Fourteen - Kyle

"What the hell was that?" I asked, watching Ella skitter up the steps embarrassed. I picked up the nearest object - a throw pillow, not very manly but it would have to do - and threw it at Hunter's face. "You were watching?" I looked for something harder to throw.

"What?" He sat up, pulling a face. "God, no. Come on, Ky. No." He shook his head. "You're the one who decided to get your freak on near the dock. I was coming down to fill a bucket up with water for girls' laundry, asshole. Obviously I turned my ass around, but your ass is burned into my brain."

Well, that was an entirely reasonable explanation and if I had been thinking with my brain even a little bit, I would have considered that the dock seemed to be fairly high traffic. Unfortunately, my brain lost control about the same moment Ella lost her pants. I flopped onto the couch next to Atlas.

"Don't give her a hard time, jackass."

"Sounds like you already did that," Joel added unnecessarily and I shot him a look.

"Seriously, leave her alone about it."

Hunter smirked but I knew he would. Joel raised his hands in surrender but it didn't stop him from snorting out a laugh. I was positive that what had happened between Ella and I was something she thought wholeheartedly would stay private. I had intended to honor that partly because it was no one's business and partly because I was pretty sure if she thought I was sayin' shit that the chances of it happening again would fall to zero pretty quickly. And hell to the yeah I wanted it to happen again. And again and again.

"So much for nothing going on there," Joel muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear. Hunter bit back a laugh but before I could say anything - or do anything, Atlas spoke up.

"Glad you're here," he said loudly enough to force attention his way. I may not have known him very well, but Atlas was a good guy, he was definitely the peace keeper of this little group. Except when it came to their newest addition. I didn't know if I should have been calling her Gremlin or Claire, she was pretty insistent on the latter but Atlas had everyone using the former just to get under her skin it seemed. That aside, I'd seen him break up arguments and sway conversations more than once in the last few days. And that's what he was doing, taking the heat off of whatever went down between Ella and I and forcing the conversation in a more productive direction.

He had a good head on his shoulder. He stayed calmer and exhibited more patience than any of us and if he weren't heading back to the church with the girls, I would have wanted him with us.

"Yeah." It took a hell of a lot of effort to focus on him and not on the girl upstairs. I wanted to follow her up make sure she was okay. That wasn't planned and I wanted to know if she regretted it - thought it was a mistake. I had no idea what was going through her mind and even if she made the first move, I felt like I needed to make sure we were good. And I wanted to do it again, slower, taking my time. "Joel said you wanted to talk."

"Yeah. He mentioned a farm not far from the church. I hoped you could point out where it was to me on a map."

Joel had never been great at reading maps. He probably wasn't able to give more than a general area.

"Sure," I said, nodding. "Something wrong with the church?" I laughed.

"They won't make you convert to stay," Joel added, chuckling.

Atlas laughed but shook his head. "No, but Z's family, her aunt, owns a large ranch."

I nodded in understanding. "And you think it's the same place?"

Hunter leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and bobbed his head up and down. "Joel gave us an area, and it seems to match up, but we want to know for sure before we mention it to Zero. If that's the case, she may want them to wait there."

Atlas scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, that's not what she's gonna want. There's a reason we've been living here so long. But if they're one in the same, I don't want to give her choice." Rubbing a hand over his face, Atlas sighed and suddenly appeared decades older than he was. "You know this has gone on too long."

"She's doing good. Did you see her today?" Hunter demanded quietly as if he were concerned Zero might overhear. "You can't make her meet someone she doesn't want to know. I'm not going along with this if you don't tell her."

The two men stared one another down until one gave in and backed down.Joel looked at me, no doubt wondering if I knew better than him what this was about. I shook my head. I'd noticed a few things... namely that Hunter occasionally watched Zero like he was concerned that she might end up rocking back in forth in a corner somewhere. Both of them did. Though aside from being a little mean and a lot quiet, she seemed to have a good handle on things to me. Hunter had mentioned they lost someone she was close to and were betrayed by someone else recently, but she hardly seemed like the fragile type to lose her mind over it. She was definitely not outgoing or friendly in the same way the two guys sitting next to us were, but she didn't appear to be one step away from crazyville.

It was Atlas who looked away first, giving in with a sigh. Of course. Hunter was likable and kind; he got along with everyone. But he had a switch that could be turned off on a dime and it was like he did a 180. He could put fear in people and he knew how to stand his ground.

"It's here." I pointed to a spot on the map that was a day or two away, depending on how quickly they could walk. With the little one, I might guess it would have even taken them three days to make it. Bambi was a tough kid, but her legs just weren't as long as everyone else's and she wouldn't have the stamina. She was a little kid, whether she acted like it or not, and she couldn't go as long as everyone else. Atlas and Hunter both leaned in to study the map, Atlas' eyes scouring different routes. I took a breath and sat back.

"It could be the same place," Atlas mumbled to himself. "I think it's the same road Bryan gave us."

"Look, I know you didn't ask for it, but my opinion is, you head for the church."

Atlas pulled back to look at me, question in his eyes.

"Because it's closer?" He asked.

Partially. I shrugged. "That. Among other reasons. It's smaller, most people there have been trained and help out on patrols. The people living out on the ranch, they're good people, but there's a whole lot of 'em and they aren't as organized. They set up some fences and deterrents but don't actively patrol for the zoms or other people. And as far as I know, they don't have an exit strategy."

"That many people and no plan?"

"They've been really lucky," I told him. "People who've had this much luck don't expect it to run out."

The younger boy looked to Hunter. Despite the disagreement, it was clear he held a lot of respect for Hunter and would defer to him, which only went to show the type of person Hunter was. From what I understood, he'd only met them all a few months ago but he'd earned their trust pretty damn quickly.

"It's your call, Atlas. But if you decide to check out the ranch, you talk to Z first."

He nodded thoughtfully and then looked to me, smiling and thanked me for the help.

"The base you're at, are they looking for more runners?" He asked after a beat of silence.

I glanced to Hunter whose eyebrows were up near his hairline in surprise.

Slowly, I shook my head up and down. "Runners tend to have a high turn over rate." That was a nice way of saying they died a lot. Those of us braving the zombie-ridden world in search of supplies, food, and the like didn't have long life expectancies. "Yeah, they could always use some more."

"There is no way in hell you're doing that," Hunter said, an amused glint in his eyes.

"You'd try to stop me?" He asked his friend. "The last three days all y'all have talked about is what's happening and how awesome it was before."

We'd been talking about the past a lot, catching up and reminiscing on the good times. But that didn't mean there hadn't been a lot of shit. There were plenty of things we didn't talk about - we couldn't talk about - that we'd been through together years ago. Things that we'd all pushed back into the deepest part of our minds so that the darkness wouldn't consume us entirely. Things I know I prayed I could forget and I was sure each of them did as well. Hell, Hunter dropped off the face of the planet, stopped talking to all of us for years because the shit we got into was too much. The zombies... the end of modern civilization, it was really fucked up. But in some ways, it couldn't compare to the things we'd done, seen, lived through.

I wouldn't discourage the kid from doing whatever he wants to do to help. We needed more people like him if we had any chance of getting back to the way it all was before, but he shouldn't expect rainbows and sunshine. And like I said, most running teams didn't have the luck we had. Most of them experienced as much loss as they did success. Still, it was a better gig than waiting inside the gates of Hudson like cattle awaiting their slaughter.

"I'm not the one you have to worry about stopping you," Hunter said with a shrug. "Zero's not even happy about you making it to the church without backup."

Joel and I followed Hunter back into the town where we'd met. There was no checking streets or anything holding us back, Hunter knew exactly where he was going and the easiest way to get there.

"Aw, shit, bro. You did not tell me it was Christmas," Joel said rushing forward when he spotted where we were going. A small, specialty car dealership that doubled as a garage. They were all used and most of them were older cars that had either been restored or were in need of it. But there were some damn nice cars.

Hunter laughed. "Saw this place a week ago. Nice, huh? I figured we could take one. We can probably make it halfway before we have to ditch it."

It wasn't that we hadn't thought about cars before. We'd used them here and there, but typically we don't stick to the road so vehicles aren't so practical. And gas wasn't exactly easy to come by either. It doesn't last forever and most of the cars abandoned on the road or sitting in driveways and against curbs had been filled with gas that had since gone bad. When it gums up in injectors and filter, the car won't run. It was the state of most of the vehicles on the road by this point. But a handful of the cars had been kept mostly out of the weather and some five gallon cans of gas had been well stored with stabilizers to keep it usable for a longer time.

It was going to cut probably two, maybe even three days of the trip down. We'd be back damn close to schedule. Joel was busy checking out an old Vette that yeah, was sexy as hell and we'd all love to drive, but it wasn't even close to practical. There were six of us, we needed something a little bigger than a Corvette. But who was I to spoil Joel's fun so quickly.

Hunter was on the same page as me. "There's a truck 'round back. It ain't pretty but I think it runs."

I seriously doubted the truck ran. The '50's Ford sat underneath a carport behind the main building and was in need of some serious TLC. It looked like someone had started to restore it at some point but quickly lost interest. The hood has been sanded down to the metal and, left unprotected was rusted. The rest of the body was a dark grey-blue color that had mostly chipped away to reveal white underneath, or just the original primer. There was some definite rust issues, but it didn't look like any of it had rusted completely through.

Leaning in to look through the window, the inside would do. Fabric was torn and was either stained or mildewed but we'd only need the car for a few days, so I could look past that. The bed of the truck was filthy but could fit four people easily enough.

"Rubber's rotted," I said, kicking a tire. We wouldn't be able to drive on those.

"There're some tires inside we can pick through. Keys are on the dash."

I nodded and pulled the door handle open, no sense in worrying about the tires until we knew whether or not it would run. The door made and awful creaking sound and I half expected it to just fall completely off, but it hung on. I sat inside the car and reached for the keys. Pushing it into the ignition, I waited, but nothing happened. Pocketing the keys, I slid out of the cab and slammed the door shut behind me, pulling a "whoops" face when the window shifted out of place.

"Check the fuel."

Hunter did just that and moments later confirmed it was dry. Actually a good thing since it meant we didn't have to worry about bad gas gumming up the fuel line. We made quick work of getting gas for the truck and putting extra in the bed. Joel, finally over the fact that he wouldn't be driving one of the nicer cars, helped haul over some tires after we were sure the engine would turn.

"I could kiss you for this, man," Joel said to Hunter, climbing into the bed to head back to the inn.

"I'll pass," Hunter said laughing. He closed the door to the passenger side of the cab; it's window seemed to be in better shape than the one on the drivers side that was still off its track and tucked halfway into the door panel.

The ride was rough and not just because it had been a while since I'd driven such an old car, but it was better than walking. And it probably made me a damn idiot, but I couldn't wait to see Ella's face when she realized we wouldn't be walking the whole way.

I was a pathetic jackass.

She'd said she wanted an escape and I gave her one because it was the only thing I had to give. She didn't want to know my deep dark secrets or hold hands - well, maybe sometimes, when she was scared. She didn't want to cuddle or spend hours baring our souls. It worked because it was all I had to give.

Except now I couldn't get her out of my head.

The taste of her lips. The way her skin felt like silk under my fingertips. The feel of her nails clawing at my back.

She was sweet and innocent and raw and sexy. A hell if I didn't want more.

Yep. Pathetic jackass, right here.

I pushed thoughts of the girl aside and forced myself to focus on making it back to inn in one piece - and without having to plow over any zombies. Didn't want to risk damage to the truck.

Authors Note - hope you are all having a lovely start to your week (or end or middle depending on when you read) and that you all loved this chapter! Still posting from my phone this week so any mistakes weren't caught. :)