Thirst (The Oasis Plague Book 1)

by Iris Sweetwater

  She caught her breath as she found herself in a familiar brush, the one where she had been robbed of her innocence and then found by Atlas. She had come back many times since then to reclaim the place and her power, but she still swore she could see leftover blood stains from the men that had been murdered that night for what they had done.

  She stayed there and waited, waited to find out if the Batista were safe for another night or if the war had begun.

  Chapter Four

  “Brenna! Brenna!” She could hear Atlas frantically calling her name, looking for her, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She came out from behind the grove of trees where she had been waiting. It was hardly a grove, just a mangled bundle of small trees barely taller than her in the middle of the desert. It was one of the first signs anyone had seen of what the desert landscape of Earth had become, though it was beginning to change just a little. It was becoming more habitable.

  "I am here!" she called, coming out of hiding and stricken by emotion at the look on his face to see her there. His body crashed into hers, taking her breath away as he pulled her into his arms with desperation.

  "I was so scared he would see you and recognize you back there, that somehow they would come after you now," he said, looking Brenna over as if he didn't believe she was real.

  "I am okay, but I am worried about what they will do if he goes back and reports that I was there. You need to be back there preparing everyone for war," she said, pushing past him, but he yanked her arm and pulled her back. It was much more forceful than the way he had done it earlier that day.

  Brenna glared at him. "What is your problem?"

  "My problem is that yet again, you are treating yourself as separate from the rest of us and thinking you are going to be some martyr. If you want to leave, then leave, but don't make it about the fact you don't belong here, or you don't look like us. We would all fight to the death for you like we would any other Batista. But maybe you should go if you don't feel the same way about us. If you would just rather run like a scared little lizard."

  Brenna's mouth was wide open in shock at his insult to her. Did he really feel that way?

  "I don't want to leave!" she screamed, shoving him with her hands. She managed to make purchase, but he was so much bigger than her, so it wasn't far that she moved him. She got her point across. "I want this to be my home, but you know as well as I do that it isn't happening. Not as long as Colony 88 still has all the supplies they do and keep coming to the surface. We are not safe here, not a single one of us, but at least if I lay low and sacrifice myself if need be, you can all get out and find a new place to live. You have a chance at survival. I don't have that. I am alive because of you, not anyone or anything else. I know every single day when I wake up that my time is borrowed, a gift even, but not something I was ever supposed to have."

  Brenna was taken aback by her own words. She had never said anything like that out loud before or even let herself admit she felt that way. But it was one hundred percent the truth. He had saved her, and that was the only reason she was standing there right now, putting them in even more danger than they already were.

  "So, what, you regret me saving you?" he asked, looking hurt. She did not like where this was going. She had never once had a real fight with Atlas before, and she couldn't help but think it had to do with the growing complications of their relationship. There were many thriving couples in the tribe, but the colony was different. Couples fought and broke up, getting sick of each other, or one of them getting sick and becoming useless to the other or even dying. And then it left a lot of them on their own anyway. Even her own mother had gone against her in the end, so this wasn't helping her image of what a family was.

  "No, of course I don't. Those men, if you could even call them that, got what they deserved. And I am so grateful that you made everyone deal with me. But how many of them are still doing it for your sake? How many of them would hand me over if it came down to it?"

  "The Batista are not like that, and you know it. You are family. You have always been family, Brenna. You proved it when you saved River over yourself. You would have died out there if I left you and, therefore, would have died to save one of us. That is what makes you like us and not like them."

  He was in her face again, and she didn't know what to say or do anymore. She was just so scared for them and so lost on what to do about what was passing between them. When she thought about watching him choose another woman by the end of the year and having children with her, leaving Brenna to her own devices in favor of a new companion, it made her sick to her stomach. She didn't want things to change at all between them.

  But between what was happening with Colony 88 and the fact that he would be expected to marry in less than a year, they were changing whether she liked it or not.

  "What is this really about, Brenna? I know you. I believe you don't want to leave us. You are just scared. I have rarely known you to be scared. Those men traumatized you, but still, in pain and heartbroken, you were preparing to go back out there after we took care of you. So, what is it really that has you so scared?"

  "We should all be scared, Atlas. How many more undergrounders are coming up and killing off the few people who have been able to survive on the surface? It is going to lead to even more hate and start this cycle of destruction over again. But this time, the Earth won't be able to recover. It hasn't had enough time as it is, and we will all be wiped from existence, everyone!"

  She was in a panic, trying to get him to understand where she was coming from.

  He began to laugh, of all things, and she growled at him, anger boiling up inside her as she shoved her spear deep into the cracking ground beneath them. If there had been any creatures lurking around, they would be long gone now, scared off by the new predators in the territory.

  “And see, this is why I love you, Brenna. You’re here, having been ravaged by Raiders, kicked out of your colony, threatened every day by that colony, and you are worried about saving the whole damn world,” he said through his laughter.

  Brenna was ready to send her spear straight through him. Not in any way that could kill him, just injure him for a few days and teach him a lesson. But she backtracked and truly heard what he had said. She stayed in one stance, letting the words ring in her ears over and over until she understood them. And still, they were foreign to her. She had not expected it. She might have expected a kiss, an awkward proposal, a heated conversation about all the reasons they should or shouldn't be together, but not this. Never this. This meant something else entirely, and she didn't know if she understood what.

  How many times had her mother told her that? How many times had she said it back? She could probably count them on one hand, and yet she believed the woman had meant it. That her mother would do anything for her, just like any other mother. So, then what did it mean coming out of Atlas’s mouth?

  “What the hell did you just say?” Her voice came out in a screech. It shouldn't have been so harsh, but she was still coming down off the panic while also realizing the man that saved her and had become her best friend just might be in love with her.

  “You're really going to get mad at me for that?” he asked her, looking puzzled.

  “I said, what the hell did you just say?” Her voice came out low this time, quieter.

  “I said, that's why I love you. Are you really so out of it that you can't see that? That you’ve never felt it?” he asked her.

  From the comment about her eyes to his decision to keep her there, despite the danger it put him and his family in. And what about all the times he had defended her, protected her, and taught her how to fight? Then, the little things like using berries to make his hair red for a time, so she wasn't the only one. She had always just thought that those were things that friends do or that maybe he was defending his own decision and reputation rather than actually caring about her.

  She shook her head, unable to form any words. She was ashamed of not knowing it but floored
that anyone was even saying it to her that could mean it. She wanted to not believe him, to tell him he would be the same as anyone else in her life that was supposed to care, but she knew better. Somehow, in a year’s time, she had come to know this one man better than she knew anyone else in her life, even herself, maybe.

  In her silence, he took her face in his and pressed his lips on hers. There was no warning or working up to it, no permission asked or given. He just did it, and she found herself becoming pliable to him. She didn't know how she was going to stop this from going too far, as she felt it, all those months of wanting him without even realizing it. She could feel his own love and passion there as well, in every movement of his lips, like a dance choreographed by a force unknown to her.

  She let her spear go as they backed into the grove of trees, her body laying down of its own accord, with Atlas following her. Even though neither of them had had this experience before, it happened so naturally. How did their bodies just know what to do?

  Atlas unwrapped the cloth around his waist, revealing himself. Brenna tried not to get caught up in her head, on details, but she noticed the shape of him and that he was warm as he pressed against her. A need welled up inside her center that hadn't been there before. She had wondered for some time if she would be broken because of those men and not want anything from any man, but she was sure now that she wanted Atlas. The problem was that they could get caught, and there were consequences to doing things like this without the blessing of the tribe. While the two of them could hide it, what she couldn't hide was if she ended up with child.

  Colony 88 had ways to prevent such things, but the Batista did not. They enjoyed growing their population, and if they ever needed to take a break from having children, women either abstained or they listened to their bodies. It was something she had never learned how to do, besides give into its whim, like she was doing now.

  Brenna let him unwrap her breasts first, unfurling them to the night air. He looked down at them hungrily, but she couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. “Atlas, I don't look like Batista women. Are you sure you even want me?”

  He unwrapped her waist, revealing her whole body to him under the cover of a blanket of stars, and he raked his eyes over her. “Haven't you ever thought that this is why you are beautiful to me . . . the things that make you different?”

  She was at ease then, feeling the heat radiating off him as he slid his hands over her legs and then pulled them apart gently, allowing himself a space to settle over her. This was nothing like what happened with those men, and Brenna’s breath quickened as she looked into his dark eyes. They were doing something so wrong, but why did it feel so good? And they hadn't even gotten started yet.

  “I seal my fate to yours, one way or another, Brenna,” he said before sliding himself inside her. Brenna arched her back at the sensation, and one of Atlas’s hands pinned hers up above her, holding them there as he sighed into her.

  It took some time for him to slide all the way in, various new sensations, and even a little pain needing adjusting to. But it was pure ecstasy as she watched the stars twinkle while he writhed over her. She placed her hand on the skin of his back and enjoyed its softness despite the hardness of the earth around them.

  Soon, she closed her eyes as new pleasures filled her, rocking her body up and down against the dirt. She couldn't stop saying his name over and over again as her body began to shake. If they were punished for such a sin, then maybe it was worth it.

  Brenna shivered as her center pulsed around Atlas, who was still inside her. She opened her eyes to meet his and watched him as he had his own release, saturating her sensitive flesh with that part of him.

  When it was over, though, a twinge of guilt began to build inside Brenna like it was going to explode. “You know what this means, Atlas,” she managed to choke out as he was wrapping himself back up.

  “It means that I choose you,” he said, offering his hand to help her up so she too could dress.

  “But what if they do not let you choose me?”

  “They do not dictate who I choose— only when they will allow the ceremony, Brenna. I have chosen you, and if you will not have me or if they will not let you have me, then I will either become a medic and spend my days alone, or we will find a new place together to populate with our children.”

  At the word children, her hand flew to her abdomen. This was happening much too fast, and she hadn't thought of any of these things when she was in the throes of passion. But she stayed silent, not wanting to hurt his feelings. It had been incredible, and she didn't want to mar the memory, especially if it could never happen again.

  Chapter Five

  Brenna sat cross-legged, adjacent to the setting sun. One of the things that the Batista loved to do was tell tales. The most popular one was always the one about the original Batista, who was able to survive the nuclear attacks that left most of the continent as a barren desert.

  Brenna sat and listened as Dalman was finishing up his version of the story. It changed with each Batista that told it, but the children always loved the new twists and turns each person added to it. The base story was always the same. Batista had been an ordinary man other than the fact that he was a bit of a Doomsday prepper. He didn't have anything underground, but he had a pretty sturdy titanium shack with a solar panel attached to it for power. He was off the grid other than a satellite phone and radio to tell him what was going on in the world. He knew he would be in the path of the radiation after the nuclear blast and that his shack might even be destroyed, but he stayed in it to survive the blast and waited three days before venturing out. He had a jug of water and a little bit of bread with him, and he was able to survive on those until he came upon a place that still had a bit of life. There was no way to know how it was affected by the radiation, but he found lizards, snakes, and other creatures to feed himself. He was able to get water from the cacti and sometimes from underground to stay hydrated. Eventually, some others found him, and he taught them to live like this as well. They became the Batista and thrived on the surface, taking little note to the fact their children were being born with deformities. They lived on, believing they were the only ones left of the human race. And that it was their job to continue to make sure that humanity lasted.

  Brenna smiled at the clapping and happy children when the story ended. That was what made it all worth it for her, everything that she did and had to endure and everything that they probably always had to endure was the fact that she got to see children grow up happy, and healthy to a fuller extent, than the generation before.

  The night was a welcome distraction from what had happened with Atlas only two evenings before. Luckily, none of the colony had come to find her or to punish the tribe for her being there, and even luckier was the fact that nobody realized what she and Atlas had done. But she knew it would come out one way or the other soon enough.

  Atlas had been giving her a wide breadth since then and hadn’t tried to convince her to marry him. Part of her was grateful for that, but the other part worried that the longer they waited, the easier it was for them to get in trouble, for going ahead with what they did, without getting the blessing of the tribe. The act that they committed was sacred to the Batista. She hadn't given in to her desires just because she didn't agree. The colony may not have seen it as such a sacred thing all the time, but she agreed it was something important. In fact, her experience the night she was kicked out of the colony proved exactly how precious that part of her was.

  She didn't know if she regretted giving that to Atlas or not. It wasn't like there was someone else she wanted to give it to. There was no other man in her life that made her feel the way he did— happy, calm, safe, and strong. Those were the things that he made her feel daily. She was good at being a protector of herself and those around her, but she did not believe she would be any good domestically. Had she not needed the Batista for protection, could there have been somebody else out there that she wanted to give th
is to?

  Brenna was probably overthinking it, but it was like she had no control over her anxious mind these days.

  Brenna was pulled out of her thoughts as the children requested one more story before they had to go down for bed. A lot of the older population had already left the circle, and she was suddenly uncomfortable, noticing that Atlas was right across from her and looking at her that way once again.

  "Why doesn't Brenna tell us what it was like underground or maybe how they decided to build a colony on the surface?" It was getting dark, and for that, she was grateful, considering her ears were burning red for being called out like that. She didn't know if he was trying to make some kind of a point or maybe make her suffer for the way she had treated him after what they had done together. She hated being reminded that she didn't come from there, that she didn't belong. Before she could protest, all the children were chanting for her to tell them her story. Apparently, they wanted to know.

  Brenna didn't know if she was any good at telling stories, but she would have to try. "I think I was only about two or three when they first decided that someone needed to check the surface to see if it was habitable yet or if anyone else was alive. I don't remember much, and there's not a whole lot of record-keeping from that time. I know there were a lot of children being born and not enough resources or space to continue to stay underground. But I think the first time we sent any men out beyond the immediate area, I was about six. We already heard a few stories about the Batista but had no idea what was beyond. So, a group of men were sent out, seven to be specific. Only three made it back, and only two of them survived."