I collect the pictures and take a shower

Your mind is fuzzy with memories of recently exercised sex. Scarlet’s phantom lips wrap around your flaccid cock, forcing your nerves to tingle and your penis to become erect.

In the dark, you happily let yourself flex and throw beneath the covers of your cot. You roll to your back and consider touching yourself when you hear movement beside you. You can just make our Scarlet’s tired voice reach out to you. Slowly, you become soft again, and you keep your hands behind your head, staring upward at the rocky ceiling, now invisible without the lights.

Somewhere else, Alexandra is sleeping, but she’s kept to herself after getting out of the shower. No small talk or sly comments, just self-doubt and confusion. Scarlet didn’t seem too pleased with what happened either, but she said she’d catch up with you in the morning, which entailed a possible confrontation that you weren’t looking forward to.

Rolling to your side, you stare in the direction of Scarlet’s cot. You can’t see her, but somehow you feel her eyes on you. You reach out in the darkness, half expecting to feel her fingertips, but it’s just cool unforgiving cave air.

You sigh and retract back inside. You didn’t expect guilt for tricking Scarlet, but it was a tinge nonetheless. That weird kink and crush of being with her have made your post-nut clarity a touch cloudier than you’d like. When you fall into slumber, you find it deep and heavy, unable to wake up until you’re shaken awake in the morning.

Jordyn is standing above you, already prepped for the day with curly blonde locks and her body strapped with weaponry. “Scarlet volunteered you to patrol with you.”

“What?”

“You’re going out on patrol with Scarlet,” Jordyn says. “So, get strapped in.”

The smell of breakfast greets you next, but it was confusion and Jordyn that met you first. You got out of bed and rubbed the tired from your ears, asking what time it was.

“20 past 10,” she says. “I guess you needed the sleep because none of your companions woke you.”

“Oh?” You reached for your bag and fumbled with the straps, searching for the pictures you had taken. You felt them and stowed them further. “Where’s Scarlet now?”

“Getting dressed,” Jordyn says. “It's warm outside. Uhm, well, warmer, I guess. Or, uh, Low teens, negative 10 Celsius, I guess if that’s how you roll?”

“Doesn’t matter to me much. What am I patrolling for?” You dig around, find your wool socks and then reach for your boots. They had long-dried since the last time you had them on, but you had to spank the dust off.

“Your typical everyday trouble makers. Raiders, mutants, and anyone that wears too much red.” Jordyn says, handing you a pair of new gloves.

“Mutants?”

She nods. “I heard you had a pack of runaways recently. Foxes, yeah?”

“First time hearing about it.”

Jordyn blinks and then blushes. “Oh, right. I mean, I guess they’re not that much of an issue then if you haven’t heard anything about it.”

You don’t like its sound, but you’re more concerned Scarlet hand-picked you for patrol. It makes sense, you know that, but at the same time, it kind of unnerves you.

“Oh,” Jordyn gives you a carefully wrapped item in tinfoil. “Eat this before you head out. We already put away the leftovers for breakfast, but I don’t send anyone out on an empty stomach.”

Her friendly gesture is met with a bright smile. You take it and unravel the tinfoil, a breakfast burrito with freeze-dried eggs and sausage inside. “Thanks,” you say to Jordyn. She snaps her finger at you with a quick wink, telling you not to mention it.

…

…

You meet Scarlet outside. The crisp air greets you with a sunny sky reflecting all the snowfall on your face. You squint but find your sunglasses, courtesy of the TC1, and dig your nose beneath the scarf wrapped around you.

Snow crunches under your boots, and your grip on your **** rifle feels a little loose under your gloves. Steam emits from the cracks of your face wrap as you scan the area before you. Snow drifts stand 20 feet tall in places. Near the exit, three men approach you, and you exchange greetings.

“Snowshoes,” one says.

“Or skis?” Asks another.

“Uh, snowshoes.” You reply.

The last one in the cave curses. “Fuck. No one ever picks the skis.”

You take the snowshoes just as Scarlet comes in, puffing out a cloud of smoke from her cigarette. She snuffs the orange filter against the rocky wall. Her blue eyes are icy, and the cloud that trails between her lips is drawn out. The color of her nose matches the title she’s given herself, but it doesn’t at all match the gaze she regards you with.

She points at you with a map and nods her head towards a well-covered trail. “You ready?”

You roll your cotton-covered fingertips along your M16A1. “Yeah, I’ll be right behind you.”

“No,” she quickly chases you with. “You take point, and I’ll cover your rear.”

Experience told you you shouldn’t, but your want to trust her told you to follow her instructions. So, that’s what you do.

Quiet fell over your small column when you hiked the designated patrol route. There aren’t any birds to keep your moods high or keep your thoughts away from the task you didn’t even volunteer for. Every so often, you’d turn around to see how far Scarlet was from you, but you’d find her never further or closer than 15 feet. Her eyes are constantly on you.

You went on for another couple of minutes until you finally broke down. “Alright, what’s going on?”

Scarlet stopped, still maintaining her distance from you. “You ought to know.” She sighs.

“You **** me last night, didn’t you? Along with Alexandra and took pictures of us,” she continued. “I know what you used, too.”

You stood in silence, watching her weapon more than listening to her words. “The pills you used were red, weren’t they?”

You nod. She pressed on. “Did you have any idea what they were going to do?”

“I had an idea. I didn’t expect to go as far as it did, though,” you shamefully admit. “I especially didn’t expect you to get so…submissive.”

She shakes her head, finally taking her eyes off of you. “That's beyond the point. What are you going to do with those pictures? You better tell me the fuckin’ truth.”

“Just to…have something against Alexandra.”

“What about me? You took pictures of me specifically.”

You open your mouth to say something, but you step back instead. The next thing you say might be the last thing you can utter. You bite the insides of your mouth and clear your throat.

“Spill it,” she says, adjusting her stance slightly. “Just tell me, Warren, don’t do anything stupid now.”