Chapter 4 Zoey

“Come on! Come on! Hurry the fuck up!”

As if to spite me, the number on the display didn’t change. I’d made it to the safe house in one piece and found it exactly the way we’d left it last. There was plenty of clean water, collected straight from the sky and stored in huge plastic bins. They were several seasons old, but I trusted them to be free of the bugs’ fungus.

Yes, the bugs also had a fungus that turned people into zombies if ingested. Talk about an unfair advantage.

This would’ve been an ideal place to stay, except Corey knew about it.

I glanced out the window to the solar panels outside, remembering how Connor, Diego, and I had spent hours in the freezing rain setting them up. That had been my contribution. That had been my job before the apocalypse. I used to sell solar panels for a living, and when they needed an extra hand on site, I installed them too.

I’d been so passionate about trying to switch everyone and their grandma over to clean energy. My knowledge meant that our group had set up charging stations for ourselves all along our trade route.

Our little group built everything we had together. I loved them like family. And now, they were gone.

I wiped away the tears that rolled down my face. I had to get it together. I couldn’t break down now. Not until I got to Sanctuary.

I looked over at the number on my scooter’s display again. It was full! Yes! Fina-fucking-ly!

Now, to temporarily sabotage my own setup. The thing was, I wanted Riley and I to be able to use this again in the future, but I didn’t want to let Corey and his friends use it now, especially since he’d need to charge his vehicle. His stolen vehicle. I got to work, discharging the battery.

I disconnected the battery from the whole setup, then plugged the heater into it and turned it on. My goal was to drain the remainder of the battery so that by the time they arrived, they wouldn’t be able to charge their vehicle. Then, I started disassembling the connections.

Technically, they could just connect everything back together and use it. But they would have to find the wires, which I planned on hiding, and figure out how to do it on their own. I didn’t know about Corey’s friends, but Corey didn’t seem like the type who could figure out anything on his own.

As the battery discharged, I headed down into the basement to change the code to our safe. We kept weapons and ammo at every location. I considered picking up a rifle and some ammo, but decided that it wasn’t worth the extra weight since I needed to move quickly.

Besides, if I got desperate enough to shoot at anything, then I was screwed anyway. The alien bugs had learned to head straight toward the sound of gunfire. It was like a dinner bell to them.

Next came the water. This hurt. Every ounce of my being cringed at the thought of purposefully dumping out clean, potable water just so I could fuck Corey over. Maybe I could save some.

I peered outside. The sun was already setting, and I didn’t have much time.

I dug in the cupboards and returned with two shallow salad bowls. I filled these bowls with water and carefully loaded them into the oven. I shoved the wires in there, too, then closed the door. In an ideal world, I’d be stashing clean water everywhere in the house, but time was ticking, and it wasn’t safe to stay any longer. I spilled the rest of the precious liquid onto the floor and leaped out of the way before the water touched the heater.

I hope one of those asshats steps in that and fries to a crisp.

With that done, I headed out to find a better place to stay for the night. I knew just the place. There was a small town with a row of homes that Diego, Tomas, and I had cleared out in one of our foraging trips. We’d left an emergency cache there since we couldn’t carry everything back, but Corey shouldn’t know about it at all. It had been Tomas’s first foraging trip out with the adults, and he’d been so proud of himself.

It wasn’t far, and with the fresh charge on my scooter, I’d get there in no time.

I made it to the town with almost no incident. I did have to scoot around a group of scuttlers and spitters stuck inside an extra-strength Xarc’n net. Spitters were particularly dangerous because of their ability to launch digestive acid at their foes, and I took extra precautions, taking a large detour around the road, just in case.

The fact that they were stuck there was a good thing for me since it would be more tedious for Corey, with his larger vehicle, to get around them than it was for me, especially with the ditches on either side of the road. Was it left there on purpose?

And that had me thinking about the purple warrior who’d visited me earlier today. Was that his net? Was I in his hunting grounds?

The way he’d rushed out there at the first sign of danger, eager to eliminate the threat and keep me safe, had been kind of sweet. And they said chivalry was dead. I almost felt bad for ditching him. Almost.

I had a job to do. There were two more charging points I had to disable, then it was off to Sanctuary and the last safe house.

It was almost too dark to see now, so I listened carefully for any signs of danger. When I heard none, I entered the third house in the row and found the supplies exactly as we’d left them. I’d go through them tomorrow. It was getting too dark to see, and I didn’t want to use my headlamp unless it was absolutely necessary.

I locked up, then made my way up to the master bedroom, hauling my bag and scooter up with me. We’d pulled everything out of the dresser the last time we were here, and the place was a mess, but it’d do. I dug a blanket out of the chest and tossed it onto the bed. I set my pack on the desk and parked my scooter next to it before climbing in.

The moon was out tonight, but I pulled the curtains mostly closed just in case. I always worried I’d wake up and see one of those giant centipede-like bugs plastered to the window trying to get in.

The room plunged into darkness, and I lay down in the bed. Through the narrow crack I’d left in the curtains, I saw the first stars of the night in the sky. Despite everything that had happened in the last six years, the stars were still unwavering.

I closed my eyes, exhausted from my crazy day. I didn’t realize I was not alone until the intruder stepped onto the creaky plank just outside the bedroom door, waking me.

Crap! Who the hell?

I froze, hoping I’d imagined it, but the door opened with a soft snick.

A Xarc’n warrior stood in the doorway, his massive horns highlighted by the moonlight coming through the window. His broad shoulders took up the entire entrance, and he had to duck to get through the door.

Was it another Xarc’n hunter? Or was it the same one? I couldn’t see clearly enough in the dark.

“It is I, Harb’k.”

Oh, him again. I relaxed. He was a known entity, and he’d taken care of the bugs for me earlier today. I was pretty sure he’d also lured the flyers away so I was safe. I decided he wasn’t so bad.

“And you are Zoey,” he continued.

I frowned. “How do you know my name?”

I hadn’t given it to him. Maybe he’d heard Corey and his friends say it.

“My friend Heather identified you from an image.”

That threw me for a loop. “Who is Heather?” The name sounded familiar.

“She lived in Sanctuary before she came to stay with our group.”

“Oh! She’s the lady the Xarc’n warrior stole!” Now I remembered. She’d worked in the kitchen and was real sweet.

The alien scowled. “She was not stolen. She helped free one of our hunters and decided to stay with our group instead. There are many humans living with us.”

I sighed; this crap again. “Yeah. I knew about the prisoner they’d kept there.”

In a roundabout way, that particular incident was why my group was gone. Some dominos just fall harder than others. We’d always known that the decision Corey’s group of nomads made to fuck with the Xarc’n hunters was a horrible one; we just didn’t realize it would end up fucking us over as well.

“And for your information, my group was completely against it.”

Harb’k grunted noncommittally. After a short silence, he said, “You are still alone.”

“No, I’m not. You’re here. Unless I’m hallucinating.”

“Come with me back to my group. You should not be alone.”

He reached for me, and I grabbed a pillow and whacked him with it as hard as I could. It made a soft thudding sound, but that was it. He looked back at me with amusement plain on his face.

“There is no need to fear, little female. I will never harm you.” He took the pillow from me. “Unless this is your way of playing bedroom games.”

“What? No!”

“Too bad.” With the pillow still in hand, he climbed onto the bed and leaned up against the wall.

Crap. He wasn’t going to leave. He made the king-size bed feel absolutely tiny. Did he plan to stay here all night?

“If you have been outcast by your group, I will care for you.”

Oops. “I have not been outcast by the group.”

“Then why are you alone?”

“I said, I’m not—”

“Why are you here?” he asked bluntly. “I showed the images of the males following you to Heather. She says that they are not your group. You are alone.”

Shit. He knew too much already. “If I tell you, will you promise not to steal me away in your shuttle?”

The alien narrowed his golden eyes at me. “If you tell me, I promise not to steal you away in my shuttle tonight.”

I didn’t miss the fact that he’d added a qualifier there. Tonight . But he might come back and take me another night. But that was good enough for me for now. It wouldn’t hurt to unload a little.

“You know that nomad group that decided it was a good idea to keep one of you Xarc’n warriors hostage to use their supposed sentient shuttle?”

Harb’k nodded. “Kan’n and Pip.”

“I never knew their names. Well, our group had always been Xarc’n neutral. You don’t mess with us, and we don’t mess with you. Quid pro quo. You friendly? We friendly.” I looked at him pointedly. I was, after all, sitting right next to him.

He nodded in a very human way, and I took that to mean I should keep talking.

“Our leader, Connor, was a good man. But his brother Corey had always been a bit of a loose cannon.”

“I know what this means. The humans at our camp call Kan’n a loose cannon as well. They did not know what he would do next.”

“Yeah. That’s it. Well, Corey was part of the group that took one of you hostage. He—"

A hand suddenly covered my mouth, and Harb’k was hauling me into his lap. He was so big I felt like I was completely cocooned in his arms. I started to struggle until he whispered something next to my ear.

“Humans approach.” His translator was barely audible.

I stopped struggling, and sure enough, lanterns flashed outside the window.

Shit! Was that Corey’s group?

We stayed in the moonlight, in near silence, until a soft vibration started in his chest. It reminded me of a very, very big cat. And I could feel it along my whole body since my back was pressed against his front. He let out a soft groan and adjusted our position.

Something hard pressed against my ass. It was exactly what I thought it was, and he was very, very aroused.