“W-what? Why the hell do I have to strip.”

“Cause you’re the one in question. It’ll take all of a minute, and then maybe we can all be civil.” Samuel looks pointedly at Dewitt before sparing Vanessa a look.

“Hey, he started it,” she calls out. I try to stop my shaking, but as she subtly elbows my stomach, she noticed my laughter. “Alright, Nate, you heard the man strip.” She pulls out of the hold and turns to look me in the eye.

“Uh, Miss Vee, maybe you should come this way while they’re doing this.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Well, he’s going to be naked.”

“So, nothing I haven’t seen before.” Her eyes never leave mine, and I get the full view of the mischievous look she has. In the corner of my eye, I can just see the blushes on the two who had been quick so far. By the embarrassed look in his face, Dewitt is probably blushing under his dark complexion. I smirk slightly before giving Nessa the ‘back up’ motion.

Not looking back, she slowly drags her feet through the sand before stopping by Samuel. I slowly edge my undone buckle and grab it to pull my belt out through the loops one by one. I look at Samuel and see the utterly exasperated look on his face. My smirk grows even more extensive as the were that had spoken earlier is eyeballing, where my pants hang low on my hips.

I bend down, undo my right boot, kick it by Nessa, and complete the process with the left. Balancing, I take the sock off without breaking eye contact with Nessa. She wasn’t lying earlier, but this is way too fun to watch the others squirm. That’s what they get, the jackasses. I kick it up a notch by biting my lips ever so before undoing my zipper.

Tantalizingly I pull the pants off and swing them around my head before swinging them around. The man gives a whistle, and I throw my pants in his direction, though to my slight disappointment, he easily catches them.

“Are you done yet?” Samuel tensely calls out.

“Well, I think so.” I drawl, feigning confusion. He rolls his eyes before coming over in my direction. He grabs at my arms and spreads them high in the air. I feel as his finger trace along my skin. I focus on that rather than the weight of the others’ eyes on me. His touch is barely there and light, like feathers or the air. He kneels down and completes the process. He gets up and gestures for me to turn around.

“You forgot to check his genitals.” I look over my shoulder and shoot Nessa, my dirtiest look. That little traitor.

“I’ll leave that up for you, little Miss Vee.” I bark at a laugh as I hear her huff a sigh at him. I somber up when I feel his touch on me once more. After what feels like hours, he’s shoving my pants into my hands.

“Well, what’s the verdict,” Dewitt asks. Of course, the ass couldn’t just let it be, could he?

“He’s clean, as I told you before.”

“How’s that possible.” Samuel, you saw, everybody saw the way he reacted. “He would have bit into her with no hesitation.”

“Perhaps, but then he would act like a wounded puppy afterward.”

“I did not act like a puppy,” I grit out.

“Wounded puppy” Vanessa corrects. She looks at me with her eyes just a little wider than usual.

“C’mon Witchy I ain’t gonna fall for your eyes.” She blinks before striding to stand next to me. I pull my pants back up and just managed to fasten them when I feel her arms around my waist. I look down, and her eyes are looking up with her cheek lying across my abdomen. “Fine, fine, you win. Better?” I grab her nose and wiggle it around. She almost laughs before looking to the side, and the emotion melts off her face.

The others are looking at us though some of them still are hesitant to get much closer. The man from before is right next to Samuel and still eyeing my figure. I wink at him before removing my Nessa off my chest to put my shoes back on.

“I got a serious question for you, boy.” Samuel’s voice rings out, and for a moment, his blank face makes a line of sweat break out across my forehead, “Where the hell are your underwear?” I break out laughing as Vanessa’s face becomes tainted with a beautiful scarlet shade.

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“You should ask, Witchy.” I bend down to tie my boots back up but chuckle harder as I feel her hit me over the head.

“What you mean?”

“Basically she didn’t have any, and I don’t see the difference.”

“That was kind of you.”

“Hmm, maybe, but you should remember somethin’.”

“And what’s that?”

“She’s the only one I would do that for.” I swing my arm around her shoulder and stir us towards our crashed car. She draws away before thrusting me into the ditch. “Goddess you’re so mean, Witchy.”

“Whatever you say, crybaby, now chop-chop, I want to hit the head.” I head to the hood of the Jeep and, gently as I can, propel the vehicle back onto the flatter ground of the desert. Vanessa beams at the truck before popping over to deliver a quick kiss on my cheek before heading to the driver’s spot. She groans and bangs her head on the window.

“What’s the matter?”

“The tires.” I glance back and remember how our back tire had been blown out. I let loose a jumble of curses that have even Nessa raising her eyebrow. “I could try to fix it, but you know what happened last time I tried.”

“Ugh don’t remind me. I can still feel aches in my back sometimes.” She rolls her eyes at me before trudges around the car while nibbling on her lip.

“I can help,” Dewitt proclaims, “but we need you to do something else first.” It takes everything in me not to wall my eyes at his words. Shocker, he wants something. I look over at Vanessa and hope this ends well. I turn to him before huffing out a breath and not nodding my head.

“Whatcha want?” He clears his throat and walks a little closer to me, though stops when a flame sprouts by his feet. “Behave, Witchy.”

“I have no idea what you mean,” she giggles at me. I think about twinking her nose but decide not to in full view of these strangers.

“I-we would like for you to share a campfire with us,” he states uncertainly.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous with the Bobbies and whatnot,” I inquiry.

“Not with the others, and you here.”

“Hmm, I wouldn’t be too sure. That hasn’t kept them away so far.” I cringe and back a little as realization dawns on Nessa’s face.

“But we’ve been attacked by them nearly every night, and that’s without a ringleader. Nate? What is he talking about?” I groan and curse every possible descendant of the man if I don’t make it out of this alive.

“I didn’t see the point of stressing you out.”

“Nate.”

“It’s why I keep us moving. They shouldn’t be chasing us like they are.”

“Has it been like that the whole time?”

“No,” I yell. “I would have told you by now, a couple of weeks back, the numbers increased. Remember?”

“Vaguely.” She stalks towards, and for a second, I think of every scenario to get out of their relatively unscathed. I hear a muffled ‘man’s dead meat’ and can’t help wrenching my head back in Dewitt’s direction. It didn’t sound like him but when I find him…

Nessa looks in the direction I was glaring down, and while she’s busy, I wrap my arms around her waist. She tries to back out of my hold but doesn’t break it, leading me to lay my head on her neck.

“By the High Spirits, I swear you’re worse than a puppy sometimes.”

“Am not.”

“If you say so, but we’re talking about this later, Nate. I’m serious.”

“Whatever you want, Witchy.” I look over at Dewitt, and lucky I don’t have to articulate anything to get to start talking again.

“What had meant earlier is to simply share a meal, or at least share blessings as Nate has eaten already.” I nod, agreeing with his words.

“And you’ll just...let us go, no fuss.” She finally breaks my hold but leans against my chest, butting herself between us.

“It’s a way of saying we plan on crossing paths again.”

“Hmm,” she looks back at me, but I just shrug my shoulder half-heartedly, which she rolls her eyes at, “fine. But you can’t look for us to ‘cross paths’. It has to be Nate’s choice or coincidence.”

“We can agree with that.” I narrow my eyes at his words. No even gonna deny it was me they wanted. “Now let’s get this over with then we’ll fix the truck for you.” I roll my eyes but jab Vanessa forward. Will maybe things will start to look up after all.

----------------------------------------

“Now remember, try not to go traveling South for much longer.” Samuel is hanging outside of my side. He looks tense and reluctant to let me.

“Let’s just say that people are known to go missing that way.”

“Sorry, but that’s pretty normal, dontcha think.”

“Perhaps but not like this. I know powerful men and women went in large groups, and not one has come back.”

“Hmm suppose I’ll be careful.”

“Thanks,” he sarcastically drawls. “Besides, your mama would kill me dead if something happened to you now.”

“Huh, I don’t suppose she told you to keep me there at all possible costs?”

“Then I don’t have to tell you. Don’t be a stranger, kid.”

“Yes, Sir.” I give him the two-finger as we pull off. I admire the crescent moon as we drive through the night. The air had a chill that I sought to calm my whirl of thoughts. She’s going to be here, and I’m going to have to make a choice. Not more than twenty minutes pass before Vanessa breaks the silence.

“Are you going to explain now?”

“Bobbies, especially ones Rot inflicted have this need for...I don’t wanna say pack but somethin’ of that nature.”

“I’m aware. You’ve told me this already.”

“Hmm, but the problem is that unless they’re the confrontational kind or fuckin’ crazy, they stay to themselves. Not these ones we’ve been encountering. Honestly, it doesn’t make any sense.” I draw a knee up and lay my chin down.

“So, what does this mean?” I open my mouth to answer her as our car is suddenly skidding to the side. I look at Vanessa, but all her jerking and yanking doesn’t seem to be doing much. We halt to a stop, and all is silent.

“Well that was anticlimactic,” I grit out. Nessa glares at me, and I hold up my hands. She violently pulls on the handle before jumping out of the car. Yes, let’s just leave our only safety. I follow our lead and check on our newly fixed wheels to make sure Dewitt hadn’t cheated us.

“They’re all good,” Nessa calls out. She’s up ahead, gazing up into the sky, and before I have the chance to so much as taking a step, a cord is wrapped around my neck. I grab at it when a strong current of electricity runs through my body.

I seize up and flop to the ground for a second before getting my bearings. I whip my arm at, and someone falls down. Before they can jump back up, I’m on top of them. I chest on slam their head hard on the ground twice. They look dazed, and a trail of blood is flowing from a cut on their head.

I hear Vanessa’s coming near, and I look in her direction. Just as I turn, a hit comes down on my head. I fall over and crawl a bit as dark circles cloud my vision. I only see several boots when I fall into the darkness.