Page 7 of Deceptively Dead

“Sheis listening at the door.” Comes Hunters lazy drawl from further away.

Oops, busted. Again.I decide to own it, and whip open the door to glower at Hunter, channelling all the bravado I can muster. He’s leaning against the wall, arms folded and eyes already locked on me.

“How’d you know I was at the door?” I ask suspiciously.

“It’s part of my job to know these things” he replies vaguely with a sardonic smirk. Like an ass. I narrow my eyes at him andhe sighs dramatically “your shadow was obvious under the door, and you definitely don’t move as quietly as you think you do.”

I pout at him.Wait. Since WHEN do I ever POUT?!I quickly rearrange my face into a semblance of normalcy, but I have no idea how to carry on a conversation after I’ve justpoutedat someone, so I turn away from Hunter to look for the others.

They’re both staring at me in a way that makes me acutely aware I’m only wearing a towel, and that thought doesn’t hit my panic button for some reason, though it definitely hits the embarrassment one. I consider just jumping out the nearest window.They’re going to think I’m insane, wandering around in a towel pouting at people. What is wrong with me.I take a fortifying breath and pretend everything’s normal, as though pouting, starving women in towels are the most common occurrence in the apocalypse. Who knows, maybe they are.

“What happened?” I ask Chase, and he goes a bright red. For a big guy, he’s awfully adorable.

“I, um, was bringing you some food and IthinkIsawyounaked.” The last bit comes out in a rush while he’s looking at the ground, I feel my eyebrows lift a little and he continues “I’m sorry, we’re not creepers. And, and, well shit. I’m not normally like this!” the last statement comes out a bit louder and more defiant as if I’d accused him of something. My eyebrows climb higher.

“Like what?” I ask a little hesitantly.

“Like this. I’m normally better at things. Talking and stuff” his beautiful grey eyes are pleading with me to understand, and I can’t seem to help the grin that spreads over my face. I quickly lift my good hand to cover it, transferring towel duty to my injured arm.

“What he’s trying to say,” Nate says, seemingly coming to the rescue of his friend “is that he’s usually better at being around pretty girls and doesn’t usually barge into their rooms without knocking. Like a creeper.” I snort at the betrayed look Chaseshoots him, then have to stifle a giggle as he turns the look on me.

“I’m sorry” I say, as I get myself back under control “I’m sorry. It’s ok. Really. It’s my fault, Nate did ask me to stay in bed…”

“Told” inserts Nate “Itoldyou to stay in bed. Not a request.”

“Yeah, so Nateaskedme to stay in bed, but I needed to wash my mouth out and I guess I got carried away. Do you have any drinking water?” Nate and Chase both blink a little at my change of subject before Chase bends to retrieve a bottle of water from near his feet. A small sound, suspiciously like a snort of laughter, comes from behind me and I turn to eye Hunter. But I must have misheardbecause his face is just as perfectly impassive as it was before. He lifts a perfect eyebrow at me in question and I turn back to Nate and Chase to catch them scrabbling around, picking up the obviously dropped items from Chases good will venture.

“Most of this stuff is still good” says Chase “why don’t you go sit on the bed and you can eat while we talk?”

I smile at him, so big it hurts my healing face “it’s been a while since I heard an offer as good as that…” I trail off and my smile abruptly dies. Suddenly the time I spent in the compound crashes into me like a wave. The walls spin a little and it gets a bit darker in the room. I stagger just a little before I get myself together again. When I straighten and focus back on the guys in front of me, I see they have both taken I step towards me, muscles tensed as if they were ready to catch me.

I can’t help looking over at Hunter, too. He’s straightened from the wall and he’s watching me with a laser focus, like he’s ready for me to flip out or something.

“Sorry” I clear my throat a little “guess I do need to sit down.” I turn and take an unsteady step toward the bed and a large, warm hand wraps around my good elbow helping to steady me. I look up and find Chase gazing down at me with concern as he helps me to the bed. I try my best not to let him feel how tense mymuscles have gone from his simple touch and quickly focus on getting to bed so he doesn’t see the fear I know is lurking there.

Once I’m safely sitting on the mattress with the sheet tucked tightly around me, courtesy of Nate, Hunter lights a single candle, just enough to illuminate our immediate area while the sun disappears. I gaze ravenously at the food Chase is preparing for me as I guzzle the entire bottle of water. Chase sees my look and silently hands me a small sweet apple from his pocket to begin with while he prepares what looks like a chunk of homemade bread, a slice of cheese (actual honest to godcheese!) and a tin of baked beans. I hate baked beans, but right now they look like the tastiest thing on the planet.

“Doc says you’re not allowed too much, it’ll make you sick. So eat thisslowly.Please.” Says Chase as he hands over the rustic sandwich. I nod as I pull the plate in close to me, unwilling to let any of the guys near it. Theoretically, I know they aren’t going to take my food away, I mean they did give it to me after all, but it’s a bit alarming how hard I have to work to stop myself from physically growling at them, like a starved animal.

“So” I start, figuring I should get them talking so I can eat “you told me your names, but not who you are? Or where you came from? How do you have cheese?” With my conversational duties finished, I take a massive bite of the rustic sandwich and try not to moan out loud.

“We are all that’s left of two specialist army units that were sent out here to help guard a survivalist camp set up by the government in the early days” Hunter begins, somewhat surprising me, not because they’re military, that is abundantly clear, but because I figured it would be Chase the friendly giant that filled me in. “Obviously, the survivalist camp went the same way they all did, that is to say, it collapsed. Ourselves and a few others managed to get some of our camp to safety, but most of our people died. We’ve been searching for a safe space eversince” something about this last sentence makes me think it’s not the entire truth, but I see no reason why he should have to tell me all their secrets, especially when I don’t plan on sharing all of mine. “Chase is the best sharpshooter the army ever produced, and Nate is an exceptional medic. We often split from the group to go scouting” again, this doesn’t soundquiteright “and during our last excursion, we found an unusual amount of human activity in this area. We didn’t even know this area was populated until a few nights ago, when we heard an alarming amount of gunfire.”That’d be the knights on their zombie-killing, midnight fiesta,I think.

“I know the night you're taking about,” I say, “but please continue and I’ll tell you my story when you’ve finished.”

Hunter gives a single nod and continues with his story “After hearing the gunshots we set out to investigate. We ended up tailing a couple of shady looking guys, dressed in all black with a yellow, crown-looking, picture painted on their chests. When one split from the group without warning we split up too, I followed the loner and Chase and Nate tracked the others down to that little town, where they apparently laid in wait for you.”

“Wait” I say, a little nervously “was it you that saw me? In the tree? The night after all the gunfire?” I hope it was him or I’ll sound like a crazy person. Again.

“Yes” That’s all he says about the night that has been replaying in my mind ever since.Well, ok then. Obviously not that big a deal for him. Probably because he’s not a raging lunatic like you are, Angie.I shake my head a bit to stop my inner conversation and realise that I have been staring into Hunter’s eyes with my damn mouth hanging open like a fawning fangirl.He didn’t even DO anything for gods sake woman.

“Anyway, continue.” I demand snapping my mouth shut and wrenching my eyes back to my partially demolished sandwich, hoping to move on quickly from my weirdness.

Hunter shakes his head, like he’s trying to fling the image of my dumbstruck gaze out of his head, but he mercifully continues on “I suspect you know the rest, the people in the town pushed a car into a likely spot for an ambush and posted two shooters in the trees, according to Nate and Chase. They know what an ambush looks like and suspected foul play of some kind. So, they watched and waited and eventually they killed the guards stationed in the trees when they saw you arrive. You know what happened next better than we do, and then they made the decision to bring you back to the rendezvous point. While they were occupied with their leads, I had followed mine for days, tracking through the forest, searching, apparently, for you?”

“I suppose he was.” I hedge.

“Tell us your story.” Is his only response, he’s obviously finished divulging his.

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