Chapter Four

 

Audrey

 

Maddox and I strike gold in my roommates’ nightstand, specifically a family-size box of gold-foil Magnum condoms. The rest of our first day together passes in a blur, as he and I stretch our imaginations to their sexual limits. Now that he’s popped his cherry, he seems completely addicted, and for my part, I’ve never had such a fine “tool” to work with in the bedroom.

It’s just after sunset when I collapse on Maddox’s chest, completely spent from riding him for the last half hour. As we both struggle to catch our breath, I inhale deeply and crinkle my nose at our acrid smell. “Is that me or you?” I ask him.

“I think it’s both of us.” He laughs, sniffing at my neck. “Smells like sweat, cum, and latex in here.”

“Yuck.” I grimace and stick my tongue out at him. “The water should still run for a while, even with the power out. Let’s see if we can get a quick shower together.”

“Oh shit, the thought of soaping up your tits and taking you in the shower…” Maddox’s naughty thought trails off, but his cock, still wedged deep inside me, gives an agreeable throb as if to finish his sentence.

“Come on, stinky,” I urge him, as I finally dismount and stand by the side of the bed, stretching. I pick up the flashlight I left on the nightstand and lead Maddox down the hall to the bathroom. While I turn on the shower, he throws the condom away in the trash, then comes up behind me to rub himself against my backside.

“This may not go quite the way we wanted,” I say as I pull my hand out of the shower. I flick a handful of cold water on him, giggling as he jerks away from me.

“Holy shit, that’s freezing! There’s no hot water, huh?” he asks as he leans past me to test it himself.

“Doesn’t look like it. Let’s make this quick, then we can towel each other off and have some fun!”

We jump into the shower together, but rather than fighting over who gets to stand under the water, we both struggle to stay out of the freezing spray. We soap up quickly, rinse each other down with a variety of squeals and curses, then jump back out together.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get out of here?” Maddox asks me as he stands on the shower mat, dripping and shivering. “That was awful!”

I’m too cold to even respond, so I throw him a towel and use mine to rub myself down vigorously, trying to restore some feeling in my limbs.

Once I’m mostly dry and recovered, I tell Maddox, “We need some food to warm us up. I think I’ve got some…oh crap, with the power out, I guess our options are kind of limited.”

Wrapping the towel around his lower body, Maddox grabs the flashlight and we head to the small kitchen in my apartment. After digging through the cabinets, Maddox shines the light on his pile of plunder on the counter. “So, it looks like our options are two packs of Pop-Tarts, half a bag of chips, and some SlimFast bars. Why do you have SlimFast bars?” Maddox snorts.

“They’re my roommates, but they’re actually really good,” I reply as I grab one of the chocolate bars from him. “I’ve got all kinds of stuff I could make, once the power comes back on. We can make do with this for now.”

“If you say so,” Maddox says, casting a skeptical eye at our supplies. He starts to dig into the bag of chips, when a loud crashing from outside my apartment startles him so badly he drops the sack.

“Was that thunder?” I gasp. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, which is more terrifying to me than the actual storm outside.

“No,” Maddox whispers. He grabs the flashlight and my hand, then leads me back to my bedroom. “It sounded like a door breaking. I’m going to get dressed and go check it out. You hide out here, okay?”

“Fuck that,” I hiss. “I’m coming with you. I know everyone on this hall, but you’re a stranger. Someone might think you’re a, ah, I don’t know, a looter or something.” As we’re quietly arguing, I scramble back into my pajamas, while Maddox just pulls on his jeans and his leather cut.

Once we’re dressed, he leads me to the front door, motioning for me to stand back as he cracks it open and peeks outside. “Do you see anything?” I whisper. I slap a hand over my mouth when Maddox holds a finger up to his lips, just as the beam of a flashlight briefly illuminates the hallway.

“You see anything else in there?” a coarse voice calls out from down the hall.

“Nah, it’s clean. You get that television in the van okay?” someone says, so close to my doorway, I inadvertently gasp.

“Yeah, I got it,” the first man responds, much closer now. “Let’s check the rest of this hallway.”

Maddox steps back from the door, digging inside his leather cut as his free hand waves at me frantically, pointing me back down the hall of my apartment. He pulls something out of an inner pocket of his vest as I duck behind the kitchen island.

I manage to hide just in time, as the door to my apartment swings open only a second later. “Look at this shit,” the voice from the hallway says. “Crazy bitches took off without even closing the door.”

A beam of light shines throughout the apartment, reflecting off of the kitchen appliances just over my head. They can’t see me yet, but as soon as they come into the living room, I’ll be completely exposed.

“Hitting up these apartments near a chick school was a great idea,” the other voice agrees. “We’ve got this entire building to ourselves!” he exclaims as he steps into my apartment.

“Not exactly,” I hear Maddox say, just before there is the sickening crunch of bone breaking, and the beam from the flashlight spins around before abruptly going out.

I peek around the edge of the kitchen island to see the first man who stepped into my apartment lying face down on the floor, his arms splayed out to the sides and his knees folded under him, so that his ass is sticking up in the air. The flashlight he was holding rolls across the floor as Maddox charges out into the hallway.

“Shit, shit, shit!” the other man shrieks as Maddox rams him into the wall outside my door. I scramble to my feet and rush over just in time to see Maddox slam his fist repeatedly into the man’s face, which quickly becomes misshapen and unrecognizable. With a guttural roar, Maddox pulls the man forward and then slams his head back into the wall, so hard that the sheetrock crumples and dust rains down as the looter slumps to the ground.

“Jesus, Maddox, are you okay?” I cry as I rush to him. He’s gasping for breath, his bare chest heaving under his leather cut. He turns to me and then shakes his right hand, before tugging off what looks like a metal plated fingerless glove. Glancing at the two men sprawled on the floor, I ask, “What is that?”

“Riding glove,” he explains, wiping the metal plated knuckles on his jeans. “Got a steel backing to protect my hands. They’re good for other stuff too,” he adds, gesturing to the men on the ground. Tucking the glove back into his cut, he walks past me and grabs the man in my apartment by the ankles, then drags him out into the hall.

I gape at the bloody smear left by the man’s face as Maddox pulls him clear of the door. “Oh my god, are they dead?” I gasp.

Maddox shakes his head as he crouches down and begins feeling around the man’s pockets. “Nah, but they’re fucked up. They deserve it for pulling this shit. Go grab your phone and call nine-one-one. I’ll make sure they don’t have any weapons on them in case they wake up. Tell them to send an ambulance too.”

“I’ll try,” I agree. “I don’t know if there is anyone to send, though. The news said two days ago that there would be no emergency services during the evacuation period. Their exact words where ‘anyone who stays is on their own.’”

“And you decided to stay anyway?” Maddox sighs. “Man, I’m glad War sent me.”

“Are you being sarcastic?” I demand. “How the hell could I have expected something like this?”

“There are always looters during national disasters,” he replies. “But no, I’m not being sarcastic. I am glad War sent me. Meeting you has been amazing, and I hate to think what might have happened if they had found you here alone.”

“Oh. Well, let me get the phone,” I tell him, slightly mollified by his explanation. Just hearing Maddox say that meeting me has been amazing is giving me the strangest fluttering in my belly. That, combined with the shock and fear of what just happened, make me momentarily forget how terrified I am of the phone as the storm continues to rage outside.

I walk back from my bedroom, holding the phone away from me, after setting it to speaker. After only a couple of rings, an automated message answers, saying, “Due to the mandatory evacuation of New Hanover County, emergency police, fire, and medical services have been temporarily suspended. If you need immediate assistance and are in a life-threatening situation, you may attempt to contact Pender County Emergency Management by calling…”

I disconnect the call and toss the phone on the kitchen island, right by the pile of food we recently abandoned. “Well that was a bust.” I sigh. “What the hell are we going to do with those guys?”

“I’ve got an idea,” Maddox says. “Can you run downstairs and see if you can find the vehicle these keys go to?” he asks me as he holds out a keyring. “I found them in this guy’s pocket. When I was on my way down here, I saw the National Guard setting up down near the mall. I can throw these dumb bastards into their ride, and then go drop them off with the Guardsmen. They’re stationed out here to prevent shit like this from happening.”

“That’s dangerous! The storm is awful, and what if they wake up or something while you’re driving?” I protest.

“It’s less dangerous than letting them wake up outside your door. Honestly, I think they’re going to need some medical attention. This first dude I hit, his jaw is shattered,” Maddox says as he points to the man. Grabbing my flashlight from the kitchen, he clicks it on and points it at the second man in the hall. “This guy’s even worse,” Maddox explains, shining the light on the man’s arms, which are twitching feebly in front of him. “I’m pretty sure that’s a sign of brain damage.”

“All right, but I don’t know if I can go outside.” I shudder as thunder rolls and rumbles outside. “I’ll go to the front door and see if this key fob lights up a vehicle. Be right back.”

I tiptoe past the two men lying in the hallway and jog down the stairs, already clicking the “panic” button on the key fob to see if any vehicle will respond before I have to get anywhere near the outer doors. Fortunately, as soon as I reach the bottom of the steps, I see a white cargo van has been backed up to the glass double doors leading into the lobby of my building. As the horn begins to beep and the lights flash, I see these two idiots didn’t just back their van up to the doors, they actually backed right through them!

“I’m glad we took a break when we did,” I tell Maddox when I get back upstairs. “These two drove their van right through the glass doors on the first floor, and were loading it up from there. If we hadn’t stopped for a snack, we might not have heard them coming!”

“If we had been in Raleigh,” Maddox grunts, as he heaves one of the limp forms over his shoulder, “we definitely wouldn’t have heard them, and I wouldn’t have to haul these dumb bastards out into a hurricane.” Despite the harsh words, he is grinning at me as he straightens, and leans over to steal a kiss. “You seem to have a talent for getting into trouble,” he adds, “so it’s a good thing I decided to stick around.”

“Get back as quickly as you can,” I tell him, unable to choke down the nervous lilt in my voice. “I was certain I would be fine here alone, but now…”

“Hey, don’t worry.” Maddox winks at me. “Get inside and lock the door. I’ll be so quick, you won’t even have time to miss me.”

I close and lock my door as Maddox begins laboriously hauling the two men down the stairs. Despite his reassurance, as the shock of what just happened begins to fade away, I start trembling violently. Another flash of lightning from outside paired with an immediate boom of thunder rattles my windows, sending me scurrying back to my bedroom. I dive under the covers and curl into a ball, praying for Maddox to return safely, but also thankful he can’t see me as my childhood terror finally overwhelms me.

 

…

 

Maddox

 

“Quit whining,” I grunt, as I toss the second looter down in the back of their cargo van. He’s the one with the broken jaw, and he hasn’t stopped moaning since he regained consciousness halfway down the stairs.

Once I drop him by his partner, I take a look around the back of their van. There are all sorts of electronics strewn haphazardly around. It looks like they were primarily trying to steal game consoles and televisions, but there are a couple of computers and guitar cases piled in here too. I find a wad of bungee cords tucked into a panel on the rear door, and after only a few moments, I have both of my new friends safely restrained.

The one whose head I almost put through the wall is still unconscious, but the first fellow with the broken jaw is wide awake and staring at me in bug-eyed horror. He’s still trying to say something, but I knocked his lower jaw out of socket and he’s completely unintelligible. “Shut up,” I reiterate sternly as I slam the cargo van’s rear doors.

Once I’m in the driver’s seat, I crank up the van, then look back to make sure my passengers aren’t trying to escape. I took both their wallets, so I know the one who is awake and grunting at me is named Dwayne. “We’re going for a ride, boys. Dwayne, if you try anything, I swear to god, I’ll drive this van straight into the ocean, you understand?”

He grunts something that sounds like agreement, so I drop the van into gear and then carefully drive it back out of the entryway of the apartment complex and right into the teeth of the hurricane.

“How the hell did you two even get here in this mess?” I ask conversationally, not expecting any reply. “Even with the wipers on full, I can’t see a damn thing. How desperate or stupid do you have to be to go out and risk your ass in something like this?”

“Hell, I should probably ask myself that question, out here driving you two dumb sons-of-bitches around,” I add, realizing that if I get the van up past twenty miles per hour, I’m completely blinded by the rain. “I should just throw you two into a ditch and let the storm take care of you,” I grumble before falling silent and focusing on driving.

For the next twenty minutes, the only sounds I hear are the furious swiping of the windshield wipers and intermittent sobbing from the back of the van. I’m thoroughly miserable, but there is one upside to the entire situation—at least I know exactly where I’m going. I breathe a heavy sigh of relief as I finally spot a well-lit brick gatehouse on the road in front of me, just outside the local National Guard barracks.

As I pull up to the gate arm, a soldier in a poncho appears in the doorway of the guardhouse.  I roll down the van window and flinch at the deluge of rain that washes over me. The soldier stands motionless for a moment, studying me, then yells, “State your business!”

“I caught two looters who broke into the apartment building where I was staying!” I yell back to him.

“You caught looters? Are they in the van?” the soldier calls back, still not leaving the shelter of the doorway.

“Yes!” I yell back as I wipe at my face. “They broke into a bunch of apartments and were loading this van up with things they stole. When they broke into the apartment I was in, I smacked them around and tied them up. They need medical attention, and to be locked up until the police can take over.”

“Stay there,” the soldier orders before disappearing back into the guardhouse. I roll up the window and look into the back of the van, trying to see if one of my “passengers” might have had the foresight to steal a towel. I don’t see anything I can use to dry my hair, but I do spot the two looters, both now sitting up with their backs pressed against the rear doors, as far from me as they could scoot. The one with the broken jaw is crying and moaning, while the other simply stares at me in slack-jawed disbelief. Well, it’s either disbelief or brain damage. I don’t really care which.

When the soldier appears in the door of the gatehouse again a few minutes later, I roll the window back down. The van rocks as an even more powerful wave of wind and water sweep over me. I can see the soldier’s lips moving, but his words are lost in the howling maelstrom.

“What did you say?” I roar at him.

“The MP’s are on the way,” he yells back at me. “They’ll take over until the local authorities return.” The next gust of wind staggers the soldier so badly that he disappears back into the guardhouse, his poncho almost torn from his body. I quickly roll up the window and turn back around to the looters.

“Hear that, boys? You’re going to be guests of the local military police until the civilian cops get back. You two don’t look like you served, so this should be an eye-opening experience for both of you.” Broken-jaw sobs a little harder, while the other simply keeps staring at me blankly. Yup, that’s definitely a concussion, at the least.

When the headlights of a large and imposing truck cut through the blinding rain and pull up on the other side of the gate arm, I turn the van off and step outside, my cut flapping around me until I wrangle it down and zip it over my bare chest. Four men pile out of the truck, all of them also wearing military ponchos.

One of them motions for me to follow him into the guardhouse, and I gladly comply. Once we’re all crowded into the small brick building, the four men lower their hoods to reveal their helmets and faces. Looking over the four soldiers, I’m not sure if they really need head protection. They’re so big, their skulls look bulletproof.

“Are we to understand that this civilian has apprehended some looters in the storm?” the man, who I presume is the lead MP, asks.

I’m not sure if he’s talking to me, but I reply anyway. “Um, yeah…sir. Yes, sir, I mean,” I add, as he turns his beady-eyed glare on me.

“Get a report!” the MP barks to one of his subordinates. The guardhouse soldiers scramble and produce a clipboard, along with some sort of official-looking paperwork, which they quickly fill out as I recount my story.

“That’s the gist of what happened,” I conclude a few minutes later. “I tied them up and loaded them into the van, along with all the things they stole, and brought them over here for you boys to take care of until they can be, uh…dealt with formally, I guess.”

“And you can confirm this is your name and phone number?” the guardhouse soldier asks as he hands me the slightly soggy paperwork he had filled out.

“Yup, that’s me, Maddox Holmes. That’s my number,” I confirm.

“All right, thank you for assistance in this matter,” the lead MP says with a slightly softer tone. “I see by your patches, you’re one of those Savage Kings’ boys. I’ve heard of a few men who served that ride with you all. I’m glad you were around to help.”

“Thank you,” I reply, almost bashfully. Something about this man reminds me of War, and words of praise from him make me almost as uncomfortable. “So, ah, the keys and the dudes are in the van. I guess I’ll leave you boys to it.” I turn around to the doorway, only then realizing I might have a slight problem getting back to Audrey’s.

The MP’s are all chuckling as I turn back around. I can feel the flush in my face as I ask, “One of you boys mind maybe giving me a ride home? Bit of a walk on a day like this.”

“Corporal, take the Humvee and get this man home. Then come straight back. Privates, you two climb into that van and secure the prisoners. I’ll drive.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” the corporal barks, before turning and immediately walking out the door. I give the remaining troops a nod as I follow him outside to the Humvee idling nearby, then stand awkwardly in the driving rain, trying to figure out how to get into the damned thing. It’s jacked up high, and every time I try to look up to find a door handle, I’m completely blinded by the rain.

Thankfully, the corporal climbs around inside and cracks the door for me after a moment, then moves back to the driver’s seat as I scramble inside.

“Thanks, man,” I gasp as I finally slam the door shut. The gate arm raises almost immediately, and the Humvee lurches into motion.

“It’s no trouble,” the corporal replies once we clear the base. “I’m glad to have something to do, honestly. We were busy the first couple of days, making preparations around the city, but now we’re pretty much confined to quarters while we wait this thing out.”

“Ever had anybody bring in looters before?” I ask.

“Not like this, no.” He laughs. “We’ve had to round some up before, sure, after they’ve been smacked around by a homeowner or something, but no one’s ever tied them up and brought them to us.”

“Well, you know how it is staying at an apartment. Didn’t really have the storage space to keep them for a few days. Hey, just out of curiosity, since you’re an MP, do you think I could be in any kind of legal trouble for roughing those guys up?”

“I didn’t see them, but we’ll get them evaluated on base and take care of them. Honestly, even if you had killed them, I doubt there would be any charges, since they came into your girlfriend’s home. This is a castle doctrine state.”

“Eh, she’s not my ‘girlfriend,’ really…” I hedge, not sure how to really describe Audrey.

“Well, you were an invited guest, protecting her. They certainly weren’t,” the MP states. “You’re navigator, so give me some directions while I concentrate on this road. If you want to talk, we can do it once we’re there.”

I laugh at his bluntness, then spend the rest of the ride giving him directions. Getting back takes almost twice as long in the Humvee. I have no idea if the MP is just that careful, or if the damned thing is just that slow.

Once we pull back up to the shattered glass front of the apartment building, the MP whistles in admiration. “Damn, they really did a number on this place.”

“Yeah, this building had a first-floor lobby where all the mailboxes were set up on the walls. They plowed right through this place. I’m sure the other residents are going to be thrilled when they see this mess.”

“It’s flooding in there,” the MP observes. “Are you guys going to be safe here?”

“Yeah, we’re up on the higher floors,” I reassure him. “Thanks again for the ride. Be safe on the way back, you hear?”

“Here, take this.” The MP hands me a flashlight. “Take care,” he tells me with a nod and a grin before I muscle open the heavy door of the truck and climb down. I run back inside as the lights from the Humvee wash over me briefly. He turns the truck around, then I stand in the darkness of the lobby, dripping and shivering as water surges around my boots.

I click on the flashlight he gave me and shine the beam around the first floor of the complex. Several doors on either side have been kicked open, and on a whim, I wander over to one of the open apartments near the stairwell. Shining the flashlight inside, I can see that its layout is similar to Audrey’s. I step inside to scan the kitchen, breaking into a huge grin as I see what’s sitting on the countertop.

Once I’m loaded up with my ill-gotten gains, I climb the stairs and use my boot to knock on Audrey’s door. “Audrey, it’s me, Maddox! Honey, I’m home!” I call.

I step back from the door once I hear the chains rattling, then break into a huge grin as Audrey throws open the door and rushes me. “Whoa, easy there, cowgirl, I come bearing gifts!” I laugh when she rushes me with her arms out, her hug threatening to cause me to drop everything I’m holding.

“God, I was so worried!” Audrey gushes. “I should have tried to come with you, but with the storm, and everything…what do you have?” she trails off, stepping back and shaking her now damp arms as she stares at me.

“I took a peek inside some of the apartments downstairs to, uh, ‘assess the damage’ from the looters. It turns out, that on top of stealing the folks in one-twenty-two F’s television, those dastardly villains also swiped this entire chocolate cake and these two bottles of wine! At least, that will be the official version. Only you and I will know the terrible truth…”

Audrey’s laughter interrupts me as she takes the cake pan from me, and I follow her back into the apartment with the two bottles of wine. While Audrey takes the cake to the kitchen and digs out a knife, I securely lock the door with the deadbolt and chain.

“I don’t have any wineglasses,” she says, digging through her cupboards. While her back is turned, I take off my cut, hanging it from the back of a barstool, then peel off my soggy boots and pants. “Oh!” She gasps in surprise as she turns back to see me standing in her kitchen, naked. “And you have no pants. Ok, then, it’s going to be that kind of party!”

“We don’t need wineglasses where we’re going,” I growl as I swipe a finger through the chocolate frosting, then rub it on her neck. I bend down to lick it up, sending a shiver through her body. She steps back from me to peel her tank top over her head, but when she tosses it down, instead of hitting the floor, it drapes over my erection, bobbing at her like a friendly ghost in the shadowy kitchen.

She bursts into laughter as she bends down to scramble out of her pajama pants, and I reach over to grab the bottle of wine. “Shall we take this to the bedroom?” she asks coyly as she straightens and puts her hands on her hips, flaunting her nudity at me.

“Bring the cake,” I reply, turning to walk down the hall, her tank top leading the way, like a flag of conquest waving us on new sexual adventures.