Dead Hunt

CHAPTER 18 – Michael

Lucy awoke with a start. She thought she heard something moving. She tilted her head, concentrating when she heard another clunk. She scurried atop the dresser and started to jump into the attic. As she did, something hard cracked into her head, knocking her backwards. She fell on the bed and bounced sideways but managed to stop herself from tumbling to the floor. She stared at the hole in the ceiling. She watched the outline of a head appear. A few seconds later, the head had somehow flipped, almost acrobatically, and the torso of a man was standing on the dresser, his head still in the rafters. The figure bent its knees and the head looked at her. Lucy finally exhaled the breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

“Michael!” she whispered.

“Hi-ya, Luce,” Michael smiled. “Going somewhere?”

“I heard a noise.”

“Yeah, that was me, sorry. It’s not easy scaling up the side of a building without making some sort of noise. I yelled to you, but you didn’t answer, so I figured you were still asleep.” Michael rubbed his chin, “I think you dislocated my jaw.”

“Sorry,” she apologized as she bounced to her feet and hugged him. A minute later she said, “Michael?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you enjoy the view?” she asked.

“What?”

Lucy pulled the wooly fabric of the sweater. “The view, did you enjoy it?”

“Oh, that,” he said, his face reddening.

“And did you bathe me as well?” she asked, her eyes burning with anger.

He lowered his head without saying a word. He didn’t have to.

Lucy punched him in the arm. “I can’t believe you’d stoop so low as to undress me when I was unconscious! How dare you?” her temper was starting to flare. “Of all the…”

“What did you want me to do, leave you the way you were?”

“Yes!” she snapped back.

“Ok, the next time you are unconscious and covered in blood and filth from zombies, I will leave you just the way you are. That way, while you are sleeping, you can rub your hands in that filth and possibly put them in your mouth!”

Lucy froze.

He continued in a softer voice. “Lucy, I only did what I had to do to protect you. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“No, I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just being silly.”

“No,” he said. “You are just being Lucy.”

She smiled and asked, “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You like it when guys look at you, but only as long as you’re in control.”

That stung her more than a slap in the face. But, as usual, Michael was right. She’d lost track of how many times she flaunted herself in front of boys, and men, and enjoyed the attention.

“And, Lucy,” Michael added with a smile, “the answer is yes, I did enjoy the view.”

She punched him again, more playfully than last time, but hard enough that he felt it.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” she said hugging him again. “I was so scared. I thought you left me.”

“I would never leave you,” he promised.

Michael could feel the warmth and softness of her body press into him. Another minute passed before she unlocked her arms from around him.

“Hey, I found some food,” he said as he slipped a knapsack off his back.

Bottled water, a few bags of chips, a jar of peanut butter, bread, a bag of cookies and other junk food spilled onto the bed.

“A gourmet meal,” Lucy laughed.

“Yeah, it’s hard to find anything that hasn’t been tainted with water or needs to be cooked in water.”

She picked up the bread.

“That might be a little stale,” he explained, “But it was made before all this shit happened, so it should be safe.”

Lucy checked the packaging date on the other items. Everything had been packaged at least two days or more before their whole world had collapsed. Michael thought of everything. She held the peanut butter in one hand and the bread in the other.

“Knife?” she inquired.

He reached behind him but stopped.

“I don’t think either of us wants to make a sandwich with that knife.”

So maybe he hadn’t thought of everything, but if it wasn’t for him, she would be dead already. Lucy unscrewed the lid, and, using her fingers, dipped them into the jar, and spread some peanut butter across the bread.

“Our fingers were good enough when we were kids,” she laughed.

Michael reached for the jar, but Lucy pulled it away.

“Excuse me, I don’t know where your fingers have been,” Lucy said as her face flushed red.

“Not there,” he reassured her.

“Promise?” she said, almost pleading.

“Lucy,” Michael leaned in close. He could feel her warm breath on his face.

“I would never do that to you,” he whispered, their eyes locking.

“I know,” she responded in a breathy voice. “I just need to know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Is this the best shirt you could find?”

They both laughed.

“It was in the closet,” he grinned.

“It’s a ratty old sweater, and it’s a million degrees in here!”

“It’s cooler at night, and with the windows boarded up, it takes longer to heat up,” Michael explained.

“Oh.”

Michael stuck his fingers in the jar and pulled out a dollop of peanut butter to slap on his bread. As he did so, he noticed the buttons on Lucy’s sweater were spaced rather far apart, revealing a lot of flesh.

“I think the sweater looks nice on you,” he told her. He could feel his face turning red.

Lucy looked down and noticed the large gap between the buttons.

“Ugh,” she said pulling her sweater closed with one hand and pushing him with the other. “Men! Can you please find me something else to wear besides this? It stinks, and I don’t want to be playing peek-a-boo with you every time I move.”

“I was beginning to like peek-a-boo,” Michael laughed, still flushed with embarrassment as Lucy playfully pushed him. “But I will find something else for you later,” he reassured her.

“Thank you,” she said dryly. “And, Michael?”

“Yeah, Luce?”

“I’m sorry I got mad at you. You know…before.”

“That’s ok, Lucy, I understand. I would have done the same thing.”

“Oh, please,” Lucy laughed. “If you woke up and discovered I had changed your clothes and bathed you, you would be dancing with joy.”

“No, I wouldn’t. I would be pissed.”

Lucy didn’t know how to take his response. His face looked as if was being truthful.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I would have been unconscious and missed it,” he laughed as she punched his arm again.

They ate in silence after that. Lucy glanced at him a few times and occasionally caught him stealing a look between the buttons.

“Oh, for Gods sake!” she said, standing up.

“What? What is it?” Michael asked.

Lucy stood in front of him, unbuttoned the sweater and let it fall to the floor. “Just look already. You’re trying to peek at them without getting caught, and you’re driving me up the wall! So just take a good look and get it over with!”

She held her hands on her hips defiantly and stared off in the distance looking at nothing. When she finally looked down, Michael was reaching for her sweater. As he stood, he gently pulled the sweater up over her arms and shoulders and clasped it in front of her.

“Lucy, you are beautiful, sexy and the most wonderful person I have ever known,” he said in a soothing voice. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“Michael,” she started to protest but he silenced her with a gentle finger to her lips.

“Lucy, I could spend hours getting lost just looking in your eyes, watching how your nose crinkles when you concentrate, or how your tongue darts out just a little to wet your lips before you speak. I could fill an entire day just watching how your hair brushes against your cheek. I’m sorry I was staring where I should not have been looking, but you do not need to take your clothes off for me to enjoy the view.”

“So you don’t want to see me naked?” she blurted and recognized how cold it sounded.

Michael just smiled his warm smile.

“What I meant was…” she tried to explain, but he silenced her again with a finger to her lips.

“The view,” he smiled warmly, “is as magnificent as you are.”

Michael leaned towards her. She tilted her head to receive him, but much to her surprise he did not try to kiss her. Instead he leaned into her ear and whispered, “I am sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Liar,” she smiled. Michael smiled with her.

“Would you believe, I will try my best not to get caught looking?”

“That’s better,” Lucy laughed as she started to button the sweater and sat back down on the floor.

Michael sat across from her, and they laughed at each other as they stuck their fingers in the jar and tried to use them as a knife to spread the peanut butter. While they talked, Lucy noticed his gaze would still sometimes fall to her chest. She also noticed that it no longer upset her.

“You have some peanut butter on the side of your face,” she told him.

Much to his surprise, and hers, she leaned over and licked it from his cheek.