147 A Superfluous Encounter

147 A Superfluous Encounter

Outside of the protected quarantine zone, the city was little more than ruins. We spent several hours carefully moving along and trying to not make noise, because infected people were all over the place. Most of them were inert and wouldn't react until they heard or saw something, so staying quiet was the best choice any of us could make.

I discreetly used my wand and cast weak silence spells on Joan, Ted, and myself, that way the sounds were just reduced and not removed and it wouldn't give my abilities away. On a whim, I mentally asked the system if it was possible to buy a silencer for my handgun.

Warning: The in-world cost of specific items are (x10) the normal price.

Multi-purpose silencer for 9 Millimetre Handgun: 1,500 Karma Points

I almost choked at seeing that and didn't bother asking what my current total was. Luckily, neither Joan nor Ted saw my shocked face as we moved around some rubble. We walked on and sometimes had to climb through the ruined buildings to continue forward.

Joan didn't have to warn me about where I stepped as we approached one of the the large craters in the street. That bomb damage was also seen in some of the wrecked buildings, which painted a sad picture about what happened after the infection started to spread throughout the city.

Ted whispered that we needed to stop for a while and rest, so he led us through another path between building ruins to find one that was relatively intact. We entered a less wrecked building about 20 minutes later and climbed our way up to near the top. I helped find a room that wasn't too badly damaged and we barricaded ourselves in, just in case.

Joan sat down on the floor with a sigh and pulled off her heavy backpack. She dug through one of the side pockets and pulled out some kind of jerky. Ted accepted a piece and grimaced as he bit into it and started chewing. He didn't sit down, though. Joan didn't wince when she bit into hers and just looked a little sad.

“I told you to cash in some of the ration tickets before we left.” I whispered and both Joan and Ted frowned at me. “What? It's not like they're going to be useful again until we reach another containment zone.”

Joan sighed again. “We usually save them up for bulk purchases and trades.”

“Trail rations are good enough.” Ted said, gruffly.

I sat down in front of Joan, making her give me a pointed look. I smiled at her and opened my backpack, then I made a bit of a show of it as I pulled out a large tightly wrapped sandwich. I opened the wrapping and tried to not grin at the wide eyes on both Joan and Ted. I took a huge bite out of the sandwich and intentionally made loud chewing noises.

“Is that chicken?” Ted asked, his voice full of disbelief.

“Yup.” I said and took another huge bite and chewed it loudly before I swallowed. “I heard they get that and the better veggies from smugglers.” I said and stopped myself from taking another bite. “From the looks on your faces, I guess that wasn't you.”

It was an unnecessary dig at pointing out that there was someone better than them at their job and Ted started to walk over to me.

“Hey.” Joan said and held her hand up to stop him and he kept getting closer. “Hey!”

Ted waved her off and bent over slightly to look down on me. “You know, something's been bugging me about you. About this whole situation.” He said and I took another bite of my sandwich. “Why are you so damn important to Merle? Don't lie to me or we'll take you back.”

I had to smile at the threat. “I thought you said you wanted to shoot me?”

Ted stood up straight. “You heard that?”

“I heard everything.” I said and tore off the bitten part of my sandwich, leaving over half of it untouched, and I held it out to Joan.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

She eyed me for a moment and then accepted it, checked it for some reason, then she started munching on it like it was going to escape if she didn't.

I chuckled at her reaction and ate the torn off piece of bread and bit of chicken I kept. With my part of the sandwich gone, I pulled out two water bottles from my backpack and held them out.

“Thank you.” Joan said and took one, then she slapped Ted's thigh with the back of her hand.

Ted let out a sigh and took the second bottle before he stepped back. He drank half of it with one gulp and tucked it away in his own backpack.

“How about a peace offering?” I asked and took out a handful of granola bars.

“Fuck.” Ted cursed and took several steps away, then he came back and glared at me as he tried to menacingly loom over me. “Do you know how much shit like that's worth?”

I tossed one up into the air and he snatched it up. “Three ration tickets is the going rate.”

“No way.” Joan said. “The last time anyone had some...”

“I had a whole box with 24 of them inside.” I admitted and the two of them stared at me. “No, I didn't tell Merle I had them. I'm not an idiot.” I said and handed two of them to Joan. “How do you think I managed to find clean clothes in my size and a technically new backpack full of supplies?”

“Fuck.” Ted said and started pacing again. “You handed them out.”

“Yeah, I had the supply and they demanded it. I had a lot of them to share, so word spread fast. No one wanted Merle to declare them a secret or to horde them, either.” I said and opened the last one to start eating it. “I also convinced Lindsey to show me her tits for two bars.”

Joan looked scandalized when I wagged my eyebrows at her and Ted laughed because he realized I had handed two bars to Joan.

“Damn, kid. Just damn.” Ted said and stopped pacing. “You've got some balls on you.”

“They still haven't dropped yet, even after seeing Lindsey's pretty pink nipples.” I joked and Joan gasped.

Why? Because I had left my arm free and her breasts were pressed to the side of my chest. It was quite nice and I put my arm over her shoulders with my gun held properly in my other hand and ready to shoot.

Stupid hormones. I thought and waited for another half an hour before I took out my wand and ended the sleep spells on them. That way, they would wake naturally and not like a shot of fake adrenaline that the Ennervate spell would give them.

An hour later, Joan started to wake up. I tried to stay still enough that she wouldn't notice how close she was to me, and it didn't work. Joan sucked in a sharp breath when her eyes opened and her gaze locked onto mine.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” I whispered.

Joan blinked her eyes several times before she frowned at me. “Why are you hugging me?”

I looked down at her arms wrapped around me like a vise and back at her face.

Joan sighed and eased her hold on me. “What time is it?”

I pretended to look at my empty wrist. “It's half-past a short hair and a quarter to a skin blemish.”

Joan stared at me like I had two heads and didn't respond.

I rolled my eyes at her not being awake enough to appreciate a good joke. “It's about 8 in the morning, assuming dawn was at 6:30 like usual.”

Joan let me go completely and sat up, her gaze really pointed now. “How do you know that if you don't have a watch?”

“I counted.” I said and didn't explain further.

Joan moved slightly away and then caught her breath. Her head whipped around and she stared at where Ted was slumped against the wall and looked lifeless. “You killed him!”

I barked a loud laugh and Ted jerked as if someone had slapped him. His eyes shot open and he scrambled to his feet as he aimed his gun right at me. The empty click of the trigger being pulled was very loud in the silent room.

“TED!” Joan gasped, horrified.

Ted looked down at the gun and wondered why it didn't fire. He also looked sad that he hadn't accidentally killed me when he had the perfect excuse.

“I emptied it while you were asleep, you moron.” I said and tossed the magazine and the single bullet he had loaded in the chamber towards him. They landed and skidded on the floor at his feet. “I also took third watch. You're welcome.”

Joan hadn't reacted to my words until I said that. “Ted! You fell asleep on watch?” She asked, her voice accusing and her glare strong. She had apparently forgotten she was supposed to be on watch, too.

“That's what you're upset about?” I asked and she turned her glare to me. “He would have shot me if the gun was loaded and you're upset he was asleep. Thanks a lot.”

Joan opened her mouth to say something, probably an angry rebuke. Instead, her glare faded and she sighed. “We need to move and be extra careful. Even in daytime, the ruins can have infect people anywhere. Just one of them can bring a horde of them down on us and we won't survive.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “Thanks for the basic info everyone but an idiot knows.”

Joan's glare came right back. “You need to stop being a little shit.”

It was my turn to have my mouth open to say something and I stopped myself. I didn't want her angry at me, because angry people make stupid decisions and will get themselves and those around them killed. I reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, my thumb resting on her exposed collarbone.

“Look, I almost died again just now and it pissed me off that neither you nor Ted can see the downside of that.” I said and her glare disappeared as her mind let her imagine why me dying was bad. “Yeah, if I'm dead, then you don't get anything except dead yourselves. I'm a hot commodity for the Fireflies and they will not appreciate it if I disappear.”

“Fuck!” Ted exclaimed and started pacing again.

“That's why you can ignore any threats we make. You know we can't do anything.” Joan reasoned.

“Not can't, as you just saw. Shouldn't.” I corrected her. “I like living, thank you very much.”

Joan looked over at an agitated Ted and sighed. “We need to go.”

Ted stopped pacing and glared at me before he knelt and loaded the magazine into his gun. He cocked the slide to load a bullet into the chamber and then he ejected the magazine and loaded the spare bullet into it to fill it again. He set the magazine back into the gun again and held it, gave me an odd look, then he tucked it away and went to the door of the room to unblock it.

Joan sat there and didn't move or try to help. She also didn't say anything, probably because my hand was still on her shoulder and my thumb was making small motions as it gently caressed her skin. I didn't even realize I was doing it until her hand reached up and stopped it from moving.

My face flushed red from embarrassment and Joan pulled my hand off of her shoulder. She looked at it for a moment, as if she wasn't sure what to do with it, then she let it go and stood up. She didn't say anything as she checked her backpack, nodded at it being okay, and nodded at me. I stood and had to adjust myself, which she clearly saw. Joan's face was a little red now, too.

We were saved from the really awkward moment when Ted opened the door. Joan walked out of the room like it was on fire and I followed her at a similar pace. We had a lot of ground to cover today to make it through the city ruins to reach the Massachusetts State House and we had to be careful while doing it. It would slow us down and we would deal with things as they came.

My eyes dropped to her ass as she walked and I cursed at myself in my head. It was a great ass and reminded me of Amy's, which was really bad. I did not need thoughts of having sex with her while I was going through puberty again, not with a similar-looking woman right there in front of me.

Stupid, stupid hormones. I thought and followed that firm ass all the way down to the street.