Chapter 4
Faith
She snuck out when everyone else settled down to sleep. It was hard to do because the subway cars they converted into their living spaces weren’t completely private. These cabs were sectioned off by whatever they could find: bricks from fallen buildings, boards, sheets of metal. The doors could not be locked, but they boarded the entries they didn’t want to use and left one door pretty much open all the time.
The seating was arranged with some benches lining parallel along the wall of the subway car intersecting other seats situated perpendicular. This arrangement allowed them to board or curtain off their private sleeping areas. Luckily for her, she slept close to the door. Felix, Rooster, and Nox were farther away. Cary usually slept across from her, but she was currently sleeping with Felix. Faith had to wait a while before she heard steady breathing and soft snoring. She made sure to be very quiet as she moved to exit the car.
Slowly she tiptoed closer and closer. Her satchel hit one of the poles and she froze. Her heart was racing. Felix would flip out if he caught her. If Rooster caught her, he might threaten to tell Felix unless she did something for him—something disgusting probably. He attempted to do the same thing to her before.
She had gone exploring instead of scavenging for supplies. Faith only meant to be gone a few minutes but got sidetracked. Everything would have been fine, but Rooster had followed her. The memory of that day was still fresh in her mind.
*****
“What are you doing, little Faith?”
She jumped in surprise and fear. “Rooster? What are you doing?”
“Following you. Where are you going?” He picked up her satchel. “Empty. Felix won’t be happy about that.”
“You don’t have to tell him. I can still scavenge something.”
“Maybe you’ll find something. Or I could give you some of my supplies in exchange.”
She felt fear rush through her. “In exchange for what?”
He ran a finger down the side of her cheek. “A kiss. I only ask for one kiss. That’s worth half my supply.”
There was a time she thought Rooster was cute. But his constant sexual jokes made her uncomfortable instead of turning her on. But a kiss wasn’t that much to ask for.
He moved closer to her. “It’s just a kiss.”
“One kiss.”
“That’s all I’m asking for, then you can have half my stuff.”
“Okay.”
Rooster leaned down and placed his lips on hers. Was that it? It wasn’t anything. Then his grip pulled her body against his tall, lean one. She felt his tongue force his way inside her mouth. It was… wet and gross. It was like kissing a wet frog. No, a frog would have been better at kissing. When his hands started groping her, she struggled to get loose.
“Faith! Where the hell are you?” her brother called from somewhere close.
Rooster let her go and stared at her weirdly. She had to fight the urge to wipe her mouth with her hand. She still needed something else from him. Raising her hand with her satchel she waited.
He smiled as he dumped all his supplies into her bag. “It was worth the whole thing. Better run along before big brother catches you with that guilty look on your force.”
It wasn’t guilt, it was disgust. But she didn’t argue the point, she took off to safety.
*****
After that happened, she made sure to never be alone with Rooster again. If he caught her now, no doubt he would bribe her again to stay quiet about her escapade. Of course, he would probably want more than just one kiss. She shuddered at the thought. Luckily, no one roused so she continued her escape.
Escape. That was one word for what she was doing. She needed a short escape from her reality to reboot her spirit and soul. Others took solace in their sexual encounters, but Faith didn’t have those. There wasn’t anyone who interested her in that way. Her tribe had three men, one was her brother, another Rooster, and the third was Nox who batted for the other team. Faith found something that worked better than sex, at least for her.
It took ten minutes for her to make her way to the surface. She went slower than usual so she could keep to the shadows. Once she got topside, she placed her face mask on and quickened her pace.
Earth suffered so much damage from the nuclear blasts destroying the natural beauty of the land. Trees, flowers, and bodies of water were gone, all dried up. But with the moon shining down over the remains gave way to its own sort of lonely and haunting beauty. It was a scene she had not quite perfected whenever she tried to sketch it.
Hearing a sound behind her, she paused, waiting. Nothing. She must be paranoid. Continuing on her way, she rounded a few more street corners. Then she finally came to the one place that had given her true solace—The New York Transit Museum.
