He’s too far gone to speak when he’s given all he has, but he doesn’t have to. I can see what he’s feeling all over his face.
He reaches between our bodies so he can fuck me with his fingers until I come too. Then he kisses me with a clumsy ardor, and I kiss him back.
Feeling just as much.
It’s several minutes before we’ve recovered. But I’ve cooled down and relaxed when Micah raises himself on his arms and smiles down at me. “As far as I’m concerned, we can start every day like that for the rest of our lives.”
His light, lilting claim is another thing that should scare me but doesn’t. “Every day? You know I sometimes wake up in a bad mood, right?”
“But that’s what I’m here for. To get you out of all your bad moods.”
I giggle and stroke his beard lightly. “You are pretty good at that.”
“I’m good at a lot of things.”
“Yeah, you are.” If I don’t get out of this tender mood soon, there’s no telling what I might accidentally say. With a sigh, I give his shoulder a little push. “But now it’s time for you to get off me. I need to pee.”
Tomorrow we’ll haveto go back into Cleverly, but I’m feeling cooped up after having not left the campsite for an entire week, so I suggest we go south to that unlooted township to do some scavenging today.
He doesn’t want me to have to walk that far—three hours there and back—when I’m not fully healed yet. And I can tell he’s going to dig in his heels about it until I mention we have the motorcycle we took off the guy who shot me. We can ride it instead of hiking, and we can bring a siphon pump to top off the tank with the gasoline I’m sure is still remaining at the old station.
This plan is agreeable to all but Molly. We have to leave her behind since she’ll slow us down and overexert herself trying to keep up.
She knows what it means when I point toward the camper as Micah gets astride the seat of the motorcycle.
She flops down on the dirt with a huff and watches mournfully as I climb on behind Micah.
“I’m sorry, girl,” I tell her. “We won’t be too long. You protect the premises while we’re gone.”
She gives a couple of half-hearted swipes of her tail, which I take for assent. Then Micah and I drive off.
A distance that takes me three hours to hike takes us less than an hour to drive. We can’t go very fast because of the condition of the trail, but it’s a lot easier and faster than walking. The first thing we do when we reach the abandoned township is to check the underground tanksfor gas. Micah pries off the lid to one, and we’re rewarded to discover it’s more than halfway filled still.
We’ll be able to keep using this motorcycle as long as the gasoline in those tanks remain.
We fuel up the motorcycle and then break into one of the nearby houses. It’s really more of a shack. It wasn’t in good condition even before Impact.
But inside is a windfall. There’s still a lot of canned food in the kitchen cabinets, blankets, sheets, and towels in the hall closet, and both men and women’s clothes in the one bedroom.
The women’s clothes are even close to my size. There are three pairs of jeans that are just a little loose, a couple of dresses, and a lot of T-shirts and underwear, including a sports bra that almost looks new.
I feel like a kid on Christmas morning, gathering up one item after another and grinning in excitement with each new treasure.
Micah has an armful of jeans, sweats, and flannel shirts. His feet are too big for the men’s shoes, but the women’s shoes fit me fine. We find a box of big black garbage bags and fill them up with our hoard.
It’s too much to carry everything back with us on the motorcycle, so we stow a couple of bags away in the cave and find ways to hold on to the rest.
It’s not exactly a safe way to travel, but we manage it by going even slower than we did on the way there.
I’m as happy as I’ve been in years when we get home, greet a waiting Molly, and unload our loot.
We’ve got a whole stack of new towels to replace the bloodied ones, and two new sheet sets that will fit the bed with some extra tucking. The thick comforter is in one of the bags we hid back in the township, but we won’t need that until winter.
Between the clothes, the bedding, the towels, and all the canned food, it feels like we’re able to refurbish the entire camper. Even Molly is panting happily, sticking at our heels as we unpack and find places to stow our findings.
We eat a quick lunch of sandwiches and carrots and then decide to wash up in the creek since the afternoon is so hot.
We take turns since it’s a lot safer to have someone on guard than both of us being wet and vulnerable at the same time. But I don’t make Micah turn his back as I soak, scrub up, and wash my hair. And I don’t turn my back when he does the same.
