Kate
We’ve been walking for hours through desolate streets, crunching over hordes of cockroaches and rubble. A sickly-sweet sewage odor saturates the air. Puddles of standing water, slick with oil, start to harden into icy pools, and clumps of dirt freeze into solid rock-like shapes. The skies darken, taking on an anemic purplish hue. Fat flakes of snow spiral down from the sky and melt before hitting the ground, but the temperature is plummeting quickly. It’s literally getting colder by the second and the snow will stick soon. I say nothing and just take in all the details of my surroundings. My stomach rumbles a humiliating tune.
I pretend it’s not me.
“We should look for food,” he says in a low, gentle voice, touching his hand to my elbow.
“Oh, why? Are you hungry, jackass?” I snap, pulling my arm away.
“I was just thinking since you vomited up everything you ate today that you might want to fill your stomach again.”
“How thoughtful of you, dickhead.”
He balks and comes to a complete stop in front of me. “Why are you calling me all different names every time you speak to me?”
“You won’t tell me your name, so I’m trying on a few to see which one fits the best. I’m thinkingAssholesuits you well,” I say, sidestepping around him.
His fingers wrap around my wrist before I can move away. As I open my mouth to scream at him about personal space and the dangers of touching me, somethingsnaps. I freeze, squinting my eyes through the shadowy mist. Slowly, he pulls me back, pressing me against him, and crosses his arm up and over the front of me. I’m not sure why he does this—it feels protective—but that can’t be, can it?
Whatever the reason, I turn into his hold and flatten myself against him. I look up and find his gaze flicking across the landscape. The muscles of his jaw tic and the side of his neck thrums with a steady pulse. The arm that wraps around me tightens; his fingers splay possessively across my back.
Iron hinges grate, metal screams against metal, and out of the ash and smoke comes fast steps, followed by beams of light flashing in our direction. Voices shout. Men’s voices. They’re calling out but I can’t make out the words.
Are theyus or them? I look up to the strange being holding me and I’m paralyzed with fear as to what to do. His eyes frantically search around us, and then he’s off. His hand instantly drops down to mine and our fingers entwine. I’m running so blindly fast I have no time to think. He stumbles only once before picking me up and helping me climb through a broken window. We crawl through a display of disheveled mannequins sprawled haphazardly over the ground and skid across broken glass.
Even from inside we can still hear the men yelling, barking out orders. Our boots squeak sharply on a muddied tiled floor until the flashlights shine through the storefront windows and we dive behind an overturned rack of eveningwear. I’m out of breath, trying desperately to quiet my gasping. My throat is so dry I feel like I’ve swallowed a mouthful of glass; it makes me sick to my stomach and I gag on the pain.
Asshole’s hands cup my shoulders and he whispers into my hair, “Quietly. Back up. In here.”
My feet slide over the dirty floor but my boots stay silent. The two of us scramble through a fitting room door and lock it behind us. He grabs me around the waist and huddles me into the corner.
“Shhh,” he breathes into my ear, the warmth of his words tingling down my neck. My skin prickles with goose bumps and ripples with a sudden shiver. He pulls back his head, angling it so his eyes meet mine.
I’m cold, that’s all. That’s what I tell myself. It’s the reason why I’m shivering and covered in gooseflesh. My dad’s vest it still damp, and my hair is wet with snow, that’s all it is.
Before I can say anything, he wraps both his arms around me, and locks his hands around my back. I curl up into him for warmth because my teeth are chattering and my body is shivering. It’s survival instinct, I’m just getting warm. It’s got nothing to do with alien-boy and the way he looks so human.
Just outside the store, the men’s voices continue bellowing in search of whatever they’re looking for. I still can’t tell if they are one of them or one of me.
We sit on the floor, wrapped up in each other, and silently wait. My ear presses down against his chest and I clearly hear the loud drumming of his heart. How much different can they be from us if they have all the same features?
Then, right outside the fitting room door, something clatters loudly over the floor. Every muscle in my body tightens when the sounds of the men’s voices burst through the silence. “Are you sure you saw something come in here?”
A sharp sudden clanging rings through the store. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” a husky voice growls.
“Come ‘ere, kitty, kitty, kitty,” another voice calls out, laughing darkly.
The hands around my shoulders tighten; warm fingers dig deeper into my skin. I don’t know how long we lay wrapped in each other—it’s long after the sounds of the men are gone—and long after we should have let go of one another,thatI do know.
We sit in the darkness, looking at each other through the small glow from the flashlight. My skin tingles with the cold and the closeness to him. There’s something more too; something strange and alarming. It’s the way he looks back at me through that soft glow. The way he almost seems to hold his breath as his eyes lock on mine. In a way, it’s the heat in his stare that ends up keeping me warm.
Eventually, my eyes close and I dream of my sister and seeing her smile again.
* * *
There’s snow on the ground when I peek out the front window.
I leave him sleeping in the fitting room and go in search of a bathroom. My bladder is about to explode and there’s no way I’m squatting in a corner somewhere if I can still find a bathroom to use. I don’t even want to think about what will happen in the weeks to come if we’re traveling and there aren’t bathrooms available. I was never good at camping and I’m honestly not comfortable with even the thought of things I’ve taken for granted daily not being available to me any longer. I squeeze my eyes shut and pray something gives. I’m hungry. Dizzy. In need of coffee. And a nice hot shower would feel so good right now. Maybe this store has a vending machine in their break room.
