by Eve Langlais
“Someone should. Besides, it’s not as if I’m that important.” He shrugged. “No family to care.”
I almost opened my mouth to say I cared, and stopped. I’d known him a day.
As we headed back up the hall, I glanced back at the bucket. “How does the oil help? Is it for tracking?”
“Setting them on fire.”
I gaped as he entered the apartment.
Savage. And yet, could I really say anything? Our lives hung in the balance.
“Lunch?” he asked as I entered. He held out something that claimed to be spray cheese and a box of crackers. The paste was processed orange salty goo that in my healthier days I would have turned up my nose at.
I groaned and moaned eating it.
Best lunch ever.
After our meal—and the sex for dessert—he dressed and strapped on some weapons. I remained in a T-shirt and panties.
“Where are you going?” It would be dark in a few hours.
“Hunting. Want to come?””
“Hunt mutants?” My eyes widened. I shook my head.
That first day, I let him go alone. Once night hit, I paced. Worried. Ranted. Railed.
Xavion returned dirty but alive. I pounced him, so happy he’d come back.
When he left the following day, I joined him, insisting I didn’t want to fight but could act as a lookout. I didn’t want to be alone and wondering.
I put on my stealth gear, including weapons, but when it came to the mask, I held it out and chewed my lower lip. Subconsciously I’d known for a while I’d probably developed an immunity to the plague. Yet, I’d been afraid. I was tired of living like that. The mask went into my pocket.
Off we went, side by side, him alert but attentive to me, showing off the places he’d cleared. A few held a lingering stench of smoke. He taught me how to see signs of buildings that had mutant activity. The monsters didn’t usually use the front door, and once I looked in the right places, I could spot their presence. He let me track the block after that lesson, and I led us into an alley and a metal door pried open. Entering the kitchen of a fast food restaurant that would never serve burgers again, he immediately sought a way down into the basement below, where he dispatched a pair of monsters hiding behind the boiler.
I watched him do it. The brave knight facing off against the hissing beasts. He was poetry in motion, using a sword in a way that proved it wasn’t just an accessory to his outfit.
It was so fucking hot we had sex on the counter that used to serve drinks and the bar food.
It became a pattern for us. Hunt by day, returning by twilight, locking up and having wild sex.
Sometimes we made it to the bedroom. Other times, I ended up back against a wall, a leg around his hips as he fucked me.
We both came each time. Flesh to flesh. No pulling out. No condom. And years since I’d taken birth control.
I didn’t care. I’d been resigned to spending my life alone. Now I had Xavion and plenty of morning-after pills. Every few days, I took an expired one. I wasn’t dumb enough to want to get pregnant.
Not yet. But for the first time in a long time, I could see a future…with Xavion.
He taught me that I’d been barely surviving. I learned to properly fight. Hand to hand, and with a knife. He took me blocks away to practice firing a gun on top of a roof in full daylight.
I’d not realize it the first night, but he showed me later on, that he never took a direct route home. Just in case we were followed.
We didn’t just kill mutants, though. We accumulated supplies. Canned food. Rice. Pasta. Those latter two lasted a long time if kept dry. Sugar and spices. Salt being important in the making of jerky he informed me.
It was the romantic apocalypse I’d fantasized about. The last man and woman on earth finding each other and falling in love.
I should have known we’d eventually hit the part in the movie where bad shit happens. I just never expected it to happen while we were in bed at home.
Chapter 12
There was something heinous about being accosted in a place I considered safe. Especially since we’d had a successful forage the day before. Three more mutants down, probably a million more to go, but Xavion wasn’t daunted.
We’d come back with a mother lode that had us dragging a pair of large suitcases on wheels. A little noisier than usual but the sun was out, the monsters in bed, and I was in love. Especially since he offered to carry my suitcase up those ten flights of stairs.
I didn’t let him, of course, but the fact he treated me like someone special had me ripping off his clothes the moment we stumbled into the apartment.
We had sex. Then we made love and, in a pool of late afternoon sunlight, spilling onto the bed, fell asleep.
The drool on my cheek woke me.
Instinct kicked in, and I screamed as I rolled. As I hit the floor, I heard a boom. I shut my eyes and covered my ears. Told myself to wake up. This had to be a nightmare.
Only when Xavion said, “Lia,” did I peek over the edge of the mattress.
Xavion remained under our nest of blankets, spattered in mutant goo and carcass. He folded the sheets back over the corpse as he rose. Naked, lean, yummy.
Some might wonder that my mind could jump in so many directions at once; fear, fight, lust. Welcome to the apocalypse.
Once more, we’d defied death. I wanted to celebrate, but Xavion didn’t seem to share my enthusiasm.
“Get dressed. We need to go.”
“Can’t we just dump the sheets?” I eyed the mess. “Maybe swap the mattress too.”
“We can’t stay. They know our location.”
They obviously being the mutants. “You think there’s more?” Sometimes they traveled in groups. But with one down, and the two of us working together… “We can handle it.”
“Two, three, even four, probably. But why take the chance?”
Leave? It shouldn’t have given me such a pang. How many homes had I gone through since the apocalypse?
Still… It made me sad. “Can’t we just set a trap and kill any of its buddies that come looking?”
He cast me a look that said don’t be stupid.
“You can’t expect us to move at night?” Night had fallen while we napped.
Rather than reply, I saw him looking at the arm sticking out from under the sheet.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s got some kind of marking.” He pointed to the scarring on its forearm. Swirls and whorls.
“And?”
“Reminds me of something a guy passing through said a few months ago. Claimed he’d come across mutants banding together and using scar tattoos to show what clan they belonged to. Apparently, some of these groups are seeking out humans for sport.”
“That would imply them thinking and strategizing.”
He didn’t reply.
“Wait a second. These things are mindless monsters.” It was what helped me mentally when I had to kill one.
“Most are, but I’ve encountered some that can comprehend my words. Even reply.”
I snorted. “Now you’re shitting me.” The mutants were much like zombies in film. Mindless, moaning, and snapping beasts.
“Don’t tell me you’re that surprised. Five years ago, they were all people. That knowledge, that memory is still in there somewhere.”
“If this is supposed to evoke sympathy, it’s failing.”
“Fuck no. They’re murderous beasts who will torture and eat you. Never hesitate. Just saying don’t underestimate them.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” was my dry reply.
“Glad to hear it, because the guy also said the ones with tattoo might share a hive mind.”
Worse and worse. I growled. “So they are the Borg.” Or given they arrived in a sphere and not a cube, they should have a different name like Sphorg.
“I don’t know if it’s true, but just in case, we should move before they come looking
. Get dressed, armed, and be ready to go in three minutes.”
“Three?” No point in arguing. The carcass on the bed kept any stupid words in check. If the guy who hunted monsters for sport said, move your ass, then I really should move my ass.
I ran for the bathroom. Speed peed, brushed my teeth, and dressed in less than a minute and a half. Then I strapped on my weapons.
Xavion was in the kitchen packing a knapsack with food. Mine bulged already on the counter beside a sword and a rifle.
“There’s a long barrel. You know how to use it?” We’d developed a comfortable camaraderie that held much sarcasm and teasing.
His grin held naughty male satisfaction as he said, “You would know. Three times was it this morning?”
How could he still make me blush?
I slung the knapsack on my arm and followed him to the door and saw where we’d made our mistake. It gaped wide open.
“Fuck me, we didn’t lock it.” He scrubbed his face and guilt oozed from him. Securing the door and apartment was usually his job when we got home. However, in this case, it was technically my fault. I’d distracted him with a blowjob the moment we walked in.
“Sorry.” I hung my head, my cheeks burning.
“Don’t be. Even if we had locked it, the mutant would have been in the hallway or stairwell waiting for us.”
“You know a lot about the mutants,” I said as he opened the door and peeked out.
“Didn’t have much else to think about once the world ended.”
“Are you bitter the people in charge were so dumb? I mean, why did they have to meet on Earth? They should have done it in a space station, where once shit hit the fan, they could have blown it up.” I railed against the misfortune.
He rolled his shoulders. “Wouldn’t have mattered if they did it in space. The plague required sunlight to trigger. The UV rays mixed with the alien spider pheromones created a pathogen that couldn’t be filtered from the air. Some people proved more susceptible than others.”
“Why are we immune?” I asked as we reached the stairwell.
“Because, according to Darwin, only the fittest survive.” He would, of course, say that with a cocky grin. I couldn’t help but smile back because I was one of those surviving.
Up yours, Darwin.
The stairs had a smell to them that had Xavion hesitating rather than going down. His lips pressed close to my ear as he muttered, “We can’t go down.”
I wasn’t about to argue; however, I did wonder his plan as he grabbed the bucket and spilled it on the landing before we climbed.
I wanted to ask why we were going up, too far up to escape down to street level, unless you had wings. I didn’t have wings, or a rope. Just a blind faith in the guy holding my hand.
At the top was when he pulled out a lighter and a cigarette. I almost asked him since when did he smoke. He lit and dropped the cigarette, and my eyes widened in understanding. The whoosh below confirmed his strategy. He’d made the stairwell an impassable inferno for mutants. Which sounded good until I realized he’d trapped us on the rooftop in the dark.
I didn’t like it very much. This was nothing like the time he’d woken me early and dragged me up here at his insistence. In a comforter, we’d snuggled and watched the cresting dawn. The moment its warm rays hit us, I’d turned my face into it. Enjoyed it. Felt compelled to admit, “I spent three years avoiding sunshine.”
Because everyone said the sun triggered the plague. Made it worse. True and false.
To the aliens it proved deadly, and it activated the virus that plagued humanity. However, afterwards, the mutated suffered in its rays. Like vampires, only not the sexy kind.
Smoke leached from the edges of the door. The fire had caught. How far would it burn? It might fizzle out. Either way, we couldn’t stay up here forever.
“Once we hit the street, we will have to move fast,” Xavion explained.
“You do realize we’re twelve stories up?” I reminded in case he’d forgotten.
“I know. But we can’t stay here.”
“I don’t suppose we could wait until the dawn?” The night wasn’t meant for humans to roam.
“Depends. How do you like living?”
“Ugh.” My fantasy life was coming to an end.
But at least I still had Xavion.
“Come on, Lia, it’s not that bad. They haven’t won yet.” He held out his hand, one leg bent, foot resting on the ledge.
“Is this where you admit you’re actually a mutant who can fly?” Spoken as I walked toward him. Better the hunk I knew than the spider mutant who wanted to eat my face.
His fingers were firm and reassuring around mine. “I’ll keep you safe. Ready?”
For anything.
Chapter 13
Knowing we were going down and how it would happen? Two different things. The dark rooftop didn’t reveal many options. Did Xavion have a ladder stashed? Maybe a fire escape that I’d never seen since we usually approached from the front, not the back where he peered down.
Somehow, I had previously missed the fact there was a contraption holding a window-washing scaffold to the ledge. It wobbled as Xavion helped me on to it.
“How long has this thing been here?” I muttered.
“Long enough to save us.”
Good point. I tried to be more grateful and dug my nails into my palms when he cranked something and the suspended scaffold jolted into motion.
“Is it a bad time to admit I’m scared of heights?” I stared straight ahead, not down.
“Are you more scared of heights or mutants?”
“I’d really prefer a third option,” I muttered, clutching the bar tight as the contraption jerked and squealed as it cranked down slowly.
“Did you put this thing in place for an emergency escape?” I asked, anything to forget the many stories below us.
“No. The boom was already here when I found the place. It saved me the trouble of rigging a zip line.” He obviously prepared a lot more than I did. Making me wonder how much of my survival I owed to dumb luck.
“What if we get to the ground and they’re already there?” Because, hey, why not start panicking now?
“I’d worry more about the ones the fire didn’t stop that are now on the roof.”
I glanced overhead in time to see a mutant leaping over the edge!
Chapter 14
“Incoming!” I screamed as the mutant with a few extra limp legs and a green-and-gray-hued carapace, plummeted in our direction, eyes bright with insanity.
“I see it.” What did Xavion do with the warning? Rocked the fucking scaffold.
I screamed as I held on. “You crazy fucking bastard!”
“Stay out of the way,” yelled as Xavion pulled his sword and swung.
Just in time. He knocked the mutant away. I didn’t look but assumed gravity applied and pulled it to the ground where it couldn’t hurt us.
One down.
I glanced up and didn’t need him to say, “Stay sharp, Lia. We’ve got more incoming company.”
No shit. I saw them overhead. Heads peeking over the edge, looking human until they leaned too far and showed their mandibled, misshaped mouths.
Metal screamed as Xavion screwed with the mechanism. The scaffold jerked as we began to plummet a little bit faster.
We were doing great until we jolted to a stop. Lopsided, I might add. The whole contraption tilted, and I held on even tighter.
Xavion braced and leaned against the incline, glaring upward. “We need to get off.”
“We’re only halfway to the ground.”
“I know. But they’re not giving us a choice. They’ve figured out to screw with the ropes.”
They as in the mutants. Why were they being so persistent?
A glance upward showed one grabbing hold of the cables to shimmy down.
Oh fuck.
I didn’t even think. I pulled my gun and aimed. Hit my target, which yelped and fell off, glancing off the rail
ing and sending us rocking.
I almost fell out.
Xavion exclaimed, “Mind not shooting at the only thing holding us up?”
“I couldn’t exactly let it climb in with us,” I remarked. Miffed he’d not congratulated me. Embarrassed that dumb luck had saved the cable. I’d not even thought of it when I fired.
“We’re sitting humans here,” he muttered. A chilling change on an old expression.
Quack.
An ululation of excitement drew my gaze upward in time to see a mutant throw itself over the edge. It leaped too far and missed us.
“They’re not going to stop,” I muttered, glancing at the next one preparing to leap. So many of them. What the hell?
“We need to get off this thing.” Xavion used the hilt of his sword to rap the window. Harder. It did nothing.
“We don’t have time for this,” I grumbled. Gun already out, I fired. The window splintered, and a sweep of his sword cleared the many jagged shards.
He leapt in first and offered his hand. I didn’t need it but appreciated it as I clambered in after him. Just in time.
A body plummeted from above and hit our scaffold hard enough it snapped. It swung like a broken pendulum.
Gulp. Just a few more seconds…
A flash of light caught my attention.
Xavion had lit the dusty couch on fire. “Quick. We need to get downstairs before them.” He held my hand and pulled me out of the apartment. We raced down the hall and into the stairwell. My heart pounded. I heard skittering and hooting as the monsters above us noticed and changed direction.
“They’re coming,” I huffed.
Xavion had more tricks. The landing held a bottle I’d never noticed before tucked under the first step. He pulled it and squirted, leaving a big puddle at the end that he dropped his lit Zippo into.
Whoosh.
I had an irrational craving for marshmallows before giving myself a shake. He’d bought a minute at most, possibly only seconds.
Our footsteps boomed as we raced, the debris in the landings now making more sense. Xavion had planted them there, and given the sudden flare of light and heat as one of them ignited, I had a feeling he might have planted some flammable items too.