He reaches around my hip and finds my clit with his fingers. I gasp as soon as he does and start moaning when he rubs the sensitive nub. He presses against it, rubbing in a circle as I push back with my ass to meet his thrusts.
There’s a rippling sensation in my gut, which spreads down and through my thighs. I tense as the wave hits me hard and cry out. As my muscles clench around him, Falk gasps and slams into me rapidly
“Oh, fuck! Yeah!” He empties into me and then drops his head to my shoulder. He keeps his arm tight around my torso, holding me up as he delivers a final stroke.
He kisses my shoulder, leans back, and pulls out of me. My skin is instantly cold as the contact is lost, and I reach over to grab the blanket and wrap myself up in it. Falk lies beside me, holding me against his warmth, but it doesn’t last.
“We need to move,” he says. “Get yourself together.”
He jumps out of bed, leaving me no time to argue any points about staying put for the day. I wouldn’t win such a debate anyway.
After a quick rinse in the cold shower, dressing, and eating, Falk is anxious to get moving again. He lifts his backpack to his shoulders and grabs his rifle.
“So, where are we going to go?” I ask.
“I want to head toward one of the army bases in the area,” Falk says. “Something outside the city. I think the chances of finding someone are better.”
“How far is that?”
“Forty miles or so east,” he tells me. “There’s a National Guard armory in Monroe. If we keep up a decent pace, we could make it in a couple of days. Do you think you’re up for it?”
“That’s a lot of walking.”
“It puts a lot of distance between us and them. We should be able to find enough supplies along the way to keep the load light.”
I bite my lip and look out the window. Clouds have blocked the sun, and it looks like it might rain. This place isn’t bad, and a part of me wants to just hunker down and hide here. Falk steps up and strokes my cheek.
“We’ll stop when you need to,” he says. “It really won’t be that bad.”
“What if there’s no one there?”
“Then we go on to the next one.”
“You want to head toward Washington, don’t you?”
“Eventually, yes,” Falk says with a nod. “I think we should make our way there. Survivors will flock to that area.”
“I don’t know if I want to ‘flock’ toward everyone else,” I tell him. “For all I know, I’ll be the only woman there. It won’t be any different except there will be more people.”
“Not gonna let that happen.”
“All right,” I say with a sigh. “Let’s do it.”
“There’s a VA hospital close to here,” Falk says. “I want to stop there and make sure I have all the first aid supplies we might need. We should be able to get water there as well.”
In distance, the hospital really isn’t too far. The problem is, I haven’t slept at all. I’ve got a headache; I’m lightheaded and even a little nauseated. Falk’s annoyed with how slow I am and keeps urging me to go faster.
“What the hell is the problem?” He’s been patient, but he finally snaps at me.
“I’m tired!”
“It’s not even ten o’clock yet!”
“I didn’t sleep much.”
He’s perturbed but doesn’t push it anymore. He keeps his hand on my lower back, pressing lightly to keep me going but doesn’t mention it again.
We walk around a lake and to a trail that crosses a large creek. At least, the trail should have crossed it. When we get there, we see the bridge has collapsed. Falk debates crossing the water on foot but doesn’t want the supplies getting wet, so we make our way around to the main road to get to the building.
What’s left of it anyway.
The parking garage is still standing, but the building behind it is more rubble than structure. One whole side is completely flattened, but it looks like the building in the back is partially standing. Falk wants to check inside of it.
“If we’re going to be walking the whole rest of the day, I’d rather just hang out here and rest for a little while,” I say.
“Are you asking me to leave you alone?” Falk shakes his head slowly.
“I didn’t sleep and I’m wiped out. If I can just rest a little while, we’ll be able to get farther today. Besides, you can get in and out of there faster without me.”
Falk stares at me hard. I know he doesn’t like the idea, but we haven’t seen anyone along the way, and we’re miles from the camp where we started. It takes a little more convincing, and eventually I just sit down with my back against the concrete wall of the parking garage and cross my arms.
Falk sighs and scans the area.
“If you stay here between the parking garages and keep out of sight, I can be back in a half hour, tops.”
“I’ll do that.”
Falk drops his backpack to the ground, rummages inside of it, and pulls out a handgun with a small hip holster.
“Take this,” he says. “If you see anything, you use it.”
“Okay.” He helps me get the holster fastened on my hip and then spends a couple of minutes helping me get used to pulling it out.
“I’ll be back before you know it.” He kisses me quickly before running off in the direction of the hospital building.
I sit back down and close my eyes. My head feels swimmy. I lean my forehead against my knees, hoping to doze for a few minutes. If I can get in a power nap, maybe I’ll be able to keep going a bit more.
I wake with a start. I have no idea how long I’ve been out. The sky is overcast, and I can’t tell for sure how high the sun is. My arms and legs are cramped and sore from sitting too long, and I get up to stretch.
Falk is nowhere to be seen. I’m pretty sure I’ve been asleep at least an hour, and he said it wouldn’t take that long. It’s possible the building is in poor enough shape that he’s had to dig for the supplies he wants.
I look all around the area and see nothing of interest. I pace a little near the side of the building, staying out of sight of the main road but still loosening my muscles up. I lean against the wall and stretch, looking back toward the hospital, but I don’t see any sign of Falk.
I’m bored.
I lean against the cool wall and stare out past the flagpoles and across the street. A row of trees and hedges makes a barrier between the sidewalk and what I think used to be an apartment complex. It’s just rubble now, but some of the greenery survived. The trees have turned yellow, and many of the leaves have fallen off the branches.
Behind a utility pole, just under the hedge but slightly visible, is a body. There’s a lot of debris piled up around one side of it, but I can clearly see the legs sticking out from under the bushes, as if he might have dived underneath for cover. I scan the body and see one arm under the branches, grasping a collection of brown plastic bags from a supermarket. The bags flap around in the wind, and I wonder what might be in them.
I should go find out.
I hate the very idea of it, but I know if Falk was here, he’d get it himself. I consider waiting until he gets back but then decide I need to take some initiative. Being squeamish is no longer a luxury I can afford.
I walk out past the flagpoles slowly, checking left and right before running up to the edge of the street. Everything is quiet, so I venture farther out into the street, still watching. I place my hand on the handle of the gun on my belt just to be sure it’s still there.
A sound from behind me catches my attention, and I look off to the side of the parking garage but see nothing.
It’s your imagination.
I steel myself and head to the other side of the street and next to the body. I was right—there are three plastic grocery bags grasped in his hand. I crouch down and reach out to pull them away, but the man’s fingers are coiled tightly around the bags.
Closing my eyes and grimacing, I give the bags a quick yank, freeing
them from their original owner’s corpse. The smell of decay hits me square in the face, and I stumble back a bit but manage to keep my grip on the bags.
Inside, I find a carton of broken eggs, which smell only slightly better than the body itself, a container of cottage cheese and another of yogurt. I push that bag to the side and open the other one. Three cans of soup and a couple of boxes of ready-to-eat meals are inside. The final bag contains hand soap and a box of bandages.
I shove the useful items into one bag and discard the rest beside the body before I stand to head back inside the store.
“Well, look what we have here.”
I jump slightly before looking in the direction of the voice and then freeze.
A hundred feet away from me, coming out from the lower level of the parking garage, Caesar and Brett appear. Behind them is a large man with a stocking cap on his head and long, unkempt hair.
“I had a feeling we might find you nearby,” Caesar continues as they all walk out into the street, headed in my direction. “Glad to see it didn’t take long.”
“Look at her!” Brett says with a laugh. “That’s a deer in the headlights if I ever saw one!”
I drop the grocery sack, and the contents spill out onto the asphalt.
“Looks like running didn’t help much,” Caesar says with a smile. He reaches up and rubs his chin with his fingers. “A good chase always makes things more interesting though. What do you think, Mark?”
“I like a bit of a chase.” The tall, chunky man nods slowly. He presses his lower lip with his tongue, making it look like he has a mouth full of chewing tobacco.
“I’ve had about enough of it myself.” Brett folds his arms over his chest. “I’m ready for a little ‘catch and release’ personally.”
Caesar and Mark chuckle, and at first, I don’t understand the joke.
Release.
He definitely doesn’t mean letting me go. I shudder and take a step away from them.
“What are you doing here?” I ask. Maybe if I can keep them talking long enough, I’ll give Falk time to get back. I gesture to the other man with them. “Who’s he?”
“Where are my manners?” Caesar says with a smile. “Hannah, this is Mark. We met a few weeks back and have been negotiating some trade with him and his group since then. Mark, this is Hannah. As you can see, she’s definitely worth her weight in batteries.”
My body goes cold. It doesn’t matter how much Falk talked about what the others wanted from me. It doesn’t even matter what I heard Brett and Caesar talking about in the woods. Hearing him actually tell someone else what my body was worth to them brings bile to my throat.
“You aren’t touching me.” I hope my voice sounds more determined than I feel.
“I’m gonna do a lot more than that,” Caesar says. “Like it or not, you know this is gonna happen. Think of it as your duty to humanity if you want. It’s not too soon to start thinking about how we’re going to repopulate the planet, and we’re going to need you to do that. You might as well get used to the idea.”
“That’s my choice.”
“Not anymore, it isn’t.”
“If you touch me, you know what Falk will do.” I back up a few more steps, looking to my left and right. The hedge is behind me, blocking much of the way, but there’s an opening on the other side of the body, and I angle myself in that direction as I walk. I don’t know if I can outrun them or not, and I may need a place to hide until Falk gets back. I know I can’t fight three of them.
“Funny, I don’t see him here,” Caesar says. The sneer on his face makes him look like a completely different person. “Maybe he took a little nap or something.”
“Or something.” Brett snickers.
My chest tightens, and I move my hand slowly to my waist and pull out the gun. I hold it in both hands, my arms out in front of me. I don’t know which man I should aim at and end up waving the gun between the three of them.
“Leave me alone!” I feel tears burning in my eyes, and I try to blink them away. I have to keep myself calm, or I won’t be able to aim. Falk taught me that. Stay calm, breathe slowly, focus.
Falk.
What did Brett mean when he said “or something”? Had they already come across Falk before they found me? Did they hurt him?
Did they kill him?
I bite down on my lip, forcing myself to keep my thoughts on what is happening around me.
“Don’t move!” I order as Brett takes a step closer.
He hesitates and glances at Caesar. Caesar nods, and all three of them step forward.
I back up several steps, keeping the gun leveled. I aim at Caesar since the others seem to be taking direction from him.
“That is one hot little ass.”
I turn quickly, and three more men come at me from the opening in the hedge. One is an older guy with a bushy grey beard. The other two are maybe late thirties, clean-shaven, and stocky. I back up a couple of steps, looking over my shoulder at Caesar and Brett. They both have their arms outstretched, waiting to grab me.
Sidestepping to the left, I point the gun toward Caesar.
“Don’t come near me!” I yell. My hands are shaking. I can’t get a proper grip on the gun as I fumble for the safety. “I’ll shoot!”
Brett laughs.
“I’ve seen you shoot,” he says. “Somehow, I don’t think you’ll manage to hit any of us, let alone all of us, baby.”
Breathe, Hannah. Breathe!
I take a step backward, trying to keep all of them in my vision at once. I wrap my finger around the trigger and bite down on my lip again. I want to come back at him with a clever retort of some kind, but my mind is devoid of words.
They start to spread out and move in on me. I swing the gun from right to left. I should fire. I know I should fire, but I just can’t.
What good would it do?
Someone grabs my arm. The gun goes off. Caesar and Brett duck out of the way, but the bullet goes nowhere near them. There’s a sharp pain in my wrist as my hand is wrenched to one side, and the gun falls to the ground.
I scream as another man steps up and grabs my free hand, twisting my arm behind my back. Caesar appears in front of me, grabbing me by the chin.
“I told you,” he says, “it’s gonna happen. You might as well get used to the idea. We’re gonna take you back to Mark’s camp now, and you’re gonna cooperate, you hear me?”
“Fuck you!” I scream in his face, and one of the men behind me grabs a hold of my hair, pulling my head back painfully.
“I don’t give a shit if she cooperates or not,” a gruff voice growls into my ear. “I’m happy to smack some sense into her as soon as we get back there.”
“I don’t want to wait.” Brett steps forward and shoulders his way past Caesar.
“What?” Caesar turns his head to look at Brett.
“I’m gonna teach her a little lesson right now.”
Caesar snickers and grins.
“Suits me.”
I kick and scream as I’m pulled backward and over to the grass next to the sidewalk, but there’s nothing I can do to get my arms out of the tight grip on them. Brett is in front of me again, reaching out and gripping one of my breasts roughly.
Pushing back against the man behind me, I pull both knees to my chest and kick out, landing my heels firming into Brett’s stomach. He doubles over, gasping for breath, and the hand holding my hair shakes my head hard enough to rattle my teeth.
Brett stands and catches his breath, glaring at me. All at once, he steps forward, pulls his fist back, and punches me in the side. I think I hear one of my ribs actually crack, and I scream again.
“Stupid little bitch.” Brett reaches down and unfastens his belt. “Get her down on the ground.”
I’m thrown forward, barely catching myself on my hands as they hit the dirt. The pain in my ribs is crippling. I can’t catch my breath. Brett is on top of me, rolling me to my back. I try to pull my legs to my chest so I can kick hi
m again, but his hands are on my thighs, and Caesar is pulling my arms up above my head.
I keep screaming and struggling, but there are hands all over me, pinning me to the ground.
“I’m gonna finish what I started, baby,” Brett says with a laugh.
“It’s gonna go easier on you if you relax.” Caesar’s hand comes around my chin and pulls my head backward painfully. “Just let it happen, and you won’t get hurt.”
Caesar’s hand presses against my cheek, turning my head to the side and holding it to the ground. In front of me, there is a single dandelion. I stare at the tiny seeds clinging to the top of the stalk in a gossamer ball, waiting for the wind to carry them off and start new life somewhere far away.
Feet shuffle around me, and the dandelion is crushed under a boot, the seeds smashed into the ground. There’s a rock poking my left ass-cheek. I focus on the slight pain as I close my eyes, trying to ignore the sound of a zipper.
“After what you did to Hudson, and after all this time hunting you,” Caesar murmurs into my ear, “I can’t think of a better way to start up our new enterprise.”
Not again. Oh, please, God, not again.
Tears pour from my eyes as I focus on the crushed dandelion, trying to tally the seeds. The little tufts are so jumbled, it’s hard to get an accurate count, but I keep trying. I keep my attention on the seeds and not the pain.
Oh, Falk. Where are you?
~End of Part One~
Commodity: Part Two
Chapter 1
I startle awake.
Trees loom over me, and drops of rain sneak through the branches to land on the mossy ground where I sit with my back against an evergreen. I glance around through the brush of the old forest, but I see nothing but my khaki backpack. I cock my head to one side, but there’s no sound other than the dripping of raindrops and the chirping of insects.
Something woke me.
I reach for the gun holstered at my side, withdrawing it and holding it close to me. The weight feels good in my hand—it always has. With the opposite hand, I touch each of the four knives at my belt and find their presence there comforting.