“Hopefully optimistic…”
“Playing all songs about hopefully optimistic,” the car replies as music begins to softly play from the speakers inside of the circular headrest. I relax my head into its memory foam confines and begin the long drive.
It is evening when I reach the Illinois-Missouri border. An old brown sign reads ‘Welcome to Missouri.’ However, someone has cleverly spray painted over the white lettering in black and it reads ‘Welcome to Misery.”
After driving a short distance I take an off road and down a wooded path. The road here is in even worse condition as I have to dodge broken pieces of the surrounding bluffs. I find a small clearing and pull the car into the opening. I exit the car, armed with my flashlight, and get two bagged meals from the trunk. I peel the top open and find that it already comes with a spoon already sealed in the metal packaging. I leave the flashlight on as I reach into the backseat and give Cherie a gentle shake.
“Where are we…?”
“Missouri,” I say as I hand her the bag of food.
“What is it?” She asks as she curiously peers into the bag.
I peel my bag open and retrieve the plastic fork. I poke at the contents and retrieve a long square noodle covered in white sauce. “Some kind of pasta…”
“I’ve never had dinner in a bag,” Cherie says as she places her for into the meal. She places a noodle in her mouth and chews it slowly. “It’s warm…”
“Yeah,” I say as I feel the bottom of the bag which feels almost hot to the touch. “It must be some kind of reaction that happens when you open it.”
“Have you been driving all day?” Cherie asks as she hands me her empty bag.
I place both of our bags into the waste bin and they disappear. I imagine that they are getting sucked into the trunk and placed into a bag from the whooshing sound I hear. That or it’s getting shot into the road… however, that doesn’t sound very environment friendly. “Yeah, longest I’ve driven in… as long as I can remember.”
“Can I come back up front?”
“Sure…”
Cherie climbs over the center console and crawls into the passenger seat. I turn off the flashlight and our eyes slowly adjust to the darkness.
“Seats back,” Cherie says as both the passenger and driver seats lower back into a resting position. “Ceiling view,” she adds as the black roof slowly fades away showing the tall trees overhead. Some stars are peeking through as the wind slowly drifts through.
“How did you know to do that?” I ask, I barely remember the basic commands.
“I used to have a nice car,” Cherie says as she looks up to the sky. “There are a lot of stars here… I bet Noah would be happy.”
“I’m sure he would be,” I say as I turn to Cherie. In the faint darkness I can make out that she is smiling. I thought it would be difficult for me to have to break it to her that we’d have to stay the night here—but she seems perfectly content.
“Headrests flat… seats closer.” Cherie says as the circular headrests flatten out. The seats move back, and once clear of the console, they come together. Cherie pulls the blanket from the back and covers us both up. She cuddles up next to me as we spend some time looking up at the stars. “This is better than Paris.”
“You think so?” I ask as I place an arm around her.
“A little bit better…” She whispers as she laughs softly.
I stare up sat the swaying braches. As I catch glimpses of the stars overhead, I realize that I have not seen the stars like this since I was younger… since before V-Day. Then again, I haven’t been in this kind of situation since I was a kid camping out in my backyard. Even though I know those innocent days are long gone now, it is a comfort to me that these kinds of moments are still possible… the virus might have taken a lot away from us, but it couldn’t take everything… it couldn’t taint moments like this one. I look over at Cherie, whose warmth I can feel against me, she is not looking at the stars. Instead, her eyes are fixed on me. She looks a little worried; her eyes show that familiar hint of sadness.
“Are you alright?” I ask.
She nods once and smiles.
Her eyes still look sad, however I nod in return. She turns to face me and places her lips against mine. She kisses me once more and then pauses, “This is allowed right? You’re not working?”
Of course this is not technically allowed—I know for certainty that it is illegal. However, I am a man on the run, so I suppose that ultimately… it does not really matter. I like her. What else matters? “This is allowed…”
She places her hands against my face and begins to kiss me more passionately. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly against me. There is not a single amount of fear within me. This is the only thing that feels right anymore. Her, us—this moment… this situation is unavoidable. She begins run her hand across my chest, unbuttoning each button until her warm hand is against my chest. Our breathing intensifies as we slowly undress each other beneath then thin emergency blanket. Soon our naked bodies are against each other, the heat and need within me for us to be together is becoming unbearable. She pivots so that I am atop her. I take in a nervous breath as I feel myself slide into her. She bites her lip and whimpers softly. She pulls my face close to meet hers and we begin to kiss feverishly as we rhythmically move our bodies against each other. I am the sea to her shoreline; each movement is like a wave, an ebb and flow, until with one final push the largest wave crashes. Like a surge I am spent and retreat back from the warmth of her shore.
I continue to hold onto her through the night. I know what we did is considered wrong by society’s standards. I, however, cannot bring myself to feel the slightest bit of regret for allowing it to happen.
“I want you to know,” Cherie says sleepily. “You mean a lot to me… more than Paris.”
“You mean a lot to me as well,” I say as I squeeze her hand comfortingly.
“I’m happy that it ends like this,” Cherie whispers.
“This isn’t the ending,” I say as I kiss the back of her neck. “This is just the beginning.”
Cherie does not answer, she is fast asleep. I often wonder how someone can just fall comfortably into sleep so easily. It always takes me a while—I realize that this will be my first night without my city noise machine… as I attempt to relax I take comfort in the gentle sound of her breathing against me. Between the exhaustion of the drive, and my first time being intimate with Cherie, I eventually drift off into that strange abyss called sleep.
I awake to the sounds of birds chirping. The sky is a soft red, it still must be early. The roof above me is black once more—I reach over for Cherie, but she is not there. In a panic I get up, hitting my head against the ceiling of the car. I look over and find a small piece of paper. I reach for it and quickly unfold it; it simply reads ‘I do not want to hurt you Ethan.’
“Fuck!” I shout as I toss the blanket to the back of the car and attempt to dress myself as swiftly as I can. How did she leave without me knowing or waking up? I knew that something was off last night—I should have pushed more… how could I have been so stupid? As I button up my shirt I take out the glasses… the Hunters use these, they must have some kind of other functions rather than just acknowledging who is an Unstable or a normal… “What time did the passenger leave?”
“The passenger door was opened two hours, fifty three minutes, and twenty-one seconds ago. The trunk was accessed four minutes later,” the female voice answers in reply. “Seats up,” I say as I try and reach for the door—with Cherie being much shorter this must have been much easier for her.
“Seats must be separated first, should I separate the seats?”