Opposites Assent by Stephani Hecht

Author:Stephani Hecht
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: gay romance
Publisher: MLR Press LLC
Published: 2016-05-06T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

When Jared came in carrying not one, but three Outwarder bodies, Avis wanted to start crying with Donnie. Not only was he a tech down, but they had yet another wave of typhoid breakout in sector C, one of the civilian units. Not that it was their fault, the plumbing there had needed fixing for months. The work crew just hadn’t had the materials they’d needed to make the repairs. They had made numerous requests to the Councils, but they had not received a single response back, which had become the norm. It was almost as if the Council had decided to forget that the rest of them even existed. Avis was almost tempted to break a rule or two, just to test them.

“Just shoot me now,” Avis groaned.

“We can’t do that. Who would I have around to trade barbs with?” Jared countered.

“Eddie.”

Jared put a hand to his chest. “I would, but alas, his heart already belongs to another. So it has to be up to you.”

“Is that your way of telling me that I’m your second choice?” Avis glared at Jared.

“No. No. You’ll always be number one to me.”

Avis sighed. “Just give me the bodies and be on your way. I doubt I’ll get to them before you get back. We can continue our banter then. Try to find some pudding cups while you’re out there. The kids have been begging for them.”

“So, you’re finally going to admit to it…we banter.”

Avis made a shooing motion with his hands. “Go, but Colleen stays with us.”

“Why is that?” Jared asked.

“Colleen, take a few steps away from the tank.”

As soon as she did, the baby began to scream in earnest. Even louder than when it’d seen the dead bodies of his fellow Outwarders. Putting his hands on his ears, Jared nodded for Colleen to go back. As soon as she did, Donnie let out a final sniffle and giggled, or at least that’s at least what Jared thought what he did, before he settled down.

Several of Jared’s soldiers laughed, but they did turn and leave, which was exactly what Avis needed at the moment. Even having Jared around at the moment would be much. Especially given the sudden turn their relationship had taken recently. It was all so much that Avis’s head was beginning to pound and it wasn’t even noon yet. He couldn’t even take aspirin for the damn thing because the stock was so damn low he didn’t feel right nicking a couple for himself.

“No one would blame you,” Colleen called out.

“For what?” Avis asked.

“I’ve been watching you rub your temples for an hour now. You either have the worst headache in history or a real big grudge against the sides of your eyes.”

“We don’t have that many left. I don’t want to waste them.”

Colleen let out a long-drawn out sigh. “Excuse me if I’m wrong, but don’t you give nearly half of your rations away?”

Avis shrugged. “That’s no big deal. They all need it more than I do. I could live off the protein bars they have laying around down here.

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