Page 9 of Dusk & Desire

“Do not lie to me, little girl, I’m not blind!”

“Just relax, man,” Axel says calmly. “You want the gas? Take it. Want me to get a car going for you? No problem. Just stop pointing that gun at my sister.”

The man laughs raggedly. He looks like a vagrant and his voice fits someone who smoked two boxes a day for forty years. “I’ll take your car, boy, and I’ll take your sister. And the other girl, too.”

My gorge rises at the way he says that. I think I’d rather take my chances with the aliens.

“You try to take anything with a pulse, you and me are gonna have a problem,” Axel growls and my palms grow sweaty. How is he planning to stop him?

The man turns his gun on Axel with a chuckle. “Like to see you stop me if you’re dead, boy.”

“No!” Noa screams, taking a step forward. The man swings his weapon back at her.

In an instant, something takes over me. An entity that cares little about what the old Linda thought was right and wrong. I stand up straight and extend the arm with the gun in it. Taking the briefest moment to aim, I pick my target area, wait for the man to start moving the shotgun back to Axel, and pull the trigger.

Chapter 6

Linda

“Where did you learn to shoot like that?”

Noa’s sitting in the backseat with me, one arm thrown over my shoulders, the other caressing my leg with soothing circles. It’s so dark outside. Power must be down. Bet I could see the stars so clearly now.

“Earth to Linda. Where are you, pretty girl?”

I turn my head and smile at Noa. “I was on the shooting team in high school. I’m not secretly a cop undercover at FSU.”

Her typical grin blooms on her face and I grow lightheaded when I realize just how close it is. “I didn’t think you were an undercover cop, baby.” I squirm in my seat at the nickname. Seeing as she’s pressed against me, it doesn’t go unnoticed. With a self-satisfied gleam in her eyes, she closes the gap between us and presses her soft lips against mine. I exhale at the gentle, yet electrifying touch, my mouth opening for hers, but she doesn’t take advantage this time. “Are you alright, Linda?” she asks instead.

“I don’t know. Am I?”

The world is ending, I’m kissing a woman, and I killed a man who threatened her.

Axel speaks up from the front: “You were badass there, Winnie.”

His praise chases away some of the numbness I feel in the aftermath of violence. I’ve never seen that much blood before…

“Definitely saved our asses.” Noa nods with a smirk.

I bite my lip, still tingly from Noa’s kiss. “If this happened a few days ago, I’d have been arrested.”

Noa shakes her head, her once-perky fauxhawk lying flatter, her bubble-gum blue hair looking darker in the gloomy lighting from the dash. “We’d never let that happen,” she vows. I picture her swooping in and rescuing me from all my problems with that quiet confidence she exudes. The scenario warms my insides and I get the overwhelming urge to hug her. Not fighting my impulses for physical contact for once in my life, I turn and wrap my arms around her.

I breathe in her scent, dreading when time on the road and the end of civilization will make it fade away. When she squeezes me back, it feels as if her hands are iron bands holding me together like a rickety barrel. The emotions of what I had done finally breach the shield of numbness, and tears start flowing from my eyes, wetting Noa’s neck. As I gasp for air, she gently shushes me and kisses the top of my head. Minutes pass while I unload my pain onto her, feeling more and more comfortable in her arms by the second. It’s like we’re two puzzle pieces that fit together and not a poorly positioned Tetris block. I could get used to cuddling with her.

It happens slowly, and at first, I don’t notice it. Probably like I didn’t notice it earlier this week when I was distracted by Noa’s flirting as I was leaving class. God, that feels like it happened ages ago. Air pressure bears down on us, making my ears ring. When the hairs on my body stand at attention, my eyes pop back open, and I pull back from Noa’s embrace. We share a wide-eyed look as my breathing picks back up, this time not from sadness, but pure animal fear. Vibrations start shaking the car, and Axel eases off on the gas pedal, the vehicle slowing down. A metallic screech sounds and I cover my ears with both hands.

“Turn the lights off!” Noa yells at Axel in the aftermath. “And get into the forest!”

Swearing, Axel pulls onto a forest maintenance road, then plunges us into complete darkness, turning even the dash lights off. As we bounce around, the car hitting what feels like every pothole and root, I pray that we don’t ram headfirst into an oak tree. When the foliage around us starts cracking and snappingagainst the car, Axel brings us to a stop. That’s when I realize I’m clinging to Noa again.

No one dares to speak as the noise and the eerie static presence accompanying it continue – I hardly dare to even breathe. Even when it begins to fade, we stay still. I’m lulled into a surreal sense of safety by Noa’s thumb brushing over my shoulder, and when Axel breaks the silence, I twitch so violently that I feel like I jump up a foot, narrowly missing headbutting his sister.

“I need to take a leak,” he says.

“Right now?” Noa asks in a hiss. My eyes ping-pong between the dark shapes of the siblings, numbly fascinated by the exchange.

“They’re gone. And if they’re not, the sight of my monster cock will chase them away.” With that, Axel opens the door, gets out of the car, and shuts it behind him. Meanwhile, Noa gags, much like her brother did when he caught us kissing. I flush, remembering how the touch of Noa’s lips against mine made me forget everything around us. My body, already flooded with adrenaline, gets a new dose of hormones, and the fluttering sensations in my stomach are just too much. I start giggling.

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