Chapter Five

Dinner was a quiet affair with each attendee seemingly lost in his or her own thoughts.  Other than a few polite comments on the food, very little was said.

Alice stayed long enough to assist with the clean up before declaring that her day had been a long one and begging to be excused.  After noticing her for the first time since he’d met her that afternoon, Felix had paid close attention to her during their meal.  Although they exchanged no words to speak of, the energy impact between them was so profound that he was certain the others felt it too.

His habit of stepping out for air after the evening meal came in handy.  No one thought a thing about the fact that he’d practically followed Alice on her heels out the door after she said her “good-night”.

“Can I walk with you for a bit?” he asked from a close distance behind her.

Since she’d expected him to veer toward the back of the house once they’d stepped outside, she was startled enough by his presence to jump just a bit.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said in a sultry tone.

Her voice had a high and nervous pitch as she explained, “I didn’t know that you were behind me.”

He gave a small smile.  “We were all lost in our own thoughts tonight.  Table talk was at a minimum.”

“Is Kendra okay after being bitten?” Alice asked.

Felix looked surprised by her question. “It’s been long enough to show that she is.  Did she not look okay to you?”

Alice shook her head. “I didn’t see anything different.  I was just checking.”

“We’ve been inoculated, remember?” he said with confidence.  “I’m sorry we didn’t realize that the virus came here.  We’d have brought the inoculation with us.”

“It is a bit scary,” she admitted as she began to walk again.  She wanted to add that, before he came, there was no concern about zombies, but thought better of it.  This was the first time that he’d conversed with her one on one and she didn’t want to spoil things.

“It’s so different here,” he mused. “I thought we’d be safer here than on the surface, but it’s been the opposite.”

Again, she wanted  to point out that she’d been far safer since she’d escaped the surface, until their arrival, but she resisted the temptation.  Instead, she said, “You’ve had a time of it, for sure.”

“A time of it?” he said, incredulously.  “My wife was eaten by tigers.”

Alice stopped walking, covered her face with her hands, and vigorously shook her head. “Please, don’t remind me.  I have nightmares about it as it is.  What I wouldn’t do to turn back the clock and have things end up differently.”

He moved close enough to place his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry.  I can be an ass sometimes.  I forgot that you witnessed it.”

“It was terrible,” she moaned.  “I barely had time to get into the tree and she was strapped to the traverse we’d made to transport her…”

“Don’t,” he said with a mixture of hurt and compassion as he removed his hands from her shoulders. “Don’t think about it.  I shouldn’t have said anything.”

She may have been genuinely distressed about the topic, but it didn’t stop her from seizing the opportunity at hand to be closer to him.  She let her body go limp and fall forward so that he was forced to either step aside and let her continue to fall or catch her with his torso.   To her relief, he did the latter.

Uncertain what to do, he held his hands away from her body while she moaned her misery into his broad shoulders.  Little by little, he succumbed to her agony until his hands were finally gently rubbing her back while he verbally consoled her.

Keeping her face buried against his muscled chest, she did her best to hold back the smile of victory that threatened to come forth.  When he gently took her by the shoulders, pushed her away from him, and stood her upright, she fought the urge to display her disappointment and keep a forlorn and pained look instead.

“I’m sorry, Alice.  I’m pretty messed up right now,” he moaned. “I shouldn’t have brought Ari’s death up to you and… well…you know.”

“It’s okay,” she whimpered as she watched him turn and walk away.

***

The food at dinner had tasted different to Kendra.  Surprisingly, instead of her senses being dulled by the virus, they were heightened.  She wondered if this was what it was like for those who fully contracted the disease.  How horrible it would be to have the senses at an all-time high while the motor skills were just the opposite.

She mentioned this to Rex that evening as they prepared for bed.

“I thought that you were acting differently at dinner.  You took a bite of the roast and hesitated.  Then, I remembered that you gravitate more toward vegetables, so I didn’t say anything,” he asked after she’d finished explaining her eating experience.

“I’m glad that you didn’t,” she mused.  “Call me crazy, but I get the feeling that all is not well in Hopeville where we’re concerned.  Bringing attention to the fact that the virus affected me in any way, be it a small way like altering my taste buds, in front of Alice seems unwise.”

“You feel it too, huh?” he said as he stepped behind her and, pulling her so that her back rested against his chest, wrapped his arms around her in a loving hug.

She turned to face him and placed her hand upon his cheek.  Pulling his face so that she could look into his eyes, she said with a smoldering tone, “Shall we see what other senses have been  heightened?”