“Scares me.” Mildred was sitting close to J.B., and she reached out and took his hand.
“Tiene el miedo muchos ojos,” Doc said. “Fear has many eyes.”
There was a long silence, broken only by the gentle bubbling of the water in the pan.
Jak broke the stillness. “Wonder what happened two men from redoubt?”
“Who cares?” Dean got up and peered out of one of the broken double doors that opened into the back garden. “Nearly dark. And it’s raining again.”
“What do you mean, ‘again’?” Mildred said crossly. “I haven’t noticed it stop raining ever since we left that nice dry, warm redoubt.”
“Sourness in a maiden is as welcome as a persimmon in a bowl of cream,” Doc stated solemnly.
“Did you just make that up?” Mildred snapped.
“Possibly. Very possibly.”
“Attempted humor bangs on the lips of a senile old man as clinging shit on the ass of a dead goat,” she riposted.
He applauded gently, making her grin, despite her ill-temper. “Well said, ma’am. Devilish well said.”
“Meal’s nearly ready,” Krysty announced.
“Sounds good and smells good,” Ryan said.’
THE FIRE WAS DYING.
Ryan and J.B. had discussed the need for posting anyone on watch, eventually deciding that it wasn’t necessary as there was no sign of any recent human habitation. The only thing they agreed was that they’d all move onto the top story for the night.
“I’ll sleep out at the top of the stairs,” the Armorer said. “I wake easy.”
“So do I.”
Jak had just joined them. “I sleep lightest,” he said. “I’ll sleep on the landing.”
The two older men looked at each other. There was no point in arguing. They both knew that the albino teenager was telling the simple truth, and this wasn’t some sort of game, where honor and pride were involved.
This was simply living and dying.
“Fine,” Ryan said. “Good.”
THE WIND FROM THE NORTH was stronger. Later it veered more toward the east, bringing the salt scent from Chesapeake Bay and heavier rain that thrummed on the roof, splattering through the broken glass of the bedroom windows.
The group had split up to sleep, as they often did. Jak took his chosen place at the top of the wide staircase. Doc and Dean shared the larger front room, with J.B. and Mildred in the middle. Ryan and Krysty chose the back room, much the most cramped of the available accommodation.
They bundled together, waiting until the rest of the house was quiet before beginning to make love. It was a hasty joining, less than satisfactory, and they had to move twice because of the spreading pool of rain that was inching across the floor toward them.
For about twenty minutes there was a sharp chem storm, with vivid stripes of purple-silver lightning, and thunder that seemed to shake the foundations of the old building.
Then they stopped moving as they both heard Dean picking his way barefooted across the landing, and a muttered conversation as he woke Jak.
“Must want a leak,” Krysty whispered, keeping still, her stomach muscles fluttering and tightening around Ryan’s powerful erection.
“Could just have done it out the window.”
“Probably worried about all the splinters of broken glass. Boy doesn’t want to risk doing himself a permanent injury. Think he’s gone.”
“Yeah, but then he’ll come back.”
“Want to call the whole thing off, lover?” she asked, feeling him begin to shrink inside her.
“No. Just wait.”
“Then fill the time in with some kissing and touching. Starting just. down. there.”
AFTER THEY HAD BOTH finally climaxed, Ryan dozed for some time, waking against a particularly loud roll of thunder.
Krysty was lying on her back, head turned slightly to the left, snoring slightly, the errant beams of moonlight through the filtering clouds creating a glow around her mane of scarlet hair. The blanket had slipped down to just below her breasts, and Ryan lowered his head and gently touched his mouth to both erect nipples, pulling the blanket up to cover her.
“Thanks, lover,” she whispered, miming a kiss through sleepy lips.
Ryan smiled in the darkness, listening to the sounds of the night. There was a dog. no, a pack of dogs, howling as they hunted their dreams together, far off, and the wind brushing through the sycamores that clustered at the back of the house. The rain seemed, temporarily, to have stopped.