Read Before the Darkness (Refuge Inc.) Online
Authors: Leslie Lee Sanders
Tags: #erotic MM, #Romance MM
function well on panicky. This was true from
experience. Besides, several hours ago had been
early morning and the sun hadn't peeked over
the horizon then. What did he know of asteroids
and earthquakes anyway? All he knew was that
they could kill and he didn't want to think about
death right now.
That poor, blonde little girl.
No more looking back east. He wouldn't
look up at the sky again, for that matter. Not if
he valued his sanity and mental strength or
what was left of it. He gave the eerie darkness
one last glance and continued walking west.
Though, something caught his eye. He paused
and pivoted to see what looked like a young
man walking along the road far in the distance.
Adrenaline raced through his body. Was he
seeing correctly? The man walked head down as
if he carried more than the world's burden's on
his shoulders and had already given in.
"Hey!" Elliot called out.
Please be real.
Please be real.
The man looked up, stopped in his tracks
and even from the distance between them he
knew the man was excited to see him too. The
man began jogging toward him and he jogged in
the man’s direction. His heart pitter-pattered
with excitement and pure relief. He was
not
alone.
When the tall, it man approached, he ran
up to him with a huge, bright smile and arms
outstretched. Elliot hugged him as if he were
hugging a dear friend. And the feeling wasn't off.
His relief resembled that of seeing a good old
buddy again after so many years, and just in the
nick of time. At the exact moment he needed
him.
"My God." The man squeezed tighter,
nearly collapsing under Elliot's embrace.
"Thought I was the only one alive. So happy to
see you."
"You have no idea how happy I am to see
you
." He separated their bodies. "I've been
dragging my feet for hours looking for someone
else to keep me sane."
The man chuckled. Even with the
devastation around them Elliot managed to
make the poor guy chuckle. He didn't want to
take credit yet, they both seemed immensely
happy to not be the last person alive.
"Adam." He placed a calming hand on
Elliot's shoulder.
He sighed. Instant comfort. "I'm Elliot."
"Elliot." Adam huffed, catching his breath.
"Been walking forever and have no idea where
I'm going."
"Yeah, I'm just as lost. Phoenix doesn't
look much like Phoenix anymore, huh?"
Adam nodded again and sighed. "Just
knew I was out here alone. But
now
it should be
easier to get out of this mess. Right?"
This mess? This
disaster
was more like it.
Elliot attempted to smile.
"Two heads are better than one." Adam's
breath seemed to return to normal.
Elliot lifted his bottle. "You need some?
It's water."
"No, thanks." The small pack on Adam's
back bounced slightly as he turned. He slid it off
his shoulders and took out the water bottle he
had tucked in there, along with some granola
bars still in their individual packages. Elliot
hadn't eaten since he began his trek, maybe
even a couple hours before then and those bars
looked appetizing.
"Do you mind?" He pointed to the bars.
"It's been a long while."
"Oh, sure, sure." Adam handed him a bar
and took one for himself. "Eat up."
The package contained two crunchy
granola bars but they both were crumbled
within the wrapper. Elliot didn't mind. He
already felt some energy returning to his
exhausted body.
Adam bit into his bar and watched him
eat with bright green eyes and a tiny grin on his
dry lips. Even with a layer of dust and dirt
coating Adam from head to toe, Elliot could
easily make out his handsomeness. He was
fascinated by the way Adam talked too. With the
start of every sentence he never said
I
or
you
. It
sounded a little funny at irst, almost as if he
didn't want to waste time with unnecessary
words no matter how small. However, Elliot
could understand wanting to get to the point
quickly.
Elliot was covered in a layer of dirt and
dust as well. He brie ly looked down over
himself. He must've looked crazy wearing a pair
of camou lage cargo shorts and his black
Made
with Pride
T-shirt with rainbow-colored letters.
"See that dark color on the horizon?"
Adam pointed to the east, suddenly looking
somber. "That's a wall of smoke, ash, dust and
who knows what else, and it's coming our way."
"What? What do you mean?" A bit of
panic began to stir in his stomach like a bowl of
his mother's spicy and overly greasy chili. He'd
thought the worst was over.
"Ever heard of impact winter?" Adam's
green eyes pierced his and neither moved.
"What's headed for us isn't good. We're gonna
have to take shelter somewhere and fast before
it blocks out all light and it gets so dark we won't
be able to tell which way is up. Can't run from it
either," he added, as if predicting Elliot's next
question. "Been watching it for a couple hours
now and it's moving pretty fast."
"What do you mean it's going to get
dark?" He knew he looked like a wide-eyed idiot,
but he didn't care much about his appearance at
the moment.
"Let me put it this way. Once the sun sets
we're not gonna see it rise for quite some time.
That wall of soot headed our way is so thick it
will block out the sun. It will take months, maybe
years, for all the crap to fall down."
"Are you sure?" He dipped his eyebrows
suspiciously. "How do you know all this?"
"When those assholes inally told us that
an asteroid might hit, I went looking for info
about anything to do with asteroids hitting Earth
and that's what I found out. We need to ind
some shelter."
Elliot looked at the dark grey horizon.
Indeed, the cloud of unnerving darkness grew
bigger, wider, closer. His heart dropped, it sank
in the pit of his stomach like a ton of concrete
rubble. "We're not going to make it, huh?" He
gulped, suddenly feeling defeated. Panic. "What's
the point in inding shelter when we're not
gonna live to see the sun again?"
Adam grabbed his hand, gave it a gentle
squeeze and let it loose before Elliot realized it
had happened. The friendly squeeze hadn't been
part of his imagination. A look of sincerity and
concern painted Adam's handsome face. "I was
beginning to think the same thing and then I saw
you. Like I said, two heads are better than one."
That gloomy horizon spelled doom.
Knowing it was coming from the east coast hit
him hard. That meant Jeff in New York, and his
mother, father and brother in Georgia probably
didn't survive. If somehow they did survive, the
darkness surrounded them like a swarm of
angry bees and they probably wouldn't live for
long. Who knew what the dark cloud brought
with it; falling ash, ire, unbearable heat? The
massive earthquakes he had experienced—the
ones that left Phoenix an unrecognizable land ill
—probably did as much damage or worse to
places experiencing the same violent quakes.
And what of the place that experienced the
actual impact?
Adam continued walking west and Elliot
followed close on his heels. He hadn't known
tears were dripping down his cheeks until Adam
looked back at him with sadness in his eyes.
Then he felt the warm wetness on his dirt-caked
cheeks and wiped them away with the back of
his hand. For so long he’d been wishing for
someone to talk to, someone to accompany him
in his search for hope, someone to keep him
strong and determined. He couldn't just break
down now. His prayers had been answered with
the presence of Adam. Now he had a reason to
move on.
Again, promising himself not to look back
east, he sped up to walk alongside his newfound
companion. Maybe engaging in conversation
would take his mind off of doom. "Why didn't
you get out of here when everyone else did?"
Adam stared at the ground as he walked.
His hand combed through his dirty, short, blond
hair. "Can't escape it. So why run, you know?"
"Yeah, I know."
Adam quickly glanced over at him. "That's
why you stayed?"
"Yeah. I didn't think I was going to make
it too far. So I said my peace and was in my
basement when the last quake hit. Could you
believe I woke up with my house in ruins on top
of me? It took me forever to crawl out. How did
you, you know, make it?"
"Was in my car in the garage." He
shrugged. "Had packed a few things, got in my
car, locked the door and put the key in the
ignition. I knew I wouldn't be able to drive
anywhere because of all the cars on the roads
and freeways. Didn't really wanna go anywhere.
I knew no matter where I went, I couldn't escape
it." He huffed, looking as if he'd rather leave it
behind him. "So I got out and started walking.
Only after I crawled out of what was left of my
garage. We're lucky to walk away from it, you
know?" Adam patted his back and smiled briefly.
"I saw a little girl back there." Elliot threw
back his thumb, gesturing behind him without
turning, without facing what had now vividly
burned into his memory. "She's dead." Why did
that image pop in his mind at that time and why
did he decide to tell Adam? He guessed hearing
about how lucky he was reminded him of how
unlucky the little girl had been. Maybe he could
shake some of his guilt by telling someone about
her. Or would it have been better to force
himself to forget her?
"I've seen some crazy stuff too." Adam
sighed, avoiding eye contact. "We'll be alright
though. See that building up there that looks like
it won't fall over at any minute?"
He looked ahead about a quarter mile at
what used to be Nice Smile Dental, a small,
standard single story dental of ice. It looked
unaffected except for a few broken windows. "I
see it."
"That's where we're going." Adam
suddenly picked up speed, damn near leaving
him in the wind. Adam must’ve been excited to
see a nearly undamaged building they could use
as shelter. Elliot sure was, even more excited
now that he had someone he could call a
companion. They were both in the same
predicament and they both wanted the same
thing…to survive.
He struggled to keep up. Walking so fast
over loose rubble made it dif icult for him to
keep his balance, and in his haste he slipped. His
leg slid against a piece of twisted, jagged metal
before he landed on his ass. "Shit!" Bright red
blood oozed from his wound as he sat on the
dusty pile of rubble. How in the hell did he lose
his balance?
Adam quickly rushed to his side. "Shit,"
he echoed. "Put some pressure on it."
He obeyed and placed his hand over the
three-inch gash on his shin and squeezed,
grimacing in pain as blood trickled through his
ingers. "I need something to wrap around it. My
hand's not gonna stop it from bleeding."
Adam pulled his shirt over his head and
took off the white tank he had on under it,
ripping it down the middle to make it one long
piece of fabric. Elliot took in Adam's waxed,
muscular torso and strong arms that bulged
with every tug and tear of his shirt. Then pain
immediately took his attention away from the
six-pack abs and directed it back to his
throbbing leg.
"Here, let me wrap this around it." Adam
knelt down and gingerly tended his wound. As
soon as he tied the last knot, he placed his T-
shirt in his pack, swung the pack over his