Merman - Romance

Chapter 16

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Chapter 16

“She had no right to speak to you like that,” Rea was saying close to Ridec’s ear as he slid to the ground with his back against the wall; just being in this place made one weary.

“What’s going to happen to the baby?”  Ridec asked.

“I don’t know.”  That was something he liked about Rea, her mind was clear and what she said was what she meant.

“I just don’t understand how she turned so suddenly,” Ridec ran a trembling hand through his hair.  “One moment she was okay and the next she was one of those things.”

“One moment she was pregnant and the next she wasn’t,” Rea said.  “Isn’t that always how life is?  Things always happen so suddenly?”

Yes, that was how life was for Rea, he could see in her mind how she was thinking one moment she had been just a few steps behind her family and the next moment her mother had been dead.

“I’m sorry for your lost,” Ridec muttered and Rea scrunched up her face.

“What loss?”

Had he really said that out loud?  Darn it.

“Nothing.”

“You’re really strange…”  Rea reached out a hand and touched Ridec’s shoulder gently.  “You don’t even dress normal.  I know clothes are in short supply but I’ve never seen anyone wear only a shirt and tie it around their waist like you do.”

Her hand continued to explore Ridec’s shoulder and move slowly towards his chest and he pulled away.

“I…”

“I’m a clean,” she said as if that was sufficient explanation for what she was doing.

“A clean?”  Ridec scrunched up his face.

“When Kayla first started to…you know…with Steve…”

“I know?”  Ridec turned wide eyes to Rea.

“You know…”  She repeated.  “Do stuff.”

“Stuff,” Ridec stopped and stared into her mind and then blushed.  She was talking about sex, she must think he was really daft.

“I know, sorry, it’s not that I didn’t know I just…”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Rea smiled.  She had a really pretty smile; it was hard to imagine that something could be pretty in a world like this.  “Anyway, at first I thought she was really stupid on account of the fact that she was a clean and he was an unclean.”

“She was a clean?”  Ridec’s eyes widened.  “But she had those orange lines…”

“He infected her…you know…with the…you know…”

“Oh.”  Ridec nibbled on his bottom lip thoughtfully.  It was really sad, that Kayla should have been infected out of an act that was meant to be so beautiful.

“I thought she was stupid doing ‘it’ with Steve, but I guess I kind of understand why she took the chance now.”  Rea’s hand touched a lock of Ridec’s bleach blonde hair and then she pulled it away.  “I guess when you really like someone anything is worth the risk.”

“That’s true.”  Ridec had to admit that he was curious about Kayla.  “So she was partially immune to the virus?”

“I guess we’ll never really know,” Rea sighed as if this was not exactly what she had hoped to be talking about.  “Kyle warned Kayla when he saw her hanging around with Steve in dark corners and all that but she said she was really in love with him.  Kyle told her that she had to be careful; she was a clean so that meant that no one knew if she had any kind of immunity to the virus.  It was possible that the very first time she kissed Steve she could turn into one of those zombies.”