Page 12 of Marked for Extinction
“Fuck, I’m going to need to go on the next supply run for some fucking chairs or something,” Amir complained as his knees popped when tried to scoot himself more onto the thin mattress.
Vanessa laughed musically. “Quit being babies. You’re not going to sit that long. I already had some vegetables chopped. Give me a few minutes.”
She tossed the end of a carrot over her shoulder and Angel quickly jumped to grab it out of mid air. They were in tuned to one another.
I whistled and Angel immediately came to my side. “Give her some room, girl. Stop begging for scraps.”
“Oh, she’s not a bother. She helps reduce my trash if anything.”
“Shouldn’t it be used for compost instead?” Carson finally chimed in. We all looked at him curiously.
What did he know about gardening? He was just as bad as the rest of us, choosing every mission that comes his way.
“Do you farm, Carson?” Vanessa asked softly. She casted a shy gaze his way and Carson proceeded to clear his throat.
“I used to.”
She slowly smiled while she added her ingredients into a pot. Carson abruptly stood up and we leaned away from him, watching with confusion as he made his way over to her side and grabbed her pot for her.
“Here, let me help you with that,” he said with a weird tone to his voice.
“Oh… th-thank you.” The moment her face flushed, the atmosphere of the room became awkward.
“Maybe we should leave,” Amir offered, whispering under his breath.
Maybe. “I thought you were hungry?”
“Fuck, not that hungry. I don’t need my balls blue watching these two interact. Come on, let's go.”
He was right. Carson deserved this. “Hey Vanessa, I just remembered something I had to do. Carson, you stay here and enjoy the meal. Amir needs to help me with something.”
Carson didn’t acknowledge us and he didn’t need to. We quickly exited the house with Angel trotting behind us.
“He’s going to get his ass in trouble,” Amir stated.
We made our way through one of the northern tunnels, toward the communal caverns. It was easier finding a quick on the go meal here anyway.
“How so?” I asked as we began walking toward one of the food stalls.
Amir sighed and my ears perked, making me turn to look at him. “I just don’t want another Carlos caper,” he admitted sadly.
My guilt slammed into me again. In a world where death was around every corner, was it truly fair of us to expect our brothers in arms to keep themselves single for the sake of not leaving broken families behind?
We all deserved to live our lives too like the rest of the residents, didn’t we? I swallowed the heavy lump in my throat and quickly turned toward the more aromatic food stall, inadvertently running into a small body.
“Shit, sorry, I didn’t see—” My sentence was cut off when I realized it wasn’t a child I ran into, but a woman. Food stained her entire front, molding her shirt against her body in ways that shouldn’t be legal. “Fuck.”
Her dark head was hung and she sighed dejectedly before looking up. It was the woman from before. Inés.
Her pupils dilated and my mouth went dry. Her top was so see through, I could almost discern the dark nipples that peeked through. Clearing my throat, I chastised myself and quickly removed my top to help soak up the soup that had plastered hers.
She scrunched her face in confusion and I realized how stupid this looked. Angel chose that exact moment to rescue me from my stupidity. She began licking some of the soup that stained her pants and Inés began laughing.
“Stop that, you silly dog.” She crouched down and caressed the Angel’s head. “I’m sorry girl. I don’t blame ya. Gavin’s recipes are the best. If I were a dog, I’d do the same.”
“You’d lick food off someone’s pants?” I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. Shaking my shirt out, I looked it over and grimaced at the thought of putting it back on. Shoving it into my back pocket, I stared at her interacting with Angel.
She looked at me from the corner of her eye, continuing to pet Angel who unabashedly begged for more attention, her tail wacking my leg in rhythmic movements.
