Before the Darkness (Refuge Inc.) (8 page)

"Let me take a look," Adam said, the

weight of the slab tiring his arm muscles. Just as

Elliot crawled out Adam dropped the slab and

took a few deep breathes. "Can you lift that?"

"I can try." They exchanged positions and

Elliot lifted the hefty slab, testing. "I can't hold it

for long."

Adam took his cue and grabbed the

lashlight. He crawled into the hole and shined it

in the direction of the whimpering. The dog's

head stuck out from a smaller pile of crumbled

concrete blocks. Adam crawled closer and

carefully dislodged a block, freeing the dog,

except it didn't come out of the rubble as he

expected it to.

"Think it's really hurt." He called out to

Elliot. "I'm gonna pull it out."

"Just hurry. This thing is heavy."

Adam crawled forward, breathing in dust

and dirt as his face grazed the ground. He

reached into the smaller crevice and carefully

took hold of the scruff on the back of the dog's

neck. He gently yet quickly pulled the dog out of

the narrow opening and into the cavity with him.

He tried to back up out of the hole and pull the

dog with him, but there wasn't enough room

and he didn't have a tight grip. His heart raced

as he felt the concrete slab slowly weigh down

on the back of his thighs, pinning him to the

dusty ground.

"What are you doing? You're gonna

crush me."

Elliot grunted. "Hurry. Too heavy."

"Elliot, don't drop that on me." As he

talked he managed to wiggle and squirm, slowly

backing up out of the hole; one hand gripping

the lashlight, the other pulling the injured dog.

The slab of heavy, ragged concrete scraped the

back of his thighs and ass.

"Hurry," Elliot cried. He grunted again,

sounding like a muscle man lifting three

hundred pounds. "Damn it, Adam. Hurry!"

The slab rose, allowing Adam to better

slide out with the dog. As soon as they were

clear, Elliot dropped the slab. It teetered, the

back end lifted rapidly as the front end crashed

to the ground. Dirt and dust pillared up around

them. The sound of rocks settling on the pile

rushed around them for a few seconds.

Elliot slumped forward, hands on his

knees as he breathed heavily in an attempt to

catch his breath.

"You were close to dropping that on me."

Adam shined the light on the rubble pile,

imaging the dire consequences if that very thing

had happened.

Elliot inhaled sharply. "No. I was
not

gonna drop it. Not until you were out of there."

He coughed. "I swear."

The sincere look in his quick blinking

eyes told Adam he was telling the truth. That

and the fact that he hadn't dropped it. He looked

down at his feet where the dog lay. It rested on

its side motionless, looking up at him with

blinking, sorrowful dark eyes. Adam saw that

the dog was male and most likely a cross breed.

His brick-like head, thick muscled neck, stocky

body and tapered tail suggest that it was a Pit

Bull Terrier.

He kneeled beside the dog. Blood seeped

from a ilthy two inch tear in his left hind leg.

Instinctively Adam glanced at Elliot's leg. The

similarities in their injuries were uncanny. "I

think he was crushed." He shook his head, ran

his hand through his own dusty hair and sighed.

"He's dying."

Elliot frowned. "So we just leave him

here?"

"Or put him out of his misery." He met

Elliot's eyes with a questioning look.

Elliot's eyes widened. "I can't do that."

Adam huffed. "I'll do it." He knew since he

brought it up he would have to be the one to

carry it out. He sat the lashlight down, angling it

to light the area as best as possible. He picked

up a cinder block from the pile he just crawled

out of, and while standing over the dog, he lifted

the hefty block above his head.

"I can't watch this." Elliot closed his eyes

and turned around.

Adam's heart pounded so fast and hard

he felt it in his thumbs as he gripped the cinder

block. He looked down at the dog. The dog

looked up at him and let out a hoarse bark as if

to protest. Adam's bottom lip trembled and his

grip tightened. Sweat trickled down the back of

his neck and the environment suddenly grew

deathly quiet. For a second he thought he had

gone deaf. He bit his bottom lip to keep it from

quivering, and the muscles in his arms began to

ache from the weight of the cinder block in his

hands. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself

when a pair of strong yet soft hands overlapped

his own, removing the cinder block from his

grip.

"Don't do it." Elliot whispered in his ear.

He felt the warmth of Elliot's body as he

pressed against his back. Elliot gently sat the

block down on the ground and Adam dropped

his hands to his side, thankful that Elliot had

stopped him from doing what would've been on

his conscience for days and maybe weeks to

come.

"You went through all that hell to save

him and now you're just gonna turn around and

kill him? No, I won't let you do that to yourself

or him."

Adam stared at the dog, too ashamed to

look at Elliot. "Thank you."

Elliot chuckled. "Why are you thanking

me? You're the hero. I knew you were."

"You helped." Adam said, inally looking

up. He smiled slightly, already feeling guilt mixed

with a bit of relief.

"I did," Elliot said proudly. "So that makes

me your sidekick, huh? What should our names

be?" Adam sat down beside the dog, watching as

Elliot thought, admiring how he could take a

devastating moment and turn it into something

comforting, relaxing. "I know," Elliot continued.

"You can be Midnight Man. In the darkness or

the mid of night, Midnight Man prowls the

destruction, with double M's on his sexy chest,

to rescue anyone and any dog in need."

Adam blushed at his
sexy chest
reference

and was glad Elliot couldn't see his red cheeks in

the poor lighting.

Elliot grinned. "And his sidekick Dark Lad,

with the ability to lift anything no matter the size

—"

"Dark Lad?" Adam snorted.

"Yeah, you know, Midnight? Dark?" He

gestured at the ominous dark sky above them.

"Dark Lad stays true to the word sidekick by

never leaving Midnight Man's side no matter

what."

Heat gathered in Adam's chest. "Thanks."

"No need to thank me." Elliot reached

down and placed a hand on Adam's shoulder.

"You'd do the same for me, huh?"

They stared at each other silently for a

moment. Adam focused on the soft outline of

Elliot's jaw and the fullness of his pouty bottom

lip. His stomach hurt from the knots that

gathered in the pit of it. He swallowed, his

mouth salivating at the thought of tasting the

tongue of the sensual-looking man who stared

back at him.

The dog's panting took their attention

away from each other and brought Adam back

to reality. Elliot knelt beside the dog and patted

its head. "Maybe he's thirsty and hungry."

Without a second thought, Adam grabbed

his pack and dug inside for his bottle of water

and a granola bar. He drizzled the water into the

dog's mouth, watching as it lapped at the stream

frantically. The dog lifted its head from the

ground in an attempt to get more water.

"Easy. Easy." Adam caressed the head

and then opened the granola package. He held a

piece of the bar in his palm and offered it. The

dog sniffed at it, and then suddenly gulped it

down once he realized it was food. Adam fed it

the rest of the package and watched as the dog

struggled to stand. It shook its body, shaking off

a layer of dirt, and sat. It stretched its injured

hind leg and licked at the bloody wound.

"He looks better already." Elliot smiled

widely. His smile lightened the mood. "Let's

clean up the leg like you did mine. You have

some more gauze and antiseptic?"

Adam grabbed some sterile gauze and

the bottle of antiseptic from his pack. He'd taken

some from the dental of ice for Elliot's wound,

so he had plenty to spare for the dog. Elliot

helped hold the dog still as Adam cleaned,

covered and wrapped the hurt leg. Once

inished, the dog stood and sniffed around in his

backpack, probably for more granola.

Adam yawned. "Let's rest here a while."

He cleared the area of litter with his feet. "We

can use some of this trash and stuff to build a

fire for light."

Elliot huffed, frowning. "Like camping, but

not really."

"Come on, Dark Lad." Adam tapped

Elliot's shoulder. "If the superhero doesn't

complain, the sidekick doesn't either."

Elliot scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I never

said you were a
super
hero." He helped gather

some wood pieces. "But you're not far from it."

4: Denial

Elliot watched the lames dance around

in the makeshift stone-walled pit, and the dog

limp about snif ing at the litter around them.

Elliot stretched his legs out on the ground near

the fire. "I think he's still hungry."

"He's had three bars already." Adam

reclined back against the slanted slab that rested

on the pile of concrete blocks he had crawled

under. "Be completely out of bars before you

know it. Might have to make a trip to that Food

Plus."

Their camp ire illuminated the area

around them enough for Elliot to make out

Adam's handsome features. Everything else

outside of their close circle was cloaked in

blackness. He couldn't make out anything

beyond ten feet, which he didn't mind. The

limited light source made him feel protected. He

imagined relaxing inside a small bubble that

included Adam and their new four legged friend,

safe from the deteriorating world outside the

bubble.

The dog limped over and lay down on the

ground next to Elliot. "Look, he likes me."

"I see that." Adam smiled, causing the

parenthesis lines around his mouth to deepen.

"Since he's gonna stick with us, maybe we

should name him." He ran his hand along the

dog's short, dark brown coat. Something caught

his eye. The hairs around the dog's neck lay lat

in a uniform ring as if he once wore a collar.

Also the dog's ears were cropped. "Looks like

he's had a name before."

"Huh?"

"He used to wear a collar, and someone

took good care of him. His nails are trimmed

and he seems pretty healthy other than the leg.

What do you think his name is?"

"Don't know."

"Come on, guess."

"Uh, Spot, Max, Titan?"

Elliot called to the dog, "Titan. Titan?"

When the dog didn't respond he frowned. "No,

it's not Titan."

Adam shrugged. "Just make up a name."

Elliot stared at the dog, thinking. "Titan

sounds pretty good."

Titan was a good name. It signi ied

strength, importance, and power. Kind of like

Adam. Elliot watched Adam relax, rocking his

head back against the slab. There was no

denying he was a good-looking man. It took

everything Elliot had to keep from jumping him

like a sex-starved maniac. He admired his self-

discipline. Thinking of discipline, he realized he

hadn't looked back east since they left the dental

of ice. He was stronger now, ready to do

whatever he had to do to survive. But although

the darkness completely blanketed them, he just

couldn't commit to looking above at the murky

clouds. So he settled on staring at Adam.

Dirty thoughts of hot, wet sex entered his

mind. He knew his thoughts were mostly out of

desperation; desperation to escape reality, but

they were welcomed.

Seconds of silence slowly rolled by. In the

midst of the calm, Elliot encouraged his fantasies