Page 5 of Desiderium
The sudden onset of warm weather this week was what spurred Jax to suggest going on our maiden run this morning. Carpe some diem and all that jazz. I guess, looking back at it now, I can say it was worth the pain and frustration.
Yeah… definitely worth it.
Cole takes a bite from his sandwich. “Seriously? We just did the Lilyvale Apartments run last week. We were able to pick up a bunch of stuff from there. Is all of it really gone, already?”
“No, you’re right, we still have some, but, I mean, there’re four of us and we’re only able to carry so much on our backs each run. I wish we were able to find a vehicle for transport but, as you know, everything is either dead or blocked completely. Even with rationing, we’re going to go through food stores pretty quickly, especially if they’re not in bulk form.”
Having a vehicle would have definitely made those supply runs less cumbersome. Cole was able to find and hotwire a car at one point which surprised the shit out of the rest of us, but, unfortunately, the car only had enough fuel to get it started, run for a few seconds and then died shortly after. We saw others but they were either equipped with flat tires, blocked by other dead vehicles that weren’t able to be moved, or had no gas or battery power left.
Hawk hops up from the table. “Let me get the map we made for this area and see what’s left.” He goes to the little table by the door, which houses our newly obtained and fully-packed bug-out bags, as well as the lone communications radio, and grabs the crumpled-up piece of paper. Taking a seat again, he sighs and shakes his head, apprehension coating his words. “I don’t know, bro. Houses around here are more spaced out, it’s not like we’re right by the little town anymore.” He points to the map. “It looks like we’ve crossed off all of the houses within a five-mile range of here. Do you want us to keep fanning out? Hope for thebest? Or do you think we should jack a truck and make a run to the next town?”
That’s another difference between here and the old place. Since no one needed to monitor the estate anymore, we all agreed to strap on our bags and go on supply runs together. The only exception was if one of us wasn’t feeling well, then of course they could stay home and rest. Unfortunately, even with all of the conspiracy theories about preparation and stocking up, very few actually heeded the warnings. Many of the houses we scoped out were littered with spoiled and rotten food, which turned their refrigerators into sprouting petri dishes. The heavy southern humidity definitely didn’t help things either, with that regard.
The items wedidfind were still helpful, though. Soap, first-aid kits, medications, toilet paper. And let’s not forget about my awesome new sneakers. They’re not pink like my old ones that were, sadly, left at the estate during the raid—may they rest in peace—but at least I no longer have rocks jabbing into my naked heels, or blisters from wearing Jax’s extra pair of boots. I also found some new clothes here and there as the days went by. The guys did too.
I sometimes forget that it wasn’t just Jax that lost everything in the shootout at the estate. Both Hawk and Cole were living there when everything went down, which means that everything they owned burned up right along with the house. While Jax had some of his belongings safely stocked here, Hawk and Cole were not as fortunate.
“I think…I think it might be time to move on…,” Jax hedges. He looks around at the cabin, gesturing to his surroundings. “This was always meant to be a temporary thing, never a permanent place to stay. Let’s be real. We’ve pretty much been living out of a shack all winter. Now, I’ll be the first to say that the close proximity has definitely been fun.” He winks in my direction. “But it’s not exactly the most secure location. Or the most accommodating. We could work on the place—build a garden, find some chickens, set up a fence—but to what end? Is this really where we see ourselves settling down or is there somewhere else that might suit us better?”
He's definitely not wrong about it not being the most secure option we could have. Especially not without a fence of some sort. At the time, we didn’t have the supplies needed to build one, so, instead, we dug out over a dozen pitfall trenches around the property. Currently, they’re overflowing with infected corpses. I mean... thatwastheir purpose. If a zombie happened upon our little cabin, they’d fall into the trench, which was so deep they wouldn’t be able to climb out. The only problem: they filled up. Quicker than we thought they would. We were able to walk the perimeter each morning, putting the poor souls out of their misery, but after a while the bodies just piled up and then what were we supposed to do with them? Burn them? That would just attract even more of the undead to our doorstep. No. Our only option at this point, security wise, would be to erect a full perimeter fence. We’d be even safer if we found some razor wire to attach to it—shred the bastards in half before they even stood a chance at getting to us—but good luck finding that out here in the boonies.
Hawk perks up at Jax’s offer, practically leaping out of his seat with his suggestion. “Beach! I vote for the beach. Or… an island… in the middle of motherfucking nowhere, that’s far away from zombies, unwanted douchebags and every other motherfucking person on this Godforsaken planet. We don’t need them and they don’t need us. So, fuck ‘em. Let’s have some Mai Tais with our toes in the sand and the surf at our feet while we all get to stay naked 24/7 and stare at Aly’s fine ass all day long.”
I smile as I stand and walk over to the counter with my empty plate, Hawk’s eyes trailing my ass the entire way. Regardless of the monotony of our day-to-day life, Hawk can project happiness onto others at the drop of a hat. But we learned this past winter, Hawk doesn’t do well at all with boredom.
While Jax thrives on structure, regiment and consistency, Hawk craves change—change of pace, change of scenery, even a change in our daily routines would do the trick. Lately, we’ve been accommodating that need with help from Cole’s limitless imagination. The changes he’s made to our bedroom activities are nothing short of eye-opening. It surprised all of us, but Cole came out of his shell, like a butterfly from a cocoon, baring everything he is to us and unveiled an overwhelming amount of kink and fetish knowledge, teaching us fledglings in the process.
I tremble slightly as I remember when he tied me up. All three of them used me like their little toy, primed and ready for their carnal amusement. My breath stutters at the memory but I manage to catch myself when I see Cole staring and grinning knowingly in my direction.
How in the hell does he just know? All the time?!
Blowing out a breath and fanning my face, I force myself back to the conversation before I melt into a puddle of hormones. “Living on an island paradise for the rest of our days would definitely be nice for those of us who don’t actually turn into a lobster when trying to laze about. Unfortunately, the sun doesn’t kiss my skin, it assaults it.”
Cole nods in agreement, his fair complexion seemingly relieved that I put a stop to the tropical tangent the conversation suddenly took. “I second that. And although I believe an island with no supplies is less than ideal, Idoagree we all need a vacation. Look…to hell with remodeling this place. No offense Jax, but the bungalow will never be what the estate was for us. What about we find a place that’s already vacant, with all of the amenities we’re looking for, primed and ready for us to take over? It’s probably a long shot but still possible.”
Jax shakes his head. “No offense taken. I completely agree. Not only with finding a place that already has what we need, but also that an island isn’t the greatest. Is it well fortified against zombies? Definitely. Is it full of supplies and has the ability to create and obtain more easily? Not so much.” He looks over at me as I start to wash the dishes. “Not only that but I’m sure we’d prefer to be the ones to put any red marks on our beautiful girl. The sun can fuck off if it thinks it can take our jobs so easily.”
Cole suddenly stands and walks over to me, placing his plate and the others in the sink before reaching for the towel with his right-hand and turning, placing his back against the counter. “I can think of a few new places we can mark up tonight, actually,” he mutters under his breath,groaning as his left-hand travels down my side, squeezing the flesh where my thigh meets my ass before giving it a light smack. I half expect him to whip the towel on my ass afterwards but my anticipation is left wanting. I tentatively look up to his face, confused. “Yeah… Don’t you worry, gorgeous… It’ll come,” he promises before turning and lifting a dish, leaving the conversation to hang there in the balance while my heart sinks to my belly in excitement. I take a quick peek over at Jax and Hawk and find they’re both sporting equally intimidating half grins aimed directly at me.
Oh, fuck nuggets there goes my undies…
“Alright guys, although I’m very much intrigued and would love nothing more than to join Cole over there and make Alyreallynervous, let’s focus,” Jax says, reigning us all in. “Now that we’re all on the same page, what are some things that we would like to have at our new place?” Jax takes the map Hawk gave him and flips it over before grabbing a pen and uncapping it. “I, for one, would feel much safer if the house was already secured. A fence, a wall, a moat with a motherfucking guard alligator in it, I don’t care, just something to keep everything out. Oh, and a garden again. Maybe a greenhouse. It’s been too long since we’ve had anything fresh and all these preservatives have got to be messing with our bodies at this point. We’re all in desperate need of a detox.” He puts the pen to the paper and starts to make a list.
“Obviously, someplace that doesn’t rely on conventional electricity. It should be solar powered, wind powered or even just prepped to be used without power at all. I’ve heard there are a lot of plantations in the south thatdon’t need electricity in any capacity to cool or heat the rooms. The doors and windows open in such a way that the design itself allows air to flow through the entire building, cooling it right down in the summer. Then, for the winter, there are usually wood burning stoves to heat the place. As for water, we can look for something near a town with a reservoir, or close to a river. That way pumps won’t be needed anymore. I guess what I’m saying is, self-sufficient energy,” Cole suggests.
Jax nods in agreement. “That sounds good. Self-sufficient. I like it.” He jots that down on the paper, adding it to the list. “Actually, do we all agree that we want to stay in the southeast? I mean there’s an entire country on our doorstep. Hell, we could even dip into Mexico and further south if we wanted to. We just need to keep it on the mainland.” He looks over in my direction. “Or there’s always north, if you wanted us to go back to your neck of the woods.”
I don’t hesitate to speak my thoughts on the matter. “I think the smart thing to do, right now at least, would be to stay in this part of the country. I mean, thatwasmy original strategy. Think about it, everything started in Georgia and fanned out.” I place the last dish down on the rack, dry my hands and return to the table. “What’s to say the undead population hasn’t fanned out too, leaving those earlier cities open, available, and free of contamination?” I pose the question to all three of them. I know I’m not the smartest or the most cunning when it comes to strategic maneuvers, but it makes sense to me.
They all think about it for a minute. Jax’s eyes go in and out of focus as if he’s dissecting all of the schematics of my suggestion. Cole looks equally intrigued and seems to think about it just as thoroughly. Hawk, however, lingers for only a second before cocking his head and nodding, agreeing easily to my proposal. Cole and Jax come out of their mental think tanks soon after and nod their heads as well.
“The less we travel, the less of a chance we have to run into trouble,” Cole inputs, throwing the towel onto the counter before walking over, picking me up, stealing my seat and plopping me back down onto his lap.
“Southeast it is, then. Anything else?” Jax continues.
“A big ass bed… that’s all I need,” Hawk helpfully brings up. I do agree with him on that point, although it’s going to have to be enormous. With all of us sleeping in the same bed, a twin or a full just isn’t gonna cut it. I don’t even think a queen would do. To be honest, the king-size bed we’ve been sharing is barely making the cut. These guys are hulking masses of testosterone and beefy manliness and, if I’m going to be sleeping in the middle of them all, I’m going to need some space to breathe. Come to think of it…
“How about a bunch of room?” I propose, grabbing their attention. “As in space…like personal bedrooms if we want some quiet time.” Hawk looks at me like I’ve just sprouted horns and am the devil incarnate for even recommending it. “Don’t look at me like that, Hawk. Wasn’t it just the other day that you said you needed to get out of the house because you couldn’t breathe and needed some air?”
