“We were.” I took a deep breath. “And my God, it’s good to breathe fresh air again.”
She leaned back against the hood of the Jeep, fanning her face. “Hell, this sweatshirt’s hot…” She lifted a sleeve to her nose. “It smells of that damn place, too.”
In one smooth movement she pulled the sweatshirt up over her head and hurled it to the corner of the garage. Then she stood there looking at me. Moonlight caressed her bare shoulders. She flicked back her hair and I saw her bare breasts. The tips darkened as cool air stroked them.
Her eyes locked on mine. “Greg. Prove to me you’re human.” She reached out to gently touch my jaw. “Can you do that?”
I pulled off my sweatshirt. “There’s my heart. That’s a human heart.” I took her hand and pressed the palm to my chest. “Feel the rhythm?”
“Prove you’re human.”
I slid my hands over her shoulders until they met behind her back. That’s when I pulled her in against my chest. Her cool breasts pressed against my skin, which burned like hot metal. I pressed my mouth against hers. Her lips came back at mine doubling the pressure, her tongue working against my tongue.
The whole world, the whole universe imploded into that kiss. She caressed the muscles of my back while I crushed her tight against my body. The air from her lungs rushed into my ear. “Greg, Greg,” she whispered, breathless. “Prove it. Go on, prove it to me.”
My fingers slid down her back to reach her pants. My thumbs hooked the waistband and drew them down. Panting, she pulled down mine. Then went down, kissing my chest and stomach.
It came roaring down at me, spitting flame, hurling out sparks. A great volcanic eruption of passion that was a burning fire inside me. It was some cousin of the instinct that drove me to kill. Now that instinct exploded inside me, driving me to do what I did next. And I could no more have stopped myself than stop myself busting skulls with the ax.
I lifted her bodily from the floor; her cool hair tumbling down over my naked arms. She gave a surprised gasp as I swung her ’round so her feet were clear of the floor. Then I sat her on the hood of the Jeep. In the moonlight I saw the crazy veil of hair across her face. I saw the hungry glint of her eyes. The flash of teeth as her mouth opened with a sudden spasm. Her naked legs lifted until her feet hooked behind me into the small of my back. Her arms wrapped tightly ’round me, as if she braced herself for some sudden stab of pain. Even her eyes closed tightly as she anticipated what would happen next.
Pushing my hips forward, I slid into her. Her gasp came in a rush in my ear. Her body enfolded me tightly. She whispered words breathlessly. Not that I understood them. Not that I needed to. Instinctively I knew what she wanted. Gripping her waist as she sat there on the car’s hood I buried myself deep into her.
“Oh!” Her sudden gasping cry echoed back from the walls. “Don’t stop now, please don’t stop now,” she panted.
I couldn’t if I wanted to. As my body moved in rhythm with hers I found myself watching her mouth. Her lips pressed together hard with the effort of pushing her hips forward. Then the lips slid back revealing those beautiful white teeth as she smiled. Then they as quickly pursed together to kiss me. There was something fascinating about watching her mouth up close. It moved constantly. The lips reddened and grew enlarged as her breathing came harder. Her tongue ran across them. Then as I pounded into her, shuddering the car from axle to axle, her lips fluttered as a cry started in her throat, growing louder and louder. Her teeth bit her lip as if she couldn’t stand that tidal wave of sensation anymore.
“Harder… please harder… yes!”
That’s when the wave of sensation overwhelmed her, submerged her; she thrashed her head from side to side, her dark hair whipping the hood of the car then whipping back across my shoulder. Her cries filled my ears. Her body arched up to mine, pushing my whole body upright as I bore down hard against her. That’s when even the atoms in my bones seemed to explode all at once.
The next thing I remember we were holding each other so tightly I thought we’d fuse into a single being. And that’s how we stayed for a long time, holding each other, not moving but listening to the sound of each other’s breathing gradually slowing. Allowing the world to slip back into focus once more.
Forty-three
Birds called in the forest. Their cries ran through the trees to die out there in the wilderness. Still tingling from making love to Michaela, I sat on the fence to gaze dreamily into the morning mist. Images of her beautiful body seemed to overlay the view of the surrounding trees and the meadow that ran down from the garage.
My bag had still been where I’d left it in the garage. I’d dressed using the spare clothes I’d brought with me from Sullivan, only they didn’t amount to more than a pair of jeans and a shirt. My boots and leather jacket remained beyond reach in Phoenix’s bunker. Michaela still lay dead to the world in the sleeping bag. And for the first time I began to wonder about the future. Had the lovemaking been a spur of the moment thing after our escape? Or would something longer lasting come from it?
I hoped so. Believe me, I didn’t want to face the future alone.
Sunlight burned through the mist. Soon I felt its heat on my hands and face, and, boy, was it good to see real daylight after being locked away in Phoenix’s concrete fun house. No sooner had I felt sheer relief at being in the open air again then I remembered what Phoenix had said. He claimed I was the product of a hive. That the monstrosity he was harboring had somehow recognized me.
No way, Phoenix, you insane son of a bitch. You invented that to keep us in the bunker. Your only motive was to feed us to the hive. If we’d stayed, we’d have wound up as sacks of dry skin and bone, sucked dry of blood, then left to hang there like clothes on a line.
You’re a murdering fuck, too, Phoenix. Anger burned under my skin. He’d lured people in there, given them food and shelter, then fed them to the monster. If I could find enough dynamite I’d stack it against the building and blow it all to hell.
“I guess we’re going to have to find our own break-fast this morning.”
I looked back to see Michaela standing by the garage door. Without any spare clothes she’d chosen one of my T-shirts. The hem reached the top of her thighs like a miniskirt. Arms folded, her dark hair tumbling down over her shoulders, she walked up to me.
Suddenly we both seemed lost for words. I found myself thinking: Is this where we pretend nothing happened last night? Yeah, we’re just good friends, a kiss on the cheek, a slap on the back… that’s as far as it goes, OK?
But I didn’t want that. I realized we were good for one another. We connected. Not just physically either.
“Greg…” she began, as if to say something significant. Then she glanced down at my bare feet. “No shoes?”
“No. But I’m not wearing those rubber sandals again.”
“Me neither. I wouldn’t be seen dead in them.” She gave a tight smile. “Bad choice of words. We saw people who were.”
“Last night…” I began.
“Yes?”
“Well, I liked what happened. It seemed as if it was…” I struggled for the right word, then chose the wrong one. “Natural.”
She shook her head, smiling. “It was natural, Greg. Very natural.”
“Sorry, I’m not good at this, but… hell… run away screaming if you want… but, dammit, I liked what- no, not liked: loved. I loved what we did, and I don’t want it to be just a one-off. .. a one-night stand, I think-”
She lightly touched my lips. “Shh. I loved it, too.” She smiled, her eyes glinting. “I’ve been waiting to find someone special for a long time.”
I began to speak.
She touched my lips again. “You run away screaming if you want, but I think I’ve found him.”
Sliding her hands deliciously ’round my neck, she pulled me down to kiss her lips. Her breath tickled my ear as she spoke. “Come back inside. Prove to me last night wasn’t a fluke.”
