Lovin' in the Apocalypse Ch. 14

"You ever gonna check?"

Tom looked at Cameron. That felt like a dig but it was hard to tell. The man was being cagey in a way that was not directly obvious.

"In North Carolina? I very seriously doubt it."

"Well, it doesn't seem worth obsessing over. I mean, it was just a car. We got bigger shit to worry about."

"Sure, man."

That was the last attempt at small talk. The men performed the rest of their watch in relative silence. Ironically, they were both thinking about the same thing. Rachel was in their heads, keeping their imaginations awake. Cameron was constantly thinking about the small woman and how it felt to hold her in his arms. He knew how much fun it would be to have unrestricted sex with her. Hell, she was all but throwing it at him the last time they were together. He wondered if he would be able to control himself if they were ever alone again. He was starting to doubt it.

Tom was thinking about Rachel too but in a much different context. He had mental images of her licking white cum off of smooth, dark skin. He owned memories of watching Rachel pleasure herself while he was balls deep in a much younger woman. His imagination was busy repeating the illicit words and sounds that were shared in his home by two women. Tom's real life was comparably better than most people's fantasies. It was little wonder why he was not as wound up like Cameron.

Tom was starting to look forward to the end of their shift. He knew Rachel would be in bed, possibly in the nude. It had been a pretty balmy night, the chances were good. He could just walk through the door and push his cock deep into his wife.

'But,' Tom thought, 'not too deep. She can't take it.'

His imagination shifted the image in his daydream. The thoughts were still on what he could find walking into his home. The only difference was, Kelsey was laying there too. Her tall and slim body could take all of his cock. It felt great having someone who could not only receive every inch, but she also could handle the deep thrusting too. Kelsey was built for long cocks. Tom felt insanely lucky to have landed in such a predicament. He would have to see about inviting Kelsey to stay the night at some point. Waking her up with his cock would be a little more fun than it would be with Rachel.

The morning sun was just starting to peek up over the trees. The brightness of it was returning color to the land. Inside the walls, signs of life were popping up. Breakfast fires were being lit and sending smoke signals to the chirping songbirds. From one of the cabins, the sound of a crying baby could be heard, even up here on the wall. Dew blanketed the camp and made everything look and feel damp. On a regular day, it would still be a couple hours before the whole camp was moving. However, this was not going to be a normal day.

Tom's fantasizing abruptly ended when his hunter's instinct took over. His eyes were inexorably drawn to a section of the wood line. There was nothing instantly obvious, but he felt it. His ears strained to perceive what his eyes were failing to detect. Something was in the trees, hiding in the shadows, and possibly watching him. He was sure of it. Tom reached for his bow.

"Cameron."

Tom's flat, no nonsense tone made Cameron instantly alert. He turned to look at the same place Tom was scrutinizing.

"I don't see anything," Cameron whispered after staring for a few seconds.

"I don't either," Tom responded. "But someone's there. Has to be living. An infected one would've just walked out."

Cameron swallowed the lump in his throat and said, "shit. It might be the same person that we nearly ran into on the road."

"That's what I'm worried about."

After a couple of quiet minutes, Tom was about to suggest going to take a look. Before he could, both men were surprised to see that Tom had been right. There was indeed someone down there. A few someones.

"Fuck!" Tom swore and fumbled for an arrow.

"Red!" Cameron quickly said into his radio. "At the entrance, we got live ones with guns. I repeat, red!"

Three rugged looking men in body armor approached the wall. They were holding assault rifles at the ready but were not aiming them at anything. They walked slowly, as if they were being cautious while trying to look non-threatening. When they were close enough for shouting distance, Cameron stopped their progress.

"That's close enough!" he shouted. "How can we help you, gentlemen?"

One of them, a guy with short dark hair, reached to his waist and pulled up a two-way radio. He shouted, "channel 7" at the wall and waited.

Cameron tuned his own radio to channel 7.

"Same question," Cameron said evenly into the mic.

"We're looking for someone, possibly a couple of them. We were attacked recently and managed to track them in this direction. I'm really hoping it was not your people."

"None of ours would do that. We're not the type to attack the living. Unprovoked, that is," Cameron responded smoothly.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. You guys look pretty tough. I'd hate to think we were enemies."

"We aren't looking for enemies."

"Yeah, we weren't either. But some rat led a horde to our home and tried to take us down with it. We managed to pick up a trail and followed it this way."

Cameron and Tom exchanged a quick glance. Tom could see on their side of the gate, a small force was gathering. Gregg was sternly positioning people and making sure their guns were ready to fight. The three men on the ground would be quickly over matched if it came to a fight.

"They attacked you with the infected ones? When?"

"Oh, say, two weeks ago at the latest. I kind of lost track of the days."

"We were attacked, then this group was hit," Tom whispered. "Then, they followed the attacker this way. It sounds like that person is bouncing between us. Maybe trying to start a fight?"

Into the radio, Cameron said, "we were attacked the same way you described. A little while before you, it seems."

"You know, I was worried about that," the unknown man said. "I was hoping it was an opportunistic thing, but it seems like someone out here figured out how to weaponize the infected ones."

After a few moments of quiet, the stranger spoke again.

"So, uhh, yeah. Not feeling great about standing out in the open like this. Do you guys want to talk? Maybe compare notes. You probably know the area pretty good, we might be able to find the bastard."

"Yeah, we'll come to you though. I hope you understand. We can't just let anyone come inside."

"No, I totally understand that. We'll be right here."

The three strangers all turned to face the woods, keeping watch on their own backs.

Cameron and Tom joined Gregg and the three of them went out to meet the strangers. The rest of the Deterrent Team took defensive posts around the wall. A couple of runners had already flown through the camp, waking up the residents and getting them ready for an emergency. Everyone who was able to fight was armed and waiting for the order to defend their home. The camp was eerily silent.

"I'm Cameron," he offered, shaking the hand of the man he had been speaking with.

"I'm Kenneth," the man with clean-cut hair said. "This is Bruce and Stephen."

"I'm Tom," he said, offering his own introduction before Cameron had the audacity to do it for him.

This Kenneth guy was giving Tom dictator vibes. He looked entirely too clean to be in the company of the other two men. They had a hard look about them, especially the bearded biker fellow. Still, they might have good info on a real threat. It would be worth the conversation.

"Gregg," was all their third said. He would have probably been happy in a goon position like Kenneth's boys.

"Nice to meet you guys," Kenneth said. "This is a nice place you got here. We've been holding up in a hotel."

"That's probably easier to maintain. We had to build most of our stuff," Cameron replied.

"Oh, yeah! Super easy. Plus everyone gets their own space. That means a lot these days."

"I bet. So, you want to talk about what you know and we'll share what happened to us?" Cameron asked.

"Sounds good to me."

Kenneth and Cameron talked for a bit. They discussed the attack that happened here and everything they learned, which was not a lot. Tom was keeping an eye on the other two men while feigning nonchalance. When Cameron mentioned finding the kidnapping gear, Tom thought he saw the biker guy twitch. He dismissed the suspension when Bruce smacked a mosquito. Maybe he was being too paranoid.

Bruce looked at Tom and nodded in a friendly gesture. Tom nodded back and finally relaxed a little bit. He had to believe there were still good people in the world. Or at least, ones who would not just ambush you in an open field. An open field that stank like something died nearby.

"Yeah, I think we'll keep heading east for a bit. That's the direction they seemed to be headed," Kenneth said, wrapping up the conversation. "It's cool to know you're out here though. Maybe our people can meet up one day? Officially, I mean."

"That would be great," Cameron smiled and shook Kenneth's hand. "I know we could stand to see some fresh faces."

Tom felt an internal pinging that made him feel antsy. Something was off. His instincts were screaming for him to act, but he saw no action to take. His fingers tightened on the bow string, he barely resisted drawing the arrow.

"Whoa, buddy. Why so tense all of a sudden?" Bruce asked, noticing Tom's sudden alertness.

Everyone stopped talking immediately and faced Tom. Hands moved toward weapons and fingers tested the weight of triggers. The jovial air evaporated immediately. Gregg's rifle was the first one that was up and pointed at a target.

"Tom?" Cameron asked, his eyes locked on the strangers.

"Can't you smell it?" Tom hissed, his eyes wide in fear. "The infected are here!"

Nearby, hidden in the thick growth of the forest, someone fired a gun.

*