The Survivors (Book 2): Autumn (24 page)

I grunted wordlessly; I had no idea how to verbalize what I was feeling.

“Hey,” he whispered, trying to catch my chin and tilt it up as he so often did, but for once I resisted him.  “Please don’t be mad, honey.  I was just playing around.  I thought you liked the water.”

I could hear the hurt in his voice, and that softened my annoyance
.  He was as new to this as I was, I reminded myself.  He had no way to know what would hurt me unless I found some way to articulate it.

“It wasn’t the dunking; I was already angry by then,” I told him
.  My voice came out harsher than I intended it to.  When I finally looked up at him I could see the pain in his eyes.

“What did I do?”
His voice was confused and pleading.  For the first time in our relationship, he didn’t understand me, but even though I’d hurt him with my sharp tone he was still trying.  Guilt suddenly reared her ugly head, and shanked Annoyance right in the kidney.  I looked down again, but this time it was for a whole other reason.

“It’s just… I… I don’t know how to say it.”
I sighed heavily and closed my eyes; I felt his strong hands on my shoulders, rubbing me gently through the towel.

“Please try?” he whispered, drawing me up against him
.  “If I’ve done something that hurts or offends you, give me the chance to make it up to you.  You know that I would never, ever deliberately hurt you.”

My shoulders sagged as I felt his warm, comforting bulk press up against me, holding me close
.  He was right, I did know that.  I knew it wasn’t his fault.  He couldn’t understand unless I explained it.  He was a sweet, kind man, and he didn’t deserve the cold shoulder.

“I-I… I don’t like it when the others laugh at me, at us
.  When you get me all, you know, blushing and stuff, and then they’re there and they laugh.  I feel so embarrassed.” Tears stung at my eyes; it all felt so ridiculous, but I couldn’t help how it made me feel.  “Rebecca laughed at me after you made me blush before.  I was so humiliated.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”
He brushed away my tears with one hand, and leaned down to plant a kiss on my forehead.  “I didn’t mean to.  I guess I’m just… out of practice on how to behave in public.”

“I think we all are,” I agreed, snuggling up against him
.  His skin felt simultaneously warm and cool where the wind had chilled it, and closeness always felt so wonderful.

“What can I do to make it better?
Or not do, so it doesn’t happen again?” He sounded anxious, far younger than his thirty-two years of age.  Like me, his emotional growth had been truncated by the disaster that had devastated our planet.  At the age of twenty-two, his world had ended, and he had no romantic experience to fall back on except what he was learning from me.  “Would it be better if I didn’t touch you in front of others?”

“No,” I hurried to reassure him
.  “I don’t mind if you touch me.  I like that.  It’s just, sometimes when you tease me… you know how easy it is for you to get me worked up.  I’m vulnerable when I’m worked up.  You’re the only person I trust to see me that vulnerable.”

I heard a soft intake of breath; when I glanced up at him, I finally saw understanding dawn in his eyes
.  He nodded and offered me a tiny smile.  It was then I knew that I had reached him.  He hugged me gently and I hugged him back, snuggling my face up against his broad chest as a pleasant sense of tranquillity drifted through me.

We had officially survived our first fight, if you could call that little tussle a fight
.  At least this time, no one ended up with a cracked jaw.  I felt him nuzzle me, the rough stubble of his chin brushing my cheek as he put his lips beside my ear.  His voice was a whisper, cool enough to chill my wet skin but warm enough that I only shivered in the pleasant way.  “Are we okay, then?”

“We’re okay,” I whispered back, brushing my wet hair out of the way so that I could kiss him and show him that I still loved him
.  I felt him relax as our lips met; his hands were so gentle, it felt like nothing in the world could ever make him want to deliberately hurt me.

All of a sudden, the troubles of our lives seemed so far away, and the only thing in the world that mattered was the man in my arms.

***

Michael and I retreated back to our room hand-in-hand
.  I felt buoyant, so much better than I had a few minutes before.  Despite how recently I’d been in a sulk, I now felt happy and content.  More importantly, I finally understood what people meant when they talked about the make-up period after a fight.

I definitely looked forward to spending some pleasant alone-time with
him later on in the evening.  Hell, I would have dragged him off to bed right then and there, except for a promise I had made to my sister.  It was almost sundown, and I’d sworn to contact her on the first evening after we arrived.

When we reached our room, we found a few more towels waiting for us, as well as an old plastic drying rack for our wet clothes
.  Michael set up the frame, while I peeled off my sodden garments and flung them into a pile on the floor.  By the time I was down to my underwear, I realised that I was being watched.

"What?"
I shot Michael a look over my shoulder, and narrowed my eyes at him as though I were on the verge of taking offense.  This time I wasn't, but two could play at the teasing game.

The poor man looked so tormented that I couldn't keep the ruse up for long
.  A smile snuck its way past my mask of indignation, at which point he suddenly realised that I was pulling his leg.  His expression brightened immediately, and with it returned his wicked sense of humour.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I like watching you take your clothes off," he retorted, folding his arms across his broad chest
.  Suddenly, his smile turned impish, and he made an encouraging gesture with one hand.  "Oh, don't stop there.  The rest of your clothing is soaked as well."

I felt the heat rise in my cheeks at his flirtation, but since we were alone I didn't mind at all
.  While his cheeky humour had gotten me so upset before, now it struck just the right chord with my increasingly playful mood.  I found myself giving serious consideration to whether we had time for a little indulgence before sunset.

Michael snuck up behind me while I was still frozen with indecision, and the feel of his chest against my back made the choice for me
.  Skylar could wait a few more minutes.

“Here, let me help,” he murmured, his lips right behind my ear; I felt nimble fingers unfastening my bra and then a
chill as he peeled the wet garment away to expose my skin to the air.  A shiver ran right through me, but it was the good kind of shiver; goose bumps rose across my breast.

“Why thank you, sir
.  How terribly helpful of you,” I purred back.  I hadn’t even realised that I was capable of making that kind of sound until I met him, and it never failed to startle me.  Thankfully, Michael distracted me by slipping his hands around my body, his fingers exploring my moist skin.

One drifted down across my belly, drawing me back against his chest, while the other snuck up to cup my breast
.  His fingertips tickled me in all the right places, and his lips graced the curve of my neck with tender kisses and nibbles.  I felt myself responding instinctively to his touch; all thoughts of my sister were gone, lost in the overwhelming, animal desire to mate. 

Before I rightly knew what was happening, the flimsy, wet cloth that separated our bodies had been stripped away, leaving us naked in one another’s arms
.  Lost to the moment, I was more than happy to let Michael guide me up against a nearby wall, and take me from behind.

Although we coupled like wild things, never for a moment did that gentleness fade from his hands or his disposition
.  Never once did I feel any kind of fear, only pleasure so intense I couldn’t hope to contain it.  I turned my head, seeking his lips with my own; he understood and kissed me with a heat that drove any rational thought right out of my mind.

Each time we made love, I found myself shocked by the intensity of the feelings he stirred in me
.  Each time, it seemed so impossible that what we had felt before could improve, and yet each time he left me breathless and astounded.  I marvelled at just how intense and wonderful it felt.

Although it had been a decade ago and I may have simply forgotten, I had no memory of ever reaching climax through the awkward fumbling of my teenage boyfriends
.  This was new, and this was special.  I vaguely remembered faking it for the sake of their egos; with Michael, I had never once felt the desire to fake anything.  He could bring me to the edge of orgasm with the merest touch of his lips or his fingertips.

I wondered if perhaps it bespoke more of my feelings for him than of his abilities as a lover, but I decided it didn’t matter
.  That’s not to say that he wasn’t gifted, because he was, but I vaguely recalled someone once telling me that the pleasures of sex were always more intense when backed by the emotions of intimacy and love.  That certainly seemed to be true.

Our lips parted and I felt the strength drain right out of me, but he caught me before I could slip away
.  I felt myself bundled up and carried off to bed, where I just relaxed contentedly in the warmth of companionship as I recovered from our brief but potent tryst.

When I regained my senses, I found myself draped across Michael’s lap comfortably, while he sat on the bed with his back against the wall
.  There was a sheen of sweat on his tanned skin, and for some reason I found it fascinating.  I couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and trace a finger across his chest and down his toned belly.

One of his eyes flickered open at my touch, watching my finger’s progress
.  I looked up and gave him a smile, and he smiled contentedly in return.

“If that’s make-up sex, then we should fight more often,” he murmured in that deep, husky voice of his
.  As always, it sent a chill down my spine, but his words made me laugh.

“How about if we skip the fighting and just go straight to the make-up sex every time?” I suggested.

“Good thinking.  I like it,” he agreed with a languid grin, running his fingertips through my wet hair.  I closed my eyes and sighed contentedly, only to have my impending doze interrupted in advance.  “Hey, don’t go to sleep; you have to call your sister.”

I grunted at Michael’s reminder, then opened my eyes and fixed him with my best effort at the sad puppy eyes
.  “Don’t wanna.”

Apparently, he was much better at it than I was
.  When I tried it on him, he only laughed.  “If you don’t, by this time tomorrow we’ll have her on the doorstep freaking out.”

He did have a point
.  Knowing Skylar, she’d probably do exactly that.

“
I'm up, I’m up.” I sighed heavily and straightened up, perching myself coyly on his knee.  “But, if I have to get up then so do you.”

His sigh echoed mine as he slowly sat up as well
.  One big hand ran up the length of my thigh, and then shifted up to cup my cheek.  I turned my head willingly as he guided me into another kiss – a tender one this time, soft and affectionate, the kind of kiss I wished that I could curl up in and live inside forever.  Alas, it was not to be.

All too swiftly, he broke the kiss and gazed down at me, absently stroking the curve of my jaw with his calloused thumb
.  “I know, my love.  I have to go rally the troops.  This will just have to do until bedtime.”

“Bedtime isn’t very far away
.  I’m sure we’ll manage.” I smiled up at him, feeling a surge of hot emotion through my chest as I gazed up into his handsome face.

“Oh, we’ll manage,” he agreed, “but tonight…”

His words trailed off with an entirely different kind of heat, one that made my belly go all quivery at the mere sound of it.  I bit my lip and looked down for a moment, then flicked my gaze back up to regard him.  “Is that a promise?”

“No,” he answered with his usual razor wit and wicked grin
.  “It’s a threat.  Now, put your clothes back on and go call your sister.”

I gave him a pout of course, even though he was right
.  The sun was just dipping below the horizon, and I had promised to call.

It took a while to track down Rebecca and get her permission to use their radio to contact home, but once I found her she agreed right away.  She led me to the radio and briefly showed me how to use it, then hurried off to gather everyone else for dinner.

I tuned the radio carefully to make sure it was fully in the band, then pressed the submit button and spoke into the microphone
.  “Arapuni Dam to Skylar McDermott, come in Skylar.”

There was no answer
.  I waited a few moments then tried again, tweaking the tuner a little to the left and the right.  Again, no reply.  I frowned and twiddled the buttons, trying to boost the signal without really knowing for sure what I was doing.  Thankfully, I got lucky; on the third try, I received a reply.

“We receive you, Arapuni; this is Skylar
.  Who is speaking?”

I smiled with relief and sat back for a moment to let my concern flow away before I replied
.  “It’s me, sis.  We arrived safely a few hours ago.”

“Sandy!
Thank God, I was worried.” Skylar’s reply was crackly, but the signal was strong, “How are you? How was the trip?”

“We had a few hiccups, but we got there in the end
.  You’re not even going to believe what happened, though,” I answered, and then I took a deep breath and launched into the story.  I told her about losing the Hilux but gaining a little girl and a pet, and about the ambush at Pukeatua.  I glossed over the more gruesome details, though.  There was no need for anyone to know those but me.  I told her about meeting up with Hemi’s tribe, and about the situation at the power station.

“Wow, you did have an adventure
.  I’m glad everyone’s okay,” she answered quietly, but then there was a pause.  A distinctive kind of pause told me something was wrong at home.  “There’s… something weird going on around here…”

“Weird?” I echoed, furrowing my brow in concern
.  “What kind of weird? Good-weird? Bad-weird? Weird-weird?”

“Weird-weird,” she answered, sounding a bit uncertain
.  “It’s Maddy.  The last two nights since you guys left, she’s been having nightmares.  She keeps waking up in the middle of the night, screaming that her bed is on fire.  The doctor says it’s just a phase, but I don’t know.  Maddy’s…”

“…special.”
I finished the sentence for her, understanding exactly what she meant.  Although she was only seven years old, Madeline Cross had shown intuition well beyond her years on a number of occasions.  I’m usually the biggest sceptic on the planet, but Maddy had proven that she was anything but an ordinary child.

“Yeah
.  I don’t know, sis.  I feel like maybe we should listen to her.  What do I do?” It wasn’t often that my sister sounded lost, but right now she did.  I thought about it for a moment before I answered.

“Well, it’s better to be safe than sorry,” I said decisively, and then I started issuing orders
.  “There’s a bunch of fire-fighting stuff in one of the downstairs storage rooms.  If I remember correctly, there should be three or four small fire extinguishers and half-a-dozen hoses in different sizes.  What I want you to do is put one of the little fire extinguishers in your room, one in the doctor’s room, and one in the kitchen under the sink.

“Then I want you to take the hoses and spread them out as well
.  Put one in each bathroom and one in the kitchen.  Make sure everyone has one of those little plastic adaptors on their tap so the hose fits, and check the hoses all work.

“Lastly, I want you to take the biggest hose and hide it under the porch of the house across the street
.  You know, the one with the fallen-down tree in the yard? If there are any spare fire extinguishers, put them there as well.  Okay?”

“Okay,” Skye agreed, sounding relieved that someone was taking her concerns seriously
.  “I think we should move the you-know-whats, too.  Just in case.”

“The… oh, right, the you-know-
whats.” It took a second to click that she was talking about the guns.  “Yes, absolutely.  Put them in the downstairs room of my apartment.  I left you the keys.  There’s a little office at the bottom of the stairs that can be locked from both directions.” I thought for a second.  “Come to think of it, put some spare food and water in there, too.  Enough to last all of us three days.  Some spare torches and batteries, and one of the first aid kits – you know, emergency supplies.”

“Good idea, sis
.  I’m going to go do that right now, before it gets too dark.” Skye heaved a heavy sigh.  “Talk to you at sunset tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”
I paused for a moment, searching for the right way to phrase what was on my mind.  “Before you go, though… how are you, little sis? Are you holding up okay?”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a while
.  When she spoke again, her voice was subdued but determined.  “I’m coping.  I’ll be okay, I just need time.  I’ve been spending a lot of time playing with Maddy, to keep myself distracted.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” I answered
.  It wasn’t a lie, either; I worried about her, but she was stronger than I gave her credit for.  She’d always be my baby sister, even now that she was grown up.  That was my problem though, not hers.  The last thing she needed was me hounding her to express her feelings.  “If you ever need to talk, just let me know.”

“Thanks, sis
.  I better go before it gets dark.  Good luck with your tree.”

We signed off then, but I sat for a few minutes longer staring into space as I thought over what she’d said
.  I found myself way more concerned than I probably should have been under ordinary circumstances – but Maddy was special.  It was more logical to think that she was just a little kid having nightmares, but as I’d told Skye, I felt that it was better to be safe than sorry.

Besides, the precautions were all logical and reasonable
.  Anything could happen.  It made sense to be prepared.  Scout’s motto and all that.  Once I calmed my nerves, I focused on the task at hand.  The sooner we got that stupid tree out, the sooner we could go home and keep an eye on things personally.

I rose from my seat and went looking for the others, following the sound of their noise through the maze of passages
.  After living in the bunker, it was familiar and comforting to hear the echo of human voices through cold, concrete tunnels, even if the tunnels themselves were new to me.

When I found the other survivors, they were gathered in a noisy mob around a small office-turned-dining-room
.  There wasn’t enough seating for everyone, so Rebecca had put on a buffet instead.  My friends stood around or sat on the floor, eating and talking to our hosts.  The food was nothing to write home about, but it was hot and filling.  After ten years living as scavengers, most of us weren’t all that picky anymore.

I slunk through the mob and filled up a plate of my own, then wandered over to join Michael
.  He was sitting on the floor in a corner with Priyanka and the dog, talking to the girl while they ate.  They both glanced up at my approach; I was both amused and flattered to see their eyes light up at the sight of me, though for completely different reasons.

“Hey guys,” I greeted them, as I settled down on the floor beside Michael
.  Priyanka waved happily and showed me the utensil in her hand.

“Look
look! I am forking,” she told me proudly.  Michael snorted with laughter and almost choked on his mouthful of food.

“You mean, ‘I am using a fork’,” he corrected her gently once he managed to swallow his food, his eyes shining with good-natured fun.

“Ooh.” She stared at him for a moment, and then beamed at me again.  “Look, I am using a fork!”

“What a good girl you are
.  Well done,” I praised her, reaching over to give her an affectionate pat on the head.  She positively glowed at the commendation.  My heart would have melted, if it hadn’t already been a big, soppy puddle of goo for that kid.  She was so sweet that I had no kind of resistance against her charm.  She even made me feel a bit maternal, which was unusual for me in all kinds of different ways.

“How’s everyone at home doing?” Michael asked.

I glanced at him and shrugged.  “Maddy’s been having nightmares about fires, so Skye was pretty freaked out.  I’ve got her out right now fireproofing the motel, just in case.”

“You think it’s a premonition?”
Michael looked as dubious as I felt.

“No, of course not
– but there’s no harm in being prepared.  I mean, look what happened to Anahera’s tribe.” I shrugged absently, shovelling a fork-full of food into my mouth.  After swallowing I added, “Having a plan in place in case of fire is a good idea.”

“Yeah, that’s true
.  It’s not like we can call the fire department anymore.” Michael nodded slowly and leaned back against the wall.  “Well, I suppose I should go get this meeting started.”

“Probably a good idea, before they get into the rum,” I agreed with a smile, then I leaned over to touch his hand reassuringly
.  “Good luck.”

“Thanks.”
He sighed heavily and levered his powerful frame up off the ground.  He returned his plate to the receptacle that waited for soiled dishes, then he clapped his hands loudly and yelled over the noise.  “Okay, guys.  Shut up for a minute.”

To my surprise, the din settled down and all eyes turned to him straight away
.  Michael took the opportunity while he had it, and went over to stand in front of an old whiteboard that still hung on the wall from the days when this room had been used for business.  He picked up a marker that was miraculously still working, and began sketching on the whiteboard as he spoke.

“I think everyone knows why we’re here, but just in case anyone’s unclear, there is a tree stuck beneath the power
station,” he explained as he illustrated the situation underwater.  “I went down a few hours ago and had a look.  It’s wedged in the first intake, which is basically a big rotating fan.  To get it out, we’re going to need to get down there and cut off all the branches, then winch it out.

“Rebecca says they have enough scuba gear here for three people, so I’m going to need volunteers to learn to dive.”
He paused and glanced around.  Hands came up from most of the people in the room.  “Okay, good.  Hemi and Iorangi, you’re in; the rest of you will need to be on the river bank to clear the debris we bring to you.  I may swap you out later, depending on how it goes.

“Sandy and Richard.”
He shifted to look at me, and gave me a faint smile.  Someone in the room wolf-whistled, but they were silenced by jeering before I could figure out who it was.  When the room quieted down again, Michael continued.  “I have a special project for you two.  Jim tells me there’s a small boat kept in a shed a little way down river.  It’s designed for this and has a winch on the back, so we’re going to need it.  I want you to find it and figure out how to get it going.”

I nodded reassuringly, even though I knew nothing about boats
.  Over the years, I’d learned enough to jerry-rig most mechanical things back to life for a little while, so I had confidence I could at least get the engine going.  Richard could deal with the ‘boat’ part of the equation.

“I’m sure all of you want to get home as soon as possible,” he continued, to grunts of agreement from around the room, “so we’ll get started at first light
.  Don’t stay up too late.  I will be waking you up at the crack of dawn regardless of how tired or hung-over you are.”

He flashed an impish grin at the crowd, who laughed and jeered as he finished up
.  Once it quieted down, he moved back over to where I sat and offered me a hand up.  I had finished eating while he was talking, so I took it and eased myself up to my feet.

“You know, I was wondering about something.”
I glanced at him curiously as I put my plate in the basket.  “I just realised while you were talking that the lights down here are still on.  How are the lights on when the power grid is offline?”

“I was talking to Rebecca about that earlier, actually.”
He threaded an arm around my waist casually.  “She told me they have a solar-powered generator in case of emergencies.”

“Oh.”
My mood brightened immediately.  “So… hot showers?”

“Yes ma’am.”
He shot me a sideways look, his voice soft enough that only I could hear it over the renewed noise in the room.  “It’s almost time for bed anyway, so why don’t you tuck Priya in, I’ll take the dog out, and then we can see where it goes from there.”

“I like this plan,” I agreed readily, giving him a sideways squeeze before I detached myself from his embrace
.  I looked at Priyanka, and discovered that she’d finished eating and was watching the two of us with a puzzled look on her face.  The moment she realised I was paying attention to her again, her expression brightened.  “Bedtime, sweetie.  Come on.”

“Okies,” she answered happily, bounding to her feet
.  I took her hand and showed her where to put her plate and utensils, then led her out of the room.  We wound our way through the passages to one of the communal lavatories so that she could relieve herself, before I took her back to her little sleeping chamber.