Strangers
#8 of Lycans and Zombies
It was early evening by the time we made our way back to camp. We'd spent longer than planned on top of the hill, but every moment was worth it. I had never allowed a man to get close, never allowed myself the intimacy that one could offer.
But Caleb was different. I don't know how, but I felt safe when I was with him. I felt like nothing in the world would ever go wrong.
When we finally reached camp, Willa gave me a knowing look and I turned crimson. Caleb chuckled and pulled me close, nuzzling my very messy hair. I combed my fingers through my tangled waves, trying to tame them while picking out leaves and twigs. We meandered to the kitchen tent and deposited the few squirrels we managed to capture along the way, along with a nice sized pheasant that Caleb had pulled right from the air in its panicked flight. I was used to his changing forms now. It was actually quite magical, to see his form grow and tighten. Of course, the view wasn't too bad either since he'd taken to removing his clothes before changing to preserve them. As we exited the tent, I could see a group of our people gathering at the edge of camp, looking off towards the southern portion of the clearing. Curious, we made our way over. I shoved my way to the front of our 'community' and stopped short.
There were people coming towards us.
Live people, not undead people.
The chances of running into other survivors way out here was practically slim to none, and it was a near miracle that this group of three managed to find us. The only man of the group raised his hand in a friendly wave, but nobody waved back. Trust was hard to come by out here. We never knew if passing people meant harm or not. The group stopped several yards away, and I could see that there was a younger girl and a more heavy set woman with them. The man was tall and gangly, looking more like a grease-monkey in oil-stained coveralls than anything else.
"Hello," he said. His accent was definitely southern, probably Mississippi or Louisiana. The way he was eyeballing me and some other women sent shivers down my spine, and I stepped back into Caleb's embrace. The man blanched and quickly looked elsewhere. Something about this guy didn't set right with me, especially since the women wouldn't look at anyone.
"Hello," Marco replied. "What do you want?" Short and to the point, that was Marco for you.
"We're just looking for shelter and maybe a little food. My name's Boe, and these lovely ladies are Tabby-" he gestured to the woman first and then to the teen, "-and Abby."
"It would take too long to introduce everyone in our group, but my name is Marco," Marco said with a hard voice. I could tell what he was thinking- something was wrong. Something was very very wrong.
"You are welcome to camp on the outskirts of our setup, but we don't have any tents to spare, nor do we have enough food to feed three more," I said, narrowing my eyes. Boe inclined his head and took the two women roughly by their arms, and as they passed, I could see several purpling bruises covering them. I looked at Marco, and he met my eyes. Yup, we were both on the same page. Marco followed the man, and I watched curiously, but Caleb pulled me away before I could go along.
"He can handle it, come, I want to let the wolf run more. It makes me antsy when I don't shift for at least a few hours a day," he said, taking me by the hand and leading me down to the creek. Willa came with us, dragging Chris along too.
When we were far enough away, Caleb shifted and bounded off into the woods as I fashioned crude fishing poles out of sticks and leftover fishing line that littered the place. I even found a hook dug into a tree. As I sat and dipped the hook into the water in what I thought would be a futile effort, Willa and Chris went exploring the creek. They waded into the cold water and eventually I heard Willa call out with excitement. I looked over to see her holding up two crayfish. I smiled and grabbed my fish bucket, bringing it over to her. She dropped them in the shallow water I had put into it and went hunting for more.
It seemed like hours passed before I saw Caleb. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was about three or four hours before he reappeared on the other side of the creek. I raised a brow at him, and he proffered a string of rabbits and other small mammals with an infectious grin on his face.
"Where've you been off to?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing, I just ran down to the New Mexico border real quick to check something out," he said, as if it meant nothing.
"What?! That's so far away, and you ran it?!" It was unbelievable, especially since he didn't seem out of breath in the least.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I was following that man's scent, and I wound up down there. You won't like what I have to say," he said, his demeanor suddenly taking on anger.
"What?" I asked cautiously.
"Women."
"What?"
"I found women. Dead, all along the trail his scent was on. Beaten and raped." Caleb was positively bristling now, and I could see him working to keep his anger in check.
"But then..." I stood up quickly, knocking my fishing pole into the creek. "We need to go get those two away from him!"
"What's going on?" Chris asked as he and Willa returned with more crayfish in tow.
"We have to go back to camp, now. That new man is a murderer," Caleb said, taking off through the trees. We all followed close behind, and when we got there, I could see signs of a scuffle. There was yelling and both of the new women were crying by some of our own women. My first instinct was to check for injury, and I went directly to Tabby and Abby.
"Is anything broken?" I ask. They shake their heads.
"Any open cuts?" Abby offers her hand, on which is a large gash slicing across her palm. I run to my tent and grab my med kit. Within minutes, I have her wound cleaned and bandaged and I whirl on Boe. Marco and Caleb tag teamed him and tied him to a tree, and he was now glaring daggers at his captors. I opened my mouth to rail at him, but Caleb stops me.
"The cut was an accident, but the fresh bruises were not. I startled them, and she fell against a rock," he said. My anger ebbed but didn't fully go away. Caleb took my hand and pulled me away, leaving Marco with Boe. I wanted to protest, but I knew I would make things worse if I stayed.
When we were secluded, Caleb spun around and planted a kiss on my lips. I was caught off guard and when he pulled away, I stared at him in confusion. A grinned wickedly and stole another kiss with a playful growl.
"The wolf side of me is highly attracted to you when you're all flustered," he mumbled.
"And the human side?" I asked, mildly curious.
"He's attracted to everything," he replied, going in for another kiss. This time, I placed my hands at the back of his head and pulled him to me, leaning as close as I could to his heat. He growled low in his chest as he wrapped his arms around my waist possessively. I let a hand flit over his chest, which I only just noticed was bare. I toyed with the waist of his jeans as he snuck his hands up my shirt and rubbed my back.
"I need you," I said as I broke our heated kiss. He was happy to oblige, hauling me to my tent and gently depositing me inside of it. He crawled in after me and secured the flap, hovering over me. I let him love me until we were both spent. Until we both fell into companionable sleep, side-by-side in my tiny cramped tent.
_Note: This is in no way written in a professional manner, it is in fact 3am brain ramblings. In other words, no critiques because I know it sucks. _
If you haven't read from the beginning, I have all of the chapters in order in the folder 'zombies and lycans', so if you go to the left of this, you can see them all starting with prologue.