The Salvation

Chapter 44

|Felicia|

The helicopter battled the rain as it landed just outside Glade. Venelope and Craig stood in the pouring rain waiting for them to land. Andrew lowered the beige attack chopper to the ground easily and waited for the blades to stop spinning and cutting through the wind angrily. With Venelope and Craig were Shale, all patched up and in seemingly better shape than before, Liz, next to shale standing happily with her forked tongue hissing in the rain and Whyllys, an older man who generally stuck to training people with guns since he'd arrived. Whyllys was an ex-soldier who'd served in many of the conflicts America had been involved in, but now he was just an old man who kept his first name hidden.

Deborah Fisher troubled Felicia, she had never met the woman and heard some mixed things about her from Andrew, but in person she seemed to have the best interests of her "country" in hand, only her ways of acting on them were less savoury to Felicia's taste. It took the woman less than twenty minutes to win Andrew back in her service, but he highly respected Deborah, even though it was her actions that placed Andrew in a questionable position. But it was the video Deborah had shown them, the one of "The Apex" attacking soldiers. Felicia tried telling herself it was fake, a hoax created to trick them into serving the United Wasteland's needs... But Andrew was adamant he seen it the night Nikolai was fatally wounded and Deborah herself was also certain she had seen it that same night, only up close with Callus Mariartus, the man who killed Andrew's friend Oliver and Craig's girlfriend Jane.

Whatever that thing is... If it is real, than people need to know... And we need to help...

Andrew threw his hand in Felicia's lap. "I'm not ready to get out, this thing has a nice heater..." Andrew joked as he watched the blades slow their spinning. Venelope and Craig were still outside waiting. "We can't keep them waiting forever, can we?"

"Hmph, no... Andrew..." Felicia began, her voice shaky. "The Apex... Can we stop it...?"

Andrew sighed. "There's no we Felicia. I'm not letting you go anywhere near that thing, and nothing you can say will make me change my mind." Andrew said defiantly.

"Andrew you seen what it did to those tanks! To those men! What good is one man in a helicopter if this crazy scientist also fails?" Felicia argued. "We need all the help we can get! Deborah Fisher seems nice and all, but how do we know she isn't leading you into some trap?"

"Because Deborah is a lot of things, I'll admit that... But she's no liar and she's definitely not untrustworthy!" Andrew retorted. "If Deborah was leading us to our doom, she would give it to us straight! And she did, this is a suicide mission and she made sure we know!"

Felicia groaned angrily at her stubborn husband. "That's why I'm going with you!"

"No you're not! You and Venelope need to get everyone out of here, keep Kersti and Joshua safe..." Andrew calmed down and took a deep breath, taking Felicia's hands in his own. "I think Craig will come, and if he does you need to keep Mike safe too... It's my fault Jane was..."

"It wasn't your fault, and Craig knows that!"

"Felicia, you don't get it! Callus came for me, Callus only had a connection with me, and Callus got to Jane through me!"

"Callus got to Jane for Craig, not you!"

"How would he have known about Jane?"

"The same way he knew about Glade! Through Malcolm!"

"I tried to kill him in Colorado City, but I failed... Venelope and Shale tried as well... Callus got around us..."

Felicia grabbed her husbands stupid, stubborn face and planted her lips on his. It was the only way to shut him up, but it wasn't for that reason she kissed him... She needed too. The kiss took her back, years and years ago. To the day in the movies when that stupid fucking Star Battles or Space Wars came out, whatever the hell it was called. Felicia hated the movie and it's characters, but it was where she first felt his lips. Mainly to shut him up, she didn't care who Panda Anibala or whatever her name was had kids with, she just needed him to stop fucking talking.

Then she was taken to the dinner in that large tower on their holiday. When Andrew pretended to get sick from his lemon chicken with a side of rice, got down on one knee "choking" and coughed up a ring. Felicia was half disgusted and half amazed by the magic trick, which Andrew never managed to repeat, but was fully in love at that point. Once again it was Andrew's talking that needed to be stopped. Wow, did I only kiss him to stop him talking? Surely he didn't talk that much...

Then it was her wedding day. In the beautiful white dress with the veil that covered her face. That time she didn't kiss Andrew to shut him up. She kissed him because she wanted to, because she needed to... Because she wanted to... Then the final kiss came later that day, in their wedding bed... Kersti and Joshua don't need to know that story...

Felicia pulled away from Andrew's lips. "I love you... So if you need to go off and kill a giant lizard thing... Promise me you'll come back..." Felicia pleaded, her eyes watering.

"I won't make you a promise I can't keep..." Andrew confessed. "But I will promise you... That if you make your way into our bedroom, I'll make Venelope walk Shale and lock Liz in a cupboard... I'll hand Kersti and Joshua to the women at the end of the street..." Andrew smiled as romantically as a post-apocalyptic man could. "And we'll have an hour to ourselves..."

Felicia giggled childishly. "And what will we do in that hour...?"

Andrew pulled Felicia close and kissed her under her ear. "Make sure you have another good memory of me..."

Felicia stepped out of the helicopter first, running past their welcoming party without saying anything. Felicia opened the door to hers and Andrew's house and ran upstairs into the bedroom. It was messy, but it would only get messier in a moment. Felicia looked at herself in the mirror. Slut it up a bit Felicia, it's time to look good for your husband. Felicia tore out her hair bun and messed up her red hair as sexily as she could. What else did Andrew like? Felicia took off her cardigan and singlet top, staring at her reflections bra judgementally. You can do better honey. Felicia walked over to the closet and looked through it. Then she found what she was after, the slightly faded blue one piece lingerie. Now that should do the trick!

Felicia took off her jeans and shoes, stripping her underwear off and putting on the lingerie. Felicia moved the blanket off their bed and rearranged the pillows accordingly. For a moment Felicia stood too close to one of the windows, and from outside she momentarily made awkward eye contact with Venelope, who quickly looked away. Felicia shrugged it off and climbed on the bed, getting into a pose and waited for her husband. Felicia the wasteland whore, eh I kinda like it...

Andrew finally stepped into the room a good five minutes after. Andrew didn't say a word, just smiled as he bit his lower lip lustfully. Andrew pulled off his shirt, revealing the scars from stonehounds, rotters and deaddrops along with bullet wounds from his scuffle with United Wasteland soldiers and various bruises from his fight with Malcolm. Felicia kind of liked the wasteland version of her husband, all rigid and battle-worn. Makes him sexier... Andrew kissed Felicia on the lips, his beard scratching her face. I hate that thing... Before she knew it, he was on top of her and pulling his belt out of his jeans. Looks like Shale won't be the one ripping my lingerie up tonight... Unlucky dog...