Dead Horizon Ch. 03

~*~Author's Note~*~

Would just like to remind everyone that everything is free for criticism. Again suggestions and ideas are always welcome.

Please remember to rate, and if you feel like it, leave a comment.

*****

-- Country Peace --

The time spent inside the car had been pretty peaceful as they drove. Kaleb, making sure to focus on all possible obstacles on and around the road, while he allowed Stacie to remain asleep. A little over thirty minutes into the drive, Kaleb was pulling the Dodge Ram into the driveway and parking beside his green Ford Explorer. Stacie was just starting to bat those deep blue sapphires open as she felt the truck beginning to slow and finally come to a stop. As everything began to come into focus, those blue orbs started scanning over the more wide open country side scenery as Kaleb opened his door and climbed from the cab of the truck, letting the two pit-bulls out so they could run free around the open yard. Stacie was soon pushing the door from her side open, grabbing the cat carrier and climbed out of the truck.

"Hey Pops." Kaleb shouted toward a slightly older looking gentleman, currently sitting on the front porch of the, white two-story, house off to his left. "Where's Dominic and Celeste?"

"They're somewhere around the back of the guest house, they were taking Zane out for a walk." Kaleb's father replied as he slowly stood from his seat on the porch and began making his way over toward the truck. "So when are you to come around and say 'hi'?"

"I'm here and I said 'hey pops' doesn't that count?" Kaleb commented jokingly, shutting the door to the truck and moved across the yard, cutting the distance between himself and his father.

Still standing beside the truck, Stacie was first to notice the young couple coming up the hill off to her right, holding the hands of a young child no older than maybe two. After hearing Kaleb ask about the two others, she easily assumed the two off in the distance were the two Kaleb had been looking for. As the two of them continued to close the distance, separating their ways toward the truck, before the slightly darker brunette --who she quickly learned was Kaleb's sister-- approached her and began playing a sudden game of twenty questions. The little social butterfly had done well handling the initial; 'who she was, how she met Kaleb, why was she wearing his pajama pants'?

Okay, so maybe she wasn't quite expecting that last question. After quickly thinking it over in her head and completely unable to come up with any sort of -reason- or excuse, she openly and still rather gloatingly, admitted to the amazing night before. As the two of them talked, Stacie had begun taking in a lot of details about Celeste. For starters, Madison stood a mere inch taller then herself, they both shared a pair of dazzling blue eyes though Celeste weren't near as ocean blue and they both kept pretty close to the same structure build, aside from Celeste still carrying a little of the baby weight from when she was pregnant.

"Hey Kaleb. You could have waited until we got home tomorrow to let me know the brakes were finished. You really didn't need to bring it out here." Dominic said as he let go of Zane's hand, letting Madison go her separate way with the small child, as he made his way toward the two vehicles and made his way to where both Kaleb and Henry were currently standing.

"Yeah I know. But I had to test drive it first." Kaleb replied jokingly as Dominic came to join them. "But this isn't about the truck. We need to talk." Kaleb's tone had changed quickly, there was no more joking matters. "Columbus isn't safe. People are becoming sick and acting more aggressively cannibalistic." He finished saying as he began gathering everyone together and leading the way inside the three bedroom, ranch style -guest- house.

Not exactly the first thing Dominic had expected to hear as Kaleb started toward the house, calling the two dogs inside as well. Dominic followed behind the group, shutting the screen door behind him and flipping the small side lock on the door, had finally noticed their newest -addition- to their little household as she carried the cat carrier into the house with her. With everyone now gathered inside the living-room, Kaleb spent the next hour, maybe two, going into detail explaining the events of his weekend and how the world as he --and everyone else for that matter-- knew it had been flipped upside down and shaken up within the last twenty-four hours. By the mid-afternoon, Dominic, Kaleb and his father Henry, began bringing the couple of bags and other items that Kaleb had been able to get out of the house with and set them inside the center bedroom.

Stacie was currently sitting on one of the two single twin beds, furthest from the bedroom door as Kaleb came into the room. "They would stick us in the room with the two twin beds wouldn't they?" She remarked sounding slightly depressed about the situation.

"I wouldn't worry yourself over something so trivial." He replied as his own mischievous smirk began to form over the corners of his lips. "My old man owns pretty much this whole almost twenty acres of land, so we'll have plenty of places to play." He finished saying as he turned around, nearly running over his father, who was just coming around the corner carrying a pretty large, Christmas wrapped, present.

"You would have gotten this sooner if you would come out and visit more often." Henry said as he sat the gift down on the bed before turning his attention toward the young blonde sitting on the other side of the room, who was more then half his own age. If that was his son's new attachment, he certainly had a way with eye candy. "And as my son said. I own both houses, all the land around them and the farm in the far back." He replied to the young blonde before turning and exiting the room.

Kaleb was just starting to tear into the Christmas wrapping as Henry left the room. "I know you'll enjoy it." Was the last thing he heard his father say before he disappeared around the corner. What was buried the paper had nearly caused Kaleb's jaw to drop wide open. After months of asking, Kaleb was staring down a brand new camo painted Barnett Jackal crossbow package with several different bolt tips. With twenty acres of land to play on, Kaleb was soon taking his new toy outside and headed into the large open field behind the two houses. Using the hail bails through the field as targets to check both range and accuracy, as well as how long --without a stop watch-- it would take him to reload it and fire another. Of course the first few pulls took him awhile to reload, but soon he was getting a feel for the tension on the cord.

The early Spring weather was enough to confuse anyone not use to the random change within the climate. Stacie, however, was going to take full advantage of the slightly warmer afternoon temperatures. After talking with Celeste, and being allowed to rummage through the few outfits that she brought with her, along with a few remaining outfits that she still had around the house, Stacie tied up the only bathroom in the house as she began changing. Finally getting to brush the still sex-matted locks of hair out, she finally pulled open the bathroom door. Stepping around the corner, dressed in a pair of blue jean shorts -- which she had rolled the already slightly short legs up more along her thighs -- and deciding to still wear Kaleb's white tank top muscle shirt, she turned the corner and headed into the living room.

Sitting just around the corner, Stacie was soon being greeted by Kaleb's mother Elizabeth, who was finally handing the young child back to Celeste as she stood from her lazy-e-boy recliner. Elizabeth was a much older lady and even through the natural hair dye and makeup, Stacie could still easily pin-point her to be within her early fifties as most. Once again she was being drilled with questions, more of the motherly kind and once again the little social butterfly was doing her best to answer every one of them.

"How old are you? And are you and my son dating?" Elizabeth finally asked as she looked the younger female, standing in front of her, over.

"I'm twenty-one." Stacie replied rather proudly. Although she was beginning to wish she could have taken that back as she watched Elizabeth's reaction, certain she was going to send her into the emergency room.

Stacie was still thinking over the second question, not really sure how she should answer. After a moments thought, she gave the most honest answer she could think of. "With everything that had happened inside the city, we really didn't have a chance to discuss that."

Of course they hadn't, besides she was still 'technically' dating Aaron although she was glad to be away from that sad, ungrateful excuse of a man. Even though she may have been lost in her own thought, she couldn't help notice that she was being led outside.

"KALEB!" His mother yelled almost as soon as they got outside. "KALEB CHARLES PIERCE!" She yelled again, this time using his full name.

From around the corner of the house, only a few yards within the nearly ten acres of field, Kaleb heard his name being yelled. Maybe not the first initial yelling of his name that had come from his mother, but his full name. What did he do now? He couldn't help but wonder as he began gathering all the loose crossbow bolts that he had fired off into the bails of hay. He was just beginning to head back up toward the house when he saw his mother, along with Stacie, heading his way. He might have rode every offered curve Stacie had, but it still didn't stop him from nearly drooling every time he saw her.

"Kaleb Charles Pierce." Elizabeth said again, nearly causing his skin to curl. He hated when his mother used his full name, usually meant she had found out something he had done and didn't approve. "Do you know how old Stacie is?"

Really? His mother had decided to come storming outside and shout out his full name across the yard all because she finally found out how much younger Stacie was. He thought for a moment, trying to come up with the best way to say what he had to say, but still not upset either of them. Quickly turning his attention to Stacie, who seemed to be turning a shade of red from embarrassment and then back to his mother, before finally releasing a soft sigh. "Yeah, I know how old she is and last I was aware, eighteen was legal. So as long as she's above eighteen, which she is, I don't see where this is even going."

"What have I told you about bringing your toys to the house? If you aren't planning on settling down I do not want to meet them!" His mother quickly hissed back.

"It's not like I had much of a choice in the matter. I mean I wasn't going to leave her behind with the city in turmoil. Besides, I might actually settle if my ..."

Stopping himself in mid-sentence, he turned his attention back toward Stacie once again. He didn't want to say something that may either get her hopes up too high, or worse, shatter them completely. He couldn't go back on the decision that he had made -- not that he would want too -- nor did he regret any of the situations that had led him to the choices that he had made. Besides, it wasn't like he couldn't see himself with her and maybe things to grow and become more, but right now it was still too early to tell. Turning his attention back to his mother, he tried to give her a slightly weak smile, still feeling as though she was going to have something more to say about the whole matter.

Imagine his shock and surprise when she hadn't commented any further, but instead simply turned around and headed back up the yard toward the house. With his mother heading back to the house, leaving Stacie and himself alone in the yard, he turned his attention toward her once again. "I'm sorry about that."

"Is that why you brought me out here? Because you didn't want to leave me in the city? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful. But is that the only reason?" She was currently going through an array of mixed emotions at the moment. She couldn't exactly call it love, after all it had only been about twenty-four hours since they met, and even less since their erotic adventure inside his bedroom. But now she couldn't help feeling like all she had been was some eager little college fuck-toy that he was willing to throw away once he was done with her. She wanted to cry, she didn't know why, but she did. Fighting back the stream of tears that were already beginning to form in the corners of her eyes, she lifted her hands to face, in some failed attempt at hiding.

This was the very thing he had wanted to avoid. He didn't know what she was thinking at the moment, but whatever it was, he knew it couldn't have been anything good. Not with the way she was forcing back those tears. Stepping forward a little closer to her, he put the crossbow down on the ground beside him and gently press his hands against her shoulders. When she didn't resist, he pulled her smaller frame in against him, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I gave my mother the most honest answer I could think of. Yes, I brought you with me because I didn't want to leave you in the city. But I also brought you with me, because honestly, I didn't feel Aaron deserved someone near as beautiful and as special as you."

"And what about you?" She asked between soft sobs. "Do you think you deserve me more?" She was finally lifting her head skyward, now talking TO him instead of at him through her hands.

"There's a lot of things that I don't deserve. Do I think I 'deserve' you? To answer that honestly. No. But that doesn't mean, in any way, that I wouldn't like to spend as much time as I can getting to know you and honestly see if we deserve one another as a whole."

That seemed to cheer her up a little bit and at least he was being honest, which was more than she could say about her current boyfriend. Those deep sapphires continued to stare at him as he talked, trying her best to force something of a smile to come to her lips. Suddenly there came another question, one she had managed to ask even before she had a chance to think about what she was asking. "Would you have slept with me, even if I had not been fighting with Aaron when we came over?"

He had to think on that question, either way he answered could very easily land him in the dog house. "I would have much preferred it if you were single." He finally replied after a moments thought.

"Well, I'm single now if that makes any difference. Unless you're planning on taking claim." There came that smile, forming over those plush, pink lips and curling at the corners.

"I already took claim. Not just because you were high and fighting with Aaron. I wanted you the moment you stepped out of your Malibu and I laid eyes on you."

That nearly made her giggle. Standing up on her tip-toes she pressed those pink lips of hers against his cheek, planting a kiss just below his earlobe.

Unwrapping his right arm from around her waist, he lifted his hand and placed it beneath her chin. Gently caressing the side of her cheek, following along her jawline, as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against her own. The two of them remained lip locked for some time, enjoying the taste of one another. But their kiss wasn't built out of lust, this one had become more meaningful and with it even more desirable. Once they had finally broke their kiss Stacie was still staring up at Kaleb, even as she lowered herself to the flats of her feet and took both of his hands into her own, letting them fall freely to their sides as she intertwined their fingers.

The two of them stood beneath the large oak tree for a long moment, in silence. Neither of them able to tell what the other was thinking, but could clearly tell they were. As they stood beneath the tree they both noticed the temperature was slowly starting to drop as the sun began to slowly set behind the horizon. From around the corner of the house, Kaleb easily noticed the fairly large shadow that began heading their way and soon Dominic was coming around the corner turning his attention over to where the two currently stood.

"Hey, you two coming in for dinner or you guys going to stay out here for the night?" Dominic had asked not meaning to intrude on the two of them.

"Yeah, we'll be coming in shortly." Kaleb replied as he was finally letting go of Stacie's right hand and picked up his crossbow.

Dominic was already paces ahead of them when they finally started back toward the house, Stacie doing what she could to rest her head against Kaleb's broader shoulder as they walked. Then came that innocent, yet flirtatious, undertone of hers as she managed to once again peer up at him. "When you going to show me around the farm?"

Was that a wink he had caught as he looked toward his shoulder? He was sure it was, but even if it wasn't, the current mischievous sparkle that came from deep within those sapphires were enough to tell him the kind of tour she wanted. "I'll take you out tomorrow morning. Maybe catch the sunrise too."

They were soon stepping into the back of the house through the breezeway, as the smell of homemade chicken and dumplings fill the air coming from the kitchen. Of course it begged the question of how long had they been out there since his mother had come out yelling for him. With the whole family -- plus one -- there, it wasn't much of a surprise to see his mother standing over the stove, making a homemade meal from scratch. As everyone finished cleaning up and helping where they could, or Elizabeth would allow them to, they were soon sitting around the large cherry oak dinning table, enjoying both the meal before and the company around them. Long after dinner was finished and the dishes had been cleaned, both Henry and Elizabeth were saying their good nights and headed back to the two-story home just across the yard.