Acacia Gold

Chapter 9

TWO YEARS LATER

Guy Ashtown stood tall and bulky at six foot two and two hundred and thirty pounds. All that bulk was pure muscle from bone to flesh; believe me I knew. We had been lovers once, I know I hate that word too, but that’s what we were, for a very short while and it had not worked out. I had run my hands over every part of him at some point or other. But he had been my trainer, my eyes and ears to the new world, my savior.

His dark hair was cut short for practicality and he was handsome in a purely masculine way.

He didn’t seem to be aware of how masculine he truly was and was at ease with everyone and everything. Having said that, he could take charge when he had to, that was why he made such an ace Commander.

“Cacey, you got the new boxes of silencers?” Guy asked, not even bothering to raise his head from where it concentrated on the new blue prints of Mayor Cornell’s mansion.

Cacey was his pet name for me when we had dated, and he continued to use it when we’d split.

“I think Sage gave them to Hunter” I replied focusing on all seven monitors. 

“Do they all work?”

I stood sighing, “you want me to go check?”

“Please, I wouldn’t ask normally, but Sage, Eloy and Elijah are on recovery, and Hunter and Darren are busy”

“Yeah, yeah. You want me to load them too?” I asked

“Half” he replied, momentarily lifting his head to smile apologetically at me then he resumed his concentration. Better him than me I thought. I hated blue prints. I liked being told where things were. The rooms in my head never seemed to match the real layout of the buildings. Guy was far better at that sort of thing.

Me? I did everything else that Guy didn’t have time to do, which right then, was checking and loading the new silencers we’d been delivered that morning. Not my idea of fun but someone had to do it. I preferred rifles or derringers.

As I walked past our armored truck I heard laughter and the sound of a torch iron. I ducked under where it was lifted by the little crane to find Hunter and Darren cranking beers open and fixing the wheel trims where they’d been destroyed the week before.

“I thought you told Guy you’d done that,” I stated.

Darren had the consideration to look at least a little sheepish, brown eyes turned down to the ground; Hunter however, grinned at me and slurped his beer extra noisily for my pleasure.

“Jeez guys, could you be any more like larger louts?” I Commented a little dryly even for my liking.

“Relax A, We’re almost done, besides a little fibbing releases stress. If Guy knew we’d left it this late he’d be pissin’ himself, but he thinks we’ve done it so that’s a load off his mind” Hunter rambled.

“In what parallel universe does that actually make logical sense?” I scoffed.

He held out his arms in their span, “welcome to Hunter universe baby”.

I tutted and rolled my eyes. Maybe I could get some sense from Darren.

“Where are the Silencer 59’s?” I asked.

Darren set down his beer and stretched his broad back in relaxation. He grabbed a stepladder and shoved it against the wall shelves. 

“Top shelf, at the end” he said then he resumed his seat next to Hunter.

“Talk about gentlemanly,” I grumbled, to be met by masculine laughter. Boys. 

I hopped up the ladder and shifted two boxes into my arms. With balance and a fear for heights I carefully transferred the weight and began to move back down to ground level.

“Hey don’t move A, I’m enjoying the view” Hunter directed up to me and the best reply I could come up with right then, pathetically was, “Shut up”.

Hunter grinned up at me purposefully watching my ass as I made it back down. Lowering them onto the stone flooring I perched on the edge of one and accepted a beer from Hunter’s outstretched hand.

“What the hell are you two sitting on?” I questioned

Hunter looked down between his legs, titled his face to the side and read, “High tech disc drives for optimum use and storage” Hunter looked up at me, “Some of Eloy’s new toys”.

“And you’re squishing it. Do you know how much that s**t costs, Hunter, you i***t?”

“It’s all wrapped in foam. Besides if it were going to break it would have on the journey here”. Typical Hunter. Everything’s always cool and nothing’s ever wrong or unfixable, except maybe his brain.

When I’d left Myckah’s clan two years ago, Hunter had left with me. I’d asked and Myckah had agreed. Myckah and me didn’t last long. Even after exterminating Icarus, he had kept going on about changing me, wanting me to join him forever. Part of me understood his longing, but the rest of me was having none of that! So I’d gotten the hell out of there. A good vamp is a distant vamp.

So Hunter Broderick came to work with our unit when the pulse hit and the world went to hell. We do our best to try and salvage what is left, who is left. Icarus was not the only vampire intent on destroying the world and taking it for his own. 

“You boys going to help me check and load the guns?”

Darren crushed his empty beer can and chucked it in the trash, scoring. That earned a high five from Hunter. Jesus, men are assholes. Any excuse to make a competition out of nothing and before you know it you’re in world war three. Wait we were in world war three. Hell, what’d you know?

Darren stood, “Let’s get started then”.

Hunter sighed, “You want me to load a bunch of poxy silencers, I don’t think so”.

Hunter thought the only good gun was a loud gun. He was so boyish it was unbelievable sometimes. But it was also very endearing; he was no harm really.

I stood and playfully slapped his head; “I can always assign you to cleaning duty, Hunter, my man”.

“Baby I’m your man any time you want me” he snidely replied but stood and began unloading the silencers as he was told.

Men respect higher ranking, whether they agree with it or not.

It was a baking day. Funny how weather doesn’t change to suit the atmosphere. The world was ruined but the sun just kept on shining. Good thing I guess.

Sweat began to drip from my back. I straightened and fetched bottles of water. Darren accepted one gratefully wiping sticky hands on his dirty brown tee. Hunter Pulled his top over his rippling muscles and mopped his face. He swigged the water down, “we have got to get the a.c. fixed”. He emptied the rest onto his sandy colored hair, turning it dark brown.

My own blonde hair was scrunched in a bun atop my head, leaving my neck free and cool. 

“We’ve ordered the parts, soon as they get here I’m on it, believe me” Darren said.

“Hopefully before winter” I joined in the grumble.

“Damn air conditioning, worked all winter and cuts out the first hot day,” Hunter said to no one in particular.

We sat in silence enjoying having to do nothing for a few minutes, which was very rare. Usually life was pretty hectic.

I asked, “When are they getting back?”

“When they’re done I guess”, Darren replied. “I don’t envy them though, recovery in this heat, it’s got to be murder”.

“Yeah, poor Elijah, bet his scrawny muscles are screaming for his good old tech work” Hunter laughed.

“You guys should ease up on Elijah, he’s taking the whole end of the world, no scholarships, no family thing pretty hard” I advised.

“We’ve all been through it A”. Hunter said “You more than most of us” he reminded me.

I shot him a warning look, which Darren caught and frowned at. He opened his mouth, thought better, and closed it. So far only Hunter and Guy knew of my past and I wanted to keep it that way. I guess Hunter’s big meaty brain forgot that.

“That may be so, but Elijah takes your little pranks to heart. He’s a brain not a brawn, so leave him be”.

“That an order?” Darren asked

“Yep, and you better follow my orders, I am higher rank than you as your co commander” I warned. 

Hunter wriggled in his seat, “ooh, I love it when she gets all authoritive and whatnot”.

“Crap, I can’t win can I?”

Hunter smiled broadly at me, big harmless Hunter the hunter, “nope”.

“Alright, just ease up a little, we can’t afford to loose our techs worker. I’m going to bag these silencers alright?”

Hunter gave a little salute “aye, aye captain”.

I popped the bottle in the trash as I passed and picked up the loaded box. We kept most weapons in a steel vault out back, but our travel weapons loaded into our truck. I bagged the eight silencers, labeled the tag and slid them into a cubby in the back of the vehicle.