Before the Darkness (Refuge Inc.) (4 page)

longer there … a gorgeous man. Adam

possessed such beautiful golden skin, lawless

complexion and the most beautiful blushed lips

he'd ever seen on a man. He placed his hand on

Adam's chin and lifted his head slightly to kiss

his blushed lips again.

After another innocent, electrifying peck,

Adam turned away again. "Let me look at that

leg, alright?" He kindly turned Elliot down.

However, Elliot needed comfort and affection,

something to take his mind off of the people and

the luxuries he no longer had. For a while that

mesmerizing

kiss

seemed

to

work.

Unfortunately, it hadn't worked for long.

Adam kept an arm around his waist and

guided him toward the of ice, while glancing

over his shoulder. "I think that dark cloud is

gonna make it here sooner than I thought."

"Aren't you scared?" Elliot kept his gaze

down and as far away from the east as possible.

"The scary part's over." Adam looked

toward the east. "The asteroid already struck.

Our job now is to stay clear-headed and to do

what we have to do to stay safe."

Suddenly a deep snarl came from behind

them, stunning and stopping them in their

tracks. Quickly, Elliot peered over his shoulder

and was confronted with what resembled a

large, angry pit bull. It wouldn't have frightened

Elliot as much if he wasn't injured, enabling him

to run or defend himself. "What do we do?" He

stared unblinking at the big, brown dog as it

stared back at him and bared its fangs.

"Just move toward the door slowly."

Adam tugged him a little in the direction of the

of ice, arm still around his waist. "No sudden

movements."

The dog's growl rattled the hairs on the

back of his neck. He imagined being maimed by

the roaring beast at any second. He slowly

limped to the door but fear made him constantly

look over his shoulder at the animal.

Adam peered back too. "It's hurt on its

left side. Don't worry. It's probably scared of us

more than we are of it."

He glanced back again. Blood covered

most of the dog's left side. On the same side, it

tucked his hind leg under its belly as if it were

injured too. That con irmed his suspicions. It

was the same dog he’d seen earlier, limping

away from him. He grabbed the door handle just

as they reached the of ice and quickly hopped

inside. Adam followed, but before closing the

door fully they waited to watch the dog through

the small crack.

The dog watched them too for a few

seconds and then turned to a nearby puddle of

water to drink from it. After having enough to

drink, it lay down on the wet asphalt beside the

puddle, content.

Adam laughed softly. "It was just thirsty.

Poor mutt." He looked to Elliot. "You okay?"

Elliot nodded while his heart raced,

threatening to burst from his chest.

Carefully, they entered one of the dental

rooms. Dental instruments and broken glass lay

scattered around the dusty carpet. The table

drawers were opened, some broken with all of

their contents on the loor. Adam turned over a

heavy-looking, metal patient chair, sat it upright

and helped him onto it. The chair had a thick

layer of smooth, black leather on top where the

patient would sit comfortably. Elliot waited as

Adam grabbed some antiseptic and sterile gauze

still in the foil packaging and sat beside him in

what was probably the doctor's chair.

"It's not bleeding much. That's good."

Adam untied the torn, wet shirt from his leg.

"I'm just gonna clean it up and dress it better,

alright?" He avoided eye contact as his talked,

but Elliot nodded anyway.

"Thanks for taking care of me. You're

like…my hero." He shifted in the chair, getting

more comfortable. "Did you go to school for this

or something? A doctor, maybe?"

"Nah, I'm no doctor." Adam kept his eyes

on his working hands, cleaning around the

outside of the wound with the sterile gauze. "I

worked for the Maricopa County Police

Department. I took basic first aid training."

"So you're a cop?" Fear still tunneled

through his veins but he was impressed and

forced a smile anyway.

Adam nodded, keeping his focus on

Elliot's wound. "Yep, a police officer."

"So, you
are
a hero then. Phoenix's hero.

Not just my hero." Elliot smiled genuinely. "I'm

just a cashier,
was
a cashier at Food Plus. But

was fired last week."

"Fired?" Adam finally looked up at him.

"Apparently, I didn't care enough about

customer service because I didn't service the

customers well enough." He shook his head and

rolled his eyes. "That's what the big guy said. His

exact words. My job was to ring them up and

that’s what I did. I guess he wanted me to smile

constantly and pressure them into buying a

bunch of junk they didn't want or need.

Honestly, who wants to smile when you feel so

miserable?" Adam dropped his gaze back to his

working hands and Elliot shrugged. "But that

doesn't matter anymore, huh?"

After a couple of minutes of silence, Elliot

prevented hot tears from welling up in his eyes.

"I'm sorry for kissing you. I didn't want to make

you feel…awkward or anything. I'm just so

excited to run into you. I was caught in the

moment, you know?"

Adam put his hand on Elliot's bare

shoulder, comforting. "Don't worry about it. As

long as we stick together we'll make it through

this mess."

He had said that before and before it had

comforted Elliot, but hearing it again didn't have

much of an effect on him.

"I'm so lost. I miss my family, my

boyfriend, my house. It feels like I'm dreaming

or something. Like this isn't really happening."

Elliot sat forward, placing a hand on each of

Adam's shoulders. "Am I dreaming? Or worse,

I'm dead. We're dead, aren't we? Or maybe…

maybe I've already gone insane and you're just

part of my imagination. Am I right? I'm

imagining you helping me?"

Adam moved forward, damn near

pressing his forehead to Elliot's. "If you

imagined me then you have a great imagination,

because I'm not the hero you think I am. I'm just

like you, a survivor, nothing more and de initely

nothing supernatural."

Elliot shook his head. Confused. "Then

why are you here with me, helping
me
?"

"I'm sure you would stay and help me if I

were hurt. Anyway, two heads are better than

one, remember?"

He nodded, agreeing.

Adam shifted in his seat but continued to

tend to the wound with a smile. Attractive,

shallow laugh lines framed his red lips in little

parenthesis. But before his smile had a chance

to fade, the building started to rumble and

shake, rattling everything that wasn't secured to

the floor.

Elliot gasped. "Another quake!" The

roaring sound of objects smashing and crashing

around them startled him. He allowed Adam to

quickly help him up from the dental chair and

they huddled in a corner of the room. The

shaking grew worse as the seconds went by. The

wall adjacent to them began to crack and

weaken. Pieces of drywall crumbled from the

damaged spots and from the ceiling directly

above them.

"We need to take cover." Adam's voice

rose above the powerful sound of destruction.

"Looks like the roof's about to cave in."

Elliot's eyes scanned the room while he

thought of a plan. The only thing that could

possibly protect them from falling debris was

the large, metal dentist chair he had just been

sitting on. He pointed to it and swiftly Adam left

the corner to get a hold of the chair and drag it

back to their corner of the room. He kicked it

over, it tumbled to the side, he heaved it over

once more and they both crouched under the

heavy, leather-protected metal.

Just a mere second after taking cover, a

support beam came crashing down in the

hallway just outside of the room while the quake

went on violently shaking the world around

them. The thunderous sound of objects

crashing, breaking, splitting and shattering

simultaneously

drummed

throughout

the

cramped of ice. It seemed like forever had

passed before the thundering inally stopped.

Elliot and Adam stayed motionless for minutes

after, panting desperately to catch their breaths.

Adam gripped Elliot's shoulder as they

knelt beside the chair. "You all right?"

"I'm scared shitless." He looked to Adam

with huge, frightened eyes. "We're not going to

make it. I can't live like this, without a sun, with

just us. What do we do? How could we live

without the sun?" The same sun he’d damned

earlier. Just his luck to curse the very thing he

couldn't live without the most. "It's all over. It's

too late now."

"Elliot, calm down." Adam wrapped a

strong arm around him and ran his fingers

through Elliot's damp, dark hair. If Adam's intent

was too comfort him it definitely worked.

Elliot mimicked him by tangling his

ingers in Adam's dirty blonds. He felt the panic

gently subside. Elliot needed con irmation. His

voice was low, melancholy. "We're going to die,

aren't we?"

"No, we're not." Adam's voice grew

strong and confident.

Despite Adam's confidence, Elliot couldn't

shake the achiness in his chest. "We are. I can

feel it." The churning of his innards sent a

burning sensation to the pit of his gut.

"No…we're not." Adam gently pulled

Elliot into him, embracing him, surrounding him

with a warm pair of arms, protection.

Soft, puckered lips brushed Elliot's and

he couldn't help but to open his mouth, allowing

Adam's tongue to tease at his own. They licked

and tasted one another's tongue, alternating

between soft pecks on the lips and slick tangles

of wet muscle.

Elliot tried to suppress his groan but

failed. Should he feel so safe in a stranger's

arms so soon? Is indulging in a kiss really ….

"Ahh…" Adam's kiss pulled him in deeper than

any kiss he'd ever experienced before. Fueled

by adrenaline and fear and transitioning into

passion and desire, the kiss was more than what

Elliot craved. He absolutely needed it. His tense,

achy body continued to relax against Adam's

and Adam lured him in; holding, pulling, and

gripping one another with what felt like an

unspoken intention of never letting go.

The weight of Adam's body pressed Elliot

back against the dusty carpeted loor, and as

Adam rested on top of him, Elliot cradled him

between bent knees. Adam supported most of

his weight on his forearms by placing them on

both sides of Elliot's head. Their kiss grew

deeper, rougher and more intense. Their

tongues licked harder. Their faint, sweet-

smelling granola breath mingled. Pain pricked

the small cut on his lip, however, the pleasure he

received quickly overpowered any pain.

He raised his hands to Adam's biceps and

squeezed while he thrust his hips slightly,

careful to keep his wounded leg out of the way.

His erection pressed against Adam's through the

fabric of their wet boxers. The addictive wave of

pleasure raced through his body causing him to

instinctively thrust his hips faster, harder. Adam

must have took his cue because he ground his

pelvis against Elliot's too, pressing and grinding

their hard-ons together.

A breathy moan brushed past Adam's

lips, making Elliot shudder in anticipation. He

reached below and quickly pushed Adam's

boxer-briefs down over his ass. He did the same

to his own boxers, freeing his erection and

crushing it against Adam's. Their warm, slick