“Will your chickens be okay?” Brant asks, trying to redirect her attention away from Madix to give the poor guy a break.
“Oh, yeah, they’ll be fine. They’re not actually my chickens,” she answers as she grabs a cooler from the cabinet and starts piling food in.
Brant and I exchange a look. “If they’re not your chickens, why the hell are they here?”
“They came with the place,” she says matter-of-factly. “But they’re pretty wild. They mostly roost in bushes and trees, even after I built them the hen house. I keep them fed when I’m here, and I always think they’ll be wiped out when I get back every year, but the damn things just multiply,” she explains. “But Jim Bob keeps trying to get to them. I thought we had a solid smoked fish instead of terrified poultry agreement, but he likes to test the boundaries...literally. It’s why I set up the clinger dinger alarm. When he starts stalking too close to them, I have to remind him to back off. That bear is just crazy.”
“Pot. Kettle,” Madix mumbles.
Remi pretends not to hear him. “I’m going to shower, then you boys can have at it. The water heater is small, so you’ll have to be quick. I’m all for energy conservation, so once again, feel free to join me,” she says with a wink before walking out of the kitchen and into the bathroom. “We can share a towel, too!”
“That’s not sanitary,” Madix calls after her.
She just laughs. “Everyone needs to get a little dirty every now and then, Mady!”
He shakes his head and runs a hand over his trimmed black beard. When he drops it back into his lap, he looks over at me. “I’ll make something quick for us to eat, and then let’s start helping to move her along. The sooner we can get out of here, the better,” he says, looking out the window at the dawning sun. “I want to make it back to Endstone as soon as possible.”
I rub my leg again through the fabric of my pants as the guys start moving around. Brant looks over his shoulder at me. “You okay, bro?”
“Fine,” I say, dropping my hand with a grimace.
“We can pack up if you—”
“I said I’m fine,” I snap, before standing.
Brant holds up his hands in surrender and moves to the living room to start packing our shit. I hear the water turn off from the shower. She wasn’t kidding. She does take a damn quick shower. I don’t know why, but I’m oddly turned on by that. She’s not one of those chicks who takes three hours to get ready, and she’s still fucking gorgeous.
After Remi is finished in the bathroom, Brant, Madix, and I shower consecutively. Madix gets in last, which means the hot water runs out on him. He was already in an off-mood since his kiss with Remi, so he turns downright pissy after that.
We’ve had missions in countries whose temperatures would give hell a run for its money, and we were there bogged down by tons of gear and always on the move. We would have killed for a cold shower then, and I remind Madix of this when he snaps at me about how I stored our extra ammo too close to a fireplace that isn’t in use. He’s still wearing his angry eyes, but at least he’s brooding silently now. Maybe I should encourage Remi to give him a roll in the hay. He clearly needs to let the poison out.
Remi is outside putting enough birdseed down to feed an entire aviary when I hear it.
A motor.
Alarm slices through me at the faint but distinct sound, and I rush out onto the porch, passing Madix on the way. “What’s wrong?”
His hearing was damaged in our last mission, so I quickly fill him in as I scan for the source. “Vehicle approaching.”
His head whips around to the road where I’m looking. It’s a long, windy drive, and there are too many thick copses of trees to see anything, but the noise is definitely getting louder. Remi’s house sits on higher land than the winding passes that lead up to it, and it has a good view of anything that might be approaching.
“Remington!” Madix shouts, getting her attention from where she’s standing by the chicken coop. “Come over here.”
She cocks her head and opens her mouth to say something, but then her head turns to the road. “Huh. Sounds like someone is coming,” she says thoughtfully, and not at all worried.
“Remington!” Madix snaps again.
When she doesn’t immediately do as he asks, he launches himself over the railing, stalks over to her, grabs her by the arm, and starts yanking her toward the house. She actually looks pretty excited to be manhandled by him, judging by the smug smile on her face. “Aww, are you gonna protect me, soldier?”
“Get inside,” he orders.
The smile leaves her face, and her eyebrows raise. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?” she asks, as if this surprises her.
“We have no idea who that is,” I point out. “In case you’ve forgotten, there’s a virus that’s killing eighty-five percent of the people who catch it. We can’t run the risk of being exposed in order to be a friendly fucking neighbor. We have no idea who will be in that car or what they might bring with them.”
Brant must have been listening, because he comes stomping outside with four masks in hand and passes them around. The three of us immediately pull them over our mouths and noses, but when Remi just frowns at it, Brant steps forward and puts it on for her, tucking the straps around her ears gently. She mutters something too low for me to hear, and then Madix disappears inside before returning with our weapons. He also hands one to Remi, which seems to surprise her.
“Is this really necess—”
