de·struc·tive

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"Yeah, well you’re not dead so you must have learned something,” he acquiesced casually. Brandon didn’t need the details to understand how Eden must have felt losing her family; he’d been through the same, not that he planned on indicating it to anyone.

Brandon’s brows lifted and a lecherous half-smirk curled one side of his mouth as she swam over to him. He took one more pull from his beer as Eden slipped her arm around him and set it back in the kayak. Both of his hands snaked around her waist and he drew the woman closer to him. “I was sick of them before I got through the fucking gate,” he muttered huskily before leaning in to catch her lips.

The moment Brandon's lips met hers, there was nothing holding Eden back. Wrapping her arms tighter around his neck, there was nothing sweet about the moment as they both kissed each other hungrily. "I hope you don't get sick of me anytime soon," she muttered, gently biting his lower lip in a teasing manner.

Brandon listened to Eden’s story about how she made it overseas during the initial outbreak. “Hell of a way to tour the US,” he offered in response. The rest of her story sounded on par with his own, minus his tendency to carjack people if they had a vehicle he really wanted. “The shooting and hot-wiring; is that something they usually teach girls in Greece or did you pick that up after everything?”

What intrigued Brandon the most was her self-sufficiency. His eyes lingered on Eden as though, despite the fact that she was in fact beautiful, he was trying to figure her out. Sure, she was as tough as anyone who had survived so far, but it wasn’t often he ran into women as brave as her. So he did what any rational person would do, in his mind. “You wanna fuck around? No strings, no bullshit; just a break from all… this,” he gestured obscurely as if to indicate the way the world was now, “and the other assholes back at the outpost for a bit.”

Shrugging, Eden shook off the memories as if they meant nothing, and she appreciated Brandon constantly making everything seem as if it were a joke instead of prying. "Oh yeah, they have classes for us specifically," she said, giggling before shaking her head. "After my father heard of the outbreak, we did what we could to learn about it and started training for it. Didn't do us much good in the end, but I guess I can't really complain seeing as I've made it this far." 

Brandon released Eden easily enough; it was ingrained in the surfer to not hold people under for more than a few seconds. He had trained as a lifeguard in high school to strengthen his surfing credentials; it looked good in magazines and interviews when his career was first starting out.

He resurfaced shortly before Eden and shook the water from his head, laughing as she joined him again. He eyed her curiously before swimming toward the kayak to pull out another beer. “How did you end up in the states in the middle of a zombie apocalypse anyway? Did you sneak aboard a cruise ship?” he queried while popping the bottle open. He tread the water while sipping at the brew.

Running her hand through her wet hair, Eden watched as Brandon swam over to the kayak. Still hyped up from the walkers, she made sure to keep her senses as heightened as possible, not letting herself relax completely. Even here, they weren't as safe as they thought they would've been. 

"When you’re aiming for the actual eye socket, the forehead is a miss,” Brandon returned without any jest to his tone.

Eden’s curious glances weren’t lost on Brandon and he wondered just how curious she really was about him. With her okay, he stripped out of his wetsuit entirely, leaving it safely in the kayak, and dove into the water nude. He habitually continued his dive until he found the bottom about ten feet below the surface. Being completely submerged felt like a sanctuary to the surfer and he proceeded to keep himself under for a considerably long while on a single breath of air. He even lost count of how long he’d been under, but as his chest began to draw tight, Brandon began to kick up to the surface again.

He spied Eden’s legs on his ascent and reached to yank her under with him by the ankles.

As the cool water surrounded her body, Eden enjoyed every moment of it. Anytime she swam brought her good memories, and those were rare-- especially now days. 

Hearing Brandon jump in behind her, she turned to see his body go deeper into the lake until he was no longer visible. As a surfer, she could only imagine the joy he felt when in the water, yet the longer he stayed under, the more Eden began to worry.

Trying to make out his form, she paused as she saw something coming towards her quickly. Realizing it was Brandon, she laughed before letting out a small shout as he pulled her under. 

Brandon gave Eden a wink when she remarked that she was honored to be considered competition. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” he quipped flirtatiously.

When she complimented him on the shot, Brandon shrugged with disappointment. “Nah. I should have hit the eye. I’m out of practice,” he returned while steering them onward. It was true; his aim was off by his standards. Taking walkers out through the eye was vital to Brandon.

Upon hearing the suggestion to go for a swim, the surfer realized he was on the warm side himself. He let out a thoughtful ‘Hm’ as he debated between pulling his wetsuit back on all the way or stripping out of it completely. Taking it off would leave nothing to Eden’s imagination as he had long since burned through the last of his swim shorts over a year prior. He wasn’t too concerned, however, so he began to shed his most protective layer. “I’m game as long as you don’t mind that I skinny dip!”

Shaking her head in remarks to his flirting, Eden pretended to ignore him although it was nothing but amusing. She listened as she slipped her shorts off, preparing to get into the water before she gave him an incredulous look. "It was a perfect headshot, how can you say you're out of practice?"