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

I said, “Mine just drank. Well, my father drank, and Mom went into the bathroom to cry. And sometimes he’d dress up in her nighties, and she’d stomp into the bathroom and cry. I learned how to pee in bushes during those years.”


“Speaking of which, excuse me,” said Sandy. She picked up a carton of tampons from our pile of stuff and walked down the hallway.


“Girls,” Wade sighed, scratching his crotch happily. “I don’t particularly like girls, do you?”


Chapter 11