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her
pretty fucking badly.
     

Chapter Five
     
    Rebecca
pulled the ladder up and onto the loft once Collin had cleared it. She moved it
out of the way, and stared at him. Although the loft was small, it was big
enough to have been used as storage when this place had been up and running.
There were a few bales of hay that had been up here when she had first found
it, and although she had thought about tossing them because they stank from
mold and dust, she kept them as a kind of wall for half of the loft.
    “You’ve
been staying here long?” he asked and looked around.
    “A
couple of weeks. It’s served its purpose, and even when a few of the infected managed to find
their way in here, they couldn’t reach me, and didn’t know where I was.”
    He
nodded, walked over to the small window, and looked outside. “It’s not safe
here,” he said almost absently.
    “It
works for me. You’re free to go, though.” She hated saying that, because even
if it was stupid to have brought him here, shown him where she stayed, the fact
was he had saved her life. Sure, those men may not have killed her, at least
not right off the bat, but they would have raped her to the point she would
have gladly welcomed death.
    He
turned around and faced her. The ceiling was high and arched enough that they
could both stand fully straight, but this man was immensely taller than she
was, well over six feet tall. She was not tiny in any sense of the word, or she
hadn’t been before the contamination hit. Before all of this had gone down she
had been full and thick, a healthy size sixteen even. At five-foot-seven she
wasn’t short either, but with the lack of proper nutrition, she felt thin and
frail almost. Now she was trying to keep a size twelve on her without them falling
off. But this man still looked so powerful and strong, like he took care of
himself despite the lack of … everything in the world.
    “It’s
not safe here,” he stated again. She didn’t care what he thought. She had found
this place, lived here for the last couple of weeks, and no one had found her
yet. It was safe, elevated, and she left when she needed things. Rebecca was
familiar with the area, and although she knew that maybe she couldn’t live here
forever because the town would only provide so many supplies, she was afraid to
go anywhere else.
    “Maybe
not, but it’s worked for me so far, and what is left for me out there?” she
asked the genuine question, knowing that unless there was some kind of safe
haven out there where people had banded together, she had nowhere to go.
    He
didn’t respond right away. She watched as he picked up his backpack and sat
down a few feet from her. He took out a small battery operated lantern style
flashlight, and turned it on. It was daylight, and although there was a good amount
of light coming through the holes in the ceiling across from them and the small
window behind Collin, it was still dark in the loft.
    The
glow from the lantern washed the small area in a yellow light. She stared at
his face, and noticed the fact his blond hair was on the longer side, brushing
the tops of his ear, with a disheveled look to it. Despite the fact he had
clearly cut his own hair, it looked good on him. He didn’t look very old, maybe
a decade or so older than her own twenty-seven years.
    “You
hungry?” His deep voice had her coming out of her thoughts. Rebecca nodded, and turned
to grab the tote that she had shoved a few bags of chips into. The bottle of
water she had snagged was next to come out, but when he made a noise, stopping
her, she glanced up at him.
    “We
can eat some of my stash.” He took out a can of baked beans, a package of
turkey jerky, and a small box of crackers. It wasn’t five star dining, but it looked damn good to her.
    She
handed him the bottle of water, and the smile he gave her totally changed his
hard exterior. She noticed it did seem kind of forced ,
though, as if he wasn’t quite comfortable with the