In the Midst

by Beth Martin

  He jumped down into the water. “Fuck, it’s cold!” Using his flashlight, he looked around their new cavern. It was barely tall enough to stand in and only about six feet wide. There was nowhere for them to get out of the water, and the cavern continued endlessly in the distance. “Come on, let’s see where this goes.”

  They pushed forward as quickly as they could in the waist-deep water. Leona was grateful for the rubber-soled boots which did a good job gripping the smooth stone bottom. After a while, Roemell opted to swim instead, giving Leona the flashlight.

  After a few painfully long minutes, the path slanted upwards, and out of the stagnant pool. “Thank God!” Leona said as she pushed forward and away from the water. She flapped around her arms, hoping to expel some of the water from her clothes as she waited for Roemell to catch up. Once he was out of the water, too, she said, “I can barely feel my feet.”

  “Eh.” He shrugged. “It kind of helped all the bruises I’ve acquired over the past week.”

  Seeing him all dripping wet, his shirt clinging to his body, and finally safe from the grasp of Python, a sudden heat washed over her. Giving in to the impulse, she threw her arms around him and passionately kissed him. Her whole body yearned for him, and she craved touching every inch of his skin. She slipped her hands under his shirt, feeling up his torso to his chest. In response, he placed his hands on her butt and pulled her closer, pressing her pelvis against his. She gasped, not expecting the simple pressure to feel so good.

  In a quick move, Roemell removed his shirt and tossed it to the side, then threw the flashlight on top of it. The light made strange shadows from its position on the ground, but she was finally able to make out some of the green in his eyes. He kissed her neck as his hands roamed all over her body. Letting out a soft moan, she let herself get lost in her senses.

  “How do you get this thing off?” he asked, tugging at the fabric of her bodysuit.

  “There’s a zipper.” She turned around and pushed aside her hair to reveal the zipper pull at the nape of her neck. Slowly, he slid it down, exposing her back. Her skin was damp, and the air against her freshly naked skin sent a shiver through her body.

  He tugged her clothing down, letting it bunch around her ankles. Before she could kick off her boots and pull the suit the rest of the way off, he wrapped an arm around her waist and held her tight, her back pressed against his chest. As he kissed her shoulder, his other hand crept under her panties. “Is this okay?” he whispered.

  She mumbled, “Mmm,” which he took as permission. He was gentle as his fingers tickled her skin and ventured lower. She pushed her panties down and out of the way, then placed a hand on his, guiding him between her legs, taking in a sharp breath as he hit just the right spot. When the teasing became too much, she pulled his hand away and shuffled around to face him. “I want you,” she cooed before kissing him.

  He groaned softly. “I want to do so many awful things to you. I would love to lay you down and thrust inside of you over and over…” She liked the sound of that plan. “...but I don’t have any sort of protection.”

  She was about to ask, Protection against what? but realized what he meant before she could say the words. Ava had gotten some sort of hormone injections or something to prevent pregnancy, and Leona’s mother had kept a box filled with individually wrapped condoms and insisted Leona was welcome to help herself.

  But ultimately, Leona had avoided birth control, unsure she ever wanted an intimate relationship when she had access to toys and robots and a best friend ready to share intimate details from her own escapades. But right then, at that moment, she craved the connection with Roemell so strongly, she wasn’t concerned about the repercussions.

  “Just once?” she whispered, pulling at the waist of his pants.

  “I could pull out…” Grabbing her hips, he pressed against her before wrapping his arms around her and passionately kissing her. “You have no idea how much I want you right now,” he groaned.

  “Show me.” Before she could say any more, he guided her down onto the ground on top of a smooth slab of rock.

  He pulled off her boots, then yanked the bodysuit and panties the rest of the way off. After planting a brief kiss between her legs, he came up to whisper in her ear, “This much.” He guided her hand to his crotch so she could feel his erection through his pants.

  She could feel him straining against the thick material of his clothing. He sat up and untied one of his shoes, then stopped. The wet stone was cold, and she yearned for his warm body. “Is something wrong?”

  He covered his face with his hands. “I have to tell you something.”

  His tone made her worried. What did he need to share right now? She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest.

  “I…” He paused and took a deep breath. “Tammy’s still in love with me.”

  Leona had suspected as much, but didn’t understand why he needed to tell her at this moment. Unless… “You still love her, too, don’t you.”

  “No,” he responded quickly, placing a hand on her shoulder. “She and I have been over for a while now. I’ve moved on.”

  Leona shrugged. “Then there’s nothing to worry about. You can’t control how she feels, and as long as you don’t feel the same…” She could sense the pain right below the surface. His green eyes glistened like he was about to cry.

  He held her gaze for a moment, then looked away. “When I was at the settlement to visit Ivan right before we took the plane, I stayed in her tent, and…” His voice trailed off. He looked back up at her face, and she could see the first tear fall.

  Time stopped as her heart dropped to the bottom of her gut. “You slept with her.” And then he had come back to Leona and immediately tried to be intimate with her as well. She felt like she might throw up.

  “No! No.” He sounded like he was trying to convince her as well as himself. “She started, and then I couldn’t stop her, but one of the babies began crying before we could actually do the deed.”

  Leona wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or not. Was not stopping Tammy any better than him seducing her? Did being interrupted really make it any better than if he had gone through with it? Ultimately, it hadn’t happened, and that’s what really mattered, right?

  Even though her mind was reeling with doubts and despair, she couldn’t ignore the pained look on his face. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

  He nodded and swallowed hard, tears now flowing down his face. “I had a daughter—with Tammy. I was supposed to be a dad, but the baby was stillborn.” He began to openly sob, covering his face again with his hands.

  Leona wrapped her arms around him, stunned by this second confession. She couldn’t imagine even having a baby, let alone losing it. “You should have told me sooner.”

  “You were already in a bad place, so I didn’t want to unload my problems onto you. I was afraid I’d scare you away.”

  She took a slow, deep breath. “You can’t scare me away. Where would I even go? We’re trapped in this cave.”

  He actually chuckled at her terrible joke and hugged her. “I care about you so much. I don’t want to jeopardize what we have.”

  “No,” she agreed. She was still hurt, but she’d sort out her feelings later. They really needed to focus on escaping from the cave. “We should keep going.”

  He nodded in agreement.

  Looking around at their cast-off clothing, she realized her bra was the only article that wasn’t soaked. She slipped it back on, and then her panties. As she was about to tug the bodysuit back up, Roemell said, “You probably don’t want to wear that until it dries. The moisture will just suck away your body heat.” She put on her boots and waited for Roemell to grab the flashlight and their wet clothes. He looked around the cavern again. “I guess we should keep going this way.”

  “Right.” She tried to focus on just putting one foot in front of the other, but the thoughts of Tammy, Roemell, and their daughter kept swirling through her head. />
  21

  ROEMELL AND LEONA kept walking for quite a while without saying much of anything to each other. He was actually relieved after finally telling her the secrets he had been keeping.

  “I think it’s getting a little warmer,” he commented, trying to break the silence. Really, the temperature felt no different, but it was much more bearable now that his skin was dry.

  “Yeah, it is.” With each step, her boots made a squishing sound from the water still trapped inside, but the noise was reassuring—a constant reminder that she was next to him even though he could barely see her.

  After another pause, he finally asked the question that had been bugging him ever since she had found him. “So, did Python… do anything to you?”

  She continued to slosh along beside him. “She was really mean the entire time and kept calling me names. The food she gave me was full of sedatives so that I would sleep most of the time.”

  He clenched his fists and jaw, imagining Python’s glee at having Leona comatose in her bed. “Did she...do anything to you? Like touch you?”

  “No.”

  “When you woke up, did you have any pain or… or bleeding?”

  The sloshing stopped. Roemell stopped walking and turned to look at Leona, her stern face appearing even more severe in the shadowy beam from his flashlight. “Did she tell you she did something to me?”

  “Just that she wanted—”

  “Are you trying to clear your conscious? Like if something happened between me and her, it would balance out your inability to stop yourself with Tammy?” She crossed her arms and stared him down. “Would it make you feel better if I told you that I tried to seduce her?”

  “You what?” His jaw dropped in disbelief. He hoped she was lying. Maybe she wanted to make him jealous. “You couldn’t have actually…”

  She dropped her arms to her side. “I got her drunk and did a sexy dance. When she gave me some lingerie to try on, I was able to slip away. Instead of changing in the bathroom, I squeezed into the toilet drain and fell down into this cave.”

  He bowed his head a bit and rubbed a hand over his face. “There’s no score to settle. I’m sorry about what I did, and I wish I could go back and change it. But I’m genuinely concerned about you. I don’t want anyone to hurt you or force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

  Her features softened as he walked up to her. He put a hand under her chin and gave her a gentle kiss. “I love you.”

  This time the silence was excruciating. Although he hadn’t expect her to reciprocate, he wanted her to say something. After a minute, she said, “Turn off your flashlight.”

  He clicked it off, then stood still. “Now what?”

  “I thought I saw something. Like a light or something.” After a minute, his eyes had adjusted as much as they could to the dark and he closely examined his surroundings. Way ahead, where their path twisted to the side, a tiny pinpoint of light filtered down. “Come on, let’s go,” she said, taking off at a jog.

  He ran after her, turning on the flashlight once again. After a number of twists and turns, they saw the most glorious sight. Sunlight shone through an opening, making a crisp outline of light against the deep shadows. He ran right up into the sunspot, breathing a sigh of relief as the bright rays warmed his skin. The opening wasn’t too high above them, so they’d have an easy time climbing out.

  “Would you like to go first?” he asked. But before he could offer her a boost, she was scrambling up the steep slant to the top and disappearing into the outside world. He climbed up after her and immediately laid down once he was out.

  They found themselves in a bit of a grassy area which was surrounded by tall trees. It was warm out, and the leaves rustled with an intermittent breeze. “We made it,” Leona said before bursting into another fit of tears.

  He hugged her, hoping they were tears of joy or relief. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

  She sniffled and pressed her cheek against his shoulder, then whispered, “I love you, too.” Burying his face in her hair, he breathed in her scent. He had no idea what they were going to do—or even where they should go—but none of that mattered as long as he had her.

  • • •

  For once, Leona was simply glad to be alive. She still had anxious notions creep into her mind, but all she had to do was reach over and grab Roemell’s hand as he walked next to her, and she could block the disturbing thoughts out of her head.

  Their clothes had dried quickly in the warm sun, and they were able to get dressed and keep going. They had found a dilapidated roadway near the cave entrance. Once they were able to get their cardinal directions down, they decided to travel east, even though they had no clue where they were. After trekking through most of middle America, they didn’t want to spend any more time there, and of the two coasts, they were definitely closer to the eastern one.

  When they had come across a stream, they had stopped to drink some water. The animals were plentiful, but too fast to catch, and neither Leona nor Roemell were familiar with the plants growing in the area, so—to be on the safe side—they didn’t eat anything.

  “Are you sure this is the right direction?” she asked, hot and tired as the evening sun beat down on her back. She hadn’t eaten in a day, and her stomach was growling.

  “Of course.” Roemell gave her hand a quick squeeze. “The sun sets in the west. This is east.” He pointed in the direction they were walking.

  “Shouldn’t we see some signs of a city by now?” she asked.

  “I bet it’s not much farther.” Sure enough, they were soon able to make out the tops of tall buildings surrounded by hazy yellow clouds. “See,” he added, smiling broadly. “We’ll make it there before nightfall.”

  She simply nodded her head. Her body was tired. The black bodysuit she wore made her feel even more hot and sticky. Each step felt like an accomplishment, but she couldn’t fathom walking for another hour.

  She tried her best to distract her brain from her body’s discomfort. “What should we do when we get there?” she asked.

  “I was hoping you could take point once we’re in the city. They aren’t really my thing. I thought you were familiar with them.”

  She shrugged. “A little. Although, my experience is from taking vacations with my parents. We’d fly in on our jet, stay in a comfortable hotel, download a guided tour to Bellabot.” She paused, feeling a pang again over the loss of both her parents and her companion robot. “We also brought a bunch of goods to the hotel as payment for our stay, and they’d handle any currency needs while we were there.”

  “Sounds nice,” Roemell said wistfully.

  “Yeah. It was. But we don’t have anything of value to use as payment, and we lost the robot that had all the information for the account the VanStratens set up for us. I’m not sure how we’ll navigate the capital, let alone get transportation back home.”

  He looped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “We’ll figure something out. Try not to worry about it.”

  As they continued to walk, she reminded herself of all the trials they had overcome recently. Getting along in a city wouldn’t be too hard.

  The sun was almost completely hidden under the horizon when they were greeted by a putrid smell—a blend of exhaust, decomposition, and mildew. There was no doubt: the smell definitely came from the city ahead. She couldn’t recall ever visiting a place that smelled this bad, with the exception of the cave they had just escaped. Surely there was some sort of regulation in the metro area to keep noxious odors in check.

  Soon, they were able to make out a tall wall surrounding the capital. Outside of the wall were tons of shoddy structures made of cloth and cardboard, which looked ready to collapse in the next stiff breeze. Barrels containing blazing fires sat amongst the outside settlement. There were a number of people either sitting on the ground or standing next to one of the fires. They all had gaunt, somber faces. None of them milled around, laughed, or even interacted
with each other. But most noticeable was the complete lack of children. No one there looked younger than Leona.

  Amongst the settlement was a large clearing which was well lit and flanked with two guard houses. Between them, a large gate was sealed shut. “I guess that’s where we get in,” Roemell said as he nodded toward the gate. When they got within a hundred yards of the entrance, three security robots strolled out of the gatehouses and stood in front of the passage. Each of them held an enormous firearm. The people closest to the gate swiftly scurried farther away from it and into the shoddy structures. “I’ll let you do the talking,” he whispered.

  Leona swallowed hard. She could do this. The middle android announced in a loud, masculine voice, “Halt. Don’t come any closer.” The other two robots raised their weapons, training them on the pair. “State your purpose.”

  “We’d like to enter the capital,” Leona said, attempting to project her already shaky voice.

  “The gates are sealed,” the lead robot declared. “You must wait until tomorrow at eight am for them to open.”

  Roemell held tightly to her arm. He gave her a pleading look, and she guessed he was totally all right staying outside overnight with the sad community of smelly people. Instead, she boldly stepped forward. “No, you must make an exception and let us through. Our presence is expected.” Even though the trial was likely over, there was a small chance she and Roemell were still listed as permitted visitors.

  After a couple of seconds processing what she had said, the head robot responded, “There is a bounty for your capture from a private security company.” Her knees began to shake. Python was still looking for them. Of course she was. Why hadn’t Leona considered that before stupidly approaching the gatekeepers? Roemell’s hand tightened again on her arm, this time helping to keep her upright. “You are also a person of interest in an ongoing investigation and your presence has been demanded by the director of the Federal Technology Division.”