Wanted (2 page)

Andres. A vision of him half in and half out of the car came to her. She gasped again and felt a sudden pain in her belly. She remembered the gunman. Had the man raped her? Had she been hurt? She ran her hands over her body, feeling no bruises or injuries she was not already aware of. Her cheek even had a bandage on it where the bandit had first struck her with the butt of his pistol.

She stood up slowly, steadying herself with her hand on the cot in case her nausea came back. Once upright, she looked around again but saw nothing. Frowning, she crossed to the door, put her ear to it and listened. The metal was cool against her cheek, promising a cold, desert night outside. She could hear nothing through it, so she gently turned the knob and pushed it open.

The cool night air hit her, making her skin prickle with goose bumps. She looked around, seeing some faint lights from electronic devices and even an old computer monitor that allowed her to see the room. It was like the last room she had been in, only larger. It had metal walls without any insulation or windows. There were two doors.

She saw a large table strewn with various items she could not identify in the dark. She thought she made out at least one gun on it. A small mattress was tossed in a corner, complete with some sheets and a pillow. Elsewhere, she saw a small kitchenette with what looked like a running refrigerator and an electric stove.

“
Your clothes are on the ground.”

Jessie jumped, startled by the voice. The man who had rescued her earlier was sitting deathly still in a chair, staring at her. She could barely make out the shape of his face in the semi-darkness. He made no movement, and she almost wondered if he was alive. She looked down and saw her worn-in boots, denim shorts, and halter top a few inches from her feet. She knelt down and picked them up, straightened, and looked at him again. He had not moved.

“
You going to watch me?” she asked, more because she needed proof that he was alive than because she was modest or shy.

“
Somebody needs to keep an eye on you,” he said. In the darkness she wondered if he was smiling.

She shrugged. “Either you got a tiny dick or you didn’t touch me,” she said casually.

He chuckled at that, which made her heart beat faster. “Just checked to make sure you weren’t hurt,” he said.

“
Thanks, I guess,” she said, not knowing how to take his answer. “You gay or something?”

“
Why?”

“
Ain’t nothing free,” she said, walking towards him. “Everybody wants something. You saved my life twice now. What’s it gonna cost me?”

He looked up at her as she stood in front of him. She tossed her clothes off to the side and stood there nude in front of him, offering herself.

“
Put your clothes on,” he growled, then stood up and walked away from her towards the kitchenette.

Jessie stared at him, shocked. “You know how many guys want a piece of my ass?”

“
Probably a couple more than the guys that already had it,” he quipped. “You hungry?”

The mention of food made her stomach lurch. She was getting pissed off though, so she ignored it. “I’m not some ghetto whore!”

“
We’re all whores, darlin,” he said. “I ain’t judging you, I just don’t care.”

She stared at him, at a loss for words. He turned and looked at her, shook his head and sighed. “We all done shit to get by we wished we hadn’t done. That’s the way of it. We all got our price and we all been paid it a few times. You ain’t special. Now, do you want something to eat or not?”

She swore and walked toward the small table. “Yeah, sure, I’ll eat. You got any pot or syn? Even a beer….”

He rounded on her, turning away from the stove, and scowled. “Get your clothes on. Once you’ve eaten, you’re on your own.”

“
What? Just like that?”

He said nothing, so she grabbed up her clothes and dressed. “Look, it’s not a big deal. I just wondered. My boyfriend got killed yesterday, I’m allowed to get fucked up to deal with it, ya know?”

He took something out of the fridge that looked like meat and tossed it on a pan that was on the stove. It began to sizzle immediately. Seeing no response forthcoming, she looked down at the stuff on the table and recognized parts from various guns. There was even a broken down AK 47 that looked like it had all the pieces needed to reassemble it.

A few minutes later a dented metal plate with some strips of cooked meat slid in front of her. She looked at it, wondering where the dark meat had come from, then shrugged and dug into it. She was hungrier than she had thought and devoured it quickly. Only when she was licking the juice off her fingers did she realize he had not finished his yet.

“
What’s your name?” she asked.

“
Carl,” he said.

“
I’m Jessie. Thank you, Carl,” she said, smiling. “For everything… I mean it. And yeah, if you wanted, I’d like to show my appreciation.”

He swallowed the last of his own meal and shook his head. “No telling what you got and I sure don’t want it,” he growled.

“
I’ll take you back to the road, you can hike back to the city from there,” he added.

“
Hey!” she protested. “I’m clean! I get tested every month. I just figured you get lonely out here. Maybe you’d like a little something to get you by. I’m good, I-“

“
I ain’t one of those pussy city-boys you’re used to,” he interrupted her. “I saved your ass. Period. You don’t owe me shit except to not tell nobody about me, got it?”

She nodded, cowed by his venom.

“
Anybody comes looking for me, I’ll know who told ‘em. You get me?”

She nodded again, eyes wide. “Man, you got some real issues.”

“
Good thing I’m the only one,” he said, turning his back on her and tossing the metal plates back on the home built counter.

He grabbed a jacket that Jessie recognized as genuine U.S. Army issue. “Who were you? You know, before?” she asked.

“
Nobody special,” he answered, grabbing up his assault rifle and slinging it over his shoulder. She saw it was an M4 carbine.

“
That got full auto on it?” Jessie asked, pointing at his gun.

He looked at her then at the rifle. His eyes narrowed suspiciously but he nodded. “You know what this is?”

“
Sure, M4A1, replaced the M16 because the M16 was a piece of shit. Couldn’t keep it clean or keep it from jamming. Couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn from the inside with the doors shut neither, but the carbine’s not much better since it’s got a shorter barrel,” she said.

He grunted. “Shoots straight enough,” he said. “Otherwise, you’d be dead.”

She nodded, conceding his point. “So what were you, quartermaster or something? You got a lot of shit up here.”

“
Sergeant First Class,” he said, and offered nothing more.

“
What about your setup? Lots of loot. You raid a national guard depot or something?”

“
You ever shut up?” he asked.

“
Yeah,” she said, then proceeded to prove herself wrong. “Look, you’ve got a nice hideout here. You’ve got power, I don’t know how. At least some clean water or you wouldn’t bother using plates and doing dishes. Space and guns. I’m just saying that maybe this place could use a woman’s touch. You know, I could help out. Take care of things. You took care of me, now I can.”

“
Shut up!” he snapped at her. “I’m not going to fuck you, okay? You don’t owe me a fucking thing! You keep talking and you’re going to make me wish I hadn’t shot that asshole until after he’d done you.”

Eyes wide, Jessie fell silent. “I just thought-“

“
No, you didn’t think. You ain’t thinking at all! Listen. We’re going now, and you don’t know me and don’t know where this place is.”

She nodded, and wisely for once, stayed quiet.

“
Know how to use this?” He asked, handing her an M9 that he pulled out from behind some clutter on a shelf near the door.

She took it and pulled the slide back on the nine millimeter pistol. It seated a bullet into the chamber. She ejected the clip to insure it was full then slid it back home. It had been years since she had held a weapon, but her hands remembered thanks to countless exhausting drills.

“
You weren’t always a whore,” he observed.

Jessie’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not a whore!” she spat out. “I’m an actress.”

Carl snorted, and opened the door revealing the dark landscape of the rocky badlands. “Let’s go, Hollywood.”

Jessie followed him out and looked around, trying to see anything recognizable. Home, for her, was a small town near what had once been the United States’ and Mexico’s borders. Nobody knew where the border was anymore, mostly because nobody really cared. She figured if they could walk back to the road, they were only a couple of hours north, near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Jessie followed the former sergeant for several miles. He moved at a brutal pace, and her body was still bruised and sore from the altercation the day before. What was worse was his familiarity with the terrain and the fact that he was in better shape than she was. That burned Jessie’s pride. She worked out several times a week, keeping herself in shape and in demand. Now this hillbilly was showing her up when she was the professional.

She walked without complaint. His pace also demanded she walk without talking. She had tried to concentrate on looking out for threats, dredging up long suppressed memories of moving tactically. That stopped quickly when she realized she had to focus on just keeping up with him and not tripping or falling on the uneven ground. Besides, she noted that Carl was alert enough for both of them.

Nearly an hour later they arrived at Andres’ car. Jessie, breathing hard, stared at it in surprise. “Where’s the road? How’d it get here?”

“
Keys were still in it,” he pointed out.

“
Oh, you drove…”

Carl spared her his witty retort.

“
You carried me all the way from here?” She asked, beginning to catch her wind.

Carl just shrugged. Jessie studied him again, impressed but not wanting him to see it. She still felt slighted that he had not accepted her offers. She wanted to prove herself to him.

“
How far from here?”

“
Half an hour or so to the road,” he told her. “Then you’re on your own.”

She nodded, then started towards the car.

“
Wait!” Carl snapped, stepping in front of her and holding up his hand. Jessie stumbled as she tried to stop and ran into his hand, her right breast pressing against it.

He gave her a gentle push back and turned to the car. He stepped up to it slowly and bent down to disarm some landmines he had placed around it.

“
You mined his car?” She asked, surprised.

“
Out here, a vehicle’s worth its weight in purified water,” he said. “Especially one that runs on biodiesel.”

She shook her head. “Don’t they all? Not many electric cars left, no spare parts to fix them.”

Carl shrugged. “I got no need of it, but that don’t mean somebody else wouldn’t want it.”

“
Well… thanks. Again,” she said, then sighed.

“
You make me feel like a real shit, you know that?” she said, crossing her arms angrily. “I don’t like owing people and I got nothing but favors from you and you won’t take a damn thing.”

He nodded but she thought she saw a ghost of a smile in the pre-dawn light. The smug bastard knew he had her.

“
Get in,” he said, gesturing to the car. He opened the driver’s side door and sat down in the seat.

“
Last chance,” she told him as she sat down and pulled her door shut. “I never been turned down before. I don’t like it.”

“
No.”

“
Plenty of room in here,” she said, ignoring him. “Back seat works great, but I could always just stretch over the console here and give you some road head. It’s not much, but hey, that’s the least I owe ya.”

Carl leaned his head back and let out a deep breath. Jessie took that as finally an acceptance and leaned forward with a grin on her face. In spite of that, some small spark of curiosity and hope died within her. Her hands reached for his pants but then he intercepted them with his own and pushed her gently back.

“
I don’t know shit about you,” he said, “but if you got nothing better to offer the world than a suck and fuck, I’m a scabber.”

Jessie stared at him, realizing she had been rebuffed again. She turned away and stared out the side window, fuming silently. She wished he was a scabber, just because an asshole like him deserved to be covered in radiation burns.

“
You almost had me,” he admitted after he had started the car and was moving it through the sparse scrub along the desert floor.

Jessie did not turn to look at him. Instead, she was biting her lip and blinking back the tears of frustration. He had rebuffed her again and again, and now the son of a bitch had even accused her of being worth nothing other than as a sex object. Twenty years ago she might have loved to have known him or been his daughter even. Now… now she knew better than to get her hopes up like that. It just led to pain and thoughts of suicide.

“
Mostly I figured it would give your mouth something to do to keep you quiet though,” he finished.