall behave for now, then. Just want to make sure you really want that snack later.”
Her eyes smoldered, “Oh, it’s a guarantee.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dinner was stew, and there was only a little left when Becky and Alvin turned up. Susan sat down next to Alvin as he and Becky started on their food. “I’m going to be increasing the Farm and the Butcher shop tomorrow. We need the increased food production since we’ve gotten so many more people. I’ll also be building a multi-room structure over the top of the bunker, to provide rooms for the people we have already and so when more people show up we’re ready for them.”
“Works,” Alvin replied between bites. “Get signs from the store and have them set up at either end of I-70 to direct people this way. More people here means more XP for you to work with.”
Susan frowned, “You’re going to be leaving soon?”
“Tomorrow morning hopefully, the day after at the latest. We’ll be taking people to fuel the vehicles tonight. How are the structures going?”
“I have the people assigned to them working again as we speak. They can get them all built before we turn in, which wi
ll mean we can all start to spend XP. Jarvis has been stuck in the yard handing out pads to everyone all day.”
Alvin grinned, “It’s good to see you all getting the chance to grow. Once we go, you’ll be the one running it all, Susan. I hope to pop back at times, but this will all be on your shoulders.”
“Good thing dad raised me right, then,” Susan chuckled as she stood up. “I’m going to go watch the kids play. James said he was on the fuel run. When you get back, send him to my room please.”
Giggling, Becky winked at her, “I’ll make sure he’s pointed the right way for you.”
Susan gave Becky a hug along with a smile, “Thanks, Becky. Stay safe out there and come back, okay?”
“I’ll be with Hero,” Becky replied, returning the hug before turning back to her food.
As they were finishing the meal, Bill showed up. “Almost done?”
Alvin handed his bowl off to Joanna, who had been waiting for the dishes. He thanked her before replying, “Ready now. Who all is going and driving what?”
“Frank has the rig, me and you have the tow trucks, James has my truck. Randy is going to bring one of the buses. The teacher, Granger, is bringing the school bus and Leon is going to drive the tour bus,” Bill explained.
“I’ll drive the Mustang since you said the place has normal pumps too,” Becky added.
“Anyone else going with?” Alvin asked.
“A few people have asked to go with, they want to see a bit more of the local area. I’ll be handing them guns and they’ll be riding shotgun for people.” Bill motioned behind him into the main room, “They’re waiting.”
“Let’s do this, then,” Alvin said as he started towards the door.
The tow trucks led the convoy, Alvin in the front one. Becky was in the Mustang at the tail end, with Megumin riding shotgun with her. Alvin was all alone in his truck. He felt a little empty without Becky beside him to talk with. He chewed over that thought and why it felt odd to him.
Alvin led them west on I-70. He remembered where the accidents were that he’d passed the first time and drove around them carefully. Taking the Moore Cutoff Road exit, he bypassed the small rest area and turned north down the seldom used road.
Almost an hour later they pulled into the truck stop. Alvin pulled his truck around to the diesel pumps around back and jumped out. Bringing the rifle up into a ready position, he waved to the others as he started the generator then went around the building to get to the c-store.
Becky had pulled up to the pumps out front to fuel the Mustang. Megumin got out of the car with her, taking up position next to the vehicle. “I’m going in with him, fuel up for us,” Becky told her as she pulled her shotgun out of her fanny pack.
Alvin waited for her by the door, looking over where he had left dead bodies some days ago, which were missing now, but the car was still there. “I left dead bodies here and they’re gone now, which means something is in the area.”
Giving a sharp nod, Becky brought her gun up as she followed him into the store. Silence greeted them. Alvin slipped around the register, turning on the pumps. He still wondered why this place still used such an old system for fuel, but shrugged it off. It was working for him, so he wasn’t going to ask.
“Weird that they have these old pumps out here,” Becky commented as he came back around the counter.
“I was just thinking that. Maybe they had them in before all the regulations and were grandfathered in as long as they didn’t replace them?”
“Possibly,” Becky replied, her lips turned down, “it feels like game bullshit, though. This is where you appeared in the world after you did your missions, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I think maybe they set this up to give you a place you could come back to for a bit. The tanks probably only hold about ten thousand gallons. It would fit with the older pumps. The tanks are probably also nearly empty.” She pointed to the long stick used to measure the level of fuel in the tanks. “We can check.”
“Downer Debbie,” Alvin smirked at her, bumping her lightly with his hip.
“We just need to make sure they know this won’t last and they need to focus on upgrading their vehicles.”
“True,” he replied as they left the store. “I’ll go talk with Bill, be back in a moment.”
He explained Becky’s reasoning to Bill, who nodded. “She is a sharp one. A little off balance I think, but very smart.”
“How are you and Betty doing?” Alvin asked.
Bill frowned, “Who’s going around flapping their gums?”
“No one. I just noticed the way she’s been paying extra attention to you.”
Shaking his head, Bill shrugged, “It’s moving along. I just don’t want Susan to be upset. I never looked at other women after…” he stopped speaking, looking away.
“She is a grown woman and she’s sleeping with James. I don’t think she’d begrudge you some comfort, Bill.”
His head turned slowly back to Alvin, his eyes narrow. “James is sleeping with my daughter?”
“Fuck,” Alvin sighed. “Susan asked me to send James to her when we got back. I thought maybe you had come to terms with this.”
“James!” Bill yelled as he glared at the ex-cop. “Come here, please!” The tone didn’t match the words, being a command not a request.
James winced as he came over, “So you object?”
“I just found out,” Bill growled. “What the fuck happened?”
“Well, the other night she dragged me back to her room. One thing led to another, you know how it works.” James stood there solidly, a little red in the cheeks, but not backing down. “I won’t turn away from her, Bill.”
Breathing harshly, Bill eyed James like a new recruit who had upset his Drill Sergeant. “You planning on more than just sleeping with her?”
Blinking, James paused as the words sank in. “If she wants more, then I would be happy to. She’s in charge, Bill, not me. I think she gets her domineering personality from you.”
Alvin started laughing, earning dark looks from the other two. “Sorry. He is right though, Bill. Do you think he would have gotten away with doing anything Susan didn’t ask him to do?”
Deflating, Bill looked away, “I just don’t want her to get hurt. She’s my little girl.”
“Not so little,” Alvin coughed getting another dark look from both men. Grinning, he pointed to both of them, “A common enemy unites you. My job is done here.” He quickly walked off as the two men watched him go.
He checked in with the guys at the diesel pumps before he went back to the front of the store. Becky and Megumin were pulling all the non-perishables from the store, piling stuff in boxes and handing them off to some of the others who’d come with them. He joined them as the rest fueled the trucks.
Once all the vehicles had been fueled up and the generator’s tanks refilled, Alvin turned off the pumps as people dispersed back to their vehicles. He waved to Becky as he left the store, the Mustang rumbled to life as he turned away from her.
He went around to shut down the generator. He was turning to head back to his tow truck when a shape came charging at him from the scrub brush around the edges of the paved area. He brought the gun up, only getting off a single round before the monster reached him.
He was flung up and over the monster’s head, a sharp pain burning in his chest from the impact before he came down from the abbreviated flight. The impact drove the wind from him, leaving him lying there gasping. He heard people jumping out of vehicles along with a lot of yelling as he struggled to breathe.
He coughed once harshly, a spray of blood erupting from his mouth and adding to the gore covering his chest. He was able to catch sight of the deer-like creature as it spun around to focus on him, coming back around to maul him again. The horns growing from its brow were thick and coated with his blood. The red eyes of the beast seemed to be filled with glee as it lowered its head and charged at him again.
The rapid stacca
to of gun fire filled the air, followed by the sound of tires squealing. The monster staggered under the impact of the bullets, then was slammed into the wall by the Mustang. Becky leapt from the car, executing the monster with multiple point blank shots to the head as it struggled to regain its feet.
Alvin dug a medkit out of his bag, applying it to his chest as everyone converged on him. The pain in his chest vanished, letting him breathe after he hacked up another gob of blood. “God fucking damnit,” he wheezed as he sat up.
Becky tackled him right back to the ground, staring into his eyes. “Will you stop getting hurt!” She didn’t ask it so much as tell him.
He chuckled once, “It’s all part of my plan to make you take care of me.”
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