Malcolm sat back on his heels, his chest heaving with exertion as he stared down at his blood covered hands. He wiped them off on the man’s shirt before he turned to focus on her, reaching out to place a hand on her arm.
As soon as his warm hand settled on her, her body began to tremble and the terror that had constricted her throat released. Pathetic whimpers began to bubble up from between her lips, punctuated by the occasional shuddering sob. Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and she was pulled into a tight embrace. She buried her face in his chest as the tears began to fall.
“Kim, I’m sorry. I didn’t see it when I checked the storeroom. I don’t know where it was hiding. I’m so fucking sorry.”
His words, whispered into her ear with such regret and pain had her pushing back the panic that had set in. He had saved her life and he was blaming himself. She pulled back far enough so she could look up at him, eyes filled with regret staring back at her.
“It’s not your fault.” He shook his head but she clenched her fingers in the fabric of his shirt, tugging at it to get him to listen. “It’s
not
. You saved my life. If it wasn’t for you, that thing would have killed me.”
The thought of what would have happened to Trey if she had died entered her mind. He had not only saved her but saved her son from becoming an orphan. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down to place a kiss on his lips.
It had been impulsive, a need to show him her gratitude and it hadn’t entered her mind that a simple peck could set off the kind of electricity that sizzled through her in that brief meeting of mouths. She pulled back, eyes wide as they rose to meet his but he was looking at her mouth. Her lips still tingled from the brief contact, the sensation heightened by the way his warm breath ghosted over her skin as he stared at her.
She closed the distance between them, pressing her mouth more firmly to his, taking her time to enjoy the sensation. Their lips parted at the same time, tongues grazing, and it lit off a fire inside her. The kiss became something more primal as he plunged his tongue into her mouth, his wide palm cradling the back of her head. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she pulled herself tighter against his chest, needing to feel as much of him against her as she could.
He pulled back to suck on her lower lip, nipping the flesh lightly before swiping his tongue soothingly over the mark. They parted with frantic gasps, both of them panting as they tried to catch their breaths. His head dipped down as he traced his lips across her jaw before trailing down her neck to suck delectably at her pulse point. Kim felt a heat ignite between her thighs and she moaned lowly as Malcolm licked his way down to her collarbone.
The bell over the gas station door chimed and had them both jumping apart. Malcolm jumped to his feet instantly, ready to take on the next threat. Kim, on the other hand, was caught in a daze, blinking rapidly as she tried to clear away the arousal and focus on what was happening.
“You guys okay in here?”
Craig’s familiar voice had her shaking off the last of the haze and she suddenly realized that the body of the infected man was still only a few feet from her. Well, that was a definite mood killer. She got to her feet as Malcolm explained what happened, wisely leaving out any mention of the fear-induced kissing.
What the hell had she been thinking? Making out with a man on the floor of a gas station only a few feet from a dead body? Was this really what her life had become?
The more practical part of her brain reminded her that she had almost been killed so some less than rational behaviour was expected and she sure as hell wasn’t going to regret doing it. There was still a residual warmth in her belly and she had a feeling it would be there any time she was around Malcolm from now on.
Craig had come to stand with them, looking down at the body. “Jesus, you did a number on that one. Where’d it come from?”
Malcolm nodded back to the storeroom. “It was hiding in there. No idea how I missed it on the first pass.”
“Some guy outta Maryland told me the freaks like to nest in small dark spaces when they sleep,” Craig said. “Maybe it was holed up in a cupboard back there.”
“I didn’t know they needed to sleep,” Kim said. “They seem like they only care about mindlessly attacking us.”
“Every animal has to sleep sometime,” Craig said with a shrug before smiling at her. “So what was it like to see our fearless leader play the hero?”
“He was every bit the part.” She smiled as she glanced sidelong at Malcolm, feeling suddenly nervous to meet his gaze head on. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get some things to Janet.”
She bent down and snatched up the fallen boxes and headed back to the diner without looking back. She was in need of some space from Malcolm to sort out her feelings. It had been a long time since she had been kissed like that but now that she had time to think about it, she wondered how much of it was him and how much of it was what was going on.
Craig was right. Malcolm had been a hero and it was possible that what she felt between them was the result of her gratitude for all he had done for her. For all she knew, he had been fuelled simply by adrenaline from the fight, the remaining energy focused on another type of physical release.
Well, that was cynical. Trey had to be rubbing off on her and she didn’t like it. Instead she was going to choose to focus on the more optimistic outlook: that she and Malcolm had chemistry.
It was a nice thought. A welcomed distraction from their depressing situation, especially after coming within a hair’s breath of dying.
Yes, that was what she was going to focus on from now on. The world might be falling apart but she wasn’t going to let it change her. She needed to be the optimist she was born to be. She had a feeling they would need it in the coming days.
Subject File # 742
Administrator - You seem to have taken to being a family man.
Subject - I’ve always been a family man. My family is the most important thing I have.
Administrator - But you’ve never been a husband or a father.
Subject - No, those roles were not in my wheelhouse, so to speak. At least not until recently.
It was a welcome sight when Malcolm saw the gates of Shenandoah National Park appear in the distance. His anxiety had been high on their journey to the park and he was looking forward to letting a bit of it go. The trip itself hadn’t been harrowing but what he learned as they drove along had been.
They had stuck to the back roads, winding their way through rural farmland and swaths of forests, backtracking when they needed to in order to avoid any larger cities. Still, Malcolm had expected to see others, especially when they passed close to the small towns. It had only been when they had come upon a town that wasn’t on their maps that the deserted roads had made sense.
A crude blockade, made up of vehicles had been set up across the road that entered the town. Instead of fleeing, the smaller communities had closed themselves off when the news broke, isolating themselves from the infected and with the military falling in the cities, they had never had the time to make their way to the small towns. When they had spotted the blockade, Malcolm had instructed the convoy to backtrack to find an alternate route around it. These places would not be welcoming to outsiders.
The blockade towns were just another line on the long list of threats that were out there now. But getting to the park let him at least cross a few off the list.
The park was vast and unpopulated, which was exactly why the CIA had chosen it. The safe house was deep in the park, far away from civilization. It was exactly where you would want to go if you needed the world to believe you had disappeared.
The convoy drove through the park entrance as the sun was dipping low in the sky. The gatehouse was dark and deserted, as was the welcome centre just beyond it. The signs advertising the camping equipment for sale in the welcome centre was enough for Malcolm to stop the convoy. With the memory of Kim’s close call fresh in his mind, he took only Craig and Travis with him to clean out the building.
They made quick work of stripping the place of anything useful. Tents, sleeping bags, and other camping equipment were loaded up and the convoy set out towards the safe house, deep in the wilderness.
They were soon turning off the paved highway and onto roads that were nothing more than two ruts in the ground. The signs and markings were difficult to spot and by the time they found the abandoned ranger station at the end of an overgrown dirt road, the sun was beginning to set.
The ranger station was a stout square made of wood and tar paper, nothing more than a shack really, sitting on the edge of a small clearing in the forest. The metal chimney of a woodstove poked out of the roof and vines had managed to climb the wall and wrap around it. There were no windows and only one door, weeds overgrown around the entrance.
As everyone unloaded from the vehicles and took the time to stretch muscles that had cramped after a day of driving, Malcolm noticed that the group was exchanging less than impressed looks over the station. Of course, it was Alan who vocalized their thoughts.
“This is what you brought us all this way for?” he said, voice dripping with disdain for the dilapidated building.
“Yep,” Malcolm replied, not rising to Alan’s bait and instead going to the side of the station where an ancient generator sat among the weeds. He studied the old machine for a moment as a few of the others came to stand behind him and he could feel their disappointed gazes. Jose was the one to step forward.
“Malcolm, that thing looks like it hasn’t been maintained in years. Even if there was fuel in it, there’s no way it would still run.”
A thin smile spread across Malcolm’s face, as he pushed the fuel button several times. If this spot was still designated as a safe house then the genny would work, appearances be damned. He sent up a silent prayer and flipped the power switch. Everyone jumped as the machine roared to life.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Jose mumbled as Malcolm stood up and went to the door. Though the door itself was made of beaten wood and looked old as hell, the hasp and padlock keeping it closed were shiny and new. Yeah, this place was still a safe house.
He pried off the padlock with a tire iron, the metal hasp cracking away from the wood frame easily. He flicked the light switch inside, the station brightening as the overhead lights flickered on. A musty scent hung in the stale air, telling him that no one had been inside in a long time.
The station was nothing more than one large room with a woodstove, a couple of cots and a desk and shelves in the corner. He walked around the small space, listening to his footfalls on the wood floor, his steps ringing hollow when he passed over a certain spot.
He kneeled down, running his fingers over the wooden planks until he heard the click of a pressure lock and a section of the floor popped up, revealing the trap door. Underneath, there were six black canvas bags stacked neatly together, covered in dirt and cobwebs. He began to haul out the bags, tossing them towards the others hovering around the door.
The treasure trove of survival gear in the bags erased any doubt the others had about the quality of the safe house. There were MREs, first aid and water purification kits, batteries, gas masks, hazmat suits, blankets, maps and weapons. It wouldn’t be enough to get them through the trip to the island but it was a hell of a start for their supplies cache.
Janet and Ana took over organizing the lot, directing the others where to store what. Soon, the group was working as one to set up their camp, moving off to take up the various tasks, including getting dinner started.
Watching as Travis set up a camp stove for Jenny to start dinner on had Malcolm thinking ahead. They would need to find a water source soon so they could start the work of boiling the water clean. Potable water was a top priority and with their down time at the camp, they should be stocking up on it now.
He pulled out the map of the area he had picked up in the welcome centre. No wells were marked near the camp but there were a few creeks nearby that should be flush with spring runoff.
Laughter like tinkling bells had him looking up from the map to see Trey with one of the gas masks on, obviously saying something that had Kim laughing. He took the opportunity to drink her in and appreciate her beauty.
They hadn’t spoken since the events at the gas station and he wondered how she was dealing with it. Though if he was honest with himself, it wasn’t so much her encounter with the infected that he wondered about. It was the kiss afterwards.
Was it just the heat of the moment or was it something more?
As if she could hear his thoughts, her head suddenly turned in his direction and she spotted him watching her. She gave him a small smile and a wave.
That was enough to get him moving in her direction, folding up the map as he went and shoving it in his back pocket.
“I was just looking for a water source,” he said when he neared them. “There’s a creek nearby. You guys want to come with me to have a look?”
“Sure,” Trey answered before looking to Kim to make sure it really was okay. She waved an arm wide. “Lead the way.”
And so he did, detouring to pick up a couple plastic jugs, and heading into the woods with Kim and Trey close at his heels.