by Snow, Jenika
Sasha looked at his face, saw his jaw clenched tightly underneath the scruff of his cheek. He said nothing, didn’t even move, but his frustration was tangible.
Lucy slept soundly beside her. That was one of the good things at least, that her sister was a deep sleeper. It saved on panic and having to explain that shit had hit the fan once more.
“Everything okay?” she whispered softly and a second later he looked at her. He shook his head slowly before facing forward again, staring out the windshield.
“Car’s dead. An engine failure judging by the sound.” The sound of his hands tightening around the leather steering wheel came through loudly. “And I don’t have tools to fix it.” He took one of his hands off the steering wheel and rubbed it over his jaw, smoothing it over his beard. “But it’s too late to try to find another vehicle. We can bunker down here for now, pray no one fucks with us, and tomorrow morning start hiking and search for another vehicle.” He rested his head back and exhaled slowly. “Shit,” he said softly and closed his eyes. “If it’s not one fucking thing it’s another.”
It was like he spoke to himself, and she wanted to comfort him, to tell him everything was okay. But this was stressful, with obstacles continuously being thrown in their path. They didn’t even know for sure where they were headed.
They just hoped like hell they could find somewhere that was safe.
All Sasha kept thinking about was the incident with the men coming out of the woods, Malachi taking them down with the car, and how they were never truly safe unless they kept moving. And now they were stranded on the side of the road.
There were woods on either side of them, and the long stretch of road seemed to go on for miles. The moon was full and framed by the trees, so at least it was a good amount of light.
She tried to clear her mind of the negative thoughts, to tell herself that she was safe with Malachi, that Lucy would be okay. But she was afraid. And fear had people lashing out, taking risks and chances they normally wouldn’t.
If it came down to it, she’d protect her little sister with her life. She looked over at Malachi, his eyes now open as he stared out the front windshield again.
Sasha would protect him with her life as well.
She thought about how it had felt to have him between her thighs, his mouth on the most intimate part of her, the way his tongue had moved through her slit. She’d never had anyone touch her down there, and she’d wanted to go further. But in hindsight, she was glad he’d stopped. Because even though there might not be an opportune time to be together, she wanted to make it as special as she could.
He looked over at her, the shadows placing across his face, his expression hardened but softening almost instantly.
“I wish I could make things safe for the two of you,” he whispered.
“Everything will be okay,” she said softly, and although she couldn’t promise that, could never make a guarantee like that, Sasha could fight with everything in her to try and make it a possibility.
Malachi placed his hand over hers. It was big and stabilized her, making her feel calm, as if she were grounded. She felt sleep start to take control, a heavy weight settling in her core and pulling her under. It claimed her until she finally let the darkness take over.
* * *
The sun beat down through the break in the trees, twigs snapping beneath her feet. Sasha adjusted her backpack and looked over her shoulder at Lucy, her sister trailing close behind, grime and dirt covering her face. Her blond hair was a wild mass, any semblance of a ponytail a distant memory.
Malachi was just ahead of them, movements calculated, his eyes scanning their surroundings.
They’d been walking for hours, having collected all their belongings from the car and making their way into the woods. They had a map, but that wouldn’t help them out here in the middle of nowhere.
Malachi stopped and pulled out the compass, looking at it and then turning to the right, where north obviously was. He started walking again and they followed, no one speaking, but then again, there was really nothing that needed said.
It was another twenty minutes of them hiking before she heard Lucy grumble, “My feet hurt and I’m hungry.”
Sasha turned and walked over to Lucy, wrapped her arm around her shoulder, and pulled her in close. “We’re just gonna go for a little bit more before we stop, okay?” Sasha looked up and saw Malachi watching them. “She needs to rest. We’ve been going for hours.”
He gave a grunt and nodded. “We have hours left before we’re halfway to the next town.” He looked around, as if surveying the land, maybe planning their next move. “We should probably just set up camp and start first thing in the morning. Sun is gonna set soon anyway.”
Lucy sighed in relief and sat down, the leaves crunching underneath her slight weight.
Movement was life, and that’s how they lived now.
Survival, fear, pain. All of those and more was what made up the world now. There were no safety measures in place, no room for weakness. If they weren’t strong they would die. It was as simple as that.
She watched Malachi get right to work setting up camp. He started pitching a tent, one Sasha knew he’d snagged from one of the towns they’d stopped in.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked and he glanced up at her and shook his head.
“Just relax.” All of that sounded nice, but there were things that needed done if they were camping for the night.
She let Lucy lean against a tree to rest, and went to work on getting them something prepared to eat. She grabbed a can of baked beans, a couple cans of fruit, and found some Vienna sausages. Not the most gourmet meal, but for the way things were going, it was pretty decent.
Once the tent was set up, Malachi went about making them a fire. Lucy had since wrapped a blanket around herself, her legs pulled up, her knees to her chest. She was tired, the sight of her eyelids starting to fall closed telling Sasha she’d be asleep before too long.
“Come on, Lucy,” Sasha said and helped her over to the fire. “As soon as you eat you can sleep.” She heated up the beans and cut up the sausages, mixing them together.
They were quiet as they ate, but it was a comfortable silence, the kind where you didn’t need to make conversation just for the hell of it. Once they were done, Sasha helped Lucy into the tent for the night. Although Sasha was exhausted, she couldn’t see herself sleeping right now.
She left the tent and zipped it up, making her way toward the fire, where Malachi was sitting. He’d found a couple dead logs in the forest, dragged them over, and they were now makeshift benches.
He sat on one of them, his forearms resting on his bent knees. His focus was on the fire, as if he were deep in thought. She sat on the ground and crossed her legs, pulling her jacket tighter around her and staring at the flames.
Long moments passed before she felt his gaze. She lifted her head and looked at him, saw Malachi’s focus trained right on her, a serious expression on his face. He straightened while still sitting.
“Come here, Sasha,” he commanded in a deep voice, and she felt her body being pulled toward him, as if she had no say in the matter. She wasn’t about to deny him anyway, because that would be denying herself.
She stood and walked toward him. When she was just a foot from where he was, he reached out and curled his hand around her hip, pulling her forward until she found herself sitting on his lap. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and the very big, thick evidence of his arousal dug into her bottom.
She felt her face heat, her heart race. Arousal licked at her very core, claiming every single part of her. And as they stared at each other, as he lifted his hand and cupped her cheek, she felt the world fall away.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?” he whispered against her lips. “The quietness of the woods, the privacy we have right now, in this moment.”
She licked her lips and nodded, feeling her belly tighten in response. “Yes.” He didn’t kiss her again, just pul
led her in close and held her. And as she lay against his chest, the quietness surrounding them, for just a moment she didn’t think about all the bad shit. She let the quietness comfort her and told herself that things could be a lot worse.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ramblings of a crazy man
Against all odds, Malachi dozed off, his back pressed against a tree, a weapon on his lap. He and Sasha didn’t even get a chance to go into the tent, so Lucy got to enjoy it all to herself. His back was stiff, and his neck hurt but he wasn’t going to complain. Life had never been easy for him and he didn’t even know why he expected today to be any different.
He wasn’t ready to move, though, while Sasha looked so peaceful curled up between his legs. She was hugging one of his thighs as if it was a little teddy bear.
Running his fingers through her hair, he waited, trying for patience, even though his leg was dead and he really needed to pee.
After a short time as his need grew, Sasha finally began to stir.
Again, Lucy hadn’t come out of the tent, but that was okay.
Sasha sighed. Her head moved and she finally lifted herself up and looked at him.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Why?”
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“I’m not complaining,” he said and grinned. “But as much as I like this, I do have to go to the bathroom.”
“Oh, gosh, of course.” Sasha pulled away from him rather abruptly and he missed the connection with her.
“I won’t go far.”
Her cheeks were pink, but he got up and headed to the edge of their camp, going behind a tree.
When he returned, he used some of their water to wash his hands.
Sasha was already heating up some beans as Lucy walked out of the tent.
Her younger sister looked really grumpy as she slumped down at the edge of the fire.
“I hate this,” Lucy said.
Sasha chuckled. “I thought you loved camping.”
“I miss having a bed, and parents to tuck me in. This trip sucks. I want to go back home.”
“You and me both, kid,” Malachi said.
“You had parents to tuck you in when you were afraid?”
He chuckled. “No, I didn’t. I only ever had myself to take care of me, but I did it.”
“That must be lonely. I miss my mom and dad.”
“I know you do.” He dropped down beside her, knowing Sasha was watching them. He wasn’t annoyed with Lucy’s tantrum. He got it. He really did. She was so young and in comparison, should be home, surrounded by the love of her parents and the protection of a family. “If you want, I can take care of you. Tuck you in when you need it. I promise you, Lucy, I will take care of you and I won’t let anything happen to you and your sister.”
“I know,” she said, resting her head against his arm. “But who will take care of you?”
“I will,” Sasha said. “We will all take care of each other. We can make this work.” She smiled at her sister and Malachi nodded at her in thanks. “We’re a team.”
“A team? I like that, Sasha. I like being a team. We are totally a team.” Lucy got to her feet and clapped. “We’re Team Awesome.”
“I vote for that.”
“Yeah, and me.”
Sasha finished with the beans and passed them around for them to eat out of the cans.
“Do you have any family?” Lucy asked.
“Me?” Malachi asked, looking at her.
“Duh, yeah, you.”
“No, I don’t have any family. I don’t have anyone except the two of you.”
“You knew that, Lucy,” Sasha said.
“Oh, right, yeah. Sorry.”
Sasha offered him a smile.
He couldn’t believe he was camping with these two. It was almost liberating, if he were being honest.
“It’s fine.” He’d never been the kind of man to settle down.
“When we find a house, like abandoned and haunted, can we stay there for a gazillion years?” Lucy asked.
Sasha burst out laughing. “You’d rather stay in a haunted house than hike a little more?”
“I hate hiking. Can’t we steal bikes?”
“No. You’d break your neck.”
Malachi listened to the easy banter between the two as he packed up the tent and started to get the backpacks ready.
They were going to need more supplies again soon. He wanted to get to the next town but seeing as they weren’t even at the halfway point, they really had to get moving; otherwise they were going to be starving by the time they actually hit town. Hunger created a whole other host of problems he really didn’t want to think about. The main one being sloppy protection.
Hunger would control their needs more than safety.
With everything packed, he helped put one of the bags on Lucy’s back, strapping it up. He’d added a few extra items to his own backpack so Lucy wasn’t slowed down too much.
She was the slowest of the group and because of that, she needed all the help she could get.
Next, he helped Sasha, who had already lifted the bag onto her shoulders. She was really pushing it with helping and he feared she was going to hurt herself in proving to him she was just as strong as him.
It didn’t matter to him how strong she was. He needed her to take things steady, but one look at her backpack, and he saw she’d also taken more stuff off Lucy.
“You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Don’t touch my backpack,” she said. “You think I didn’t see you changing Lucy’s stuff? I need you just as much as you need me and I can’t afford for you to be putting yourself at risk. We both know Lucy can’t make this trip carrying her fair share of stuff. We can.”
“You’re going to hurt yourself,” Malachi said.
“That’s my decision. I’m not made of glass and I can do this. I can’t lose you either, Malachi.”
He wanted to argue some more but saw it was pointless to do so. Sasha’s mind was made up and when she was on a mission, it would seem no one got in her way.
Not that he blamed her.
Lifting his bag onto his back, he tightened up the straps. The beast weighed a freaking ton. He didn’t argue or show to the ladies that he was struggling.
He simply started to walk in the direction the map indicated.
They had been walking for around an hour in complete silence before Lucy filled it.
“What would you do if you suddenly jumped in an ocean full of sharks?” Lucy asked.
“Shit myself,” Malachi said.
Lucy burst out laughing.
“Did the sharks magically appear?” Sasha asked.
“No. You knew they were there.”
“Why would anyone jump into shark-infested waters?”
“I don’t know. Curiosity?”
Sasha chuckled. “There are a lot of things in this world I’m curious about, but swimming with sharks is not one of them.”
“What if we have to take a boat out and sail the seas to get to new land? What if we are tossed overboard? What if there’s a great white shark going to kill us?” Lucy asked.
“One, we’re not on a boat. Two, we will pillage this entire land before we even have to cross any ocean. Three, calm down.”
Lucy took several deep breaths. “You’re right. It’s crazy to think about being with lots of sharks.”
Again, Malachi couldn’t help but think the kid was adorable. Who would think about jumping into shark-infested waters at a time like this?
The sound of a stick snapping made him pause.
He held his hand up behind him, letting the other two know not to move. Not to make a sound.
The noise came from right in front of him.
Grabbing his gun, he made sure it was loaded, ready to take any necessary shot.
He wasn’t willing to take chances.
“Do not shoot,” a man said from several feet in front of them.
; “Who are you?” Malachi asked.
“I’m one of the tree people.”
“Tree people?” Sasha moved up to his side with Lucy behind her. The younger girl was trying to look around her big sister to see what was going on.
“I see you’ve got a gun so can I come closer really slowly?”
“How many of you are there?” Malachi asked.
“Just little old me, you know. I don’t have anyone with me. I don’t pose a threat to you or your wife, or your daughter.”
Malachi wasn’t going to correct him.
“Come out with your hands in the air.” He couldn’t believe he was shouting the same thing a cop had once said to him.
“Do you really think this is a good idea?” Sasha asked.
“It’s a better idea than bumping into this guy.”
The man slithered around the tree. He was partially naked and had a full-length beard that came down to his chest.
Malachi still held the gun even though the man was unarmed.
There seemed to be a craziness about him. “Tree Man comes in peace.”
“That’s your name?” Lucy asked. “Tree Man?”
“Kind of cool, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, totally cool.”
Sasha kept a hand on her sister, not allowing her to go forward to talk to him.
The man before them seemed a little unstable.
“What are you doing in the woods?”
“I’m surviving. You move through the woods, you got a better chance of surviving unless you get eaten by a bear or a wolf, or a coyote.” The man started to giggle. “Coyote.”
“I think we should leave,” Sasha murmured.
“Are you trying to find the special place?” Tree Man asked.
“Special place?”
“You know. The haven? The sanctuary. The place where all non-infected humans are going. There’s going to be a war, you know. Men fighting men. There’s even a price of death. A man fighting death. A zombie.” Tree Man put his hands out and stuck his tongue out.
“This guy is freaking me out,” Sasha said.