A/N: As some of you know, I publish original novels and novellas under the penname of Molly Taggart. I'm trying out Amazon's Vella platform for serialization of my latest coming-of-age / family drama / romance novella, "Grasping Hot Coals." The first three episodes are free. I hope you will give the story a try. Currently, Amazon is also giving new Vella readers 200 free tokens to "unlock" episodes of stories, which would make my entire novella free. If you enjoy any of the episodes, please be sure to click "like" on them. Thanks!
Add this after the amazon URL to locate:
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June 7
9:00 AM
Carol was helping Hershel with the horses in the petting farm when the veterinarian excused himself to check on one of the cows. A moment later, Beth approached her.
"Are you going for a ride?" Carol asked, ready to hand over the young woman's horse to her if so.
"No. I wanted to talk to you." Beth leaned on the stall and nuzzled her horse's nose. He whinnied gently. Beth looked at the horse instead of Carol as she spoke. "Do you really think it's such a good idea for the guys to go alone to Virginia? I mean, Zach was on the rifle team at his college, sure, and Noah can shoot okay, but neither has lived long on the outside. They were in the hospital almost from the start."
"Dixon is extremely capable," Carol reminded her. "He was on his own for a long time. You know that."
"It's just…I'd feel a lot less anxious about him going if someone went with him. Someone older. More experienced. Someone really capable." She looked pointedly at Carol.
"Oh," Carol said with dawning realization. Carol had come a long way in the past eleven months, certainly, but it still took her a moment to realize all those accolades were directed at her. "You mean me?"
"Of course I mean you. And Daryl, too, if he's willing. I'd sleep easier if you two were on the mission. And I'd look out for Sophia while you're gone. Not that she needs much looking after." Beth smiled and shrugged. "She takes after you two."
Carol smiled. Beth had never known Sophia in her timid days, when she was living under the thumb of Ed. "Well, I'll talk to Daryl about it. And then the Board would have to approve it. But we still have a week to sort this all out."
[*]
"Dunno," Daryl muttered as he unbuckled his belt where he stood at the side of her bed and dropped his pants. They could still hear the sound of muffled talking in the living room, and T-Dog's laugh outstripping the rest. Sophia was out there, too, playing a game with Patrick and Carl. They'd taken to going to bed earlier than their daughter. Carol thought that wasn't supposed to happen until the later teenage years. But as early as Daryl rose to hunt, and as early as she rose to beat the heat to garden, it made sense. Besides, the sooner they all went to bed, the less electricity they used, a point Daryl repeatedly made to the others. "Leavin' Soph that long. After we just been in Atlanta. Gonna be a week-long trip, at least. There and back and lootin' inbetween."
He flipped down the comforter and, wearing only his boxers now, crawled into bed beside her. He sat up, back against the headboard, and she scooted over to insert herself beneath the familiar weight of his arm. She tilted her head to rest it against his shoulder. "She'll be fine. She hardly gives us the time of day anymore anyway. And there will be scores of adults to look out for her. And, frankly, I think Beth is going to have an anxiety attack if Dixon goes all the way to Virginia with just Zach and Noah."
"Why? Survived on his own for months."
"I know, but…it's a long way, and we don't really know what's out there, between here and there. Simon and then Shane probably cleared through a lot on their way down, but…we just don't know. And besides, I'd kind of like to meet Gavin myself."
Daryl looked at her curiously. "Hell you want to meet him for?"
"He's got a sexy voice," she said, just to mess with him. It worked. He glowered, and she laughed. "Seriously, at least one member of the Board should probably be there to establish relations."
"Relations," Daryl muttered. "Only person you better be 'stablishin' relations with is me."
Carol chuckled. She kissed his cheek. "Well, Pookie, I do enjoy relating to you. But we're making a trade with a potential ally and maybe a regular future trading partner. Someone who can keep us informed of migrating dangers from the north. It does make sense for Board members to be there, doesn't it?"
"Guess so. Ain't gotta be us, though. If Dixon's gone, and I'm gone, who the hell's gonna hunt? Only meat we got is wild game." They weren't eating the pigs…yet. And they never planned to eat the cows, as long as they gave milk, the horses, which were work animals and beloved family members to the Greenes, or the chickens, which gave them eggs.
"You and Dixon got that elk today. That's a lot of meat hanging to age. And Carl's been catching some small game in the little woods. You've trained him well. There's also still a little canned meat. We're good for a good while. And we might loot more canned meat on the way there and back."
Daryl sighed, "A'ight fine. But we take my bike. So as we can have a backup vehicle."
"Well, that's what I'd hoped anyway. I like riding with you."
"Yeah?"
"Turns me on a little bit."
He raised an eyebrow. "Like all that vibration?"
"That's not why. I just like the smell of you. The feel of you. The thrill of it all. And us hanging back a little would be good. Then the boys can all ride together in the military truck. They can still have their college road trip bonding experience."
"Pfft." Daryl reached over and turned out the lamp on the nightstand. Moonlight and starlight filtered through the open window, along with a summer breeze that the blades of the whirling overhead fan distributed throughout the room. Voices drifted in from somewhere outside, between the House and the Royal Banquet Hall, along with a bark – someone was walking at least one of the dogs. "Really think he's got a sexy voice?"
"Who?"
"Gavin."
Carol laughed. "No. You've heard him on the radio. What do you think?"
"Dunno. How the hell would I know what a sexy voice sounded like for a man?"
She smiled and kissed his earlobe and then whispered, "I'll give you a hint. It sounds like yours."
She could just make out the twinkle of his eyes in the starlight-scattered room. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. Whisper something sexy in my ear."
He leaned in and opened his mouth slightly. She could feel the warmth of his breath and smell the faint hint of tobacco mingled with the mint of his toothpaste. He hovered there a moment, lips near her ear, as if reeling for words. Finally he said, "You're beautiful."
That would do. Carol smiled.
He thought a little longer. She heard him swallow, almost as if he was nervous and struggling for words. "Wanna relate?"
Carol spluttered out a laugh, which made him chuckle, too.
"C'mon," he said, "C'mon, Miss Murphy. Let's relate good and hard."
She was still laughing when he flipped her on her back. pushed her black camisole up over her stomach and above her breasts, and lowered his mouth to tease a nipple.
June 14
10:00 AM
Gavin stepped out of his pickup and looked up at the top of the wall of the Kingdom hoping to see Dianne on guard, but it was Daniel who stood atop the fence.
Dianne had checked in long enough on the radio four days ago to tell him the ransom was successful and that they'd established a tentative peace with the bandits who had taken Daniel. She'd promised to give him more details when she accompanied him to Richmond for the trade with the Georgia people. They'd talked once more since then, briefly, during which she'd provided an almost business-like update and inquired about the Sanctuary in the same way, and then apologized with, "I'm sorry, but I've really never been a phone person."
She still hadn't said a word about their night in bed together.
"Want to open up and let me in?" he called up to the redheaded man. He tried not to sound bitter, but it wasn't fun looking at the man Frankie had jilted him for.
Daniel nodded wordlessly and soon the gates were rolling open. Gavin got back in his truck and drove it in, because he didn't want to leave the supplies for trade outside. When he got out, Frankie walked toward him and, to his surprise, gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. As he pulled back in surprise, he glanced at Daniel, who seemed unperturbed by the exchange and was nonchalantly returning to the gate.
"Thank you, Gavin, so much, for doing this for Tina," Frankie said. "That poor girl."
She stepped aside because now Jerry, Dianne, and Tina were walking in their direction, each one with weapons and packs. They came to a stop before Gavin, and Dianne nodded to him. "Hey," he said. "Good to see you." Then he looked over Tina. "You're not coming with us."
"Yes I am," she said.
"You've not been out there for – "
"- I need to thank these people," Tina told him. "In person. I need to."
"Jerry and Tina will take another vehicle," Dianne said. "I'll ride with you. It's for the best to have backup in case we have a breakdown anyway." Dianne began walking toward Gavin's pick-up and climbed inside the passengers side. Gavin sighed. He guessed this was decided then. He walked to the driver's side and climbed inside and started the truck. The gates were still open, and he drove through them, with Jerry and Tina walking out behind the truck. Daniel swung the gate shut again.
Gavin idled his pick-up while Jerry, looking like a clown trying to get into a tiny clown car, inserted himself into the driver's seat of a sedan parked outside the gates. "You sure it's such a good idea for her to go with us? What if these people don't turn out to be as friendly as we imagine?"
"Well then we'll have to kill them," Dianne answered.
Gavin laughed and shook his head. "Ever to the point, aren't you?"
Seeing Jerry start the car, he pulled forward, crunching over dirt and rocks, picking up the road, and blowing past a little house nestled on the dirt road. That would be a nice little house to live in, he thought, if the Sanctuary was ever standing on its two feet and the world was settled. A little place away from it all.
"So, tell me more about these Highwaymen," he said.
"The Highwaymen are the tip of the iceberg of a forty-person camp settled at Mount Vernon. They Highway men are just their six-man supply running and raiding team, although only three of them were out and about when they took Daniel. Their leader is named Ozzy. The camp has horses, but no functioning vehicles. They didn't think to get stabilizer and properly store gas, so they don't have any that isn't spoiled."
"Well, we won't have gasoline for more than another year, even with the stabilizer. But I should have our ethanol distillery producing at the Sanctuary by then. If we can convert a few engines…" He trailed off. They'd talked about this before. He didn't need to go over the details again.
"We ended up giving them usable gas in exchange for Daniel," Dianne said as Gavin swerved abruptly around a walker in the road. Behind him, Jerry hit it, almost like he was trying to clip it, and there was a thunk. "For the farm equipment. They're trying to grow in the old farm fields there. Right now, they don't even have gardens as big as ours, despite all that fertile land. But they can grow it. It's a nice camp. A little too open by the Potomac, though. The fence is only in front and on the side. But lots of places to stay. Washington's old mansion, the servant's quarters, the slave quarters, the steward's cabin…the hotel. The museum. There's farmland, farm animals, it's remote…"
"Sounds like you want to take this place over."
"If I were the type," she agreed. "But I'm more the trade to my advantage type. So we struck a deal. They'll keep the roads clear of packs of walkers, bandits, and rough men around the Kingdom, and we'll pay them for their service. And they don't take any more of our men."
"They treat Daniel okay while he was there?" Gavin didn't notice any bruises on his face, anyway.
"Well enough I think he had Stockholm syndrome. You didn't hear?"
"Hear what?"
"He fell for a woman there. The one who was assigned to bring him food. And he's dumped Frankie."
"What?" Gavin asked. "It's been…it hasn't been long."
"And now he's our trade liaison to Mount Vernon. So he can see her. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up moving there."
"Damn. Huh. Well I guess that explains Frankie's friendlier than usual greeting."
"She's probably figured out she shouldn't have released the bird in hand," Dianne said matter-of-factly.
Gavin glanced at her and then back at the road. "Did you tell her about…our uh…night? Or…nights?" Neither of them knew if they'd done it that first time.
"What, in the locker room?" Dianne asked. "After showing her the notch on my belt?"
"Sorry. Stupid question."
"Don't worry. She doesn't know anything. It's up to you whether or not you tell her when you try to get back together with her."
Gavin looked at Dianne again and then jolted the steering wheel straight when the front left wheel went deep into a pothole and back out. Looking ahead now, he asked, "Who said I'm going to try to get back together with her?"
"Well, you still love her, don't you?"
He didn't answer that question, because he didn't know the answer to it. It wasn't easy just to shake a feeling that had crept up on him and taken a tangled hold over the early months of the apocalypse. So he said, "That doesn't seem wise. To chase a woman who jilted you for another man and who only shows interest again after he jilts her. I'm not stupid."
"No, you're not, but you never know with men. There's a lot of thinking below the belt in my observation."
"And, besides…" He glanced at her then back at the road again.
"Besides what?" she asked.
"We…" he trailed off. "I mean…fuck, hell," he spluttered with frustration, "was that one-time thing or not?"
Dianne shifted her bow between her legs to lean it more against the side door and see him more clearly. She smiled slightly. "I'd consider a reprise. But not if you're going to try to get back together with Frankie. I'm not expecting us to get serious. I just don't like inserting myself into messy triangles."
"I'm not going to try to get back together with Frankie," he said. "We'd just end up fighting over where to live again." Dianne had no problem leaving the Kingdom – not permanently, certainly – but she'd been in and out through those gates plenty of times. She was willing to spend a few nights in the Sanctuary to help when needed. To join him on a joint mission. And he was willing to come to the Kingdom when needed. Hell, he'd seen Dianne far more than he'd seen Frankie since Frankie had settled at the Kingdom. "And…I'd kind of like to see where this goes."
He turned long enough to look her over. Her normally rigid face gave a little, into the hint of a smile. Dianne looked forward at the dirt road they were flying over. "It goes to Route 1. Which goes to Richmond."
Gavin shook his head. "You're something else, that's for sure." The dust of the road flew up behind them, sprinkling Jerry's windshield, as they roared closer to the highway.
