She slowly closed her eyes and smiled. “I wish I could have watched it.” Simon pulled back and watched her. She stood in the chilly water, touching herself. Pleasuring herself at the mental image he had painted for her. She was getting off on Trent’s murder.
Her reaction both sickened and intrigued him.
How could somebody be like that? It was only then that he realized, she was him…just a few short weeks ago.
She opened her eyes and stared at him. She looked him up and down, licking her lips. For a moment, he felt like a raw steak thrown to a lion.
She moved closer and smiled at him. It wasn’t a kind smile. He felt his breath quicken and his heart rate double as she pressed her hands to his chest.
She slowly closed the gap between them, continuously staring into his eyes as she slowly lowered herself, taking him with her mouth.
Simon sucked in the cold night air through his teeth and for the briefest of moments feared that she might chomp down and remove his favorite appendage. That fear quickly subsided as she worked at him, her pace slowly increasing and intensifying.
He threw his head back and stared at the moon through the tree branches, his mind racing across a thousand different thoughts as she pleasured his body.
He wasn’t sure what had gotten into her, but for the moment, he wasn’t questioning it.
3
Hatcher tried to roll over and fell off of the couch, dragging the blanket with him. His eyes snapped open and it took him a moment to figure out where he was. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
Missy mumbled something in her sleep and pulled her blanket higher, tucking it under her neck. Hatcher cocked his head to the side and tried to picture how she was curled up in the recliner and just couldn’t imagine anybody sleeping in such a weird position.
He dragged himself upright and came to his feet, his eyes searching for coffee. He walked gingerly past her and pulled open a cabinet. The squeak of the hinge woke her and his jaw ticked as she yawned and stretched.
“Sorry.” He rifled through the cupboard. “I was going to make coffee.”
She slowly rose from the chair and nodded to the far right cabinet. “There’s grounds and filters in there.” She draped the blanket over her shoulders and shuffled into the tiny kitchen.
“I keep thinking about where Shelly might have gone.” He poured water into the back of the coffee maker and flipped the switch. “It’s not working.”
Missy cracked an eye open and nodded to the switch on the wall. “Only one circuit is on the battery. You have to flip the light switch.”
Hatcher leaned across and flipped the switch up and smiled as the tiny LED on the coffee maker came on. “Pretty ingenious what you’ve done here.”
She shrugged. “Not really. I just followed the diagram in the book.”
He raised a brow at her. “What book?”
“Some prepper manual that Mitch had.” She yawned and covered her mouth. “It’s a really boring read.”
Hatcher crossed his arms and peered out the window of the outpost. “I’m going back to the station and collect a few things. I want to look around and see if any of the sheds were gone through. Maybe she got an ATV running or…” He shrugged. “Something.”
She pushed up from the chair and pulled two mugs from the upper cabinet. “I’ll go with you.” She poured some of the bitter brew and handed him a cup. “How long do you intend to stay out here looking for her?”
Hatcher sipped at the coffee and winced. “I don’t know. I guess until I find her remains or feel that I’ve searched long enough.”
She peered over the cup at him. “Until you ‘feel’ that you’ve searched long enough? That’s not very specific.”
Hatcher sat down and sighed. “I can’t explain it. I felt the need to come and look for her. It’s been tugging at me since this whole thing started, but once the cure was released…” he shrugged.
“You couldn’t just do nothing.”
He nodded. “And it could all be for nothing. I may never know one way or the other.”
“Then what?”
He sipped at the coffee and tried to imagine carrying on afterward. “I honestly don’t know. Go home I guess.”
“New Mexico?”
He stared out of the window again and smiled to himself. “Or stay here. This place always felt like home to me.”
Missy snorted and set her coffee down. “Then you better find us better sleeping arrangements because that chair is murder on my back.”
“How are the headaches?”
Buck turned slowly and gave Vicky a soft smile. “Better. But I still feel like I’m in a fog most of the time.”
“I told him not to drink coffee,” Skeeter added smugly.
“Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, so it won’t hurt,” Vicky replied as she pulled out her penlight. “It’s the crash afterwards that makes you wish you hadn’t had any.”
Buck squinted as she flashed the light in his eyes and checked his pupillary response. “You’re looking better,” she sat back and lifted his chin, “but you also look tired.”
He nodded. “I think it’s the medicines. But truth be told, I’d much rather be a little rundown than have to deal with the headaches.”
Vicky fished in her pocket and handed him another few weeks’ worth of the medications. “After this, I want to wean you down and see if you still have headaches.”
He nodded and placed the bottles on the end table. “Is there a chance my head will heal that fast?”
Vicky gave him a tight lipped smile. “This is all new to me, Buck. I honestly have no idea. But I’d rather check you every two or three weeks and see if the headaches have improved than keep you on this stuff unnecessarily.”
He came to his feet carefully. “I appreciate you.”
“We both do,” Skeeter said.
“Stay off the ladders, and no
