Page 31 of Last Light

A lot of people—both men and women—don’t think sex is a serious thing. It can just be something to do to pass the time. To get a quick high. It can be something to trade for protection. A means of manipulation. A commodity.

But sex means something to Travis. I know it does. He doesn’t take it casually. He wouldn’t be so uncomfortable about any hint of it otherwise.

And I really don’t want to mess things up between us just because I’ve developed this irrational attraction to him.

I’m not going to risk it.

“We better get going,” he says, groaning slightly as he pushes himself up to his feet.

I stand up too. “Sorry again about... And thanks for helping me.”

He nods, no twitch of a smile. “You did good. I can teach you some more later.”

His words relieve me.

Maybe I didn’t ruin everything.

***

IT’S GETTING LATE INthe afternoon by the time we arrive on the outskirts of a town.

The roadbed is wrecked. There are cracks running all the way across, some of them almost a foot wide. We have to drive far off the road to get past them.

“What on earth happened?” I ask, staring at the damage.

“Don’t know. Earthquakes, I guess. What else would tear a road up this bad?”

“Nothing I know of. Wow. They must have been really terrible. Look at that house.”

The house is completely flattened.

“I didn’t realize they’d had earthquakes in this area,” I say as he maneuvers around the damage to get back to the road. “It’s like the whole world got thrown out of whack after impact.”

“Yeah. That it did.”

Soon we see a gas station with an attached fast-food restaurant that looks like it’s been bulldozed, and beside it is a drugstore.

The whole front of the drugstore has collapsed in on itself.

“The earthquakes must have taken out this store too. This wasn’t caused by looting.”

“Nope.” He pulls into the parking lot. “Might be worth checking out. If it was brought down by earthquakes, there might still be stuff inside.”

“Yes! Let’s take a look. There might even be medicine.”

He drives to the back and parks the Jeep. We walk around the building, searching for a safe way to enter. It soon becomes clear that whatever goods were located in the front of the store have been thoroughly pilfered. I find a bottle of ketchup under some broken glass and hold it up to show Travis with a disappointed shake of my head.

“All the food was probably in the front,” he mutters.

“Yeah. But the pharmacy would have been in the back. And the over-the-counter stuff. If we can get into the back section, we might find something useful.”

It takes a while, but Travis eventually makes an entrance by moving one of the big refrigerated shelves used to hold drinks and other cold stuff. It’s fallen forward, leaning onto a collapsed section of the roof. It must be incredibly heavy, but Travis manages to push it over enough to give us access into the back of the building.

Travis starts to duck his head to go through, then he stops. “You better stay out here. Building might not be stable.”

Then, as if that is the end of the conversation, he leans over to fit through the access he made.

I squeak and grab a fistful of the back of his shirt to stop him. “No way! I’m not going to stand around out here and hope for the best. If it’s too dangerous for me, it’s too dangerous for you too.”

---