Page 14 of Bait
“There is probably very little left in there, but sometimes you can find a treasure or two,” Torch said matter-of-factly as we walked the perimeter of the station. The concrete was covered in ash, but there were boot prints all over. There really had been people here recently. The thought gave me a frightening sort of thrill. I had not enjoyed the interaction with that raider, but I was curious to see what others were like after The Burst.
“It’s nice to know we’re not all alone out here.”
Torch whipped his head in my direction with his usual scowl.
“Unless they’re raping, pillaging criminals,” he replied, pointing at my gun, which I hoisted up to his approval.
“Stop it, Torch,” Candela chastised him, then shook her head at me. “Not everyone is a raider. They are very much in the minority. Most people just want to live in peace. The raiders are just the takers that could never learn how to live in community.”
I caught myself before I said something that would get me into another argument and decided to focus on exploring the place. There was a lot of residue on everything, and it was windy. Which explained why Torch wanted us wearing goggles and masks, not that I would ever admit he was right.
“Careful with the glass,” he warned, sending a nasty look at my shoes. He whipped his head toward Cande, who was also staring at my feet.
“We have some boots that might fit you.”
I observed my own feet and could admit the espadrilles didn’t feel like the most protective footwear. I had no idea what boots would feel like. Theirs looked painful. So stiff and thick, and the cords looked tight. I knew better than to ask about it. The gas station was also too much of a distraction to dwell on the fate of my poor feet. There was not much left on the shelves, but I snagged a couple of little packets that had these flat pine trees inside. They were all coconut scented according to the label and when I opened one of them, the smell made my eyes water. I wasn’t sure if I enjoyed that, but I slid them in my pocket anyway.
I sorted through a pile of small yellow towels that were apparently for washing cars. I was stuffing them in my bag, certain they’d be useful for something, when Candela whooped loudly from the other side of the store. “Hand wash!” she said, grinning like a loon while she hefted two huge gallons of bright blue liquid in the air.
Soap was one of those things we were running desperately low on in the bunker, so I was glad for the spoils. A sudsy shower was not something I’d enjoyed in many months. We managed to secure a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some more of those microfiber towels. It was not a great haul, according to Torch, but to me it felt like a treasure trove.
Once we were outside again, I figured I could look around the area by the truck. It was desert so the greenery was sparse, but wherever there was any, it was exuberant. Much larger than I’d imagined. I hadn’t seen too many animals, which I assumed were still recovering from The Burst, but I did see insects and birds as we looked through the rubble of the gas station.
Torch and Candela were packing up our finds, so I decided to take explore for a few minutes. I wasn’t going far or anything. Just a few dozen yards from the back of the station. I spotted quite a few lizards in the chaparral and decided to go take a closer look. Reptiles were common in the area, and these were quite large. They were pretty resilient, and they might’ve fared better than other species during the eruption. I crouched down to pick up some of the dirt and look at it more closely, thinking how much my dad would’ve loved to see this.
I was so caught up in my ruminations that I didn’t hear the rattling until the snake was just inches from me. It must have been sleeping under the sand, because I hadn’t seen it.
My pistol was in my backpack, not that my aim was good enough to get it in one try. Most likely I’d startle it into jumping right at my throat. I’d only ever seen snakes in the bunker’s menagerie. Once, one of them had gotten out and hidden in a basket in the kitchen. It bit one of the kitchen workers, who’d almost died. I also couldn’t call for Torch and Candela. That would almost certainly end up with the snake’s fangs in me.
Shit. I should’ve told them I was going to walk around. They probably didn’t even know I was gone and now a snake was going to kill me, less than three hours above ground. To survive a fucking apocalypse only to die from a snake bite.
I noticed a rock right by my foot. If I went for it fast, I could probably get it, but I would not get a second chance to try. Not with the way that thing was bristling. I could feel sweat running down my back as I reached my hand out. I kept my eye on it, moving so slowly my elbow ached. The snake didn’t like even that tiny movement, and it slithered closer, unhinged its jaw and lunged for me. I scrambled back screaming in horror as a shot rang out from somewhere behind me. The snake’s head exploded in a bloody mess on the ground in front of me. Before I could even take a breath, two hands lifted me roughly off the ground.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Torch looked furious, his face twisted in anger, even as he ran his hands all over me. I was a little shaky and felt like a rag doll as he manhandled me, his eyes roaming over my face as if he was running a scan. “Did it get you?” he asked, tearing off the flimsy jacket I’d borrowed from Candela and leaving me in my tank and pants. His fingers were rough, and they scratched my skin. But the touch was firm and annoyingly reaffirming. I hated that my gut clenched with want as he ran his palm over the bare skin of my belly. He was looking for bite marks, and I was getting turned on.
I needed help.
“Let go of me.” I tried to twist away, but his hands were like vises. Pushing him back was impossible, and soon he had me plastered to him. His furious face bearing down on me. He wasn’t massive, but he was strong. All corded muscles and barely contained aggression. He looked murderous, those black eyes thundering with anger. My body reacted to the intensity of his regard, of his touch with equal force. I shook in his arms. But not from fear. He’d never hurt me, even if he wanted to murder me.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” He yelled again, as though he was demanding an answer. I’d always hated it when he talked to me like a kid, but I knew he had a point. I should’ve been more careful. I had no idea what to expect out here and no sense of how to anticipate the dangers that could literally be around every corner.
“I will be more careful next time.” He didn’t let me go right away, just stayed like that with his hands tight around my biceps, breathing hard. We were so close I felt the heat of him all up and down my body. I realized I’d never been this close to him. Not even when he taught me how to spar had he let me get so close. I could just push up on my toes and our mouths would crash together. I’d always been attracted to him, even when he barely noticed my existence, but there was something in the way he was looking at me now, possessive, volatile. My reaction to this particular look on him was also foreign. It made me achy and needy. Desperate for more closeness. “I’ll go back to the truck in a minute.” I sounded winded, and I didn’t think it was the close encounter with the snake.
“If you need to go pick plants or whatever, you will go with Candela.” I ignored the warm ball that settled in my gut at the realization that he remembered my herb obsession. I’d snuck downstairs with my mother anytime I could and kept a very detailed catalogue of everything we grew in the bunker and their medicinal properties. He wasn’t shutting me down outright, and having Candela with me wasn’t a bad idea. For one, I liked being around her. I liked being around her a lot. It would be good to have an extra pair of eyes. But I wasn’t going to tell him he was right.
I noticed that the snake’s head seemed larger than usual for a diamondback, and its scales were very shiny. Everything was bigger and a little brighter in this post-Burst world. I felt a little brighter myself, despite everything. I pulled the knife Xavier gave me and instead of going for the plants I sliced off the head of the snake, while Torch looked on. I didn’t know why I did it. Maybe because in its own way it was beautiful or because I wanted the reminder to be more careful. As I sawed with the blade, I was pretty sure I heard a grunt of appreciation at my decapitation activities. Of course that would be what impressed him.
I wrapped it in some old napkins I’d taken from the gas station. When I looked up, I found Torch looking at me with an amused grin on his face. I decided not to investigate too closely the effect it had on me, because I had enough trouble for the moment.
“What are you grinning at?” I lunged at him with the snake’s head in my hand, which extracted the closest thing to laughter I’d seen from him.
“Am I going to find that under my pillow tonight?” Maybe this was his way of apologizing for berating me, but I wasn’t ready to make nice just yet. Even if the realization was making something warm and not altogether unpleasant flutter inside me.
“I’d be careful of my food and drink for a few days if I were you.”
He shook his head like I was out of my mind, but at least he wasn’t glowering at me anymore.
“Let’s go, Sass.” It was his old nickname for me. It had annoyed me so much in the past, but it didn’t irritate me now. Not at all. It made me all buzzy and soft. It felt so good to be treated like he knew me. Like he’d cared about me once.
