Last time on Lovin' in the Apocalypse!
Rachel continues to secretly bask in the heat of Kelsey's scorn. Tom plays into his wife's twisted desires and pulls Kelsey into a secret place to finally have a taste of that sweet pussy.
Meanwhile, Bruce crosses paths with Cameron's team after spending a few days spying on New Washington. Having to flee in a hurry, Bruce mistakenly left behind evidence of his presence.
How will the group handle the signs of being stalked? Who will get satisfaction and who will be left wanting? Find out now!
Chapter 9: The Haze of Candle Smoke Nights
Tom squatted down on his haunches and rubbed his mouth as if he was deeply troubled. When dawn was starting to break and the sky turned grey, Tom had decided to check out the weird sound he heard about an hour ago. It sounded like an agitated infected fell over and then went completely silent. That was very unusual and when he could see enough details to feel safe, he came over to investigate. What he found was indeed suspicious and very concerning. Tom gathered up the items, took a slow sweeping look around and quickly made his way back to camp. He stuffed the evil items into his backpack so the others would not see them. He would have to talk to Cameron about it in private.
While the group woke and made breakfast, Tom pulled Cameron to the side. When they were alone, he opened his backpack and showed what he found. The handcuffs, duct tape, zip ties and pillow sack looked like evil relics in the pocket of the backpack. A malice energy radiated from their intent.
"They were in a little pile, next to a killed infected. Someone was setting up to do something. It looks bad." Tom made sure Cameron saw what the items were and then closed his pack.
Cameron's eyes were round in shock but he made no other obvious sign of distress. "What the fuck? Someone was watching us. Watching and waiting for..." His head jerked in the other's direction when he heard Kelsey's faint laugh. His nostrils flared as he imagined the worst.
"Yeah. I think we should get the hell out of here. It looks like we dodged a major bullet." Tom was aware of how many bullets he personally dodged. What had he been thinking? Fucking around with Kelsey like that was insane! Somewhere along the way he forgot about the bad people left in the world. Of course a place like New Washington would be on someone's radar. Tom was slipping up, it would get him killed if he did not regain his focus. "We're assuming we don't have secret enemies."
Cameron remembered what Rosa said the night of the most recent horde attack. She thought the infected ones were led there. They talked a lot about it the next couple of council meetings but other than keeping an eye out, the council was at a loss on how to proceed. Cameron was immensely thankful that Tom was observant enough to find this. He was also relieved that Tom did not bring this to the whole team at once. It would have caused a panic. It seemed this man was a gem and Cameron was the one lucky enough to find him. So why on earth did he feel like he should dislike Tom? Cameron was normally good at reading people but this man's actions were not matching with the urge to distrust him.
"You're right. We need to go. You did right keeping this one on the low. Let's get everyone going on loading up. We can say you got a bad feeling about some infected."
"Roger that, Bossman."
"Don't call me Bossman." Cameron gave Tom a playful shoulder bump to take some of the edge off his words. "I hate that shit."
Tom chuckled. "Alright, I hear you."
They successfully motivated the rest of the team into finishing loading the covered trailers. They worked without saying much, the implied threat of infected trouble made them instinctively quiet. They were done within an hour and after a quick breakfast of dried venison and potato patties, they all climbed into the trucks to head home. Tom and Cameron made paranoid eyes at each other during the process. They were on high alert and watching every blade of grass that moved. The other survivors were unaware of the deeper danger and were living in worlds of their own.
Tom and Kelsey were doing it again. Rachel could not believe these two! She woke up, already knowing that something happened the day before from Tom's excited but brief update. Kelsey of course, was back to being bubbly and a little mean to Rachel from time to time. That part of it was a little exciting. She liked that Kelsey was trying to rub it in her face. It was charging Rachel up in a way that the young woman would never guess. But Tom was not acting like himself. He was back to being tense and distant. Roaming the camp with a short attitude. Rachel smiled to herself, already plotting on a way to cheer him up.
Rachel carried the last chunk of insulation that was in the basement. She already knew what was coming and was intentionally provoking the situation. Kelsey had a tendency to get mean when she felt ignored. Rachel cleared the smile off her face right before stepping out into the sunny morning.
"I said, it's full." Kelsey huffed as she stopped in the process of raising the back ramp of the trailer. She took a quick glance around but did not see Cameron. She turned back to face Rachel. Her tone tended to be more cutting when Cameron was not around. "Damn, you didn't hear me?"
"I heard you. This is the last one. It would be bad luck to leave it." Rachel carried the cut of insulation to the trailer.
Kelsey nearly slammed the trailer door open but considered the sound of would make. Instead, she lowered it and stepped back from the obviously packed full trailer. "Good luck, it's all you."
"Yeah, this won't fit in there." Rachel wiped sweat off her head and picked the section up. "Back of the truck it is!" Rachel moved their backpacks from the bed of the truck to one of the backseats. Doing this left just enough room for two people to sit next to each other without any elbow room at all. Rachel then loaded the slab into the truck and strapped it down just as Cameron and Tom began the wrap up sweep. Kelsey watched her work with an eyebrow raised but made no father objections.
With this finished, Rachel looked at Kelsey with what she hoped to be an innocent and open expression. "See? I'm pretty good at putting things into small holes." She winked and said behind a hand put up for mock modesty, "I gotta be with a man like Tom."
A smile tried to cut Kelsey's serious expression but the young woman held it back. "Uhh, okay."
