Frostbite & bruises

Morgan hesitated for two seconds, then followed the tall man. Nox wouldn’t hurt her, she was convinced of that now.

To her surprise, the door was locked with a heavy padlock, but she wisely kept quiet. She would find out what was behind the door in a few minutes.

Her mouth fell open as the door opened and a warm air wafted towards her.

“Take off your coat and hang it on the coat rack beside you.” He said as he closed and locked the door behind her.

Curious, Morgan looked around. She was standing in some sort of corridor, with another closed door in front of her. On the wall to the right were a pair of hooks for lab coats, which to her surprise were also hanging there. Two of the coats were covered in large dark stains that reminded her of mud.

Also hanging between the coats were several pairs of wellingtons, two of which, like the two coats, were covered in mud.

Slowly it dawned on her and her heart began to beat faster.

“Just put on one of the clean coats and I think one of the boots behind it will be a good fit for you as well.”

Morgan quickly slipped from one pair of boots into the other. She put on the old lab coat and followed Nox to the door.

Morgan couldn’t help but gasp as he opened it for her and she could finally see what lay behind it.

Heavy plastic curtains hung just behind the door and she saw that there was a good amount of condensation on them.

“Do you have what I think is in here?” Morgan’s large eyes twinkled with anticipation.

He held one of the curtains aside with his big hand so that Morgan could continue.

A regretful smile appeared around Nox’s mouth as the little woman in front of him clapped her hands in surprise and delight.

Full of anticipation, Morgan walked towards the large containers. She saw that the two men had done their best to grow vegetables, but their hard work had yielded very little.

When she turned back to him, he expected to see disappointment on her face, but nothing could be further from the truth. There was a smile playing around her lips.

“Now I understand where the vegetable came from. But this is not going to be nearly enough to feed all of us.”

Nox looked at her with growing amazement. Why the hell was she smiling? Clearly, he was missing something.

“In our old community, Mads was in charge of the gardeners. She was also the one who exchanged soil samples, seeds and information with other groups during negotiations. That is why she always had two large bags in her dormitory with a variety of such material.... “ Morgan deliberately paused for a moment to let her words sink in with Nox, her smile widening as she watched her words slowly sink in.

“When our settlement was raided, Mads managed to smuggle both bags with her, despite her injuries. You two already made...” And she pointed back with her hand, “..a good start to growing vegetables again!

Hearing her words, a weight fell from his shoulders. This was the best news he had heard in ages, but how was he going to get fresh soil? Tomorrow he would take someone along to the old farms to see if he could find things that could be useful for the new garden....

Morgan’s smile faded when the man in front of her didn’t reply. “Aren’t you happy?”

Nox looked at her in surprise, only then realising that he hadn’t said anything all this time. “Yeah... I was just thinking about how to get fresh soil. I don’t think the soil in there contains enough food to grow anything anymore.”

Inwardly, Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. She would have to take into account that his mind worked differently than hers.

After Nox had closed the door to the vegetable garden, he led her deeper into the factory. It seemed unlikely that she would not be equally enthusiastic about the animals.

And he was right. No sooner had he opened the door to the stable, as he had called the animals’ living quarters, than a cry of pleasure escaped her, and before Nox had a chance to warn her, she darted towards the fat pig, who, to his surprise, reacted just as enthusiastically to the woman. The other three pigs seemed to be quietly waiting for the woman to pay attention to them as well.

A lump formed in Morgan’s throat at the sight of the farm animals. The two men had really done their damnedest to make something out of the thorny situation the world had become. The decision to ask Nox if they could stay here permanently had turned out to be a good one. This only strengthened her resolve to do everything she could to make the cooperation between them work. And so Morgan decided to stick to her side of the deal as well.

After a while, as they walked back to the living quarters, she glanced sideways at the tall, grumpy looking man.

His half-long, tangled dark blond hair was slowly turning grey, as was his long, wild beard. It was hard to see his face through all the hair, but what she saw was a weathered face with a straight nose and high cheekbones. She had already noticed that, thankfully, he had well-groomed teeth. But if she was honest, the body she had seen yesterday had been a relief, well, a relief... if she was completely honest with herself, she had to admit that she had rarely seen such a well-built figure!

“Are you done looking at me like I’m a curiosity...” Morgan’s eyes flew up to meet his and she saw that he was looking at her intensely.

“Ohhh, I’m so sorry! I was just thinking, I... I didn’t know I was staring!” Embarrassment rose to her cheeks and she felt as if a waterfall had spontaneously formed under her armpits.

As if the devil were chasing her, she flew up the steel stairs to the living room and slammed the door behind her, leaving a stunned Nox standing at the foot of the stairs.

“You really know how to handle a women, don’t you, dickhead?”

The sneer did not escape Nox and he slowly turned to face the old man, who looked at him sternly.

Slowly but deliberately, Nox walked towards the man, stopping only when he was almost nose to nose with Steve. “It’s that Morgan asked if you could stay here permanently, and it’s that I could really use the help of the youngsters.... But believe me when I say I could miss you like a hole in the head, old man!”

Totally unimpressed by the words of the much taller and younger man in front of him, the old man leaned over with a fiery stare and jabbed his crooked finger at Nox’s chest. “You’re a lucky bastard! If I had been a younger man, I would have shown you every nook and cranny of this factory! When I was in the army, we used to eat little boys like you for breakfast!”

Nox looked at the old man with squinted eyes. “Commandos or Marine Corps?”

“Neither...” Haughtily, Steve looked at him. “SAS... Who dares Wins!”

Grinning, Nox took a step back, pleasantly surprised by the old man’s bravado. “Since there are no more planes in the sky, you are grounded for now, old man...” and turned to walk up the stairs.

“Better be on your guard, frog.” Surprised, Nox stopped and looked over his shoulder at Steve, who was grinning at him.

“Only navy guys walk around like they have a stick up their ass!”

Nox shook his head and walked on. The old man might have been a nosy old fool, but nothing got past him.