Chapter 14
Alex
Alex’s natural alarm clock woke him after several hours of the dead to the world sleep. He had slept far too long and too deep for the situation they were in. He felt Layla’s head leaning on his shoulder, her eyes closed but her at attention beside him, sharing the heat and sleeping bag as a blanket. He brushed the long braid over, bringing her back to full awareness, blinking at him slowly.
“Get some sleep.”
“I got some cat naps. Nothing came in.”
“I can see that, but you should have woken me back up.”
“Isn’t it better you got the sleep now before we go to full-out battle?” He paused to think about it and gave a slight nod. “Besides, I will sleep now, and once this is done, I am going to sleep for hours in a comfortable bed with room service.”
“Room service?”
“Hell yeah, I want room service, a huge bed, sex for days, and sleep. I think that is the plan once we’re out of this.” He gave a short chuckle.
“Fine, I will figure out how to get that once we are done. Get sleep. I will start making the traps.” He kissed her on the cheek before grabbing a protein bar. He started outside to patrol the area, learning the landscape to add traps and wires and set up for the worst-case scenario. He knew which places had blind spots, pulled off several parts of houses to eliminate the blind spots, and finding it harder to hide. He found places to hide extra knives, bullets, and guns if the situation became complicated. He made two crows’ nests to cover the area, seeing the excellent sightlines and where he might be able to handle Clark from a distance with a single bullet. Alex didn’t think that was likely, but there was a small hope he could finish this at a range.
The area held dangerous zones, old houses ready to fall, shelters of rotten wood that were prepared to break apart with a small weight, all dust-covered except where he roamed around. By noon, he had the area bright, dust, and dirt removed or pushed aside, so as not pointing out every trap in the sand. It was dirty work. Stopping for food and water, he woke Layla to make sure she knew where everything was, including extra weapons and traps. He took her to show her the additional hiding places, dangerous areas laid, and how to avoid zones ready to explode with weight. It would be a mess if they head to run around the field, but it was a hazardous area they knew better than the opposition.
Layla began to help as the day progressed, heat and exhaustion taking them before the sun descended. They would start again in the morning, after the call to the General that they had arrived. This gave them another night away from the danger, a night to be together one more time before everything started. Through this, they found a way to be together, joining quickly in a rush of desire neither were expecting but had learned to go with it. Curling into his arms, Layla began to fade as the first trap with bells was set off.