Warren stepped into his dad’s old workshop and kicked off his shoes. They were caked in dirt, and he didn’t want to track the mess inside. He then stopped as he realized his clothing wasn’t in much better shape. The hours spent digging the mass grave for the aliens had left him covered in grime. And he had a feeling he didn’t smell too great either.

  Before he started dinner, he needed to clean himself up. But he didn’t want to waste precious fuel in the generator to take a shower. Instead, could use the nearby a stream to wash his clothing and take a quick bath.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  Valentina glanced up from a dog-eared magazine she was reading. She looked a bit pale, but no worse for wear. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to take a quick bath down by the stream.”

  “Mind if I come?” Valentina pushed herself into a sitting position. “I’m not feeling all that fresh.”

  “I don’t think you should be taking a bath in your condition.”

  “What?” she continued with a smile. “Are you afraid I’m going to melt or something? Come on, let’s go take a dip.”

  “I… uhh… was planning on washing my clothes as well.”

  Valentina walked past him and patted his shoulder. She leaned close to whisper in his ear. “Me too. It’s not like I didn’t serve with other guys out in the field. I don’t mind being naked around others.”

  Kassandra, who had entered the room a second behind him, stopped short. Her eyes widened slightly at the green beret’s words. “Maybe we should turn on the generator for a shower?” she said. “I don’t think either of you should be running around in the dark.”

  Warren considered her words. Assuming his dad had left the generator fully fueled, it wouldn’t burn too much gas to turn it on for a bit. Plus, he could fill up all the water bottles once the well pump had power again. As long as they didn’t turn on any floodlights, they shouldn’t draw any attention to themselves.

  “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “I’ll head out to the shed to get the generator started.”

  “Too bad,” Valentina said with a smirk. “I haven’t skinny dipped since I was a teenager.”

  Warren could only shake his head. For someone who had fought aliens, been stabbed in the back, and was now battling an infection, it seemed like nothing could faze Valentina. She was a tough woman.

  He moved over to one of the cabinets where he’d seen a flashlight earlier and grabbed it. Then he stuffed his feet back into his shoes and walked out of the workshop. He headed around the back toward the generator shed, which was located a short distance from the workshop at the bottom of a hill.

  After trekking down the hill, he stopped in his tracks at the bottom. He had expected to see the old, beat-up generator shed but instead was greeted by the sight of a brand-new steel building. When had his dad bought a new shed? And how had he afforded it?

  Almost everything else on the property was run down, but this couldn’t be more than a year or two old and looked expensive.

  He wished Lisa was here so he could ask her about this building. As he thought about his sister, he felt a flood of guilt wash over him. While it wasn’t rational, he blamed himself for not being strong enough to free her. More than anything, he wanted to storm back into town, kick some alien butt, and rescue his sister.

  He shook his head to banish the dark thoughts from his mind. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on his sister’s fate. He needed to focus on turning the power on, so he could clean himself up before heading to the Seymour Mountain Resort. The last thing he wanted was for the aliens to smell him coming.

  Opening the shed’s door, he peered into the structure. Inside were rows and rows of what looked like batteries, and a brand-new generator positioned against the back wall. He strode up to the batteries and examined them. What had his father been doing with all these things?

  He followed the wiring stretching across the batteries until he reached a hole in the wall. A thick cable disappeared outside of the shed.

  Intrigued, he left the building and followed the cable further down the hill. As he walked, he found a hidden entrance to a trail. When he moved the brush blocking his path aside, he revealed a clearing with several tall objects covered by camouflage netting. Had his father been involved in something illegal?

  Walking up, he inspected the netting. Like the generator, it appeared brand new. He grabbed the edge of it with both hands and pulled it away to reveal a solar panel on a pole. He frowned as he pulled away the three remaining nets to reveal identical panels.

  “I guess you finally entered this century, dad,” he said with a smile. Though he had no idea why his father had been hiding the solar panels. Then again, theft was pretty rampant up here in the mountains. Maybe he was afraid someone would steal them from him. After all, they were probably the most expensive thing his father had owned.

  The more he thought about it, the more certain he was his sister had convinced their dad to upgrade his backup power. Maybe she had even paid for them herself. It wasn’t uncommon to lose power during storms in the mountains. And a generator wasn’t a long-term solution if the electricity was out for weeks.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Regardless of where the solar panels had come from, his discovery of them meant they had a reliable source of power. And more importantly, they now had access to water. As long as the well didn’t run dry.

  He gathered up the camo netting in his arms and headed back to the shed. Once he stepped inside the entrance, he stuffed the netting in the corner. The ability to hide something might come in handy in the future. Then he turned his attention to the batteries.

  Warren raised the flashlight and inspected the control panel near the doorway. Thankfully, it wasn’t difficult to decipher, and he noted it was turned off. He flipped the switch and stepped back. A bank of lights on the batteries flickered on, filling the room with a quiet hum.

  With the batteries activated, he stepped out of the shed. He shut the door behind him and retraced his steps back to the house. He assumed the batteries were at least partially charged, but if they ran out of juice, they could always recharge tomorrow with the solar panels uncovered.

  When he reached the workshop, he noted light leaking out from inside. But at least the girls had covered the windows as soon as the power came back on. It was smart, since they didn’t want to draw more attention to themselves.

  Warren entered the building and smiled to see the room brightly illuminated. Panels of fluorescent lights had sprung to life and a fan in the corner blew cool air in his direction. He noted Valentina was in the corner, plugging all sorts of gadgets into a power bar.

  At the sight of him, the blond-haired woman shrugged her shoulders. “Might as well charge everything while we’ve got power.”

  “We’re running on batteries right now,” he said. “So, let's not overdo it. I’m not sure how much of a charge we have left.

  “Oh.” Valentina pressed her lips together. But she still tried to stealthily plug in her phone behind her back. “I guess I’ll stick with the basics, then.”

  On the far side of the room, Kassandra stood over the hotplate. She already had something simmering in a pot. She turned to look at him and smiled. “I hope you still like Zooland Noodles.”

  “You’re kidding,” he laughed. “I haven’t eaten those since I was a kid.”

  He walked over and stood beside Kassandra. As he did, the scent of vanilla swirled in his nostrils. How did she always smell so good?

  Kassandra leaned forward to stir the pot, her breasts straining against the material of her tube top. As she did, she exposed the firm valley of her cleavage.

  Warren looked over at Kassandra, his gaze locking with her jade green eyes. Why couldn’t he have returned a week earlier, before all of this? Not only could he have seen his dad, but he could have spent some time with this beautiful woman before the world ended.

  I can’t become involved with her, he thought, breaking their gaze. Not while she’s my minion.

  There was no question that he was attracted to her. And he knew from her confession before her death that she felt the same way. But things were too complicated to pursue anything. After all, she was a card under his control now. As a doctor, he knew the dangers of taking advantage of a position of authority over someone.

  He cleared his throat and took a step back. “I’m going to take a shower.”

  Kassandra gave him a sad little smile, almost like she could read his mind. “I’ll have dinner ready by the time you get back.”

  Warren headed over to the bathroom on the side of the room. Once he was inside, he shut the door and slumped against the wall. Running a hand down his face, he let out a sigh. As if dealing with an alien apocalypse wasn’t enough, now he had to deal with his feelings for Kassandra.

  He peeled off his shirt and tossed it aside. Then he hopped out of his pants. He walked over to the tiny shower and spun the handle to ‘Hot’. He half expected the water to come out ice cold, but it actually emerged from the shower head pleasantly warm. Had his dad bought a tankless water heater as well?

  What was going on with you, dad?

  He finished undressing and stepped into the shower. The hot water cascaded over his body, scouring away the sweat and grime. Not even showers after double overtime at the hospital had felt this good.

  He found some soap in the corner and scrubbed himself clean. By the time he was done, he felt like a new man. It was amazing how a hot shower could wash away all of your troubles.

  Stepping out of the narrow shower, he grabbed his clothing from the floor. He rinsed his shirt first and scrubbed away the dirt with a bar of soap. His pants came next, and he managed to get most of the stains out. Finally, he rinsed out his socks before turning off the water.

  He decided to not clean his boxer shorts, simply because he didn’t have any other clothing. As it was, it was going to be awkward being half naked around the two women. Not that he hadn’t changed in front of female interns before. But this felt different.

  Once he was done washing his clothing, he wrung the out over the sink before hanging them from pegs on the wall. They should dry pretty fast in the heat, especially since it wasn’t overly muggy.

  Warren emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and awkwardly rubbed a hand behind his head. Both of the women fixed their gazes on him, with Kassandra’s eyes travelling down to his stomach, while Valentina cocked her head to the side slightly.

  He walked over to a battered old chair with only a bit of the cushioning still intact. Plopping down, he leaned back and yawned. As he did, Kassandra approached him with a steaming bowl. She handed it to him, her eyes still focused on his stomach.

  She seemed to realize what she was doing and tore her gaze away. A pink tinge spread through her cheeks as she hurried back to the hot plate.

  Was she looking at my abs?

  Warren shook his head and lifted the bowl. He breathed in deeply, the tangy scent of tomato sauce making memories flood back. He couldn’t believe his dad still stocked his favorite meal from when he was a kid.

  He ate slowly, making the food count, since they didn’t have much left. Once he reached the bottom of the bowl, he was about to put it aside before Kassandra reappeared holding the pot.

  “Why don’t you finish this off?” she asked, a warm smile on her face.

  “What about you?”

  She bit down on her plump lower lip. “I… don’t think I need to eat. I mean, I can, but I haven’t felt hungry since, you know…”

  “I’d still like for you to eat. Who knows what your body requires now?”

  Kassandra reached down and touched his hand gently. “When we find more food, I’ll eat. Until then, you need your strength.”

  He was about to protest, but then decided against it. It was a long hike to the Seymour Mountain Resort, and he needed all the energy he could get. And maybe as his bodyguard, she didn’t need food to sustain herself.

  She poured more into his bowl, which he immediately wolfed down. A can of noodles in pasta sauce didn’t fill him up like it used to.

  As he spooned more into his mouth, he glanced over to see Valentina wasn’t eating either. Her bowl sat next to her on the bed. “Aren’t you hungry?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not feeling all that good, doc.”

  At her words, he felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. If she’d lost her appetite, it meant they were running out of time.

  “Kassandra,” he said, standing up. “We’re leaving immediately.”

  It would be hours before his deck was off cooldown, but there was no time to waste. They were in a race against the infection spreading through Valentina’s body, and he may already have delayed too long.