Read Before the Darkness (Refuge Inc.) Online
Authors: Leslie Lee Sanders
Tags: #erotic MM, #Romance MM
head, revealing long, thick, dark curly locks of
her own. She moved forward to hand it to Elliot
when Tami stopped her.
"Don't give him anything until he tells me
where Jess is."
Elliot shook his head, trying to organize
his thoughts. "Her body was a few miles from
my neighborhood."
"And where exactly is that?"
Anita placed her arm on Tami's. "Just
because he saw a girl's body with that
description doesn't mean it's Jess."
"That's right." Tami's eyes widened at the
possibility. "But we have to go see for ourselves
just to be sure." She turned to Elliot. "So where
is she?"
Adam slouched over, reaching for a
bottle of water next to his empty backpack.
"Who are you guys? What girl?"
Elliot picked up the water bottle and
opened it, and then handed it to Adam. "They're
the ones spray painting the R's."
"Refuge Inc.?" Adam seemed to sober up,
a hint of excitement in his eyes. "Take us there."
"You don't deserve to be there," Tami
growled. "He told us my daughter was alive to
get us to help you, but he lied to us. Using us. So
don't ask for my help anymore."
"That's not fair." Elliot shook his head. "I
told you the truth before you helped. I was
trying to do the right thing. I feel bad for
everything that's happened but you guys
weren't gonna help me. I had to do something.
You still decided to help me and I appreciate
that but—"
"It's alright. We'll just follow the signs,"
Adam said, wincing in pain. "You don't have to
take us."
"The signs are for my daughter." Tami
glowered, tucking stray light brown strands of
hair behind her ear. "We painted them to help
her ind her way back. That's all we could do. No
one else wanted to help. Everyone is looking for
their own loved ones, or looking for food or
supplies, or are sick. It's chaos. But me and Anita
had to do something for ourselves. Us. We don't
have time to worry about everyone else."
"So Refuge Inc. is a place for survivors?"
Elliot asked. "There are other people there?"
"Lots of people," Anita said with somber
eyes. "But not more than there are dead. I never
saw so many dead bodies in my life. In homes,
cars, building, churches—"
"And my daughter might be one of them."
Tami shook her head, already she was balling.
"Tell me where my daughter is, and I will tell you
how to get to the compound. That's all I'm
willing to do for you."
He had no issue telling her where he'd
seen the girl. Yet, the way they all stared at each
other silently raised red lags. Elliot could see in
their faces that they were all wondering the
same thing. Would there be more lies for
personal gain? They didn't trust him.
Anita crouched down near Adam and
assisted him in making a sling with her long,
colorful head wrap. "Please do the right thing."
She peered into Adam's eyes with such a
sorrowful gaze Elliot's heart ached … for all of
them and their pain and losses. Elliot was gonna
to the right thing, no doubt, but were they?
Where would they lead him and Adam? They
were too badly injured to continue roaming
Phoenix in search of painting Rs.
He watched as Anita handled Adam with
care. Titan sniffed at the dried fruit on the
ground beside them. Elliot owed them more
than he could give, but he knew they were
exaggerating about Refuge Inc., making it seem
like the place with the solution, with "all they
would ever need" as Anita said earlier with
sarcasm. If that was so, why weren't they there?
Why would the daughter run away from such a
great place after a disaster? Why wouldn't
anyone else help them in their search? They
were lying to him to get back at him for telling
his own lies, and to get the information they
needed. However, if they were lying about this
place, why would they direct the beloved
daughter back there?
He could see the deceit in Tami's eyes. He
always intended to tell her the truth about her
daughter, and even give her the location where
he saw the body. However, for Adam's sake—
for Adam's steadfast belief in Refuge Inc. and all
of its magni icence—he couldn't mention his
skepticism. He'd rather roam the dark, haunted
streets all night, looking for a phantom utopia
than confront the women and their lies. As long
as he was by Adam's side, he was content.
"Back east. Near Nice Smile Dental in the
surrounding neighborhood." Elliot glanced
down at Adam's exhausted smile. "Now how do
we get to Refuge?"
Anita stood and pointed. "Follow this
freeway down to Seventh Street, turn south and
you'll see a blinking red light in the distance on
South Mountain. That light is the radio antenna
for the compound. You can't miss it." Anita had
spoken, however, she wouldn't lift her gaze to
meet Elliot's, or rather
couldn't
.
Tami turned to leave when Anita stopped
her. "Let's give him some pain meds. We can't
leave him like this."
They looked to Adam and the pain
written on his face with a grimace. Elliot went to
sit beside him, not much he could do but offer
him another drink of water.
Tami eyed the mess of contents that lay
beside them next to Adam's backpack,
illuminated by the dim light of the lashlight
which lay beside the burnt car. "Give me your
flashlight for some pain meds."
"Our lashlight?" Elliot shook his head.
"We need that."
"You have two, you only need one." Tami
unknowingly smeared more of the dark makeup
around her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Come on. Hand it over."
Adam grunted, swallowing a mouthful of
water. "We already have pain killers, we don't
need yours. Keep 'em for yourselves."
That was right. Elliot had forgotten about
the aspirin Adam had found in the hospital.
Maybe Adam had forgotten about it too until
now. Not much it could have done if they
remembered it earlier anyway.
"I have Vicodin." Tami dug in her bag to
produce a small brown prescription bottle. "It's
pretty strong stuff."
Adam nodded.
"And I want those batteries too," Tami
added, "and you can have this whole bottle.
There're four pills in here. It should last you a
long time. And I want some of that dried fruit
too."
"Tami!" Anita whispered. "That's enough."
"Enough?" Tami shouted. "They're lucky
I'm even offering pain meds." She gave Elliot a
dirty look and tossed the bottle of pills to him.
Then she gathered the lashlight, a bag of dried
fruit and all of the extra batteries in the spewed
contents on the ground.
Before he could say
thank you
, they
quickly headed down the street and out of sight.
Titan followed behind the girls, trotting along
brie ly. Before they got too far he paused and
watched the women as they continued to walk,
then he turned around to hobble right back to
Adam and Elliot's side.
Adam sighed, a slight grin on his lips.
"We're gonna be okay."
13: Between the Lines
Adam knew there were other survivors.
The proof was in the two pair they'd
encountered on their unbelievable journey. He
thought back to hours ago when Anita talked
about seeing so many dead bodies. He'd only
seen the few in his neighborhood church, Elliot
only saw the body of the little girl. Either way, he
knew there were more dead out there, probably
hundreds, thousands, millions more. He felt
fortunate enough not to have encountered them
although he mourned for them.
They'd been walking, following Tami's
directions, for what felt like hours. They only
stopped once to rest. They had fallen asleep for
several hours underneath an overpass which
was miles from the one he had grown so
familiar with.
Adam popped the last few painkillers in
his mouth, swallowing the white oval pills. His
arm hurt and throbbed worse than ever, but the
thought of reaching shelter and getting medical
attention, real food and fresh water fueled him.
His legs felt weak and his muscles sore,
especially while walking after so many hours of
rest.
"Thank you," Adam murmured, as they
approached Seventh Street. "For saving my life.
Now that's a true hero."
"You do what you have to do for the
people you … care about." Elliot slid a glance at
him. "Right?"
"Right." Adam nodded, delving deeper.
"You surprised me. I came back to the hospital
and you were gone. Didn't think you would
leave."
He heard Elliot gulp while his eyes
followed the sway of the steadily weakening
lashlight beam as they walked. "I thought the
same about you."
"Sorry for that."
"Don't apologize. I get it," Elliot said, "You
were doing what you thought you had to do to
help. I left for the same reason. I should've
stayed. I know that now."
"
I
should've stayed." Adam glanced to
Elliot's sad eyes. "I know that now."
Adam stopped to catch his breath and
rest his aching legs. Instead, Elliot surprised him
with a short, sweet kiss. Elliot's lips remained
pressed against his and Adam's indulged,
allowing his tongue to lick alongside Elliot's for a
brief moment. The heated kiss, that very
moment, made him feel well restored even if it
only lasted a few seconds. They broke the kiss
and stared into each other's eyes. They were
surrounded by much that was wrong—
devastation, darkness, silence and mysterious
ash that fell from the sky—but the emotion that
burrowed into Adam's heart felt so right.
Titan squeezed between the two of them
and Elliot swept the small light along the furry
mass at their feet. Pain returned to Adam's arm.
He was about to express his anticipation of
receiving more powerful medicine at Refuge Inc.
when Elliot pointed ahead.
"Look, there's the red light." The light
blinked as small as a pin nail far in the distance
"That has to be it."
Time seemed to move extremely slowly
as foot after foot stepped one in front of the
other. They had stopped looking at the
wristwatch long ago; knowing time didn't matter
much as long as they made progress. An hour,
possibly hours, passed behind them and before
they knew it their destination was right before
their very eyes.
Approaching the desert edge of South
Mountain, bright white lood lights shined as
bright as the sun, illuminating an area
surrounded by a cluster of large mountains,
saguaro cacti and dried up bushes. The lat
desert region was cleared of debris and
occupied by dozens of people. Some people
were dressed in white jumpsuits with a single
zipper running from the collar down to the
waist, with face masks and a collection of dust
on their shoulders like a pad of snow. Others
were dressed in plain clothes; jeans or nicely
detailed work suits, but all the people were
occupied. A few people were placing long, plain
foldout tables near two big white medical ield
tents with the words Refuge Inc. marked on
them in bold printed script. An image of a silver
ring encircled the R of the word Refuge, and a
line of about a half dozen injured people waited,
possibly to be treated.
Elliot laughed quietly. "I didn't think it
was real. I didn't think we would ind it, but
we're here." His smile grew wide, genuine.
"Look. You were right."
Most of the people in the white uniforms
had face masks covering their noses and
mouths, probably to keep the scarcely falling
dust or the rotten smell from entering their