Guns and Dust Ch. 10

"I can't talk on behalf of all these people!" Adina's heart was thumping madly in her chest again. "I wouldn't know where to start!"

Asher just watched her eyes, his lapis eyes so assured. "Of course, you can. You know the situation here, Priav and Rafi trust you. I trust you." He nodded out into the camp. "These people need help - a chance." He smiled and pushed a sweaty lock of hair out of her face. "And you can give it to them."

It was almost dark when the ragged caravan headed out into the wastes from the slave camp. Every vehicle was festooned with supplies and salvage. Several of them were so loaded that the passengers had to sit on top of the load. As they pulled away, Adina looked back at the slave camp. It had only been a day since they'd first come upon it. And so much had happened since then.

Adina had killed her first person. With a knife. Then she'd killed fourteen more. The Adina that Asher had saved from the raiders was dead now too, as dead as the Ghost Eyes in the tent or strewn in the empty desert.

She tried not to think about the people who were left behind, or their friends. Zara had decided the swiftest, least cruel way to end their lives was by using guns taken from the Ghost Eyes. One bullet in each of their heads. The way she had killed the sleeping Ghost Eyes. But Zara's shots weren't silenced, and their sharp reports were surrounded by the cries of friends and families. Adina's heart felt like a rough piece of trail that had been driven over again and again, the rocks and stones driven deep, some left embedded that would fester for a long time.

But fifty-two people had survived, and they were moving now.

Hopefully out of danger at least. Maybe even to something better.

Adina tried to console herself with the good news, but it was hard. Lew-Lew had been cheering everyone on with seemingly limitless energy, cajoling and encouraging in equal measure, seeming immune to what was happening around him.

A huge dust cloud now followed them. The last vehicle in the caravan was dragging an assembly of pipes, wires and chains that obscured their tire tracks as they wended this way and that doing everything they could to leave no trail for the Ghost Eyes to follow. They drove for hours into the night trying to put as much distance between themselves and the slave camp as possible before the sun came up. Nat sat in her lap, staring mute out into the darkness. She kept trying to get him to sleep, but he seemed immune; staring, saying nothing.

The moon was past its zenith, shining against the blanket of stars when Asher climbed the bearcat up an incline and stopped on top of the broad mesa.

"This is a pretty good spot, I think," he said as he peered outside, then turned to her. "What do you think?"

The mesa was only one or two hundred feet taller than the surrounding desert but gave them a good vantage to watch the landscape around them. And there were large boulders and stones that would help hide the vehicles silhouettes.

Adina nodded. "Yeah, I think it's good." She turned and looked out the side window, scanning the wastes. "Probably the best we're going to find. Especially if they have to stay here for a few days."

Asher nodded. "Okay, I'll let everyone know." He moved the bearcat in next to a large boulder that was just taller than the bearcat on one side. It would be easy to climb on top of the rock from the truck. He turned to her. "Why don't you set up someplace for him to sleep." He leaned across the console and ran a hand over Nat's hair. "You're going to sleep in the bearcat with us tonight. Is that alright?"

Nat looked at him. Adina could see there was a spark of interest, but it was suffused under the blanket that seemed to lay over all of his emotions.

It took more than an hour to get the caravan's vehicles settled and almost as long before Nat was finally asleep. He was exhausted but trying to calm him down enough for his exhaustion to overcome his anxiety took time. Now he was out, wrapped in a dirty blanket on top of piled tarps and canvas they'd salvaged from the camp.

Adina lay against Asher's side, leaning into the security of his strong arm. Each time she drifted toward sleep, dead Ghost Eyes were waiting, watching her. And when she opened her eyes, their ghostly white painted faces stared back at her from the shadows. She ran her fingers over Asher's scars, trying to forget the tactile memory of the wrench handle in her hands. But it was like she was wearing rough, sticky gloves that blunted the sensation of his skin.

She put her face against his neck. "I want you." She wasn't aroused yet but needed to feel him; his hard body against hers, inside her, to drive the images and sensations away. She stroked his cheek, pulling on his shoulder. As he turned to her, she pulled her shirt up over her head and wiggled out of her pants. He ran a hand over her naked hip and up her side. Everything inside her suddenly leapt into a tumult of confusion and arousal. The feeling that the dead Ghost Eyes were watching them set fire to a sudden, needy ache for him.

"Are you alrig..."

She kissed him. "Please."

When he pushed inside, she pulled herself hard against him, the storm inside her now raging. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, holding back her body's desperate need to release. It was all she could do to wait until he was fully inside her before letting go. Her orgasm wasn't the violent, pitching, wild sort she had so often with him. It was a soul searing unleashing of tension. She grasped his back as everything inside her clamped onto his thick cock. She explored his scars with her fingers, but still could still only feel the rough, heavy handle of the wrench as she brought it down over and over on the Ghost Eye. She grasped at him trying to feel him. She started to cry.

"Adina?"

"Please.... Please don't stop," she begged, hooking her ankles around his strong hips and pulling herself onto him, her body trembling as she wept, suddenly sweating. "I just want to feel you."

She clutched at him, biting him in frustration as the Ghost Eyes continued to watch her. "More," she begged and pushed on his shoulder to get him to roll onto his back. She kept her eyes closed, focusing on the feeling of him inside her and his hands on her as she plunged herself down onto his cock. The slapping of their bodies filled her ears and senses, his fingers or mouth on her breasts, rolling and sucking her nipples almost overwhelming as she rode him. But even as she panted, her belly trembling, she couldn't break the images. The Ghost Eyes were still there. "Get behind me." She turned over and pushed her hips back, pushing against his hardness, then guided his slippery shaft over her vagina and then up onto her tight anus. She pushed back.

"Are you sure?"

She didn't say anything, suddenly so aroused that all she could do was nod her head. Her breath caught as his penis pushed in, just a bit, her fingers reaching back and clawing at his hip. The pain was so exciting. He pulled back and ran his penis over her wet vagina again, while gathering her wetness on his hand and using it to lubricate her. She breathed, "Yes... Please..." And he was inside her again. The burning pain of him pushing into her blasted everything else away. Her belly cramped with animal lust and pain and as she gripped the blanket. The feeling of the wrench in her hand was gone. All she could feel was Asher pushing deeper into her, her body stretching to accept him and pain that was so... She came again, hard this time, bucking and kicking. "Don't stop!" She bit the blankets, clawing at them as he pushed her down, his weight on her and his penis driving in deeper. She filled her mouth with the blanket to stifle her screams. She reached down running her fingers over her hard, sensitive clit as he drove into her, pushing her hard into the mattress. She could feel his arousal in the way he gripped her hips, making everything that much more intense as he pleasured himself on her. She pulled the blanket out of her mouth. "Fill me, Asher, I want to feel you cum!" She was close again, ready, but wanted to cum with him. She felt the whole length of him as he pulled back and filled her again, pounding fast and hard. He stiffened and groaned. "I'm gonna cum!"

He rammed in deep, and she felt the hot explosion in her ass. And her body responded, thrashing, her legs kicking, held down helpless under him as he arched, pushing his cock in as far as he could. She was rigid for long seconds, trembling and frozen by the powerful orgasm before finally collapsing onto the blankets panting. A moment later his relaxed weight was on her, his breath on the back of her neck.

Adina woke up feeling Asher's fingers lightly brushing her cheek. She was tucked up against him under the blanket. It was still dark in the Bearcat. His fingers reminded her of how it had been after their first time together. The hot springs that felt like they were a lifetime ago.

"Are you alright?" he whispered in the darkness. She could feel his whiskers against her cheek.

She nodded. The faces of the dead Ghost Eyes were gone.

Adina woke to orange morning light streaming in through the bearcat's windows. She squinted and lifted her head. Asher's expression was relaxed. He was still asleep. Her heart thudded hard in her chest. He'd been so gentle with her last night - so careful with her, even as their lovemaking turned hard... Her body suddenly remembered last night with a pang of pain. She was sore; and in a way she'd never been before. She dropped her lips onto his chest, a grin pulling her cheeks wide as she remembered desperately grabbing at him behind her, biting the blanket as he filled her ass. And then her fiery orgasms. She kissed one of his scars, marveling at how the man she'd watched cut down Ghost Eyes with such relentless brutality and the man who'd been so gentle with her when she needed it most both lived in the same body. Images of the fighting returned. Bodies moving, just silhouettes in the darkness, screams and... He knew what she was capable of. He'd seen it and had still been so gentle... "I love you." She kissed him. "I love you."

He opened his eyes and watched hers in the golden light. A corner of his mouth came up. But he didn't say anything. He just watched hers as if there was nothing else in the world. A red trail on his chest drew her eyes. It led to a red bite mark. Adina's eyes went wide.

"Did I do that?"

Asher glanced down and smirked. "You were very... enthusiastic, last night."

She covered her mouth with both hands her eyes shifting from the bite mark to his face and back again. His smirk forced a tickle in her belly, and she started to giggle. "Stop looking at me that way!"

The smirk widened. "What way?"

She couldn't help the laugh that rolled up as she gingerly inspected the wound. It looked like she'd scraped the top layer of skin off, it wasn't deep. She grabbed the canteen and carefully wiped the blood away. "I was... I don't know - scared, I think. I've never done anything like... that; what I did to the Ghost Eyes... before." He nodded, just listening. The scrape was already healing. She wiped away the blood, then met his eyes. "Thank you for being so gentle last night." She gave him a soft kiss.

He smiled back at her, taking the damp cloth and pointing at her chest. There was a streak of his dried blood. He wiped it away, drawing the cloth lightly over her skin. "One of us had to be." He smirked again and kissed her nipple. It sent electric shocks through her and she hissed in arousal. Then he sat up. "Hold that thought." He slid a hand over her suddenly aching mound. "We have work to do." He closed his hand, squeezing and she curled around it, a lusty groan escaping. He grinned, watching her expression then let go and pulled on his shirt. "Let's go."

She narrowed her eyes at his playful expression, her body feeling like it was on fire. "Bastard."

Hours had passed as Adina and Asher finalized the details of the plan with Zara, Lew-Lew and the rest of the survivors. The rest of the camp was busy setting things up for their stay while Asher helped Adina prepare the bearcat for her solo journey.

Adina watched as Asher pointed to the gear driven mechanical dials and wheels behind a panel under the passenger side console. "You remember me talking about the 'bug', right?" She nodded to him.

He was on his side in the passenger foot well, his legs hanging out the door, his undershirt stretched tight across his chest as he twisted to show here the mechanism. She couldn't help her eyes wandering along is muscular torso. She looked where he pointed, trying to get her mind back on track. But their sex from the night before filled every corner of her brain and her soreness was a constant reminder of it. "It records bearings, speeds and other information that allows us to determine locations from a fixed point." She nodded again. "It's time for you to learn how to use it. That's how you'll find the quarry, and then find us again." He smiled at her. A little boy sort of naughtiness seemed to tug the corner of his mouth up as if he could see right into her head and watch what was playing out there. He let his head settle onto his brawny bicep, just watching her.

She flushed with the idea of him seeing what was in her head, feeling strange about the moment of embarrassment. It's not like he wasn't -- there...

"You look very pretty this morning."

The simple statement couldn't have had more impact if he'd hit her over the head with the huge wrench which now sat, clean in its normal bracket. Her face felt like it caught fire, then her chest, and other places she didn't want to think too much about for fear of being entirely derailed from the task ahead. She just grinned. The expression felt stupid, uncoordinated, her facial muscles seemed as distracted as the rest of him, his all too tight undershirt, and the simple words.

"Uh, thanks." She pushed a strand of long, dark hair behind her ear. "You too. Not pretty... I mean..." she stammered and sucked in a breath leaning forward to hopefully hide the fact that her nipples were standing out at attention. "You look... handsome..."

His eyes narrowed just a bit, playfully, and the boyish lift at the corner of his mouth turned to a smile. He pushed up, putting his face close to hers. "I had fun last night too." He gave her a kiss and when he leaned back, his expression was more serious, only slightly, but it was a sharp contrast to the moment before. "I was worried." He ran fingers over her temple and cheek, and she leaned into his hand. She took it and kissed his palm.

"I'm okay now." The natural smile that followed as she watched his eyes was easy, and not clumsy at all. He kissed her again. It was firm, but not hard, just holding their lips together for a long time, moving his over hers. She smiled in the middle of it. "That's not fair! We're going to be apart for days."

He smiled back, his lips on hers. "I know. I just want to have this to hold onto while you're gone."

She held his head with both hands, kissing him deeply before pulling back. "Me too."

Rolling away from the temporary camp, Adina's insides were a mess. Fear mingled with unmet lust that Asher had only continued to fan in the hours before they left. Worry meshed with pride at his confidence, his certainty in her abilities. He'd put all he owned, everything that would allow him to get him back home, into her hands, with nothing more than his certainty that she could bring them back to him. She looked back. In the harsh midday sun, everything was a stark contrast. The vehicles were clumped together into various shades of cooler colors below the awnings strung between them, their upper surfaces blasted all but white by the blazing sun. Every face in the camp was watching her, hands raised to shade their eyes. Lew-Lew stood out, of course. The unbelievably bright colors of his outrageous attire were bleached by the light. Asher stood apart from everyone else. He just watched her. The pang in Adina's chest made her blink back tears. Then the camp vanished behind the edge of the mesa as she drove down onto the baked flats following the mental map Asher had given her.

She swallowed hard and looked to Nat, sitting in the passenger seat. He was watching behind them to where the camp had disappeared. "Okay, Nat. We're on our way home." He turned and watched her uncertainly. She smiled at him. "A day or two and you'll see your mom again." He pulled his knees up and turned away, staring out the passenger side window into the wastes.

Adina stood on top of the Bearcat scanning the horizon through the binoculars. It had been a day and a half since they'd left the makeshift encampment. Adina would never have considered going out into the wastes alone before meeting Asher. And even now, the idea of being out here without him was intimidating. But here she was, standing on top of the armored behemoth, armed, trained; and on her own. Adina shook her head thinking about what her life had been like only a scant few weeks ago. What it would still be if the raiders hadn't razed the settlement. She squinted into the binoculars. A faint, dark line climbed upward near the horizon. That's it... She turned to Nat who was standing in the open cupola of the bearcat. "I think that's it. We're almost home, Nat." He still hadn't said anything. She gestured him to her, squatting and pointing. He squinted into the distance. "Right there." She held the binoculars for him and adjusted them. He looked through them then back to her. "I know, it's not much to see from here." She ran a reassuring hand down his back. "But we're nearly there." He looked through the binoculars again and watched for a long time. When he looked back at her, his expression seemed minutely more hopeful.

The booming voice of Omar, the big captain of the quarry's defenses rumbled over the dry ground as Adina climbed down out of the Bearcat. "You're back!" His eyes searched beyond her and as soon as Nat appeared from the driver's side door, he bent at the waist, putting his hands on his knees, his head dropping. "Thank the sky!" Then he stood up and turned, booming back toward the rest of the camp. "Tell Devon..."

"NAT!" Devon's cry brought everyone's heads around. She was sprinting from the other side of the gate. As soon as she saw Nat step down off the ladder, she skidded to a halt, staring, frozen in place. There was a long moment where no one moved or even seemed to breathe. Devon stared at her son and Nat just stood, his spirit seeming to have momentarily fled his body. Tears welled in Adina's eyes, and she swallowed hard to push down the lump in her throat. She gently put a hand on Nat's shoulder and bent to look him in the face.

"It's..." Adina had to clear her throat before she could get another word out. "It's okay, Nat. We're home." Adina took his hand led him gently forward a few steps. He suddenly broke away from her and raced toward his mother at a dead run.

He collided with Devon nearly knocking her over, wrapping his arms around her. "MOM!"

Adina was suddenly sobbing. So were Devon and others who'd gathered. Omar stood, his burly arms crossed, sniffing defiantly against the tears brimming in his eyes. Adina walked to him and put a hand on his thick forearm. "He's been through a lot." She wiped her tears with the back of her hand, watching Devon go between hugging Nat tightly and looking him over for injuries. "I need to talk to Priav and Rafi." Adina heaved a breath to try and get her tears under control.

Her tone pulled Omar's eyes to her and the tears subsided. He looked at the bearcat. "Where's Asher? He's not..." Omar didn't finish the thought. Adina could see the concern in his eyes.