(Four) Bedhead

"Well, I know how to work this all now." Gabriel smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
"No problem." Natt smiled, wiping the sweat on his brow away. "I know we've got something else you'll like. We'll finish it soon."
"Oh?" Gabriel motioned for Natt to carry on while he was getting dressed.
"We're working on full body suits." Natt's smile grew wider, he loved the idea. He handed Gabriel the shirt that had been left in a messy pile with the other clothes Gabriel had removed during the training session.
"Made of this stuff?" Gabriel pointed to the vest he was wearing. "Or made of something else?"
"Of that but we're adding more holo gear. Mark 2 of course."
"Who's working on them?"
"James and I are the only two at the moment." Natt sighed, as though he didn't want to admit it.
"James?"
Natt gritted his teeth. "James is his first name. Shadree's his last name. He won't let anyone call him James. It's something about his past. I don't know. I think it's a little pathetic, if I'm honest."
"Jim Shadree." Gabriel snorted, "Doesn't exactly have a ring to it, does it?"
"Not even slightly." Natt laughed.
The door creaked open and Gabriel turned around. He'd just pulled his trousers on and was relieved to see Kailie looking shocked and incredibly pink.
"There's... Um... I... Err..." She stuttered, stepping back towards the corridor.
"Spit it out, love." Gabriel laughed.
"Um... There's a call. You're meant to go... Um, pick up Rose."
"Wasn't that hard was it?" Gabriel said, pulling his shirt on and buttoning it up. "I'll do it when I'm out of here." Kailie slipped out of the door, her face still bright pink.
"Mate," Natt clapped Gabriel's shoulder, "she couldn't even string a sentence together. How'd you do that?"
"Uh, get a new arm? I think that's what freaked her out."
"Freaked her out, right. 'Cause that's all it was." Natt rolled his eyes.
Gabriel and Natt had actually got on pretty well. Gabriel had learned that Natt's limp was from a shattered kneecap that hadn't healed properly. It didn't cause him any serious pain, it was just an annoyance. And Natt had adjusted Gabriel's new arm, taught him how to use the blades the best he knew how and showed him how the holo function on the body armour worked.
"So," said Gabriel, pulling his jacket on over the shirt, "I'm gonna pick up Rose. How exactly do I do that from here?"
"Walk to the One-Eight-One building, take a left, the second right and then follow the road to the corner and you'll see it."
"Thanks."
"No problem. Just make sure you don't wake her up, she'll kill you."
"Oh yeah? I'd like to see her try." Gabriel smirked, picking up the briefcase that held his new weaponry. "Mind if I leave the bag here? I just don't need it."
"Yeah. I need to take some of my stuff back anyway." Natt smiled, he offered Gabriel his hand. Gabriel took it and grasped Natt's hand firmly. "Try to stay alive."
"I'll try, Natt." Gabriel took his hand back and walked out of the door.
 
Light flooded the room, and Rose found herself being poked. She buried her head under the covers again, hiding from the light, and pulled her knees up to her chest. She clutched the covers tight and squirmed away from the poking, to the other side of the double bed. It was cold this side.
"Wake up Rose." Gabriel laughed, crawling on the bed beside her. He poked her again.
"Don't wanna." She muttered, her voice was muffled by the covers.
"Wake. Up." He punctuated his words with jabs to her ribs. "Come. On. Get. Up."
"I don't want to." Rose complained, rolling over so that Gabriel couldn't poke her ribs.
"Get. Up."
"No."
"C'mon, we've got a meeting to go to." Gabriel tried to twitch the sheets out of her hands.
"You told me to sleep." Rose moaned, batting his hand away.
"Six hours ago." He sighed.
"I got four hours."
"Idiot." He sighed, pulling on the covers again.
"Baka." She muttered, dragging the covers over her head and holding them there. She felt safe in the dark.
"I know what that means." He poked her again, pulling the covers out of her hands.
"Good. Baka." She muttered, opening one eye and looking at him. "It's too bright."
"I'll drag you out of bed." Gabriel threatened and, ignoring her protestations, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her across the bed, over to him again.
"No! Let go of me! You dick!" She squealed, very aware that she was dressed in just shorts and a vest.
"You have amazing bedhead." Gabriel smiled. He ruffled her hair and sat on the edge of the bed. "Now go get dressed, we're going to Rio."
"Yeah, I know." Rose brushed her hair back into place with her fingers and walked to the wardrobe. She opened it up and was greeted with an array of clothes. "So, smart or smart casual?"
"I don't know." He shrugged, not really waning to answer.
"Choose." She snapped.
"Smart."
"Dress or skirt?" She turned to him, running her fingers along the different garments in the wardrobe.
"This is a trick question." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Isn't it?"
"Just choose. I'm too tired and I'm sure as hell they'll hate me no matter what I look like." Rose sighed, pulling out various items of clothing and holding them against her body. She took out several different coloured skirts and a few dresses.
"True. Go for dress." Gabriel nodded, "They look good on you."
"Long?" She asked, slotting a skirt back into its place.
"Hell no."
"Colour?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Red?" He shrugged, unsure of what was the best answer. She was a woman and they all had problems with any answers he gave.
"No... Blue." She smiled brightly, pulling out a short blue cocktail dress. It was strapless and ruffled, it ended halfway up her thighs and left very little to the imagination.
"You wear too much blue." Gabriel pointed at the crumpled suit and shirt that lay on the floor beside the bed.
"Fine, black."
"But blac-"
"You're never over dressed, or under dressed, in a little black dress." Rose said firmly, pulling out several black dresses from the depths of her wardrobe.
"You're a woman. I'll let you choose the best."
"Good idea."
"It all looks the same to me."
"Unless you can see b***s." She grinned, holding up a dress, "Like it?"
"Yeah. B***s are awesome."
"Yup... Actually, I'm gonna wear this one. And I'll grab some shoes to go with it." She picked a low cut dress that reached her knees. Rose folded it and placed it in an oversized handbag, along with a small purse and a small box from Tiffany's.
"What are you gonna wear there?" Gabriel asked, confused.
"Just a suit. Maybe I'll drop the jacket, they get annoying."
"How about drop the clothes and come to bed?" Gabriel asked, leaning on the headboard and offering her the space next to him. "It could be fun."
"So could almost being killed." Rose laughed, walking to a set of draws and pulling various items of clothing out. She had a growing pile in her arms. "I'm gonna change, I'll be a second."
"You're a woman, I'll give you twenty minutes before I start to get bored."
"That's stereotyping." Rose shut the bathroom door behind her. She quickly got dressed into a white blouse and navy blue skirt. Less than five minutes later, she opened the door again and walked out. "Like it?"
"Looks good on you."
"All my clothes do." Rose said, walking to the wardrobe again and, this time, pulling out a pair of black heels.
"Your clothes look better on the floor."
"Cheeky b*****d." Rose giggled, walking over to the bed and sitting down. She slipped the heels on and looked Gabriel up and down.
"Hey! I'm in your bedroom. What do you expect?" Gabriel shrugged.
"How did you even get in here?" She asked, poking his chest and leaning against him. His body was warm and solid against hers.
"Back door." He grinned.
"That leads to the garden." She raised an eyebrow.
"Climbed the fence."
"It's electrocuted." Rose frowned, noticing the general scruffy look about the suit.
"Didn't feel it."
"What?" Rose was dragged out of her thoughts.
"Didn't bother me."
"You're not human." She sighed, poking at a patch on the jacket that appeared to be burnt.
"You knew that already." Gabriel said proudly.
"You need a new suit for the meeting." She muttered as her finger slipped through the singed material.
"And?"
"I'll have to get one delivered. That's annoying." She drew her hands back and folded them neatly in her lap.
"Why?"
"No one delivers outside their own Zones." She rolled her eyes, as though this was common knowledge when, in fact, it wasn't. Most people hadn't left their own Zones for fear of being turned into one of the infected, so had never realised that tailors didn't send their products to different Zones.
"Ah. Shame." Gabriel frowned.
"Isn't it?" Rose sighed, "Don't we have some place to be?"
Gabriel scratched his chin and his brow creased, "Rio?"
"Yeah, that." Rose nodded, looking up at him.
"What about it?" He asked, happy to be where he was.
"We should go there." Rose sighed, pulling away from Gabriel's body reluctantly. "Work and all."
"We need transport."
"I've got that covered." Rose grinned cheekily.
 
Two hours later, Gabriel was sitting beside Rose in a jet and drinking very expensive scotch. Rose was looking out of the windows; the skies were a beautiful light blue, steadily getting darker as they flew onwards. 
Shadree was somewhere around the corner, bringing up his guts. Alcohol and height hadn't mixed well for him.
"Rose?"
Rose looked up, her eyes unfocused after staring out at the distant clouds for so long. "Mmm?" She smiled after her eyes had focused again.
"How old are you now? I still... I still don't know." Gabriel looked down at his hands.
"Twenty three." Rose twisted her bracelet, "I didn't expect you to remember."
"Oh," Gabriel smiled, "I should've worked that out."
"Hmm, well, you've spent 5 years in cryo, in shock or being prodded by doctors, I don't expect you to remember your name, let alone anything else." Rose laughed, "And you're getting old."
"Hey! I'm not getting old." Gabriel put his glass down and sulked, looking rather hurt.
"Well, physically you're about my age, but you're almost thirty." Rose sighed, "That always confuses me."
"That's weird." Gabriel muttered, a crease forming between his brows. Rose smiled because, as he concentrated, he looked about six. It was adorable.
"Yah, you've got a good physique for an old bloke." Rose joked, "Should get yourself a younger woman."
"Not old." Gabriel pouted. "But a woman would be fun."
"Pft, you're almost thirty. The big three oh. That's old. But, you get paid a fair bit, so you'll have money. That's a chick magnet at the moment. I should know."
"Oh?"
"I've been hit on, proposed to and stalked relentlessly since the war finished and I hit my first billion."
"What?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow, picking up his glass again.
"Mhmm." Rose nodded, "People like money. It distracts them from loving you though."
"Yeah, money does that." Gabriel said, turning the glass in his hand and tapping a short four beat rhythm on it.
"I learnt that the hard way." Rose whispered, almost under her breath. Her eyes regained their far away, unfocused look.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Rose waved away the memories; she laughed brightly, "Just remind me that people aren't to be trusted. And don't let me fall in love again."
"I hate planes." Shadree moaned, looking pale and sickly, stumbling back to his seat from the bathroom he’d been holed up in for the last half an hour.
"We know." Rose smiled, looking over at Shadree as he tried to find a comfortable position in the padded swivel chair.
There was a wooden table in front of them and four red swivel chairs surrounding it. Rose and Gabriel sat on one side, Shadree collapsed in a chair on the other. There were several glasses on the table, with various beverages alongside them.
"Rose," Shadree moaned, "never bring me on a plane again."
"I try not to. Remember when I had to take you to Zone Six? We drove even though it was almost a 12 hour trip." Rose sighed, “It was too long. I just sat in the back and listened to music.”
"It was easier,” Shadree complained “I'd like to drive to Rio."
"Sure," Rose sighed, "do that and get through the most heavily infected battlefields left. We're still trying to clean them out."
"There are Biters still out there?" Gabriel snapped out of his thoughts. He looked vaguely excited and had a childish look of glee about him.
"Yeah," Rose nodded, "and we can't kill them all... I guess they'll die off sooner or later."
"They can't breed, can they?" Shadree asked, clutching his stomach and looking sickly pale.
"No," Gabriel shook his head grimly, "but we can."
"I know we can." Rose said, her eyes latching onto Gabriel's, "But, what if there's a cure; a vaccination of sorts; one that'll keep the future safe?"
"I guess." Gabriel smiled, “We could kill off the Biters and let the human race survive.”
"Anyway," Rose snapped, "this won't help us at all. What we need to do is cram all we can about the... Men we're going to meet."

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good chapter. I like the discussion about clothing and life in the chapter. The chapter had the feel of real life and thoughts. Thank you for the outstanding chapter.
Coyote