Dawn of the Others

Chapter 8

I woke up to the bright morning light and the shifting of a warm body beside me. Surprisingly I had slept soundlessly through the night, something that had been a rare occurrence for me over the last few years. I glanced down to take in the beautiful woman that rested on my shoulder, her leg was thrown across my hips and her small hand gripped the front of my shirt. I felt my lips turn up in a soft smile, she was adorable.
Her body shifted some more as she groaned and rolled over against me, I couldn't help but laugh a little when my shirt was yanked along with her. It almost seemed like she was trying to use it as a blanket. She grumbled some more at how little of her my shirt covered and finally turned back to find the rest of the blankets, which was thrown off towards the end of the bed. She rubbed her groggy eyes and appeared half asleep till she realized the blanket was nowhere to be seen, causing her eyes to shoot the rest of the way open as she released my shirt.
"Good morning." I said with a grin, finding the way that her cheeks turned bright red extremely cute. Her hands darted out, trying to smooth down the wrinkled material but I shooed her away, teasingly. "Oh, stop that. It's fine." She didn't seem satisfied, but she let it go with a grumble.
"Are you hungry?" I asked with a chuckle, attempting to distract her. She looked back up to me, her hair wild from when she had slept, fanning out more than it had last night to frame her face in lush waves. The lines of my shirt had left faint marks on the side of her cheek, but rather than embarrass her further, I kept that to myself.
A frown painted its way across her face as she thought about it. "Not really, I'm too nervous." She finally said. "I'll try to eat though." She relented, already knowing that I'd argue with her if she didn't, like I had a few times over the past week. I didn't know how she thought she was going to recover if she didn't eat anything.
We stayed there for a couple moments, taking in each other's company before reluctantly beginning to move. It was an odd feeling to finally be taking Riley back, I had grown accustomed to having someone here when I came back from town and it saddened me that it wouldn't be the case anymore. I knew she had to go back though, she had people to look after and I understood that just as well as anyone.
I pulled on my thick socks and worn pants, buttoning them up and pulling my belt tight as I moved to the closet for a sweater. The closet was a mess and I had to dig around till I found what I wanted, a warm, dark coloured hoodie that was a couple sizes too big for me but worked well at keeping me warm. It seemed like it would be a chilly ride today despite the sun shining past the windows, the temperature had just kept dropping lately and the frosty morning weather would soon give way to the full strength of winter.
I yanked the large hoodie down over my head before looking back to Riley, she looked beautiful even in the oversized pants and old shirt I had given her. "Let's find something to eat?" I asked as she finished carefully pulling her clothes on over the still present bandages.
She nodded with a soft smile and followed me through the door and out into the kitchen for a snack. I didn't have too much left here to eat other then full cans of food, but she definitely wouldn't be hungry enough for that so I pulled out a few loose granola bars and an apple from the bag on the counter that I had brought back the other day.
My hands went up and down like a scale weighing her options as I held them out in front of her with a grin, letting her choose whichever one caught her attention more. She laughed a little as she nimbly plucked a granola bar from my fingers and began unwrapping it. I kept the apple for myself, shining it on the loose sleeve of my sweater before taking a bite. I silently watched Riley fiddle with the frayed strings on the edge of her shirt as I chewed, I could feel her anxiety from across the table and I worried about what was waiting for us at the end of our drive. The plan was to keep driving till we were close to where she was trying to go and then hide my bike and walk the rest of the way in after that. We were headed to an old factory building about 10 minutes past where I had found her, she would give a signal to be let in and I could watch from afar to ensure she made it safely and then leave without ever being seen. I needed to know that she got there for my own piece of mind but she wouldn't even entertain the idea of me driving her right up to the gate, which was probably for the best, so this was what we had agreed on. She had shown me everything on one of the old maps in the cabin, the same one I had used to vaguely explain to her where we currently were, gently penciling in the route she wanted me to take.
"You have everything you need, right?" I asked. She had a bag packed with some old clothes and supplies that I was willing to spare and all the loose things that I had found her with originally.
"M-hmm." She hummed in response, still finishing off the granola bar as we stood in the small kitchen.
I don't think either one of us was all that eager to finish up and head for the door, causing the seconds to turn into minutes as we stood quietly. "You don't have to come." Riley stated.
I knew that, I had no doubt that she'd make her way back just fine on her own, but it would take at least a full day for her to walk back even after having rested the past week. I had come to care about her too much to just let her walk off if there was still something rather simple that I could do to help. "I know." I replied easily, not offering any room for argument.
She breathed a sigh and almost seemed relieved, "Okay."
I took a deep breath and set my apple core on the counter, deciding not to prolong the days plan any longer. "Shall we go?" I asked.
She nodded and began turning away, but I grabbed her arm before she could get very far and pulled her back into me. Her hands hit my chest as I wrapped an arm around her waist and planted my lips on hers. I sunk into the feeling of her mouth on mine as we moved against each other. Her hands slid up to my face to hold my cheeks as one of mine moved down to grab her ass firmly. She gasped allowing me to slide my tongue into her mouth and causing us both to moan. She tasted like heaven and I wanted nothing more than to stay there forever, I could have lived in that moment, feeling her skin and making her moan for the rest of my life. 
Instead, I pulled away with a reluctant groan and moved my hands back up to her waist. "I wanted to do that before I lost the chance." I whispered between breaths.
"You can do that whenever you want." She stated, matter of factly. I liked that she wasn't shy about her feelings, as much as I wanted to go slow with her, I also didn't want to waste either of our time. I knew what I was feeling and despite the danger of giving into those feelings I was already too far gone to forget about her now.
I grabbed her small hand in my own and led her to the door, handing her the jacket she had worn the first day and a pair of gloves that my brother sometimes used. They were almost twice as large as her actual hands, but at least they would keep her from getting too cold on our ride. The wind could really bite this time of year and with the morning frost I didn't want to risk it. I gave her a spare scarf to wrap around her neck before pulling on all of my own gear, a loose leather jacket, gloves and a face mask. We both slid on our shoes and prepared to head out as I grabbed the helmets off the top of the coat rack, handing her the one my brother used so I could open the door.
"It might be a little big on you, but it should fit enough." I told her, motioning to the helmet as we walked out onto the porch. The wind had died out since yesterday and even though frost was still present on the shaded parts of the lawn, the sharpness of winter had a little less of a bit today.
I didn't like the finality I felt as I locked the door, the uneasy feeling in my gut made me question all my choices but the idea of Riley going alone made me just as uncomfortable. I felt like I was going to be sick when I thought about her walking into whatever was waiting for her all alone, at least this way I could help from afar if needed. The plan left me off the radar completely and if things went well I could simply sneak off and get back to my bike without any issues.
"Let's go, Ry." I said softly, the nickname slipping off my tongue without a thought as I headed down the steps and towards the woods. Riley followed behind me quietly, the crunch of dry leaves being the only indication that she was still there. My head swam with the many things that I wanted to say as we walked to the nearby road, but none of them seemed fitting and my mouth didn't feel like it would let them out anyway. So we trudged through the thick trees in silence, which was safer but made me feel a little like I was wasting my time with her.
I shook the thoughts away as the trees began to thin and the large wrinkled oak that I knew so well came into view about 50 feet ahead of us. My bike was hidden in the thick brush at the base of the tree, a tarp thrown over it for added protection against any probing eyes. I slid my helmet on with ease and buckled it under my chin, leaving my hands free to throw the tarp to the side. Riley looked on with surprise as I pulled the bike out of what probably seemed like thin air from her point of view.
"Nice." She commented in approval, eyeing my bike as she pulled on her helmet and flipped down the visor. I laughed a little as I walked it up the small ditch and onto the road, Riley following clumsily behind me as she pulled herself up the small incline. I threw a leg over and settled on the seat of the bike, starting it before pulling myself a little closer to the handles to give Riley some space behind me. She followed my lead and sat down, sliding forward till we sat flush against one another. I could feel her warm body through the layers of our clothes and when she wrapped her arms around my waist I could have easily forgotten everything but her.
I gave her a thumbs up to make sure she was ready and she gave me one back from in front of my waist, holding tight as I let the bike start to roll. I flipped down my own visor and pulled the mask up over my nose as we slowly took off, easing up to speed so I didn't give Riley too much of a jerky start as we headed down the unkept road. She held tight at first but her grip gradually loosened as she became comfortable with our cruising speed and started to enjoy the ride. I could have sworn I heard her yelling out over the wind as we sped down the street, but when I looked back at her she seemed happier than ever with a big grin plastered across her beautiful face. I smiled to myself, enjoying her good mood and the freedom of flying down the empty street with her right there with me. For a moment I knew that whatever happened between us, whether I saw her again or not, I'd have this moment to look back on and despite everything it was a damn good moment.