Commodity (28 page)

“You know for sure?”  I have no real doubt of Vole’s technological accuracy; I just need to hear the words.

“You were scanned during our initial encounter.  The match is certain.”

I nod.  I’m not about to thank the creature for the information, but it does set me at ease.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I understand now that you considered my words at our last meeting to be intentionally inaccurate.  If I give you information you consider important, you will be appeased.”

“You want to appease me?”

“I did not desire the destruction that has occurred.  If you are appeased, I can add that information to my report, and the mission will be considered a successful effort.”

“A successful effort!”  A single burst of laughter erupts from my throat.  All of this is nothing more that some paper-pushing alien trying to make their quota and get their bonus.

I consider firing the rest of my anno into it, but I know it will do no good.

“You want to appease me?” I yell at it.  “Go have your military flatten those fuckers over at Georgia Tech.  Destroy the bastards who fucked over Hannah.  Maybe then I’ll be
appeased,
and you can add it to your fucking documentation!”

“Do you have the precise coordinates?”

What?

My body chills despite the warm night air.

Is it…is it offering to…?

“Yeah,” I say.  My voice is barely a whisper, and I have to clear my throat to continue.  “Yeah, I do.”

I fish the city map out of my pocket as my heart begins to beat faster.  I double check to make sure I’ve got it exactly right and then read the numbers off to Vole.

“I’ll dispatch the message immediately.”

“You’re serious.”

There’s a pause before it answers.

“I don’t understand.  Why would I interject humor at this point?”

“Never mind.”  I shake my head.  “I’m just surprised you’re willing to do something for me.”

“As I stated, Falk Eckhart, I find it necessary to make amends.  I was not in favor of our actions, and you impressed me at our initial encounter.”

“So, you’re going to blow them up?”

“The vessels have already been dispatched.”  The creature behind the image shifts, and I hear the hum of hydraulics again as it turns its head skyward.  “I must return now.”

All I can do is nod.  My brain is on overload.

The image returns the nod and then shimmers and blinks before disappearing.  The creature that stood behind turns and heads back to its craft, and I head back into the trees.  I return to the spot where I had been smoking earlier and have another one while I try to compose myself.

I replay the conversation in my head as the orange glow rises into the sky and quickly disappears over the horizon until there is nothing left but stars.

I stare into the darkness for several minutes before I see another orange glow descending from the heavens.  At first, I see one light, but as it approaches, I realize there are three of them.  They come down low, circling the city once in perfect formation.

There’s a deep hum that seems to shake the air around me, and the three crafts separate, move around to form a tight circle, and then pause in the air to the west.  The flash of light is so bright, I have to look away.  There is an incredible explosion, and a ball of fire rises into the air.

“Holy shit!”  I stare open-mouthed to the west as the ships rise back into the night sky and disappear.  There is a pillar of smoke rising into the sky but nothing else.

“Falk!”

“Over here!”

I stomp out my cigarette and take off toward the shelter at a slow jog.

“Did you hear that?”  Hannah stands just at the entrance, wrapped in my woobie.  Her stomach is sticking out, and her hair is all over the place.

She’s incredibly beautiful.

“Yeah,” I say, “I heard it.”

“What was it?”

“Dunno.”  I point off in the direction of Georgia Tech.  “Came from over there.  Looks like a fire or something.”

“Do you think it was them?  I mean, Caesar and everyone?”

“Maybe they blew themselves up,” I reply with a smile.  “Come on.  You need to get back inside.”

I’m not going to tell Hannah what I saw any more than I’m going to tell her about my original encounter.  I really don’t know how she would react, and I don’t care to find out.  I haven’t forgotten about the other women held prisoner in that compound and she won’t have either.  She’s under enough stress with the move to Katrina’s house and the baby nearly ready to be born.  She doesn’t need additional heartache.

The invasion has passed us now.  It’s time to rebuild.

I lean in and kiss Hannah softly, then turn her around and take her back into the shelter.

Tomorrow we can start a new life.

*****

“What happened to those little flavoring packs?”

“Which ones?”  I look over at Hannah’s ass as it sticks out of the storage room door while she rummages through the shelves.  I like the way her ass wiggles when she moves.

“The ones for water!”

“We might be out of them.”  I know damn well that she used them all up, but the idea of going over there with the pretense of helping her look and then ending up fucking her on the floor of the storage room is really tempting.  Unfortunately, there isn’t time.

“Dammit!”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say.  “We can look for more along the way.”

It’s been nine days since I parted ways with the rest of the group, and I told them I would check back with them in a week.  We really need to get going, or we won’t make it there before dusk.

I had initially planned to make the trek without Hannah, but I just can’t.  I can’t leave her alone for that long.  Besides, the longer we wait, the harder it’s going to be for Hannah to travel.  She’s already starting to waddle a bit, but I value my balls, so I don’t mention it.

She’s still fucking around in the supply room.

“Really, Hannah, we have to go!  We’re going to run out of daylight before we get there.”

“Ugh!  All I want is a fucking iced coffee!”  She slams whatever she’s been holding against the bottom shelf and pulls herself up to her feet.

I have no idea where the iced coffee thing is coming from.  That’s a new one.

“Isn’t coffee bad for the baby?”  As soon as I start to speak, I know they’re the wrong words to say.  Her icy glare nearly throws me against the wall.

“Are you ready to go?” she asks, ignoring my comment.

“Yeah, sure.”  I’ve been ready for hours.

The trek to Katrina’s house isn’t that far.  We could have used the bike and cart, but that would mean sticking to the roads, and I don’t want Hannah out in the open for that long.  I could have made it there on my own in a couple of hours, but we have to keep stopping so Hannah can rest.  I’m nervous each time, constantly watching in every direction each time we stop and wishing I’d gone with the bike anyway.

I keep telling myself that Caesar’s camp was destroyed—I went to check it out the day after the fire.  There was nothing left of it, and I have no reason to believe anyone survived.  However, I’ve learned to trust my instincts.  I don’t exactly feel like we’re being watched, but something doesn’t feel quite right either.  It takes six hours to reach our destination, and I never quite shake the feeling.

The house is dark and quiet as we approach.  I look around for the other bicycles or signs of a cooking fire, but I see nothing.

“Stay here,” I whisper to Hannah.

She nods and presses herself up against a row of hedges at the edge of the yard.

I creep up to the side of the house and look in the window but see nothing.  I head around to the back and find the remnants of a cooking fire, but it’s cold.

“They aren’t here,” I tell Hannah.  “No one else appears to be here either, so let’s go look inside.”

Once inside the house, I go straight for the desk in the living room.  There’s a notepad in the middle of it, and I pick it up to page through it.  About a third of the way inside, I find a single page with numbers on it.

I grab the paper Katrina had given me with the formula on it and recalculate the coordinates.

“All right,” I tell Hannah, “I know where they went.”

“Are we going to go now?”

I look outside.  It’s not dark yet, but there are only about two hours left of daylight.  I don’t like the idea of traveling at night, and the location Katrina left me is about two miles away.  Hannah isn’t very fast in her condition, and there’s no way we’d make it there before nightfall.

There’s also a reason they left this location.

“I don’t like it,” I finally say.  “We should leave.  Do you think you’re up for it?”

“How far?”

“Not far.”

“Every time you say that, we end up walking for hours.”  She sighs and leans against the couch with one arm wrapped around the underside of her belly and the other pressed against her back.  “Couldn’t we just stay here for the night?”

My stomach is all knotted up.  They must have gotten out safely since they left the note, but it still doesn’t feel right.

“I’ll carry your pack,” I tell her.  “I know you need the rest, so we’ll take a few minutes, but I’m not comfortable staying here.”

For a moment, it looks like she’s going to argue with me, but she looks closely at my face and nods instead.

“Just give me a little time,” she says softly.

Hannah sits on the couch.  She looks exhausted, and I consider changing my mind for her sake, thinking I am just being paranoid.

Always trust your gut.

I drop down on my knees in front of her and take her shoes off.  She leans back and practically purrs as I rub her feet.

“God, Falk, that feels so good!”

“That’s the same thing you said last night.”  I grin.

“I’m not sure if you’re better with your hands or your cock.”

“I’m not sure if I should be insulted or not.”

“Not.”  She smiles down at me.  “I think you should keep doing that.  Maybe I’ll come.”

“Don’t tempt me.”  I release her feet and slide her shoes back on.  “We need to go.”

I grab both her pack and mine and hoist them onto my shoulders.  Hers is much lighter, and it’s left me off balance, but it will still be more comfortable for her if she’s not carrying anything.

“I’m anxious to see everyone again,” Hannah says as we walk.  “It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve had someone else to talk to.”

“Do I bore you?”  I grin and adjust my speed yet again as she slows.  I’m trying to get a couple of steps behind her, but she seems to want to walk at my side.

“You are not the greatest conversationalist.”  She glances at me out of the corner of her eye.

I shrug.  I can’t argue the point.  Conversation is distracting, and I need to be on my toes at all times.  I scan the area again, that niggling feeling still in the pit of my stomach.

“Tell me about Katrina,” Hannah says.

“I don’t know that much about her.”  I reach up and scratch the back of my head.  “She’s pretty feisty, like you.  I’m interested to see if she has taken a liking to either of the guys.  They’re all about the same age, and Marco and Sam were both eyeing her.”

Hannah laughs softly and then cringes.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know,” she says as she takes a deep breath.  “I think it’s just all the walking.  My back is still killing me, and my feet are threatening to strike.”

“Not much farther, I promise.”  I’m lying.  At the rate we’re going, it will be another hour before we reach the coordinates Katrina provided.  Hannah has slowed down again, and I sigh as I shorten my stride and move a little to her right.

We only get a few blocks farther before Hannah has to stop.  She wraps an arm around the underside of her belly, supporting it.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Maybe it was something I ate,” Hanna continues.  “I feel like if I could just get out a good fart, I would feel better, but I can’t.”

I laugh.

“It’s not funny!”

“You saying ‘fart’ is funny.”

“It hurts!”

I reach out and rub the small of her back.

“When we look for those flavor packets, we’ll find you some Gas-X, too,” I tell her.

“I may need it.  It really does hurt.”

Hannah leans against a retaining wall near an alley.  I can’t get her to sit even though her feet are hurting.  She’s afraid she won’t be able to get back up.  I take a quick run around the area, hoping maybe there are the remnants of a drug store around, but I find nothing.  I’m not familiar with this part of town.  I’m nearly back to the retaining wall when I hear Hannah scream.

My body turns cold.  My legs suddenly feel like they can’t keep me upright, and I can’t take a breath.

Hannah is still next to the wall.  Behind her, Caesar stands with his arm around her neck and the barrel of a gun pressed against her temple.  There is no doubt that Caesar didn’t escape the destruction of the compound without injury.  His face and neck are badly burned, and his left ear is gone, likely burned off.  He must have been caught in the explosion but somehow managed to get himself away in time.