Into Ruin

Chapter 3 Strong Enough

What nerve Gunnar had, telling Vita that she couldn't be a part of the mission. She'd been working on the scavenging team before he bothered to show up. She wasn't a damned pregnant porcelain doll! Why did he have to treat her like one?

Since his arrival, Gunnar had shifted his attentions from Mischa to Vita. She assumed Quinton's presence had a lot to do with that. It was a bit strange that the two former friends, Mischa and Gunnar, hardly talked anymore. He'd been so quick to judge Vita and his friend Rob back when the storms struck, then turned testy when Mischa had disappeared.

With Vita, Gunnar had made no move to make the relations sexual as Rob had back before the world changed. Curiosity had let her draw Gunnar closer. She wanted that stoic facade and the instant respect that followed him wherever he went. What she didn't want was to be considered helpless and that was just how men looked at her around here.

"Vita?" came a soft mumbled voice. "Ya in there?"

The near-empty supply closet next to the kitchen wasn't the most inconspicuous choice. She waited, rationing her breath.

"Shit," he muttered. The door shifted as he pressed his weight against it and slid down to the ground. Couldn't he find another place to admit defeat?

Nails clicked away on the cement floor as four paws came bounding toward the door. "Aw, Hunter. Y'er a lucky boy. Ya can't say nothing to make ya look like an ass."

Vita sighed. It still didn't make his actions redeemable.

"She just don't see it out there like we did. All the assholes I had to fight off while Rob had 'er looking the other way. This time we won't be just going 'round town for these missions neither. The places sound so gawddamn organized. Ya slip up and they've gotcha. I can fight off a few guys, but not a whole security force, ya know? Be bad enough looking out me."

But Vita practiced her skills whenever she could. Gunnar had smiled down at her last time he took her shooting. "Nice shot," he'd whispered, unaware that his warm breath made her stomach flutter. Or maybe that was just the baby shifting. Cynthia had said it should happen soon.

However, his defensive techniques were far better than hers and if he doubted his own skills...

"I can't lose another person to this bullshit." His fist slammed against the door and Vita held in her yelp of surprise. "Aida, just listening to her voice, hearing the last words she says cut off by crap reception. I work so hard making sure she's eating and learning, better than I ever could because she got some brains that mum and me never got. World goes to shit and all I've got is my own stupid self for company." His breaths came out heavy.

The dog let out a grunt and Gunnar laughed deeply.

"And ya too. I didn't forget. Don'cha worry." He paused.

Vita fought the urge to open the door and to confess to eavesdropping. The back of her throat tightened and her eyes grew moist. She had just accepted her parent's deaths. If she'd heard it happen from a distance would it have been so easy? She shuddered.

"I coulda went looking for her. Shouldn't 'uv been much farther than home or In-N-Out but naw, I stuck with sick Rob and sicker Vita. Just to find Mischa who was safer than all three of us put together."

His weight pressed harder against the door. Vita swallowed, a lump forming in her throat. If they had known, would things have been different? Mischa had explained the situation to her and Vita knew there was nothing any of them could have done to prevent it.

"I couldn't stand her either, Vita."

Vita wanted to laugh. Wasn't that the truth back then?

"Thought she was just another diseased whore better at hiding it 'round school that the rest Rob usually saw."