Love at the End of the World

by Christiana Miller

Unlocking it, she had to smile at the large stash of unused medical supplies still on the metal shelves. Extra sutures, tubing, needles, syringes. Gauze, paper tape, and self-sticking wrap. It was too much for her backpack, so she grabbed a plastic trash bag and filled it up, taking all the stuff she felt would be useful. The only thing she didn’t find was medicine. Keeping her gaze averted from the bodies, she methodically searched everywhere. Just as she was finishing up in the last triage room, a noise had her pausing.

  Everything was quiet.

  She opened her mouth to call out, but another noise echoed through the clinic, a little bang as if someone had run into a metal desk. Instinct told her that it wasn’t Luke or Casey, because the corpses in the waiting room would have spooked them into hollering for her attention. Soft footfalls tread lightly on the tile. She let the bag go as she reached down and pulled her gun out of the holster on her ankle.

  Her heart thumped heavily in her chest as the unknown caused a sliver of fear to race over her skin. The footsteps came forward, stopped, then started again. The creak of a door as it swung open had her glancing around the door she hid behind, but only shadows reflected back. Flattening herself against the wall, she lowered her bandana from her mouth so she could take in several deep breaths to calm her hand and steady her nerves. She waited, hoping whoever was outside the door would simply walk on by, especially if they glanced inside and saw the corpses.

  “I know you’re in here,” came an unknown, malicious-sounding, male voice. “Saw you. I also saw you were a bitch and not a dude, which makes it especially galling that you killed my friends over a piece of ass. Are you a fucking dyke or something?”

  Disbelief flooded through her, and she remembered the night before and the asshole who managed to escape. Immediately, she thought of Casey and her fear turned to worry as she wondered if he had hurt her or Luke. He was in no shape to defend his daughter, and she cursed herself for leaving them alone, unprotected.

  “I followed you on my bike,” the man taunted. “Those men you killed? They were my brothers. Not the blood kind, but we were connected by more than that. We were club. We were all that was left of our great brotherhood, and you go and fucking shoot them in the back! You are a dead bitch when I get my hands on you.”

  A door slammed open, the sound ricocheting through the quiet building like a cannon blast. He was hunting her, getting closer. Jo just waited. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she wasn’t stupid enough to confront him without knowing what type of firepower he carried.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he taunted in a sing-song voice.

  God, I want to shoot him just for being an annoying fucking twat! She had to bite her tongue to stop from yelling back. She wasn’t interested in getting into a verbal argument with the creep. Childish antics weren’t her thing. Besides, as long as she stayed silent, she didn’t give him the upper hand.

  Another noise came right in front of the door she was hiding behind and her blood pressure spiked. She tightened her grip on her gun, mentally preparing herself to kill the asshole, when a horn honked loudly. Once. Twice.

  “God damn it,” the man muttered. No longer trying to psychologically befuddle her, he didn’t walk stealthily as he left, instead practically running to the front of the clinic. Which meant, he was running toward Luke and Casey.

  “Fuck,” she muttered.

  Leaving the safety of her hiding place, she hurried after the man, once more chasing him down. He was only a few feet in front of her, but it was enough of a head start to get out of the clinic and shoot at the camper. As she threw open the front door, the asshole had his rifle up and pointed at the vehicle’s windshield.

  “Get out of the RV, motherfucker!” the man yelled.

  “Get down!” she screamed at the same time, hoping Luke heard her.

  The man swung around, rifle still pointed, and she only had a split second to try to protect herself. Immediately, Jo dove to the right just as the rifle exploded, missing her by a hair. She raised her gun and shot at him. The man howled as her bullet embedded in his shin, but he didn’t let go of his weapon. Instead, he took aim, and that’s when it registered she couldn’t outrun the next shot.

  But the shot never happened. The man emitted a grunt, his head jerked back so he looked up at the sky, and the rifle dropped harmlessly to the ground. He collapsed in a boneless heap, revealing Luke standing behind him, holding a hammer. He had saved her life.

  Luke stared at the man who had tried to take his daughter, who had followed them with the intent on completing his vengeance, with hate-filled eyes. He drew back the hammer and struck him again and again until the sickening crunch of the man’s skull let them know he was dead. Luke was breathing hard, blood spatter covering his clothes, staring down at the man with cold fury on his face. He didn’t move, clutching the hammer, looking like a wrathful father.

  “Luke?” Jo asked. She rose, ignoring how her legs shook a little in the aftermath, and slid her gun back into the ankle holster. “Luke, are you okay?”

  He didn’t even acknowledge her. Jo walked to his side and touched his shoulder, which was so tense it was like touching steel.

  “Luke, snap out of it. Please.”

  Another moment passed and then he blinked. His muscles slowly relaxed. He glanced from the bloody hammer to her.

  “Jesus,” he whispered. “I killed him.”

  Her heart melted at his obvious distress. “But you saved me. You saved Casey too.”

  “When Casey said that was the man who took her, I didn’t think. I saw red. I wanted to hurt him for hurting my daughter.”

  “Of course you did. He was a horrible person.”

  She looked over his shoulder and saw Casey waiting at the camper’s side door. Her arms were wrapped around herself and tears ran down her cheeks. Jo gave a slight nod with her head toward the camper, and Casey immediately seemed to understand, going back inside to give her father a moment to collect himself. Jo knew he wouldn’t want his daughter to see him fall apart, and the last thing Jo wanted was for the girl to see the bludgeoned corpse of the man her father had just killed. Besides, she had to deal with Luke’s psyche right then.

  Jo placed her hands on Luke’s face and angled his head down so they could look at each other. “You did the right thing, Luke. Do you hear me?”

  “I’ve never killed anyone.”

  “I know,” she said.

  He still had that dazed look, so she did the only thing that she knew would, or could, snap him out of it. Pulling him close, she kissed him directly on the mouth. There wasn’t any single romantic thing about the kiss. She used the tactic merely as a diversionary method to get him to focus on something other than the shock and trauma of taking a life. As soon as it had begun, however, it was over. Luke jerked back from the kiss and stared down at her, frowning.

  Jo ran her tongue over her lower lip, because even though she told herself it meant nothing, the truth was that Luke was a handsome man that she found attractive. Not the time, stupid!

  He opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but then snapped it closed again. Luke looked from her to the hammer, to the body, and then back to the hammer. With a roar of anger and disgust, he turned and threw the hammer as hard as he could, letting it fly with a snarl of rage.

  “Stop it,” she ordered softly.

  “God damn! I’m no better than that fucking asshole.”

  “Look at me, Luke.”

  It took him a few minutes, but reluctantly he turned back toward her.

  “Do you know what the difference between you and him was? He wouldn’t have cared if he killed you. He was going to take Casey, abuse her as well as let his friends abuse her, and if she would’ve had a baby, they would’ve taken that baby and bartered it for food and supplies. I heard them, Luke. He was a monster.”

  Confusion churned in his eyes. “You, above all, how can you tell me it’s okay to take a life?”

  “In this world it’s kill or be
killed.”

  “Is that your expert opinion?”

  Immediately, she took off her top, heedless of the fact that she wore only a sports bra beneath. She pointed to a black patch on her left arm. “You see this tattoo? It’s a cover-up, because the symbol beneath proclaimed I had been in a gang. When I was a teenager, I searched for a place to belong, because my whole life had been about abandonment and abuse. I found a gang that offered me what I thought I wanted, but to be accepted I did some pretty fucked-up things. Things I hate and regret now, but things I’ve learned to live with. When you leave a gang, you have to get rid of the symbol. I covered up the tat with a black band. So yeah, I’m kind of an expert about kill-or-be-killed situations.”

  “But…but you’re a nurse.”

  “I became a nurse. Eventually. But not because I was born with an innate desire to help people. I couldn’t have cared less if I hurt someone. It wasn’t until it was me who needed help that I began to grow up. I got shit from a big, black nurse at the juvie hospital who laid down the law and tore me a new asshole. Asked me what the hell I was doing with my life and wondered if I really thought sixteen was old enough to have the attitude that I thought I ruled the world. I’m not going to lie, I went down a bad path, but I came back from it and was able to forgive myself. You will too, Luke, because you did the right thing.”

  “So what happens now?”

  “Now we find a house to stay in for the rest of the day and night, because I think you pulled a few stitches.”

  He reflexively placed a hand over his side. “Don’t you think we should move on?”

  Jo shook her head. “You need to heal, in more ways than one. This town is as good as any.”

  “What about…him?”

  Jo held up a finger, telling him without words to wait. She stepped over the dead man, walked into the clinic, and grabbed the bag of supplies she had managed to collect. With the plastic slung over her shoulder, she returned to Luke, stepping back over the dead asshole. Spitting on him as she did so.

  “Let him rot there,” she said. “This medical facility is nothing but a tomb anyway, so he can be a marker of warning for the next person who comes looking. Come on, I’ll drive.”

  Chapter 5

  Jo leaned over the steering wheel and observed the A-frame cabin. She’d passed by many beautiful homes, all abandoned, nestled in the woods like they’d been photoshopped for a stunning magazine layout. Each one she dismissed because of one reason or another. The one she currently inspected looked like she might’ve found the Goldilocks house; maybe not as aesthetically pleasing, but the lack of windows and defensive position made it just right.

  “Casey,” Jo said to the girl who sat in the passenger seat next to her. “Let’s explore this one.”

  “Want me to come along?” Luke asked from the chair in the back of the camper.

  “No,” she replied. “You’re bleeding again.”

  Ignoring his derisive snort, she and Casey exited the camper and headed toward the cabin. The front door was secured, so they traversed the perimeter, where a silent basketball court lay attached to a large garage. They came to a back door that held only a flimsy key lock.

  “How are we going to get in? Break it down?”

  “Nope,” Jo said, already unzipping her backpack. She pulled out a leather pouch. “A graduation gift.”

  Casey watched in silence as Jo took out a few slim, metal picks and set to work on opening the door.

  “You got a lock pick set for a high school graduation gift?”

  “No,” Jo murmured as the door sprang open. “Eighth grade.”

  The air inside whooshed at them, stale with a slight smell of mothballs rolling out. Jo entered a mudroom where a couple of raincoats hung. That led into a large, and newly renovated, kitchen area. The refrigerator waited with doors propped open, and an electric stove rested nearby. A short hallway opened up to a dining room and family room combo. Sheets covered the couch and chairs while a layer of dust covered the wooden furniture.

  “Must have been a vacation cabin,” Casey said.

  “Yeah, I agree. Bedrooms are probably upstairs. If there’s a generator, we’re in business.”

  They went back outside, and Jo noticed a shed nestled against the side of the house. She motioned for Casey to follow, and when she opened the door, a generator and water heater rested side by side.

  “Hot damn,” she said happily.

  “This is good, right?” Casey asked.

  “This is perfect,” Jo replied. “That generator will give us electricity, and I bet we’ll be able to take hot baths. All we have to do is cover the windows. I don’t want the light to be a beacon to any stragglers passing by.”

  “Won’t the generator’s noise attract people?”

  Jo pointed to the bumpy, black pads lining the shed. “Soundproofing. I guess the previous owners had the same thought. Why don’t you go inside the cabin and start freshening up while I get your dad.”

  Casey smiled and practically ran back into the house. As Jo headed to the camper, she saw Luke leaning against the bumper, holding his side. A painful grimace creased the area between his eyes.

  “Come on, tough guy,” she said. “Let’s get you stitched back up.”

  She crooked a finger at him to follow her inside the RV. He lumbered after her and stood behind her as she gathered the medical supplies from the trash bag. A few minutes later, she sat staring at a perfect six-pack of abdominal muscles while Luke lowered his jeans far enough so that male V-line of his pelvis teased her. Sure enough, he had pulled a few stitches, but it wasn’t the mess she had feared.

  Taking a deep breath to bring her rising libido under control, Jo cleaned the area before holding up a bottle of lidocaine. “I can now numb you up.”

  “Yay,” he dead-panned.

  Drawing up the liquid, she used the medicine to numb the two bullet holes before extracting the older stitches. It didn’t take her long to sew up the wounds and coat the area with antibiotic ointment before putting on pressure bandages.

  “From now on, until it’s time to take them out, you are to do nothing.”

  He stepped back as she stood in front of him, and she wondered if he left his shirt off deliberately so she’d continue to salivate over his rock-hard body. Doesn’t he know how distracting his chest is?

  “Aren’t we leaving tomorrow?” he asked.

  Jo blinked and pulled her brain out of the sexual gutter. “I think we should stay here for a few days. Casey and I can hunt for supplies at some of the other abandoned homes while your wounds heal.”

  He frowned. “I don’t like the thought of you and her going out on your own.”

  “You forget who you’re talking to.”

  “True, but even you aren’t invincible. What if there are others out there with the same thought? What if someone is in a home and you go in to look for supplies and get caught?”

  “I promise I’ll take care of Casey.”

  “That’s not it.”

  She frowned. “Then what is it?”

  He huffed. “Nothing. Just…this.”

  “This?”

  “What is the purpose of all of this?” he asked, gesturing toward the outside.

  “The cabin? We need it to—”

  “No, no.” He shook his head. “I meant…we live to make ourselves better. Raise our children in hopes of sending them out into the world so they can make themselves better. And it all gets stripped away in the blink of an eye because of a fucking virus?”

  “It won’t be like this forever. There are still scientists out there. Still judges and cops. Doctors and nurses.” She tapped his chest, lingering a bit too long on the solid muscle. “Mechanics. We just need to hunker down and find a bit of heaven that can sustain us until sanity returns to this insane world.”

  When he looked at her, their gazes met and she couldn’t look away. The royal blue hue of his eyes deepened as the chemistry between them flared to life. Her heart sped up, an
d she wanted very much to kiss him again, only this time taking time to savor the attraction between them.

  As if reading her mind, Luke captured her hand on his chest with one of his before sliding his other hand through her hair, cupping the back of her head to draw her closer. He gave her time and room to back away, but that was the last thing she wanted to do. Instead, she met him halfway, their lips touching with the lightest of pressure. It wasn’t enough, however, and she pressed harder. He opened his mouth, deepening the kiss.

  The world melted away. For the first time in her forty years on Earth, she understood what the romance books described. She’d had partners in the past, but none of them had heated her blood and caused her panties to dampen from only a kiss. Either she was beyond sexually frustrated, or their chemistry was off the charts. She was going to go with the latter.

  When the kiss broke, Luke looked like he’d been struck by a lightning bolt, and Jo figured she didn’t look all that different.

  “Holy shit,” he whispered.

  She bit her bottom lip, and he used his index finger to ease the piece of tender skin from the bite. He leaned down and kissed her again, and this time she didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around his neck and totally surrender to the pleasure pouring through her body.

  His hands slid down her back to cup her butt and pull her into him, and she discovered how very much he wanted her. The answering need coursing through her had visions of them utilizing the back bedroom. If the camper is rockin’ don’t come knockin’…but thoughts of Casey intruded and she reluctantly pulled back. They were both breathing hard, and lust made his eyes shine like bright sapphires.

  “I never thought I’d find you at the end of the world,” he whispered.

  “Find me?”

  “Jesus, woman, you blow me away. I feel like a fucking teenager again.”

  She knew exactly what he meant, and the notion scared her. “Casey’s waiting for us in the cabin.”

  “Yeah,” he said, giving a lopsided grin. “Kids always have a way of ruining the mood.”

  Pulling away, she hurried to gather all the medical supplies she’d acquired from the clinic while Luke buttoned up his flannel shirt.