Flesh (Flesh 1)

“Babe, we got smoke signals.”

She raised her face to the morning sun and squinted into the distance. The bite on her neck was prominent against her pale skin. His handiwork. He couldn’t help but be satisfied in some way. What a lie. His face hurt from smiling. They’d woken wrapped around each other and taken their time leaving the bed. Then she’d gone to talk to Dan and Finn had given them space. Making the only decision he could in the circumstances, the one that would bring her back to him.

“Huh,” she said, staring at the smoke.

“Huh?” the big guy enquired, slipping an arm around her waist. Finn wanted the ease of familiarity. To be able to tuck her in against him whenever the mood hit him as Dan did. Finn would have it. “Care to elaborate on that, my love?” the big guy asked.

She shrugged. “Last time we did a meet and greet it didn’t work out so well.”

“We’ll be careful. Scout things out,” said Finn, watching her careful y. “I think we need to.”

Dan nodded approval. “I agree.”

“Okay.” The frown on her face did not lessen. Her reluctance made sense after the past few days, but they needed to know if these people were legit. If they stayed on the road they’d eventually run into trouble beyond their ability to handle. Their chances of survival were lower alone in the open.

“But you’re not happy about it.” Dan kissed her forehead, rested his chin atop her head. Finn had seen the man do similar a dozen times, still didn’t stop a twinge of jealousy running through him. He didn’t normal y get territorial. Nothing about this situation was normal behavior, however.

She shrugged.

“We will be careful,” said Dan.

Al forced a smile, nodded. “Yep. I know.”

“Baby …”

“No, really, it’s okay. I know we need to do this, check out other people and such,” she said. Al squared her shoulders, ready to fight. The way she picked herself up time and again got to him. Taking her back to bed right then was out of the question, but he wanted to, badly.

Finn watched her, sipping at his coffee. Not hot coffee, room temperature, but he would take what he could get. “Time to hit the road then.”

In the end it took them forty-eight minutes to reach the fortified settlement to the north. It wasn

’t the Great Wall of China, but an

impressive barrier stood before them all the same.

The wall consisted of everything from a string of semitrailers to a toppled freight train. Bulldozed buildings filled in gaps here and there. The barrier stood as tall as a house and surrounded the bulk of the center of Blackstone. A sign told them the town had been founded in 1875 with a population of 1150.

Finn revised the figure to approximately a hundred. Stunning, given the severity of the plague and how quickly most places had succumbed to the accompanying chaos.

They had paused at a rest stop just outside of town. He gave a low whistle and swung down from the tree limb he had perched on while Al watched on nervously. Whether she was nervous over his jump or the township, he didn’t know.

“Seems they’ve managed to save whole families,” he said. “There’s a creek running along the front so they’ve got water. A cleared area over the other side of town, maybe a sports ground, for livestock. A few guards at the front gate, some along the wall. It’s impressive, reasonably wel organized.”

Dan dug at his front teeth with the tip of his tongue. “Wonder what their welcome wagon’s like?”

“Good question.” Finn shoved the binoculars back into his pack.

“Finn, have you still got your badge?” Al enquired. The first words she had spoken since they set out.

He nodded. “I’ll test the waters.”

“No,” she grabbed at his arm, held him in place. Her gray eyes were emphatic, deadly serious. “We go together or not at all.”

Dan shot him a look, and he met it with one of his own. “Al …”

“No. Again,” she growled, “to the both of you.”

“Yeah, ah …” The big guy started, sighed and stopped. “But it is two against one, sweet. We do kind of have the majority here.”

Al let Finn loose but appeared the antithesis of cooperation. Her hands rested on her h*ps and her mouth tightened as she looked between the two of them.

“Don’t make the mistake of believing you make decisions for me, either of you.” Her fingernails tapped against the butt of the gun tucked into her belt.

He knew the safety was on. He had checked it himself. Stil , he wondered if the threat of her finger was real or imagined.

“I wouldn’t appreciate it,” she said quietly. The tapping of her nail grew louder.

Finn stepped forward. “Al, we just want you safe.”

“If we misrepresent ourselves to these people they’re going to mistrust us from the start. There are families in there. You said so, Finn. They’re going to be cautious, not crazy,” she said. It made sense but he hated the thought of taking her into the unknown. He checked out the trail behind them to hide the grimace on his face. Weighing the odds gave no comfort at all. There wouldn’t be anything controlled about this situation. She could get hurt. Or, this could be their ticket back into civilization. What remained of it at least.

“Think about it,” she said. “They might be less likely to send us packing if they see we’re together.”

The big guy nodded slowly, eyes glued to Al. “Like a family. Alright. I happen to agree with you this time. Sending the kid in on his own doesn’t feel right. Shall we walk it? Might seem less aggressive, more open. Show them we come in peace.”

“I hate it. Though I think it would be best.” Finn nodded. “Al, if I tell you to get down at any time, you do it. No hesitation.

Understand?”

She gave a tight, brief smile. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Finn wanted to reach out to touch her, but didn’t. In all likelihood she was right. A group with a woman would seem less of a risk than a lone male. It had already been proven that women were a prized commodity. If anyone was in danger of being shot on sight, it wasn’t her. “I’ll lead. Stay close to Dan.”

Time to go to work.

Al dragged her heels along the dusty road, kicking rocks and looking straight ahead. A recalcitrant school kid would have shown more enthusiasm. Even she, however, couldn’t put off the inevitable. They were going to meet other people.