A Warm Place 3 - A Post-Apocalyptic Men's Adventure Read online

  “Come on,” she said. “I’ll show you to where you’ll be living.”

  With that, we headed back out into the cold.

  TWO

  “Megan, you’re good with a rifle, I heard Chris say?” Lisa asked as we walked through the snow, across the street, heading towards the motel.

  “Yes,” Megan replied. “I am.”

  “I’m going to extend some trust then, and make it a bit of a stipulation. If you insist on holding onto that rifle and staying here, then you get guard duty. You’ll be pulling two four hour shifts a day on top of that building,” she said, pointing down the street to the apartment building, which was by far the tallest intact structure left standing at four stories.

  “Fine,” Megan replied.

  “What’s your name?” she asked, looking at Delilah.

  “Delilah,” she replied.

  “You think you can handle blood and burn wounds?”

  “Yes.” I wondered if that was true, but Delilah sounded rather sure of herself.

  “Then you’re going to be a nurse and do whatever you’re told to help out. You’re probably going to pull twelve hour shifts.”

  “Lisa, that’s not-” I began, but Delilah cut me off.

  “I can handle it, Chris,” she said.

  I looked at her as we walked, then just nodded. I trusted her, and it wasn’t like we were in a position to argue further, to be honest.

  “What’s your name?” she asked Elizabeth.

  “Elizabeth,” she replied.

  “How far along are you?”

  “Seven months.”

  “I’ll try to be accommodating. You’ll work in the kitchen, preparing meals. You can take more frequent breaks if you have to. And…” she hesitated, considering. “You can have double rations. Speaking of rations, we are rationing right now. You gave us some decent food but we’ve got at least forty people here who need three meals a day, and I imagine that’s only going to get worse as we find more survivors. We’re figuring out a system to make sure everyone gets their fair share, but no one takes more than they’re allotted. Do I even need to warn you that stealing, threatening, fucking around of any kind will not be tolerated?”

  “No,” I replied. “We’ll behave.”

  “Good.”

  I thought she’d tell me what I would be doing next, but she fell silent as we approached the motel. I figured she’d either put me on something that involved physical labor, like chopping or hauling firewood, or dealing with corpses, or maybe hunting, since I also insisted on hanging onto my rifle. No fucking way I was letting this thing go.

  She brought us to the very last room in a row of them that was the motel. Whatever it had been called once was now lost, no sign to be seen.

  “Wait here,” she said, and walked down the row of rooms to the main office at the other end. I couldn’t help it, I glanced at her backside.

  She had a nice ass.

  “Chris, what about Lindsay?” Delilah asked as soon as she was out of earshot.

  “I’ll ask,” I replied. “Let’s get settled for now.”

  “I wonder what she wants you doing,” Megan murmured.

  “I’m positive we’ll find out soon enough,” I replied.

  “God, I can’t believe it’s this bad,” Elizabeth whispered. I looked at her. She looked paler than usual and very worried.

  “Hey,” I said, stepping up to her and hugging her. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. I’m going to take care of you. Understand?”

  I felt her nod against my chest. “Yeah, I just...this is scary,” she murmured.

  “I know. It sucks. But we’ll make it work, okay? We’ve been lucky so far. We have a place to call our own and access to food and firewood. We’ve got the basics taken care of, and that goes a long way towards helping us stay alive.”

  “Yeah. I just...need some time to adjust. This is all so...fuck, everything has changed so much for me recently. But...thank you. For being there.” She pulled back slightly. “All of you. You three have been so good to me.”

  “You’ve been pretty good to us,” Delilah replied with a small smile that, in turn, made Elizabeth smile and blush.

  Lisa was coming back. We separated and waited for her. When she came back, she handed each of us a key.

  “Don’t lose these,” she said, unlocking the door and opening it up before handing me the final key. I pocketed it inside my jacket for extra safe keeping. Before heading inside, she pointed the way she had come. “There’s firewood stacked near the front office. It should be replenished twice a day. Don’t take too much. Each of these rooms has been outfitted with a wood-burning stove, so you shouldn’t freeze.”

  She walked in and we followed her. It wasn’t a very large room. In fact, it was smaller than the cabin I had first met Delilah in. The most important feature, however, was that it had a king size bed that should fit all four of us. There was also a pair of chairs with a table between them, a dresser, and a bathroom and tiny closet. The stove was fitted into a corner. No kitchen area. The carpet was stained and threadbare.

  It was home, for now at least.

  Honestly, I thought it was great. After some of the dives I’d slept in, sleeping in literal caves, it looked like paradise.

  Especially considering the company.

  “I’ll give you an hour to get settled before you report for your jobs,” Lisa said, then she looked directly at me. “I need to talk with you outside.”

  “All right,” I replied. “Megan, will you get some firewood?”

  “On it,” she said.

  “I’ll come with you,” Delilah murmured.

  Elizabeth yawned. “I need a nap.” She hesitated, then she walked over and gave me a hug and a kiss, then walked to the bed.

  I stepped outside with Lisa and closed the door. Before saying anything, she reached into her pocket and fished out a cigarette and lighter. She lit up and took a few pulls on the cigarette, closing her eyes, breathing out smoke.

  “You the father?” she asked.

  “No,” I replied.

  “What happened?”

  “We just met less than two weeks ago,” I replied. “She was on the run from her abusive husband. Me and the other two found her totally at random. I couldn’t just leave her, so I offered to help. The husband showed up, things got out of hand, we had to kill him.”

  “I see. And the other two? How long have they been with you?”

  “About three or so weeks. I rescued them from some assholes who captured them and were trying to sell them as slaves.”

  “Hmm.”

  She looked at me directly now, and I knew exactly what she was thinking: it sounded too good to be true. No doubt she thought I was painting myself as a white knight, and doing a poor job of it, over-exaggerating my heroic deeds.

  “And if I ask them about it?” she asked.

  “You’ll get the same story,” I replied. Before she could continue, I went on. “Look, I know what it looks like, okay? Big, tough guy with three attractive women. I gotta be taking advantage of them somehow, right? I’m not. And I get it, you don’t know me from anyone, why trust me? Ask them whatever you want, I’ve never done a single shitty thing to them. I’ve done nothing but help them. Okay?”

  She continued staring at me, then finally nodded, slowly. “All right. But I’ve seen a lot of abusive shitheads in my time. A lot. And I’ll tell you right now, if I find out you’re holding any one of them hostage, forcing them to suck your cock, extorting sex out of them in any way, I don’t care how fucking useful you are, I’ll put a bullet in your head.”

  I stuck out my hand, making her jump slightly. “Deal,” I said.

  She looked down at it, then up at me, in surprise. She didn’t shake it, but she did let out a little laugh that I couldn’t quite read.

  “You’re a weird one,” she muttered.

  I let my hand drop. “So I’m told. What’s my job?”

  Instead of answering, she asked me a question. “
Who are you looking for?”

  I considered it for a moment and decided all my other cards were on the table right now, why not just lay one more down? “A woman named Lindsay. I don’t know her last name, but Delilah will. She and Delilah were best friends once, and she thinks Lindsay might be here.”

  “We do have someone named Lindsay here, and I know she survived the fire.”

  That was good news at least. “What actually happened here?”

  Lisa sighed bitterly. “Yesterday, a gang showed up. There were a good two dozen of these fuckers. Guns all around. They basically strolled in wild west style and tried to just take us over. Told us they were running things now. It didn’t exactly go that way. We’re a strong community, and we told them to fuck off. Got into a gunfight, they started throwing fucking molotov cocktails around like absolute pieces of fucking human garbage. Lit fires, they raged out of control. We just...didn’t have the capacity to deal with it. A...a lot of people died last night.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “Yeah.” She sighed. “They’re still out there. I know a lot of them got away. If they’re smart, they’ll have run, but I don’t think they’re smart. I think they’re proud, and that’ll make people do all sorts of stupid shit.”

  “Is that what you want me to do? Hunt them down?” I asked.

  She turned and looked at me for a long moment. She looked exhausted and miserable, but also firmly resolute.

  “If it comes to that, yes. I would appreciate the help. Despite my misgivings you do seem...competent.”

  “I am,” I replied simply enough.

  “Well I’d like to find out if that’s true or not. If it is, then you’re exactly the kind of person we need to get us off life support and start rebuilding. I don’t know what your plans might be, but for now, we need all the help we can get.” She killed off the cigarette and flicked it into the gutter, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. Unfolding it, she showed it to me. It was a map. “Here’s the local region,” she said. “I know some of our people ran in the night. I want them back. You’re going to go find them.”

  “You sure they won’t shoot me too?” I asked.

  “Tell them I sent you,” she replied. “It’ll probably be enough.”

  “You’re being pretty cavalier with my life.”

  “Look, you said you wanted to help, this is what I need.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Where do you want me to go?”

  She pointed out a spot on the map, a square to the northeast, not far from three more, smaller squares within the boundaries of what I realized was the forest we had initially come out of. I’d have to cross the river again to get there.

  “That’s a hunting lodge,” she said, “and those are hunting cabins. Very good chance some of our people ended up there.”

  “How am I going to tell the difference between your people and the arsonists?” I asked.

  “They were all wearing this black leather, like a biker gang. None of our people wear that stuff,” she replied.

  “Okay then,” I said, studying the map a moment longer, then folding it up and putting it in my inner pocket. “So, walk up there, see if anyone’s there, if they are, escort them back here?”

  “Yes, then we’ll talk again.”

  “Fine. But first, we need to confirm something.”

  Megan and Delilah were coming back, holding bundles of firewood.

  “Come back out after you drop it off, Delilah,” I said.

  She nodded and they hurried inside. A moment later, she returned. “Yeah?”

  “Describe Lindsay to her.”

  Delilah’s face lit up and she turned to Lisa. “She’s really tall, about as tall as Chris. And skinny. She’s got brown hair and blue eyes. She’s half-Italian, so she’s got tan skin.”

  Lisa was nodding. “Yes. She’s here. And I know that she survived the fire. She left earlier today, though I’m honestly not sure why. I think to look for other people.”

  “Oh thank God,” Delilah whispered.

  “If we see her, we’ll let her know you’re here,” Lisa replied. She hesitated. “Can I talk to you for a moment alone?”

  Delilah glanced briefly at me, confused, and then a look of understanding came onto her face. We’d faced this before.

  “Sure,” she said.

  I headed inside and closed the door. Megan was getting a little fire going.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked.

  “I have to go track people down,” I replied. “And convince them to come here.”

  “Alone?” she asked.

  “Apparently.” Megan sighed. “I know, it’s kind of bullshit, but they’re desperate right now, and we’re literal strangers. Trust takes times. Honestly, I feel like everything that’s happened so far has been a huge extension of trust. We’re lucky to have this.”

  “Yeah, we’re lucky to be forced into labor and live in a shitty, tiny motel room with a single bed,” Megan muttered.

  “Megan.” She growled and finished making the fire.

  “I know. Yes. Fuck. We’re lucky. Don’t worry, like I said, I’m not going to cause problems. I’ll do my job and I’ll do it well. I won’t start any fights.” She paused. “But I will finish them if someone stirs up some shit with me.”

  “Fair enough. Lisa’s going to give you the ‘is he hurting you’ inquisition soon, and you too, Elizabeth,” I said when I saw she was still awake.

  “That’ll be easy enough to handle,” Elizabeth said with a tired smile. “You’re nothing but great to us. I don’t have to lie about anything.”

  “Yeah, just tell the flat truth. I explained how we got together. All of us. She’ll want to check our stories, don’t make it seem like you’re overselling me or anything. We have nothing to hide,” I replied, trying to consider all the angles.

  “Okay,” Megan said.

  “Chris…” Elizabeth said, looking up at me from the bed.

  “Yeah?”

  “Do we have time for…” She raised her eyebrows.

  I felt pure lust stab into my guts in a wave of dark excitement, and genuinely considered it for a long moment. Then sighed unhappily and shook my head. “No, unfortunately.” I paused, reconsidering, then shook my head again. “Fuck. No. We don’t. I’ve been tasked with potentially saving lives and I can’t really justify putting that off even for twenty minutes banging a pregnant chick, crazy hot though she may be.”

  Elizabeth smiled and laughed softly, blushing again. “Well...tonight?”

  “Tonight. Definitely,” I promised.

  “You’d better save some for me, I’m fucking horny,” Megan complained.

  “I will,” I replied.

  I walked over to the dresser and pulled off my backpack. As I began looking through it, making sure I had my minimum loadout given what I was about to do, the door opened and Delilah walked in. Lisa poked her head in. “Can I talk with you out here, Megan?”

  She sighed. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

  As Megan headed out and closed the door behind her, Delilah came over to me.

  “She say anything new?” I asked.

  “No, mostly just asked me questions. God, felt like I imagined it is with cops questioning abused wives,” she murmured.

  “Her heart’s very much in the right place,” I replied. “This type of shit was way too common before there were no cops to enforce rules...whenever they actually chose to and weren’t, themselves, abusing their own wives.”

  “Yeah, I know. I think I’m just getting to the point where I’m feeling offended on your behalf...but oh my God, Lindsay is actually here!” she said, excitement coming onto her face. “I can’t believe it! I honestly thought...shit, I don’t think I truly believed she’d be here. It felt like such a distant chance.” She gripped my arm as I finished zipping my pack back up. At this point, I was practically down to minimum loadout as it was, after trading away damn near everything. “Chris, if you see her, please-”


  “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll get her back here, or at least let her know. If she needs help, I’ll help her. I’m sure she’ll be absolutely thrilled to know you’re here.”

  “I hope she hasn’t forgotten me,” Delilah murmured, her hands falling from my arm.

  “I have a hard time imagining anyone forgetting you,” I replied. I gave her a hug and long kiss on her sweet mouth, and she gave me some tongue in return. Elizabeth did the same thing when I went to kiss her goodbye.

  “Please be careful out there, Chris,” Elizabeth said.

  “I will,” I replied. “Try not to worry. Just...stay focused, yeah? These people are desperate, and strangers to us, and desperate people can do stupid, desperate things. And neither of you have guns anymore. I’m going to see if I can do something about that, but for now we’ve got to play by their rules. I just...don’t want anything to happen to you while I’m out.”

  “We’ll be careful,” Delilah promised.

  The door opened and Megan came in.

  “Your turn,” she said to Elizabeth, sitting down heavily in one of the chairs and stretching out, a few joints popping.

  “Do I have to get up?” Elizabeth complained. I looked at her. God, she looked tired. And it was just a few hours past noon by now. I wondered if Lisa, or the people who would work with Elizabeth, would allow her to come back here and sleep if she really needed it.

  “I’m leaving,” I replied, pulling my backpack on. “You can talk in here.”

  “Wait,” Megan said, getting back to her feet. She hugged me and gave me a long kiss on the mouth. It almost felt like she was making a point, and I guess she was. Honestly, I was touched. They were coming to my defense, and I appreciated that.

  “Be careful out there,” Megan said.

  “I will,” I replied. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  With that, I left our new home and headed back outside.