Dead Days

Chapter 11

I open my eyes to Alyx still asleep. The sunlight coming in from the window shining on her, giving her the aura of an angel. She snores, lightly, like a whisper. Everything about her is perfect. I climb out of bed, slowly, trying not to wake her, but fail.

I bend over to pick up my boxers, "there's the goods," she says. My face instantly heating up.

"Can you not?" I ask, embarrassed as hell.

"Oh, come on, I was going to see it sooner or later." I slide my boxers on. My bag got left in the fire, so I go to the closet to see if there's anything my size.

"You're not actually going to Charleston, are you?" Alyx asks.

     I stop what I'm doing and look at her over my shoulder. "Yeah, I am going, I promised Cassie I'd help her find her parents, so far, that promise is only half fulfilled."

     "Jack. You came close to dying more times than once. That Russian nearly killed you. He's still alive, I know it, I seen him stand after you kicked him out of the truck."

     So it wasn't my imagination. "He killed Dale, one of my best friends. Dale said 'when Jack kills you' before he died. I took that as his final wish, and that's a wish he'll get." I turn around, pulling a pair of jeans that are my size from a hanger. "Cassie's father is being forced to help advance this virus, maybe he can learn to reverse engineer it and formulate a cure."

     "That's a shot in the dark, Jack, and you know it."

     "A shot that I'm willing to take." I say, over her sighs. "No matter how much you beg, Alyx, this is something that I have to see through." I pull the pants over my knees and up to my waist and button them.

     Alyx stands from the bed, the sheet falling from her, revealing her naked body. The warrior in me drooling, not because of a coming kill, but because of his primal nature, he just wants to kill anything and procreate with every woman he lays eyes on. "Might want to put some clothes on before I pounce," I say, a sly smile crossing my face as I eye her up and down.

     "Who's to say that I don't want you to?" She teases, bends over and picks up her panties, never breaking eye contact with me. Holy fuck, she's sexy. Against every urge and temptation screaming at me I turn around and search for a shirt.

     I pull out a black t-shirt that's as close to my size as I'm gonna get, I pull it over my head, it's a tight squeeze, but it'll have to do. "Training starts today," I say over my shoulder to Alyx.

     "Training?" She questions.

     "There's no doubt going to be one hell of a fight when we infiltrate that facility. It's going to be us five against the 12 remaining mercenaries and whatever terrorist group is there. You guys need to be as prepared as you can get." I explain.

     "I'm scared, Jack." She says, "I'm scared to die."

     "What makes you think you're going to die?"

     "You aren't scared?"

     "Fear is an emotion that we imagine." I say

     "What does that even mean?" She says, mocking my logic.

     "We fear something that hasn't, and maybe will not happen. Something that we make up in our mind when running the outcomes of a situation through our heads. Fear is irrelevant." I explain.

     "Not all of us were soldiers," she states, "or police officers." 

     "You don't need to have served as either one. If you do come across something that you fear, don't let it make you hesitate, or second guess yourself. Do exactly what your instinct tells you, and you will make it through everything you are fearing."