Page 28 of The Last Man on Earth
“No.” I frown at the fire, my mind still racing. “Why are you—“
“Just making sure we don’t leave anything laying around for animals to sniff out.”
I nod, staring as he tosses empty wrappers into the fire. They curl, turn black, then disappear into the flames as if they never existed at all.
He’s so…different today. Nothing like the spoiled, immature, cocky rap star I met on the plane a few days ago, the one who treated me like shit and assumed it was his right to do so. This man here is…capable. Responsible.
“I also dug a pit,” he says, breaking me out of my thoughts. “For when we gotta take a shit.”
I look down at the ground, my nose scrunched, my lips curling.
He laughs at that. “Don’t be actin' all high and mighty. Everybody shits, Ariana.”
“I’m aware. Some of us aren’t so crude about it, though.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” he says, laughing. “We out here in the wilderness, baby girl. Back to basics.”
With my arms crossed in front of me, I switch subjects. “Are you still going out today?”
“Yeah.” He kneels by the fire, throwing dirt and sand onto it to snuff it out. “Trying to find that ocean for you.”
He grabs the shirt strips he has hanging from a nearby tree, moving with a purpose, sure of himself in a way that makes me think he might actually make it today. I watch him disappear into the trees, the sound of leaves crunching under his Jordans. It fades slowly as he gets further away, leaving me alone in the relative silence.
I make my way back to the supply pile and stare down at the snacks. I think I’m gonna make myself useful while he’s gone.Yes, I’m gonna prepare our food. I’ll have it ready when he gets back.
The thought makes me chuckle under my breath. If Ashara saw me now, she’d laugh, too. This homemaker nonsense is her department, not mine. She’s the one who bakes cookies for the PTA meeting and throws cute little theme parties for everyone’s birthday. I’m the one who orders dinner instead of cooking and hires someone to clean my place before company comes because I’m never in my condo long enough to clean it. And even if I was, I still wouldn’t, because I fucking hate cleaning.
I’m independent, and I love that about my life. I come and go as I please. No obligations. No responsibilities. For me, that’s freedom. I don’t even know how to think in terms of what I should be doing as a woman.
This thing with Luke is new, but so far, he’s fitting into my life in a way that makes me hopeful for our future. He’s never asked me to cook once. The only expectation he has is to spend time with me.
So this, what I’m doing right now, the careful way I’m arranging this gourmet caramel and sea salt popcorn on this plastic plate with Wagyu jerky on the side feels foreign to me. Are these my fingers working hard like this? If I looked in a mirror right now, I wouldn’t know me.
I just plated a meal for a man.
And then, because why not, because the world is upside down and tomorrow isn’t promised, I grab a bottle of champagne and work the cork until it pops, the sound sharp in the silence. Foam spills a little over the lip, and I smile as I watch it drip onto the dirt. There’s nothing to celebrate here. Nothing at all.
But maybe tonight, we can at least pretend.
Chapter 15
Villain
I walk through thetrees again, but I’m more careful this time. The last trip almost caught me slipping, but that shit ain’t happening again. Every twenty steps or so, I take another cloth strip and tie it to a branch. It’s my trail of breadcrumbs. The white fabric flutters lazily in the breeze like flags marking my path.
The forest sounds like it’s alive. Buzzing. Crawling. I recognize one of these big ass plants…ferns, I think they’re called. Them shits are waist-high, curling and bending. Vines snake from tree to tree looking like ropes ready to be climbed or swung on. Like Tarzan.
I try to remember the little flashes of color I see. Flowers with bright ass petals that don’t even look real. They look like they’ve been painted on. Insects buzz and hum around my ears, making me swat constantly. Annoying as fuck. Lizards scurry across logs. Some even cross the path I’m on before vanishing into a crack of bark or a bushy area.
The deeper I go, the weirder this shit feels. It’s like I’m going into another world. And I keep hearing something disturbing the brush. Probably more lizards, or maybe a bird or two. Whatever it is, it has me on edge. But I don’t slow down. I press on.
The sun is sinking slowly. The light beams look broken and jagged as they shine through the trees. I follow them, almost like they’re arrows God Himself sent to show me the way. The ocean has to be close to where I’m at. I feel like I’ve been promising Ariana that it’s there, and me finding it is keeping my promise. Which is stupid as fuck. I don’t know that lady.
But I don’t know…something about her has a hold on me. Maybe it’s a trauma bond. Shemari be sayin’ that shit so much, I had to look it up.
Shemari.
For the first time since we hit the ground, I’m seeing her face in my mind. I’m thinking about her, and about what’s waiting for me elsewhere. The wedding, for one. It’s supposed to be in three days, if I’m keeping the right count. Shemari’s probably losing her damn mind. JR’s too small to know what’s going on, but I’m sure he’s feeling the bad energy. My sister. My aunt and uncle. My manager. The entire music industry. Everybody’s gotta be spiraling right now.
