It begins with a fading odor and darkness. Lights out, dark as night. Outside the college building, there are flames, lumps of metal and flesh, and no one moving. When Asher finds his car, he's surprised it works and he drives aimlessly, trying in vain for a radio station, any sign of life. Recovering his wits, he parks at a truck stop and loads up with things that might be useful. In the dark, someone runs into him and urges him to flee. The thought of maybe having to repopulate the world doesn't appeal to either of them -- Asher is gay, and Sandy isn't sure what she/he/they are. Sandy knows a place they might hole up while the world dies around them. It's a cabin that belongs to a friend who might be there. Sandy's friend Wade turns up the next day when there's light, again. Are Wade and Sandy an item or just friends? Asher feels like odd man out, but survival is their first priority. Can relationships be sorted out, later?

Night Scenery

Just because I was being practical and sensible didn’t mean I was happy about it. But we might as well get on with what we could do; with what we had at hand. Roof over head, food, fireplace, flea-bitten cat…and each other. The far future would determine if we had to propagate the human race—is that the word I wanted? And if we had to, could we? Would we even still like each other? We damn well better, even if we weren’t the only ones, because, you know, science fiction, assholes, zombies, etc.


We were standing over the kitchen sink, washing the cat. Sandy turned to me and said, “I’m going to kiss you. Don’t get all excited, I don’t think I love you or anything disgusting like that, but I want to see what it’s like. You know, just in case, sometime in the far future, we might have to, you know, you know?” So she did.


Chapter 8