Eight

For several long seconds, we just stared at one another.  Me with my rod tightly gripped in my hand and Ghua with his rod barely covered.  Knowing that he wanted me to grow up so he could do things to me with that scattered my rational thought patterns.

“Eden, go sit on the bed.  I need to wash away the infected blood.”  He motioned with his head that I should get out of the bathroom doorway.  Meanwhile, his hands remained firmly cupped over his—I didn’t even know what to call it.  Penis seemed too underwhelming of a term.

“Eden,” he said again.

I nodded numbly and moved toward the bed, passing him while trying to put a name to the grey nemesis he had failed to conceal.  Womb Raider?  Vlad the Impaler?  Dongzilla?

“The door will stay open so I can hear you.  No looking.”

He turned and strode into the bathroom while I unabashedly stared at his hard ass.  His muscles had muscles.  How did I ever think I would get away from him?

The shower curtain rasped open and closed as I sat on the mattress.  A second later, the water turned on and the sound removed the fog in my brain.  What was I doing?  He’d cleared the house and was in the shower where I knew it was hard to hear much of anything.  I needed to move now.

I stood and raced downstairs.  Bodies and heads lay everywhere.  I didn’t stop to think or look.  I went straight for the closet, almost tripping in my hurry.  The sound of the water running upstairs acted as a timer as I put on the coat and boots.  Each second I stayed in this house was another second wasted.  He wouldn’t stay upstairs forever.

Rushing to the kitchen, I grabbed a knife from the butcher block then reached for the bag.  The island was empty.  I looked at the floor around it, thinking one of the infected might have knocked the bag off.  Nope.  It wasn’t there either.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know you’d try to run again?”  Ghua asked from behind me.

I cringed and turned slowly.  He held the packed bag in front of him, using it as a shield since he was still naked.  Light glinted off his wet chest and hard abs.

I met his unwavering gaze.

“What did you expect after you danced around naked in front of me?”

“I did not dance.  I stood still.”

“You’re still naked.”

He grunted in that increasingly familiar way.  I was starting to think it was his way of acknowledging I was right without saying it.

He glanced at the knife in my hand and tilted his head at me.

“Come back upstairs so I can find clothes and keep you safe.”

I sighed, put the knife down, and made my way back upstairs.

While he searched for something to wear, I sat on the bed and ate some applesauce.  After I finished, I closed myself in the bathroom to actually use it this time.  I didn’t hurry.  Instead, I enjoyed washing my hands and using the toothbrush once more.  Who knew when I’d next get the chance to clean up so well, again?  I stuck the toothbrush and paste into the inner pocket of my coat then opened the door.

Ghua, fully dressed, waited near the bed.  The sweatpants he’d found didn’t quiet reach his anklebones and fit so tightly I knew he was hanging to the right.  The shirt was just as tight.

“We need to find you some clothes that fit.”

He grunted again.  “Human men are smaller.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

I looked around the room.  It had been comfortable for the night, and I wished I could have something like that again permanently.  My gaze lingered on the dresser.  Hell, I’d settle for being able to change my underwear more than once a week.  As much as I wanted that, I wasn’t about to give up an ounce of food space for clothes in the bag Ghua shouldered.

“Are you ready, Eden?”

I nodded and followed him out the door.  When he reached the porch, he stopped and looked down at me.

“It will be faster if I carry you.”

In my peripheral, I caught his pants move.  Even without directly looking, the outline of his package was more prominent than it had been a minute ago.  Sweet baby Jesus.  He liked the idea of carrying me far too much.

“You know what?  After all that sleep, my legs are kind of itching to stretch out.  I think I’ll walk for a while.”

I quickly stepped off the porch and headed north, the same general direction he’d followed yesterday.  Ghua fell in step beside me, his soft buckskin boots making little noise on the dried lawn or the debris when we entered the trees.

While we walked, my mind replayed the morning.  Waking, snuggled and warm.  Dongzilla swinging free between Ghua’s legs.  Ghua telling me to go hide in the bathroom so he could kill the infected.  Ghua trying to shield Dongzilla from my eyes.  Ghua finding me in the kitchen and not getting mad.

I glanced over at him.  He immediately met my gaze.

“Are you tired?  I can carry you.”

I shook my head and focused on the forest floor.  He wasn’t going to kill me.  That much seemed clear.  I was far from comforted by the revelation, though, because Van had made that clear, too. Why was it so impossible to just be left alone?  I didn’t want to sleep with either of them in exchange for safety.  Yet, it seemed like I might not get a choice.  If I ran from Ghua, where would I go?  Straight back to Van?  I seemed damned either way.

“Are you angry because you saw me naked?  Timmy never looks.  I did not know you would.”

“What?  No, I’m not angry you were naked.  Why do you think I’m angry?”

“You are walking hard and making more noise.”  He pulled the pack off his shoulder and reached into one of the side compartments.  The last thing I expected to see was the knife from the kitchen, which he held out to me.

“Would it make you feel better to carry this?”

I hesitantly took the knife from him.  In all the weeks I’d been locked in the bunker with Oscar’s crew, never once had they let me close to any type of real weapon to carry.  Ghua hadn’t been any different.  He’d taken every weapon I’d found away from me until this moment.  Why give me one now?

“Put it in your pocket so you do not fall on it.  If you cut yourself, I will take it away.”

Tearing my gaze from the long, wicked blade, I looked up at the big grey man beside me.  Was this a test?  Was he waiting for me to lash out at him?  I wasn’t that stupid.

“Thank you.  This does make me feel better.”

He grinned, showing his pointed teeth.

“You are welcome, Eden.  We will find you more if you are careful with that one.”

I doubted he’d ever allow me more but didn’t say so.

With my knife in hand, I walked beside him in silence once more.  We stopped in the trees for a quiet lunch of canned tuna.  He wouldn’t eat until I started eating first; and when I finished my can, he immediately offered me another one.

“We need to ration our food,” I said.  “One can a day is enough.”

“No.  Two cans a meal.  Three times a day.  I will get more cans when these are gone.”

“If you haven’t noticed, it’s not easy to find food.”

He studied me for a moment.  “It’s not easy for you to find food.  It is easy for me, though.”

His message was clear.  Stick with me, and I’ll feed you like a queen.  No thanks.

A distant shot rang out, echoing in the woods.   Ghua turned his head and looked to the east.  A quick volley of shots followed the first.  Ghua put the can he’d been trying to give me back into the bag then stood.

“Come, Eden, we must go see what that is.”

He impatiently held out his hand.  I mutinously crossed my arms and stayed sitting.

“That is trouble.  We don’t want to go toward it; we want to go away from it.  That kind of noise will draw every infected in the area.”

He glanced to the east again then back down at me.

“There might be humans who need help.  Females.”

I knew it.

“So you’re willing to risk me to get more females for your collection?  Nice to know where I stand.”

He frowned.  “I will not risk you.”

“Yes, you will if you take me to a gun fight with a stupid knife.  Do you not remember the last guys who took me?”

He grunted and looked around.

“I cannot leave you here.”

I quickly stood.

“Yes, you can.”

He focused on me, the look in his yellow eyes way too intelligent.  He knew I’d run as soon as he turned his back.

“I’m not letting you go, Eden.  Ever.  When are you going to understand that?”

I stomped my foot like the child he thought me to be.

“Maybe when you understand that’s all I want from you.  My freedom, not your overgrown meat stick.”

He tilted his head.  “Meat stick?”

“Never mind.  I’m a kid.  I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“You understand more than I think, remember?”

I crossed my arms and looked away, pretending my heart wasn’t racing a million miles per hour because of the shift in conversation.

He sighed gustily and stepped closer to me.  I warily dropped my arms, ready to run or…I looked at the knife still lying on the ground.  How could I have forgotten it?

Inches from me, Ghua curled his hands around my biceps and set his forehead to mine.

“There will come a time you no longer fear me.  You will look at me and smile and laugh.”

“Don’t bet on it,” I said softly, my voice shaking.

He brushed his nose against mine and then said the last thing I expected to hear from his lips.

“Grab the branch.”

I jerked back to look at him in shock, thinking he meant his dick.  Before I could open my mouth to tell him to go to hell, he tossed me into the air.

My lungs froze.  I couldn’t scream.  A branch whizzed past me.  Then another.  My ascent started to slow, and I knew what would happen next.  Descent.  Instinctively, I reached out for the next branch I saw.  Pulling myself over, I fell on top of it with an “oof” and wrapped my arms and legs around its girth.

“Are you secure?” Ghua asked from below.

I lifted my head from the thick branch and looked down at him.  My stomach pitched a bit at the distance, and I quickly focused on the branch once more.

“Are you insane?  I could have hurt myself.”  I still could.  I had to be at least twenty feet in the air.  I had no idea what kind of tree this was, but there weren’t many branches below me and none of them close to the ground.  I’d never be able to climb down.

“I made sure you would miss the branches going up.  If you didn’t grab that one, I would have caught you and tried again.”

“You would have thrown me a second time?”  My sweaty palms slid against the cold, rough bark as I carefully eased myself upright enough to straddle the branch.

“Your heart is still beating fast.”

“No shit!  You threw me into a tree.  Why?”  My stomach twisted some more as I slowly scooted backward until my shoulder blades touched the trunk.

“The infected do not know how to climb.  You will be safe up there while I go check the gunshots.”

“You’re leaving me?”  I closed my eyes and took a calming breath before looking down at Ghua.  It wasn’t so bad now that I had my back to the tree to steady me.

“Only for a few minutes.  Here.”

He threw the backpack toward me.  My eyes widened, and I tightened my thighs around the branch, anticipating the bag’s weight and the downward pull of gravity.  Ghua’s throw, however, was perfect.  The bag rose up just beside me, and I jerked it toward my chest.

“Stay in the tree, Eden.”  Warning laced those words.

“How do I know you'll come back?”

“Nothing can keep me from returning to you.”

When I looked down, he was gone.  I swore again and considered my options.  The next branch was about five feet below me.  Two feet below it was another one.  But, even if I worked my way down to the bottom branch, it was still a long way down.

I had to try, right?  I shifted the weight of the bag to the left, which off balanced me a little.  I yipped, clutched the bag and shook my head.  Nope.  I didn’t need to try.  Not at all.  I’d just stay in the damn tree until that big, grey pain-in-my-ass came back.

Gradually my heart stopped trying to beat its way out of my ribcage enough that I could think clearly and look around better.  If I stayed in the tree, I would be wasting an opportunity I wouldn’t likely get again.  I needed to think of this tree like a porch roof.  I’d dropped off of those plenty of times.

Keeping my eye on my current perch, I balanced the bag in front of me and pushed it out far enough so I wouldn’t knock it down.  When I did that, my palm touched something hard in the side compartment.  Stunned, I dug out the knife I’d dropped on the ground.  Was that Ghua’s way of doubling up the protection?  Putting me in a tree with a knife?

I shook my head and put the weapon back in the bag.  I did not want to accidentally cut myself trying to get down.

It took a bit of work and slow breathing to turn myself so that I faced the trunk.  More still, to get myself to the next branch.  After collecting the bag from the branch above, I lowered myself to a sitting position against the trunk and took a break to allow the shaking to ease up a bit.

My stomach hurt from dangling off the branch above.  My palms were red and full of splinters.  And, I was pretty sure my chin was scraped raw.  But I was alive and one step closer to the ground.

As I sat there, I watched the trees.  Something moved in the distance.  It darted in and out of the trees too fast to focus until it was almost right under me.

“Are you ready?” Ghua called.

“No, you jackass.  Go away for another ten minutes.”

“You will hurt yourself if you try to get down without me.  And someone needs your help.”

“Who?  Another female?  I’m not going to help you collect more, you pervert.  Go away and leave me alone.”

“You are wasting time.  The gunshots were from an old man in a house not far from here.  Something happened.  Other men were there.  I think they took the old man’s food then left him there with too many infected.  I killed the infected, but the old man is afraid of me.  You need to talk to him.  He will not survive long if he stays there alone.

“I can catch you or climb up to get you.  Climbing will take longer, and I’m not sure how safe the old man is.  Choose, Eden.”

I hung my head in defeat.  Oh, I didn’t give a crap about some old man stuck in his house.  I just knew that getting down with or without help was going to suck.

“How do I know you’ll catch me?”

“Because I’ve been wanting to hold you all day.”

I looked down at him with a scowl.

“I’m a kid, remember?”

“I know.  And you’re afraid all of the time.  That’s why I want to comfort you.”

Comfort, my ass.

I threw the bag at him.  He caught it with ease and tossed it aside.

“Do you want me to get you?” he asked when I hesitated to move further.

“No.  Just a minute.”  I crawled down to the next branch then dangled off the end.  I looked down at him.  He could almost touch my feet.

“Let go, Eden.  I will keep you safe.”

I let go.  Arms immediately encircled me, guiding my descent.  When my feet touched the ground, I sagged with relief and set my head against his chest.  His arms stayed around me, and he held me until my shaking stopped.  It wasn’t until then that I noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt.  My hands were gripping his bare arms.

“Please tell me you’re wearing pants,” I whispered.

“Of course.”

I pushed away from him and saw he was telling the truth.  The dirty sweats still didn’t leave anything to the imagination, though.

He clapped his hands in front of my face.

“Eden, look at my eyes.  Up here, not down there.”

My mouth dropped open as I looked up at him.

He grunted, turned away, and picked up the bag.  Then, without giving me an option, scooped me up into his arms.

“When you are eighteen, I will let you look some more.”