Chapter 19: Dave's?

 

Why did I do that?

Eli breathed out a deep sigh as he looked out the window, taking his shift on watch duty.

I can't believe I let my horny take over like that. Dammit, I just stopped thinking and brought Vivi into it. I even told mom she's my wife. Why was I so possessive? So assertive? No. I know why, it's my raging teenage hormones. My mind is almost 30 but my body is only 16.

He leaned back in his chair and looked over at his sleeping women. The pale white morning light shone between the parted curtains, bathing the beautiful mother and daughter, making their silky golden hair shine. A warm smile spread across Eli's face.

Oh well. They both seemed happy with it, so it's fine.

Standing from his seat, he stretched out his stiff back and yawned. Since the sun was up, he decided to get a start on the day's chores; clean their clothes and towels, and deal with the massive wolf corpse next door. The wolf seemed like the most pressing issue. It would rot quickly in the savannah heat, so it needed to be dealt with before it began bloating, or it could explode from it's own internal gasses. Fucking nasty.

He gently shook Vivi awake.

"Hm?" She rubbed her sleepy eyes.

"Shh," he put a finger to his lips and whispered, "come help me with the wolf, but don't wake mom."

Vivi stretched and slowly dragged herself off the bed. She started to walk out the door, but Eli put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. He pointed to her naked lower half and raised his eyebrows. The previous night's events crashed into her memory. Her cheeks stained a deep red, and she shyly covered herself with her hands. She trotted to her discarded shorts and wiggled into them, Eli staring at her womanly figure the whole time.

Damn, I never saw her as a woman before, and now I can't stop looking at her. She really is just as beautiful as mom.

Eli grabbed his hunting knife and headed out the door, Vivi following behind him. She pulled the door closed as silently as possible so as not to wake Julie.

"Hey." She said.

"Yeah?" Eli asked, stopping in front of the mangled door to the wolf's room.

"Should we...I don't know, talk about last night?" She shifted awkwardly from foot to foot.

"We can," Eli said, "if you want to. Do you regret it?"

"No!" Her immediate reply, "I don't regret it, definitely not. Do you?"

"No, I don't either."

"Good." She smiled, "I'm glad. But I wanted to know, are we still best friends? Or does this mean we have to act like lovers now?"

Eli chuckled and patted her head, "Nah, nothing needs to change. You're still my best friend, and my adorable, badass sister."

"Cool." A relieved smile appeared on her face, then a pouty frown. "But stop with the head patting. I'm the older sibling, dammit, even if you're the taller one." She nudged his shoulder playfully.

"Yes ma'am" Eli teasingly mimicked the salute Vivi often gave Julie. "Now then, let's take care of this wolf."

He pushed open the door, and the stench of dead canine and blood nearly gagged them both.

"Ugh. What are we going to do with it? Can't we just leave it here?" Vivi asked, waving a hand in front of her face as if to push the foul odor away.

"We could, but we might need to make use of this room in the future, so it's better to clean it now. And the fur might be worth something in Mist Harbor, we may be able to trade it for some supplies."

They entered the disastrous room and looked at the dead beast and the pool of thick blood covering the floor.

"Should we.....use the meat?" Vivi asked, obviously disgusted at the prospect of eating the huge animal.

"No. We don't know what kind of diseases or parasites it could have. Better to not risk eating something that could give us rabies." Eli said.

"Rabies? What's that?" Vivi asked.

"It's....uhh, hm. Well, you can think of it like the animal version of the sickness that turns people into Ferals." 

Vivi took a nervous step away from the carcass. "Shit. These things can make Ferals?"

"Not quite." Eli chuckled, "Humans just get really sick and die from rabies, but it makes animals go insanely violent. We'll be fine as long as we don't get it's blood in our mouth or eyes. Let's drag it outside, get it skinned, then clean up with hot water to disinfect ourselves, just to be safe. Grab a leg and pull."

"Right..." She looked skeptical, but followed Eli's lead and grabbed a dirty, furry leg.

They heaved the bulky body out the door, around the building, and dumped it into the open area behind the little motel. A pleasant breeze carried the animal stink away and dried the sweat from Eli's face. They rolled the creature onto it's side so Eli could begin his butchering task.

"You don't have to help with this part, if you don't want to." Eli said to a frowning Vivi.

"I'm fine. Just tell me what to do." She said, determined to help.

"Alright. Can you hold the leg up out of the way while I gut it?"

"Mhm." She nodded.

Vivi did what she was asked and held the wolf's leg up so Eli could slice it's torso open from neck to anus. She coughed and gagged a few times at the disgusting sight and squelching sounds, but held firm throughout. Until the intestines spilled out in a goopy, vile heap on the dry ground. Then she turned pale and had to choke down the bile rising in her throat.

Eli cut the pelt away from the flesh, tugging and yanking with Vivi's help, until they finally removed the skin entirely. He laid the fur out in the dirt, bloody side down, to dry it out.

"Where'd you learn to do this?" Vivi asked while watching him stretch the fur and weigh it down with fist-sized rocks.

"I helped slaughter hogs in Lancaster a couple years ago." Eli quickly lied. "Well, now that we're done with this, we should get cleaned up."

They rubbed their bloody hands in the sparse grass to get the majority of the gore off, then headed back to the motel room where Julie slept. They opened the door to find their mother awake and digging through their food supply.

"Good morning." She smiled and stood up with three meals in her hands.

"Morning." Vivi said.

"Good morning." Eli said, kissing her on the cheek. "We need to get cleaned up before we eat, we've been skinning that big-ass wolf." He held up his blood-stained hands to show her.

"Oh, gross. Wait there, I'll get some water and a rag." Julie said.

She poured water on their least dirty towels, then gave one to each of her children. They scrubbed themselves mostly clean while Julie heated up something that was supposed to be chili, but sorely lacked seasoning. Eli raced outside to heat an aluminum thermos of water to disinfect their hands before he and Vivi ate. She followed him out, and when the water was sufficiently hot, they finished cleaning up and met Julie for a morning meal in the room.

"So." Julie said between bites of underwhelming chili, "I think we can use the bathtub to clean our laundry, it looks like it'll hold water well enough. There's a fairly new washboard in the bathroom, too."

"Nice. We should check out the diner and the truck stop too. Who knows? There might be something useful lying around." Eli said.

"Dibs on laundry." Vivi said. "I'm still a little sore from last night, and dragging that body earlier didn't help. I'd rather do something that doesn't involve a lot of walking."

"Alright sweetheart." Julie giggled. "But you definitely had a better first experience than most women. Men usually aren't gentle the first time, and they think the woman's pleasure isn't their responsibility."

"What? Really? That's....sad, in several ways." Eli said, deeply disappointed in the men's disregard for women. "Anyway, let's hit the diner first, since it's closer. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds good..." Julie winked at him,"...dear."

Ugh, she's going to tease me about last night for weeks. But...I think I like it.

The familiar weight of his gear provided a sense of security when Eli clipped his belt and forearm guards in place. He left the rifle with Vivi, deciding to rely on his knives and pistol. Julie strapped the other pistol to her thigh, and her ever-present machete to her hip, then they left the room as Vivi began gathering up their laundry.

Even in the early morning hours, the sun assailed them with sweltering heat. Sweat beaded up on the back of Eli's neck before crossing half the distance to the diner beside the motel. The old eatery had a rounded design that was popular in the mid nineteen hundreds Americana post-war era. Sleek curved stainless steel, which, judging by the deep rust layer, wasn't actually stainless, comprised the diner's entryway. All the windows were broken, some more so than others, and the lettering for the diner's name was chipped and eroded beyond recognition. It was probably a woman's name; Sally's, or maybe Sherie's. Hell, it was so misshapen it could have read "Dave's" for all Eli knew.

The stylized entry door hung off it's hinges like it was trying to break away from the creepy building. Circling the old place like usual, Eli and Julie found no signs of visible threats. Julie crept through the busted door and Eli followed close behind. The red vinyl seats of the booths and barstools were gray and ragged from centuries of abuse. A heavy coating of dirt and grime covered every visible surface. Light fixtures, fallen from their perches in the ceiling, lay broken in the walkway. Dozens of animal tracks made a trail in the dirt through the diner to the kitchen area.

Animal tracks? Shit...

Julie must have caught on as well, because she stopped moving and looked to Eli. He nodded, drew his pistol, and took the lead toward the back room. He cautiously sneaked to the swinging kitchen door, straining his ears for any sound of danger. The steel door was cool against his shoulder as he slowly nudged it open, pistol held at the ready as his eyes adjusted to the darker room.

A dark gray blur flashed before him, and his left forearm was violently yanked down. His pistol was flung from his grip and crashed to the floor, where it skidded underneath a kitchen prep counter. He screamed as pain shot through his ankle, warm blood streaming down, soaking his sock and filling his boot. Two wolves had ambushed him the instant he walked in.