Captive by the Fog

by Laura Hardgrave

  “Tell me!”

  Through closed eyelids, I imagined a single tear rolling down David’s cheek.

  “God dammit, Sam, don’t do this to me! Was it them?” His shouts rang out through the entire corridor, above the clamor of the rainstorm.

  Our neighbors shuffled noisily in their tents as they awoke to David’s desperate cries. “Yes. It was them.”

  He collapsed on top of me, howling, and it took all my strength to hold him upright. I kept my eyes shut tight against his sweater as tears of my own formed. David’s howls became one with the memory of Carrie’s screams.

  A warm hand grasped my shoulder, and I opened my eyes to see Naomi embracing David and me. She met my gaze, awaiting an explanation. I wasn’t sure I had one.

  Kisana wrapped her arms around me from the other side, and the four of us huddled together, listening to David howl beneath the storm.

  I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Dawn tinted the edges of the rain-trodden sky when David finally rose from my embrace, lifting his tear-filled face to us.

  “I’m sorry, David,” I said, standing up. It was then that I noticed our entire group was circling us. Confusion covered each face. Julie ran past my legs and looked up at her father.

  “I had another dream,” I offered. “This one was about David’s wife and other daughter, and they…” I didn’t want to complete the sentence. Instead, I shook my head.

  “They what, Daddy?” Julie asked. “Where’s Mommy and Carrie?”

  David stared down at me.

  “Well, we don’t know it happened for sure,” I said, avoiding his gaze and meeting Julie’s instead. I knelt down to her height. “It was a bad dream. That’s all.”

  “You woke us up because of a fucking bad dream?” Matt grumbled.

  The group around us murmured. David shoved me and everyone else aside as he took large strides toward the gym, his features like weathered concrete.

  “Daddy!” Julie cried.

  Naomi picked up the little girl and hushed her. “Don’t you do anything foolish, David!” she called out. “And Matt, shut your mouth.” She gave him a quick glare.

  David ignored her and disappeared inside the gym. The rest of the group followed.

  Kisana grabbed my arm, keeping me outside. “Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked after everyone had left.

  I shared a distraught glance with her. “I didn’t think it was anything. Just a random dream.”

  “It still could be.”

  I shook my head as a shiver rode up my spine.

  The rain pounded overhead, and inside the gym, David bellowed at the top of his lungs. “I demand you speak to me!” his voice rang. “You owe us an explanation! What happened to my family? What’s this dream bullshit?”

  I stared out of the dome toward the timid light of dawn as it struggled to break through the heavy clouds. Kisana wrapped her arms around me and held me close, kissing my neck.

  David kept shouting his demands over and over. Naomi screamed at him to cut it out and give it a rest. Julie burst into tears as she tried to get her father to stop sounding so angry. Matt screamed at him, and his cussing made Charles burst into tears as well. Everyone tried to stop David, and everyone failed.

  I finally turned to Kisana. Our eyes met one another’s silently.

  “It’s not your fault, Sam,” she said. “I know what’s going through your head.”

  “I have to go to him.”

  “That’s fine. Don’t blame yourself, though. We don’t know it’s true until we hear it from them. Remember that.” She kissed me, and as our lips parted, Pablo and Marie appeared in the lit doorway of the gym.

  “So Matt’s jokes were true,” Marie said. “This is what you’ve been doing behind our backs.” She stared at us through darkened eyes.

  Kisana shrank behind me, and I stepped forward, grasping her hand in mine. “May I remind you she’s an adult?”

  Marie’s mouth gaped open. “It doesn’t matter! That is not our way, and you know it, Kisana! And you didn’t even have the courtesy to tell us. What would Mother Mary say?”

  “I was going to tell you!” Kisana said. “It never felt like the right time.”

  “Right time?” Pablo said. “There is never a right time to go against God’s plan.”

  Crimson banners flashed before my eyes. David continued shrieking and bellowing from inside the gym, his voice growing hoarse.

  “Fuck God’s plan,” I said. “There’s nothing you can do to stop us. There’s nothing, I repeat, nothing wrong with us being together.”

  “Except in the eyes of heaven!” Pablo’s voice rose to meet mine and David’s.

  “Heaven?” I yelled, waving my arm in a wild circle. “I don’t see heaven here! I don’t see anything that even fucking resembles clouds and flittering angels. I see a man inside that gym who needs God more than anything and gets shit in return. I see a woman who’s lived God’s life thus far and denies her own happiness as a result. I see us living in fucking tents and shitting in a bucket, and you want to tell us that we should think about heaven?”

  I stopped to take a deep breath and felt Kisana’s hand tremble within mine. Pablo stared at me open-mouthed. Marie burst into tears behind him.

  “Speak to us, whoever you are! You can’t ignore me forever!” David screeched.

  I glanced next to me and saw that Kisana had joined my side again. Her face was moist with tears, but resolute. She nodded to me when our eyes met.

  “Fuck your heaven,” I said. “We’ll make our own.”

  Chapter 20

  The intercom box stared at me, challenging me. I knelt down in front of the wall. It still hadn’t crackled with life and brought us the truth or falsity of my dream. Wherever the alien was, or whatever it was doing, it wanted to watch us struggle with the silence. David was sound asleep, his form crumpled in a defeated heap below the intercom. It was just past noon, more than twenty-four hours after the clamorous dawn we had all shared. He had continued screaming his demands into the wall until almost two in the morning, when he collapsed from fatigue.

  I knelt in front of him now, brushing a loose strand of hair from his flushed face. I set down a glass of water and some coffee in front of him. He hadn’t drank or eaten anything the previous day, and I wasn’t sure when he’d awaken, but I knew I wanted to be there for him when he did. I slumped down against the wall.

  Marge joined me after a while, carrying a fabric chair with her. She took a seat and shook her head at David’s exhausted frame. “Poor boy,” she whispered. “He might sleep for a while yet if you’re waiting for him.”

  “I know,” I said, “but I have nowhere else to go.”

  “And how’s Kisana? I couldn’t help but hear all the commotion yesterday.”

  I grimaced at the memory. “I think she’s still sleeping. She was up all night arguing with her parents.”

  “Did they reach a conclusion?”

  I shrugged. “Not sure. She requested that we sleep in separate tents. I wanted to go with her when she spoke to them, but she insisted on going alone.”

  “I’m sure she appreciated you standing up for her yesterday, but she needed to do the same—for herself.”

  “I know,” I sighed. “I wish all religious people were as accepting as you.”

  “Well, when you get to my age, it suddenly seems silly to spend so much energy wasted on things we can’t control. I like to believe that as long as God’s children are happy, God is happy. Once we leave this place, our happiness will never look the same again.”

  I smiled weakly. “If that had been the premises of religion described to me years ago, I might’ve gone for it. How you holding up anyway?” I hadn’t talked to Marge much since Bruce’s death.

  “As well as to be expected,” Marge said, frowning. “I don’t really know what to do with myself now.”

  I reached up and clasped her frail hand under mine. “Well, I got a job for you. Interested?”

  The fr
own on her face vanished, and she nodded.

  “Can you make me a stack of peanut butter sandwiches? I’m hungry, and I’m sure David and Kisana will be too, once they wake their sleepy butts up.”

  She laughed. “I can certainly help you there.” She gave my hand a squeeze and scurried off to the pantry.

  As she made her way across the gym, David began to stir awake. A dry groan escaped him.

  “Still with us?” I asked. “You look like you belong in a body bag.”

  He groaned again and struggled to sit upright. He eyed the coffee, grabbed the cup, and gulped it down.

  “You might want this first.” I shoved the glass of water toward him.

  David gulped down the last of the coffee then moved on to the water. He met my eyes for a brief moment, throwing me a frustrated glance.

  I chose to ignore it. “Marge is making us sandwiches. How’d you sleep?”

  He motioned for me to wait while he finished quenching his thirst. Finally, he set down his glass with a loud thump. “Where is Julie?” he croaked.

  “She’s fine. Naomi and Donna have been taking care of her. I think they’re all napping right now. You, um, kinda kept most people up later than usual.” I tossed him a smile, hoping to ease some of his pain by making light of the situation.

  “Have they said anything?”

  “No. Sorry.” I sighed. The man could be stubborn when he wanted to be.

  Marge flittered by, depositing a plate of sandwiches and more water in front of us. She handed me a can of food for Simon, smiled, and walked away again. I guess she figured David and I needed some time alone.

  We ate our sandwiches in silence, David wolfing down two of them before I finished my one. He drank his fill of water then turned to me.

  “I wanted to be a hero to my family,” he said, his voice soft. “I wanted us to survive this mess together. I wanted to be there for them. Why did we have to be—” His voice broke apart as tears formed in his eyes.

  “In different parts of the city?”

  He nodded, closing his eyes tight against the tears. “In movies the family always gets reunited.” His voice broke again.

  “If this were a movie, we’d stand a chance of getting outta here.”

  “What? Why do you say that, Sam?” His brow furrowed.

  I sighed, running a fingertip across the cat food can. “The evidence. Seems to fit.”

  David opened his mouth as if to form a rebuttal, but there wasn’t one.

  “I’ll tell you one thing though,” I said. “You’re a hero to Julie. No one can take that away from you.”

  His mouth snapped shut and tears formed in his eyes again. “I need to go to her.”

  “Go. I’m sure she won’t mind being woken up by her daddy.” Just then, Kisana entered the gym, her eyes searching the room for me.

  David’s legs shook as he stood up. He grasped my shoulder and smiled down at me. A single tear fell from his face. “Thank you. You’re absolutely right.”

  I returned the smile and stood up to meet Kisana.

  She approached me, holding out her hand. She cast me a shy, uneven smile. “Come with me?” she asked.

  My smile slid into a full-fledged grin, and I joined hands with her. I grabbed what was left of the food. “Everything okay?”

  She nodded. “I have something to show you.”

  We made our way into the outdoor corridor and were greeted by beams of sunlight poking through the thick patches of clouds that remained in the sky. The buildings around us looked forlorn, most of them lying in ruins. But they seemed to lean comfortably toward the sun, grateful for the support of something other than the storm.

  I grinned up at the sunlight. “Finally, the rain stopped.”

  “Yeah, I was beginning to think it’d never end.”

  We stopped at the entrance to my gate. The gate had somewhat expanded itself over the past few days. I had used the metal scraps to build a border of sorts on top of the cardboard. The trim gave it a rustic appearance, reminding me of an old desert junkyard.

  “How are you and your parents?” I asked.

  “Better. I think. I tried to explain everything best I could.”

  “Tried?”

  “Well, this is new to me. I did okay. I think.”

  “Good. It’s not easy, and something to be proud of.”

  I wrapped my free arm around her neck and kissed her deeply. She tasted like minty toothpaste. I fumbled around on one foot and prodded open the gate with the other. Something clattered behind me, and I laughed into our kiss. “Whoops, there goes one of my new yard decorations.”

  “Sam, you’re a goof,” Kisana said, grinning.

  “Come inside? I can’t promise I won’t knock stuff over there too, but at least the sandwiches might be safer.”

  “Thought you’d never ask.”

  We made our way into my tent, arms wrapped around each other still. I set aside the pile of food and zipped open the canvas sunroof on my tent. The sunlight streamed down on our smiles through a mesh screen as I took Kisana in my arms again.

  I rubbed the back of her neck and inhaled her scent. It reminded me somehow of a cranberry-tinted sunrise and the morning coals of a campfire. I blinked as the image entered my brain but decided I liked it. Kisana’s eyes met mine in the waves of sunlight, and we kissed again.

  Wrapping my arms around her waist, I laid her down on my sleeping bag. I lowered my body and felt hers rise to meet mine. Her soft breasts teased mine. I grinned down at her.

  “Mind if I…?” I said, brushing the edge of her T-shirt, where an inch of her smooth belly peeked through. The skin shuddered beneath my touch.

  “Mind? I’ll help you along.” Her voice was low, sultry.

  Our eyes met again as she sat up just enough to pull her shirt over her head. I discarded mine then hurried to kiss the bronze flesh in between her breasts. Her skin tasted as good as it smelled—clean, exotic, with a tint of sweet—a sweetness I hadn’t tasted for far too long.

  My body pressed itself to hers, and I reached behind her back to unhook her bra. I fumbled for a moment or two, laughing as I finally found the right hook. Her bra fell from her chest. Arousal stirred inside me as her breasts bounced and shimmered in the sun. I licked a dark nipple teasingly.

  “How am I supposed to…” she breathed, shivering at my touch. She was staring at my chest, which was still covered by my usual sports bra.

  “Oh, um. Whoops.” I quickly pulled the bra over my head and flung it into a random corner of the tent. I tossed her a grin and went back to her nipple, cupping both breasts in my hands as I filled my mouth with her rich flavor.

  Kisana’s breaths became rushed as our bodies met the sleeping bag once more. I straddled her legs between mine as my nipples brushed her stomach. The contact sent tremors of desire through my entire body.

  I turned my head upward to meet her gaze again, making sure she wanted me to continue. Her eyes were dark, as though intoxicated. I saw nothing that even resembled fear.

  Giving her other nipple a teasing lick, I went to work taking her jeans and panties off. We both rose to our feet and stood for a moment, clinging to each other for support. The sight of her bright pink panties caused me to grin like an idiot.

  I took my pants and underwear off, almost falling over as I tripped over a stack of books.

  “Hey, no teasing me about my clothes when you can’t even get out of yours,” she said, laughing.

  I hopped back into her arms, still carrying my clumsy momentum with me. We ended up collapsing back on the sleeping bag in a fit of laughter, landing on our knees. My limbs tingled for more contact with Kisana’s velvety skin. “I really make an awful butch.”

  She ran a hand through my hair and drew my head to hers, lowering her back to the sleeping bag again. I followed obediently, using the bedding to support myself until I was able to prop myself up on my elbows and gaze into her eyes. “You make an awfully cute Sam,” she said.

  I grin
ned again and kissed her, pressing my chest to hers. As her nipples hardened under mine, I took my free hand and felt for the soft patch of hair beneath her belly. I massaged the flesh underneath with two fingers and heard her gasp beneath my mouth.

  She tightened her hand in my hair, which pulled our bodies even closer.

  As our lips parted, she uttered another low moan. Her legs began to writhe. A trail of lazy sunlight made its way down her chest, and I followed it with my lips, kissing her slim neck and the soft valley between her breasts. I stopped along the way to take her nipples in my mouth again and then continued my journey downward.

  The muscles in her stomach quivered as I brushed her navel with my tongue. She grasped my free hand in hers as I scooted down, trailing the outline of her hair with a series of kisses.

  Kisana moaned again, wrapping her legs around me, and thrust her pelvis forward to meet my lips. I met the request, running my tongue against the entrance of her pussy, then dived deeper, relishing her taste.

  I circled her clitoris with my tongue as I delighted in every fold and ripple it discovered. A rhythm flowed through me like the warm rays of sunshine above us. It guided me, causing heat to rise between us like a curtain of sensuous steam. Her body buckled as I slowly increased the tempo, my tongue flickering at every beat.

  She opened her eyes mid-buck and met mine over the rim of her mound. Her gaze was desperate, imploring me to delve deeper. I stepped the tempo up a notch, and her moans quickened into shuddering gasps. The heat between us rose with the tempo.

  Her eyes left mine as she bucked back one final time, and her voice sang out into our cross-hatched sunbeam as an orgasm wracked her entire body. The moist flesh beneath my lips trembled. My own pelvis tingled as her screams of pleasure sounded.

  I grinned up at her as she recovered.

  “Oh…God,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Not done yet, baby.”

  I climbed on top of her sweat-slick body and took a breast in my mouth again. Goddamn, does Kisana have beautiful breasts. The nipple hardened obediently. I entered her with my fingers this time as I nipped gently at the tasty morsel in my mouth.