"Time for another survival trip," Gabe announced. "Alex, you're coming."

Alex drove them to Bayou Segnette State Park. She parked far away from the family playground, wave pool, and nature trail. The towering oaks spread large leafy arms, forming a wall of green where the forest began.

When the weight of the backpack settled on her shoulders, Alex felt the first pang of unease.

I had hinted heavily about attending their next hunting trip, so no use complaining now. Maybe I shouldn't have insisted on two new tents, mine is heavy.

"Coming?" Gabe asked Alex.

"Hurry up." Rile started walking.

Alex took a last, longing look at the air conditioned car before hitting the trail. The air was hot and muggy, the usual for southern Louisiana.

Gabe set a steady but undemanding pace. Alex felt another pang when he headed off the trail. She felt like an elephant lumbering around, branches crunching under her feet, rocks making her ankles twist. The brothers' footfalls were silent and they never stepped on a branch or turned their ankles. After two hours, Gabe let them stop. Alex quickly uncorked her canteen and drank, but no one else did. A cloud of gnats swarmed around her head and she heard the whine of several mosquitoes. She dug in her pack and sprayed herself with repellent.

"Anyone else need it?" She held out the can.

"Bugs aren't interested in us," Cale said.

Too soon for her feet, Gabe stood and motioned them to go. Alex slipped on her pack straps and hauled herself to her feet.

I wanted to come. I'm really stupid at times.

Alex was hot and sweaty by the time they stopped again. She took a long drink.

"You don't make efficient use of water." Rile looked her over from the top of her rumpled hair to her sweat soaked collar to her dirt caked boots.

"It's a mammal thing." She pushed back sweat dampened hair.

"We'll camp here." Gabe indicated a clear stream rushing over rocks.

I wonder if he overheard.

The brothers had already set up their tent while Alex was still cursing hers. Cale smiled and had hers up in several minutes. He didn't gloat and Alex felt that strange warmth in her chest. She pushed it down until it evaporated.

"There's a knack to these things," he said gently. "I can't build, but I can set up a tent."

Rile pulled out his bow and quiver and looked at Alex. She pulled out a fishing pole. He hissed and turned away.

"We'll meet back here at sunset," Gabe said before disappearing into the forest with his brothers, bows slung over their shoulders.

****

Hours later, they returned with a deer. Alex was grateful it was field dressed. Rile looked at her catch.

"I would have thrown those back," he said.

"I would have, too, but I wasn't sure dinner was coming." Alex glanced at the tiny fish. Gabe had forbidden packing extra food. He didn't know about her stash of trail mix. "I hope you're hacking up that deer, because I haven't a clue. I gathered firewood." She hadn't tried starting a fire.

Let the pros do that.

****

An hour later, Alex decided that camping was too much work, but now she saw why Gabe insisted on these trips. If they lived like this at home, these trips would help them stay in shape, keep their skills.

Once they had eaten and cleaned up, Alex admitted that it was pleasant sitting by the fire. Soon the yawning began and Gabe ordered them to bed. In her tent, Alex's sleepiness evaporated.

What was that noise? Is it getting closer? Why is my leg itching? Is something crawling on it? Was that something rustling in the leaves? What would rustle in the leaves? Bugs? Small animals? Worse?

Alex sat up. The tent seemed flimsy and she crept out.

"Can I come in?" Alex whimpered at the brothers' tent flap. "I think there's something in my tent."

Rile lifted the flap. "Scared?"

"Yes. This is creepy. All this dirt, bugs, and open sky." She pushed past him.

"And fresh air. I can see why you're upset," Rile said.

To punish Rile, Alex crawled between Gabe and Cale, who snuggled close. They appreciated her body heat. "I hope there's a frost tonight, Rile."

She laid her head against Cale's back and she swore that she could feel Gabe's smile pressed against her back. She fell asleep easily with the soft leather around her.

******

"AAAAaaaaa!" Alex jumped and slapped at the crawling sensation on her leg. It was Rile's claw. "Jerk."

"Coward," he replied.

"Rile, start the fire for breakfast." Gabe didn't move.

"Better hurry. There's a chill in the air," Alex said.

It's fun to be petty.

"You like this?" Alex asked the remaining brothers.

"Sure," Cale answered, also not moving. "Agama always sleep in group beds."

"I meant the camping." Alex flushed with embarrassment.

"That, too. We took a lot of hunting or scouting trips, plus the annual migration," Cale said.

"Group bed, hmm . . . GAAA!" Alex shrieked.

Rile had run a claw up her foot this time. "I stoked the fire, but someone needs to make breakfast."

Alex sat up, rubbed her foot, and shot Rile a baleful look.

"I'll spit more of the deer meat and roast it," Cale offered.

****

After breakfast, Gabe told Alex, "We'll be gone all day."

She picked up her fishing pole. "I'll catch my own lunch."

She was pretty sure that Rile said something with the word "starve" in it, but ignored him.

*****

Hours later, at lunchtime, she realized that when you are alone and catch fish, you have to gut them. She ate trail mix. It was almost dark when Gabe stumbled into the campsite.

"Gabe, what's wrong? Where are Rile and Cale?"

"Captured. I need your help."

I did live long enough to hear him say that.

Alex shook away the thought and said, "Tell me everything."

*****

Alex flew them low over the trees and landed in the forest where he indicated. She crouched next to Gabe in thick underbrush and evaluated the armored 18 wheeler guarded by two men with automatic weapons.

"We don't stand a chance. We'll be slaughtered a hundred feet from the building," Alex stated. "Those are heavy duty killing guns, not the pop guns thugs on the street have."

"You don't have to come," Gabe said, eyeing the men in a predatory way.

"I'm not complaining. I wanted to die in a blaze of glory, fighting impossible odds to right some wrong."

Gabe looked at Alex, but she was serious.

"How do you want to die?" She made it sound like a reasonable, everyday question.

"It doesn't matter." Gabe returned to assessing the armored truck.

"It does to me." She waited a moment and added, "If I'm about to die saving your brothers, you could at least tell me."

"I wanted to die in my clan, surrounded by my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren singing me to paradise."

She looked back down at the building. "That really sweet. But really sad, because I doubt that's going to happen. At least I'll get my wish."

"You are strange, I think, even for a human." Before she could take offense, he added, "But I am glad your life crossed mine."

"I thought of something." Alex looked at him oddly. "There won't be a morning after."

"A morning after?" he asked in surprise.

She shrugged. "It's a human thing. We don't do some things because we fear the morning after. But there won't be one, so I'm going to do this." She reached out with a glowing hand and stroked his face.

Now I know why hedonism is a popular idol when people are facing death.

"Alex." Gabe caught her hand. "Are you aware of the sensations you are causing?"

"I'll stop if you want. But remember: there won't be a morning after."

"It's just that," Gabe stammered and his golden hide flushed deeper in embarrassment, "I can't. I couldn't. I mean a Clan Heir is supposed to wait—"

Alex put her hands on her hips. "No sex, Clan Heir. First, ewwwww. You're a reptile and I'm a mammal. I doubt it's even possible. Second, no one, and I mean no one, will ever touch me like that, after Morgan. Third, only limited touching is needed thanks to my powers."

Gabe sighed in relief and his shoulders slumped at the reprieve. "We don't have a lot of time," he said, but not really protesting.

"I'll be brief." Alex pulled him down onto the ground.

Gabe didn't so much embrace her as coil around her. She loved it, his soft hide pressed against her skin, gentle hands holding her close, and he nuzzled her neck. Her glowing hand intensified. Alex hoped for a kiss, but Gabe seemed content with the gentle nuzzling. She rubbed her glowing hands over his shoulders and his wings slowly unfurled. Alex traced the leading edge of one, but he twitched them out of her reach. The comforting glow spread over both their bodies, flared with ecstasy, and faded slowly.

"We must go. Something might have happened to my brothers. If my legs still work; they feel like rubber," Gabe said and quickly retracted his wings through the hidden slits in his shirt. "And my heart is pounding and my hide tingling."

"You're welcome," Alex said.

I wish he hadn't mentioned his brothers. I don't need another layer of guilt. Then again, the dead don't feel guilty.

"Can your slipstream withstand those large guns?" Gabe asked.

"Don't know." Alex shrugged. "Never tried. Guess we'll find out."

"Can you speed unseen the whole way to that back entrance of the truck?"

"That's farther than I've ever tried. Something else we can find out," Alex said with remarkable lack of concern.

The slipstream held up under automatic gunfire, but the speed didn't last all the way to the door, which is how they found out about the slipstream. Gabe took out one guard and Alex blasted another.  The door opened and two men fired huge tasers point blank at them. Electricity contracted every muscle in Alex's and Gabe's bodies, trying to tear them off the bones. Unwanted memories of experimentation exploded through Alex's mind before it went black.

*****

A/N

This is the best Alex could manage with Gabe, given her past. Was it enough?

Dedicated to

ErRonie

Whose paranormal story is set in Mississippi, neighbor to Louisiana!