Before the Darkness (Refuge Inc.) (3 page)

shoulder and offered his hand. Elliot grabbed it

and allowed him to pull him to his feet. Without

a second lost, Adam placed an arm around

Elliot's waist and together they continued their

trek toward the dental office.

"Where's your family?" Elliot asked as

they made their way past huge chunks of

cement blocks that were rocked and shaken

from the nearby houses and small buildings.

"Probably dead," he said, nonchalantly.

When Elliot looked at him with raised eyebrows,

Adam ignored his questioning stare and said

nothing else about it. Instead he gestured with

his eyes. "Watch your step here."

"Sorry about your family." Elliot carefully

stepped over a small pile of debris.

"No need for that." Adam paused and

looked into his eyes. A stern look. An honest

look. "I think we're the only lucky ones."

They walked slowly, cautiously as they

approached the dental of ice. The small parking

lot was littered with trash, papers and other

garbage they had to maneuver around and over

to get to the door.

"Were you living alone?" He glanced at

Adam's hard, bare chest and quickly looked

away. Something about his physique helped him

take his mind off of impending doom. He wasn't

quite sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Just me and my iancée." He scoffed,

shaking his head. "She ran like everyone else.

Took off toward Denver with her family as soon

as she got news of the asteroid. I'm sure if those

assholes gave us a year's warning instead of a

couple days she would’ve left a year ago. Either

way, look how far running's got her."

"Well, you don't know." Elliot shrugged,

being extra cautious with his step. "Maybe

there're tons of people still alive in Denver and

—" He didn't bring attention to Adam's second

scoff. Clearly, speaking about his iancée and the

possibility of her being alive was a touchy

subject. He guessed it would be since she left

him in Hell to fend for himself.

"I know you're trying to stay positive,

Elliot, but like I said, we're the only lucky ones."

2: Escaping Reality

Arriving at the abandoned dental of ice,

Adam led Elliot to a plastic chair in the corner of

what looked like the front lobby. Elliot placed his

nearly empty bottle of water on the loor beside

him and took a seat. His chest rose and fell

rapidly as he took in a few deep breaths, forcing

himself to relax.

The of ice looked like a closet of junk. It

didn't look any different than the littered lot

outside. Tables, chairs and even computers were

scattered around as if a massive whirlwind tried

to carry them away and failed. The dimness

made it dif icult to make out the largest of

objects in the darkened corners due to the

power outage that extinguished all electricity

since the irst quake but, nonetheless, they had

shelter. Where was that
okay we're safe
feeling?

Adam sat his backpack on the loor and

began to move furniture around the room. "I'm

gonna try to clear some space and block some

of these broken windows."

Elliot sat silently, watching Adam move

about the room. Adam was an attractive man

with exceptional features. He seemed young,

probably in his mid to late twenties like Elliot. He

looked tall, it and strong. He gauged Adam's

strength from the way he effortlessly lifted a

huge potted tree and placed it in front of a

broken window to hold up some drywall he had

placed against it. Even the way Adam spoke

interested him. Not all of his sentences were

brief and to the point, but those that were urged

Elliot to listen regardless.

He had so many questions for Adam but

didn't know which to ask irst. "How long were

you and your iancée together?" Good start to

engage in friendly conversation, nothing too

personal right off the bat.

Adam continued to move around the

room, eyes diligently searching the cluttered

loor. "Four years." He picked up and threw

some empty, crushed boxes aside.

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "Were you

happy?"

"As happy as a person could be." He

kicked a pile of papers into a corner, the rustling

sound bounced off of the walls for a few

seconds. "How about you? Were you living

alone?"

Elliot grimaced at his injured, bloody leg.

He assumed Adam didn't directly ask about his

marital status because he shamelessly exhibited

his favorite Made with Pride T-shirt. Thank

goodness same sex marriage wasn't legal in

Arizona. He’d regretted many dumb things he'd

done and getting married to Jeff would’ve been

one of them. He's always been so impulsive

when it came to Jeff. He knew he would've

married Jeff without thinking twice about it. All

Jeff had to do was ask. Pathetic. Anyhow, Adam's

question seemed to be an attempt to change the

subject.
As happy as a person could be
. Adam sure

didn't behave like a happily involved man. And

judging by his iancée's eagerness to leave him,

she wasn't happily involved either.

"Yeah, I lived alone for the past week or

so." He glanced at Adam, anticipating his

response. "I was staying with my boyfriend until

we broke up last week."

Adam paused and looked back over his

bare shoulder at him. "Sorry to hear that."

"He accused me of taking him for

granted." He scoffed and wiped his eye with a

knuckle.

"Sorry about that too." Adam chewed his

bottom lip and stood motionless for a few

seconds. What could he possibly be thinking

about? He then continued to move furniture

around the room. "You know that saying that

goes something like, be thankful for every day

because you don't know what the future holds?"

Elliot nodded, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I've

heard people say that plenty of times."

Adam paused, looking ahead with a

vacant stare. "I really get the meaning now."

"Yeah, crazy how it takes an asteroid

nearly killing you to make you understand

things."

Elliot watched Adam clear a path and

made his way back to his side. He knelt down

and pulled back a piece of the fabric around

Elliot's leg. "So, did you?"

He squint his eyes, confused. "Did I

what?"

Adam looked up, locking eyes with him.

"Did you take him for granted?"

He stared back into those enticing, bright

green eyes. Even without the sun shining

directly into them, they still shined like emeralds.

"Relationships are complicated and it takes two

to make it work. I didn't take him for granted. He

just didn't want to put in the effort to make it

successful."

Adam grinned slightly. "You don't like to

be wrong, am I right?"

"You're

wrong."

He

looked

away

sheepishly.

"Of course." A slight grin lingered on

Adam's lips. "How does your leg feel?"

"Hurts like hell."

"We need to ind something clean to

wrap around it so it can start healing." Adam

stood then made his way down the hall to one of

the back rooms. From Elliot's angle he couldn't

see anything back there but he heard the crash

and bang as Adam threw things around. He

waited and Adam returned with a small bottle of

antiseptic and gauze still in its sterile package.

"You need to come see this." Adam paused,

wide-eyed.

Panic hit him in his chest like a

sledgehammer. "What is it?" Another body?

Several dead bodies?

"Calm down." Adam put his hands out

before him. "A broken water main out back. It's

like a geyser out there. Come on." He placed an

arm around Elliot's waist again and helped him

up from his chair. Slowly they made their way

down the hall—where two rooms were located

adjacent to each other—and out the back exit.

There it was, a beautiful jet of clear, fresh

water shooting up about twelve feet in the air

from a huge crack in the side of the road near a

water hydrant. It rained down in huge drops on

the hot, littered street around them. Elliot smiled

when a breeze brushed some water droplets

against his hot, dry face. So refreshing.

"I'm going for it." Adam unbuttoned and

unzipped his dark blue jeans.

Elliot couldn't help but stare, watching

Adam's ingers slide unintentionally slowly and

sensually down the length of his ly. "What are

you doing?"

"I'm gonna take advantage of this while I

can." Adam pulled off his socks and shoes and

slid his pants off. He threw them both down by

the exit door. Standing in a pair of dark blue

boxer-briefs that hugged his narrow hips and

irm ass in a way that made Elliot's breath catch,

Adam pointed to Elliot's Cargo shorts. "Need

help out of those?" When he didn't answer,

Adam lifted an eyebrow and added, "You might

not experience this again."

Suddenly Elliot had an intense urge to

look back east, but he fought it with everything

he had and lifted his T-shirt over his head

instead. "You're right. I might not experience

this again." As soon as he stripped himself of his

socks, shoes and shorts, he carefully limped

toward the spouting water.

Adam, in all his excitement, ran directly

toward the jet. Arms outstretched, he stood

under the falling water and savored it as it fell

over his taut body.

Elliot slowly limped his way over. Cold

water fell over his almost naked body and he

gasped as the irst drops hit his thirsty skin. It

was more refreshing than he could ever

imagine. He replayed Adam’s words in his head,

over and over.
You might not experience this

again.
So he tilted his head back and soaked up

the freshness, remembering how each cooling

drop felt on his aching body. He opened his

mouth wide and allowed the water to ill it

before swallowing, tasting. Amazing. He listened

to the plop, plop of water splashing and

collecting into the puddles around him. Damn

near bliss.

"I'll go get our water bottles so we can ill

them up." Adam jogged back to the of ice. The

sun hit the water droplets on his skin at the

perfect angle, causing light to re lect off of his it

body and his smooth back muscles to glisten.

Once he disappeared inside, Elliot closed his

eyes and allowed the rays of the sun to heat his

skin.

You might not experience this again.

Before long, Adam was back under the

stream, illing their bottles to the brim with the

pure, cool, refreshing goodness. "That darkness

is moving in. Maybe we should go back inside

and I'll take a look at that leg." When the bottles

were illed, he wrapped his free arm around

Elliot's waist to assist him in his walk back to the

office.

Elliot quickly turned in his arms. For a

second that felt like hours, they stared into each

other's eyes. In that moment, which felt like an

eternity, a sense of hope trickled over him. The

intense sense of promise guided him as he

brought his lips to Adam's. The water streamed

down over their bodies as he closed his eyes

and gently sucked Adam's bottom lip. Adam's

lips relaxed and a rush of warm, granola-

scented breath brushed the cool, wet skin of his

upper lip.

Then Adam bowed his head, breaking the

kiss. He still had an arm embracing Elliot while

he effortlessly cradled the two water bottles in

the other arm.

"I'm sorry," Adam said in a soft and low

voice.

Before he could say anything else, Elliot

reminded him, "We might not experience this

again." He looked into Adam's eyes, seeing what

he couldn't fully see before but always knew lay

hidden under a thin layer of dust that was no