“Nikki.”
“I don’t believe I’ve seen you around. Where are you from?”
“I live with a small group who live over near Shenandoah Park. You and Zach came through a while back looking for some people. Rumor is y’all found them, and they aren’t around anymore. Since then, I’ve heard a lot of stories about you two.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear, Nikki. What do you want to talk about?” Fred asked.
“I’d like to talk about working with you,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“I rode up here for one reason. I’ve heard a lot about you and some of the stories seem bigger than life.”
“Like I said, don’t believe everything you hear,” Fred said.
“Yeah, no doubt, but I’d like for you to teach me what you know, and what better way to start than to let me team with you on this recon mission?”
Fred found himself shaking his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“The area you picked is zed country, but you know that. You’ll need someone to watch your back,” she retorted. When Fred didn’t respond, she pointed at his hands.
“You beat the hell out of that man, but now your fists are hurting. Don’t think I didn’t see you rubbing them. That’s probably going to hurt your shooting skills, don’t you think?”
Fred gave a small nod of acknowledgement. “You could be right, but I’m not much of a people person, that’s why I don’t go holding seminars.” He gestured at Sammy. “I generally only deal with one or two people at a time. Sammy has come a long way since I first met him, and if I needed anyone to watch my back, it would be him. But he’s a new father and has responsibilities here. Now, as far as traipsing out in the country with a young gal, I don’t think the mother of my child would care much for it.”
“Care much for what?”
They all turned in unison to see Rachel and Serena walking toward them. Even wearing a heavy jacket, Rachel’s bulge was noticeable. Before Fred could say anything, Nikki walked up to Rachel and extended her hand.
“Hi, I’m Nikki. I’m trying to convince Fred to let me go with him on his recon mission.”
Rachel stared at Nikki a moment before staring at Fred and then back at Nikki. “Careful, the old man still packs a potent load,” she said with a sly grin and a pat on her belly.
Serena and Sammy burst out laughing. After a moment, Nikki grinned. Fred couldn’t help but notice her teeth were in excellent shape except for a missing bicuspid. Having good teeth was a challenging feat nowadays.
“She used to embarrass me frequently,” he said. “The one thing I’m always certain of now is there’s no telling what she’ll say.”
That elicited more laughter. Nikki seemed embarrassed now.
“I’m not looking for sex. I want Fred to teach me about survival. Everyone knows about his skills and I want to learn them.”
Rachel patted Fred on his backside. “Oh, you don’t even know half of his skills.”
While they laughed again at Fred’s expense, Fred glanced around, as if trying to find a way to escape his embarrassment. He spotted Ruby staring out a window at him. When she saw him looking, she lingered a moment longer before disappearing. Her stare was that of pure hatred. He instinctively knew there was going to be more trouble from those two.
“What about it, stud?” Rachel asked.
“What’s that?” Fred asked.
“I said, do you want to take on a new protégé?”
Fred looked at Nikki again, who met his gaze with a challenging stare of her own.
“Like I mentioned, I’ve been teaching Sam, but I don’t think I’m doing all that great,” he said. “I don’t think I’d do you any good either.”
“No offense, Mister Fred, but I’m going to disagree with you. I heard one of the teachers talking about Sam this morning at breakfast and she said he’s going to be an excellent engineer, thanks to your math tutoring. Besides, he’s not going to be traipsing around the countryside hunting zeds. He’s going to be home with his girl and their child and in bed every night where he belongs. I want you to teach me about living out there with all the zeds and other hostiles.”
Rachel grabbed Fred’s hand and squeezed. Before he could help it, he winced in pain. The others noticed.
“Let me guess. You hurt your hand in this fight I heard about,” Rachel said.
“He hurt both of them,” Nikki said. “I saw him rubbing them during the mission briefing.”
“The knuckles are just a little sore,” Fred replied. “Nothing a little ice won’t cure.”
Rachel stared at Fred a long moment before turning to Nikki.
“Serena’s baby is with the grandmother at the moment, but we’re going to get her and go to the house. We have a venison stew on the stove and a fresh loaf of bread. We also have some homemade wine that I currently cannot drink for obvious reasons. Why don’t you join us?”
“I’d love to,” Nikki said before smirking at Fred.
Chapter 18 – Home Cooking
Nikki was impressed. The house, barn, and greenhouse were surrounded by multiple layers of barbed and concertina wire. An armored vehicle could get through it, but the house itself was surrounded by thick barrier walls. The roof was metal, and the house was brick, which would make it almost impossible to firebomb.
When they arrived, Nikki noticed Fred was a bustle of activity. He hurried inside and began straightening up before stoking the fireplace and the potbelly stove in the kitchen. He then excused himself, remarking the livestock needed tending to, and hurried off to the barn. Sammy followed. Nikki wanted to join him, she loved horses, but she understood she needed to ingratiate herself with Rachel first.
“Come join us,” Rachel invited and led Nikki to the kitchen table. Serena sat with her newborn daughter while Rachel went to the stove.
“She’s cute as a button. What’s her name?” Nikki asked.
“Kaitlin,” Serena said. “She’s two weeks old today. My
