Page 15 of Bait
ChapterSix
When we got back to the rig, Candela was waiting with some lunch, and a very curious expression on her face.
“Where did you two go off to?” The question was amiable enough, but I still felt guilty. Like I was hiding something from her. Nothing happened and despite those moments of intimacy, Torch and I were nowhere near friends. Then why did I feel like we’d been sneaking around?
“I was looking around the chaparral and had a run-in with this guy.” I pointed to the snake’s head which was now wrapped in one of the towels from the gas station. She barely raised an eyebrow at the fact that a whole-ass snake head was now sitting next to our lunch. God, she was so badass and so hot. She’d taken off her jacket and was just in a green tank top and her fatigues. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and I could see her hard nipples.
Her skin was an almond brown, deeper than it had been when she was in the bunker. It glowed, and I suddenly had the urge to lick her.
“My eyes are up here, Brains.” She was teasing me, and I huffed out a laugh. My face was hot as hell as I sat down to eat. I needed to get a hold of myself. One moment I was close to begging Torch to kiss me, and the next I was drooling over Candela’s nipples. It was like my libido had been dormant for most of my life and the contact with the sunlight had brought it roaring back to life. That was another question to add to the other dozens I had.
Had it been like this for them too? Did they indulge in those urges with each other? Yeah, not touching that. Lunch,focuson lunch.
“Thanks for this.” I pulled up the metal plate she’d pointed at and inhaled happily. My stomach grumbled, which rewarded me with a laugh from Candela. I crossed my eyes at her in jest and tucked in. It was a simple meal, but to me it was an indulgence. There were nuts and dried fruit. Some kind of soft cheese Candela informed me was made from cows in the township where the bunker people lived. I’d never had fresh cow’s milk cheese. We had a thing called Velveeta that was bright yellow and jiggly, and on rare occasions we got a tiny disc of sheep’s milk cheese, but that was only on celebration days.
“Is it good?” I probed it with a finger, and it was harder than I imagined and wobbly.
Candela popped a white chunk into her mouth and chewed with enthusiasm. “It’s called mozzarella-style cheese. It’s good, salty.” I picked a cube and placed it on my tongue. I sucked it and the salty brine of it made me salivate. It was soft and squishy and delicious.
“This is not like bunker cheese.” I shook my head and Candela did the same. The meat was next. It was dried, but didn’t look gray like the stuff we got. “What kind of jerky is this?” I didn’t wait for her to answer and took a bite. It was spicy and there was a heat to it that warmed my tongue. I had to drink some water when the warmth turned to full-on burning.
“Bison.” She grinned, taking a bite from her chunk of bread. “There were some indigenous ranchers who managed to get the population back up. In this area, most of those who survived are the Hopi, the first people who lived in this land. They grind up the spice mix for the jerky with lots of chilis.” She popped another piece in her mouth. “Good, right?” she asked, as she chewed. I nodded and ate another piece myself.
My dad had always feared that if we managed to survive The Burst, if we had enough to rebuild, Western culture would prevent the planet from recovering. Because they lacked the patience to let the planet heal itself. He’d be happy to know that at least in this part of the world, the ancient cultures who nurtured this land for centuries were now in charge of it’s care again.
“Is the government trying to take over?”
She shrugged and looked out the window where Torch seemed to be inspecting something near the gas station.
“The president and other billionaire bunkers, like Habrian, survived and tried to keep running stuff from underground, but there’s not enough of them to really enforce anything outside of the coasts.” I polished off my cheese and was eyeing Candela’s. She put two of hers on my plate, and I offered my bison, which she took. “I think they’re sort of giving everyone free reign, letting people rebuild, bring back agriculture and business however they can.”
“Until there’s something for them to take.” Candela didn’t argue with my observation, and we kept eating in companiable silence as I thought of what she’d said. I only really knew what American towns looked like from old media, but it was hard to picture what they could look like now.
“Where did he go?” I asked when we finished, and Torch was still outside.
She raised an eyebrow as we cleaned up the table. “He’s keeping guard.”
“Is he scared of raiders finding us?” I waved a hand at the window and the view of a whole bunch of nothing. She frowned, like she was considering whether to tell me something or not. “Tell me, Candela.”
“Raiders is almost too simple a word for it,” she said, biting her bottom lip, which I remembered being an anxious gesture. “The guy who attacked you today was more of an opportunist. Men who are on the lookout for the bait that Becker puts out and are willing to pay for it.”It. That’s probably how they thought of us, as things they could entertain themselves with. It’s certainly how Becker saw us. “There are groups out there that never integrated back into a community and survive off raiding. They think they’re reincarnated Vikings or pirates or something. I’d call it a gang, but it’s more like a violent cult broken up into groups. These are roving bands of mayhem.” Candela was too unflappable to actually sound spooked, but I could tell whatever they’d seen unnerved her.
“Are they armed?” They had to be, I just needed to hear more details since I hadn’t gotten any of them before.
“Some are.” She heaved a sigh and looked out at Torch’s form, standing like a sentinel. “One of the few good things that happened after The Burst, like maybe fifteen years in, was that they started collecting weapons and getting rid of them. So, people only have enough to defend themselves with. It’s not like in the past when anyone could carry around weapons of war.”
“That’s good, I guess.” Weapons were not allowed in the bunker, at least not in day-to-day life. I knew the council had an arsenal somewhere. The thought came upon me like a slap and when I looked back at Candela, her face answered my thought.
“From what we’ve heard, Becker’s sold some of the bunker weapons for liquor and fuel.” Fuck. “We won’t let anything happen to you, Brains.” She was leaning against the small sink of the galley kitchen, and I was a few feet away, attempting to give her space. She reached for my hand, and I let her tug me to her. “We’ll take care of you.” The words made me go all warm inside. She was probably trying to keep me from having a meltdown, but I wasn’t too proud to go to her even if she was just feeling sorry for me.
“I don’t want you to worry about protecting me.” I looked up at her and the heat in her eyes sparked a flame in my body. There was something pained in her expression. But she didn’t say anything. She tipped my chin, her thumb caressing my cheek.
“That mouth of yours is dangerous.” My breath hitched as I remembered that kiss from so long ago. How good it felt to touch her. How horrible the consequences had been afterward.
“Did you hate me for getting you kicked out?”
She made a sound of protest, but she didn’t let go.
“You didn’t get us kicked out.” We both knew that wasn’t true. My dad turned her in and protected me. “No, you didn’t.”
