Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
NAV
After she finished eating, we returned to the living room. She watched me add wood to the fire while she played with the hem of her shirt.
When I stood and held out my hand to her, she hesitated to take it.
“Can I keep my clothes on tonight? I don’t feel safe with all the infected that keep trying to get in.”
I glanced at the window, where I could see several moving between the houses. As the sky grew darker, the light from our fire was drawing their attention.
“Yes. You can keep your clothes on,” I said, moving to close the curtains.
“Thank you.” She quickly got into bed.
When I went to join her, she sat up and pulled back the blanket. I liked the way her gaze swept over me and lingered on my cock. Was she thinking of tasting it again? Touching it? It throbbed in time with my heartbeat.
She did not reach for it, though. Instead, she waited until I was lying on my back and climbed on top of me.
Without prompting.
Willing.
“Is this okay?” she asked, lying down.
The feel of her body, even clothed, against mine sent a renewed bolt of need through me.
“Yes,” I said, rubbing her back. I understood why she wanted clothes, but wished she felt safe enough that they were not needed.
She slowly relaxed against me, her gaze vacantly on the flames.
My thoughts turned to what I would need to do to make this house feel safe.
Repairing the front door first thing in the morning would be easy enough. Installing a fence to ensure the infected couldn’t get close would take more time. A few days at most. However, securing the door and yard wouldn’t be enough to remove Arena’s need for clothes.
The fireplace was working, but with the sun down, I could feel the air cooling again. Adding power would help. If I could find and reinstall some solar panels here, we would be able to use the furnace and the lights. That would need to wait until Belak arrived, though.
Until then, I could focus on gathering the food supply she asked for. It was the easiest thing to take care of.
Arena’s legs twitched, and she settled more firmly against me. Smiling, I smoothed my hand over her hair, knowing she had fallen asleep.
Not wanting to leave yet, I held her for a while longer, humbled by her trust. It took most females several weeks to grow so comfortable around us. My female intuitively knew I was the right male for her from the start, sleeping on me, warming herself with my heat, staring longingly at my cock.
It twitched against her, and I thought again of her requirements to be more willing.
“I will help you make this house a home, my pretty female. I promise.” After kissing the top of her head, I eased out from under her.
A key hung from a hook by the back door. I let myself out, locked the door with it so she would feel safe if she woke up, then jogged to the hotel.
I didn’t want to wear clothes around Arena—I liked the way Arena looked at me—but her question this afternoon helped me understand why she hadn’t wanted her friends to see me earlier that morning.
She didn’t want to share me. Not even a glimpse of my cock.
So I needed to cover myself when they were around.
When Arena and I were alone, I would undress just as she’d promised to do as well.
The air inside the hotel was much colder than the house, and I was glad we’d moved. After dressing, I gathered the suitcase and put the remaining food into a pillowcase.
I carried everything to the store across the street, which humans called a pharmacy. Most of the shelves were stocked with medicines. I tossed a few I recognized into the pillowcase, along with some more cans of food and chocolate.
An infected wandered inside, drawn by the sounds I was making.
I removed its head and tossed it out the door.
It landed with a wet splat, and I realized I would need to find a different solution to deter the infected from the area.
The body piles that served as a warning would be a problem as the weather warmed.
A large pit of some kind outside of town would work best.
While considering that, I brought the supplies down to the docks for Arena’s family when they returned for her. Under a rock, I found a piece of paper with writing.
I stared at the squiggly lines, but couldn’t make sense of any of them.
Was it another note that would make her cry?
I hoped not. The sight of her tears had filled me with helplessness.
I never wanted to experience that again.
Yet, I couldn’t throw the note away. It was from her family.
Now that we were no longer staying close to the water, it would be harder for her to reunite with them.
The note might explain how to find them.
Exchanging the supplies for the note, I returned to the pharmacy.
In one of the aisles, I found the marking sticks I was looking for.
Lilly and Timmy, the children in Tolerance, had used these sticks to create art on the sidewalks.
It washed off in the rain, but it would work if Arena’s family returned in the morning.
Taking the sticks, I marked the way to the house with arrows.
Arena continued to sleep peacefully as I let myself back in, added more wood to the fire, and put the clothes into the dresser with the bra.
She didn’t notice when I left for more supplies.
A few infected did, though. They were drawn in as I made supply trips between the pharmacy and the house.
I removed their heads as soon as I saw them so they wouldn’t follow me back.
After clearing the food and chocolate from the pharmacy, I headed to the grocery store I’d noticed. Its doors were still shut tightly, and an infected with no legs scratched on the glass as I approached.
The doors moved reluctantly, but opened without shattering. The infected called out and reached for my leg. I picked it up, removed its head, and tossed it aside. Another infected ran out from the darkened depths of the store.
A few minutes later, seven infected were piled outside. I would need to move them with a truck tomorrow if Arena felt safe enough to stay in the house alone. Thinking of her, I hurried to find boxes and filled them with food.
Like with the pharmacy, I stacked as many as I could in my arms and ran back to the house. It only took minutes. The pile I’d created outside the back door soon towered over my head.
When I thought I had enough to fill the perimeter of the basement, I closed the grocery store doors to keep infected out and ran to the school.
It took hours to pull up enough fencing to surround the neighborhood.
I had to cut each connection, roll up the fencing, stack the posts, and make countless trips to haul everything back.
I checked on Arena often.
Before dawn, I returned to the house and quietly washed. She sighed softly when I joined her and nuzzled my chest when I set her on top of me again, making me glad I had removed my clothes.
Soon she would feel safe enough to sleep without hers too.
I smoothed my hand down her back, closing my eyes and anticipating dawn when she would wiggle herself awake on top of me.