Trayrock, A few days after the storm“It is a tomb,” the merman announced as they entered the bunker.It wasn’t too far from the truth, Lyric admitted to herself. And her fear that it would, indeed, become a tomb was one of the reasons that she would be leaving with him in the morning. The main reason, she told herself, firmly. It was the main reason.“It is safe,” she told him. “Hidden, protected, and has everything that a person needs to survive for some time.”“You knew,” he frowned at her. “To have a place like this, you knew to prepare for whatever disaster has happened to the water.”“My father believed that something was going to happen, and he made the bunker because of that,” she told him.“This… religious group,” he nodded slowly. “Continuing the old wars.”“The old wars?” She put water to boil on the stovetop. “I’m not much of a cook,” she told him. “And I’m not sure what you eat.”He sat on one of the bar stools on the other side of the table. “This food does not look fami
Trayrock, A few days after the stormLyric kept herself busy in the greenhouse and vegetable garden, preparing it to be left unattended, harvesting what she could. Some things, like root vegetables, would last for months in the bunker and be fine to eat. Other things, like tomatoes, it was better to just take them with her and eat them on the journey.She wondered what Niarthen would make of tomato.As night fell, it was unavoidable not to go back. She knew that she was a coward, but there was a siren’s call to Niarthen that was both exciting and alarming. She wasn’t entirely sure what to do about how attractive she found him. She didn’t think having sex was a good solution to the problem. Arthur had always said that sex complicated things.She’d never had this sort of reaction to someone before. Perhaps it was because he had spent so much time naked, but from the moment she had pulled him from the water, she’d been obsessing over him. “Get it out of your head,” she scolded herself st
Trayrock, A few days after the stormNiarthen stepped her into the narrow passage between the bunk beds and locker, before turning, folding his big body down into the bottom bunk, and drawing her down with him so that her back was against him, and his arm was beneath her cheek. It was a tight fit, and the bunk was not long enough for him, but his bent knees parted hers, and he smoothed his hand down her sternum, over her stomach, before lifting her topmost leg over his.His cheek rested on hers, and his hair tumbled over them both. He pressed little butterflies of kisses against her skin in between almost panted breaths as his hand stroked up to cup her breast, taking the weight of it as his thumb explored her nipple.She arched against him, pressing her breast into his hold, her hand reaching back to grip his hip, pulling his body tighter to hers, feeling his cock against her arse and rubbing against it wantonly. He stroked his hand down over her rib cage, over her stomach, and prove
Trayrock, A few days after the stormLyric parked the black 4WD before the entrance to the bunker and hopped out to find Niarthen ready with one of the crates. “You should rest,” she told him as she opened the rear of the 4WD for him. “You are still not recovered from the water illness.”“I am well enough,” he assured her calmly stroking his hand over the curve of her skull and leaning down to rub his cheek against hers. “The worst is behind me.”She closed her eyes leaning into the caress. “Don’t be an idiot and overdo it.”He laughed under his breath and turned to return to the bunker for the next crate. It was quicker done with his help, Lyric admitted to herself as they loaded the 4WD with everything that she anticipated they would need for the journey from food that would not last in the bunker through to bedding for the nights…The nights… She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and slid Niarthen a glance under her eyelashes as he pulled on a t-shirt of Arthur’s that she had
Trayrock, A few days after the stormThe car exploded with fine white powder as the airbags activated, pressing Lyric back into the chair.“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” as the powder sifted down, Lyric’s eyes fixed onto the slow slide of blood across the windscreen. There was a tooth stuck to a gob of flesh making its way down to the wipers. She managed to turn her head to look at Niarthen. “Are you okay?”He crushed the already deflating airbag. “I am fine, but you are bleeding,” he said as he reached out and touched her forehead. She flinched, reaching up to touch it herself, her fingers coming away sticky. She could feel the throb of pain as the shock passed.There was a smear of blood on the airbag. “I must have hit my head on the window just before the airbags went off,” she said as Niarthen freed her from it. She reached out for the door handle. “It’s not that bad. Airbags can break bones and even blind you.”“These cars of yours,” he said through his teeth as he opened his
Trayrock, A few days after the stormThe farmhouses were beginning to press in on the road, which was a sign that they were nearing Havermouth. The closer to a town or city, the nearer the houses were built to each other and the road. The further out, the houses moved back from the road, up long driveways that could stretch for kilometers.Lyric pulled off down a dirt road.“We’re going to have to abandon the car,” she decided. “We’ll park it somewhere, walk until we find another, steal it, and then come back here to transfer our supplies over. We are nearing Havermouth, but the town center is on the other side of the river. The dam is on this one. So, we’ll drive up to the dam, and check it out, before risking the town.”“You think that the religious people are here too,” he stated.“I think something is going on and until I know that they’re not here, I’m going to assume that they… Ah, over there. That should do it,” she headed towards a dilapidated hay shed and reversed in. “You co
“Shit,” Lyric muttered under her breath as she turned to face the farmer. She was off her game, she thought, so focused on the inside of the kitchen and her task that she had not heard the tractor engine stop.She glanced automatically towards the field and saw the glint of sunlight reflecting in the windscreen off the tractor’s cab. The farmer’s rotation had turned him to face the house at just the right time to see her dash across to it. There was no way she could play off her loitering as anything other than what it was.She did not look towards the Ute, and instead met the farmer’s eyes and scooped back her jacket slowly so that he could see the guns. He sucked in a breath through his nose, his eyes widening, and going to the kitchen door.“Look,” he said softly. “We don’t want any trouble. Just… go back to where you came from.”“We will be taking your Ute,” she told him firmly. “I am just after the keys.”He glanced over his shoulder at the Ute, just as Niarthen stepped out. Lyri
Lyric turned on the headlights as the sun slipped below the horizon. She had to decide whether to drive through the night or to find somewhere to stop and try to get some sleep. She had a swag in the back. It would be a tight fit with Niarthen, but they would be able to get some sleep.She did not feel entirely comfortable with the idea of sleeping within a crowded canvas structure with things like the person they had run over roaming the highway. Were there more out there? What was he anyway? Niarthen had spoken about him as a creature and as a type of weapon.What was going on? She wondered. How was the Order of Nexsis involved? The situation was far beyond what Arthur had ever speculated might happen. At no time had he spoken of mermaids, werewolves, and vampires… Or people who should have been dead and yet didn’t fucking die.This was far beyond anything she had been prepared for.“My mother died when I was young and I was raised by Arthur,” she said slowly, picking up on a conver