The Razor's Edge: A Postapocalytic Novel (The New World Book 6) (27 page)

The bedroom door opened and the beam of a flashlight crossed over her.

“Lexi?” Nicholas asked.

“What did you do?” she replied.

“Nothing.”

“What am I doing in here?” she asked as she fastened the pants.

“You weren’t feeling well. You complained about your neck and said your head was hurting badly, so I brought you in here so you could get a good night’s rest,” Nicholas said, defending his actions.

“You took my clothes off,” Lexi barked.

“Your clothes had blood and brains all over them. You wouldn’t take them off when we got home, but when you passed out on the chair I thought I…”

She slipped her boots on and walked up to him rapidly. “You presumed wrong. Don’t you ever, ever do that again.”

“Chill out,” he barked back.

“Did you touch me, did you?” Lexi asked.

“If you mean like, you know, touched your privates, no, of course I wouldn’t.”

She stormed past him and headed out of the bedroom.

Nicholas followed her out and down the hall.

She reached the kitchen and turned up the lantern on the table. “Where are my weapons, my knives?”

“Over there,” he said and pointed to the counter.

She picked up one of her folding knives and gripped it tight. She clipped it to her pocket and did the same for the others, with each renewing her confidence more and more.

“I was only trying to help,” Nicholas said.

“You don’t know me. Don’t ever think you can do whatever you want with me.”

“I know you more than you think,” Nicholas fired back.

“Don’t ever think you know me. You don’t know what I’ve seen; you don’t know what I’ve done,” she said and turned to face him. She pointed her finger at his face and continued, “I’m not some object you can do whatever you want to with.”

“I got it, I got it, you don’t like to be touched. Christ, woman.” Nicholas sighed and threw up his arms.

Her lips began to quiver and tears welled in her eyes.

When he saw her emotion was about to overflow, he stepped closer to her.

“No, don’t,” she said, her finger still pointed at him.

“I’m not here to hurt you. You don’t have to worry about me,” he said and took a half step closer.

“Get back, I’ll fucking cut you,” Lexi snapped.

He listened to her threat. She had proven she was capable of such a thing.

“You’re upset. I heard you screaming your sister’s name over and over,” Nicholas said.

Lexi wiped the tears before they could flow and rubbed her head. “Argh, my fucking head hurts.”

“Big Mike knocked you on your ass pretty good. You smacked the back of your head on the floor hard. You could have a concussion.”

“Water, I need some water,” Lexi said.

Nicholas found a thermos and gave it to her.

She took it with her trembling hand. After fumbling with the lid for a second she took a long drink.

He wanted to hold her badly. He suspected all she needed was human touch, a warm embrace.

Lexi finished the thermos and put it on the table.

Beau came into the kitchen and put his wet nose against her dangling hand.

“Hi, big boy,” she said, scratching his head.

“He was worried about you too,” Nicholas said softly.

She knelt down and scratched Beau on his side and belly.

Beau returned the affection and licked her face several times.

“Not in the mouth.” Lexi laughed.

Nicholas found another thermos and took a drink. He pulled a chair out from the dinette table and sat down. He watched as Beau used what could only be described as magical powers to rid Lexi of the tension that plagued her.

Lexi gave Beau a big kiss on the top of his head then looked up at Nicholas. With a heavy sigh she asked, “Did I say or do anything stupid?”

“Unless you consider singing the theme song from
Welcome Back, Kotter
stupid, then no,” he joked.

“Huh? Welcome Back who?”

“Never mind, I’m an old television junkie. It was a classic seventies show. John Travolta got his start on it.”

“Oh,” Lexi replied, not really interested in such pop culture references.

Nicholas was exhausted. He looked at his watch and grumbled, “It’s almost four in the morning. If we’re going to attack that farm later, I’m gonna need some rest.”

“I’m sorry,” Lexi said with as much sincerity as she could muster.

“It’s okay; I should respect your space more.”

Lexi scooted an empty chair out and sat across from him. She touched her neck and said, “My throat hurts.”

“You should see the bruises. Big Mike did a number on you,” he said.

“Do you suppose he called the others? Just wondering if we should be a bit more concerned,” Lexi asked.

“No, I don’t think so. Leo told me their MO was to go after single women without calling them in.”

“Leo? You two got pretty close while I was away,” she teased.

“I have no idea what his name was, he just kinda reminded me of Leonardo DiCaprio.”

“Oh my God, you’re right, he did look like Leo.”

“A young one, like
Titanic
Leo.”

“Ha, Titanic Leo, that’s his name, I love it.” Lexi laughed.

“It’s good to see you smile and laugh,” Nicholas said.

Lexi blushed and looked down.

“I want to bury my sister properly. I feel bad that I left her lying out there.”

“She’s already buried; I took care of it the day we met.”

“You did? I didn’t know.”

“I know I can be a hard-ass, but I thought it was the right thing to do regardless of my insensitive comment about letting the dead lie where they fall.”

“Thank you.”

Lexi paused. She held her head low and softly said, “I never got a chance to bury Carey. They left her on the cross for days. Birds came and pecked at her. Then they dragged her body away and tossed her into a pit with shit and piss. It was so degrading, not the way her beautiful body should have been treated.”

Nicholas didn’t say a word; he wasn’t going to mess up again.

“I’ve often asked myself if I should go find her body and bury it properly.”

“I’ll go with you,” Nicholas said.

“It’s a thought mainly,” she confessed.

“Well, if we make it through today, let’s head down there and bury her.”

She needed to change the topic so she shifted it to their assault. “There’s a good chance the slavers will be on high alert. They’ve had two people disappear in the same day. They’ll be on the lookout for sure.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about them. We’ll be fine,” Nicholas said confidently.

“Glad you’re so optimistic.”

“Of course I am. I have you; they don’t,” Nicholas said, giving her a compliment.

“Well, I didn’t do so good today.”

“You have a death wish, I see it now. You don’t possess the power to end your own life, so you put yourself through dire almost hopeless situations. If you die, so be it; if you live, so be it.”

“I take it back, you do know me,” Lexi said.

“You know, if I had a rifle, I’d be more help for this attack,” Nicholas said.

The number of weapons at their disposal was limited, as they only had what she could carry.

“You will have a rifle and you’ll be covering me as I go in and free those people,” Lexi said.

“That death-wish thing again.”

“Yeah, you could say that. But really I’m better equipped for it. I’m fast, agile and good with silent weapons,” she said then pulled out a knife, flicked it open and slammed it into the tabletop.

“Can we go over the detailed plan later? I really need some sleep.”

Lexi reached out and touched his hand. “Thanks for taking care of me.”

Feeling her touch gave him goose bumps. He gave her a smile and replied, “You’re welcome.”

“I, um, don’t trust people. I’m sure if I haven’t said it, my actions show it. But you’re different; I don’t know how to say it. It’s more of a feeling; like I can’t logically explain it, and believe me, I try to analyze my emotions all the time. I was always like this to some extent. I remember Carey telling me to stop feeling with my head and use my heart. She was always the softy. Same gene pool but two entirely different people,” Lexi confided.

“I’m the same way; I always like to overanalyze things. And speaking of sisters, Steph was my heart and soul; she gave the best advice. If I ever needed counsel, she was always there for me. Here I am this big strong guy, tough, etcetera, but Stephanie was my rock. I could cling to her and she’d always support me. Doesn’t seem right, I was the oldest, the boy, but she was really the leader,” Nicholas said. His eyes began to fill with tears.

“It appears we’re two people who think too much,” Lexi said.

Nicholas
dabbed
his eyes.

“Were you close with your parents?” Lexi asked.

“My life was complicated. We used to say we were survivors of our childhood. I think that’s what made us so close.”

“Sounds like my childhood.” Lexi chuckled.

“If it wasn’t so late, I’d have a drink,” Nicholas said and looked fondly at an unopened bottle of Smirnov vodka that sat on the corner of the counter.

Lexi agreed but something in her screamed to just let go. She got up, grabbed the bottle by the neck and put it on the table. “One drink won’t hurt.”

***

The chirping of the birds was the first thing that told Lexi dawn was fast approaching.

She grabbed Nicholas’ wrist and squinted to see the time. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?” he mumbled, his words slurred.

“It’s almost eight. We need to prep,” Lexi said and stood. Once on her feet she swayed.

“Sit down. Let’s finish this,” Nicholas urged as he went to grab her hand but knocked over the almost empty bottle.

“No, we need to prep,” Lexi said.

“I don’t think we’re going anywhere. I’m wasted and exhausted. I need to rest.” Nicholas stood and almost fell over. When he finally steadied himself he remarked, “I believe I’m fucked up.”

Lexi walked to the kitchen window and looked out. Finally realizing that today would have to be postponed, she said, “We can’t do this today. You’re drunk, I’m drunk, we’re not ready.” She grunted and turned around to see Nicholas was gone.

Nicholas bounced off the walls until he reached his bedroom and with two uneven steps crossed the distance from the hall to the bed and fell onto it.

Lexi came in and, like a good nurse, placed three Advil and a bottle of water on the nightstand. “Get your ass up and take these.”

He rolled over and put the tablets in his mouth and washed them down with a large gulp of water.

“I’m going to fortify the house a bit more, close all the blinds and get some rest.” She looked around but didn’t see his pistol. “Where’s your Glock?”

He pointed to the chest of drawers.

She retrieved it and put it under his pillow. “Keep this close by.”

He looked up at her with half-closed eyes and said, “Oh my, there’s two of you. Wow, if we had sex, it would be like a threesome.”

She laughed.

“That was fun,” he said.

“Yes, but stupid. Now get some rest.”

He touched her hand then wrapped his fingers through hers and nudged her down.

At first she went along but resisted. “Not a good idea.”

“Oh, c’mon, we could be dead tomorrow.”

She rolled her eyes and walked out. She started in the kitchen and made her way through the house, ensuring everything was secure. She gathered all her weapons and set them by the chair next to the large bay window and closed the curtains. There she’d find the rest she needed. Always a nurse who followed her own advice, she took three Advil and drank an entire bottle of water.

She thought about Nicholas and his offer just then. It had been a long time since she had been with someone, excluding the sexual assaults at Rahab’s camp. She liked him a lot and he did have a point.

With a surge of impulsiveness, she picked up all of her weapons and gear and made for his room. She entered to find him lying there looking at the ceiling.

“What are you doing?” he asked, genuinely curious.

She didn’t reply. She placed her rifle against the wall and put knives on each table along with several pistols.

He sat up a bit and chuckled. “What are you doing?”

Done placing her tools of the trade everywhere, she closed the door, locked it and turned around to face him. “You’re right, we could die tomorrow. That’s true.” She kicked off her boots, unbuttoned her pants and let them fall to the floor. She stepped over them and stood just beside the bed; she took off her shirt and tossed it aside. “I know I’m a tough girl, but please be gentle with me, especially my heart.” She took his hand and climbed into bed.