In Between Seasons (The Fall) (12 page)

It had been two days since Hunter’s father had left
,
and
the women were in their typical circle watching TV
and
drinking beer. I had opted out of beer after the first day because of its foul taste
and
for the most part kept my mouth shut. Their conversations ranged from who was the cutest star on whatever they were watching to whatever they hated the most about their boyfriend or husband, which tended to be most everything.
The negativity that coursed through the air was almost more than I could take on most days, but today I had decided to make an effort at finding out something else about the world I was living in.

“So Chr
is got promoted?” I asked Amy.

“Yeah,” she answered,
taking another sip of beer unmoved.

“Shouldn’t you be happy?” I asked
as I picked
at a hole in my jeans.
This wasn’t going to be easy if she was going to be so nasty.

S
he looked me square in the face as she sneered,
“Yeah, a promotion was just what Chris needed.”

I shook my head
and
stood.

“Where you
going?”
A woman named Mara asked
,
standing with me.

“To try
and
find the library.
Hunter mentioned there was one,
”
I explained.

“You’re going in
the wro
ng directi
on then,
”
Mara
commented as she twirled
a piece of her blonde
choppy hair.

“Are you going to show me
?” I asked,
even though
I wasn’t
thrilled with her
attitude.

“Sure thing
,
doll,” Mara replied,
leading me out of the room
and
past the kitchen,
“You really don’t know much about this place do you?”

“Why would you say that?”

“These men that we’
re stuck with—
most of them are jerks
,
but
some of them aren’t….like my husband Rob
,
but
the se
cond they get a promotion they’re less human. Chris’
a jerk
,
so
a promotion doesn’t do Amy any good. Plus it means that pretty soon she’
s a guaranteed widow,
” Mara explained
while
opening the door to a room.

“If she doesn’t like Chris why does she care if he leaves on a mission?”

She sighed shaking her head as if
I were a child,
“Without Chris
she’s useless here.”

I thought to myself that she already was.

“So?”
I asked
.

“So she would have to leave, go to the farming base so she would have
something to do,
”
Mara nodded
into the room,
“Well, here it is. You might have to
blow some dust off those things.
I don’t think any
one has touched
them in a long time…not since I’ve been here at least.”

I stepped into the room
,
which was unusually light because of the huge window that was to the right of me. I slipped my shoes off
and
kneaded my toes into the super plush carpet as I took in the room. The carpet
was
white
and
bounced the light from the window against the bookshelves that lined the two side walls from floor to ceiling. The only
empty
wall in the room was a deep jewel colored green, which matched exactly to the chenille blanket that was thrown over the back of a chocolate
colored
leather chaise. I
took a deep breath of the
paper scented
air
and
sighed.
As I ran my hand across the dusty shelves someth
ing outside the window caught my
eyes.  The
window overlooked a large field where the men were in mock hand to hand combat. It amazed me that they didn’t all come in black
and
blue from the fighting. My eyes found Hunter with ease
and
he turned his head seeing me in the window. I smiled
and
mustered a small wave as I watched his opponent try to level him with a kick to the head. Even without facing his
attacker he was able to grab the swinging
leg
and
s
pin his opponent
to the ground.

The days were starting to run into each other
,
and
I was just ge
tting use to the fact that all the women
around me did nothing.
This was one of the only differences that I could see between my parent’s tribe and this one, or maybe they had always just kept me busy to make me shut up. Either way the men here and there both were mysteriously gone all day. I knew that Hunter was briefing them on missions, and training the beer out of them.
It had become a daily ritual for me to watch the reflection of the sun sinking into the horizon off of the TV
and
pray that Hunter would be there to save me fro
m my boredom sooner than later. The
men were
now
streaming steadily in to the house, either settling
at the pool tables
or
on stools
and
talking over the blaring television as they drank themselves into oblivion.

“Would
you shut the hell up?” Amy shrieked
,
turning
and
looking over the couch,
“We’
re trying to watch a movie.”

The man that Hunter had been fighting
earlier in the day
turned to face us from the pool table
and
said nothing
,
but
raised one finger.

“Meg…?” Amy said turning around
with
a wicked smirk on her face.

“Andy, do you ever want sex
again?” Meg
asked
with
her lips curled downward in an unattractive grimace.

Andy rolled his eyes
and
took a swig of the beer
that
another one of his loud comrades had brought him.
Amy huffed
and
grabbed the remote sending the volume to an unbearable level.
I had planned on waiting for Hunter to come in
,
but
I couldn’t stand the ridiculous situation an
ymore
, so I
got up to leave
. As I walked past one of the pool tables w
h
ere the men were gathered someone reached out
and
grabbed my
but
t. I had had enough from the day full of bickering women
and
chick flicks
. I
cranked the man’s arm without a second thought.

He screamed out in pain,
“You bitch, what the hell did you do to me?”

I turned
with
his hand still locked in mine,
“I thought Hunter told you if you even so much as looked at me wron
g he would castrate you?” I questioned
as I dropped his immobile arm.

“What the hell i
s going on in
here?” Hunter yelled as he came in the room
,
“Turn that TV down before I put a chair through it.”

“
Your bitch of a POW just screwed
up my arm,
”
the man nodded
to his limp
arm as tears began to fl
ow down his face from the pain
,
“I want to know how the hell she knew how to do that.”

Hunter’s face quieted him before he could con
tinue. He stepped in between the man
and
me
as my eyes burned
in
anger.

“I think that’s
the least of your problems Rick
. Now would you mind telling me why she dislocated your shoulder?”

“You weren’t serious about castration were you?”
Rick replied
,
swallowing as his face reddened in fear.

“You wanted to find out?”
Hunter asked.

“No, S
ir.”

Hunter took one step for
ward
and
placed his hand on Rick
’s shoulder. He was trembling in fear as Hunter g
rabbed his arm
and
twisted. Rick
cried out in pain again
,
but
when Hunter stepped aside hi
s ar
m was in a normal position once more
. The whole room had gone completely silent
,
and
Mara was looking over the couch at me with one eyebrow raised.

“Does anyone else want to
piss me off today?” Hunter crossed
his arms over his chest so that t
he veins in his forearms pulsed,
“Good, now if anyone else lays a hand on Kate I will not be so kind. I’ll
let
her dislocate your shoulder permanently. Am I understood?”

“Yes, S
ir,” the men in the room echoed
.

“You,” Hunter spun on his heels to face the women, “k
eep the noise down to a hum
an level with that god damned TV,
or I ship you out to Farmville, got it?”

The women said nothing
,
but
nodded their heads.

Hunter
looked at me
with
his lips in a grim line
,
but
his eyes s
howed that he was rather amused,
“Shall we?”

“Yes, please,
”
I replied.

“I’m glad to see
that
you put your new found skill to use acc
urately,
” Hunter commented
once we had reached the deck
and
stairs leading to his apartment.

“Are you mad? They’re all going to question wh
ere I learned that from,
” I realized
with a sigh.
I hadn’t thought of that ramification when I had done it.
I knew we didn’t need any attention drawn to us, or any reason for someone to say something about my skills to his father. It would only raise more questions that neither of us could answer.

“I don’t think anyone is going to be questioning me any time soon
,
but
if they do I’ll just tell them I taught you for th
at very reason. So what did Rick
do?”
Hunter asked
,
his eyes watering as he tried not to laugh.

“He grabbed my
but
t,
” I responded
,
opening the door.

“That’s a pr
etty serious punishment for
a little grab,” Hunter teased
with
a smile curling at the edge of his lips as I turned to face him
with
my arms crossed.

“It was uncalled for,
”
I retorted.

“I’ll keep tha
t in mind next time I’m tempted,
”
Hunter broke into
a full smile, and my brain moved slower than my mouth.

“You’re different,” m
y
cheeks burned
as I realized what I
had
said.

Hunter could see my embarrassment
and
instead of shooting a smart
comment back shrugged his arms,
“Good job. You executed the move quite well.”

“I’ll never be as good as you,” I sighed,
going into the kitchen to begin dinner.
I didn’t think anyone could be as good as him.

“This may be true
,
but
you might be bett
er in different areas of combat,” Hunter took
the lettuce I had pulled
out of the fridge from my hands,
“Let me help tonight?”

“Aren’t you ti
red from training today?” I asked as I took
the steak from the fridge.

“I didn’t rea
lly do all that much today. I
briefed them about their assignments for the next mon
th or so.  The next two weeks are
going to be pretty hectic though. I swear all they did was dri
nk beer all day while I was gone
and
half of the
training I’ve instilled in
them went right out the window,
”
Hunte
r explained,
taking a knife out of a drawer and rolling his eyes
.

“I haven’t see
n
you pick up a beer since you got back here?”

“Have you ever
tasted that stuff?” Hunter asked
,
and
seeing the look on my face he laughed before continuing,
“Is that even legal?”

“I wasn’t aware
that
there were laws
that were enforced around here,” I retorted,
my stomach shrinking from the comment.
At that moment it was clear to me that Hunter was much older than me, but I had no clue how much. I was too afraid to ask.

He put his arm around my waist
and
squeezed,
“I’m not saying you’re a baby.”

“
What were you saying?” I replied
,
pulling away from him.
I was angry that he would bring it up, and even angrier that I couldn’t be upset with him when he put his arms around me like that.

“Who gave you a beer? You don’t seem the type to give
into peer pressure?” Hunter asked with a frown.

“I
guess you don’t know me so well,” I retorted,
embarrassed by the fact that I had given into Amy out of spite.

“Come on, Kate. Are you that insecure about your age? I certainly don’t look at you like you
’re a baby
and
from the way Rick
got grabby I don’t think anyone else does either.”

“Sometimes I just feel little
next to you.”

He looked down at me,
“You are little compared to me.”

I rolled my eyes as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug.

“See you disappear in my arms…
That’s the smile I was looking for.”

“Someda
y my finesse will kick your ass,” I joked as I breathed
in his scent
and
wished that
he would hold me just a moment longer. He smiled at me
as if he d
idn’t believe I could beat him, and then he released me
to
go to
cut the lettuce.

It took a second for the
but
terflies to settle
and
from the look on his face it seemed to me he might be feeling the same.
At least I was wishing he felt the same.

“Speaking of that, I
think we need to train at night
when no on
e will be looking for me or you,
”
Hunter observed.

“Believe
me
,
none of those girls will miss me if I disappeared for a long period of time. In fact they don’t really
notice me at all
. I spend
most of my time in the library. S
ometimes it’s too quiet though,
”
I explained.

“I’ll be right back,
”
Hunter suddenly exited
the room.

“What’s
that?” I asked
as he handed me a
rectangular piece of cool metal
with a black glass screen. Hunter touched the screen
and
it lit up.

“An itouch.”

“A
what touch?”

“You can play music files on it.
Make sure no one sees it. T
hey’
re supp
osed to be dead technology. My d
ad
,
however, got me
one when I was about fifteen
. The music is about as ancient as our movies
and
books
,
but
it should help with that quiet thing. I’ll show
you how to use it after dinner,
”
Hunter clarified for me.

“Thanks,”

“Anything for you dar—“

“Don’t,”
I cut him off with a shake of my head.