“Hours, Hail. You may end up waiting on me, but not for long,” he said as they both moved toward the door of the cafeteria. “And if you’re not out front when I’m ready, I’ll know you decided not to go.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Two tables away from Hail and Feral, Tawny sat with her back to them having a quick breakfast. She’d unintentionally heard every word they said, but realizing they were talking about the place Frenzy was now living, paid particular attention. She’d been hurt and disappointed when Frenzy didn’t come back, butnow she understood why. He thought she didn’t want him. She thought about the times he’d warned her that she was his and that anybody touching her would be in danger. She thought about all the times he flirted with her and she shut him down with biting comments and a lack of interest. “I’m a dumb ass,” she muttered to herself. “Fuck,” she grumbled as she got up and took her tray to one of the cleaning stations and left it there. Fighting the urge to cry, she blinked rapidly and took exaggeratedly deep breaths to get herself under control as she moved toward the door. Irritated with herself, for the sudden rush of tears she was fighting, she realized one thing. The last thing she wanted was to be surrounded by a hundred of the Variant as she failed to control her emotions. And in the cafeteria, there were always so many people. It was a gathering place. She had to get out of the cafeteria.
~~~
Later that afternoon, Feral drove his brand new Black, 2026 Jeep Wrangler, 4-door, Sport Utility Vehicle onto the property at Alliance, pausing at both security gates to let them see who he was so they’d let him in, then drove straight to his apartment building and parked outside of it. He ignored everybody watching him curiously, and went right inside, taking the elevator up to his place. It took him twenty minutes to pack his clothes, weapons, and anything else of any value. He stood back and looked at the two duffel bags stuffed full of clothes and shoes, and he even took a uniform and his helmet — one never knew what might happen — and his third duffel bag filled with weaponry, electronics, and computers. He took the time to walk around his apartment trying to find anything else that belongedjust to him. Other than a hairbrush, a toothbrush, and toiletries, there was nothing. It had all been there when he’d moved in.
He took a shopping bag out of his pantry in the kitchen and filled it with all his shampoos and toiletries. His razor, toothbrush and everything else in the bathroom that was uniquely his, carefully wrapping the shampoo and conditioner, and toothpaste to be sure that it didn’t spill while traveling. Then he took another shopping bag and filled it with his favorite snacks from the kitchen, and after considering it for only a second, added his favorite skillet. It made the best steaks and he just couldn’t leave it behind. Then he looped his duffel bags over his shoulders, his shopping bags in one hand, and his skillet under one arm, and stopped in the doorway to look around his place once more before leaving it all behind.
He nodded as he looked around, smiled, then pulled the door closed behind himself.
When he walked out of the building, a few people were admiring his Jeep.
“This yours, Feral?” Vicious asked.
“Yep. Just bought it,” he said as he opened the rear door and put his things inside.
Vicious stepped back and admired it again. “Nice. Really nice.”
“You got the money for it. You want one, go get it.”
Vicious looked at him suddenly, surprised at his words. “I never considered it,” he admitted.
“You should. Life’s too short. You want a Jeep, go get it. You want to go on a trip to see something new, go do it. You want to run naked through Alliance with your junk flying in the air, well, maybe not. But, hey, if that’s your kind of thing, go for it.”
Vicious laughed. “I get it. But maybe not the naked thing.”
“I’m just saying, if you want to see more than Alliance in your life, see it, Vicious. There is nothing that says you can’t.This is not the end of your life. It’s the beginning. And if all you want right now is a brand new car, go get you a brand new car,” Feral said.
Vicious nodded, then grinned at Feral. “Where’d you get this?”
Feral walked around to the front of the jeep and took the customer care folder off the passenger side seat. He flipped it open and took the salesman’s business card out of it, then handed it to Vicious. “Call this man. He’ll set you up.”
Vicious nodded and gripped the card like it was his lucky charm. “Thanks. I got a call to make.”
Feral smiled as he watched Vicious go into their building, no doubt to call the salesman about getting his own Jeep. Then he got in his Jeep, drove it over to the admin building, which also housed the cafeteria and parked it outside. As he pulled up, he saw Hail coming toward him, her own duffel bags hanging from her shoulders, and two smaller bags in each hand as she jogged his way. “Come on, girl!” he shouted as he laughed at the funny faces she made at him as she got closer.
“I’m ‘a coming!” she yelled back when she was almost there.
“You got everything?” he asked.
“There’s not that much that’s mine! Most of it came with the place. I got everything I was fond of, though. Mostly just my clothes, some candles, shit like that. I left most of it for Athena and Storm. I can get more later.”
“How’d they take the news?”
“Athena cried. But she cries at everything right now so I’m not sure how much of it was over me leaving and how much was just hormones. It was really nice to see that she was happy for me, though. She even said she loved me.”
“Athena?” Feral asked.
“Yeah!”
“Damn. I didn’t know she had it in her,” Feral said.
“Come on, she’s not that bad. She’s just hard. She had to be. She felt she was responsible for all of us.”
“She is going to be a mom, so maybe she’s softened up,” Feral admitted as he put Hail’s last bag into his Jeep.
