Before the Darkness (Refuge Inc.) (20 page)

"You're in denial," Elliot said in a matter-

of-fact tone.

Adam lay still, ensuring that the pain in

his arm wouldn't come back. "Your family

ignored you 'cause they wanted you to believe

you didn't matter to them. That you were

worthless to them. Being gay had a lot to do

with your family not inviting you over, but

you're so happy in your skin that you don't see

it or didn't want to see it. Maybe
you're
in

denial." Adam kept his eyes on Elliot. "You admit

that?"

Elliot bit his bottom lip, refusing to look

in Adam's direction. Adam felt tickles of tears

run down the side of his face. He didn't try to

stop them. There was no reason to.

Elliot cleared his throat, gulping so hard

Adam felt his discomfort. "Maybe you're right.

Maybe they were intentionally assholes to me

because I'm gay. But no matter how much denial

we're in, there's one thing I know for sure. I

know I can't live without you." He turned his

head and inally looked to Adam. His eyes were

red and puffy even without the presence of

tears. "You know that too." He coughed. "I'm

gonna get you outta there," he said, standing.

"You just hang tight." He dusted his bottom off,

picked up his lashlight, whistled at Titan and he

and the dog went limping down the street

toward the minivan.

Adam finally lowered his eyelids.

11: Death's Landfill

The R and the arrow were spray painted

on the hood of the minivan. Elliot ran his hand

over the paint. He was expecting it to smear but

the only thing that smeared was the light layer

of dust that collected there. The paint was as dry

as the other signs he'd run into. But Adam had

mentioned a spray painted sign on the bridge

that had been wet. He even saw traces of black

paint on Adam's shirt. So the person responsible

had to be around somewhere in the proximity.

Finding the person would be hell. It was

hell inding Adam. But he had to do something

other than leave Adam stuck under a car while

he skipped off to ind paradise. He swore to

himself, whenever he found the person

responsible for sending them on such a wild

goose chase and putting their lives in jeopardy,

he was gonna take out his frustration on him.

Hastily, he checked the inside of the van

for anything useful including the car keys. With

no luck, he followed the direction of the arrow.

Walking and walking down the lonely freeway

with Titan by his side.

****

stopping a couple times to rest and give him and

Titan a drink and a bite, he came upon a pile of

crushed vehicles jumbled together in a mass of

metal. Peeking into a few of the cars, he was

astonished to ind several bodies thrown about

inside as if a whirlwind of its own pick them up

and lailed them around to their deaths. There

must've been similar deaths all around Phoenix.

Was he lucky not to have seen too many

scenarios of tragic accidents and dismantled

bodies? Instantly, nausea rushed him and he

lurched forward, spewing his stomach contents.

Broken glass lay around the street like

tiny crystals coated in dried, rusty-colored,

coagulated blood. So much for trying not to

think of death. The image of Adam pinned

halfway under that burnt car popped into mind.

He must be in immense pain, holding on for

Elliot to somehow come to his rescue. Standing

around looking at the grim sight before him,

thinking of the possibility of a tarnished future

without Adam, had his mind reeling.

The smell of smoke and a hissing sound

caught his attention. Titan must've heard and

smelled it too, because he shot off up the ramp

into the darkness.

"Titan!" Elliot followed the dog up the

long ascending ramp, listening to the soft pads

of Titan's paws as they pitter-pattered against

the asphalt, and followed the intense smell of

smoke.

Once at the top of the ramp, he shined his

light at the corner gas station which smoldered

from what looked like an intense ire induced by

a major car accident. Black smoke billowed from

under the hood of several collided cars. Three

of the individual self-service fueling stations lay

crushed and in pieces around the small lot,

burned nearly beyond recognition.

As Elliot carefully made his way closer to

the convenience store directly next door, the

charred wood paneling around the front

entrance cracked and chipped, and inside

looked as if it has been looted of its most

valuable contents. Seeing no sense in standing

around wasting precious time, Elliot continued

walking toward the descending ramp across the

street continuing his search for more freshly

painted R's and the person accountable for

them.

Titan had another mission in mind. The

dog stopped, turned and stared at the

convenience store.

"Come on, Titan." Elliot whistled. Titan

trotted to Elliot, turned back around as if quickly

changing his mind and stood to stare at the

store. Suddenly the sound of an old, empty

metal soup can rattled behind the store. Titan let

out a threatening growl, still staring, unmoving.

The image of another dog, a mutt much more

threatening than Titan, popped into Elliot's

mind. Damn, how would he defend himself from

a menacing, hungry beast?

Then something else occurred to him.

The rattling also sounded familiarly similar to

that of a can of spray paint when you shake it.

Titan continued to bark, each bark resonating

throughout the streets.

"Anybody there?" Elliot shined the

lashlight on the darkened corner that led to the

back of the store where the sound had come

from. Titan stopped barking and cocked his

head when a face peeked around the corner and

stared back at them.

A small bright light shined back at him.

Elliot shielded his eyes with his hand, preventing

the light from blinding him. "Hello? Who's

there?"

"I'm Tami," a woman's voice called out.

"Who the hell are
you
?"

Titan barked repeatedly.

"My name's Elliot," he said over the

barking and lowered his light, hoping the

woman would do the same. "I'm looking for

someone to help me and my friend. He's pinned

under a car and I can't pull him out by myself.

Can you help?" Titan continued to bark and

Elliot nudged him with his leg. "Quiet, Titan! Go,

go over there." Elliot pointed shooing the dog

away. Titan trotted further behind him, stopping

to look back over his shoulder several times.

The woman inally lowered her light and

came from behind the corner. She stood tall and

thin with light brown hair pulled into a ponytail

behind her head. On her shoulder was a dirty,

pink beach bag. Behind the wall another woman

emerged, a black woman, shorter, and

voluptuous with wide hips. Her hair was

wrapped in some sort of fancy colorful dressing.

She too carried a bag, a large, beige cloth-

looking one.

"I don't think there's much we can do to

help you," Tami said as she came nearer, the

other woman trailing her closely. As the women

gradually approached, Titan backed away into

the darkness, but Elliot didn't move. Instead he

studied them, making out more of their features.

Even though the women were coated in a thin

layer of dirt and looked as tired as he felt, they

were young—about his age—and healthy

looking, very capable of assisting him with

Adam.

Elliot shook his head. "We've been

walking for hours, days even, searching for

other survivors, and as soon as I ind you, you

refuse to help me?"

"We're on a mission of our own, guy," the

dark-skinned woman said as they continued to

slowly move forward, almost cautiously. "Like

my friend said, there's not much we can do.

Sorry."

"My name's Elliot." He reminded her with

a bit of spunk in his tone. "My friend is dying. It's

probably just an hour of your time and I

promise after he's safe I'll leave you to your

mission."

The women paused several feet away

from him and looked at each other as if

considering if they should help or not. Tami

shrugged

and

stared

at

the

woman

accompanying her. "Maybe he could help us."

"Help you do what?" Elliot interrupted.

"Spray paint everything out here? I'll do

whatever you need me to do. Just help me first."

"I'm looking for my daughter," Tami said,

interrupting his pleading with a questioning

stare.

"I only met an old couple in Arrowhead

Hospital who's still there." Elliot put his right

hand up as if to swear on the bible in court. "But

I
promise
I will help you ind your daughter if

you help me irst." The urgency in his voice

should've clued them in to the importance of

their cooperation.

While the women talked quietly amongst

themselves, Elliot tried desperately to be patient

so they could make their decision. He pointed

his light at them when his patience ran out.

"What do you say? We gotta hurry."

"Can you get the light out of my face?"

Tami shot daggers with her makeup smeared

eyes.

Titan emerged from behind Elliot and

suddenly began to bark, pant and wag his tail.

Before Elliot could igure out what had got him

so excited, Titan ran forward and playfully

jumped up on Tami, pressing his paws onto her

thighs.

"Hey, guy. Get your dog!" the other

woman demanded, in a shaky, uneasy voice.

"Titan!" Elliot whistled. "Come here.

Titan."

"Charlie!" Tami screamed. "Oh, my God,

Anita. This is Charlie." She looked to Elliot with

the happiest smile, rolls of pearly white teeth

gleaming in the dimness. "Where did you ind

him? This is my daughter's dog. I thought he

looked familiar. What happened to his leg? He

looks so different."

"Oh, I picked him up a day ago or so."

Elliot dipped his brows, thinking. "Time is really

strange—"

"You gotta tell me where you found him."

Tami's voice drenched in emotion that her eyes

conveyed with tears. She scratched the dog's

head, which he seemed to like a great deal. "He

was with my daughter when she ran away from

the compound and they never left each other's

side. We should look for her in the area you

found him."

"Sure. Sure," Elliot nodded. He couldn't

help but wonder, "Is the compound part of

Refuge Inc.?"

"Did you leave the compound too?" Tami

sniffed, wiped at her stray tears and petted the

dog lovingly.

"No, no. But you're talking about Refuge

Inc., right? Is it a place for survivors?"

"If you don't know what it is then how do

you know the name?" The woman who Tami

referred to as Anita stared ixedly, waiting for

his response.

"My friend, Adam, has a lyer he found. It

has the same symbol on it that you're painting

all over the place. He thinks it's for survivors."

She didn't say anything so Elliot asked, "Well, is

it?"

"It has everything you'll ever need to

survive," Anita said, a hint of disdain in her

voice. She didn't look up. Instead she watched

the dog lick her friend's face.

Elliot nodded, not sure how he felt about

her claim. There would de initely be more

questions that needed answers, but Adam

couldn't wait much longer. "Follow me. We gotta

help my friend and we gotta be quick."

Tami glared, unmoving. "My daughter is

out here alone. She needs me. I can't just leave

her to fend for herself."