Chapter 33

Mist and Walt didn’t answer, but a new noise hit Rain’s ears. She couldn’t quite place it at first. A ridiculous image of a large tiger smacking its mouth and licking its lips after having eaten her friend came to mind, but then she noticed Adam was laughing. The feel of his hand on her arm as he tried to get her attention sent a spark of electricity through her entire body. “Look,” he said, pointing off to his right.
Somehow, Rain managed to ignore the feel of his hand on her, the scent of him standing so close, and do as he suggested, moving her light in that direction.
Mist had her back to a tree, Walt pressing against her, their lips interlocked, their hands roaming everywhere. Rain didn’t know if she should laugh, as Adam was doing, or throw something at them. “Hey! We’re trying to survive over here, you two!” she shouted, simultaneously turning her flashtube up.
“Ah! Turn that down!” Mist insisted, pulling her tongue out of Walt’s mouth and raising a hand in her direction.
Rain dropped the light, knowing it wasn’t a good idea to have it on so bright, not only because it could attract the Mothers and the big game, but it could also bring bugs her direction, and there were some huge ones out here. She hadn’t realized that Mist had been putting up with that on their long march.
All four of them moved back to the campsite, the two love birds having stopped to gather the logs they’d apparently dropped when they’d become fascinated with each other’s mouths.
Mist went to her bag, and Rain assumed she was getting the fire starter, but she pulled out something else, too, something Rain had never seen before.
“What is that?” Walt asked her.
The round device fit in the palm of Mist’s hand. She brought it over to where they’d all dumped their wood and set it on the ground. “It’s a fire shield,” she said. “It will provide a reflection around the fire so that it won’t be visible. It’ll also mask much of the smoke by dispersing it. But you’ll still be able to feel it and hear it. We’ll have to be careful about not letting the fire get too low without throwing another log on since we won’t be able to judge it, though.”
“And make sure we don’t stumble into it,” Walt noted.
“There will be a ripple around the outside. You’ll see. It masks better from a distance than close by.”
Mist pushed a button on top of the device and then finished adding the wood back on top of it. Using the fire starter, she had a blaze in no time, but in just a matter of seconds it faded away, leaving just a ripple in the air around the fire.
“Wow, that’s amazing,” Adam said, shaking his head slightly, his hands on hips. “You are full of tricks.”
Mist smiled at him and then went back to her backpack. “You guys hungry?”
“Starving,” Walt said, taking a seat with his back against a large tree on the far side of the tent from where Rain was standing. She found another tree and sat down, not minding at all when Adam found a spot next to her, his folded knee bumping against her leg.
Rain wondered if she should dig into her own stash of food, but Mist was pulling out enough for all of them, including a few more water bottles. She gave each of them a large beef stick, a piece of fruit, and a bag of nuts. They each thanked her, and then Rain offered Adam one of the bottles of water, handing the other to Walt. That was fine with Rain, but she did know she had a bottle herself in her bag and wanted to get up and get it. Her stomach growled, and she decided to eat first and get the water later.
Adam took a swig from the bottle and then handed it to her. She was surprised but took it, thanking him and then taking a conservative drink as he said, “Man, I will never get used to how refreshing that is.”
“I know. I can’t believe how much better my tongue feels after a drink of water,” Walt agreed.
“Yeah, well, your tongue’s had a busy night,” Adam teased.
“Ha ha, very funny.” Walt picked up a piece of debris off of the ground and tossed it over at Adam. It hit him in the chest, and Rain recognized it was the top of an acorn. It just made Adam laugh.
“Okay--this food is delicious, too,” Walt said. “I love the texture of the… are these almonds?”
“Yes,” Mist said, smiling at him. “Almonds and cashews.”
“Wow--unbelievable,” Walt said, shaking his head. “So different than the mush we’re used to.”
“Yeah, the beef stick is really good, too,” Adam agreed. “I don’t know what this is, though. Is it an apple or a pear?” He held up the green apple, and Rain found herself staring in wonder as she realized they’d never had fruit before. Ever. In their whole lives.
“It’s an apple,” Mist told him. “They used to call them Granny Smith apples back in the old days. Since it was named for a woman, we kept it, but now it’s Mother Smith.” She rolled her eyes.
Adam sank his teeth into the apple, and the look on his face brought a smile to Rain’s. “Oh, wow. That’s like the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth,” he said, licking the juice off of the inner part of the fruit before it could drip and be gone to him.
Walt took a bite, too. He made an “mmm” sound and then added, “I would agree--if I hadn’t just kissed Mist.” He looked at the girl next to him and smiled, and Mist’s face turned a little red, but she grinned back at him. Rain wanted to be jealous of their affection, but she was so happy for her friend, she couldn’t be.
They finished their meal in near silence as the men relished what might be the best meal they’d ever had and the women essentially had a snack to hold them over until they had some real food. When they were done, Adam said, “I’ll take the first watch.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Mist asked him.
“I’m sure. I’m not tired at all.”
“Okay,” she said, not arguing. “Then the three of us will sleep for a couple of hours and then someone can take your place.” Rain didn’t mention what Adam had said before, about the two of them not being able to keep their hands off of one another. Surely, they were so tired, they’d just sleep, wouldn’t they?
Adam pulled the gun he’d produced earlier out of a holster on his waist. “One thing, though. Before you ladies go to bed, can one of you show me how to use this? Just in case?”
Mist snickered, and Rain hid a smile. “I’ll show you,” she said. Mist and Walt pulled foil blankets from their bags and zipped the packs up so they could grab them in a hurry if they needed to. Mist set the screen she’d been staring at all night next to where Adam had taken up residence under the tree so that he could use it to keep an eye on the red blips that represented the Motherhood. Taking their guns with them, Mist and Walt headed inside of the tent.
“We’ll leave you that side,” Mist said, pointing to what would be the left side of the tent to Rain.
“Thanks,” she said, watching the two go inside. They left the tent unzipped for her, and Rain turned back to Adam. He was watching her expectantly. With a deep breath, Rain pulled herself up to standing, hooking her flashtube onto a hook on her belt loop.
Adam stood, too, the gun in his hand. “Okay, so I am guessing I should point it at whatever I want to shoot.”
“Very good,” she teased. The kissing noises from the tent had her blushing. She had to tune it out so that she could concentrate on the man in front of her, the man so close, she could put her lips on him, if she wanted to. She wouldn’t though. With everything Adam had been through, the last thing she would ever do was assume he wanted anything physical from her. “It’s not hard,” she said, meaning shooting the weapon. Immediately, images of an erect manhood came to mind as she thought about Walt and Mist in the tent and the realization that she’d been with Adam not that long ago. She dropped her head, shaking it. He snickered but didn’t say anything.
“Is this the safety?” he asked. “Because I flipped it off earlier, when we came through the tunnel, and I had it off for a while, but then I flipped it back on.”
Raising her eyes again, Rain studied the weapon he had in front of him. “Yes, that’s it. Just flick it over, use the sight to aim, and pull the trigger. These guns have a slight kick, but not too bad. The clip should be full, which means you have forty rounds. I’m sure Mist brought plenty of ammo. I have about ten extra clips in my bag. The rounds we have fit in these handguns as well as the longer rifles Mist and I were carrying.”
His eyes flickered from her face to the weapon while she was speaking. “I hate to waste a round, but do you think it would be okay if I fired one, just to see what happens?”
Knowing the gun would hardly make a sound, she didn’t see the harm in it. “Go for it,” she said. “Just aim it between the trees so we don’t kick up any debris.”
Adam peered through the sight, keeping it about two feet from his face and watching the crosshairs inside of the eyepiece. She assumed he was honing in on something in the distance, but she couldn’t see what it was. She took a step back, giving him enough room to do what he needed to, and he pulled the trigger. The kick was nothing to him, he was so strong. He seemed to be happy with his aim, too, as she heard a slight rustling in the distance.
“Think you’ve got it?” she asked him.
“Yeah, I think so. You feel safe having me out here?”
Rain smiled at him. “As safe as I could, sleeping in a tent in the middle of a forest inhabited by big cats with half of the Motherhood doing their best to track me down and kill me.”
Adam chuckled. “Well, when you put it like that….”
Without thinking about what she was doing, she put her hand on his arm. “Thanks for taking the first shift, Adam.”
He smiled at her. “Thank you, Rain. For everything. I hope you can get some sleep.”
The sounds coming from the tent that she was about to walk into hadn’t died down. Shaking her head, she said, “Yeah, me, too.” She unclipped her flashtube and handed it to him since he didn’t have one. Then, giving Adam a little wave, she went into the tent, praying she wouldn’t be walking into some real-live version of that book cover.