Gravewalkers: Dying Time (39 page)

Critias questioned Jack,
“So what do we normally do when not foraging? I’m not used to
having free time on my hands.”

“
You can help anyone do
whatever job amuses you,” Jack suggested. “I won’t assign you any
scheduled work shifts though. You have to get your rest and be
razor sharp for commanding your truck. There is no room for even
small mistakes, especially if you’re going to command a crew. All
their valuable lives are your responsibility and so is the
equipment. You need to be thinking about that, studying maps, and
making backup plans to your emergency plans. You and Carmen are
aces. Your rescue in the Rhino with Jim proved that even before
your cakewalk through Houston. Even the best knife dulls from
overuse. Enjoy the rest time you get while it lasts. Times will
come when you will be missing it sorely.”

Carmen yawned
sympathetically after Critias did it first. She did it with a sort
of magnetic attraction that caused her to lean closer in his
direction.

“
Maybe you two should get
some sleep,” Jack advised. “You’ve been out for twenty-four hours
and still up.”

Critias confessed, “I am
exhausted. I could sleep until dinner.”

“
Take a shower first,”
Carmen commented not meaning to be rude.

He sniffed at himself, “We
both showered just a little while ago.”

“
You smell like a
scoundrel,” she assured him. “You positively reek of
it.”

Tony had to laugh, “That’s
a new one on me. What’s a scoundrel? Is that like a smelly
pirate?”

Carmen played a domino and
was about to clarify, but she lapsed into uncharacteristic
confusion not knowing herself what she meant.

Critias saw her discomfort
and it made him worry that the upgrade was harming her, “Are you
feeling alright?”

“
I don’t know a word for
it,” she answered in deepening confusion. “I’ve never been at a
loss for words before. You smell rapscallion,” she decided. “The
scent is inviting yet with a hint of danger behind a mischievous
smile. I don’t know why I never noticed it before. You stink like a
man.”

Tony Banjo chuckled more,
“Unless it suddenly got cold in here, I would say that Critias’ new
cologne is working wonders.”

“
I am not wearing any
cologne,” Critias said before he finally caught Tony’s meaning that
led him to noticing that Carmen’s dress did little to disguise the
proudly jutting points of her hardened nipples.

“
It seems so familiar to
me,” she said leaning over to sniff at his neck.

He offered her his hand to
go, “You will have plenty of time to figure it out. I really need
some sleep.” He yawned again to prove it and that triggered
Carmen’s own yawn and a compulsion to take rest.

“
I’m sleepy too,” she took
his hand to get up. When she held it for a moment, the texture also
perplexed her, “Your hand is so rough compared to mine.” She seemed
to complain before she smiled and brushed his hand against her
cheek, “How do you get rough hands wearing your armor?”

“
Scoundrels are like
that,” he pulled her up to come along.

“
Nice job on your cow,”
Tony Banjo said as they were leaving. “Now I’ll need a whole herd
of goats to win some respect around here.”

“
Goats or no goats,”
Critias told Tony, “you’re still the best damn Forager Captain that
ever snarfed a can of pork and beans. I heard that sang about you
somewhere.”

“
I did when we first met,”
Tony reminded him. “That’s irrefutable truth just the
same.”

Critias held Carmen’s hand
as they walked home. She was silently thoughtful so he did nothing
to interrupt her. Once they were in their small apartment, Critias
undressed for sleep genuinely exhausted.

“
I know you don’t need to
sleep,” he told Carmen while she stood at their door lost in her
confused thoughts. “That’s all I am going to do, so if you prefer
to do something else, I will understand.”

“
I do want something,” she
replied with a frown. “Something must be wrong with me because I
want to do something bad and it scares me. I think I want to force
myself upon you in a bad way.”

Critias guessed that there
was a problem with Kevin’s upgrade that allowed her to decide for
herself what she liked. It seemed to torment her and perhaps was on
the verge of serious problems. He chose to hear her out before he
would tell Kevin to remove it so she could be at peace. “What do
you think forcing yourself in a bad way means?” He hoped she was
just confused and didn’t know what she meant. In truth, he
preferred what she said over having her tell him that she wanted to
leave him or go to another man.

“
I don’t want to share a
bed with you,” she admitted sadly because she didn’t want to hurt
his feelings. “I want to hold you down and correct you by force,
without taking pleasure in it though.”

“
Any particular reason
why?”

“
Your fingernails are
ghastly,” she accused with a staunchly pointed finger. “I have this
overwhelming urge to hold you down then clip them by force.” Carmen
admitted her intentions with distress, “I would not enjoy it at
all. I want to force you because they make me hate you.”

Critias laughed in relief
because no android under directives would ever dare complain about
their master’s hygiene. “You don’t have to hold me down. My
fingernails are fit for a ghoul. I will trim them right
now.”

“
Don’t you see that it
means I don’t love you anymore?” She sighed, “How can you have
irritating defects that disgust me?”

“
Bring me my clippers,
please. I have many imperfections. Just because you see me for who
I really am doesn’t mean you don’t care about me
anymore.”

She brought him his nail
clippers from his shaving kit, “I don’t like your haircut either,
see the barber about that.”

“
I will do that the next
time I’m out,” he pledged while he trimmed his nails short and
sprinkled the bits in a trash bin. As his nails diminished, so did
the distance that Carmen kept away from him.

Once he was finished, she
sat down beside him, “Do you really not mind if I go out while you
sleep?”

“
I mind,” he answered
honestly. “For a while now I have been looking forward to sleeping
with you close beside me, but I understand. I didn’t want anything
else and I won’t be awake for long. You could just indulge me and
then sneak away.”

His sentiments brought back
her smile and she got up to turn off the light. She undressed then
crawled into bed against him. Critias had no intentions on Carmen
besides her company. She fell asleep with her usual contentment
even faster than he found it himself.

Book Two: Executive
Decision

Chapter 1: Conquest of
Kingdoms

A knock on the door of his
small apartment in King’s Tower awoke Critias. It was afternoon, a
few hours before suppertime. He had to push off the contentedly
sleeping Carmen so he could get up. Critias opened the door on Jim
who waited out in the hallway to hit Critias with a most
unanticipated invitation, “Do you want to come with me to
assassinate the President?”