Page 34 of Leveling

The water around the Outpost rippled with the wind created by the helicopter’s rotors.

Beckett said, “Wait, here’s the marker.” He pulled a fat marker from his pocket and handed it up to Luna.

“The marker?”

“Yeah, to change the marks on the Outpost wall, for your family.”

She clipped it to the front of her top. “I’ll tell them to grab packs from the rooftop, then meet me.”

She paddled her conveyance backward, away from the opening. Beckett clung to the board before it pulled away from his hands. “Anna!”

Luna concentrated on her paddling.

He said, “Be safe.”

Luna grabbed the water behind her with the paddle, spinning the paddleboard into the right direction. She wouldn’t look at him, she looked at her paddling arm as she said, “We’ll see each other soon.”

“Anna!” He wanted to stop her. Needed her to look at him. None of this seemed right, and she wouldn’t look at him.

She took the first stroke.

“Anna!”

She turned the board by degrees to face him, looking him in the eyes from across a precipice of feet and deep ocean plunging to the depths between them. He inside and she out and both going away. He had nothing else to say but, “Don’t go.”

Luna said, “I love you,” and shoved her paddle deep into the water, stroking away, fast, without looking back, leaving him standing in waist deep water. No no no no no.

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