Before the Darkness (Refuge Inc.) (22 page)

head, revealing long, thick, dark curly locks of

her own. She moved forward to hand it to Elliot

when Tami stopped her.

"Don't give him anything until he tells me

where Jess is."

Elliot shook his head, trying to organize

his thoughts. "Her body was a few miles from

my neighborhood."

"And where exactly is that?"

Anita placed her arm on Tami's. "Just

because he saw a girl's body with that

description doesn't mean it's Jess."

"That's right." Tami's eyes widened at the

possibility. "But we have to go see for ourselves

just to be sure." She turned to Elliot. "So where

is she?"

Adam slouched over, reaching for a

bottle of water next to his empty backpack.

"Who are you guys? What girl?"

Elliot picked up the water bottle and

opened it, and then handed it to Adam. "They're

the ones spray painting the R's."

"Refuge Inc.?" Adam seemed to sober up,

a hint of excitement in his eyes. "Take us there."

"You don't deserve to be there," Tami

growled. "He told us my daughter was alive to

get us to help you, but he lied to us. Using us. So

don't ask for my help anymore."

"That's not fair." Elliot shook his head. "I

told you the truth before you helped. I was

trying to do the right thing. I feel bad for

everything that's happened but you guys

weren't gonna help me. I had to do something.

You still decided to help me and I appreciate

that but—"

"It's alright. We'll just follow the signs,"

Adam said, wincing in pain. "You don't have to

take us."

"The signs are for my daughter." Tami

glowered, tucking stray light brown strands of

hair behind her ear. "We painted them to help

her ind her way back. That's all we could do. No

one else wanted to help. Everyone is looking for

their own loved ones, or looking for food or

supplies, or are sick. It's chaos. But me and Anita

had to do something for ourselves. Us. We don't

have time to worry about everyone else."

"So Refuge Inc. is a place for survivors?"

Elliot asked. "There are other people there?"

"Lots of people," Anita said with somber

eyes. "But not more than there are dead. I never

saw so many dead bodies in my life. In homes,

cars, building, churches—"

"And my daughter might be one of them."

Tami shook her head, already she was balling.

"Tell me where my daughter is, and I will tell you

how to get to the compound. That's all I'm

willing to do for you."

He had no issue telling her where he'd

seen the girl. Yet, the way they all stared at each

other silently raised red lags. Elliot could see in

their faces that they were all wondering the

same thing. Would there be more lies for

personal gain? They didn't trust him.

Anita crouched down near Adam and

assisted him in making a sling with her long,

colorful head wrap. "Please do the right thing."

She peered into Adam's eyes with such a

sorrowful gaze Elliot's heart ached … for all of

them and their pain and losses. Elliot was gonna

to the right thing, no doubt, but were they?

Where would they lead him and Adam? They

were too badly injured to continue roaming

Phoenix in search of painting Rs.

He watched as Anita handled Adam with

care. Titan sniffed at the dried fruit on the

ground beside them. Elliot owed them more

than he could give, but he knew they were

exaggerating about Refuge Inc., making it seem

like the place with the solution, with "all they

would ever need" as Anita said earlier with

sarcasm. If that was so, why weren't they there?

Why would the daughter run away from such a

great place after a disaster? Why wouldn't

anyone else help them in their search? They

were lying to him to get back at him for telling

his own lies, and to get the information they

needed. However, if they were lying about this

place, why would they direct the beloved

daughter back there?

He could see the deceit in Tami's eyes. He

always intended to tell her the truth about her

daughter, and even give her the location where

he saw the body. However, for Adam's sake—

for Adam's steadfast belief in Refuge Inc. and all

of its magni icence—he couldn't mention his

skepticism. He'd rather roam the dark, haunted

streets all night, looking for a phantom utopia

than confront the women and their lies. As long

as he was by Adam's side, he was content.

"Back east. Near Nice Smile Dental in the

surrounding neighborhood." Elliot glanced

down at Adam's exhausted smile. "Now how do

we get to Refuge?"

Anita stood and pointed. "Follow this

freeway down to Seventh Street, turn south and

you'll see a blinking red light in the distance on

South Mountain. That light is the radio antenna

for the compound. You can't miss it." Anita had

spoken, however, she wouldn't lift her gaze to

meet Elliot's, or rather
couldn't
.

Tami turned to leave when Anita stopped

her. "Let's give him some pain meds. We can't

leave him like this."

They looked to Adam and the pain

written on his face with a grimace. Elliot went to

sit beside him, not much he could do but offer

him another drink of water.

Tami eyed the mess of contents that lay

beside them next to Adam's backpack,

illuminated by the dim light of the lashlight

which lay beside the burnt car. "Give me your

flashlight for some pain meds."

"Our lashlight?" Elliot shook his head.

"We need that."

"You have two, you only need one." Tami

unknowingly smeared more of the dark makeup

around her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Come on. Hand it over."

Adam grunted, swallowing a mouthful of

water. "We already have pain killers, we don't

need yours. Keep 'em for yourselves."

That was right. Elliot had forgotten about

the aspirin Adam had found in the hospital.

Maybe Adam had forgotten about it too until

now. Not much it could have done if they

remembered it earlier anyway.

"I have Vicodin." Tami dug in her bag to

produce a small brown prescription bottle. "It's

pretty strong stuff."

Adam nodded.

"And I want those batteries too," Tami

added, "and you can have this whole bottle.

There're four pills in here. It should last you a

long time. And I want some of that dried fruit

too."

"Tami!" Anita whispered. "That's enough."

"Enough?" Tami shouted. "They're lucky

I'm even offering pain meds." She gave Elliot a

dirty look and tossed the bottle of pills to him.

Then she gathered the lashlight, a bag of dried

fruit and all of the extra batteries in the spewed

contents on the ground.

Before he could say
thank you
, they

quickly headed down the street and out of sight.

Titan followed behind the girls, trotting along

brie ly. Before they got too far he paused and

watched the women as they continued to walk,

then he turned around to hobble right back to

Adam and Elliot's side.

Adam sighed, a slight grin on his lips.

"We're gonna be okay."

13: Between the Lines

Adam knew there were other survivors.

The proof was in the two pair they'd

encountered on their unbelievable journey. He

thought back to hours ago when Anita talked

about seeing so many dead bodies. He'd only

seen the few in his neighborhood church, Elliot

only saw the body of the little girl. Either way, he

knew there were more dead out there, probably

hundreds, thousands, millions more. He felt

fortunate enough not to have encountered them

although he mourned for them.

They'd been walking, following Tami's

directions, for what felt like hours. They only

stopped once to rest. They had fallen asleep for

several hours underneath an overpass which

was miles from the one he had grown so

familiar with.

Adam popped the last few painkillers in

his mouth, swallowing the white oval pills. His

arm hurt and throbbed worse than ever, but the

thought of reaching shelter and getting medical

attention, real food and fresh water fueled him.

His legs felt weak and his muscles sore,

especially while walking after so many hours of

rest.

"Thank you," Adam murmured, as they

approached Seventh Street. "For saving my life.

Now that's a true hero."

"You do what you have to do for the

people you … care about." Elliot slid a glance at

him. "Right?"

"Right." Adam nodded, delving deeper.

"You surprised me. I came back to the hospital

and you were gone. Didn't think you would

leave."

He heard Elliot gulp while his eyes

followed the sway of the steadily weakening

lashlight beam as they walked. "I thought the

same about you."

"Sorry for that."

"Don't apologize. I get it," Elliot said, "You

were doing what you thought you had to do to

help. I left for the same reason. I should've

stayed. I know that now."

"
I
should've stayed." Adam glanced to

Elliot's sad eyes. "I know that now."

Adam stopped to catch his breath and

rest his aching legs. Instead, Elliot surprised him

with a short, sweet kiss. Elliot's lips remained

pressed against his and Adam's indulged,

allowing his tongue to lick alongside Elliot's for a

brief moment. The heated kiss, that very

moment, made him feel well restored even if it

only lasted a few seconds. They broke the kiss

and stared into each other's eyes. They were

surrounded by much that was wrong—

devastation, darkness, silence and mysterious

ash that fell from the sky—but the emotion that

burrowed into Adam's heart felt so right.

Titan squeezed between the two of them

and Elliot swept the small light along the furry

mass at their feet. Pain returned to Adam's arm.

He was about to express his anticipation of

receiving more powerful medicine at Refuge Inc.

when Elliot pointed ahead.

"Look, there's the red light." The light

blinked as small as a pin nail far in the distance

"That has to be it."

Time seemed to move extremely slowly

as foot after foot stepped one in front of the

other. They had stopped looking at the

wristwatch long ago; knowing time didn't matter

much as long as they made progress. An hour,

possibly hours, passed behind them and before

they knew it their destination was right before

their very eyes.

Approaching the desert edge of South

Mountain, bright white lood lights shined as

bright as the sun, illuminating an area

surrounded by a cluster of large mountains,

saguaro cacti and dried up bushes. The lat

desert region was cleared of debris and

occupied by dozens of people. Some people

were dressed in white jumpsuits with a single

zipper running from the collar down to the

waist, with face masks and a collection of dust

on their shoulders like a pad of snow. Others

were dressed in plain clothes; jeans or nicely

detailed work suits, but all the people were

occupied. A few people were placing long, plain

foldout tables near two big white medical ield

tents with the words Refuge Inc. marked on

them in bold printed script. An image of a silver

ring encircled the R of the word Refuge, and a

line of about a half dozen injured people waited,

possibly to be treated.

Elliot laughed quietly. "I didn't think it

was real. I didn't think we would ind it, but

we're here." His smile grew wide, genuine.

"Look. You were right."

Most of the people in the white uniforms

had face masks covering their noses and

mouths, probably to keep the scarcely falling

dust or the rotten smell from entering their