A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I'm back at work after a month off due to an accident and I'm pretty much just working and sleeping at the moment, so I'm pretty behind with all my fics, not just this one. I've got a few days off coming up so will hopefully get back on track with my writing.
"The rain's getting worse. I'm going to have to pull over." Effy knew Katie wouldn't be happy about them stopping, but the rain was lashing down against the windscreen at a rate that the wipers couldn't keep up with and they had lost the sun hours ago behind the thick clouds. With no electric lighting along the road it was difficult for Effy to make out what was in front of her and they would run the risk of smashing in to abandoned cars if she carried on driving blind. They were still on the motorway and despite the rain they had managed to cover quite a bit of ground; they'd made it down past Bridgewater and were near the turn off for Taunton, which they could take in the morning and be on the edge of Exmoor Park in about half an hour if Effy put her foot down. It was far enough to keep Katie from arguing for them to carry on. She wasn't stupid, she wanted to get down to Exmoor Park to find Naomi and her sister, but she wanted to be in one piece when they got there. They were looking for a needle in a haystack as it was, without the added hindrance of the rain.
Effy pulled the Jeep in to a layby and cut the engine. Katie frowned, when Effy had said she was going to pull over she expected her to keep going until they hit a turn off for a town, not to just stop at the side of the road. "Shouldn't we find a house or something?"
"I packed some sleeping bags and some food in the back. We should be ok sleeping here tonight." With the lights off on the car and the cover of the rain they would be invisible to anyone driving by and they were far enough in the layby to avoid being hit by anyone stupid enough to be out driving when visibility was so low.
Katie sat up front, listening to the patter of the rain against the windscreen as Effy sorted out a makeshift bed for them. The back seats folded down, opening up the boot and providing a space just big enough for them to get comfortable in. Effy rolled out the sleeping bags and zipped them together to make one big pouch for the two of them to climb in. She ushered Katie in to the back and it didn't take much persuasion as the shivering girl climbed through the gap in the front seats and crawled in to the sleeping bag beside her.
She rummaged through the bag she had packed and pulled out a thick cashmere sweater to wear to bed. Without the engine on to work the heating the temperature in the car was plummeting and it wouldn't get any warmer during the night. The rain was still heavy outside and they could hear the distant rumble of thunder outside. Katie bit at her lip as she looked for signs of the oncoming storm. She'd always been terrified of thunder ever since she was a kid, she usually had Emily by her side to keep her calm, but in the back of the Jeep there was only Effy. When the thunder rumbled closer she almost jumped out of her skin and clutched at Effy's arm. She seemed to instinctively know what the problem was and wrapped an arm around the smaller girl's shoulders as she huddled up beside her.
"It's ok." She soothed in her ear and her lips brushed against Katie's cheek. The oldest twin turned her head to catch Effy's lips in a tentative kiss. She still wasn't sure exactly what she felt for the other girl, but she knew she felt safe beside her and Effy's warm lips felt nice pressed against hers. She had never really understood Emily's attraction to girls, sure they were nice to look at and even to kiss; even Katie had kissed a few girls in her time, though admittedly to gain the attention of men around her. Most things Katie had done in her old life had been to get the attention of men, from her flirtatious attitude to her short skirts and revealing tops, but that had been before her ordeal in the woods at the hands of the two twisted brothers who had taken her from the side of the road; getting the attention of any man was the last thing on her mind.
"A car is the safest place to be in a storm." Effy reassured her. It had something to do with cars being metal and grounding the lightening, Tony had explained to her once when they were younger. Her big brother had been a fountain of knowledge, among other things, and there wasn't a day that went by that she didn't think of him; of all her family. She understood why Katie was so eager to carry on searching for Emily. None of them had any real family left; it would be nice if at least one of them could find someone they had lost.
"It's not the storm." Katie mumbled as she laid her head down on Effy's shoulder. Her eyes were cautiously scanning the road outside for any signs of other cars. She had been taken from the side of the motorway in broad daylight. She didn't feel particularly safe sleeping in a car overnight, even with Effy by her side and a pistol tucked under her pillow. Effy tightened her grip around the younger girl's waist in response, a silent promise that she wouldn't let anything happen to her.
Thirty miles away Naomi and Emily were beginning to lose their battle against the rain too. While the forest had protected them from most of the downpour for the afternoon the trees had begun to thin out the closer they came to Simonsbath, the town Naomi hoped they could shelter in for the night. They were following the river, which ran right through the town, and the storm was beginning to make the water rise, threatening to flood the surrounding area. The grass beneath their feet was giving way with each step and being handcuffed together didn't help either girl when they were wading through thick clarts of mud that stuck to their shoes like treacle. Naomi's trainers were leaking and her feet were soaking wet. She would have to find a new pair when they reached the town.
Emily wasn't faring much better either, she'd fallen over so many times that her sweatpants were caked in mud. They were both soaked to the bone and looked like drowned rats as they stumbled through an open meadow. When Emily's foot slipped again she went crashing to the ground, almost pulling Naomi with her. "Come on, it's not much further. I can see buildings at the edge of the moor." She took Emily's hand and helped to get her back on to her feet as she reassured her they were nearly at the town. Emily grumbled but carried on trudging through the treacherous mud. Naomi kept hold of her hand to help her balance and neither girl mentioned it as they made their way towards the whitewash buildings they could see on the other side of the meadow.
When they finally reached the town they found it was smaller than they expected, more like a quant English village than a town, with its thatched cottage roofs and old stone buildings. Emily wanted to dive in to the first cottage, but Naomi kept her going, heading towards the inn. There was no sign of life in the small town and Naomi knew the chances were that the cottages would be full of the dead; she didn't want to face six month old rotting corpses so she pressed on to the inn overlooking the river. When the virus had hit few people had headed to the pubs, so the inn seemed the less likely place to find bodies, add the fact that it would have a kitchen stocked with food and guestrooms with big warm beds, it would be the safest place to spend the night.
Sure enough as they let themselves in the inn was free from bodies and the tell-tale smell of rotting flesh. With so many dead it hadn't taken long for the smell of decomposition to overcome the cities and Naomi had sworn she could still smell it long after they had moved to the farm. The previous inhabitants of the farm had all been dead in their beds too and they had spent a few weeks camping in the barn while they aired the house out, trying to get rid of the foul stench. They had set fire to the bodies of the owners, it would have been too risky to bury them on the land, no one knew how the virus worked and they didn't want to risk contaminating the soil they would be growing their crops in.
"We should find some dry clothes and some food." Emily had her priorities set, but Naomi had her own. She pulled her gun out of the back of her belt and cast a cautious glance around the foyer. If anyone in the town had survived they might have had the same idea to seek shelter in the guesthouse.
"We need to clear the rooms, check we're the only ones here. We can find some clothes as we go." Emily didn't argue with her, she saw the sense of securing the place first and followed Naomi as she made her way upstairs, her gun held out in front of her. Most survivors she had encountered were peaceful people just trying to make the most of the lives they had left, but some could be quite vicious when their territory was being threatened. It was like what was left of the human race had devolved in the time it took for the power to run out and the water supply to stop.
Emily stuck close to Naomi's back as they swept the upstairs of the guest house, not that she had much choice considering they were tied together. Some of the rooms still had people's stuff in them, but they couldn't find a single person, living or dead, anywhere in the inn. A glance out of the window of one of the rooms told Naomi why. The grass at the back of the house, that had at one time housed a beer garden, was overgrown with weeds and flowers among the darker muddy spots that identified at least a half dozen graves. She had a feeling whoever had survived long enough to dig the graves had not stuck around afterwards. The day Naomi had buried her mother she had walked out of her house with a single suitcase and had never gone back.
They would still need to check the downstairs but Naomi was pretty certain the inn was abandoned. Spotting the wardrobe in the corner of the room they were standing in Naomi checked inside and found a small collection of clothes that had probably once belonged to a teenage boy. The clothes would be a little big on the blonde, but would probably drown Emily. They were the best they had though and it would do the smaller girl good to get out of her soaking clothes. "Um, how should we?" Naomi felt herself blushing as Emily tried to ask how they would tackle getting changed.
"I'll turn my back." She mumbled sheepishly, feeling like a teenage boy herself as she turned away from the other girl to let her change in private. She managed out of her tracksuit bottoms ok and exchanged them for another pair that were dry but far too big. She had to pull the drawstring as tight as she could to stop them from falling down.
It was as she tried to push her hoodie over her head that she realised the problem. The cuff at her wrist meant that she wouldn't be able to get her arm out of the sleeve. "Little help here?" She tugged on the handcuffs to get Naomi's attention. The blonde spotted the problem straight away and pulled out her knife from the holster on her leg, grateful Thomas had given her it back. She cut open the sleeve of Emily's hoody so that once the smaller girl had wrestled it over her head it dropped to the floor, unhindered by the cuffs. She did the same with her own jacket. They would have to keep on the t-shirts they were wearing but luckily they weren't too wet and after a little more shuffling they were both finally in clean dry clothes.
After a sweep of the downstairs they found the kitchen and Emily's eyes lit up at the sight of the well-stocked pantry. She immediately picked up a tin of meatballs in gravy and a block of polenta. It was hardly a feast but after a day of living on chocolate and crisps it would be a substantial meal. Naomi picked up a few more cans of food and nodded towards the door that led in to the lounge of the bar. "I think I saw a log fire in there, grab a pan and we'll warm something up." It didn't take long to get the log burner going and in next to no time they had both filled their bellies with as much food as they could handle; which in Emily's case was quite a bit.
After their improvised dinner they raided behind the bar and sat down in front of the fire with a selection of crisps and nuts as well as glass bottles of Cola and bottles of something stronger. Naomi used one of the glasses she'd taken from the bar to mix the coke with some vodka, while Emily sat huddled in front of the fire cradling a litre bottle of Jack Daniels that she was sipping straight. They'd definitely hit the jackpot with the provision at the inn and Naomi was debating over whether or not to find a car and fill it to take some stuff back to the farm. She didn't really want to run the risk of being found by driving on the roads, but with the amount of spirits and bottled beers that would be stored down in the cellar they could keep half for the farm and use the rest for trade; it would fetch a fair price at the trading posts. She supposed if they stayed off the motorway and used the smaller back roads they could still avoid being spotted by anyone and maybe even manage to get back to the farm by the end of the following day.
Naomi couldn't wait to get back to her own bed. She also couldn't wait to reunite Emily with her twin, to finally have the smaller girl's trust when she realised Naomi had been telling her the truth. As it was they'd gained an uneasy truce of sorts over the day, but she could still see the way Emily kept looking at her warily out of the corner of her eye, like she was expecting Naomi to pull her knife out on her or something. The sooner they could get back to the farm the better. She just prayed that she'd find Katie and Effy safely back there too. She'd kill Cook if he hadn't gotten them away from Henham Hall.
"How did you meet Katie?" Emily broke the easy silence they had been sitting in during their improvised meal. Her eyes were glassy and her tone was still cautious, like she was trying to make conversation rather than actually gain any knowledge. Naomi didn't particularly want to tell Emily what her sister had been through, it was hardly going to win her any favour with the younger twin. So she tried changing the subject instead.
"Ask me something Mandy wouldn't know. Something about Katie."
Emily shook her head as she brought her bottle up to her lips. She winced at the taste but carried on drinking it straight. "Come on, there must be something you didn't tell your precious girlfriend?"
"She's not my fucking girlfriend!" Emily snapped at the blonde, sulking like a typical teenage girl. "And I don't remember what I told her, ok? So there's no magic thing that you can say to me to make me believe you…just show me my sister."
"Sham." Naomi replied, catching the other girl's attention.
"What?" Her eyes narrowed on the blonde like she'd just called her mother a whore. "What did you just say?"
"It means sorry doesn't it?"
"Katie would never tell you about that!"
"And you'd never tell Mandy, would you?" Naomi challenged her. "Katie talks in her sleep." She smirked, feeling like she was finally gaining some ground with the other girl.
"Maybe I did." Emily shrugged and took a long swig from the bottle in her hand. She sighed as she shook her head. "I just don't know anymore."
"We'll find a car in the morning and drive up to Bristol. We'll be at the farm in a couple of hours. Then you'll see." Naomi huffed, getting tired of Emily's pig-headedness. There was nothing she could say that would make Emily believe her, so there was no point in saying anything at all. She would just have to wait until they were back on the farm and the twins had been reunited, maybe then she and Emily could forge something of a friendship despite their rocky start.
"I hope so." Emily's hand shifted so that her fingers brushed against Naomi's and she ducked her head. "Not just so that I get Katie back…I mean, living on a farm, growing our own food, with new friends…a new family…it sounds pretty fucking good."
"You haven't met the others yet." Naomi chuckled. She made no attempt to move her hand out from under the other girl's.
"Tell me about them?" Emily's voice softened as they sat by the fire like they were old friends. Katie had talked about her twin to Naomi so much that it almost felt like they werefriends. Naomi stretched her legs out in front of her towards the fire; she was starting to get pins and needles from sitting in the same position for so long and a cold chill had settled in the night air, making her feel stiff and sore. She didn't really know where to start describing the people she called her family. Emily was patient though as Naomi stared in to the flames of the fire and eventually a small smile crossed her lips.
"Well there's Cook. He's an arrogant, sexist twat and all around arsehole…but he's like a big brother. He's loyal and despite his tough guy act he's got a big heart. JJ, he's a little autistic, a little OCD and he pretty much keeps the farm running with Panda, she's way hyper, but she's nice, you'll like her. She and Thomas had a thing in college; it killed her when he decided to leave." Naomi was wary that she was talking so much, but the other girl seemed to be interested in what she had to say, so she continued. "Then there's Freddie, bit of a stoner, but a nice guy. He fancies the hell out of Effy, has done since college. Eff…well she's something else. She's strong, she knows what she wants and she goes for it, right now she wants your supposedlystraight sister." Naomi smirked. Effy had been trying to win Katie's interest for months. At first Naomi had just put it down to curiosity; they were all interested in Katie's story. She was something new, a distraction from their own lives, but while the others had soon lost interest and started to see Katie as one of them, Effy hadn't. There were still times when Naomi would catch her looking at the younger girl like she was some sort of puzzle that needed to be solved.
"Katie went off the deep end when I told her I was gay." Emily finally spoke up. There was a distant look on her face as she spoke about her twin; she clearly missed her a lot. "But then when mum found out and started freaking out Katie stood up for me, she told her it was no big deal and that nobody would care anyway…she was always like that; she could be the biggest bitch in the world to me, but no one else could say anything…how about you? What did your mum say when you came out?"
Naomi snorted in to her drink at the question. "Who said I was gay?" She shot back, enjoying the way Emily's cheeks coloured to match her hair. She pulled her hand away from the blonde's though, and that she didn't like. The skin on the back of her hand felt cold after being so suddenly exposed to the crisp night air and Naomi had to stop herself from pulling Emily's hand back. Not that it had gone very far given that it was bound to Naomi's wrist by a few short inches of metal chain.
"You don't kiss like a straight girl." Emily shrugged, finding some of her confidence again and it was Naomi's turn to blush.
"Oh? And how many straight girls have you kissed Emily Fitch?"
The other girl giggled as she took a drink of her whisky and the sound was musical to the blonde. She could feel some of Emily's defences dropping and the smile on her face seemed genuine as she ran a hand through her hair, pushing it back off her face. "A few." She laughed and Naomi felt something stirring in her gut. Katie hadn't been wrong when she'd told her that she would like her twin. Besides the pig-headed stubbornness that seemed to be a Fitch family trait and her annoying habit of pulling a gun on her, Emily Fitch was pretty likeable in Naomi's opinion. "So, you're really one hundred percent straight?"
"Maybe not a hundred percent." Naomi smirked; it had been a long time since she'd had the opportunity to flirt with an attractive girl. She'd dated guys and girls in the past, but she had to admit she had a preference for girls; particularly pretty ones. Admittedly since over ninety nine percent of the population had died from the virus she couldn't really afford to be choosey, but she'd never really thought about dating what with the world ending and everything.
The closest she'd come to flirting with another girl had been with Bex, a woman from Bristol who was in her mid-twenties and had been studying Sociology and Politics at Oxford before the virus had struck and she'd returned to the city to try and find her family. Naomi and the others had stumbled on to Bex and her group whilst foraging and Naomi had been impressed with the farm land the other group had found and cultivated for themselves. She'd also been impressed with Bex herself, though not much had happened between them other than a bit of a harmless flirting. Bex had tried to persuade Naomi and the others to stay on at the farm, but the conditions attached to staying had included Cook leaving and Naomi could never have abandoned him. They'd all been through too much to go their separate ways.
"So how straight are you?" Emily enquired as she leant forward, her gaze dropped to the other girl's lips and she was quickly rewarded with an answer as Naomi sat forward and pressed a kiss to her full lips. She bit her lip as she pulled back, waiting for Emily to respond and praying she hadn't read the signals wrong. The last thing she wanted was to spook the smaller girl when they were getting on so well. She needn't have worried though as Emily kissed her back. Her lips moved slowly at first, like she was testing the waters, but soon they were kissing as feverishly as they had back in the woods earlier in the morning.
"You're not going to head butt me again, are you?" Naomi teased as Emily pulled back, trying to catch her breath again. She laughed softly as she shook her head, but Naomi could see the mixed emotions playing on her face.
"I can't do this." She sighed as she rested her head softly against the blonde's and Naomi felt a lump building in her throat. "I'm sorry. I just-"
"Can't trust me?" Naomi supplied for her as she struggled over the words. She couldn't exactly blame Emily for being wary of her, if Emily herself hadn't been Katie's twin then Naomi probably wouldn't have trusted her either. The world was a very different place and even tiny teenage girls could be a real danger.
"I want to." Emily bit at her lip to stop herself from kissing the other girl again. She couldn't deny her attraction to the blonde who was offering her everything she'd dreamt about since the fallout of the virus; a family and a home. She wanted to believe everything that Naomi was telling her. She wanted to believe the blonde was honestly trying to help her and that she was genuinely interested in her, but she'd learnt the hard way about trusting the wrong people and she wasn't sure she could cope if she was let down yet again.
In the past when Naomi had been rejected she had always made a hasty retreat, usually laughing it off with Cook and drowning her sorrows, but with Emily handcuffed to her she couldn't exactly go far from her so she settled for picking up the bottle of vodka sitting beside her leg. She felt cold and tired and generally lousy from trekking through the forest all day, but she wasn't in a hurry to suggest going to bed. It was awkward enough sitting beside the girl who'd just knocked her back, never mind lying in bed with her. "Are you ok?" Emily sounded sincere as she questioned the blonde, but Naomi couldn't bring herself to look at her so she kept her gaze on the bottle in her trembling hands. She was shaking from the cold. The rain had soaked through most of her clothing and the cold had seemed to sink in to her skin, leaving her feeling numb and shaking.
"Cold." She mumbled back at the concerned younger twin. She flinched as Emily brought her free hand up to her forehead.
"You're burning up."
"Just the rain." She tried to shrug it off, but the shaking was getting worse and she put the bottle back down on the floor as the room in front of her began to spin.
"Come on." Emily urged as she helped ease her up to her feet and slipped an arm around her waist to keep her up. Naomi's legs felt like lead weights as she dragged her feet towards the hallway where the stairs were. Emily helped her all the way up the stairs and in to the first room they came across. It was decorated in the usual gaudy guest hotel style with flowery curtains and a matching bedspread.
"I had a shirt like this once." Naomi giggled as she collapsed on to the bed and admired the quilt cover. She was starting to feel out of it, like she'd drunk the whole bottle of vodka rather than only a few shots of it.
"I think you've got a fever." Emily informed her as she pulled back the duvet and helped the blonde under it as she climbed in beside her. From the chills running up and down her body Naomi would argue that she was far from feverish, but Emily was right; she'd broken out in a sweat, with a thin sheen covering her body. Emily wrapped an arm around the shaking girl, trying to help her feel warm again. "You'll be ok; you just need a good night's sleep in a warm bed." Emily reassured her as she pressed her lips to her cheek.
Naomi didn't say a word. As she lay in bed, trying to ignore the cramps in her stomach and the way the room around her was spinning in and out of focus, she couldn't help but remember the state her mother had been in the night she'd caught the virus. Sweating and disorientated Gina Campbell had collapsed at the kitchen table, striking her head as she fell to the floor. The wound to her head had been deep and had needed stitches, but after dialling 999 and being kept on hold for almost an hour Naomi had had to abandon her attempt to get help and use the butterfly stitches they had in the bathroom cabinet to tend to her mother's injury. She'd put her to bed with a cold compress and all the spare blankets she could find in the house. Come morning, when Naomi had checked on her in the early hours, she had been cold to the touch and as much as Naomi shouted and screamed at her her eyes hadn't opened again. Naomi wasn't sure whether the virus or the head injury had killed her, and it had been months since the virus had died out; but as she lay shaking, with Emily wrapped around, her she was gripped by the terrifying prospect that if she let her heavy eyelids close they might never open again.