M. Marshall - The End Is Nigh

“Who is Shadow? Did you meet him after coming down here?” My blood went cold, and it took me a second or two to compose myself. He had forgotten something so quickly. Shadow had been a big part of our journey here there was no way he would have totally erased him from his memory himself.

“Shadow is my dog. Don’t you remember?”

“No, I don’t.” He turned away and rested his head in his hands. “Sorry. I keep forgetting things; It’s the effects of the fallout I’m all over the place.” Turning back to look up at me from where he sat I could see that he was afraid. “Do you mind if I hold your hand?” He held out his hand, and I gave him mine. We sat in silence with my hand firmly clasped in his. “Thank you for coming to see me. I know that when I’m better, I’ll be able to visit you and Rosa too.”

I couldn’t bear it. They had taken this kind and strong person and made him believe himself to be weak and ill. I knew now that there was no way I could leave him here.

With my determination bolstered I threw myself into what needed to be done. I leaned over and brushed a piece of his hair away from his forehead. Positioning myself so that our lips were almost touching. I closed my eyes and moved in to kiss him.

With a passion I hadn’t expected his mouth closed in on mine he slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. His warm tongue caressed mine in soft waves. I would be lying if I said that it didn’t feel good. I’d expected this to be much more difficult. The eagerness with which he responded to my advance took my breath away. I tried to concentrate on what it was that I’d come here to do and ignore the feelings stirring in my body. Struggling to focus, his hands were already in my hair. Bloody hell.

I pulled an arm free from the tight hold of his embrace and slid it up underneath my top to retrieve the note from my bra. Liam must have felt my hand moving around and seeing that it was inside of my top he took it as an invitation to follow suit. Shit.

As fast as I could, I palmed the note and pulled out my hand, but it was too late. His hand traced my spine and up the back of my top. He must have thought I was trying to take my top off. His hand fingers found the fastening of my bra under the delicate material. My cheeks burned.

This was getting out of control, and I still needed to get the note into Liam’s pocket for him to find later. I dove the hand holding it into the back pocket of his jeans which were snug fitting against his muscular body. Once my hand was in there I had to struggle to get it back out. With each kiss, he leaned towards me, while I reached down to keep shoving the note down inside his pocket as I pulled out my hand. I would have laughed if I could have, this situation was so ridiculous, but my mouth was otherwise engaged. Liam had noticed my hand in his jeans and on his ass and groaned his approval into my neck.

“I’ve wanted to do this since the moment I met you.”

I was dying inside. How could I explain to him that I was a fraud? I dreaded what he would think of me after he had read the note. I should have been grieving for the husband I had lost. Instead, I was acting like I didn’t give a crap about him or the life we had spent together. I had hit a new low. Fumbling around in a dimly lit room with an above average looking man. Liam’s fingers worked deftly to relieve me of my bra. I felt his fingertips run around the side of my ribs and over my navel to my front and then up to cup my breast which fitted perfectly into his rough and calloused hand.

“Liam…”

His kisses began moving further down my neck towards my collarbone. I felt my body betraying me, and my guilt started to melt away into the sensations he was creating within me; no-one had touched me the way he was doing. Not even Matt. There was an animalistic hunger in his kisses but yet his touch remained gentle.

I was on fire. Forgetting my agenda, I moved towards his kisses pressing myself further against him. Teasing he pulled back and rolled my nipple expertly between his fingers my chest tingled with pleasure under the soft material of my top.

He grabbed the bottom of the vest to pull it over my head, but the action brought me out of our passionate whirlwind. “Liam.” I moved away from him. His face was a picture of concern.

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that. I had thought… I mean. I was sure you wanted to.” Aware that Debbie might still be watching us outside I went back to his side. Seeing the clock on the wall reminded me of the time it was already ten to 6 pm. We’d been sat talking for nearly four hours; I blushed - not just talking.

I needed to give him a clue so he would know to find the note later, I lent in towards him and placed a hand on the side of his face. I kissed him softly and pulled back to make eye contact. I needed him to listen carefully to what I was about to say. When I knew I had his full attention, I turned my focus to his ear in the hope that it would look like I was kissing it if Debbie was watching us.

“I will come again. I need you to stop taking your meds, the pills they are giving you aren’t what you think. Do not tell a soul. Read the note in your back pocket tonight when you’re alone. Then destroy it.”

I sat on his lap and pulled his face up to mine. He seemed confused. Well, he had a good right to be I supposed. He had heard me, and I got up to leave. I wasn’t sure if that last kiss was for his benefit, Debbie’s or mine.

I offered up a silent prayer that once he found the note, he would understand what it was I was trying to do. Only time would tell.

I LEFT THE room without looking back. The door closed and I fell back against it and crouched on the floor. My senses were still so heightened from what had just passed between Liam and I that I needed a minute just to focus.

As Debbie had said there would be, there was no sign of her or anyone else watching the corridor. I wondered at what point she had left us on our own.

I walked towards the staircase at the opposite end of the hallway which would lead me up to the women quarters, but as I was about to pass the last door on the right, I noticed that it was open. All of the other doors in the corridor had been locked when I had tried their handles, but this one hadn’t been closed properly.

I crept up to the gap in the door to peer through into the room. As I got closer I heard a noise. It sounded like machines beeping in a steady rhythm. After waiting to listen for other people in the room, I decided that it was safe to look inside. I pushed the door opening it further and peeked around the door to look at the room.

Against the wall were eight hospital beds surrounded by machines. Six of them were occupied. Curious to see more I took a step into the room and the beds came into better view. I was horrified to see that the six occupants were all women in different stages of pregnancy. Each one was unconscious and hooked up to a drip containing a strange yellow liquid. The two beds which were empty at the end of the row had been stripped of their bedding. The shock of what I was seeing drew me further into the room.

I heard footsteps out in the corridor and ducked in between the two end beds tucking myself underneath and out of sight. Two female voices floated down from the corridor, their chatting got louder. I held my breath as I waited for the door I had just come through to open, but to my relief, the voices began to fade away. I heard a door slam at the far end of the corridor and immediately jumped up from my hiding place. I wasn’t sure how long I would have before they would be coming back and this time I might not be so lucky.

I looked over at the women covered in strange wires and wondered how the hell had they already got women this pregnant here? Two of them were definitely past their second trimester. Then I remembered the message from the radio calling for survivors to come here. These women must have been pregnant before they came to the bunker. They probably came looking for a safe haven in response to the radio message, but instead, the people here had stopped them from leaving. Surely no sane woman would volunteer to be hooked up to a machine in a comatose state like this?