Temptation (Chapter 9)

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The temperature hovered at ten degrees Fahrenheit the morning the squadron headed out. An inch of fresh snow covered the ground. I went with Clutch and Griz to see them off. Marco had stayed the night with Deb, and I could see he was reluctant to leave her when he dragged his feet to the gate at dawn.

As the squadron loaded up, I grabbed Clutch's jacket, pulled him down, and kissed him solidly on the lips. He wrapped his arms around me. Someone whistled, and I ignored it. When I let go, Clutch looked rather pleased with himself. Typical guy expression. I held up three fingers. "Three days. You better be home in three days, or else I'm coming to get you."

He chuckled. "We'll be back with time to spare. I don't plan to get on your bad side."

I stuck out my chin and tried not to smile. "Damn straight."

"Where's my kiss?" Griz asked, holding out his arms.

I grinned and walked into his embrace. I kissed his cheek as he squeezed me half to death. When he let me go, I scolded, "Be careful out there." Without waiting for an answer, I spun on my heel and walked away, though once I was around the building, I stopped and then watched them drive through the open gate from my relatively hidden place.

After the gate closed behind the loud trucks, my heart pounded. While I'd grown accustomed to Clutch heading outside the fence every day, worry chewed at my nerves when he wasn't home at night. Since the outbreak, I could count on two hands the number of nights we'd spent apart.

The first few times, I'd worried about how I could possibly get by without him. Then, my fear had switched gears. Somewhere along the line, my feelings for Clutch had morphed into something deep and tangible, and I constantly worried about what could happen to him out there. I wanted to be there to protect him, even though he was more than capable of taking care of himself.

After the gate closed behind the trucks, I hustled into the force's HQ, a small brick building that had once been Justin's insurance office.

It was freezing inside. It was New Eden policy to not use precious energy to heat any building no one lived in. Even then, the force checked out every house every week to make sure energy wasn't being wasted. With the exception of the medical clinic, thermostats couldn't be set higher than sixty degrees, which felt balmy to me after being outside most of every day.

"Just the two of us so far?"

I jumped and turned to see Zach. "Jase caught the flu."

He frowned. "Rich, Steve, and Jack all called in sick. I haven't heard from anyone else yet. That flu is spreading fast."

"It makes sense. We're all working long hours in cold weather and not getting enough nutrients. And, we're all in a relatively enclosed environment. Any virus that passes through is going to hit us hard."

"You're starting to sound like a doctor."

I shrugged. "My dad was one. My mom was a nurse. I guess it's in my genes."

"Why didn't you go into medicine?"

"I didn't like dealing with people, and I used to get queasy at the sight of blood. So, I went the actuary route, though it wasn't exactly the best career to prepare me for all this. Justin said you were a state trooper before the outbreak"

He chuckled. "I was a volunteer reserve officer. For my day job, I worked in a factory. I assembled modular components for wind turbines."

"That'll come in handy if we can put up a wind turbine in New Eden."

He shook his head. "Afraid not. I'm in the same boat as you. My skills are pretty much worthless nowadays. I worked on the RF module housing. The other ninety-nine percent of a wind turbine's components is beyond my expertise."

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