Page 34 of Senseless
“No, he crashed early tonight,” she answered. “Otherwise I’m sure he would have swooped this lady up and carried her inside.”
“I was wondering why he didn’t,” the man chuckled. “You got a name, miss?”
“M-Mari,” I said, my shivers finally slowing. “M-Mariposa, but call me Mari.”
“Alright, miss Mari. I’m Jen and this is Doc.” The tattooed woman pressed a glass of room-temperature water into my hands. “We’ll get you set up with a room. You should sit tight with us for a couple days. If you see a big, scary-lookin’ guy walking around, that’s Ivan. He’s a gentle giant and will likely be more scared of you than the other way around.”
“Huh,” I mused, trying to gulp down the water without drinking it too fast. “I’m kind of looking for someone who fits that description.”
Jen and Doc seemed to exchange a look, but I was already slipping too far into exhaustion to notice.
Eleven
REAPER
The morning was so bitterly cold, I forced myself to get up early to light multiple fires in the house—one in the potbelly stove in the dining room, and the other in the regular fireplace in the living room.
Electricity was still unpredictable when it came to heat, especially in the winter when we didn’t have as much solar power. A good, old-fashioned fire was the best heat source, at least until we had reliable utilities like before the Collapse.
The house was cozy before too long, or as much as it could be with Mari still giving me the cold shoulder. My heartbeat accelerated when I heard Jandro’s bedroom door open. It was still early enough for her to be sleeping, and she was supposed to be back from the field mission now. Gunner said she left earlier than him when he got in last night. Her dirt bike had been in the garage and Jandro’s door was shut. The same scene we’d become accustomed to.
But that morning it was only my VP padding over to where I was making coffee in the kitchen, naked except for his boxer shorts, his expression blank like a zombie.
“What?” I grunted at him.
He said nothing, but held a slip of paper out to me. I took it, recognizing Mari’s neat handwriting instantly. The momentary excitement of having her back home quickly died as I read the brief note. I looked back up at Jandro, bewildered.
“What the fuck is this?” I demanded. “What does this mean?”
“She’s gone.” His voice was flat, his disbelief manifesting as numbed shock. “She went to find him.”
“How?”
Before I could properly fly off the handle, Gunner came racing down the stairs, dressed only in a pair of flannel pajama pants.
“Hey, have you guys seen Horus?” he asked in a worried tone. “I just tried to see through him, but I can’t. It’s like he’s shutting me out or—.”
“Apparently, he’s with Mari.” I held the note out to him, letting him take it so he could read and join us in our stupor.
“The...fuck?” Gunner kept staring at the slip of paper as if the words might change. “She went to findhim?Shadow? And my bird is her guide?” His hand fell to his side as he stared at us helplessly. “What the hell do we do?”
“Send the club out to get her back.” I stroked my jaw as a plan began to form in my mind. “Let’s get the Sons of Odin on it too. We’ve got to branch out—“
“No.”
I whirled on Jandro, his eyes now dark and burning into me. “What did you say?”
“I said no, Reaper.” His arms crossed over his chest. “She chose to do this on her own. We’re not sending people out to find her because she clearly doesn’t want to be found. Not untilshefinds Shadow.”
“I don’t care—“
“Yeah, that’s your fucking problem!” Jandro stepped closer to me, his cool, collected temper now surging. “You don’t care. You don’tthink. Someone does something you don’t like, and you do everything possible to put them back under your thumb. Fuck the consequences, fuck how other people feel. Am I wrong?”
“Fuck off, I don’t want her under my thumb! I want her safe. I want our wife home with us.”
“Some fucking home this is,” Jandro scoffed, scrubbing a hand down his face. “This isn’t a home, it’s a mess. It feels like I’m in a fucking nuthouse.”
“What are you saying, Jandro?”
