Story Arc Two: Consolidation and Fortification

A/N: Hello everyone. I hope you all had a great time enjoying your New Year's. I had a vacation for some much-needed rest, and it was great, but I have missed writing for this one so, I hope you enjoy the opening chapter for Story Arc Two. It should be way shorter than the last one now that I have my outlines for the future of this arc way more developed than my outlines for arc one were at the time I started writing for that one. But regardless, I hope you like the ride ahead, and if so, please remember to leave some comments when you can.

Michael's POV

You wake to the first pale fingers of dawn stretching across the ceiling. The space beside you is empty, the sheets cool, but the sound of running water from your shower starting all of a sudden quickly explained the absence. You lay still for a moment, the quiet hum of the building a backdrop to the vivid, visceral memories that were resurfacing.

Clara’s wide, stunned eyes. Jane’s hungry, approving gaze. And Sergeant Foreman...Elizabeth...her transformation from a focused soldier into a woman of pure, wanton need beneath you, her mouth busy on Jane while you pile-drove her to oblivion. The images flash, bright and hot, and you feel a corresponding warmth low in your belly. A slow, contented smile touches your lips as you exhale, the sound loud in the quiet room. Your plan to reward the good sergeant had turned into…more than you’d initially anticipated. The trust, the surrender, their shocked faces morphing into delight as you expanded their respective sexual limits...it was a lot.

Certainly quite a memorable foursome too, and not just because it turned out to be your first one.

The shower abruptly cuts off then. A couple of minutes later, the bathroom door opens, and air starts carrying the clean scent of soap. Elizabeth steps out, a large blue towel wrapped around her torso, another scrubbing at her short, dark hair. Drops of water cling to her shoulders and the line of her collarbone. She’s efficient, already mostly dry.

“That was quick,” you say, your voice still rough with sleep.

She shrugs, a practiced, economical motion. “Two-minute shower rule. Part of our training to get clean, get out, conserve resources, and maintain readiness,” she says by rote without skipping a beat, then seems to remember the context when she blinks rapidly while looking at your nude form on the rumpled bed...the memories hanging in the air.

A faint blush colors her cheeks, visible even in the dim light. She shifts her weight, the towel slipping a little, giving him a clearer view of the droplets of water on her bare areolas. “Did you…I mean, was it…did you enjoy it, Commander? Last night? As much as I did?” She asked in a rush, her usually concentrated tone softened by genuine vulnerability in her voice and in her gaze.

You push yourself up on your elbows. The sight of her there, clean and damp and a little unsure, sends a pulse of fondness through you. It’s a different kind of attraction, softer than last night’s hunger but no less real.

“Come here,” you say, your voice gentle.

She pads over, the carpet muffling her steps. You reach out, hook a finger gently under her chin, and tilt her face up. You press a kiss to her forehead, lingering for a second. Her skin is warm and smells of plain soap. “It was a wonderful night,” you murmur against her skin. “One I know I’ll cherish for a long, long time.”

You feel her tense muscles relax under your touch. When you pull back to look at her, the relief in her eyes is unmistakable, mixed with a dawning happiness. You lean in again, this time capturing her lips. It’s a soft, lingering kiss, tender and appreciative. She responds eagerly, her hands coming up to rest on your shoulders, the damp towel forgotten.

But as the kiss deepened and her body leaned into yours, you felt the dangerous, seductive pull of the moment, the temptation to tumble her back onto the blue sheets and lose the morning. You suppressed a sigh before breaking the kiss, resting your forehead against hers, the both of you breathing a little faster.

“As much as I would love to pick up right where we left off,” you say, your voice low, “we’ve got a daylight budget to consider.”

She lets out a tiny, frustrated sigh, a pout forming on her lips. It’s such an un-Sergeant-like look on her that you couldn't help but chuckle.

“I coordinated with Parvati, Melissa, and Jade last night during the feast. They’re going to be setting up a proper communal breakfast in the social area. It’s important. We need to plan the day and assess our position after yesterday’s…” You trailed off for a moment as you searched for the right word before nodding to yourself, "acquisitions. After all, every hour we waste is an hour we’re not finding ways to make this place more secure, not finding more supplies, or not preparing for what’s next. And while carefully clearing out the nearby apartment building of zombies before cataloging all the valuables and supplies inside we could use will likely consume most of our day, I still think you had the right idea about eventually organizing an armed party to go salvage solar panels, batteries, drones, and such from Barnes' old store and depot." You said, reminding her.

You took a deep breath and caressed her still slightly damp locks of hair softly.

"So, let's do our best to wipe out the nearest threat in that tower across the street so that we can properly barricade the only road leading to our little hill. Once our position is more secure and we have doubled both our living space and our storage space potential, we can start thinking about making plans to ensure we are self-sufficient when it comes to our electrical power generation too. But until then, daylight hours are even more precious than usual, so the less time we waste without earning it in advance, the better."

You see the shift in her immediately as you finish. The mild pout of frustration vanishes. Her spine straightens, and her gaze clears, focusing on you with renewed professional intensity. The dedicated soldier reasserts control over the horny woman. You raised an eyebrow momentarily at that, feeling impressed at her swift but strong shift in concentrated focus.

“Understood, sir,” she says, the title somehow feeling both formal and intensely personal now. “I’ll get dressed and wait for you.”

She gives you one last quick kiss, which you gladly returned, before she broke away and started picking up her neatly folded clothes from a chair. You swung your legs out of bed and shook your head slightly. As you went to shower, you watched her for a second while she pulled on her pants with swift, precise movements, already looking like she was mentally cataloguing the day ahead. The contrast was striking, and you found yourself profoundly pleased. She was incredible yesterday, and not just in bed. You had no doubt she would be of great service again today.

The shower water is lukewarm, but it does the job, sluicing away the last remnants of sleep and the pleasant musk of sex. You scrub quickly, your mind already leaping forward to the meeting: the faces around the table, the suggestions from the members of the group stemming from their different areas of expertise, and the endless, critical calculus of survival and growth.

You step out before long, doing your best to emulate her style of a quick and efficient shower, though still taking about a minute and a half longer than her, maybe a bit more. You shrugged to yourself but decided it was now in your best interest to be faster and more economical with your running water supply, so you might as well do your best to improve there. Soon, you dry yourself off and decide to dress in a clean dry-fit T-shirt and some matching dark blue sport shorts, thinking of aiming for agility and ease of movement as you tie the laces of your running shoes, not knowing how many zombies they were going to find within the Vista Nova tower.

When you emerge from the bedroom, Elizabeth is waiting by the door, dressed and ready, her posture alert. She hands you a canteen of water and a protein bar she must have retrieved from her own pack. “In case the breakfast isn’t ready yet, sir,” she says.

You take them, your fingers brushing hers. “Thank you, Elizabeth.”

A small, professional smile touches her lips at your use of her first name. And so, together, you step out into the hallway, leaving the intimate sanctuary of your bedroom behind. You walk down the hall, your footsteps echoing, your mind clearing and sharpening with each step. The warmth of the night remains, but it’s banked now, a fuel for the day’s work. You have people to lead, a position to fortify, and a future to improve.

"Time to earn your next sex marathon for later today, Michael," you thought to yourself with an almost imperceptible nod. "So, let's get to work."

A/N: Just so you know, I should also have the next chapter and the next of the new character bio list chapters for the new recruits of the last arc ready to post soon after I expand it a bit more.

I have been told by several of you that they have been helpful to keep the cast straighter, so yeah. Trying to see if I understand the instructions properly to link up the old character bio chapters and the new one to bring them up to the beginning of this arc and access them more easily, instead of them being scattered and buried under much older chapters, though, since I hadn't done that for my branch yet.

Regardless, thanks for reading, and until next time.