The Last Colony

Part 38

Mark watched Mari leave, muttering out under his breath. "I'm not avoiding her..." Lowering his eyes to the ground, he exhaled heavily. Quickly moving back to the bench, he snatched up his backpack and headed back out toward the church. Maybe Mari had a point. He hated to do this... but hiding was getting him nowhere. As he walked up to the church, he did notice that a vast majority of the people here were women. Most of the soldiers were men and a few kids were boys... but there was a definite imbalance in gender. The moment he was within earshot, the women around the yard stopped talking to look at him with bright smiles. Some even tried to welcome him over to join them. Giving them nice smiles, he politely turned them down. One woman started to approach him, saying sweetly. "I don't think we have properly met. My name is-" Mark extended a hand to shake her hand, when Amy came rushing from the church. Hopping down the last few steps, Amy snatched his hand to keep him from touching her and cut off the woman to say loud and giddily. "MARK! There you are! How did your meeting go?"

Mark raised an eyebrow, gesturing to the woman. Amy ignored her, taking his arm to lead him away from the church as she told him more casually. "Just go with it. Some of these women are such vultures." Amy led him to a quiet place along the church yard, asking him more calmly. "So? How did it go?" Mark shuffled his feet, avoiding her eyes as he reluctantly replied. "Amy... Is there anywhere more private that we can go to talk?" Amy nodded, touching his cheek as she said sweetly. "Ya. Sure." Mark leaned a bit into her hand. After being touched by Sean for so long, Amy felt... tiny and fragile. Amy lowered her hand, saying simply. "We can go to my room. OH! I forgot something! Wait right here!" Amy dashed off back to the church with excited squeals. Leaving Mark to lean back against the little orange tree. While waiting, he saw Kenny bring an armful of wood to a preacher. The preacher thanked him as Kenny told him happily. "It's no problem. Just save some of the chili for me later." The Preacher nodded, heading back into the church. Mark wasn't going to think anything of it, until a woman shouted out in glee. "Kenny?!"

Kenny's body tensed and even at a distance Mark could hear him utter out with disappointment. "Of fuck..." Kenny tried to jog away when a woman rushed out from behind the church to cut him off. Flashing him a smile, the short woman giggled and asked him playfully. "Where are you running off too, Kenny?" Kenny slowly backed up, nervously chuckling out. "I'm just... running errands. How have you been, Lucy?" Mark raised a hand to try and get Kenny's attention, but it was too late. Another woman snuck up behind him to hug him, causing Kenny to yelp in fear. The woman hugged Kenny close, purring over his shoulder. "Whoa. Careful, Kenny. A girl might get offended. Wasn't it you who said that only Zombies startle you?" Kenny chuckled nervously some more, twisting out of her grip as he said. "I did say that... but that was before people found out that I was single..." Lucy touched Kenny's hips, causing him to jump away and tell them a bit uneasily. "Well... I'd love to stay but... I've got to go." The other woman managed to grab his wrist, pulling him closer as she purred out. "Oh? I don't hear your mother calling you. Why not stay awhile? You're so tense. Tell us about your adventures outside the walls?"

Kenny carefully pried her hands off, nicely retorting. "You know, I'd love to... but we both know that's not what you want to do with me... And I just don't have the time. I'm sorry." Lucy skimmed a hand up his thigh, purring out herself. "Oh? How long does it take?" The girls giggled, causing Kenny to blush and stammer out. "I... I'm... Ladies, Please? It's not you, I just don't want to be that kind of-" Mari skipped across the lawn, withdrawing her katana to whack the church's gutters. The gutter shook and then broke to spill water and leaves all over Kenny and the women. The women screamed, running away in different directions. Kenny spit water, then looked directly at Mari with a wet but grateful look. Mari smirked, sheathing her katana before tripping over the broken gutter and falling across the grass. Kenny laughed, shaking wet leaves from his hair as he called out sweetly. "Mari? You ok?" Quickly Mari sprang up onto her feet, continuing on her way as she stated back. "I'm good." Kenny flicked the last leaf off him, jogging away toward Mark as he warned him in passing. "Watch your back, man."