Chapter 43 Chapter Forty Three - A Little Space and Time (1/2)
”Nathan.”
It wasn't the fact his name had been called that had the young man drop immediately the hoe he had been using onto the grass beside the green vegetable patch, but he who spoke it. The smooth, level tone of the voice never seemed too much for his ears and always seemed to pierce through any background noise that might threaten to otherwise overwhelm him. It had been especially noisy the past few days and several times the urge to drive them all from the house rose within him and as if on cue, he would appear and make everything well again.
His eyes met those obsidian ones and his heart skipped within his chest, the thumping within him drowning out all other sounds and the warm feeling within his gut began to spread outwards. The garden seemed that much greener and vibrant around the man approaching him, the last of the late blossoming flowers upon squash vines and closed buds of pea vines all seemed to burst open to greet him. A gentle breeze brushed past the thick, midnight hair which, despite being tamed into a long rope of silk that stretched down his back, danced with the touch of the wind. Nathan's fingers itched to touch it.
”Nathan,” Ren Zexian said softly once more, calling for Nathan's attentions and waiting as his pretty eyes shifted in focus. The boy blinked a few times and managed to maintain eye contact with the older man for a few more seconds before instinctively glancing aside. Ren Zexian still felt pride swell within him, for the young man was able to connect with him for longer periods of time each day, while with others, even young Lucy, who was standing close by pulling tufts of grass from the flower bed, he could not meet their eyes for more that a handful of seconds.
”Nathan, I will be leaving shortly,” Ren Zexian told him and suddenly, the world looked a little more grey. Ren Zexian had already mentioned to him that he would be joining a few of the others and leaving the mansion for a couple of days or so. This expedition counted as important for supplementing their winter supplies. Not only that, Ren Zexian wished to bring to him new seed for his garden that in the spring, he could expand and grow more. There were even other gardens that they would be looking after in the future.
Nathan's imagination was not rich. However, he had a dream in which Ren Zexian working in the soil beside him with freshly budding plants eager to spread their first leaves against their fingers and his thoughts even extended to allow quiet little Lucy with her watering can to aid them and Aslan digging holes in order to break up hard ground for seeding. Dogs dug holes sometimes, didn't they? Yet, not being able to see Ren Zexian, even for one day, this caused an ache in his chest that he did not know how to deal with. He'd tried taking a couple of paracetamol the day before, but the ache never went away. And now Ren Zexian had said the time had come; he was leaving.
”I'll be back before you know it,” the man was saying, sensing that Nathan was not really receptive to his words. He sighed, also not wishing to separate from the boy, but to a man of his many years, these days would pass within a heartbeat, thus he could not understand why Nathan was so quick to retreat inside himself over this short period of time. His hand extended, longing to reach for the boy and reassure him, but he paused with an inward sigh and instead bent his knees to ruffle Lucy's tangled nest of hair.
The little girl looked up at him, before glancing at her big brother, who was picking up his abandoned hoe, and quickly grabbed the handing messing with her hair. She then reached for Nathan's free hand, which was almost snatched away in surprise, before bringing both together. The men looked at their touching hands for a brief moment before their fingers tangled together contentedly. Little Lucy nodded her head, feeling pleased with her small self before skipping away.
*****
Before the sun had reached its zenith, the squad left in the large truck. Since road safety laws are pretty much useless in a world where there is no one around to enforce them, most of the squad sat in the back of the truck. The vehicle had once ferried goods around the country, but had been abandoned upon a length of duel-carriageway that linked many towns in this part. Alas, it had been on a return journey, so instead of being filled with anything useful, it was empty barring a bit of packaging and cardboard when Jonah's men had claimed it.
Still, its size and the healthy tank of diesel had been its positives and even now, there was half a tank remaining before they would need to find more fuel or resign it to parts and a storage space. For now, it zoomed down the quiet stretch of road, smashing into the odd, wandering zombie that the noise attracted into its path. Jimmy flipped on the windscreen wipers only to smear the green-grey flesh across the glass and had to rely on water from the jets to gain some visibility.
”The plan is,” Jonah was reminding them, ”to hit the industrial area to the south of the town. There is a few food-stores as well as places originally for buying home improvement items, garden products and a large clothing store. I'm sure the ladies could do with a few more outfits and Brooke will be needing some maternity wear. The kids are still growing as well, and I noticed that all of Lucy's stuff are boy clothes.”
”How adorable will she look in a dress?!” Jimmy gushed. Tyler almost nodded in agreement, only Monika's words made in pause.