Free Society: After It Happened Book 3 by Devon C Ford

drunk, not even at Christmas when he himself had ended up throwing up in the snow, and he never showed any adverse signs of the alcohol affecting him.  He decided to re-categorise Pete as ‘Drinker’ and not ‘Alcoholic’.
    Marie had started to take her one day off a week to coincide with Dan’s.  They enjoyed a lazy lie-in which they planned ahead for and stocked his room with drinks and snacks the night before.  After a morning not wasted in bed, they got up for lunch and did whatever they felt like for the rest of the day.  Marie called it ‘pottering’.
    The routine had established itself well enough that on those days Ash would spend the morning with Leah.  He knew she loved the status of walking around with the huge dog at her heel.  Maybe Ash would father a litter one day and she could have her own, Dan thought.
    On one of their free days, Marie was restless.  She wanted to go out somewhere.  The irony of being a Ranger for fun on his day off from being a Ranger wasn’t lost on him, but if she wanted to go out then he would take her out.
    “Where would madam like to go?” he asked lazily.
    “Anywhere” she replied “Just take me out somewhere” He realised the furthest she had been from the house since he brought her back months ago was to the gardens where she visited Cedric and Maggie every week.
    “Ok” he said “But you work to my rules” he kissed her arm as they lay in bed.  She rolled over slightly so he could see her raised eyebrows. “Oh?” she asked.
    “You move when I say, and you stand still when I say” he kissed her shoulder.
    “And you follow my instructions to the letter” he kissed her neck, making her squeak and pull away.
    “You’re so melodramatic!” she teased.
    They dressed and Leah reluctantly relinquished control of his dog back to him.  Ash seemed unhappy too, as he probably doubted Dan would feed him anywhere near as much as Leah would.
    He drove well, showing off and completely wasting his effort as Marie didn’t even notice.  She was no longer the only person there who knew what Dan had been before but she decided to push a little harder for the reasons why he was so moody at times.
    She asked him to stop the car.  She got out and looked around, spinning a slow circle. Dan scanned the area over his weapon, looking for Dangers.  He was just about to call her back to the car, to tell her to be careful, when he realised that all he ever saw nowadays was danger.  He never stopped to see what she was seeing.
    Now that the earth had started to lay claim back to all the concrete and tarmac, and the busy pace of the world had replaced the rat race with the race for survival, he never stopped to appreciate the beauty around him.  It was a clear day, and from the motorway fly-over they had stopped on he could see for miles. He could see three sets of hills, the two smaller ones showing the way north through a valley and a much larger range to the south.  He had driven through this place so many times in his life, but never once had he seen what was beyond the line of traffic.  He lowered his carbine and slowly stood up straight.
    “Relax, Daniel” she said kindly. 

UNBURDENED
     
    He relaxed.  He walked over to her, discarding the weapon by slinging it behind his back, and put his arms around her waist.  He kissed her gently, and she responded.
    They disentangled themselves and leaned back against the barrier.  They lit cigarettes and as he exhaled slowly she asked him the question he knew was coming.
    “What happened?” she said quietly.  From all their conversations, all his attempts at diverting or distracting her it always came back to this.  She wanted to know what tortured him so much.
    “Three years ago, nearly.” He started “I was a firearms officer.  You know; flash car and sexy looking kit.  I was happy with life.  She was in the job too, and the kids” he stopped, swallowing down the tears which threatened.
    “It was a Friday